A food cart piled with dirty dishes was nearby. Cheryl ran to it, started throwing coffee cups and plates at Lester and Nora. The dishware crashed around their feet.
The security guard came skidding up behind Cheryl. With his gun out, he started after Lester. Lester took off running. The security guard chased after him.
Nora ran terrified to Cheryl. Cheryl hugged her tightly. Nora loosened her top and looked at her breast where blood ran.
Though the apartment was hers, Henry Oteas was still surprised seeing Nora come in the door. Nora began unpacking the medical supplies from the airline flight bag.
"I was sent home," Nora said. "That lunatic Lester attacked me."
"Why?"
"He said he'd kill me if I went to the police."
Henry sagged. "Now what do we do?"
Nora took a handgun from the airline bag. "This gun freak in Radiology loaned me this. Showed me how to use it." She hid the gun under a sofa pillow. "Next time Lester comes here, I'll kill him." She considered all. "Somebody has to."
"No!"
Nora agreed. "Okay. Let's turn them in to the Sheriff."
"You don't let nothing happen to my son."
"Henry, is there any other way we can keep them away from us?"
At the same hour a precinct station sat brightly lit up high in the backcountry. Many law enforcement vehicles were parked nearby. Helicopters were loudly warming up in the pasture behind the building.
Inside the squad room Sheriff Hartman stood before Rafferty, Special Agent Jack Draper, Alice Taylor and two dozen husky men. Some men wore regulation deputy uniforms, while others had flak jackets and fatigues. All wore bullet proof vests. Cigarette smoke was clumping in the air. Coffee steam was coming up from plastic cups.
Hartman addressed all. "This Strike Force is a Joint Eradication Program. Aside from being a lousy choice of words, well, this is a team effort. And I want to thank you all for helping out. You boys on the county SWAT Team raise your hands. No, not your rifles, just your hands. Everybody say hello to the Animal Control Officer who is here in case there are any guard dogs waiting for us." He read from his notes. "We also have observers here today from the state Attorney General's Office, the state Department of Justice, the state Franchise Tax Board, the state Bureau of Narcotics, and some deputies visiting from other islands." He looked back at his notes. "The Internal Revenue is here, as is US Customs and Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms, and the Drug Enforcement Agency has sent us Special Agent Jack Draper who brought some fellow agents, some guard dogs and lots of weapons." He looked at Draper. "Say hello, Jack."
Jack Draper was staring with ill-concealed hatred at Rafferty and was caught off-guard by Sheriff Hartman’s comments.
Hartman smiled at Rafferty. "We've another guest, too. Some of you may recognize him. Rafferty helped save Deputy Ka’aina's life last night. He even donated blood. His name is Rafferty, he’s from Washington, D.C., and he’s good friends with Senator Jacob Kincaid, the US Senator from Ohio, who the newspapers suggest might be America’s next drug czar. I've invited Rafferty along today to show the Senator how well we all can get along. Be nice to him today."
Draper was irritated. "Get on with it, Sheriff!"
Hartman said, "Be nice to one another, too." In a loud voice he added, "We're hitting only one target today. How many of you were in Desert Storm?"
Half the men present raised their arms, as did Rafferty, which caused the men around him to give him more grudging respect. Although himself taken aback, Sheriff Hartman plunged on.
Hartman said, "Just like that. Fast and low with guns up, and remember, be careful and be professional. Watch yourselves and your buddies. These growers are considered heavily armed and dangerous."
As day broke, the helicopters lifted off, following the path of the automobiles and trucks who had left an hour earlier.
The helicopters flew towards the mountains. They flew over pineapple plantations, sugar cane fields, the brush-covered ridges, green canyons, steep mountainsides and long waterfalls.
Alice Taylor was piloting and leering at Rafferty, who she had insisted sit beside her. "When we get back, how about watching the sunset with me? Then we can go over to my place for a few drinks."
Rafferty said, "I would love to."
The helicopters flew fast and low over the mountainsides.
Lester and Mad Dog were rolling up sleeping bags to stow inside their trucks which were parked inside a sugar cane field. Mad Dog stopped when he heard a coming thunder. He shaded his eyes and peered into the rising sun.
Then Mad Dog yelled to Lester, "Helicopters!"
The helicopters came in over the trees, low and fast.
Lester and Mad Dog ran like ten thousand demons chased them.
Lester cried out, "My truck!"
Mad Dog called back, "Fuck it!"
Mad Dog managed to get his truck going and Lester just made it to his father's truck, and together they drove without headlights through the sugar cane. But the helicopters had another target.
In the helicopter Alice Taylor was becoming more romantic. "We can have a midnight swim off Iliwei Beach. There's a full moon tonight and a low tide and tradewinds through the palm trees. We wouldn't need swimsuits. The water's warm. And in the morning we can go catch the sunrise over at Mango Beach."
"Can we do anything sooner?"
Once all the choppers had landed on the grassy ridge that was their target, Sheriff Hartman and his crew met and all headed off along a trail. Occasionally a deputy used a machete to chop at the underbrush. When the trail widened into the garden, the team fanned out.
Rafferty stopped cold when something invisible touched his throat. He jerked back, spooked. The Sheriff found the fishing line stretched across the trail.
"Fishing line. It spooks the deer. The deer love grass.
Rafferty asked, "Bambi gets stoned?"
Alice told him, "One state senator in Honolulu is worried about the deer eating all this high-potency weed. He's afraid we'll have wild-eyed drug crazed deer roaming the hills."
Hartman shrugged. "Scares the hell outa me."
They joined Jack Draper and the other law enforcement people who were busting the Rahler's marijuana garden inside the sugar cane field. The plants were thick shrubs, small bushes, and some were small trees twice as tall as a man. The branches were thick and filled with purplish buds, while the buds were swollen with resin and wrapped in plastic baggies.
Hartman looked it over. "Very commercial."
Draper fingered a bud. "This stuff's ready now."
Draper and Sheriff Hartman moved off together, leaving Rafferty and Alice to wander through the garden. Behind them, the deputies strapped on battery packs, then hooked up weed-eaters and started slicing and sawing down the marijuana stalks. Other deputies joined in with machetes and brush cutters.
Alice described it all for Rafferty. "Hawaiian homegrown. The best grass in the world. Grass so good, you don't tell your old lady you got it." She touched a bud. "Just this bud can cost you a hundred bucks."
Rafferty said, "Why so much?"
"For one thing, it's almost all pure smoke. It has no seeds, so you get twice as much per ounce right off the top. Plus it has five times more THC than regular weed."