by Sue Hardesty
Gerald was right. The desert was a black hole around her. Frazzled from worrying about when the next attack against her would come and what would happen to Willie, Loni took Froggy Bottom Road to an abandoned airstrip where she could see for miles, tracking any approaching light.
The strip had been an old American Airlines emergency landing strip. Loni wondered if the beacons were still up on the mountains. All one winter her grandfather and his brother had snaked poles between two donkeys up the mountains to build the airline beacons. According to Uncle Herm, her granddad's feet got so bad from the snow, he took off his boots and pissed on them. Swore it saved his toes from frostbite.
She slowly drove onto the triangle runway, watching for potholes in the ancient cement. It must have been built sometime in the thirties. Weaving along the tarmac to avoid potholes and trenches, she decided it was no longer usable, even for bringing in drugs. Certainly not at night.
Shining her flashlight down, Loni walked the edge of the runway with Coco. Recent tracks ran every which way. Kids car racing maybe?
Loni had come out here with Daniel years ago. He thought she'd like riding in one of the small planes the Butt Hiller kids flew. Headlights from the cars lining the runway provided landing lights for the three small planes that came in, one right after the other. They joined the kids who were passing around jugs of Thunderbird wine for their midnight rides. Hell of a fun place to puke from, they said. Loni remembered shaking her head at Daniel and going back to his car. She had watched the planes, worried sick about Daniel up in the sky. She never went again.
Back on Old Highway 85, Loni passed Taylor Road just as a wide, black hulk came out of the dark and rammed into her passenger's side, sending her down the embankment into a spin that finally slammed her SUV against a saguaro cactus. Airbags popped open all around her, imprisoning her. The heavy arms of a shattered cactus falling in large thorny hunks reverberated off the top of her SUV. One crashed into the windshield just before the sound of a gunshot. Coco's frenzied barking penetrated her haze, and Loni forced herself to focus. The airbags deflated enough so she could take hold of Coco's collar. She opened the door and fell out, pulling Coco with her.
Scrambling to her feet, she hung onto Coco's collar and pulled her away from the slamming doors on the highway. Flashlight beams snaked out, reaching for them. It was times like this she really missed a partner. When a light swept across her, she stopped to shoot at one of the flashlights and saw it wiggle out-of-control and turn off as she stumbled into a boulder. She felt her way around to the back of it when a repeater splattered around her, the shooter sweeping in half circles. They were hunting her on foot. She toggled her shoulder mike to call Bobby, and it came off in her hand. Shit! She had broken it when she fell out, and her cell phone was in the SUV.
As the brown dog dragged her away in the dark from the voices, Loni felt sand crunching under her feet. Coco had found a wash. Running, they stumbled up the wash. She could hear two people, one close to her. She hoped the loud voices would cover the scrunching sounds of her boots. When the sound of the voices dimmed, she stopped to catch her breath. Both she and Coco were panting in the heat.
Feeling along the side of the wash, Loni found a large outcrop. She cautiously pulled Coco around it. Coco tugged Loni out of the wash.
A man's voice shouted, "I found her tracks!"
A light swishing back and forth reached below her.
"Toss your gun," she quietly ordered, flashing her brightest light at him. Dressed in black, he looked huge in the flashlight's beam.
He turned toward her, gun raised.
She fired a shot at his feet, and he jerked and dropped the gun. "On your face and spread."
The other light bounced further and further away as Loni climbed down, warning him again not to move. "Even a twitch and you'll join your friends in hell." A Dirty Harry stupid thing to say, she thought, but it seemed to work. She cuffed him before she turned him over and flashed her light in his face. "Hello, Robert Teag. I heard you quit your job and left town."
With her gun stuck between his eyes, Loni searched him and found a cell phone. She pocketed it as she tried to question him. He didn't say anything until they heard a car start up and race away. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" he shouted at the car. "You fucking coward!"
"Coco, guard," Loni ordered as she positioned the flashlight on the ground, angling it at Teag, face down with Coco standing over him. Using Teag's phone, Loni called Bobby for a pickup, but it was an hour before Carl found them. Between the brief times she turned on her flashlight, she ragged on Teag as her adrenaline high finally dissipated. It passed the time.
* * *
Loni left Teag for Carl to book as she raced home. By the time she showered and got back for the task force meeting, he was already bailed out.
"Damn it!" Loni said to the group. "The man tried to kill a cop. Who let him go?"
"Chief did," Carl answered. "I couldn't talk him out of it."
Deflated, Loni sat and watched Tully hurry through the door.
"Sorry," Tully apologized. "Had to go to court."
"Tully? In court? You never go to court," said James.
"Well, he rear-ended me."
"Tully got hit by one of our regular DUI drivers," Carl explained.
James laughed. "What happened in court, Tully?"
"He was whining about needing to get back to work to pay alimony. Judge asked him, 'How many times you been married now?' Guy says five. 'Got any kids?' the judge asked. 'No, judge,' my man said to him. 'Fed them all to the pissants.'"
"What did the judge do?"
"Three years for smart mouth, one year for DUI." Tully sat down with a large bearclaw.
"Dropped by the bakery, I see."
"Court's hard work."
"Listen up," Carl interrupted. "Loni got attacked last night. Seems Teag is back and already out on bail. Chui? Thought you said the O'Neals fired him."
A mumbling of "well, shit" and a shaking head were the only responses to Carl's question. Finally Chui grumbled, "Well, that's what they said."
Carl frowned at his notes. "One got away. Border Patrol's looking into that." He paused, still reading his notes. "State called. They want us to look for somebody growing sex enhancement plants. Anybody know anything about that?"
"I do," Loni said. "Billy Joe, the perp I picked up the other night? Said he used them. That's what they're growing in the greenhouses on your ranch, Carl."
Everybody stared at Carl. "Say that again. What are they growing on my ranch?" Carl spouted in anger.
"Sex enhancer plants."
"Like what?" Tully actually sounded interested.
"What do you care, Tully? Nobody would go out wi'chou anyways." Chui's laugh was nasty.
Loni ignored Tully and Chui. "Come to Mama, ginseng, and Horny Goat Weed. At least according to Billy Joe. I don't know what else. Also castor bean seedlings. If they're storing them to grow, it's easy enough to smash a few accidently and leave ricin."
"If that's not enough for a warrant, I don't know what is." Carl's voice went up a notch. "James, you and Tully pick up the O'Neals. It's time we had a talk."
"Carl." Loni followed him out of the conference room. "Why did Chief bail Teag out?"
"Don't know, Loni. That's what I'm going to find out right now."
* * *
Loni sat with Lola, soaking in her warm, healing essence. She had the cost analysis for the motel ready for Loni. "I'll call the Phoenix Food Bank and ask about how they provide food for a homeless shelter," Lola said.
It was a relief to get back to mundane business. "Ask your brothers for a bid, okay?"
"Sure. We could ask churches for help, but they can be such a pain in the ass."
"I know. Most do-gooders are so judgmental that they make bad situations worse." Loni remembered the Baptist preacher's wife.
"Let's skip them for now. I'll call some shelters and ask for setup advice. I think I've got someone to help run it. I'll introduce yo
u to her and see what you think." Loni stood. Her fear, bound up in her worry about Willie, made her restless. Lola gave her a hug, holding her very close for a long time. Loni held her back, breathing in a slight citrus scent from Lola's hair, never wanting to let her go. Too soon, Lola released her and pushed her out the door. "Remember what I said. Be careful."
* * *
Seeking a secure place, Loni retreated to the ranch. She started with cleaning the corrals, kicking dried-up cow patties into pieces as she pitched manure into piles. She was soon filthy dirty, salty sweat and cow pucky sliding and burning into every crevice and orifice in her body before she stopped and put the snow shovel away. It was afternoon and hot when she climbed into her truck and headed home. Almost there, she heard her cell phone ring.
"James needs help at the Oasis Bar, Loni. You close?"
Crap. "I'm on my way."
She stopped beside James's patrol car and got out. Untying her hair, she flopped it around into a tangle. Grabbing a handful of silt from under a salt cedar, she dabbed it in Coco's water and smeared dirt streaks on her face. Worried someone would recognize Coco, she left her outside as she shoved through the door yelling, "Puta. Alquien desear puta?" She walked directly toward the bar and demanded, "Bottl!" A quick glance around showed her that James was at the bar with a Mexican on each side, threatening him.
"Get out of here, you filthy bitch. Nobody wants to fuck you!" a cowboy yelled at her.
Muttering, Loni backed off and sat at a table closest to the door and yelled again, "Puta. Alquien desear puta?"
"I do," said a swarthy man at a table. "How much?"
"Cinco dinero."
"No way. You're not worth five dollars. How about two?"
"Cinco! Cinco! Cinco!" Loni chanted.
"Barkeep," one of the Mexicans at the bar said, "give her a bottle of beer and shut her up. And keep her down wind."
Ignoring Loni, the two men pulled James off his stool and started toward the door as Loni stumbled forward, grabbing the bottle from the bartender. "Asshole!" she said to the nearest man as they passed. Sparking anger, he turned toward her just as she swung the bottle in his face and heard a crunch as he went down. Shoving her gun into the front of the other one, she snarled, "Police. Let him go or you'll lose your balls." James spun away from him before he could react and quickly disarmed and cuffed both men. Without a word, James shoved them out the door and into his patrol car as Loni followed them out. Slamming the car door behind them, he walked over to her. "I owe you. I thank you."
"De nada." Loni smiled.
James stepped back to his car, got in and drove off with a last wave.
"Wow," Loni said out loud. "That was almost fun."
* * *
Upstairs, she was too tired to cook. Another short night. She pried off her filthy clothes in the bathroom, showered long enough to feel clean again, and fell on top of the bed, still wet.
When she felt dry, she sat up and started her calling marathon, asking for Willie. No one had an inkling as to where he was. It was as though he had dropped off the face of the earth, like losing Maria all over again.
* * *
Waking up hungry, she made a quick meal of fried eggs and toast. She decided to write to Sandi before she got ready for work.
FROM: Loni Wagner
TO: [email protected]
DATE: July 21
SUBJECT: Still here
It was a crazy day. Between a shot through my window and somebody chasing me across the desert trying to kill me, I'm beginning to think I never left LA. Or maybe it would be safer to go back. I must be getting too close to something, but I don't know what it is. Time to find out before they do get me.
On to happier things. Bought an abandoned motel. Hope to help illegals stay alive and maybe find a better place. Lola gave me a cost analysis. If it doesn't run much over, I think I have just enough money left from Maria's insurance to get it open and a few rooms operating for a year before I have to figure out how to raise money to keep it open. We're calling it Maria's Hacienda. I think she would have liked that.
Take care of you and yours.
Loni
CHAPTER 22
July 22, 1:10 a.m.
"HEY." BOBBY HELD out a message. "You're late." He peered down at Loni with his light blue eyes and cautiously handed her the message. "This call came in at 2:30 this afternoon. Looks like a theft out in Harquah. Somebody stole a pig."
"Why didn't day shift take it?"
Bobby's Adam's apple bobbed like a nibbled float on a fishing line. "It's in Tully's writing. Chief initialed it, though. Apparently it's not an emergency. They know who took it. Tully said you could pick up the pig and take it back on your last run."
She read the note, wadded it up, and threw it back at Bobby. "Damn. A pig in my car?"
"Tully would say you already have a pig in the car. What's your problem? Anyhow, it's a pet. Pot bellied, I think." Bobby caught the note and tossed it in a trash can. "Guess he thinks he's overworked."
"He is." Clive stepped up behind Loni to sign out. "Saw him sharpen his pencil twice last week."
* * *
Cheered by Clive's joke, Loni left the town lights behind and started her patrol when Bobby's voice startled Coco into a low growl. "Hey Loni, you there?"
"We've got to quit meeting like this, Bobby."
He tittered a few seconds before he got serious. "Domestic at Hamilton Ranch. Three miles up Highway 88. You can —"
"Thanks, Bobby, I know where it is."
"I forgot you grew up around here."
"Have I ever told you how much I hate domestics?" Loni snarled.
"I think I heard you say it a time or two."
"Who called it in?"
"Wouldn't say. Man's voice, though."
Hanging onto Coco, Loni made a U-turn and sped north. Running without sirens, she pulled into the circular driveway, stopping behind a dark green pickup. An empty gun rack hung in the back window. She silently stepped out of her SUV, leaving the door open. Signaling Coco into attack readiness, she started toward the old farmhouse. So far everything was quiet, not even a barking dog. What farm doesn't have a dog, she wondered?
She had slipped into the shadows along the house when a gunshot suddenly rang out, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Ducking, she signaled Coco to stay behind her as she pulled her gun and ran to the window, peeking in. She saw Chelsa waving a .44 magnum toward a man rolled into a ball on the floor. As he tried to squeeze behind a beige recliner, her distraught voice repeated over and over, "Are you happy now? Are you happy now?"
Loni could hear the man muttering, but he was so doubled up on the floor that she couldn't tell what he was saying.
"You took everything!" she screamed at him. "Are you happy now?"
Loni stared through a small yellow triangle in the stained glass door and gave a hard knock, hoping to refocus Chelsa on her. Chelsa crossed to the broken window and stared out at Loni's patrol car. "Cops are here! Are you happy now?"
More muttering from the floor.
"You called." Chelsa kicked at the ball on the floor. "You answer the goddamned door and explain to James what a bastard you really are." She waved the revolver at the door, pointing it straight at Loni.
"Shit!" Loni stepped sideways and ducked, waiting for another gunshot. She reached back to the door and knocked again. "Hello, the house," she shouted. "Can I come in?"
"Oh hell, why not?" Chelsa sputtered and jerked the door wide open, slamming it against the wall so hard that the doorknob broke through the sheetrock. "Welcome to hell," she greeted Loni as she lowered the gun. "It's where all the losers live." She followed this with a strange keening sound. Turning her back, she walked to the dining room table, lay the gun down, and slumped in a chair. Barefoot, she wore faded baby doll pajamas with frayed lace around the neck and short sleeves. "He took my kids" she hiccupped before a sob. "Took them to my miserable bitch of a mother-in-law."
Recognizing Brad Taylor, L
oni leaned over him and pulled an arm back to see if he was shot. "Are you hurt?"
He shook his head. Loni helped him to his feet and looked around for blood, but didn't find any. She walked to Chelsa's side, picked up the gun and unloaded it, holding the bullets in her hand as she waited for the heartbreaking sobs to slow. "Hey," Loni asked Brad. "Does she have anyone she can stay with?"
"I'm not going anywhere! This is my home," Chelsa injected.
"Why don't you call your bitch girlfriend," Brad sneered, sketching angry quotes in the air around the word girlfriend. "She's welcome to you."