The many things which had occurred in this one day had taken her to the edge of control. Then came the ultimate surprise. Her father roaring into the Knight’s parking lot alone on his hog, alighting after a screaming U-turn in the gravel, to announce that he and Pax had to talk.
Sammie was not sure how she had imagined Pax and her father finally meeting, but this was not it. Sammie swayed slightly but regained her composure as Pax and Theo now stood before her starring silently into each other’s eyes for many minutes. It was obvious that each was taking the measure of the other.
Finally Pax spoke, “That’s one hell of a crazy stunt for an old man to try. That sort of thing could get you killed.”
“It worked for you… or so I am told,” Theo replied slowly. “And you were just trying to save one Knight from El Jefe. I’m trying to save us all from a fucking war.”
Theo’s voice was quiet and firm, but there was a hint of desperation beneath the calm. Both he and Pax knew that a war between the Knights and Los Lobos would bring in the Marauders. They both also knew that most likely other clubs, possibly even those from nearby states, would take advantage of the chaos to attack all three. There was a lot at stake and a wrong move could prove to be a very, very bloody mistake.
Pax stood in silence waiting for Theo to continue, but evidently Theo had said all he wanted to say for the moment.
“What do you propose?” Pax finally asked.
“A temporary truce,” answered Theo, “and a promise that the Knights won’t do anything until we are sure of what is going on.”
“Will Carlos agree to a truce?” asked Pax.
Theo smiled and shook his head slightly. “He’s my little brother. Besides, momma is still alive and lives with him. She'll tell him to behave for now. But you're the one who needs to convince him--and me to agree on a more permanent peace.”
They returned to staring at each other for several long minutes. Finally, Theo who broke the silence. “I don’t think the Lobos killed Keith,” he said quietly.
“What makes you think that?” Pax asked.
“That half a vest had a white wolf on it.”
Sammie’s eyes went wide. She knew that her sudden intake of breath could be heard clearly in the silence, but it was too late to try to hide her shock and surprise. Theo turned toward her and said, “Tio Carlos is alive.”
Then he said firmly to Pax, “Somebody is playing us… all of us… maybe even playing El Jefe.”
Theo paused to spit on the ground. Pax wasn’t sure if he was expressing his hatred of the unknown enemy or clearing dust from his mouth. Theo continued, “Only the leader of the Lobos wears a white wolf. Carlos was supposed to already be dead by the time Keith was found. And Keith was supposed to be the dead leader of the Knights. That would have triggered all-out war. The plan unraveled when you somehow convinced the Knights to continue backing you, but somebody didn’t get the message in time.”
Theo paused to look over at Sammie. His mouth almost formed a smile before he continued. “Keith was a pawn. The person trying to eliminate you is still lying in wait and may have other pawns ready to strike. You need to go someplace where nobody can find you for a few days--maybe a week--until things can get sorted out.”
“I can’t just leave,” answered Pax. “The Knights need my leadership, especially if someone is trying to push us into war.”
“I didn’t say where nobody could talk to you.” answered Theo, “just where nobody can find you.”
He then said something in very rapid Mestizo Spanish to Sammie. She nodded and went over to his Harley and removed a package from the saddlebags.
Pax had been in Arizona long enough to be fluent Spanish, but Theo had spoken so rapidly and in such a strange dialect that the only word that Pax had been able to understand for sure was “casa”.
“Sammie knows what to do,” Theo continued. “Trust her and no one else. Tell no one where you are going or where you are until a full truce is in effect.” Theo paused and moved slightly closer to Pax. He spoke very quietly so no one else--including Sammie--could hear, “And take good care of her. If you hurt my daughter or let anything happen to her, you'll answer to me… and God.” As he turned he said something in very rapid Spanish to Sammie.
She replied with an equally rapid “Vaya con dios.” Go with God.
“What did he tell you?” Pax asked when Theo hopped back on the motorcycle.
“Later. Alone.” Sammie replied as the sound of Theo’s hog slowly faded into the distance. Then she said quietly, “Let’s go up to the apartment… now!”
When they got to the apartment, Sammie reached into the bag she was holding and withdrew a slip of paper. “Forward your cellphone to this number. Then turn it off and take out the battery,” she instructed Pax. “We have to leave immediately.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Before the Knight who is supposed to kill you can act,” she answered as she dumped five cellphones into her purse. A few moments later, she and Pax roared past on their bikes past the startled Knights who still remained outside.
When they reached the edge of the city, Sammie pulled her bike to the side of the road and lifted her helmet.
“Where are we going?” asked Pax.
“My father said to take you to the house of the mother of my mother,” she answered. “That’s not my grandmother’s house.” She smiled when he opened his mouth. “It’s a sacred spot up in the mountains. It’s not much of a mountain peak, but it has religious meaning to mom’s tribe. It’s at the edge of what used to be a live bombing range for the air force. It’s inside the outer fence, but the security alarms and sensors don’t start until you get to the inner fence. There are some old houses up there where we can hide out. Dad keeps one of them stocked in case he ever has to go underground.”
“Can we get there on the bikes?”
Sammie laughed and answered, “Not unless they can fly. There’s a cave he calls ‘the garage’ at the base of the mesa where we will stash the bikes. The last mile or so is a pretty steep walk up a very crooked path.” She flashed a smile at Pax and added, “But that also means that no one is going to sneak up on us.” With that she pulled back out onto the highway and sped away.
Pax was soon running wingman to her as they sped along. The sun and the wind felt so good on Sammie’s arms. She could see Pax riding alongside her, and she could see her own face smiling back at her from the reflection in her helmet.
If it all could change… if they could just stay in this moment--alone together. Sammie hadn’t felt this complete since she was a small girl at home with her family before her mother was gone.
She knew Pax couldn’t hear her. He probably couldn’t even see her lips moving through the tinted visor, but she needed to say it as much as he needed to hear it. “I love you, Pax,” she shouted into the wind that was buffeting against her helmet. “I love you more than anything else in the world.”
Pax turned his head toward her. She could not hear him, but she could see his lips as he mouthed back, “I love you, too.”
Had he heard her? Or, had the freedom of the road and the bond of riding together also made him aware of how they completed each other?
CHAPTER TWELVE
A little over an hour later they were at the entrance to a small cave. The path from the highway had been narrow, but passable. Pax would never have taken this path at the speed which Sammie was riding, but she knew the path and knew where she was going, so he kept up with her lead. A little ways inside the narrow opening, a dark canvas hung across the cave making it look as if the tunnel ended. Just beyond that, the cave widened out so that there was enough room to turn the bikes and lean them against the walls of the cave. There were several cases of bottled water stacked against the wall, several flashlights, and a small solar charger. One of the flashlights was oddly shaped with a crank on the side of it.
“Dad thought of everything,” Sammie said with a smile as she handed Pax several bottles of water. “
Let's go up to my mother’s house. The bikes will be cold before dark, so the border patrol planes with thermal scanners won’t pick them up, and the old houses have stone roofs so body heat won’t register.”
The trail to the top was steep, but climbable. The empty houses at the top were carved out of the stone itself, or perhaps they had been natural formations which were enlarged by their ancient inhabitants. In the back of one hut was a rack of food and more water.
“Now we wait,” said Sammie, “and see what happens.”
“But we are cut off from everyone.”
“I told you; dad thought of everything,” Sammie replied as she pulled the cellphones from her purse. “The batteries stay out of these unless needed,” she began. “This first one is the one you forwarded your cell to. And these four are clones of phones that are hidden on the GPS systems on top of four different delivery vans in town. One of those is set to forward to Short John’s phone, the other to Double D’s. The other two are for use later if we need them. We need the clones if we want to change that forward number.”
“So if I call Short John…” Pax began.
“You call that number,” answer Sammie, “And the cops or NSA or whoever will track a delivery truck moving all over Phoenix and will have no idea where you are calling from.”
“Why Short John and Double D?”
“You tell me,” Sammie answered. The smile on her face made it obvious that she already knew the answer.
Pax thought for a few moments and then answered, “Geeks don’t want to be the leaders out front. They get their power from behind the throne, so Double D is probably safe.”
“And if Short John wanted you dead…” Sammie began.
“I’d be dead already,” Pax finished as he called the number on the list in Sammie’s hand.
Short John answered with a questioning “Hello?” Obviously he did not recognize the number on his caller ID.
“Don’t react or say my name,” said Pax. “It’s all a set-up. Someone inside the Knights is still trying to kill me and start a war. Watch your back. I am going to try to get a peace negotiated with Carlos and Theo. Maybe that will thwart whoever is behind this. Call me on my number. It will forward to me. I will check for messages once an hour.” With that he turned off the phone and removed the battery.
“There is something I have do if we're staying here,” Sammie said softly.
Pax looked at her with questioning eyes as she stood and began to remove her clothing. Soon she was naked, and walking barefoot over to the pile of survival gear in the corner, she lifted up what appeared to be an old gourd and a ring of some sort with several feathers protruding from it.
“Stay here,” she said as she walked out of the hut onto the mesa on which it stood. The hot desert wind blew across her skin as she faced directly into the early evening sun which was peeking out from beneath a layer of low clouds. She raised her arms and began to chant. The words came from deep within her memory. As she chanted the ancient words, her feet also remembered and began to move in a shuffling dance across the dusty stone. Pax stood watching from the doorway as her naked body began to glisten with perspiration as she swayed and moved in her dance.
As her mother had taught her when she was too small to know why, she begged the Mother’s forgiveness for disturbing the peace of her ancestors. She asked for guidance and protection in their time of danger. And for the first time, knowing the importance of what she said, she asked that the bond of love in her heart and the heart of her chosen one be made strong.
Pax was standing in the doorway when she turned to go back into the hut. “You didn’t say I couldn’t watch,” he said sheepishly.
Once again he was letting her see the little boy beneath the tough exterior of the leader of the Camden Knights. Sammie turned her head toward the red sun and said softly, “Thank you, Mother.”
She pulled Pax toward her as she entered the hut. Pax had arranged the blankets and sleeping bags to one side of the room where the earth was softer. She pulled him toward that simple bed and lowered herself to the blanket. “Why must our love making always be like it could be the very last time?” she asked.
“It always is for everyone,” he answered. “We're just more aware of it.”
“Then let’s make this last." She kissed his chin.
Pax removed his shirt and stepped to the doorway to once again scan the path to be sure that no one was following them. Then he removed the rest of his clothes and joined Sammie on the blanket.
Over the past few weeks, Sammie and Pax had made frantic love and engaged in desperate sex as the tumult of life flowed around them. But this night was different. Both knew very well the dark cloud that threatened them. Both knew that this could truly be their last night together. But both also knew that the other needed them totally in this moment.
For now, tomorrow didn’t matter. For now, the threat from El Jefe, Los Lobos, the police, or even her father didn’t matter. For now, they had each other and both Sammie and Pax each made the decision to live in this moment as they stroked and teased each other’s bodies to heights of pleasure before joining their bodies at last in that ultimate union of heart and mind and soul.
Sammie snuggled herself against Pax and they continued to live in their moment of closeness. Pax held Sammie in his arms as they watched the shadows dim against the walls of the ancient dwelling. Soon the soft glow of moonlight through the clouds was all that lit the top of the mesa which Sammie had called “the house of my mother’s mother.”
Neither wanted to break the silence, but at last Pax spoke, “The gangs will never totally trust each other. We will always be living on the edge of violence.” He paused to kiss Sammie lightly on the forehead. “But if we can get an understanding that we must be united for now against whoever it is that is trying to destroy us all, then we can at least have a time of peace.”
“Do you think that Carlos and Theo will make peace and unite against whoever it is?”
“Someone wants to destroy us all,” answered Pax. “Il nemico del mio nemico…”
“That’s Italian,” said Sammie.
“I grew up in New Jersey, remember? You can’t help but pick up some phrases.” He sighed and said. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Perhaps if they see what faces us, Carlos and Theo will agree to a peace among friends united by a common enemy.”
He turned to Sammie. She could see a grimace on his face that reflected his frustration. “But how can I know who is my enemy and who is my friend? Who can I trust to set up the meeting so we can talk? Right now, I can probably trust an enemy more than a friend.”
Sammie suddenly sat up and faced Pax. It was obvious on her face that she had an idea. “What about a friendly enemy?” she said. “What about an enemy who would also want peace between you and Carlos and Theo? What about an enemy whom you could trust not to betray you or cut you all down as you are trying to negotiate a peace?”
Pax laughed and said, “Good idea, Sammie, but I can’t think of anyone who fits that description.”
“I can,” answered Sammie smiling broadly. “Detective Richardson.”
“A cop.” Pax scoffed.
“Listen to me,” said Sammie. “He could have come in with guns and tanks and whatever blazing when they took you in for questioning. I think someone wanted him to play it that way, but he didn’t. He held back. He wants a war even less than we do.”
“But how can I talk to him? I can’t just call him up, and I can’t risk walking into the police station. They might even think I killed Keith and want to arrest me. They might shoot me on sight. I can’t even get within a mile of there.”
“But I can,” answered Sammie. “You are going to have to trust me on this. Check for messages on your phone and then let me make a phone call.”
Pax put the battery in the phone and checked for messages. There was one from Short John. The police had been asking about where he might be, but otherwise, things seemed quiet. He handed the phone to Sammi
e and she made a short phone call. The fact that she was speaking in rapid Mestizo Spanish told him she was probably talking to her father.
“It’s all in place,” she answered. “I will be going into town tomorrow morning around eight. You will need to be ready to receive a call at ten o’clock sharp.”
“I’m not sure about this,” said Pax as he looked at the floor, not meeting Sammie’s eyes.
“You don't trust me?” She asked.
Before he could answer, the room brightened suddenly as the full moon broke through the clouds. “La Luna agrees with me.” Sammie said smiling broadly. “My idea has my mother’s blessing.”
As she said it, she was joking, but suddenly the darkness was gone. The weight that had been crushing her for days was lifted. Somehow, she knew that the moon was a sign from the heavens. Somehow, she knew that this was going to work. She grabbed one of the sleeping bags that lied open on the ground and then Pax’s hand. “Come with me.”
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