by Aimée Thurlo
“It amazes me how much you still remember.”
“Just because I chose another path for myself doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten what I was taught. It’s a part of me—more so than I ever realized.”
Fox envied him his connection to the past and how it defined him. Taking his advice, she tried to think of the storm as a good omen, but something deep inside her refused to allow her to relax. As they reached the back door, Travis tried the handle, but it was locked. A yellow crimescene tape was stretched across its width.
“If we want in, I’m going to have to pick the lock,” Travis said, bringing out a penlight and his pocketknife. “I doubt there’s a security alarm here, but let me take a look.”
Shielding the glow of the penlight with his body as much as possible, he searched the edges of the window but found no wires or sensors. Using a slender, almost wire-like blade, he worked on the lock until it clicked open. They were inside within a minute.
“There.” He smiled, closing and locking the door behind him. “Good to know my training counts for something.”
Together, using the flashlight she’d brought from the truck, they searched the empty house from top to bottom. looking inside the vents, and within each light fixture. The house was supposed to be unoccupied, so they were reluctant to turn on any lights. They were also careful to keep the stronger flashlight beam away from the windows.
Three hours later, after they’d exhausted every option, Fox dropped down heavily onto an old metal folding chair, one of the few pieces of furniture in the room. “Something inside me says that the answer is here. But we’ve looked everywhere. So, what have we missed?” She lifted her hair away from her neck, untangling it from the gold chain her locket hung on.
“Let me see that locket, Fox.”
She slipped it off her neck and pressed the catch open for him. “It’s just a picture of me and Chance. You’ve checked it out before.”
“Take the photo out,” he said, holding the flashlight for her.
She did, working carefully. The locket wasn’t particularly valuable, nor was the photo inside it, but that fragile link was all she had of her past.
He looked over the photo and locket carefully once again, then handed it back to her. “There isn’t anything written on the photo, nor are there any suspicious scratches or marks on the locket. And there’s nothing hidden in this house—at least where we could find it. Yet, the crooks are convinced you’re the key to the account numbers. What do they know that we don’t?”
Fox looked out the back window pensively. “The storm seems to be passing us,” she said in a faraway voice.
“But the danger isn’t,” he replied, coming up to stand beside her. “I have an idea,” he said, after a moment.
“Hey, that’s my line,” she teased.
Travis gave her a halfhearted smile, then paced for several moments as if uncomfortable with what he was about to propose. Finally, he stopped and faced her. “How would you feel about going to visit one of my tribe’s stargazers? They’re supposed to be able to find things. I heard my brother speak of one, in particular, who’s supposed to be nothing short of gifted.” Before she could answer, Travis abruptly held up his hand and shook his head. “Never mind, bag that idea. I’m just grasping at straws now. This is just too crazy.”
“Let’s give it a try. What else have we got? From what I know about stargazers, you don’t need to believe their skills will work for them to actually be able to furnish results.”
“That’s true. They look into a crystal or at a star and are said to see visions.”
“I sure envy your link to the tribe,” Fox admitted. “I don’t belong anywhere or to anything.”
“You belong to yourself, Fox, and that’s where your inner strength comes from. You’ve accomplished an incredible number of things through determination alone because you follow your instincts wholeheartedly. You seize every opportunity the present offers, and you make the most out of life. I envy you for that.”
She exhaled softly. “I seize the present because I know I may have no future. That’s one possibility the little I know about my past has taught me.”
“The lessons from my past are different,” Travis said. “I’ve learned that for every bit of good life brings, there is an equal amount of sorrow. That’s the price.”
“We can’t avoid pain, Travis,” Fox argued. “By denying yourself the good that life has to offer, you’re left with nothing to sustain you through the tough times.”
She could feel the darkness inside him straining toward the light. The walls he’d placed around himself were there to protect a heart that had known more than its share of pain. Underneath it all, Travis and she were more alike than he realized.
“Let’s go see the stargazer,” she said at last. “Even if he doesn’t specifically tell us where to search, maybe he’ll say something that’ll jog my memory.”
As they began the long drive back to the Reservation, she could sense Travis’s tension growing. His hands were clenched around the steering wheel, and his back and shoulders were rigid. She knew he was torn between wanting to help her, and relying on the old ways that he’d never actually trusted.
They continued their journey south to Bernalillo, then northwest on Highway 44. Traffic became very light as midnight approached.
At last, Fox broke the hour-long silence between them. “Sometimes when it’s this dark, I really wonder if the sun will ever rise again,” she said.
“Hmm.” He tapped his forehead as if considering the question. “It will,” he said suddenly. “I can make that prediction with one hundred percent certainty.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s what I get for getting too philosophical.”
“Here I am predicting the future for you and, as usual, you just don’t appreciate me,” he teased.
“Well, if you’re going to predict the future, let’s go for the important questions. Will I ever meet a man who’ll appreciate all my wonderful qualities?”
Travis pretended to mull it over. “No, I don’t think so. I do see you meeting a wonderful guy who’ll be the milk of human kindness and patient to a fault, but you’ll drive him crazy.”
She burst out laughing. “Gee, it sounds like you have a few things in common with this man—all except the patience-and-kindness bit, that is.” She gave him a playful look. “Now tell me, in your considered opinion, how will I know this man when he does come into my life?”
“He’ll be a steadfast ally, and true to the end,” he said, his voice darkly heated with emotion.
Fox saw the fire in his eyes and suppressed the shiver that ran up her spine. She’d never seen desire that raw—that tempting—in any man’s gaze before. Everything about him called to her. Yet instinct warned her to slow down. The answer lay not in conquering his heart, but in gentling it with love.
TRAVIS TRIED TO concentrate on the center line. It was about the only thing really distinguishable in the headlight beams except for the occasional rabbit sitting at the roadside, transfixed by the glare. He was getting sleepier by the moment, and had no one to talk to, now that Fox had dozed off. Not that they’d been doing that much talking anyway, but just thinking about her and exchanging a glance from time to time had been enough.
Knowing that Hosteen Yazzie, the stargazer, would be asleep until dawn, Travis decided to pull off the road and get a few hours of shut-eye. He wouldn’t select a rest stop—those would be likely areas for McNeely and their other enemies to search. He’d just pick the next dirt sideroad.
Slowing down, he found a rough track leading out into a field about five miles east of Cuba, and turned off. The road was well maintained, and he was already a hundred yards down the gravel path before Fox woke up.
“Are we there?” She sat up and looked around.
“We just passed through Cuba a while ago. I decided to pull over and get a few hours’ sleep.”
“I could drive for a while, if you like.” Fox yawned.
> Travis turned the truck around so it faced back toward the highway. This way he’d be able to see anyone who might have followed them, coming up. “You’re just as tired as I am and there’s no sense in driving straight through. We won’t be able to see the stargazer until he gets up to offer prayers to the dawn. It’s not fair to wake him up in the middle of the night since this is not an emergency. Let’s just stay here, off the road, and get some rest. I’ll set the alarm on my watch for three hours, so we won’t oversleep.”
“You won’t get a fight from me on this,” Fox said wearily.
“Good, ’cause I’m too tired to argue.”
Travis set his watch alarm, then leaned back against the headrest. He’d slept sitting up so many times in the military that it was second nature to him now. He drifted to sleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes.
It seemed as if only minutes had passed when a light beam suddenly flickered in his eyes. He awoke instantly and reached over to wake Fox.
“What?” she mumbled. “Let me sleep.”
“Wake up, Fox, and fasten your seat belt We have company.”
Chapter Seventeen
Travis saw the source of the light immediately. It was coming from the spotlight of a vehicle that had slowed down on the highway.
“It could be a state policeman, or a forest ranger,” he said. “We’re on Forest Service land, or close to it. But, just in case it isn’t, let’s get ready to move.”
Fox was instantly alert. When she saw him set the pistol down on the seat between them, her entire body tensed. “We’ve been spotted. Whoever that is, knows we’re here.”
“Yes, and they’re backing up. From the outline I don’t think it’s a squad car. Keep your head down. They can see us inside the vehicle from where they are at and I’d like whoever it is to think we’re either asleep or gone.”
“Do you think it’s McNeely?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. He’d probably guess we were heading back toward the Rez, and knows this is the shortest route. He’ll also figure, I’m sure, that we’re going to need sleep and will have to get off the road. I’m sure he checked the motels in Cuba, then kept on going, knowing that sooner or later he’d catch up to us.”
“But he’s got to be sleepy, too,” Fox concluded.
“That’s what I’m counting on.” Travis started the engine, but stayed low and kept the headlights off. “They’re coming this way, so get ready for a short, wild ride. And keep your head down until I say we’re clear.”
Fox grabbed on to the seat. “What are you going to do?”
“You’ll see in a minute.”
Headlights illuminated the interior of their sport-utility vehicle as the other motorist approached. Travis waited as long as he thought he could, then sat up, jamming down on the gas pedal and flipping on the headlights at the same time.
The headlights of the oncoming vehicle were centered on the small gravel road, so Travis knew he had room on either side. He guessed that McNeely, if it was him, would be on the passenger side, weapon ready.
Like in the game of chicken he’d played once or twice during his wild days as a kid on the Rez, Travis aimed his truck at the approaching headlights and flipped on his high beams. Swerving to the right at the last minute, he passed so close to the other vehicle he actually heard someone inside curse. He recognized McNeely’s voice instantly and the knowledge brought a satisfied grin to his face.
Travis suddenly slammed on the brakes, and grabbed the pistol from the seat. “Cover your ears.” Reaching out the window, he fired four shots, hitting both rear tires of McNeely’s truck.
The sound of a weapon fired so close by was deafening, but Travis wasted no time thinking about the ringing in his ears. Almost immediately, he put the truck in gear, flicked off the headlights and headed back to the highway.
Fox grabbed the door handle and, as she looked out the side window, saw flashes of light that could only have been gunfire. “They’re shooting back.”
“Let them. I don’t have the lights on, and they’ll have to get a lucky shot at this range.” They never slowed down before reaching the highway, and then bounced onto the asphalt, tires screaming. He floored the gas pedal, concentrating on keeping the truck on the road by moonlight. Ten seconds later, he turned on the headlights and realized he was going eighty down the center of the highway. He compensated immediately, slowing down and moving back into his proper lane.
“That was some rest stop,” she muttered.
“At least McNeely didn’t win this round.”
“What makes you so sure it was him?” she asked.
“I recognized his voice when we slipped past them. He couldn’t get a shot at me up close without hitting his own driver.”
“Well, now that you’ve taken out their tires, we’ll gain ground. We’ll reach the Rez long before they’re rolling again. No way they have two spares.”
“At least I’m not drowsy anymore,” he said, moving his neck from side to side and shifting his body so he could stretch his muscles. “There’s nothing like a fight to get the adrenaline going.”
IT WAS ALMOST TWO HOURS later, just after dawn, when they finally arrived at a hexagonal log hogan halfway up a canyon floor, miles from the closest highway. The small dwelling was surrounded by the remnants of com stalks and harvest-ready vines of melons and cantaloupes. There were about twenty sheep in the corral adjacent to the hogan, but there were no vehicles or other trappings of civilization anywhere.
Fox shook her head. “The one thing that always gets to me is the isolation of some of these dwellings. The loneliness would drive me crazy. There are no televisions or telephones out here, and your closest neighbor is usually a jackrabbit. I don’t know how anyone can stand it.”
“Most people our age can’t. They weren’t raised this way, and they don’t have the patience it takes to be happy meeting only basic needs. But it’s almost like a religious commitment to the traditionalists. Here, they ‘walk in beauty’ as the Navajo Way requires.”
They came to a stop a hundred feet from the hogan. Fox saw the red-and-black blanket covering the entrance swaying gently in the breeze, revealing a small fire inside. They got out of the truck but did not approach, waiting for the invitation to be given.
“This hogan seems larger than the others I’ve seen,” she whispered.
“That’s because it’s a ‘medicine’ hogan. The owner’s son, who now lives in Arizona, is a hataalii, a medicine man. He and his father work together a lot. One of the functions of a stargazer is to act as a diagnostician. I’ve been told that this man we’re about to see can tell when someone is going to die.”
She shuddered. “Maybe we shouldn’t be here, then. That’s one question I really don’t want answered.”
“It won’t come up unless you ask him, and even if you do, he probably won’t tell you. To him, you’re an outsider and I’m a modernist. He’ll be cautious with both of us. If he consents to help us at all, it’ll be strictly to guide us to the missing account numbers.”
A moment later, an elderly man stepped from behind the blanket and waved for them to come inside. His weathered face was gaunt, but his eyes shone with intelligence and alertness. His skin was leathery, toughened by the sun, but beyond that, there were strong lines that defined more than his age. His face was that of a man who was sure of himself, who understood far more than what the narrow confines of his hogan would ever have allowed.
They joined him inside, where sheepskins were placed around the fire pit. Hosteen Yazzie sat on the south side of the fire with Travis, according to tradition, and gestured for Fox to sit at the north.
The old man looked down into the crackling piñon-and-cedar fire, then across the room, but didn’t seem to focus on anything in particular.
Then his gaze cleared, and he looked directly at them. “You are both in a great deal of trouble.” He glanced at Travis, and watched him speculatively. “It surprises me to see you here, nephew. You turned your bac
k on the old ways since you moved from Rock Ridge to live with those schoolteachers.”
Travis hesitated, then with characteristic honesty, added, “What you say is true, uncle. But I’ve run out of options and I need help. We’re trying to find something and neither of us knows where else we can look.”
With a nod, he looked at Fox, his expression gentle. “I understand your parents have been taken away from you,” he said slowly. “And now, you are searching for your own identity, but that involves more than a name, so it’s not something I can help you with.” He stopped, then stared at the edges of the sheepskin in deep thought. “But that’s not what brought you here, is it? Tell me, how I can help you?”
“I need to find a list of numbers my birth parents compiled a long time ago and then hid. My life depends on it.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He stood and retrieved a tightly bound pouch from one corner of the room. After placing a bit of its contents around his eyes, he sat down before them, holding a crystal in his hand, and began to chant.
Each minute that passed felt like an eternity, but Fox kept still, careful not to disturb the stargazer. As he chanted, a warm tingle ran all through her. It was as if her very essence were responding to the song.
As she glanced at Travis, she saw his eyes widen as he stared at the stargazer. She knew he could feel the man’s power, too.
At last, Hosteen Yazzie looked up at Travis, then at her. The old man knew something. His gaze pierced through her.
“You have the answer with you. It has always been so,” he said.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“The information you’re after has never been beyond your reach. It’s part of your heart”
“You mean my memories? But I can’t unlock those. I’ve tried.”
“Then look outside yourself. Everything is within your grasp.”
Travis expelled his breath in a hiss. “Uncle, please speak plainly. We can’t understand, and there’s too much at stake for us to try and decipher these riddles.”