Lester, outraged, slammed on his brakes.

The truck almost slammed into Lester's red brake lights.

Forsaking his other duties, one of the deputies approached Lester's van.

Lester watched as the deputy approached, and had his shotgun cradled in his lap. Lester cocked both barrels and raised it towards the window.

The deputy didn't look inside the truck. He told Lester, waving him on,

"Move along!"

The deputy turned away before Lester had to shoot him. Lester slammed the gear lever down and drove off.

One light was on at the Quint house.

Jeremiah Quint was playing gospel spirituals on a church piano in the family room, while his wife Audrey stood in a doorway, her arms folded, a bathrobe wrapped around her.

Audrey Quint said, "Are you staying up all night?"

She moved closer, as Jeremiah never stopped playing his piano.

Jeremiah said, "They're going to bust me tomorrow, Audrey."

"Jeremiah, why did you clear out all your guns?"

"They're going bust me tomorrow, Audrey."

"You keep saying that."

"No bullshit," said Jeremiah.

"Bullshit!"

"This time I'm sure of it. When I saw Tomo Oteas talking with that undercover cop—" Jeremiah frowned. "We weren't supposed to see them together. I saw it in his eyes. Tomo's helping them."

"Jeremiah, how did you know that man was a cop? Who told you?"

Jeremiah warned her, "Don't poke fun of me, Audrey."

"Seriously. If he was undercover, how did you know it?"

He quoted the Old Testmant, saying, "For among my people are found wicked men: They lay wait as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men."

"Jeremiah," she said absently.

"Audrey—"

"You just knew it, was that it?" Audrey was suddenly very angry. "How many nights are you going to sit around in the dark waiting, waiting, waiting—"

"They're coming tomorrow morning," Jeremiah Quint insisted.

Audrey backed off, calmer. "Did you call the lawyer?"

Jeremiah looked up. "Yes. Anything else?"

Audrey hesitated. "Is the money safe?"

Jeremiah said, "Safe enough. " He promised her, "They won't find it."

"Why did you move out your guns?"

"They weren't all registered," said Jeremiah.

Audrey hugged herself as if suddenly cold. Then she slapped the piano with both hands very loudly to get her husband's undivided attention. Jeremiah stopped playing the piano.

Audrey was angry. "When does this all stop? All this bullshit and deceit and fear. I want to be honest again."

"Poor but honest?"

"Yes!" Audrey became more excited. "I never want to be this scared ever again!

Jeremiah had resumed playing the piano, but Audrey slammed her hands down on the piano top again. She was outraged.

"You shit you shit you shit! I got little babies asleep upstairs, and the Sheriff's Strike Force is going to bust us in the morning!"

Jeremiah Quint kept playing his piano. "Go to your sister's house."

Audrey considered it. "Maybe I should. Why should I watch you get busted?"

"I don't want you to stay," said Jeremiah.

"Will you come with me?"

Jeremiah Quint was determined. "No."

"About Jimmy—"

"Stay out of it, Audrey!"

Audrey stared at her husband as she made up her mind. "I'm going to bed now."

"Goodnight, honey," said Jeremiah.

"Come to bed soon. We've got a busy day tomorrow."

"Okay, honey," said Jeremiah.

They kissed good night.

Audrey left Jeremiah playing the piano alone.

He quoted the Old Testament again, this time saying, "Her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones until the morrow."

He leaned back, closed his eyes, and played his piano for God alone.

Up on a ridge in the foothills Mad Dog sat in his underpants by his truck, drinking bourbon by the glow of his portable television set. He watched as headlights drove up towards him. Mad Dog took up his shotgun and holstered .357 pistol and waited. Tomo parked a stolen truck and stormed across the ridge to Mad Dog. Seeing Tomo, Mad Dog relaxed.

But Tomo was pissed off. "You, mother-fucker, you!"

Mad Dog was lost. "Hey, Tomo, what for?"

"My farm got busted, my grandfather got busted, and there's a warrant out for me!" Tomo jabbed a finger at Mad Dog. "Because of you, you mother-fucker you, I can't go home again!"

Mad Dog got as mad. "Okay, Tomo, so what the hell you gonna do next?"

Tomo mourned. "What the hell am I gonna do?"

Mad Dog passed him the bourbon. They passed the bottle back and forth often, drinking deeply, getting intoxicated.

Mad Dog said, "Maybe somebody snitched on us."

Tomo stiffened. "You think so?"

Mad Dog became suspicious. "Maybe. Maybe somebody did."

Tomo had a flash. "That haole Quint—" He drank before speaking. "Jeremiah Quint and some redheaded haole and Ginny Hong the undertaker all together in the Pikake Lounge." He had another flash. "And she's fucking that resident deputy Ka’aina - " He then concluded, "If I had known it sooner ... "

Mad Dog was disgusted. "What would you have done, Tomo?"

They watched Lester park his truck and approach them. Tomo and Mad Dog passed Lester the bottle, and he joined in with the heavy drinking. The bottle was in constant motion.

Tomo said bitterly, to Lester, "Mother-fuck you, too, mother-fucker!"

"Hey, mother-fuck you, too," Lester said. "Whose truck is that?"

"I stole it," Tomo said. "Only way I could get up here because you and your kid fucked me over."

Mad Dog told Lester, "The Sheriff busted the farm tonight."

Lester was stunned. "The grass there is gone?"

Tomo outraged. "Hey, fucker, my grandfather's in jail because of you fuckers."

Mad Dog corrected Lester. "We didn't lose our crop, Lester, just part of it. We still got the garden and what's drying up at the shack."

Tomo asked Lester, "Is that blood on your shirt?"

"Some deputy attacked me in a bar," Lester said.

Mad Dog was losing patience with his son. "What did you do to him?"

Lester honestly didn't know. "I was putting the moves on some chick, and the fucker just attacked me, and all I did was break free and come up here." He crossed his heart. "Honest Injun."

Tomo asked Lester, "Who was it?"

"That big Hawaiian from down in Ilima. Eddie Ka’aina."

"Maybe this is part of the set-up against us," Tomo said. "This Ka’aina is the one fucking the undertaker woman."

Lester said, "She was with him at Suzsie's Sugar Shack."

Tomo said, "She was down at the Pikake earlier with some redheaded haole who was with Jeremiah Quint even earlier."

"Some redheaded guy." Lester said, "I bet it was him at the Sugar Shack, too."

Mad Dog said, "See, there you go." He bitched. "Jeremiah Quint set us up."

"Let's go get him," Lester said.

"How you gonna do that?" Tomo asked.

Lester asked, "Have we blown the deal with that lawyer from Hilo?"

Tomo looked blankly at him. "Jack Draper? Sure. We got no dope to deliver."

Lester said, "We gotta have a crop to sell, right? So we hit Quint and we take his crop."

Tomo didn’t get it. "But he sold already, got his money already."

Mad Dog said, "Let's go get his money."

"We oughta," Lester said.

Tomo was lost in drunkenness. "Why?"

Lester said, "Hey, he fucked us!" Then he roared with anger. "Fuck him!"

Tomo could be just as rowdy. "Fuck him dead!"

A blood-red sunrise rose over the island.

Rafferty drove his rental with its sunroof open fast down a country dirt road alive with ruts and rocks. He reveled in the warmth of the islands.

But as Rafferty drove closer to the Quint house, with one hand on the wheel, he closed the sunroof.