Taneika: Daughter of the Wolf

by R. Casteel

  “Linda….

  * * * * *

  Taneika sat in the darkened room and watched Taren get out of his truck. He stood there for several minutes looking toward her place, his fist clenched at his side. He turned and walked slowly to his back door. With one last woeful look at her door, he turned and disappeared from view.

  If only she could go to him, explain why she had sent him away. I miss you too.

  Dressed in skin-tight buckskins, she grabbed her bow and slipped out into the night. She looked up at Taren’s window. Sleep tight, my love.

  In the graying haze of predawn, she heard a car turn off the highway. It pulled up in front of Taren’s house. Two men got out and approached the front door. Taneika notched an arrow and stood poised, the deadly tip centered unwavering on a man’s side.

  The porch light came and the door opened. With Taren’s smile of recognition and extended hand, she slowly lowered the bow.

  “Charlie, Steve, sorry to drag you out here on such short notice. Come in.”

  Taneika crept to the window.

  “Damn, this place is a fucking mess.”

  “Steve, you should have seen it before I spent half the night cleaning. I bought a new coffee pot and cups today. I’ll put the pot on.”

  “Any idea who did this?” Charlie asked.

  “You haven’t been briefed?”

  “Wasn’t time. All we were told is that Nick had turned and you were in trouble.”

  Taneika crept back to the woods and waited.

  An hour later, Charlie and Steve stepped out the door and shook hands with Taren. “That’s the way it stands, boys. This could get real messy.”

  “We came prepared. We got some things for you in the trunk. “

  Taren followed them to the car.

  “We brought you some hardware but it looks like you have enough. How you standing on rounds?”

  “Only what I took off the guy that was shooting at me.”

  Charlie reached into the trunk and pulled out a small bag. “There’s a thousand rounds and a vest. I would suggest you sleep with it.”

  “Thanks. Might not be a bad idea.”

  “There’s a radio in the bag,” Charlie closed the trunk. “Give us a call before the party starts.”

  Taren stood there, the snow that had started falling speckled his hair. He watched as his new partners drove away, and then turned and looked toward her house.

  I know, Taren, but don’t go there. Don’t make this any harder than it already is.

  He started across the yard and stopped, looking at the ground. Taren walked over to the side of his house and slipped behind a bush. Moments later he came out carrying an arrow. Shit.

  She knew she was hidden from view but she crouched further when he scanned the woods looking for her.

  Twirling the smooth wooden shaft in his fingers, he watched the deadly blades spin in the early morning sun. Slowly he made his way back to his porch. With one hand still clutching the arrow, he picked up the vest and sack of shells. Giving the woods one last searching sweep, he opened the door and stepped inside.

  Berating herself for losing the arrow, she made her way through the woods to the back of her house. Once inside she stripped and took a quick shower. Knowing Taren’s life was in danger didn’t make it easy to sleep, but even she needed a few hours to keep going.

  * * * * *

  Taren finished loading the spare magazines for the automatic and checked his pistol. He didn’t know when Harold’s call would bring the Chicago thugs to find him, but he had no doubt they would. He had to be ready at all times.

  The one factor that he hadn’t counted on was Taneika. Finding her arrow outside the window meant she was still in the picture. What are you up to, sweetheart? Why were you outside my window with your bow? The possibilities were few. The implications and the danger she was placing herself in were too staggering to think about. No doubt, if Charlie or Steve had a weapon drawn this morning, one or both would be dead. There was just so much one person could do. Even a person with her talents was limited.

  He put on the vest, slung the Mac-10 over his shoulder and put on his coat. He didn’t like leaving Taneika alone out here, especially with Lobo not around. He had to draw the coming danger away from her. How? That’s the question. What was the one element that Harold depended on to move his drugs? In a flash, all the pieces of the puzzle fell in place.

  He threw the remainder of the ammo in the bag and ran out the door. If he hurried, he might just be able to make it.

  Taren pulled into the driveway and got out. Nick’s Ford was running. He reached in and turned off the key.

  The back door opened. “What’s up, bud? I’ve got to leave. You know how Harold is when a person is late. I seem to recall,” he chuckled, “you getting you ass reamed many a time.”

  “Nick, we need to talk.”

  “Not this morning, partner. I’m supposed to have a flight this morning.”

  “Flight’s been cancelled.”

  “I just talked to the boss, he said it was on. Besides, you don’t work there any more.”

  Taren pulled his pistol from his shoulder harness. “Sorry it had to come to this, Nick. I cancelled the flight. You won’t be running any more drugs.”

  He saw the cornered, scared look in Nick’s eyes, the shifting of weight from one foot to the other.

  “Nick. Please, don’t make me use this. I will if I have to. Just drop the belt on the ground and we’ll go back in the house.”

  “Taren, I don’t understand. What the hell has gotten into you? I’m your partner, for Christ’s sake!”

  “Drop the belt, Nick. It’s over. I know all about how you’re using the chopper to move the drugs. About your supplying both sides with just enough information to keep them apart. You have been walking a dangerously fine line for years.

  “We found your bank account, Nick. Afraid you won’t be using it. Inside.”

  Nick’s shoulders dropped in defeat as he undid the belt and dropped his revolver in the snow.

  “You have the right to….”

  “I know my fucking rights!”

  “Turn around, Nick, and don’t try anything. After what you did to my place it would give me great satisfaction if you resisted.” Taren placed the cuffs on Nick, making sure they were tight around his wrists.

  “What about your place? I didn’t do that.”

  “Stop the bullshit, Nick. I may not be able to prove it in court but I know you were there. What were you looking for?”

  Nick glared at Taren and went through the door.

  Taren picked up the phone. “You want to talk to him or do you want me to?“

  “Go to hell,” Nick spat.

  Taren shrugged and dialed.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello, Harold.”

  “Carpenter, why the hell are you calling here? Don’t tell me. You’re calling to apologize and beg for your old job.”

  “No. I’m calling to tell you that it’s over. I’m sitting over at Nick’s place and we’re having a very interesting conversion. Seems he won’t be making your pick-up today. He doesn’t like small places so he is singing a real sweet song. Course, he won’t get to spend any of that hundred grand you’ve paid him, but at least he will be free. Oh, by the way, tell your boss in Chicago that his boys won’t be coming home. They’re buried in shallow graves up in the mountains. One of them didn’t die right away. Can you imagine it? He thought I was a priest,” Taren laughed. “Anyway, it must have been a long time since his last confession.”

  “You don’t know who you are dealing with. You’re a dead man Carpenter. You hear me, you’re fucking dead!”

  Taren was left holding a disconnected line. He smiled in satisfaction and hung up.

  “You just signed both our death warrants. These boys don’t play games.”

  Taren took off his jacket, the Mac-10 hung by his side. “Who said I was playing.”

  Chapter 12

  The ringin
g of the phone pulled Taneika out of a deep but troubled sleep. Blindly, she reached for the offending noise.

  “Hello.”

  “Hon, it’s me. Get out, now. I just forced Harold’s hand this morning and he may come after you.”

  “I’ll be ready for them.”

  “No! They will probably be park game wardens or security. He may even get the local police to come for you. That’s why you must leave immediately.”

  “All right, Taren. I’ll go, but I won’t be far away. Don’t worry about me, just take care of yourself.”

  “Hon, when this is over, we need to talk.”

  “I know, Taren.” Her voice softened and nearly faded away. “I know. Bye.” She gently hung up the phone and got out of bed.

  Taneika pulled on her buckskins. Taking an empty backpack, she placed the meat from the fridge inside. Taneika slipped the straps over her shoulders and with her bow and quiver in hand, headed for the safety of the woods.

  Her safety was dependent on the weather. If it snowed before Harold sent someone to find her, she was safe. Otherwise, her footprints would lead them straight to her. She circled around cutting across the path, doubled back and retraced her steps. Climbing a young tree, she used her weight to bend the tree over to another. Repeating this, she was able to put considerable distance between her meandering, overlapping tracks and where she came back to the ground. Hopefully it would be enough to keep someone from following.

  With the deep snow, she was forced to slow her pace. Three hours after leaving, she crossed her first wolf sign. Taneika lifted her head and howled a greeting. She sat against a tree to wait.

  With their heads low to the ground and lips pulled back in a snarl, the pack came in from down wind and stood nervously watching her. Their long, razor-sharp canines flashed deadly white against their dark fur.

  Come, I mean you no harm.

  * * * * *

  “How long are you going to wait?”

  Taren glanced over to where Nick sat handcuffed to the kitchen table. “Why, you got somewhere you have to be?”

  “You can’t keep me chained here. I know my rights. This isn’t legal.”

  “Neither is being a pack mule for drug dealers, Nick, but that doesn’t seem to bother you. Look at it this way, partner, if I’m wrong you have nothing to worry about. If I’m right and they send another crew out from the city. . . .

  “Taren! They will shoot both of us on sight. When did you become such a cold bastard?”

  “For starters, how about when three thugs showed up at a place only you and I know about.”

  “Taren, I swear to God. I didn’t have anything to do with that. Harold gave me the location of the cabin. I was as surprised as you.”

  “Then there is my place. Deny that you were responsible for that, and I may shoot you myself.”

  “Okay, so I did it. I had to. Your leaving left me no other choice.”

  “You’re doing good, Nick, keep talking. Why?”

  “I had to find out what you knew and hadn’t told me.”

  Taren gripped the edge of the table. His knuckles turned white with the pressure. “What I hadn’t told you. We were fucking partners. I trusted you with my life.”

  Nick hung his head. “I know. I had to make it look good, in case Harold sent someone else out there.”

  “What about Agent Majors?” Taren slammed his fist on the table. “Who put the bullet in the back of his head?

  “I don’t know. He was dead when I found him.”

  “You found him? The report says a couple of hunters found him.”

  “False.”

  “What about the location of the body? Is that false too?”

  “Yes. I moved the body away from the pickup location.”

  “So you admit to picking up the drugs. How long has this been going on?”

  “Four years. Just before Majors’ death. The investigation was new and we couldn’t afford to have it jeopardized.” He shook his head in frustration and disgust. “Four years of searching, watching, and waiting, all gone.”

  Taren sank down slowly in a chair. What Nick was saying finally began to soak through. Shit! “DEA?”

  Nick nodded. “You have to believe me, Taren. I couldn’t trust anyone with the truth, not even you. Sorry. Now, can I have the damn key?”

  Taren tossed the key to the handcuffs on the table. “Looks like I really screwed the pooch on this one.”

  “Yeah,” Nick chucked. “But it’s not really your fault. I had orders not to bring you in, even after I found I could trust you. Harold has his fingers in so many pockets I couldn’t trust where the information you were sending was going.

  “We have most of the route and major players from Harold down. We just can’t get a connection to the supplier. I have to call my contact and let him know what has happened.”

  “How do we play this mess?” Taren watched the street. The weight of what Nick told him settled in his gut.

  “I am ready to end this game of cat and mouse. When they show up, they won’t be expecting two people. Let’s hope that surprise will be enough of a trump card that we can win this hand.”

  “In the mean time, partner.” Nick smiled as he rubbed his wrists. “We wait.”

  * * * * *

  The wolf pack had accepted Taneika into their group. After traveling most of the night, they rested at the sight of an early morning kill. They stirred only to gorge themselves and then go back to sleep.

  The tranquil quiet of the afternoon was disturbed by the approach of snowmobiles. They were off the normal trail and getting closer.

  The wolf pack scattered and hid. Taneika crouched behind a fallen tree and watched as the riders approached. Three snowmobiles came into view. Each one carried two people and towed a tarp-covered sled. At first she thought they were campers, but the automatic weapons that the passengers carried told a different story.

  The lead vehicle turned sharply and the sled flipped, scattering its cargo across the snow. The other two snowmobiles pulled up and stopped.

  “You stupid asshole! Now look what you’ve done. I told you to slow the fuck down.”

  “Up yours. Get off your lazy ass and help reload this shit.”

  “Fuck you, you flipped it, you reload it.”

  “Shit! There’s a couple packages busted.”

  “You fucking moron. That’s pure uncut coke. When the boss finds out part of the shipment was lost, your ass won’t be worth a plug nickel.”

  Taneika was stunned at what she heard. These were the drug dealers and Taren wasn’t here. It was up to her to do something.

  “With the pickup cancelled, the boss is already pissed.”

  She laid two arrows against a tree branch and notched a third onto the bowstring. She took a deep breath to steady herself for the task ahead.

  “You think he’s pissed. I was getting laid when the call came to get this shit out of the woods.”

  She stepped to the side of the tree, her bow arched. The soft fletching brushed her cheek. “Just leave the drugs where they are and put your weapons down,” she ordered.

  She heard the metallic click of safeties being released and she fired. Bullets sprayed the ground in front of her.

  As the first arrow struck, the second was being released from her fingers.

  Shock and panic broke loose as the second arrow found its mark in the chest of another passenger. The third gunman carrying an automatic started running for the cover of a tree. As he turned his weapon in her direction, an arrow pierced his neck. Bullets sprayed the tree inches above her head.

  “I said, nobody fucking move! Now, drop your damn weapons!”

  The drivers of the snowmobiles carefully lifted pistols from shoulder holsters and dropped them in the snow.

  “Back up and kneel. Don’t try anything.”

  When they had done what she ordered, Taneika stood and walked toward them. The three she had shot were dead. Taking a length of rope from the overturned sled, she tied t
he men’s hands. She forced each man onto the righted sled and tied him on with another rope.

  Retrieving her pack, she slipped into her buckskins. There was nothing she could do with the other snowmobiles, except leave them for the authorities. Being closer to Red Rock than she was home, she headed the snowmobile in that direction.

  Besides, she knew she could trust Sheriff Yates.

  * * * * *

  Taren kept a close watch on the street as he peeked out from behind the closed curtain.

  They had been keeping two-hour watches since yesterday. Nick was asleep on the couch. Taren glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed it was time to wake Nick up.

  Movement on the street caught his attention. This van wasn’t on the list of normal vehicles that Nick had supplied. The van was a non-descriptive, plain, white panel Ford. As it passed in front of the house, it slowed.

  “Nick, wake up. I think we might have something.”

  Nick was instantly wide-awake and standing beside him, looking after the retreating van. “Could be. Keep a sharp lookout. I’ll go to the back and watch the alley.”

  Taren picked up the radio. “Steve, possible contact. White panel Ford van.”

  “Got it. Turned the corner just in front of me. It circled the block. Here it comes again. Two men in the front. They don’t look like repairmen.”

  “Heads up, Charlie. They’re headed back your way.”

  “I see them. They turned at the next corner.”

  Taren shifted the safety off of his pistol and double-checked the Mac-10 that hung from the strap around his neck.

  The radio microphone at his ear crackled. “They pulled into the alley and stopped.” He heard the tension in Charlie’s voice.

  “They may be waiting for another vehicle so stay alert.” Taren kept shifting his eyes up and down the street.

  “Nick, heads up. The van just pulled into the alley.” Nick wiped the sweat from his hands. “Talk to me, Charlie.”

  “They’re just sitting there, haven’t gotten out.”

  “Where the hell did they come from?” Steve’s voice crackled from the radio.