After four hours of trudging through thick vegetation, Nate emerged out of Kohala Forest in the late afternoon by following the Honoke'a Stream, a winding water path that lead him out of the forest to the estuary north-west of Waimanu Bay and south of the islands of Mokupuku and Paokalani and onto the rugged coastline below the forest.
He called Sully and gave him the longitude and latitude of his location and waited. Fifteen minutes later he saw the boat round the corner of the Honopue Valley. The boat they had hired was a dingy, dull-blue, barnacle-covered pilothouse boat in desperate need of a paint job but it was cheap and it was serviceable. Sully waved to Nate from the steering wheel and he swam into deeper waters and climbed the metal step ladder that Mia put out for him.
"Permission to come aboard, Captain Sully," Nate joked as he pulled the ladder out of the water and stored it away.
"Reminds me of the good ole days in the Navy," he remarked, chuckling. Sully was a middle-aged man, with slicked back grey hair and a grey push broom moustache. As always, he was dressed in cargo pants and a button up Hawaiian shirt and had an ever-present, though unlit, cigar sandwiched between his teeth.
"Except this time we're doing legitimate business and not running illegal poker games in the janitors closet of the USS South Carolina"
Sully shrugged, "In my defence, there isn't a whole lot to do out in the middle of the Indian Ocean during peacetime."
"You could have done work."
Sully snorted, "There's no money in that, Nate."
Despite the wry smile, Nate shook his head and turned to Mia where he was met with expectation in her chocolate brown eyes.
"Ahh, you probably want to see the video."
She nodded eagerly.
He shrugged off his backpack and pulled out the video recorder and handed it to Sully.
While Nate dried himself with a towel, Sully pulled a small, lightweight laptop out of a bag and set it up on a small, salt-blasted table. He connected the recorder to the laptop and loaded the video file and hit play.
"Here you go" he said to Mia who sat in front of the laptop while Nate and Sully watched from behind her.
By the time they finished watching, the sun was setting and long shadows from the cliffs below the Kohala Forest Reserve blanketed the boat.
"Well I'll be goddamned" said Sully as Mia closed the laptop lid.
"Nate, this is incredible. We never would have found this if it wasn't for you. The Bishop Museum owes you a great debt."
Putting up his hands in a placid gesture, "As long as the money is good, the museum owes me nothing else."
"Especially since you knocked over that statue of Ku," added Sully, unhelpfully.
"That was the Peabody Museum" Nate protested.
"They all work together, Nate. They're like a clique and they never forget" he added solemnly.
"We better get back." Mia said, interrupting whatever retort Nate had planned. "I have some calls to make and have to organise permits and access to the site." Then added, "Will you stay around for the discovery?"
Nate gave Sully a look, who returned it with a slight nod, "May as well, at least for beginning. Once you start photographing and itemising everything, the excitement wears off.
"We don't have a whole lot else planned anyway" added Sully.
Mia couldn't keep the grin off her face, "Great."
She handed the laptop to Nate who packed away while Sully started the engine and they headed back to the marina in Kailua-Kona.
They had dinner at their hotel restaurant in Kailua-Kona, a kind of mini-celebration for their discovery then Mia spent the rest of her night in her room making calls to organise permits and a work crew, as well as a call to the CEO of the Bishop Museum - Stefanie Keahi - and the Historian - Steven Masters - to give them the good news.
Nate and Sully returned to their room soon after Mia departed for her own. The rooms were a basic two-bedder with an ocean view and currently was a mess of maps, documents, notes and pictures. Sully sat on the bed flicking through the TV channels while Nate started gatherng up all the documents.
"I should probably collect these up, Mia might want these for referencing or...something."
Sully just grunted from his bed.
"Once we get paid, I'm thinking we take a break. Head to Spain or something."
"Mmm" Sully grunted.
"Or maybe steal the Declaration of Independence..."
"Mmm."
"You're a real conversationalist you know?" Nate said with a smirk.
"Mmm."
A knock on the door came and Nate put down a map of Hawaii he'd begun to roll up and walked over to the door. Mia was there, looking tired but happy.
"Mia" said Nate, moving back to let her in.
She walked in and took a seat at the small table near the balcony door.
"I just thought I'd let you know that the permits should be through in a couple of days, and the crew are leaving Honolulu tomorrow afternoon if all goes well. Stefanie and Steven will be here first thing in the morning."
"That's great."
"What about our fee?" Sully asked.
Nate shook his head whilst giving him a wry smile, "Ever so tactful."
Sully gave him an innocent look, "What?"
"Stefanie will have your money tomorrow."
"Thanks" said Sully giving Nate an I-told-you-so look.
"I was thinking-", began Mia to Nate.
"Never a good idea. Thinking is overrated" interjected Sully.
Nate groaned and Mia continued, "-since tomorrow is basically an off day I was wondering if you would take me up, see the burial site?"
"Yeah, no problem."
The next day they were awoken early in the morning by a constant knocking at their door. Nate answered to find a fully dressed Mia.
"Ready to go" she said as a greeting.
"What's the time?" Nate yawned.
Mia looked at her watch, "It's 5.45"
"In the morning?!"
"Yep. Couldn't sleep. Too excited. So much coffee. I'm meeting Stefanie and Steven in the restaurant for breakfast."
Nate yawned, "Don't any of you people sleep?"
"I'll meet you down there" she said with a smile and hurried off towards the elevator.
Behind him, Sully was snoring loudly.
Half an hour later, Nate, trailed by a grumpy, dishevelled Sully walked into the hotel restaurant and found Mia sitting at a table with two others.
"Nathan, Victor," Mia said happily. "I'd like you to meet our CEO, Doctor Stefanie Keahi-" she indicated a short, elderly woman with tanned skin, long greying hair worn out and brown eyes. "-and Doctor Steven Masters, Historian and Researcher at the Bishop Museum." Steven was a short, middle aged with close cropped blonde hair, blue eyes behind thick-rimmed glasses and a body that suggested he spent a lot of time behind a desk these days.
They all shook hands and took their seats.
"I believe the Bishop Museum owes you a debt of gratitude" began Dr. Keahi. "Without your work King Kamehameha's burial site may never have been found."
Nate gave a small smile, "It's no problem."
"Mia has told us all about how you discovered the site and we have seen the video of the find. It is truly remarkable" added Dr. Masters. Though he gazed at Nate and Sully with a stony face that said he found it anything but remarkable.
A waiter attended and they all ordered coffee and a light breakfast, except Sully who ordered the farmers breakfast.
Clearing his throat, Nate asked, "Will you both be visiting the site today?"
"Dr. Masters will be attending. Mia says it is quite a hike to the entrance and these days I am not quite up to a vigorous walk through the forest" said Stefanie with a smile. Then she asked, "I hope you are not too badly hurt from the bridge collapsing."
"I'm fine, just a few aches and bruises, part of the job really" Nate said brushing off the concern. Truth was he was feeling very stiff and his shoulder had limited movement, shots of pain lancing up and down his arm and collarbone if he moved it too much.
"I hope that was all that was destroyed," mumbled Steven. "I'd still like to know what happened to the statue".
Nate ignored him while Sully asked, "Is that a hint of a British accent I hear?"
"Yes."
"Where in Britain?"
"You wouldn't have heard of it."
"Try me" he persisted.
"Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire."
"Scumthorpe?"
"No, Scunthorpe."
"Never heard of it."
Masters glared at Sully who returned it with a cold smile
Before anything else could be said, the waiter came with their order and they set to eating and conversation turned back to discussing the find and their plans for the day.
After breakfast, they took Steven's rental car to the marina where their faded blue fishing boat waited.
"You've been riding around in that?" exclaimed the historian with a look of disdain on his face. "The deck is filthy!"
"She may not look like much," said Nate, untying the mooring line and tossing it into the boat. "But she'll get us to where we need to go"
"I'd like to swab the deck with his face" muttered Sully when Mia and Steven were aboard.
"I don't think he is too keen on us." replied Nate.
"He probably knows we damaged the statue," said Sully as he started up the engine.
"Yeah probably."
"Told ya Nate, cliquey"
Sully guided the boat out of the marina and into open water.
"Once we get paid, let's get out of here." He grabbed a cigar and clamped it between his teeth. "The sooner we're gone the better."
Nate nodded, clapped Sully on the shoulder and took a seat next to Mia as the boat sliced through the calm waters heading north towards Waipio Bay.
His friend was right, they didn't need someone looking into them too closely. It was best to just get the money and scram.
"You can't smoke on a boat!" cried Masters.