The Scam by Janet Evanovich Read Free Book Online Page B

have paid Alika the protection money if you’d known?” Kate asked.
    “No, but I wouldn’t have let Jake get caught up in my troubles. I’m real sorry about that, Kate.”
    “Don’t be,” she said. “He’s the one who blew up that truck, isn’t he? He probably had a lot of fun.”
    Harlan nodded. “I know he’s out there in the brush somewhere, and I’ve been trying to figure out how I can help him, but I’m not real mobile, what with the broken foot and fractured leg bone.”
    “You can help by keeping a low profile right now, and let me work at finding him. Does ‘Bludd’s Money’ mean anything to either one of you?”
    They both shook their heads.
    “Are you missing anything from the house?” Kate asked.
    “No,” Harlan said. “But I did notice that the first-aid kit, shovel, and tire iron are missing from the back of my Jeep.”
    Kate looked at the lush tropical forest and the mountains of the Koolau Range beyond. This might be Alika’s island, but her father would have the advantage in the wild. He was trained in jungle warfare and loved a good booby trap.
    Even with all that, Kate knew that eventually Jake would get caught if she didn’t rescue him first. She was sure that he knew it, too. That was why he’d sent her the SOS text.
    “Harlan,” Kate said. “I could use a little firepower.”
    “Good news. My gun safe is still picture-perfect.”
    Ten minutes later, Kate got back into her Jeep with a Remington 870 twelve-gauge short-barreled shotgun, sixty rounds of 00 buckshot for killing, twenty rounds of number 6 for close-up defense, and twenty rounds of rifled slugs. Jungle fighting was close-quarters combat, and at that range, a shotgun blast beat a rifle or handgun any day. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use any of it.
    Kate’s phone rang, with the caller ID “Nick McGarrett.”
    “I’m guessing you’re here on Oahu,” Kate said, answering her phone.
    “I am and I’ve got good news,” Nick said. “I know where Jake is hiding out. Meet me in the ruins of the Waialee reform school. It’s between Haleiwa and Kahuku on the south side of the Kamehameha Highway.”
    —
    Vines wrapped around the concrete ruins of the former Waialee Industrial School for Boys, dragging the building into the moist, green darkness of the forest as if the trees wanted to eat it. The roof had caved in long ago, and now the rotted, splintered remains lay across a smashed grand piano, mattress springs, and dozens of empty beer bottles.
    Nick stood by the piano and was wearing sunglasses, a floral Hilo Hattie aloha shirt, Faded Glory cargo shorts, white tennis shoes, and a large straw hat. There was an Oahu guidebook sticking out of one of his cargo pockets and an Oahu map in another. He was just another mainland tourist, identical to thousands of others crawling all over the island. No one would ever notice him.
    Kate made her way toward him. “You picked a lovely place to meet.”
    “It was close to you and no one is likely to spot us here,” he said. “Besides, I’m a sucker for creepy, abandoned buildings. Any news on your dad?”
    “The local mob, run by a guy named Lono Alika, blew up a food truck owned by Dad’s friend Harlan to convince him to pay for protection. So Dad blew up Alika’s truck for not being very nice to his friend. Then Alika came gunning for Dad, who escaped into the forest.”
    “Sounds like Jake.” Nick pulled the map out of his pocket and spread it open on the piano. It was labeled
Oahu Movie & TV Locations.
“I found out about
Bludd’s Money.
It was a cheesy, direct-to-video action movie. The big finale was shot in the forest here, doubling for Vietnam. Turns out hundreds of movies and TV shows have been shot here and have left bits of their sets behind. They’re like ancient ruins for film buffs, who’ve erected signs identifying them.
Bludd
left the fake fuselage of a downed aircraft up there. I think that’s where Jake was when he sent you that