by Bella Knight
They nodded at him. Willow said, “We’re Valkyries. What do you expect?”
“Go help your sister,” he said, nodding. They nodded back, and went back to the main house to help Ajai.
Nantan knocked on the door. “He’s gone, or he will be once the cop car shows up,” he said. “Stay in here until he is gone, about half an hour. He committed a lot of crimes today, so he’s going down. I know you’ve heard that before, but judges here know the Nighthawks and Valkyries, and Iron Knights.”
“’Kay,” said Nico.
“Will you stay with us?” asked Tam.
“Absolutely,” said Nantan. “Come on, let’s do some laundry.”
“Laundry?” said the puzzled Nico.
“The task that never ends. He started singing “The Never-ending Song” and they took their hamper down the stairs. They knew how to separate whites from darks, and Tam separated while Nico loaded. Nico put in soap and fabric softener and turned on the washer while Tam checked the dryer.
“Nada,” said Tam. “Nyet, aniyo, nothing.”
“Okay, do you want this twenty minutes to be picking strawberries or the math module?”
“Strawberries first,” said Tam.”
“Let’s go,” said Nico.
More officers showed up. Jeffrey gave his statement, and Henry sent him with the broken shotgun, minus the shells, back to the house after the officers determined that it had not been fired. Henry gave his statement, then rode the horse around the property to give it some exercise.
Inola gave her statement, and rode her horse with Henry, enjoying the day, before swollen breasts reminded her to go back and feed the baby. Yoki gave her statement, turned over her unused bat, and went to go pick fruit as well. Ivy didn’t give a statement, and went to work after stealing a piece of both the apple and the peanut butter pies, and she drank a “forbidden Coke.”
Nantan finished his statement, then went in to circulate between the picking, and lessons on tablets the teens took draped over beanbags in the living room, or at the kitchen table if they wanted to take notes or do exercises. The Pomodoro buzzer sounded and the students rushed to do short chores —changing over the laundry, vacuuming, dusting a room, or setting the kitchen table for the next meal —before resuming studying. The pickers traded with the studying students, and the studying students went to slice the fruits and veggies and put them in the containers.
Henry came back from his ride, and circulated among all the students to check their progress and ask if they had any questions before he headed off with Jake to the homeschool at the Nighthawks club. Vu came over for extended reading time, and helped the students choose books from the required extended reading list.
The teens argued over what they would do with the part of their salary they were allowed to spend —most of it went into a savings account, with the video game contingent louder than the car or motorcycle contingent. Some were savers, and some spenders, and Nantan and Henry couldn’t budge the spenders too much. They showed them how to get video games for free online, or to pay ten dollars a month for the service; but some wanted the expensive gaming machine and games anyway.
Nico and Tam were given as normal a day as possible after their father’s raging visit. The social worker, Clarissa Rodriguez from the res, came by during a Pomodoro break with the counselor, Ava. They all took horses out for a ride along the trails, giving the boys time to breathe while they related the stories. Clarissa was impressed as hell with the other students blocking their door with baseball bats.
Ava decided to talk to Ajai, but then discarded the idea. The girl had two mothers, to protect her —but she seemed hell-bent on protecting herself. Ava laughed to herself, as she watched the boys settle into the ride, steady on the horses despite their fright. Nantan was a good horseman, and he’d taught them well. Ajai’s speech, as had been described it to her, showed an insight far past her years. Valkyrie, she thought.
Wraith had a vested interest in finding out just what was going on with Bodaway Teton. She checked with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department about the man. She heard nothing for a few hours, settling in to bang out the paperwork about the incident. Thrasher had made the arrest and Wraith was determined not to interfere …yet.
Thrasher told him that the man had received medical attention —no permanent damage, just bruising, and had blood tests. He was questioned, but simply ranted in Sioux, English, and Spanish. The LVMPD dutifully recorded all his statements, and asked various officers to help translate. He was charged with trespassing, violating two restraining orders, and assaulting a minor. The fact that the minor didn’t have a scratch on her was immaterial. He had both threatened the life of a minor and attacked her.
“Keep me posted on the arraignment?” asked Wraith.
“Will do,” said Thrasher. “I get any points with Herja?”
“You literally dropped everything to help her go save her child,” said Wraith. “I call points, but not about her going easy on you in the practice room. She may actually go harder on you because she sees potential in you.”
“Potential in me?” said Thrasher.
“Yeah, as in you don’t suck, and you can get a lot better than what you are now.” Wraith thought of her own training sessions with Herja, and winced.
“I’ll get better,” said Thrasher.
“See that you do,” said Wraith. “Or she may kill you in training.” Thrasher laughed ruefully, and hung up.
The arraignment was held, and Bodaway was held without bail as there were pending murder charges in Arizona. His wife had died. The Nighthawks took a ride to pick up her ashes and take them to Lake Havasu for the ceremony. The boys seemed shell-shocked. They had few good memories of their mother; she was poor, uneducated, and believed she was “sinful” and therefore deserved the beatings her husband gave her. It never occurred to her to protect her sons from his rage, until that last fatal night. Ivy and Wraith talked of her courage in standing up to Bodaway and protecting her sons. The boys then, for the first time, cried, not at the ceremony, but that night in the tent.
They went back to get anything the boys wanted from the house, but it looked as if every single piece of furniture had been smashed, the boys’ things scattered, torn, and broken, and blood still on the floor. Henry kept them outside as Ivy and Wraith went in, and came out fuming.
The house was sold for next to nothing, as it was sagging, with peeling paint and holes in the roof. The house was razed by the new owner, who wanted a log cabin she could build herself. The money was put aside for the boys’ education. Nantan finished his parenting classes, and as he’d already been investigated because of the school, he got custody of Nico and Tam while the father’s rights were severed.
Herja and Rota bragged about their daughter to the Valkyries. It was decided that Ajai was ready to begin more advanced training; they had been holding off until her eighteenth birthday. Ajai was pulled out of Henry’s farm for a few hours or days at a time. She brought her school laptop with her. She was trained in fighting skills, aikido to begin with, then sword, knife, staff, and spear training. Her archery was so accurate so early, that Henry set up hay bales with targets on them behind the hydroponics farm to shoot. While walking, running, and on horseback. They also trained her how to use a rifle and a handgun.
David and Henry took the students out with Native guides hiking and rock-climbing, so that part was covered. As her body got hard and strong, the other students clamored for the training. The girls went with the Valkyries, and some of the boys learned aikido. Others preferred their video game time.
The winter winds came, frigid off the mountains. Everyone wore leather jackets and gloves. Rides grew less frequent, as the wind gusts made long rides dangerous, especially through the mountain passes. They rode to California before the winds got too bad, and spent a lovely few days wandering from Santa Monica to Venice Beach in Los Angeles, before heading down the Pacific Coast Highway to Long Beach. The Valkyries came, so the female
teens rode behind them, and the males rode with the Nighthawks.
The teens took surfing lessons, and they ate fantastic seafood and shopped. They sent boxes of art posters home; the teens finally found something they could spend their money on that wouldn’t break the bank. They built huge sandcastles and drank sodas on rented chairs. Then, they took the Pacific Coast Highway to San Diego. They hit up Balboa Park, Old Town, and Point Loma. They found a campground and went out to pick up huge bags full of Mexican food to eat on park benches, overlooking the ocean. They drank sodas and played soccer and threw Frisbees. They got into a game of tag football, then found a field and had their own kickball game with a soccer ball. Tam and Nico began to laugh again, even fight over who got to ride with whom.
They rode back up the Pacific Coast Highway to Redondo Beach, where they learned to surf again and eat more seafood. They hit Griffith Park Observatory late in the day, so they wandered the park and caught a planetarium show, then went out to watch the stars through the telescope. They rode out to the high desert, and ate a late meal at a burger joint. They got home late, went to bed, and slept in the next morning. Inola had animal-feeding duty, and she was up early already, after she fed her own child.
The day after the trip, they did laundry and picked veggies, but classes were suspended. They rode horses and shot arrows and walked trails. Nantan brought the veggies into the cutting room, and he, Henry, and Vi prepared the delivery orders. Nantan and Henry filled up the truck, and Nantan and Henry did the deliveries.
They made it back in time for a lunch of grilled chicken, cheese, and mushroom sandwiches, with home fries, and various juices and sodas. The teens became completely inert, barely making it over to the house to get their tablets; they laid around on the beanbags. Nantan played Uno with some of them.
They were eating a snack of veggie and corn chips and salsas when the police car drove up. They walked straight to the student dorms, hands on their guns. Jeffrey saw them, and sent a 911 to Henry and Wraith. This wasn’t normal, and he knew it. He got on the horse, and jumped her clean over the fence to the officers. He rode up as they were pounding on the door.
Ajai opened the door. “May I help you?” she asked. They shouldered past her. Infuriated, she pulled out a phone and sent a 911 text to Wraith and Herja.
Nantan stood. “Did anyone give you permission to enter?” he asked. “What seems to be the trouble, officers?” he said.
He didn’t know either of them. One was dark-haired and short, with obvious lifts in his shoes, with the name tag, “Fuller.” The other was tall and blonde, with a pock-marked face, with the nameplate that said, “Dalca.”
Fuller pulled out a gun and pointed it at Nantan. “Freeze! You are under arrest,” he said.
“On what charge?” asked Nantan.
“The murder of Bodaway Teton,” said Dalca.
2
The Long Game
“Some people are just too damn stupid to live.”
Ajai texted the new information to Wraith and Skuld. Skuld was in a class and didn’t get the information immediately. Wraith did, and she called over to the jail to find out when and how Bodaway had died. She grabbed her leather jacket and rushed to her bike. She put her headphones in her ears.
“Bodaway Teton got out on bail,” said the corrections officer.
“How the hell did that happen?” asked Wraith. “He attacked my niece in broad daylight.”
“Dunno,” said the officer. “The only thing I know is that the FBI is involved. Don’t you people talk to each other?”
“You would think,” said Wraith. “Thank you.”
She hung up, called the prosecuting attorney, then hopped on her Harley, heading for the station that would process Nantan. The prosecuting attorney had been replaced, so Wraith endured a runaround until she got to the correct person.
“This guy shouldn’t have been out of prison,” said Wraith.
“Weirdest shit I ever saw,” said Lacey Halge, the prosecuting attorney on the case. “Some sort of FBI business. Witness, I think.”
“To what?” asked Wraith. “I’m DEA, and I have contacts in ATF. This man was not a dealer or seller of anything, just a violent user of drugs and alcohol.”
“Dunno,” said Lacey.
“Please give me the FBI contact on the case,” said Wraith. “How did Bodaway die?”
“He’s dead?” asked Lacey. “First I’ve heard of it.” She rustled some paper. “Frank Wilson. Special Agent.”
“Not for long,” said Wraith.
Wraith called the “dirty FBI” for help. “I think I have a bad agent,” she said.
“Fuck that shit,” said Stankovic, the one she’d worked for before. “Who is this walking dead person?”
“Frank Wilson, Special Agent. Have no idea out of what office. I’ve worked with the Vegas office many times and never heard the name.”
“What did this prick do?”
“Let a guy out of prison who murdered his wife and physically attacked my niece, all while violating two restraining orders on private property.”
“Fuck,” said Stankovic.
“The fucker they let out is dead, so that’s good, but they arrested my friend. I need to know the date, time, place, and manner of death. My friend has physically been with me all week, so I know they’ve got the wrong guy.”
“Looks like a long game,” said Stankovic.
“I think so, too,” said Wraith. “With my friend, who was physically protecting this dead asshole’s kids when the asshole was arrested. It’s unfair he’s caught up in it.”
“Fuck me,” said Stankovic.
“’Fraid not,” said Wraith. “I’m spoken for.”
Stankovic laughed. “Talk to you in a few.” He hung up.
Deep Waters
Nantan sat quietly in the concrete room with the metal chairs, making mental lists —picking lists, shopping lists, ideas for lessons in Sioux and Apache. The Wolfpack were learning Paiute from Henry and David, but some of them wanted to learn Apache and Sioux, too. There were already online learning modules for Dine (Navajo) and Hopi. He thought he could improve on them a little. He would stop, stare at a wall, and think before writing each item.
His Sioux lawyer showed up nearly three hours later, having flown in from Phoenix. She had long black hair, a chiseled nose, and the erect manner of their people. Ana Whitehorse was very young, and very smart.
“Get these cuffs off my client,” she snapped. Nantan couldn’t hear what the guard said. “Did he resist arrest? No, he did not. Has he been convicted of a violent act? No, he has not. Uncuff him, NOW.” Her voice grew very, very vicious.
The man with the black suit and a hint of a paunch opened the cuffs.
“Chains? Really?” said Ana. “You felt that unsafe? One guy shorter than all of you?” She kept making cutting remarks until the paunchy guy left the room and shut the door behind him.
Nantan quietly explained the situation and she made notes on a yellow legal pad. She asked to see the pictures from the California trip, and Nantan relaxed more, ever so slightly. He knew he hadn’t done it, but now he would have proof that even the FBI could not ignore. He showed picture after picture, including a shot near a bank.
“Did you use an ATM there?”
“Twice,” he said.
“Where and when?” She sat, pen ready to write.
“The closest bank to the south end of the hotel.” He gave her the name of the hotel, and the bank —probably Wells Fargo.
He remembered a red sign —and what he could see from that ATM. He gave the other one, on the road at a truck stop. He also used his credit card to buy gas, go to restaurants, and buy groceries.
“How much credit is on that card?” she asked, and asked to see it.
He handed it over. “It’s reloadable. I asked Henry to load it up once a month with my spending salary. I prefer not to carry cash, but the Wolfpack sometimes wants candy or other small things. I keep track of their salaries for H
enry, and give the information to him.” He showed her the notes he took on the trip. “Each one gets a cut of the sales and money for delivery fees for packing, and the delivery of the grocery box business, too.”
“What is your salary?” Ana asked. Nantan told her, and she gave him a predatory smile that made it clear she was a Valkyrie. “I can tell you this,” she said, “Wraith gave me the date and time of death, and you couldn’t have been there.”
“Why, was he out of prison?”
Ana smiled that predatory smile again. “I believe there is someone in the government, probably FBI. They thought they could use Bodaway to do something illegal, and not get information, as they claim. He was a low-level res drunk, not some sort of kingpin. He shouldn’t have been out of prison; the man murdered his wife in front of his children. Twice, he was let out. I think this is an attempt to throw blame anywhere else than where it belongs.”
Nantan looked at her with kind eyes, but it still didn’t change the predicament he was in, right now.
She smiled again, and almost made him recoil with its fierceness. “They thought they had a dumb, violent Indian on their hands, but the facts are the opposite. Even when he confronted you, the girls hit him, not you. That’s on record. Someone didn’t do their homework before setting you up.” She sat up and stood. “I’ll get this party started. I assure you, Wraith and I are hanging someone out to dry for this.”
“Thank you,” said Nantan.
“You benefit the Sioux,” she said. “We take care of our own.”
She went over and tapped on the door. Three men came in. The paunchy guy with the thinning hair stood behind Nantan. Ana glared at him until he backed off into a corner. A male in his forties with a requisite black suit, red tie, and shiny shoes sat down and stared at Nantan. He had small black eyes, a Roman nose, and long, thin fingers. Just like a pianist.
He had several files in front of him. “I’m Special Agent Ruon Harris, and beside me is Agent Garik and Agent Quinn is in the corner. Is it alright if I make a recording of this interview?”