20 TARGET

 "Can you show me the face of the man who attacked you?" And there was the image; a black man's broad face with large dark eyes and narrow lips, an African type nose, short frizzy hair and large, white teeth wearing a shocked expression, and then pain and anger as Leo's claws raked the left side of his face. All felt the searing pain when the flashlight hit Leo's head and he almost fainted. It was all so vivid the three humans, two in the boat and Helena with Leo in the grotto, felt as if the man had hit them physically. They shut their eyes and jerked their heads back when the impact happened.

An outsider observing them would have been wondering if an invisible bat had hit them all at the same time. The impact of Lundy falling against Leo was the last sensation, and the next thing they saw was the image of a man staggering toward the shore. Helena stepped toward Leo and hugged him, tears obscured her vision, and she choked back a sob. Ivan swore and Gábor clenched his fists into a tight shape. All of them had fury in their minds and a hot sensation to kill that man. Leo overwhelmed by his outpouring of emotions and in reaction to those events, especially from Gábor, wanted to physically interact with him in a hug.

"We'll get him for this, Leo." Ivan thought, and a murderous emotion came through to all. It made Helena shut down and she pulled her attention out of the link. The emotions shared by all could be too much and she decided to work on blocking them. She felt for the first time how dangerous Ivan could be and she shivered. Helena knew from Gábor that Ivan had served in Afghanistan, but not much more, she just now got a glimpse of it and it scared her. She knew Gábor's mindset and felt comfortable with it because she knew he loved her and his emotion toward Lundy seemed justified because he was Leo's father, but she couldn't understand Ivan's reaction. She would have to get deeper into his mind to see what motivated him to such a fury.

They terminated the link, and Gábor was quiet for a long time as he tried to sort out his emotions. Because of the way they all felt now, they had to get clear about what they would do once they met Lundy. Right now, their feelings would lead to violence and that was not what he wanted.

"Ivan, in an hour we will be in sight of Niau. What do you have in mind? What ideas do you have to solve this fiasco without violence? We've thought about money, scaring the lights out of him, threatening him, but what if nothing works? Should we just let him uncover the whole plot and deal with the fall-out?"

"I have been thinking all night and I think you are the better man in peaceful ways than me Gábor. I'm a warrior and know plenty about fighting, but when it comes to negotiating and finding peaceful solutions, I would trust you more than Gandhi. When we find Lundy, I will bring him to you alive and then it will be up to you to find a way to make it work. I will enforce your agreements."

"That sounds like a plan. As long as we remain calm and don't let our emotions rule us, we should be okay," Gábor agreed and the men fell silent again.

A little later they noticed the waves had flattened out and realized they must be in the lee of the island, not more than about fifteen nautical miles to the northeast and they started to look for land with their binoculars. Another ten minutes went by when Gábor made Ivan aware of land right off the bow. Ivan lifted the binoculars to his eyes. The bouncing of the boat made it difficult, but then he saw the gray line stretching in front of them, indicating land. Gábor corrected the course of the boat slightly to port so they would be approaching the atoll at the northern end and aimed for Tupana.

 Fifteen minutes later the tree-lined shore was clearly visible. Gábor handed the helm to Ivan and moved a bit to the side so he could see the water depth, but all signs were they were in deep water. The absence of surf indicated there were no shoals, and neither brown patches nor any lighter color in the water meant there were no dangers lurking just beneath the surface.

About two hundred meters out from shore they observed a few houses and boats pulled up on the beach and a kind of ramp, to launch boats perhaps, and Ivan took a course toward them. Now they noticed a lighter color ahead of them and saw the surf that ran up onto the beach. Some people were on the beach, looking toward the approaching boat with the two men in it.

Ivan approached cautiously until the beginning surf lifted the vessel, but did not break under it. They could see the bottom and there were some coral heads and sand under the boat. Ivan turned the boat and headed out a bit and Gábor dropped the anchor, at the same time he noticed a small boat with an outboard engine, pushed by several men into the water, and heading in their direction. The anchor grabbed and Ivan put the engine into reverse to set it more deeply. When he revved up a bit, the rode hardened and to Gábor it felt solidly set. The small craft was now close to them with three men looking at them curiously and one called over: "Maeva, Bonjour, Parlez-vous française Monsieur, Peut être Anglais?"

"Anglais, oui. Parlez-vous l'Anglais?"

Another one spoke. "I speak a little. Ow can we ‘elp you?"

His accent was thick French, but understandable.

"We came to look for a man and we think he may be here."

"What eez name?"

"Jonathan Lundy"

"Are you Police?"

"No. But may we come ashore and talk there? We came from Papeete and it took us all night to get here."

"Oh, mais oui. Pardon monsieur, of course. Maeva."

"Mauruuru hoa." All three men broke into broad smiles and came alongside their vessel. Gábor grabbed a backpack as did Ivan and got into the other vessel. The men shook hands, clasping with both hands and with broad smiles introduced themselves. Kahekili, Etienne and Aunrie. They all took off toward the beach, timed their approach with the swell and skilfully rode it all the way in with the engine elevated enough to still have some drive, but when the bow touched, the engine was up all the way. Everybody assisted with the task of carrying it out of the water. The men then proceeded to an open building made of wood and covered with Pandanus fronds. A few women were around and greeted the newcomers with open smiles and surprisingly they spoke in English; however, the men soon found out they only knew a few words. They brought some beer and water and Gábor and Ivan sipped on the water while the Polynesian hosts had the beer.

"You don't drink zee beer?" Kahekili was big and the one speaking English. He became the translator for all the others.

"Perhaps a bit later. It is too early in the morning for us. And we haven't eaten yet." Kahekili said something to the woman and they left.

"Oo -zee man you are looking for? We ‘ave only one man oo came eare two dayz ago and eez in zee care of doctor Kealoha. A pearl diver found ‘im two km sud of ere. Eez ‘urt and zee doctor eez looking after ‘im. Somezing almost ripped eez face off and eez lost much blood. Eez also got it viz somezing over zee ad and ee talks strange zings. Eez zat ze man?"

"Is he a black man?" Ivan asked excitedly. He could not fathom their luck. They had not expected to run into someone who knew the man they were looking for this quickly. The heavy accent of Kahekili during his account was hard to understand, but Ivan got it.

"Oui. We zink ee may ‘ave fallen overboard and washed ashore eare, ee-z very lucky to be vive." Gábor was just as excited as Ivan and wanted to know where the man was. Kahekili told him he was in the village, back a little way toward the lagoon, and he would take him there after they had eaten. The woman came back with some food for the men and they ate the fish Kahekili called "poison crue".

The fish, marinated in coconut milk and with something, that tasted like onion and garlic, was delicious. Rice came as a side dish and they had taro leaves with it that substituted for vegetables. When they'd finished their meal, they thanked their hosts and wanted to pay for the meal, but they wouldn't let them. The men just laughed, so Gábor reached into his backpack and handed over a pack to Kahekili and another to the women.

Kahekili opened the pack and his eyes lit up. There was a bunch of fishing hooks and pliers in it. The women found a sewing kit and a few candy bars. Etienne and Aunrie would have to share with Kahekili; it was a lot of hooks.

They began their walk toward the village, Gábor used the time to contact Leo, and again, it was as if Leo was just waiting for him. Helena was having a "reading" with Leo when he linked in. He wanted to tell them of their luck and see where they were.

As he followed Kahekili and the others, Helena and Leo were there with him and saw what he saw and heard. Kahekili talked to Ivan. "Zee doctor eez Leilani, a very charming woman. Ar asbend died yearz ago, a shark got im and ee died in aer arm. Tres triste. I was zer when it appen. Zeez black man eez ami for you?" Ivan sidestepped the question, asking Kahekili how he thought the man got his injuries.

"Zee injury on zee face eez very difficult to say. I see film in Papeete wiz sea monster and ee reepped people wiz sharp wat eez-zee name for zeez?" lifting his hand, showing his nails and looking at Ivan.

"Nails, claws on animals," Ivan explained.

"Cloz, oui. Maybe monster for real, no?"

"And what about the injury on his head? You know anything about that?"

"Zee diver Vaitui zink ee walked under a coco tree and it im. Appen before." Ivan touched his ear. He couldn't agree more. They arrived at a paved road and some dwellings, mostly in Polynesian style, open to the breeze and very neat and clean. The whole area looked like a park. Several houses were of French design, but much more retained their Polynesian character.

A larger building had a cross on the roof and Kahekili told Ivan it was the church and school, and most of the students were in there now. The Catholics and Mormons on this island were the most influential ones and they were a bit demanding. The way Kahekili spoke of them it was easy to see, he did not like the church. Ivan said nothing. What he saw in the world done in the name of religion was not conducive to be a believer, at least not to him.

"Zer eez zee fare of Leilani. Parle l' Anglais very good. Much better zen me. She studied in London. Very pretty, very magnifique docteur but maigre. Ow do you say, skinny, no viande, skin on bones, same look like a little dodairvai. Maybe you like skinny, eh?" His broad face broke into a grin.

What was he talking about? The men wondered what Kahekili meant when he talked about skinny women. Didn't he like shapely women? Was this doctor a stick? And who or what was a dodervai? The words of the man seemed to indicate perhaps another person, it sounded as if he said daughter, but his strong accent made it hard to understand what he meant. Ivan presumed he talked about the doctor’s child. He had seen some women in Papeete and to his surprise; many of them had been very corpulent, just the opposite of what he had imagined Tahitian women supposed to look like. Had the image of western men and women influenced the Pacific population to look like whales?

Neither one of them had an idea what to expect. Kahekili was a tall and rather corpulent man; heavy set with broad facial features and a very friendly disposition. The women Ivan had seen were friendly but big. His expectations of slender natives were disappointed when the reality of overweight man and big women confronted him when he stepped off the airplane.

How was this Kealoha built? Like a tank or was she a dry, bony figure? Gábor imagined her like he had seen postcards with women from Tahiti and the Hawaiian islands, a crown of flowers on her head and a hula-hoop figure. Ivan had pictures in his head of Sumo wrestlers after he had been in Papeete for three days before his friends arrived a day later than expected.