Total Bravery (True Heroes Book 4) Read online

  “We’re not police, and we want to maintain good relations with them.” Arin held up her hands. “The guys go in and they are more likely to meet with less resistance to harmless chatting. They’ll get more information, faster, than if we went with them. If they can collect enough evidence for the local authorities to go in for a clean bust shortly thereafter, it’s a more significant win than if we just go in there and make a mess.”

  Zu nodded. “There has to be a finder’s fee out there for Mali at this point. If his own men couldn’t eliminate her, our head of the house is going to supplement with a word out on the streets for people to let him know when she’s spotted again. It’s too risky to have her out on the streets, even in a surveillance van.”

  Raul was inwardly relieved. He didn’t think Mali would be pleased, but all of them would be unified in telling her to stay at the corporate headquarters.

  But Zu wasn’t finished. “I’m not saying we might not use her to our advantage later—her ability to identify the rest of her research team and her knowledge of specifics about each one of them will be key to extracting them later—but the most important thing right now is more intel on this group as quickly as possible.”

  Fair. More than fair. Raul wasn’t sure how he would react when Mali was out there with them, but for the time being, he could focus on the current actions.

  “Let me settle Taz with Mali.” Raul figured taking this initiative wasn’t out of line. “The dogs won’t be an asset on this foray either. He’ll keep her company.”

  Zu nodded briefly. “I’ll meet you at the reception area.”

  Raul stepped out of Pua’s office and walked back down the hallway to where he’d left Mali. Taz walked alongside him, the dog’s claws clicking quietly on the stone-tiled floor. It was an interesting choice for office space but would hold up better than carpet with dogs coming and going all the time.

  He opened the door to the room slowly, careful not to wake Mali with either the sound or a sudden increase of light from the hallway. Listening, he heard her steady breathing. She was still asleep.

  “Taz.” He studied the GSD’s eager face for a moment and then murmured a quiet command for his ears only. The big dog slipped inside the room and settled on the floor by the couch, watching the entryway to the room. Taz would remain on guard while Raul was gone.

  * * *

  They walked to the Chinatown area. Raul let Zu set the pace, and the two of them made good time through the almost deserted city streets.

  “We’re just about there.” Zu’s deep voice was the kind to carry even at a low volume. He had kept his volume low though, for only Raul to hear as they walked. “Chinatown is about fifteen blocks in the city, easy to walk to and not a lot of parking. Wouldn’t have made sense to drive.”

  Raul looked around. “Any easy hints to know you’ve crossed into Chinatown? In other cities, there’s a classic archway or wall with a mural on it.”

  “There’s an arch, but we’re walking in from a different street.” Zu lifted his chin in the direction of the upcoming street corner. “The street signs change here. They have a red border and include the Chinese characters with the English street name. That’s what you can see twenty-four seven. During the day and around dinnertime, there’s regular tourism and foodies looking for authentic Asian cuisine. Around this time? Not going to be much on the streets but the homeless. In a few hours, fresh produce carts and other early morning vendors will be out, but we’re here at an odd hour.”

  “All right. I’ll look forward to making a follow-up visit at another time.” A calm was settling over him, a familiar steadiness, and he welcomed it. This was the reason he hadn’t gone into a civilian career. The only time he had absolute surety, control, and confidence was when he was walking into a mission.

  He’d lost that feeling for a time. His confidence in himself and his team had deteriorated down to nothing on the last deployment. They’d all been fragmented, isolated, even heading into a combat situation together. Back then, every one of them wanted out, and it’d felt like every man for himself. He’d been in Hawaii for less than a few days and the gut sense of a real team was back.

  He had Arin to thank for it, and Zu. His new lead walked beside him, similarly sliding into a state of readiness. They had an objective. It wasn’t combat, but it carried a serious unpredictability factor and a high probability for violence. Raul savored it.

  “You came highly recommended,” Zu said suddenly. “Arin was adamant you were the kind of asset we were looking for in this organization. From what I’ve seen so far, I am not disappointed.”

  Raul scanned the streets for anything out of place. Now that he had a feel for the area, it was easier to look for something that didn’t fit. “Thank you, sir.”

  The last he’d added because it came more comfortably to him in this heightened state of awareness.

  “I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do once you’re fully on board and actually know how to check in with your teammates.” A hint of dry humor colored Zu’s tone.

  Ah well, Raul figured he wasn’t going to be allowed to forget the fact that he’d left without completing kennel duty the first morning. Yes, it’d been for a good reason, but Zu wouldn’t be a good leader if he didn’t have some kind of conversation about it. It could’ve been a lot worse. “Yes, sir.”

  “We’re all glad you were there when Mali needed us.”

  Even though Zu was probably referring to the team, especially Arin, Raul bristled. “Even if I hadn’t been a part of this team, if Mali had called needing help and Arin hadn’t been available, I’d have gone anyway.”

  “I know.” Zu’s response was unruffled, despite the edge Raul’s tone had taken. “I’m absolutely certain Arin and Mali both know it, too. Seeing them together adds a lot of context to knowing Arin.”

  Raul nodded. “That’s for sure. Getting to know Mali as a person is completely different from just knowing Arin has a sister. Meeting Mali blew my mind. The two of them in the same space is a lot of personality.”

  Zu grunted. “Enough to fill a room. They have more in common than they realize, and they’re more around each other.”

  “More?” Raul wasn’t sure where Zu was going with that.

  “More confident. More charismatic.”

  “Yeah?” Maybe Zu had a point. Arin did have an extra something with her sister nearby, but Raul had been focused on helping Mali through this insane situation.

  “Being around people who believe in you is a great thing.” Zu kept them at a steady walk. To any watchers, they were a pair of tourists wandering down deserted streets looking for a place still open for entertainment. This conversation, though, had gone places Raul hadn’t anticipated. “I know you haven’t had the experience of being a solid part of a team yet. Some of that is on the people around you. But some of it is on you, too. I chose the members of this team to build a family. Family doesn’t have to be blood. It can be by choice. Those two women are family both by blood and by choice. They’re a good example to follow.”

  Easier said than done. He’d come here with Taz hoping to make a good start. So far, he’d had awkward icebreaker conversations and ditched kennel duty.

  “Communicate.” Zu’s statement was quiet and serious. Maybe Raul’s new team lead had an idea of what was going through Raul’s head, maybe not. Zu’s advice was good, regardless. “Every other decision you make, we can work through, but you need to give me your word you’ll communicate with your teammates. Otherwise, we can’t build trust.”

  Raul swallowed. It was the core of what he’d been looking for, but hearing Zu say it hit him right in the sternum. “Yes sir.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Raul stared at the glass door etched with the word MASSAGE and a phone number. Inside, all he could see was a set of stairs leading up to a second level. “This the place?”

  Zu studied the door frame. “Think so.”

  Raul pushed open the door and stared up the narrow s
taircase. No one in his line of work liked going up one of these blind. There were too many ways really bad news could hit a person from a position of higher ground. He ascended, listening carefully. A wind chime tinkled. Zu moved a few steps behind him, amazingly quiet for such a big man. Raul catalogued those sounds and put them to the back of his mind. A chair creaked, and there was the quiet tip-tap of someone typing on a keyboard.

  At least one person was on the landing at the top of the stairs.

  He kept his posture relaxed, his limbs loose and ready to react in case he had to dodge something suddenly. He very much wished they’d have been able to come up with a plausible reason to have at least one of their working dogs with them. His partnership with Taz was still new but he already felt the absence of his GSD partner.

  As he cleared the stairs, he took in the change from the nondescript street front and entrance. It was a small room, kept from being claustrophobic by the sliding glass doors open to catch the night breeze. There was a sleek, modern white desk set at the far end, lit from within and casting a soft white light across the rest of the room. A few contemporary-style chairs sat along the wall next to a water cooler. There was even a shoe rack with a few pairs of shoes on it. All of the furniture and decor was European, utilitarian, yet clean and modern-looking.

  Judging by the shoes on the shoe rack, they had several male guests ranging from the businessman on a late-night outing to the work boot type. The woman at the desk wore the kind of makeup used for the stage or low-light bars. She had powdered her face and looked pale white in the light cast by the desk.

  “Aloha.” She didn’t seem at all fazed by their arrival. “You here for massage? How long?”

  Huh. Apparently, there were no appointments required. The place must also get enough business by word of mouth that strangers weren’t an unusual thing.

  Raul shrugged. “Maybe an hour.”

  They’d decided he would do the talking while Zu remained the man of few words. People tended to take in Zu’s size and build and then underestimate his intelligence. It could be of benefit to see if different things were said in Raul’s presence versus Zu’s.

  He pulled cash out of his wallet and tossed a few big bills on the desk.

  The money disappeared. The woman had quick hands. She leaned forward to tap a slim laptop with the end of a long nail. The monitor came to life, casting more light on her face. Her penciled-in eyebrows quirked as she studied the display. “We have time for you. No problem. Come, have some water first and take off your shoes so you can be comfortable.”

  Raul cleared his throat. Taking off his shoes and leaving them here before entering the massage area was new to him even if it was obviously the common practice for other patrons. It seemed impractical if he and Zu had to leave in a hurry.

  The woman must’ve taken his hesitation as a lack of understanding because she came around from behind her desk. Standing next to the shoe rack, she crouched slightly and indicated the other pairs of shoes. “See? Keeps the massage area nice and clean. Please leave your shoes here.”

  Zu bent and began to pull off his boots so Raul moved to do the same. They both wore tactical boots with side zippers for easy on and off. When they left their boots on the rack, they left each pair far apart from the other so it wasn’t as obvious two men wearing tactical boots had arrived together. If Raul had seen that on entering, it would’ve raised several red flags in his mind.

  The hostess didn’t seem to care. She’d moved to the water cooler and gotten a glass of water for each of them. “Do you need the restroom before your massage?”

  Zu snorted and shook his head.

  Raul gave her a sheepish smile. “I don’t think so.”

  She only nodded and stepped back toward her desk to a door just past it. Her movements were quick and unobtrusive, but the door had a keyless lock requiring a proximity key fob to open. Interesting. The question was whether it was to keep unwanted people out or to keep someone inside the inner area.

  As she pulled the door open, the woman leaned inside and waved to someone. In moments two petite women emerged, each dressed in a flower-patterned wrap. Each of the girls had long, glossy, dark hair and pale skin. They wore only light makeup, in a style popular in some of the East and South East Asian countries. He’d seen a lot of faces in his travels and his military assignments had included parts of Asia as well as Eastern Europe and the Middle East. If he had to guess, he’d have identified them as coming from South East Asia. Neither spoke.

  “The haole and the popolo want hour massages.” The woman’s tone was definitely different with the employees. Where she’d been brisk with Raul and Zu, her tone had still been deferential. With the two massage girls, the hostess’s tone had bite to it.

  Each of the women glanced at Raul and Zu and then bobbed their heads either in affirmative or in slight bows. It could’ve been both.

  Satisfied, the hostess turned to Raul and Zu again. “These are Gigi and Kim. They’ll take care of anything you need. Enjoy.”

  Actually, Raul wasn’t sure which was Gigi and which was Kim but the ladies stepped forward and split up, one urging Zu to follow her and the other approaching him. They stepped through the door, ducking under a Japanese-style fabric divider slit vertically to allow easy passage through.

  The next room was huge, much larger than he’d anticipated. It was easily six to eight times larger than the receiving area and the ceiling rose up above them about two stories. This must be part of a renovated warehouse space. Laminate flooring had been installed for the look and feel of wood floors. Ceiling fans were installed and rose quartz lamps had been placed along the beams to soften the stark look upward. Ambient light was dimmer, the way restaurants turned down the lights at dinnertime for a more intimate setting. The entirety of the room was sectioned off into private areas by more fabric dividers rising about eight feet tall, enough for privacy but not enough to take away from the roomy feel of the high ceilings.

  “Please,” the woman leading Zu murmured. She indicated they should continue down a corridor formed by the various curtain partitions until they came to a place where the heavy fabric was pulled to one side to reveal a small area. “Here. With Gigi.”

  The last was said directly to Zu as the other woman, Kim, turned to Raul and indicated he should follow her a bit farther to the next curtained area.

  Raul stepped into the privacy of his assigned “room” and turned to face Kim with what he hoped was a friendly smile.

  She didn’t look up to meet his gaze, instead moving forward to indicate a small table in the corner with a woven basket set on top of it. “Your clothes here, please. Then sit. I come back in a minute.”

  Raul stayed where he was. If he’d followed her, she’d have had to squeeze past him to get out again. “Okay.”

  Startled, she glanced up and looked quickly back down to the floor. In moments, she’d slipped past him and was letting the curtain down to give him privacy.

  Interesting. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to surprise her.

  Well, best to keep up with the current flow. Maybe he’d get her to talk when he was lying on the table in a less threatening position. Even standing away from her, he was a foot and even a few inches taller than her. It was an effort not to loom. He stripped down to his boxer briefs and sat on the end of the table as she’d indicated, using a thin sheet to cover up to his waist.

  Kim was back in moments, carrying a wooden tub of steaming water. She pulled over a short stool and set the tub on it, positioning it next to his feet. Without speaking, she tapped his ankles to indicate he should put his feet in the bucket.

  Okay, then. He’d never had his feet washed before but it’d been a service he’d heard of in several places on his deployments.

  Once his feet were in the water, he tried to open up conversation. “So do you always work nights?”

  Her eyes flew wide open, and she looked up at him again. She lifted her hands, palms toward him, and waved them side to side
in a gesture for him to stop. Then she held one finger to her lips.

  Maybe he was too loud. He thought he’d heard the deep rumble of Zu but the curtains actually did a good job of deadening noise from the surrounding areas. He had no idea if someone was on the other side of the space he was in currently. The ceiling fans above provided both air circulation and a low level amount of noise, covering any whispers or low murmurs from other parts of the room. It wasn’t specifically generated white noise but it worked for this place.

  Kim grabbed pillows from under his table and plumped them behind him, encouraging him to recline. Her whisper was barely audible. “Good?”

  Actually, he was propped up enough to still be able to see what was going on around him and really comfortable. “Sure.”

  She kneeled then, by his feet, and proceeded to wash them. Her movements were slow, sensual. It was very relaxing. As her fingers trailed up his ankles and over his calves, she encouraged him to let his knees fall open wide to the sides.

  Raul got the distinct impression she could, at any minute, rise up and apply her attentions higher.

  He cleared his throat and pitched his voice to a clear whisper. “This is my first visit to Honolulu. I hear it’s really expensive to live here. Since you work nights here, do you have a second day job?”

  Panic flared in her eyes this time. Her reply was still the barest whisper, her lips pursed with urgency. “We don’t talk. Must respect the privacy of other clients.” She placed a hand on his knee, starting to rise. “Okay? Shh. I’ll take care of you.”

  Oh boy. This was going places he didn’t intend. On one hand, refusing would potentially cut off any remaining chance to get any kind of information from her. He’d have to look elsewhere and hope Zu had better luck with Gigi. It wasn’t the most unobtrusive way to find out any of what they wanted to know.

  On the other hand, the idea of anyone besides Mali touching him left him cold with a growing anger. He wasn’t going to let the ruse take this direction. He couldn’t and still go back to her this morning feeling clean.