A Place of Refuge

* * *

* * *Susan was reading on the seawall with her legs dangling over the rocks below when he came up behind her. She looked up and smiled and then saw his face. "Neal, what's the matter?"

He sat down beside her. "It's bad."

"What is?"

"I called the woman who runs GYRO. Bernice Hollings, the one who spoke at the meeting we went to." He pressed his fingers into his temples. "Remember the launch site, the thing they were trying to stop? Apparently they didn't stop it."

"Oh. Well—that's bad news, all right."

"Yeah, it is. You know the blasting and all the trucks driving back and forth that started in the valley north of us while we were gone? That's where they're building it."

Susan stared at him. "What? Wait, I don't understand. I thought they wanted to build it on the other side of the island."

"They changed their plans or something. I don't understand it either."

"My god. Is all this absolutely certain, Neal?"

"Who knows? Bernice seemed to know what she was talking about. I asked her to meet us at the Kona Inn later and explain what the hell's going on." He hit his leg with a fist. "Dammit! I knew everything was too good to be true."

Susan set her book aside and slipped her arm around his waist. "Come on. Like you say, no sense getting upset until the facts are in. And you know how these things go. It may never get completed."

"Yeah, let's count on that."

"You never know, Neal. Look, when's the meeting with this woman, Bernice?"

He took a deep breath and let it out. "She's supposed to be there at five thirty."

Susan looked at her watch. "That's almost an hour from now. Why don't we get something to eat? You don't look so good."

"I don't really feel like eating." Tate blew out another long breath. "I wouldn't mind a drink, though."