by Susan Stoker
“Don’t look up,” the man below her ordered. “Step down. That’s it. Good.”
She did as ordered, and tried to go as fast as she could. Ignoring the suggestion not to look up, Sophie couldn’t help herself. She had to make sure Chief was coming. She wasn’t going to go one more step if he didn’t show…
She sighed in relief when one of Chief’s large boots came out of the window and landed on the top rung.
She blinked and suddenly he was all the way out, and stepping down.
Looking down at the rungs she was holding on to for dear life, Sophie continued moving further away from the inferno and to safety.
Within what might’ve been minutes or seconds, she had no idea, Sophie was standing on the ground. Chief was there almost as soon as she touched down, his arm wrapping around her waist and steering her away from the building.
Burying her head against his jacket, Sophie coughed. Then she coughed some more. Suddenly, she couldn’t get her breath. She was choking and couldn’t get any air into her lungs.
“Easy, Soph. I’ve got you. Hang on for another second,” Chief said in her ear as he mostly carried her toward an ambulance. He sat her on the bumper and a mask was placed over her face.
She inhaled, coughed, then inhaled again. Oxygen. Pure, clean air.
One of Chief’s hands secured the mask to her face as he held her gaze. After several long draws, Sophie felt the panic recede. Seeing Chief whole and safe next to her went a long way toward making that happen.
He helped her up into the ambulance, and the last thing Sophie saw before the doors closed was the side of the building she’d been in crumbling down on itself as the fire claimed it at last.
Chapter 17
Sophie woke slowly, confused. Her room smelled funny and her chest hurt. Almost as soon as the thought went through her head, she remembered.
Her eyes popped open and the first thing she saw was a sleeping Chief.
Glancing around, Sophie saw that she was in a hospital room. Not only that, but sitting in a few other chairs in the room were Squirrel, Moose, and Penelope. All three were sound asleep as well.
Her gaze went back to Chief, and she saw he was awake this time and looking at her.
“Hi,” Sophie said. Then blinked at the sound of her own voice. It was raspy, as if she’d been smoking cigarettes nonstop. She coughed, the act of speaking irritating her throat.
Chief’s lips twitched. “You’re gonna sound a bit off for a while, I’m afraid,” he told her. “Happens when you suck as much smoke into your lungs as you did.”
“I’m s-sorry,” Sophie said quietly, not wanting to wake the others. “I s-shouldn’t have gone inside.”
“Damn straight,” Chief growled. “You promised you wouldn’t put yourself in danger. Promised. Then what do you do? Run pell-mell into a burning building. Jesus.”
Sophie couldn’t help but smile. “Pell-m-mell?” she asked.
Chief scowled at her for a moment before saying, “Don’t make me laugh, shi ásdząą. I’m not done being mad at you. If it wasn’t for Charlie, I might not have found you in time.”
“Charlie?” Sophie asked, confused. What did Tadd’s dog have to do with anything?
“Yeah. Darn crazy mutt showed me where the staircase was, then helped me make it down the hallway to where you guys were. Kept barking his fool head off to get me to go the right way.”
“I didn’t hear him barking,” Sophie said.
“Uh, Chief?” Penelope asked from the other side of the room, obviously awake now. “I hate to interrupt, but Charlie wasn’t in the building.”
Chief turned to face his friend. “Yeah, he was. I saw him with my own eyes. Heard him too.”
“When we got you guys out, the ambulance brought you straight here, so you probably didn’t see. But Tadd’s friend—Sam, I think his name was—had ahold of the dog the entire time you were inside. Had him on a leash.”
“That’s not possible,” Chief insisted. “I saw the dog in the hallway. Not only that, I heard him bark when I was turned around with all the smoke.”
“Could it have been another dog?” Penelope asked, shrugging her shoulders.
Sophie put her hand on Chief’s arm. His attention immediately returned to her. The confusion in his eyes was easy to read. She opened her mouth twice, then finally spit out what she wanted to say. “Remember that coyote I s-saw in your yard before the carbon m-monoxide incident in m-my house?”
It took him a while, but Chief finally nodded.
“When I was looking for Tadd, I s-saw it again. In the building.”
“A coyote?” Penelope asked, but both Sophie and Chief ignored her.
“Damn,” Chief whispered, and put his forehead on her hand, resting on his arm.
“There’s s-something else,” Sophie said.
“What?” Chief’s head came up and he stared at her.
“The window. How’d you get it open?”
“I didn’t even know it was there,” Chief told her. “I braced my weight on what I thought was the wall behind you guys, trying to see what was what after I felt a leg, and it gave way under my hand.”
“I pounded on that window,” Sophie whispered. “I did everything I could and it wouldn’t open. I even beat on it with a piece of wood that was lying around. It was as if it was m-made out of brick or s-steel. I couldn’t even crack it.”
They stared at each other for a long moment before Chief spoke.
“This is my fault.”
“What? No,” Sophie immediately protested.
Chief didn’t let her placate him. “It is. Navajo don’t touch the dead. It’s one of the most sacred rules of my people. The dead hold evil spirits, even worse than the skin-walkers. When a person dies, the good part of their spirit goes with them, while the evil part stays with the physical body. I’ve been lax, becoming more like my white friends. I forgot the ways of my people.”
“Chief,” Sophie tried to interject, but he ignored her.
“Since we’ve met, because of my job, I’ve come into contact with three dead people. The evil spirits of these people have obviously stuck with me. And because of your association with me, they’ve attached themselves to you as well, and attracted a skin-walker to boot.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “The other morning in the shower…when we…I gave them unfettered access to you. It was as if I injected the evil attached to me directly into you when we made love.”
“S-Stop it,” Sophie ordered. “Right now. Chief, I know you have different beliefs than m-me, but I refuse to let you beat yourself up about this. It was m-my decision to go into that building. M-Mine alone. No one m-made m-me.”
“I can fix this,” Chief said, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’ll go home and ask to undergo the Enemy Way ceremony.” He turned his head and looked at Penelope. Moose and Squirrel were still sleeping. “After the cleansing, you’ll need to make sure I don’t touch the dead again when we’re on a call. Promise me, Tiger. It’s important.”
“I promise,” she vowed. “I’ll make sure the other guys know too. We won’t let you come in contact with any dead bodies from here on out.”
“Thank you.” Chief turned back to Sophie. “The good and evil spirits are warring within me. I saw Charlie, who led me to you when he wasn’t there. You saw a skin-walker…twice. The glass. The signs are all there. I will not have you taken from me,” Chief vowed. “You will not be hurt again on account of me. I’ll leave tomorrow for the reservation.”
“You will not,” Sophie huffed, struggling to sit upright in the bed. She allowed Chief to assist her, but continued her harangue. “You promised you’d take m-me to m-meet your m-mom. And s-see where you grew up. I don’t know what goes on in this Enemy Way ceremony, but it s-sounds horrible and s-scary and I don’t want you to do it without m-me there to have your back.” She glared at Chief. “And if evil s-spirits think they can break us up, then they’re s-seriously m-mistaken. I haven’t found the m-man I love m-more than any
thing else on this earth, only to lose him to s-some dead guy’s evil s-spirit lurking around or s-some damn coyote. You’re not going home without m-me.”
Chief smiled for the first time. A broad smile that lit up his face.
“What?” Sophie demanded. “You better not be laughing at m-me.”
“Never, shi ásdząą, I wouldn’t ever laugh at you.”
“You goin’ somewhere?” Moose asked, putting his arms over his head and stretching.
“Yeah. Home,” Chief said.
“When?”
“As soon as Sophie’s released.”
“Got it. So you missing the charity game this coming weekend?”
Sophie and Chief answered at the same time.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Sophie looked over at Moose. “I really wanted to s-see it. You guys have s-spent a lot of time working on it. You think M-Mackenzie would be able to postpone it?” She turned to Chief. “How long does this Enemy get-rid-of-evil-s-spirits thing take?”
Chief’s lips twitched as if he was trying hard not to smile. “The ceremony itself takes about a day. I’ll need at least a day or so to recover though.”
“Recover? Dang it…I don’t want to know.” Sophie looked at Moose. “M-Maybe two weeks? That’ll give us time to get there, force the evil s-spirits attached to Chief to leave, and come home.”
Chief touched Sophie’s cheek and turned her to face him. “You don’t sound worried about the fact I’ve been contaminated by the dead.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Chief. As I’ve been told by m-my crazy friends, you’re bossy. A possessive, alpha, bossy guy who wouldn’t ever let anything happen to m-me. And twice, you’ve proved that’s the case…the not letting s-something happen to m-me, I m-mean. S-So no, I’m not concerned about s-some weak-ass evil s-spirit out-alpha-ing you. We’ll go to your land, I’ll m-meet everyone who is important to you. You’ll do the Enemy-whatever thing, then we’ll come home and live happily ever after.”
“Ayóó ánííníshní, Sophie,” Chief said reverently.
“And I love you.” She put her hand on Chief’s cheek and smiled. Then she asked, “Can s-someone tell m-me what happened to Tadd and Louise?”
By this time, Squirrel had awakened and was listening intently. “They’re good. They’re here at the hospital somewhere. Oh, and this isn’t your hospital. There were concerns that it was too close to the fire, so everyone who was injured was brought out here to this suburban hospital. Your friends were treated for smoke inhalation, as you were, and should be released today sometime.”
“Where will they go?” Sophie asked no one in particular.
“Soph,” Chief said gently.
Knowing he was going to say something she didn’t want to hear, Sophie shook her head at him. “No, I don’t want to hear anything about them not having anywhere to go. Chief…” She took a deep breath, gathering her nerve. “I want to m-move in with you.”
Chief seemed surprised, but immediately, a satisfied look came over his face and he said, “Yes.”
Sophie smiled, but schooled her features into seriousness and turned to Squirrel. “It’s s-settled. M-My house is currently unoccupied. Tadd and Louise can go there.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Chief told her. “It wasn’t too long ago Tadd told you he was using you and wanted nothing to do with you.”
“He only s-said that because he was worried about m-me. He knew I’d m-miss him terribly when that s-stupid building was torn down, s-so he tried to push m-me away.”
“He still hurt you,” Chief said gently. “I’m not sure I want him next door when he treated you so callously.”
“Chief, he’s a good person. He and Louise need a break. I’ll be living with you…what does it m-matter if they use m-my house to get back on their feet? It’s not like they’ll be there forever.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” Sophie said. “Will you m-make s-sure it happens, S-Squirrel? I know they’ll probably try to s-slink off s-somewhere and not accept m-my help.”
“I will. Moose, can I borrow your phone? I promised I’d call Mark and let him know how Sophie was when she woke up. He was really worried about her, but I told him that she was too tough to be kept down for long.” Squirrel told the other man, even as he winked at Sophie.
“Where’s your phone?” Moose asked.
Squirrel blushed. “I, uh…misplaced it.”
“Misplaced it?” Penelope asked. “This I gotta hear.”
Squirrel ran a hand through his hair and said, “I gave my sweatshirt to someone and it was in the pocket.”
“Who?”
“A woman at the fire yesterday named Blythe.”
“Blythe?” Sophie asked. “About m-medium height, really s-short dark hair? Homeless?”
“Yup.”
“Wow. How is s-she?”
“Don’t know,” Squirrel said. “After I gave her my sweatshirt, I didn’t see her again. With all the chaos going on, she just disappeared. She was the one who told us where to put the ladder.”
Sophie turned to Chief. “We need to find her.”
He put his hand on her arm to reassure her. “We will.”
“No, really. Tadd s-said s-something was up with her. That s-she wasn’t like them. Didn’t belong on the s-street…not that anyone belongs there, but you know what I m-mean.”
“I do. We’ll find her. I’ll talk to Quint Axton from the SAPD, he can keep his eye out for her.”
“What about your phone?” Penelope asked Squirrel. “You gonna press charges against her for that? Buy a new one? What?”
“I’ll take care of it,” he reassured her. “It’s just a phone.”
“Here,” Moose said, holding out his cell to Squirrel.
“Thanks. Appreciate it.” Squirrel took the phone and stood. “I’ll talk to you later, Sophie,” he said. “I’ll tell Mark you’ll call him soon. He was really worried about you. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“M-Me too,” Sophie said. “And thanks for letting M-Mark know. He’s the one who told m-me about the fire in the first place.”
“We need to get going too,” Moose informed them, standing and taking Penelope’s hand in his.
“We do?” Penelope asked.
“Yup. We need to talk.”
“About what?” the other woman asked as she was dragged to the door.
“About how something is up with you. About how you’ve been avoiding going inside buildings since you’ve been back from Turkey. About how you flinch from loud noises and about how you won’t talk to me about what’s going on with you.” The latter was said louder than was appropriate for the hospital setting, but the couple was gone before the last word finished echoing in the small room.
“Think I’ll get in trouble if I climb up there with you?” Chief asked.
“Don’t care. I need you to hold m-me,” Sophie admitted.
She scooted as far to the other side of the mattress as she could as Chief carefully laid down next to her. When he was settled, he pulled her against him, careful not to jar her IV. Her head rested on his shoulder and her arm went around his belly.
“I’m gonna take care of these evil spirits, Soph,” Chief swore.
Sophie sighed. She didn’t know what to think about it all. She didn’t really believe in evil versus good spirits, but she couldn’t explain how in the world she’d seen the coyote in that room. She might’ve been hallucinating, but she didn’t think so. And the window. She’d done everything she could to get it to break and hadn’t had any luck, but if what Chief said was correct, all he’d done was lean against it with his hand and it had shattered.
And now that she thought about it, she’d definitely heard drumbeats right before Chief appeared as if out of thin air. Something was going on, and if he believed going through the ceremony with his people would stop it, she was all for it.
“Nap, shi ásdząą,” he ordered. “I’ll keep watch o
ver you.”
“Bossy,” Sophie mock-complained. “But s-since I am tired, I’m gonna do what you s-say anyway.”
“Good. When you wake up, I’ll get you out of here and get plans in motion to get to New Mexico.”
“’Kay. Love you, Roman.”
“Love you too, woman. You’re the other half of my soul.”
With those wonderful words settling into her psyche, Sophie slept.
Chapter 18
“What?” Sophie asked, her lip pouting.
“I cannot and will not make love with you until after the Enemy Way ceremony.”
“That s-sucks,” Sophie said.
Chief chuckled. They were driving to New Mexico because Chief didn’t want to push his luck with the evil spirits. With his luck, they’d take down a plane they were in or something. At least with him driving, he had more control over his fate. If any coyotes popped up in the middle of the road, he’d simply plow right over them.
“It does. But I’m not going to put you in any more danger than I already have. And I wanted to talk to you about the ceremony I’ll be undergoing, and see if you’d be willing to participate as well.”
“You know I will,” Sophie told him immediately.
It was two days after the fire and they were on their way to his reservation. Chief hadn’t wanted to wait any longer to get the evil spirits banished from his body. Every day he waited was another day they could win out over the good and Sophie could get hurt…again.
The first night, Sophie had fallen asleep almost as soon as he’d gotten her to his house. Between getting Tadd and Louise settled into her house, choosing what she wanted Chief to move over to his, and her body recovering from the fire, she was done.
Then last night, she’d been too keyed up about the trip and excited to finally meet his family to do more than ask him a million questions about what to expect and how she should act. When she’d finally lain down, she was, once again, out in minutes.