AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, you know trouble’s our business,” Oliver Cutler said.
“I’m serious.”
“Actually, Tako, so am I.” Oliver winked at Leah.
“They’re predicting an eruption at Mauna Loa,” Takayama said.
“I figured that mountain was about due.”
“Yes, but there is some big operation up there and the army is heavily involved. All sorts of heavy equipment, helicopters, and earthmovers.”
“I’m listening.”
“Theysayall they’re doing is repairing the roads.”
Cutler considered that. Finally he said, “You know, they could be. I remember those roads, actually. The jeep trails have been bad for years.”
“So bad you need a hundred engineers and twenty helicopters up on the mountain? So bad you need to close the airspace for a week? Does that make any sense?”
“No, it does not.”
Even from across the world, Oliver could hear the concern inTakayama’s voice. And the irritation. Tako was a powerful civil servant in Hilo, but the army was apparently excluding him from whatever was going on. To someone like Takayama, less power was as bad as no power.
Clearly there was a problem, at least from where Takayama sat. Maybe a big one.
“Oliver,” Takayama said. “You still there?”
“I’m here.”
Cutler was trying to process what he’d been told and what he was intuiting. If Takayama was calling, he didn’t just have a problem with the army; he had a problem with HVO. And that likely meant a problem with MacGregor, the guy running it. That hothead. He didn’t know as much as he thought he did and, worse, didn’t know what hedidn’tknow. A loner and an all-around pain in the ass. It had taken only one day in Hilo for Oliver and Leah to figure that out.
Oliver had recently heard that MacGregor’s wife had left him; the news made Oliver happy.
“So how can I help?” Cutler asked.
“I was wondering if maybe you could come for a visit.”
“Tako, that sounds like a marvelous idea, given where we are at the moment. But where we are at the moment is Iceland.”
“It wouldn’t have to be a long visit.”
“Just a long goddamn trip to get there,” Cutler said.
“Oliver,” Takayama said. “I wouldn’t be calling you if this weren’t important to me. The city of Hilo has an interest in what’s going on. I’m afraid that interest is being neglected. There’ll be an eruption in a few days, which gives our city a perfectly legitimate reason to invite you and Leah here as official advisers.”
“I need to give you a heads-up on something before we go any further,” Cutler said. “We haven’t gotten any cheaper since we were last there.”
“I’ll pay the ransom,” Takayama said.
Oliver Cutler saw his wife smiling as she listened to his half of the conversation. She mouthed the wordAloha.
“How soon do you need us there?”
“How about yesterday?” Takayama said.
CHAPTER 32
Kilauea Rim, Hawai‘i
