Aloha, Y’all
CIA operative Fortune Redding crossed a ruthless arms dealer. Now she’s hiding out in remote Sinful, Louisiana, with a fake identity, fake hair, and a real price on her head. But just as she thinks she’s safe, her handler warns that Ahmad’s men are getting close. She has less than 24 hours to clear out and make it to the safe house in Hawaii. What’s more, they’ll be looking for a woman traveling alone, so Fortune needs a companion. A respectable, low-profile, non-trigger-happy companion. Which rules out Gertie and Ida Belle.
Mary-Alice Arceneaux just got a big surprise for her 70th birthday–a trip to Hawaii, courtesy of young Fortune Morrow. But with bounty hunters on their trail, and family secrets lurking in the unlikeliest of places, the southernmost state has a few more surprises in store.
Excerpt
The taxi driver was a friendly middle-aged woman whose car smelled like old cigarettes. She started chatting as soon as she pulled away from the curb. She asked Mary-Alice and Fortune where they were from, and confessed she’d never been to Louisiana. She did go to Vegas a few times a year, though, she told them, and she’d flown to Nebraska when her niece graduated from Creighton University.
“My, Nebraska’s awfully far,” Mary-Alice said. “Why did she choose to go all that way, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Lotta Hawaii kids like go Creighton. Never discriminate against the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, that’s why. Kept their doors open to everyone.”
“Are you Japanese?” Mary-Alice asked.
“Japanese, Hawaiian, Chinese, Podagee, Filipino, Scottish, German, an’ Irish.”
The rain thinned out as they drove out of town and up the coast. Fortune sat quietly in her hoodie and sunglasses while Mary-Alice marveled at the ocean view.
“It’s so unspoiled,” Mary-Alice exclaimed.
“Used to be all sugar plantations,” the driver said. “My parents both worked for C. Brewer. Back then, everyone worked the plantations. Get up at four, work by five. Lotta the old timers still talk about plantation days.”
“They used to have plantations too, where I’m from,” Mary-Alice offered. “Although I don’t believe folks recall them all that fondly.”
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This story is a licensed work in Jana DeLeon’s Miss Fortune world.
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