Akane Chang loaded the hunting rifle, ramming in a shell and ratcheting it home. There was no point in getting some fancy sniper rifle; he already had a good pig-hunting gun in his personal arsenal, and the target wasn’t far. He’d got a call from a friendly cousin telling him where to find that bitch investigator and her partner; taking them down was going to be so satisfying, the perfect way to announce he was back in town.

Getting back to the Big Island from Oahu undetected had been more of a challenge than Akane had anticipated. He’d called in many a favor to get here, finally hitching a ride on a third cousin’s fishing boat and arriving at night. Many in the family were intimidated by Terence Chang’s massacre of Akane’s family, so he’d had to choose his contacts carefully.

Disguised as a fisherman, he’d visited the Chang’s memorial park area. His family had all simply disappeared, so not so much as a plaque marked their vanishing. Akane had brought lei, one for each missing member, and he’d draped them along the top of the memorial wall where the ash cisterns were stored. He’d taken time to grieve alone.

Freakin’ Terence had even shot Akane’s mother! Who knew that poser with his hipster jeans had a heart of stone beating under his designer shirt?

Akane tried to imagine pulling the trigger on his closest family members. His brother Byron was the only one he’d have enjoyed killing, and Byron had been dispatched by the assassin he’d hired to replace Akane—a fitting irony.

His family’s murders weren’t even being investigated, because no one who’d witnessed the massacre was talking to the cops, and no bodies had yet been found. His contact in the Hilo PD told him that evidence planted at their homes indicated that they’d left on vacation.

What had Terence done with them?

His imagination tormented him. That Akane had so much experience making people disappear himself was insult added to injury, and solidified the rage burning in his chest.

Akane ground his teeth as he ran a rag over the gun and checked the sights. He’d broken into his parents’ empty home to get the rifle. He’d seen a typed note left out for a house-sitting service. The note was supposedly from his mother, leaving directions on watering the plants. His parents’ home had smelled fresh and aired, as if they’d return any minute.

He’d vomited from grief in their immaculate bathroom.

“Clever Terence. I’m saving you for last,” Akane muttered. He propped the rifle on the windowsill, sighting down at the door of the business building that housed Security Solutions, directly across the street. “I’m starting here, with these rent-a-cops, and then I’ll kill everyone you ever cared about. And when that’s done, I’ll cut you up alive and throw you to Pele to burn.”

Terence would pay. They all would pay. Getting the tip about the location of the investigators’ office had provided a good focus, an easy first target. He wouldn’t even have to get his hands dirty—he’d save that for later. “Like shooting fish in a barrel. All I have to do is wait.”

Akane pointed the rifle at the entrance to the building. He propped a photo of the investigators that his cousin Penny Chang had provided him against the lamp on a side table near his chair. He would easily recognize that ballbuster Sophie Ang and her jock boyfriend Jake Dunn, but a visual aid never hurt. Too bad he wasn’t going to be able to rape the woman before he killed her.

He was saving that personal touch for Terence’s girl, Julie Weathersby.

Akane opened a bag of pork rinds and a Kona Brewing Company dark ale, and settled in to wait.