Free kiDNApped (A Tara Shores Thriller) by Rick Chesler

them. His nose had obviously been broken, and one eye was swollen shut. He’d told them that he’d been mugged last night in Waikiki after visiting an ATM, which didn’t surprise Tara. Drunk tourists walking alone at night were common targets for thieves everywhere, and Hawaii was no exception.
    While Dave dropped the anchor and Kristen readied her scuba gear for the morning’s dive, Tara considered her surroundings. She would never be truly comfortable around water. This was something she accepted about herself and did her best to work with. She scanned the shoreline a mile away, taking comfort in the familiar Waikiki landmarks, including the unmistakable outline of Diamond Head to the east. She wasn’t fond of small boats, but within the line of duty she would do what was necessary. It concerned her somewhat that she would be left on the boat with the near-incapacitated Lance while Dave and Kristen were underwater. She quickly located the lifejackets with her eyes.
    Tara's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the anchor chain rattling. Returning from dropping the anchor, Dave catwalked around the boat’s side rail.
    “You sure he’s going to be okay?” Dave asked Kristen as he stepped back onto the main deck. Kristen frowned, glancing back at her brother who slumped in the captain’s chair, nursing a mug of coffee.
    “He’ll be okay while we do one dive,” she said.
    Dave glanced at Tara, then back to Lance. He didn’t say anything to Kristen, but the message was clear: I’m glad Lance won’t be alone in the boat while we’re underwater . He’d had enough trouble with support boats lately.
    Kristen cast a worried glance at her brother as she continued assembling her scuba gear.
    “Lance?” she called. “Lance, you okay?”
    Her brother stirred in the captain’s chair, grunting an inaudible response.
    “So what exactly happened last night, Lance? Where were you when you were mugged?” Dave asked, screwing his breathing regulator in place on his air tank.
    Lance removed his sunglasses, exposing a grotesquely swollen eye. “I was just coming out of a bar on Kuhio—forget the name of it—when these four Hawaiian-looking dudes pushed me into an alley behind the International Marketplace. One of ‘em pulled a knife and they said ‘give us your wallet.’ I tried to run away instead, but they threw me to the ground, kicked my ass and took my wallet.”
    Dave shook his head. “Geez, did you report it to the cops?”
    “Yeah, I reported it,” Lance said. He seemed to have nothing to add, so Dave went on.
    “That kinda stuff does happen here. There’s a big drug problem in the islands—crystal meth...” Then he added, looking at Kristen, “You know not to leave anything in your rental car, right? Like, no matter where you go, especially the beach. Locking it doesn’t make a difference.”
    “Good advice,” Tara said without looking up from her cell-phone. She occupied a bench seat on the open deck.
    Kristen nodded, wriggling into the vest attached to her tank. “The rental car place said the same thing,” she said. She looked at her air pressure gauge, then pronounced, “I’m ready.”
    “Okay,” Dave said. He peered over the side. “Water looks nice and clear. Let’s just go over the plan one more time,” he said, donning his own gear.
    Kristen nodded while Lance puked over the side of the boat again.
    “I’ll get him some water,” Dave said, walking with surprising agility for someone with fifty pounds of gear on, but Tara waved him off. “I’ll get it,” she said, getting up from the seat. “Do your dive.” She wanted to get this boat trip over with and get back to the field office. She reached an arm into the small cuddy cabin and then handed Lance a bottle of water.
    “Thanks,” Lance croaked. He used a towel to mop his face. Dave was annoyed when he saw that it was his towel, but for the thousand bucks Kristen was paying him, he could live without toweling off after