Honorable Enemies (1994) by Joe Weber Page A

passengers. They momentarily grasped hands and then resumed the emergency position.
    Seconds later, while traveling much faster than the usual landing speed, the Boeing jumbo jet slammed onto the runway and collapsed the left main landing gear. The engines on the left wing dug in, slewing the aircraft toward the edge of the runway before they were ripped from their mounts.
    Trailing a long streak of fire, the JAL 747 skidded and bounced across a taxiway and runway 24 Left before bursting into a huge fireball. With the tail consumed by the billowing conflagration, the airplane shuddered to a halt as the forward evacuation slides began to pop out and inflate.
    Of the 281 people on board, 67 died from burns and smoke inhalation, including the Fujitakes.
    When he returned to the warehouse, Granville Penner was shot to death by his gap-toothed Japanese employer. After th e s mall man recovered the $20,000 from the drug addict, an accomplice tossed Penner and the machine gun into a three-foot grave inside the building, then filled the hole with cement. When the man with the disfigured ear was finished, the final resting place of "Big G" Penner looked like the rest of the floor.

    Chapter 8.

HONOLULU
    A refreshing breeze drifted through the rear windows as the well-worn taxi approached Aloha Tower, the famous landmark near Honolulu Harbor. Marcus Callaway cast a look at the sun-drenched blue skies and turned to the friendly man behind the wheel. "You said you're from Samoa ?"
    "That's right," the beefy cabdriver replied with a cheerful smile. "I'm third generation in Hawaii. Got three kids--two of 'em got their degrees from the University of Hawaii, 'an my third kid is gonna be a freshman this year."
    Wickham looked at the jovial face that kept darting glances at him in the rearview mirror. "Does your wife work?"
    "Yeah, she works," he laughed good-naturedly while he deftly eased his way through the afternoon traffic. "She has her degree, too." His pride in his family was evident. "She works as an accountant during the day and takes care of the house at night. Everybody helps out, so it ain't too bad."
    Without missing a beat, he swerved to avoid colliding with a lost tourist in a rental car, then continued his story. "Me, I drive a cab from seven to five, then load air freight from six to midnight." He laughed aloud and honked at another taxi.
    "I figure this way, man." He looked at Wickham's reflection in the rearview mirror. "We ain't got time to have no more kids." He belly-laughed.
    Steve was still curious. "Where are your kids now--the ones who graduated?"
    "They're all living at home." His voice was suddenly serious. "They can't afford to buy a house, not even a little one. The Japs have taken over the real-estate market again, like they did back in the mid-to-late eighties. They come in, buy millions of dollars of property in a few weeks, real estate people jack up the prices, they buy more, and so on. The locals, we ain't got a chance, man."
    His eyes focused on the rearview mirror. "They're turning the islands into suburbs of Tokyo."
    Marcus turned and looked at the lush scenery and then shared a glance with Steve. Everything was not so wonderful in paradise.
    "People like us--the ones who work and live here," the driver said glumly and poked his chest, "we can't afford to buy even a good, small house. The one we got--man, it's falling apart, I tell you--but we're damn lucky to have it."
    Steve remained quiet. There had been major changes in Honolulu since he first vacationed in the islands as a newly minted lieutenant of Marines. The peaceful serenity and natural civility of years past had been replaced by jammed sidewalks, crowded streets, honking horns, rude people, cramped accommodations, and soaring housing costs.
    He thought for a brief moment about his ex-wife, Becky. They had spent their honeymoon island-hopping from Oahu to Maui to Kauai. It seemed like only yesterday when he and Becky went snorkeling at Kaanapali