The Valley of Dry Bones

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  Zeke leaned close to the windshield and looked across a dusty plain. “You’re right.”

  “After I mess with their car we oughta be able to hear what’s goin’ on in there. Then you git down there past the last hut on the right and wait about thirty yards back in them mounds o’ dirt where they was tryin’ to plant last year.”

  “You think the Rover can get in there?”

  “It kin can go past there. All’s you gotta do is show yerself when they come by, and then yer gone. If I do my job, the G-men’ll be lookin’ under the hood by then or followin’ me the wrong way.”

  Zeke held the flashlight between his knees and the pad near the floor-board. He printed in small, neat lettering:

  Will explain later, but on the lives of Alexis and Sasha, you can trust WatDoc. Follow his lead. Look for me past the last hut to the northwest. I’ll emerge from the dirt mounds when I hear you coming. Just open the left rear door. Then straight back to the compound. Z.

  As they made their way across the plain toward the cars at the end of the settlement, Zeke whispered, “You need to promise me something.”

  “Sure.”

  “If this works, I want you to visit us at our compound.”

  “What, you serious?”

  “I am.”

  “Knowin’ who I am and what I done?”

  “I think so.”

  “Even to yer vehicles?”

  “That was pretty obvious.”

  “And to one o’ yer people?”

  “You left a lot of tracks, Willard.”

  “That was me, personal.”

  “You could’ve killed her.”

  “Thought I did at first. Didn’t mean to, but I had cause.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “You got a rat inside. More’n one.”

  Zeke stopped. “You trust me enough yet to tell me more?”

  “Now’s not the time, but I kin tell you it ain’t any of the three here.”

  “And we’d better keep moving.”

  “That’s what I was gonna say. There’ll be time to talk. Now if we’re lucky, these agents didn’t think to lock they ride.”

  “That doesn’t sound like any federal operative I’ve ever encountered,” Zeke said.

  “Me neither, but let’s see,” Willard said as they crept up on the sedan. “Nope.” He swore. “Wish I’d brought one o’ my shivs. I’d be in this thing in a second. Well, more’n one way to skin a cat.” He felt around the grill and breathed more curses. “Hood release is in the car. Gotta do this from underneath. Least I got this.”

  He showed Zeke a Swiss Army knife he tilted toward the moon and extracted a dull, solid blade before dropping to his back and shimmying under the front of the car. Zeke heard clinks and scrapes, and Willard soon scooted back out. “Bing, bang, boom,” he whispered. “Wonder how them batt’ry cables come loose anyhow. Thing jist won’t start, and nobody won’t know why till they have a look. Then it’ll be, ‘What in the Sam Hill?’”

  He signaled Zeke to follow and they tiptoed to the one lit hut from which voices emanated.

  “So it’s settled then,” Kineks was saying. “I think this is a most agreeable solution. While I might have wished more of Gaho’s progeny could have joined, it will be very special to have representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as my father-in-law’s dear friends here with us for the burial service. We will make you all as comfortable as possible tonight and look forward to Ezekiel, Pastor Bob, and hopefully the doctor and some others joining us tomorrow for the occasion.”

  “We’re just sorry we missed Ezekiel due to the breakdown in communication,” Katashi said. “We would be happy to try to connect with him even tonight and be sure he knows that those others are also welcome.”

  “No,” a male voice said quickly, and Zeke was sure it was Officer Fritz. “I think it is best if we all remain here and welcome him and the others tomorrow. Should they arrive early enough that we could accompany him back to bring even more, so much the better.”

  Willard held out a hand for Zeke’s written note and whispered, “You’ll know when to git into position, right?”

  Zeke nodded as Willard moved around the entrance.

  “Well, hey there, ever’body! Glad I caught ya! Never guess who I jes’ run into. Zeke! I was makin’ a final run and let my guys go on home, and who was headin’ toward his own place but yer boss! I give him a lift and tol’ him I was surprised to see him ’cause I had left him here earlier in the evenin’, an’ he’d left me with ’structions to tell anybody lookin’ fer ’im that they could find ’im here. Which is what I’d done not so long ago to you three, right?”

  “Right,” Katashi said, “which is why we were surprised to get here and learn he had gone home.”

  “Well, he asked if I wouldn’t mind comin’ back and tellin’ you how sorry he was fer the mix-up and to give you this.”

  “Thank you,” Katashi said.

  “He figgered you’d probably stay over and he wanted you to have an idea what he wanted ever’body’s part to be in the service tomorrow night, just in case any of y’all were asked to say anything. And chief, er, uh, Mr. Tribal Leader, sir, he wanted me to tell you not to feel, um, obligated er nothin’ to have him er anybody else say nothin’ if that wasn’t ’propriate—he jes’ wanted his people ready in case.”

  “So you say you just saw him, sir?” Fritz said.

  “Yes, sir, I just come back from droppin’ him off. You know he’s not terrible far away. Fact, I’m sure he’d be right proud to know you’re here and gonna be takin’ part.”

  “Well, I wonder if he’d be available to meet even at this late hour.”

  “I cain’t speak fer him, sir, but I reckon it’d be easy enough to find out. It’s on my way home and I’d be happy to lead ya right back there. I parked ’bout a quarter mile across the plain so’s not to bother any of y’all if y’all’d already turned in. But if ya jes’ wanna follow me, it’d be no trouble.”

  “And we could get these folks settled,” Kineks said.

  “That would be fine,” Katashi said. “We’ll just want to get a few things from the car.”

  Kaga, the old leader, said, “The hour is late for me. There is much activity and there are many people, while I am still in mourning.”

  “Sorry, Father,” Yuma said. “Let me get you to bed and I will make sure our dwelling is quiet till dawn.”

  Zeke started moving when he heard Willard telling the agents, “That’s my tanker yonder. I’ll be waitin’ and when I see you comin’ I’ll head out an’ you kin jes’ follow me.”

  He peeked back to see Katashi and the Gutierrezes climb into the Land Rover. The blond agent said, “You’re staying, right?”

  “Yes,” Katashi said. “I’m just going to park down by the guest hut.”

  When Zeke was some hundred feet from the vehicles and hidden in the dirt mounds he watched Willard in silhouette stride to his truck, saw the inside light go on and off, the headlights turn on, and the tanker maneuver into position to leave the area. And there it stood idling, as if waiting for the government sedan to approach.

  Soon the Land Rover rolled slowly toward Zeke as he heard the doors of the sedan open and close, muffled conversation between the agents, and finally the slamming of the hood. The Land Rover lights went out, the back door opened, he leapt in and said, “Wait,” and the four of them craned their necks to watch. The sedan backed up and turned around, then raced across the open plain toward the tanker, which led it in the opposite direction.

  “Go,” Zeke said.

  “Oh, I’m going,” Raoul said, Benita next to him staring back at Zeke.

  Katashi sat next to Zeke, shaking his head. “As for you, my friend, you got some ’splainin’ to do.”

  “Just get me home, guys,” Zeke said. “I don’t even know where to start. And I’m not gonna want to repeat myself. Isn’t everybody going to want to hear this?”

  “Probably,” Katashi said
. “But what in the world, man?”

  “First, is everybody else okay? Cristelle? Jennie?”

  “The meds have helped them both,” Katashi said, “but not as much as Doc hoped.”

  “Speakin’ of Doc,” Benita said, “I’m not so sure he’s gonna be as happy as everyone else to see you, you know? He was pushin’ for the vote whether you got back or not.”

  That made everybody laugh, including Zeke.

  Raoul said, “You woulda needed a absentee ballot, boss!”

  “Hey, we’re not really going back for that funeral, are we?” Katashi said. “I don’t trust Yuma’s wife, and I really don’t trust those feds.”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Under what possible circumstances can that make sense? Before you and WatDoc showed up—something else you’re going to have to clarify, by the way—they were asking all kinds of questions about Doc, pretending to be impressed that he would be so social-minded and selfless and help people like this. But both Raoul and Danley said DEA agents detained them in Parker yesterday.”

  “And that blond guy was one of ’em!” Raoul said. “And I think that Fritz guy was one of the Indian Affairs guys at the car dealership. And both of ’em didn’t say a word about recognizing me or ever seein’ me before or nothing. I mean, you gotta be kiddin’ me.”

  “Well,” Zeke said, “the only way we would go for the service tomorrow night is if God makes it clear He wants us to. But in truth I’d hate to miss it, even with the feds there.”

  “Seriously? Why?”

  “Because of what Gaho had tucked in her fist when she died.”

  24

  HOME

  “LET ME ASK YOU SOMETHING,” Zeke said. “If the beloved matriarch of your family died with a self-written note in her hand, wouldn’t you insist it be read at her burial service?”

  “Depends,” Katashi said.

  “On what?”

  “Whether it was appropriate.”

  “Yeah,” Benita said from the front seat. “Lotsa things might not be right to be read at a funeral.”

  “This was from the Paiute Bible. John 3:16.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Raoul said. “I wanna be there myself when they all hear that, especially Yuma’s wife. I don’ trust her, man. You remember, right?”

  “Oh, I know,” Zeke said.

  “Who?” Benita said.

  “Danley was right about her,” Raoul said. “She was tryin’ to make nice an’ everything tonight, but she was the Indian I thought was a man in the drugstore yesterday. I knew I had seen him before. I told you that, Zeke.”

  “You did. But I didn’t know it was her either until Willard, er, WatDoc told me.”

  With that, all three of them started in on Zeke at once. He held up a hand. “I told you, save it till we get back or I’m gonna have to repeat it for everybody.”

  “You’d better call a meeting for the morning, Zeke,” Katashi said. “Tonight you’re gonna have four people on the scopes, somebody with Jennie and Cristelle, the kids in bed, everybody exhausted.”

  “Good call. I’ll have to tell Alexis tonight anyway. I’ll have Sasha stand guard outside tomorrow and we’ll do it after breakfast.”

  “I got to wait that long?” Benita whined.

  “I need my best shooter sharp tomorrow,” Zeke said. “Especially if we all go back for that burial.”

  “You know Jennie’s little talk and the vote for pastor is set for tomorrow night,” Katashi said.

  “Ah, that’s right. Seems almost a moot point now. Think we’ll even need a pastor, come next Sunday?”

  “I wouldn’t say that too loud,” Katashi said. “Everybody’s already on edge, thinking the end is near. Better give ’em some sense of normalcy.”

  “So I tell what happened to me, Jennie speaks, then we have the vote?”

  “I would,” Katashi said.

  Alexis and Sasha met Zeke at the door from the garage to the rest of the compound, Alexis with a haggard look of relief and barely contained rage. The three embraced fiercely and headed to their quarters, while Katashi and the Gutierrezes passed the word about the next morning’s meeting and vote.

  As soon as they were behind closed doors, Alexis said, “I want every detail—Sasha, bed, now—but first, you’re going to—”

  “Mom! I want every detail too or I’ll never sleep! Please!”

  Alexis looked from Sasha to Zeke and back and threw up her hands. “All right! Listen, I need a moment with your father and then I’ll come get you. Now go.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Go!”

  “I’m going!”

  When Sasha’s door closed, Alexis pulled Zeke close and whispered desperately, “Z, I don’t care if God’s called you to be the next—”

  “I know, Lexi, I’m sor—”

  “I don’t care if you know, I’m going to say this and you’re going to listen. I gladly, gladly, gave up my whole life for you and this cause. I brought our only surviving child with me and never looked back, and I have not once ever criticized you or complained or even questioned you—”

  “I know—”

  “Shush! I know God has His hand on you, and now it’s clear He’s called you to something bigger and more important and I-don’t-know-what than ever. But you are going to promise me right now that you will never again leave this compound alone. I’m not going to ask why you did or why you thought you could or should. I don’t even want to know. All I want out of you right now is the promise that you will never do that again.”

  “Lexi, I know. I was just—”

  “Did you not hear what I just said? No reasons, no excuses—”

  “It was stupid. I’m sor—”

  “And no apologies either! If the next thing I hear isn’t the promise I’m asking for, I’m done! Nothing in Scripture tells me God calls men to go it alone. You never even see the apostle Paul by himself! You’ve got one more chance, Ezekiel Thorppe. Don’t screw this up.”

  “I promise. Never again.”

  “Welcome home. Now kiss me.”

  Wednesday morning the three elders met in the Commons an hour before the meeting. “I have no problem rolling Cristelle’s bed out here,” Doc said. “Your wife’s on record that she’s abstaining from the vote, so she can keep an eye on Cristelle.”

  “So I suppose your wife, on the other hand, has reneged on her pledge to abstain, eh, Doc?”

  “At your insistence, Zeke. Thank you very much for that and for your expression of support.”

  “What’s this now?” Katashi said.

  “I am assured of three votes,” Doc said, “in case you hadn’t heard. As a loyal supporter of your man here, I might expect you would follow his lead. And in that case, we could just announce that the elders are unanimous and thus there is no need for the general election.”

  Katashi shook his head. “It’s fair to say I am thoroughly confused. Zeke, your abstaining was the whole reason for—”

  “And my saying I’d vote for Doc was wholly in the spirit of good sportsmanship. Silly of me to dream he might return the favor. Gabrielle sweetly suggested our wives agree to abstain in the interest of their friendship, so—”

  “How nice,” Katashi said.

  “That’s what I thought, so I—”

  “So, after Alexis promised to abstain,” Doc said, “Zeke naïvely told Gabrielle he would vote for me and that she shouldn’t feel bound to abstain.”

  “Wow,” Katashi said, “that was naïve, wasn’t it, Zeke? Why don’t you just hand it—”

  “That’s exactly what Alexis said. But in the spirit of fairness—and in the spirit of his wife’s original intent, Doc ought to—”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Doc said. “Don’t be changing the rules of the game now that it’s already begun.”

  “This is hardly a game, Doc,” Zeke said.

  “I agree,” Katashi said.

  “Well, you’re the one who’s put things in motion,” Doc said, �
�and I am formally protesting that you have given yourself the option of speaking before the vote. My request to bring a message in advance of the election was summarily dismissed.”

  “It’s just coincidence, Doc,” Zeke said. “I thought everyone wanted to know why I was out all night.”

  “No one will be surprised to learn that you blundered by venturing out alone and somehow stumbled into trouble.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.” But Zeke realized that pretty much was what had happened. “I’m not married to the idea of speaking before the vote. We can have the vote first or after Jennie, or whatever you guys think best.”

  “I say vote first,” Doc said. “Then Jennie, because who’s to say how she’ll be holding up by then. She may need to get back to her quarters to lie down. Then you can tell about your caper and how you have all but given up our location to the Mongers.”

  “Where’d you get that idea?”

  “Human nature, Zeke. People talk. That’s one reason I’m eager to get the vote out of the way early. Let’s just say your popularity ratings are at an all-time low. And the idea of a field trip to the Nuwuwu tonight after you attracted the feds? Good luck getting any takers for that little suicide outing. Why didn’t you just invite ’em here? They could just follow your new best friend’s tanker truck.”

  “We’ve got a lot to cover before the meeting,” Katashi said. “Can we get back on track?”

  “By all means,” Doc said.

  “If we’re going to start with the vote,” Katashi said, “why don’t I open in prayer, pass out the ballots, have Mrs. Meeks collect and tally the votes, and report the result to me?”

  Zeke nodded.

  Doc said, “Sounds good. With the Gills on record as not voting, only adults voting, Mrs. Thorppe abstaining, and Mahir out of the picture, there will be just nine ballots. Do we agree a simple majority wins?”

  “Is that right,” Katashi said. “Only nine?”

  It was clear Doc had been obsessing over this. “Well, yeah, there’s you, the Gutierrezes, Mrs. Meeks, the Muscadins, Zeke, and Gabi and me. Right?”