No Place to Hide

Opa Hysea Wise

Description

A riveting page-turner about a woman caught in the crosshairs of an agri-business’ corporate assassin.

Against hope, Smythe Windwalker Daniels’ anonymity is compromised and a creditable threat has been made against her life. As the threats ratchet up, she feels she has no place to hide, and the danger impacts not only her life but the lives of those around her. She reluctantly accepts the FBI’s protection, hoping to testify and bring a promise of justice to her community.

Smythe is a woman with vision in her eyes and fire in her soul. From a young age, Smythe was discriminated against as a mixed-race girl in a predominately white neighborhood. She leaves her current career to escape the corporate rat race, only to get entangled in a pesticide poisoning cover-up attempt by a mega corporation. While on the run, she seeks to find meaning in events that now threaten her life.

Through a series of misadventures, she discovers how all events are all woven together in this tapestry called “life.” As she uses her past experience to find meaning in her present, she begins to see beauty in the midst of chaos. But the harder she tries to hide, the more difficult it is to survive.

Sujets

• Women
• Suspenso
• General officer
• Woman
• African American
• The Women
• General
• Suspense
• Thriller
• LGBT
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Made For Success Publishing
• Date de parution: 03 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781641464932
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Made for Success Publishing P.O. Box 1775 Issaquah, WA 98027 www.MadeForSuccessPublishing.com
Copyright © 2020 Opa Hysea Wise All rights reserved.
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [e-mail].
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or publisher.
Distributed by Made for Success Publishing
First Printing
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data Wise, Opa Hysea No Place to Hide: A Novel p. cm.
LCCN: 2020903448
ISBN: 978-1-64146-477-2 ( Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-64146-493-2 ( eBook) ISBN: 978-1-64146-517-5 ( Audiobook)
Printed in the United States of America
For further information contact Made for Success Publishing [phone] or email [e-mail]
This digital document has been produced by Nord Compo .
Contents
Chapter 1 - Papahanaumoku
Chapter 2 - I’m So Sorry to Tell You…
Chapter 3 - More Time
Chapter 4 - I Might Regret This, But I’ll Do It
Chapter 5 - The Moment That Changed Everything
Chapter 6 - Return to Your Breath
Chapter 7 - Choose Wisely
Chapter 8 - Litter or Treasure?
Chapter 9 - The Choice Is Yours
Chapter 10 - How Did We Get Here?
Chapter 11 - Until You Needed Me
Chapter 12 - Restless
Chapter 13 - The Divine Dance
Chapter 14 - Let Go of the How
Chapter 15 - Returning to Darkness
Chapter 16 - What Do You Want From Me?
Chapter 17 - It Was a Set-Up
Chapter 18 - A Fish out of Water
Chapter 19 - Digno
Chapter 20 - I Think I Died
Chapter 21 - Find the Good
Chapter 22 - Blind Commitment
Chapter 23 - Aversion to Love
Chapter 24 - Lean In
Chapter 25 - The Renovations
Chapter 26 - Retrograde
Chapter 27 - The Expression of God
Chapter 28 - Grief Comes in Many Forms
Chapter 29 - It’s Going to Get Messy
Chapter 30 - The Shift
Chapter 31 - A Cup in a Pail of Water
Chapter 32 - Benef
Chapter 33 - The Gray SUV
Chapter 34 - Removing the Mask
Chapter 35 - Forgiveness
Chapter 36 - You Have What You Need
Chapter 37 - It’s All Come Down to This
Chapter 38 - Trust My Words
Chapter 39 - Trust Your Gut
Chapter 40 - All Things Are in Motion
Epilogue - It Was You All Along
About Opa Hysea Wise
Papahanaumoku

“ O UR LAND HAS BEEN DECIMATED ,” A KAMU SAID .
“Poisoned beyond repair,” Alika replied.
“No—not beyond repair.” Akamu turned from his grandson, gazed out toward his backyard and sighed into the depths of his spirit—into the Spirit in all things. Bird of paradise, hibiscus, and plumeria scented the air, yet he took no comfort in their perfume. He considered the makeshift stone wall, built by his own hands several years ago. No more than three feet in height, it ran the length of his property, yet he remembered only the anger he felt as he laid each stone in place. Beyond the wall, a road ran past his property, winding its way toward two of the towns on the island—Waimea and Kekaha.
Akamu recalled the Waimea valley of his youth. A sturdy man who toiled the soil of his ancestors, Akamu lived within a community where everyone worked hard, respected, and relied upon one another to survive. His ancestors were not only hunters but fishermen and farmers. Taro farming was prevalent in the valley then, and the farmers of taro would exchange their crops for fish caught that day. That way of living—of relying on another—seemed to be fading away.
His eyes peered beyond the road to the open-air testing fields of crops, which were sprayed all day, every day by unknown chemicals—chemicals that were beginning to have medical and environmental consequences, particularly for the children living within a few miles of the crops. He thought of the dust and the chemicals from those crop fields that now settled onto his land—the land of his grandfather. He could no longer sit on his porch and enjoy his land, nor would he allow his grandchildren’s children to play in front of his home. And, beyond the crops, he envisioned a clear path to the sandy beaches and the breathtaking ancestral waters of the Pacific.
Akamu looked to the sky. The sun was disappearing behind incoming clouds as the day slowly yielded to evening. He tilted his head to the sky, his nose to the air, and inhaled deeply. It will rain soon , he thought. Another storm runoff all da way to ka moana . He hobbled to the kitchen, pulling out a large envelope from a slat under the floor before returning to his living room.
“But the time to act is now, Alika. Take this. Hide it away from yourself, your friends, and your home. It is of utmost importance. You must see to it that no one finds these documents.” He handed his grandson a large manila folder held together by several pieces of twine. “I will contact you soon and tell you where you must take these documents.”
“What are they, grandfather?”
“Proof that our keikis’ lives are at stake. You must not allow The Company to know of your existence, for if they discover you, they will soon find the documents and destroy you… or anyone who gets in their way, for that matter.”
“I understand. Who will I give them to?” Alika asked.
“I cannot tell you now, but soon. Return to the valley on the mainland and keep the documents well hidden in your home until the time comes.”
“Papahanaumoku will be pleased, then.”
“Perhaps. Go now, out the back way. Let no one see you.”
Alika held the thick file in his hand—his thumb and index finger struggling to hold the weight of it. He believed it offered the beginning of freedom for his people from the tyranny of greed by the invasion of a capitalist culture. He shoved the file into his backpack and placed the pack on his shoulders, securing the straps tightly around his waist. Alika moved to the back of his grandfather’s house, peeking through the porch window, scanning the area. He gazed upon the land of his ancestors, taking it all in.
Could it be that we can repair our land, or is it too late?
He thought of Akamu and his land. A farmer, Akamu owned a small plot of about ten acres. On this land, his father’s father taught him the ohana way—the family way of living responsibly and with integrity within the community. He had watched as his father’s father provided enough produce for many in the area. As an adult, Akamu followed in his grandfather’s footsteps. He grew enough vegetables to feed not only his immediate family but his ohana family—neighbors who lived miles away, many of whom were now sick with various lung diseases. What produce was left, he delivered to a local food bank, using an old pickup truck with a sticky clutch.
Alika smiled at the honorable life his grandfather lived. It was that same ohana honor which drew Alika back to the island. But, tomorrow, he would leave the island under the menace of uncertainty.
With a solemn look upon his face, he turned to say goodbye to his grandfather only to realize Akamu had already retired to bed. Alika pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and placed a bandanna over his mouth, his eyes obscured by sunglasses. His body tense with foreboding, he headed through the porch door toward his car, which sat behind an old, dilapidated barn hidden beneath tangled underbrush.
As soon as Alika was out of sight, Akamu sat up on the edge of his bed and dialed a familiar number on the phone receiver.
“Hello.”
“He rides like the wind,” Akamu replied.
“Good, good. We are meeting in the next few days. He knows to keep them safe?”
“Yes.”
“They are originals?”
“Yes, they are replaced with copies.”
“Mahalo.”
I’m So Sorry to Tell You…


O ne Year Later…
Smythe laid restless in her bed, noting the date. February 15 th . It had been a night of constant tossing and turning. She peered toward the window at the far end of her room. Where is that light coming from?! Disgusted with her lack of sleep, Smythe turned her back to the window. She reached for her glasses on the side table before glancing at her alarm clock. She sighed, pulling the sheet over her head and closing her eyes. It was then she remembered the light which streamed through the edges of her curtain came from the porch lamp, which remained on all night.
She thought that perhaps she was uneasy because she had resigned from her position at work the day before. No, she sighed, it had been months in the making. Still. Whatever the reason for her restlessness, Smythe found herself mentally reviewing pieces of her life. Picking at it, really.
She thought about her name. She could not recall why her parents named her Smythe Windwalker Daniels. It was a name people either mispronounced or made fun of. It was Smythe, like Smith, not Smythe with a lon