Title: As The Sun Sets
Characters: Thomas Magnum, Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, Chang, Oceania Clan Members, Sylum Clan Members, Original Characters
Rating: PG-13
Summary: As the såun begins to set on Magnum’s life as Thomas Sullivan, he packs up his life in Hawaii. Before he leaves, Magnum enacts his plan to leave the Islands, a place where his family can live in peace as he prepares to leave them behind.
Sylum Timeline: 2060
The evening sun gave a red tint to the close-cropped dark hair of the tall man nursing a tumbler of top-shelf whiskey and cigar. His diminutive companion sipped from her own tumbler as they ended another day in paradise.
“Something troubling you, Thomas?” She asked as they watched the birds settle in the trees surrounding the lagoon.
Magnum turned his attention from the sunset to the woman who had started as a mentor and had become a friend.
“Not so much troubling as thinking about the future.
Hetty Lange had known Thomas Magnum for over thirty years and had become very familiar with his thought processes.
“I hope you are not spending so much time worried about what will be that you are ignoring what is.”
“No. I’m at one of those milestones where most people see the past through age-colored eyes realizing how short of time is left in the future.”
“So, you’re brooding?”
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Off causing mayhem with Morrow or whatever it is you do now?” Thomas glared at his former boss.
“There has been plotting and planning, but it will be a few years before any of that comes to fruition.”
“It’s about that time?”
“It is.”
“I’ll look for you.”
“Don’t fixate, Thomas.”
“I should probably have that tattooed someplace where it’s easy to see.” Magnum mumbled into his tumbler as he took a drink.
The two friends turn to watch the sun slip further below the horizon.
*^*^*^*
“I never understood your incessant need to get up at the ass crack of dawn.” Wyatt grumbled as he slouched in his chair with a mug of coffee.
“An old habit left over from my SEAL days.”
“It’s a good thing I’m around. You’d end up acting like Higgins.”
Magnum nearly snorted coffee out his nose at his lover’s declaration. “I can imagine myself doing a lot of things, Wyatt, but acting like Higgins is not one of them. He’d be mortified in his British stiff upper lip way if he heard you.”
“The man hides a lot behind that stiff upper lip façade.” Wyatt yawned before diving into his coffee. “Ah … The good stuff.”
“Should I leave you and your coffee alone?” Thomas chuckled at Wyatt’s antics.
“If you’re going to get up with the birds, Kapena, you have to put up with me and my coffee.”
“You could have rolled over and gone back to sleep.”
“And let you sit and brood through the beginning of another day in paradise?”
“What is it with you and Hetty? I’m not brooding. Self-reflection is not brooding.”
“So, Kapena, what self-reflection are you brooding over this morning?”
“You … Us … Our years together … Your shenanigans.”
“Now I know you need to get away from Hawaii. Higgins is a bad influence on your rascal self.”
“Higgins has taken himself off to Australia to spend time with his Mate.”
“You should have stayed with my Aunties.”
“And have them give me the disappointed eyebrow over my shenanigans?”
“There is that.” He set his mug down long enough to light a cigarette.
“I hate I’m not going to be able to have your back.”
“You worry too much, Love.”
“You get in SEAL mode and don’t worry enough.” Wyatt huffed into his coffee.
“I still see the sunrise every morning.”
“Ugh. I hate morning people.” Wyatt slouched in his chair, his mug resting on his stomach. “We should do this more often, Kapena.”
“We did.” Magnum settled back to watch the beginning of another day in paradise.
^*^*^
Hiroaki Inaba was not a paranoid man. As a fixer for the Yakuza and a Vampire, formerly known as General Chang, he considered himself an apex predator. It was only when he visited Hawaii did he have a feeling of being the hunted instead of the hunter. He knew his old adversary, Thomas Magnum, was involved in federal law enforcement, but the former occupant of Chang’s Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp had not been in the public eye for several years.
That thought brought Chang up short. He had lost track of Magnum, and made some assumptions based on his past knowledge of the SEAL. After he established his residence on O’ahu, Chang charged his daughters with collecting intel on any and all Vampires residing in the Islands.
He thought he’d been given a boon when they found Jonathan Higgins, Thomas Magnum, and a former American President, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had returned to the Mainland several months after their meeting, so the former North Vietnamese general ceased considering him a threat. The few other names his girls had ferreted out of rumors and gossip had appeared to not be worthy of his attention.
It was time to rethink his position. In his arrogance, he had become comfortable with this life. Comfort in his adopted children, his position with the Yakuza … Comfortable with the unspoken truce between himself and members of Oceania and Sylum Clans. He’d let his guard down, and lost track of those who could be a threat to his identity and his life.
The crystal tumbler shattering in his hand dripped blood and bourbon on the marble floor of his O’ahu penthouse was the only outward sign of his agitation. His daughter, Neeko, moved quietly into the room after hearing the commotion knowing her father probably had work for her.
Neeko Inaba loved her father deeply but held no illusions about the man. Any softness in the man was only shared with them, but failure was not tolerated. She stood quietly waiting to receive her orders, glad her twin, Ania, had married and started a family rather than standing here beside her.
Leaving the mess for his housekeeper, Chang motioned Neeko to follow him into his office.
*^*^*^
Lowering the monocular, Magnum walked back to an older pickup truck that looked like hundreds of others on the Island. After watching the interaction between Chang and his daughter. He knew she’d soon be looking for any tidbit of information about him.
He and Chang had maintained an odd detente for many years. Hiroaki Inaba never stepped outside his businessman persona, but then Chang never got his hands dirty … That was the reason for lackies.
“You and Change haven’t locked horns for years, Kapena. Why are you doing your impression of Riki-Tiki-Tavi now?
“I have to leave for a while. I’m not leaving someone the likes of Chang behind while Higgins and my family lives here.” Thomas headed in the direction of Robin’s Nest.
“You can’t shoot him down in the street like a scene from a spaghetti western.”
Rolling his eyes at his former teammate and lover, Magnum pulled his ball cap low. “SEAL, Wyatt.”
“He’s not Ivan, Thomas. Ivan thought you were too much of a white hat to shoot him.”
“Chang knows better. I was the one on point while TC carried Rick. A lot of guards didn’t make it back to the camp.” Magnum’s smile was all teeth.
Braxton slumped in the passenger seat. “Kapena.”
“You’re not the boss of me anymore, Wyatt.” Magnum growled.
“Someone needs to be. Where’s Higgins?”
“With his Mate.” He turned his attention back to the road.
“You know I’ll figure it out, Thomas. I’m intimately familiar with the inside of your head.”
“We were together a lot of years, Wyatt, but this is Vampire business.”
“Oh ho, so that’s how this conversation is going.”
Hazel eyes flashed gold with a bit of fang. “Braxton …”
Wyatt Braxton’s family had been Chosen Ones since Captain Cook landed in the Hawaiian Islands, so he raised his hand in surrender and bared his neck in a show of submission.
Magnum drew a deep breath and let it out to settle his Vampire, giving a snort of disbelief. “Try that submissive act on someone who doesn’t know you.”
“I bow to your wisdom, Kapena.”
Pulling the pickup into the NCIS garage, Magnum headed to Robin’s Nest his personal vehicle, a sage green Jeep Rubicon. Now that he had Chang’s attention, he needed to refine his plans. The last thing he needed was Frankie kicking his ass for doing something stupid.
A wicked grin crossed his face. Nobody had better plans than the Oceania Spy Liaison. Time to use all his resources … Maybe talk Quigley into visiting Hawaii to pull a little twin magic.
^*^*^
A forest of paper cluttered the usually neat desk of Neeko Inaba. She probably knew more about Thomas Magnum than anyone. Employment information, financial information, and as much personal information as her private investigator could find, but none of it led to the conclusion that he was stalking her father. The PI had followed Magnum, now Thomas Sullivan, for a month. All the man did was travel between O’ahu and Kaua’i. He helped the Braxton family work their cattle ranch and the produce farm while acting as Caretaker at Robin’s Nest while Jonathan Higgins was in Australia.
There were gaps of time when the PI could not follow Magnum. No way to use a drone over the Braxton’s private property without drawing unwanted attention, nor could he have traveled between the Islands without a paper trail.
A few weeks after his meltdown, her father had reverted to business as usual as the feeling of being watched disappeared. He added additional people to his security detail. He had been called back to Kyoto earlier in the month, and since his return to O’ahu, he seemed to have settled back into himself.
Pausing to look in the mirror as she left her office, Neeko took an objective look at the lines on her face and the gray in her hair. Soon, Hiroaki Inaba would have to leave this life and move onto the next. As his Chosen Ones, she, her twin, and her family would prepare for him to return. The paper trail was already being laid for a wayward family member to return to the fold. Satisfied that all was as it should be in her family, Neeko tuned out the lights on another day in paradise.
*^*^*
Two men stepped out of the luxury sedan parked at the private marina. They exchanged a look over the roof as the man on the passenger side opened the back door. Their usual cool and unemotional boss had been growling under his breath the whole twenty-minute drive from his penthouse. Inaba ordered them to wait in his car until his return from his meeting with the Shatergashira for Hawaii.
Touma Hasegawa’s mental deterioration was causing extreme paranoia, and he insisted no one be present during any meetings with his best fixer. The old man had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but he had not yet informed his Oyabun.
Chang himself was playing a dangerous game between the two men. He spoke privately with Oyavbun about the situation in Hawaii on his last trip to Kyoto. The Oyabun immediately began working on Hasegawa’s replacement and would soon be making an announcement. He did not want to be caught up in the backlash when the Oyabun recalled Hasegawa to Japan.
Caught up in his thoughts, about the imminent leadership change in Hawaii, Chang dismissed the man fishing from the end of the pier. His security watched the man and their boss to ensure he was not a threat, but he was intent on baiting his hook and paid no mind to the yacht preparing to leave her slip.
^*^*^
The man at the end of the dock continued to fish for an hour after Hasegawa’s yacht left the marina. Pulling a stringer of fish from the water, he nodded an acknowledgment at the men waiting by the luxury sedan as he made his way to an older model pickup. Placing the fish in a cooler, the man carefully packed away his fishing equipment. As he slid behind the wheel, everyone in the marina looked up as a LifeFlight helicopter headed out across the water. With a shrug, the pickup pulled away from the marina.
A smile crossed the man’s face as an ambulance raced past him. Magnum was glad he’d called Frankie. The Clan’s Spy Liaison had the most deliciously devious mind.
Dinner that night was prepared with the fish Thomas had caught as he watched Chang and Hasegawa take off for a business meeting on the ocean. He’d spoken with Lady Blossom earlier in the week. The Shogun Spy Liaison had relayed news of the change in the leadership for the Hawaiian Islands. Watari Fukaya was more big business than crime boss, but that wouldn’t stop the new Shatergashira from following the Oyabun’s plans. He would have his hands full until his relationship solidified with his underbosses. Things would be quiet for a few years.
The next morning, Magnum sat with his coffee enjoying the sunrise. The newspaper headline proclaimed the mysterious deaths of two prominent businessmen while on board a private yacht. Touma Hasegawa and Hiroaki Inaba were found unconscious on the main deck after a private luncheon. The captain had contacted the authorities. The authorities had not yet determined the cause of death.
“You’re feeling rather smug this morning.”
“You’re absolutely right, Hetty. At the moment, all is right in my world. My family is safe, and my enemies are … indisposed.”
“So, you are content?”
“I am.”
“What’s next on your agenda?”
“I’ll be visiting Wyatt.”
“I doubt that boy is very far from you.”
“He’s always popping up when I least expect.” They sat in comfortable silence for a time. “It’s been a real pleasure, Hetty.”
“You’ve met my expectations, Mr. Magnum. I expect you to continue to do so.”
Thomas gave her a two-fingered salute as the diminutive woman walked back into the house.
“How was the Boss Lady this morning, Kapena?”
“Her usual bubbly self.” Thomas gave him a smirk. “Just couldn’t wait for me to come to you?”
“If I’d waited on you, we’d both been retired before anything happened.” Wyatt leered at Magnum.
“You’re still incorrigible.”
“You needed someone to keep you from becoming a stick in the mud.”
“I’m sure you’ll be in a hurry to get back.”
“Maybe.”
“Take your time, Wyatt.”
“We were good together, Kapena.”
“We were.”
Magnum felt a soft breeze like the caress of fingers across his cheek. When he looked away from the sunrise, he found himself alone on the lanai. The sound of a horn had him heading for the front of the house. Directing the driver to the airport, Thomas sent a text with his expected arrival time. The sun may be setting on this part of his life, but he was blessed with friends to see him through to the next.
~ Fini ~
Very cool. This was fun!
Great story! Very enjoyable!
Thank you.
Well done! Everyone off to start anew. Hope we see more of Magnum and friends.
Thank you. It’s fun to figure out what’s next.