Enemy Way

by Aimée

  “What did you do with it?”

  “Shopper kept the fetish as a trophy, but decided to hide the doll and sell it to an Anglo trading post operator in a few months. Then Shopper got his throat cut, and I knew the same would happen to me if I didn’t watch my own back. I told some of the homies, but they thought I was just chicken. I figured I’d keep my mouth shut, and stayed home mostly. My mom had me hide and told the cops and Justine that I was out roaming around. Then, two nights ago, things went really crazy. I heard a noise outside, and there by the back door was Shopper’s body. Someone had dug him up, and they’d pinned a note to his shirt. The note said that unless they got their stuff back, I’d be next to die.”

  “Where’s the body now?”

  “I put it into a trash bag, and dumped it into the river down past the water treatment plant.”

  “Where is the doll now?” Ella asked.

  “Shopper and I had a hard time deciding where to hide it. He finally said we should put it back in the witch’s house after the cops were done there. We figured that would be a real safe place. It’s in a heating vent right over the kitchen door.”

  Ella left the room with Big Ed, while Justine stayed with her cousin. “I’ll go back there and see if I can find the witch doll. Once we have it, I could let the word out and that may help us stop some of the bloodshed.”

  “The gangs will continue to fight for the usual reasons,” Big Ed said wearily, leading the way back to his office.

  “I know, but at least we can cut down on the number of deaths—if we’re lucky.”

  “Most of the boys will be out on bail in a few more days. We can’t keep them all until their hearings.” Big Ed reached his office chair, and sat down wearily.

  Ella nodded and started to say more, when Justine stepped up to the door. Thomas Bileen was with her, handcuffed. “Your sister-in-law is on the phone on your direct line,” she said in a quiet voice. “She says it’s an emergency.”

  Ella ran back to her office while Justine took their prisoner to a holding cell. She grabbed the receiver before she’d even reached her chair. “What’s going on?” Ella asked Loretta.

  “There are people up on the mesa overlooking your mother’s house. I caught the glimmer of something like a small fire, or maybe a mirror.” Her voice was just above a whisper. “I’m not sure what’s going on, there’s only the moon for light outside. I don’t want to alarm your mother, and I can’t call my husband, because he’s with a patient some distance away. He won’t be back until tomorrow. My son and I were going to spend the night with your mother, but I’m not sure what to do. I don’t know whether to try to leave or stay in the house.”

  “Stay in the house. You’re all safest there. I’ll send people over there immediately. Stay away from the windows, and lock the doors.”

  Ella grabbed her jacket and ran down the hall, but Big Ed blocked her. “Someone’s watching my house,” she explained quickly. “My mother, sister-in-law, and my nephew are there alone. I need a unit sent over there now.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  Sirens filled the air as Ella pulled out of the station, Justine close behind her.

  “Michael Cloud is patrolling south of your home, about fifteen minutes away. He’s responding now,” Justine informed her on channel six. “Sergeant Neskahi was on his way home, but he’s also responding. He’ll be coming up behind me.”

  “Ten-four.”

  She knew Michael should arrive first, and he would do whatever it took to make sure her family was safe. But she had no idea what they’d be up against. Maybe the skinwalkers had lost their patience, or what was left of the Many Devils, or The Brotherhood, had decided to get payback.

  Ella felt her hands go clammy. She had too many enemies. The glimmer that Loretta had seen could have been headlights, or special binoculars, or even a shot fired from a silenced weapon. She just didn’t have enough information to even speculate accurately. About five minutes from her home, Ella instructed Justine and Neskahi to switch off the sirens.

  She then contacted Michael. “What’s your ETA now?”

  “I’m at your place. I approached without lights or sirens. Unless whoever’s watching the house has top-notch equipment, they probably don’t know I’m here. I figure that while other officers move in on the people up on the mesa, I should stick by your house. I’m at the northwest corner where I can keep an eye on anyone who approaches from the mesa side. I’ve already spoken to your sister-in-law, and everyone’s okay inside. She’s going to help keep watch.”

  “Good plan. Stay there.”

  As they reached the turnoff, Ella gave Justine and Neskahi their instructions. The three of them would approach the mesa from three different directions, driving in as far as they could before continuing on foot.

  They moved in slowly, lights off. Ella was circling around to the north, and Justine would take the east side. Neskahi, arriving last, would approach from the west. The going was slow and rocky, but if it meant that they could close in on whoever was up there, so much the better.

  Ella maintained radio silence as she left her vehicle and moved up the northern face of the mesa. At least this was territory she knew well enough not to need a flashlight. She chose her way carefully in the dark, and made no mistakes.

  Suddenly a voice came out of the darkness from up above. “Don’t come any closer. We are not your enemies. We are here to protect you and yours.”

  Ella didn’t recognize the voice. “I haven’t asked for help.”

  “But you need it. You fight the tribe’s oldest enemies. We will watch your family while you hunt the evil ones. Accept our help. Don’t become our enemy.”

  There was a sudden explosion of light that blinded her, and the concussion almost knocked her down. She felt rather than heard a vehicle speeding past her on the left, but she couldn’t get her eyes to clear. Ella reached for her radio.

  “My night vision is gone, and I can barely hear!” Justine called out, “but I think there’s a car out there.”

  “Just wait until your sight clears. If you push it, you’ll just fall and break a leg, or worse.”

  Ten minutes later they met at Ella’s Jeep. Ella saw the anger on Neskahi’s face. He had never liked giving up, or losing. Justine’s expression was just as easy to read. Frustration was etched on her features.

  “We were so close!” Justine muttered. “That flash-bang did its job well.”

  “At least the concussion didn’t do any permanent damage. We were all far enough away from it.”

  “Who’d use that kind of thing around here?” Justine asked. “Not that it couldn’t have been worse. Lately, we’ve been getting bullets instead of warnings.”

  “I know who they were,” Ella said. “It seems the Fierce Ones are now insisting on watching over my family while we take care of the skinwalkers.”

  “Oh, wonderful,” Neskahi said. “You realize that the Fierce Ones will be in your corner only as long as you don’t do anything to annoy them. If, at any given point, they feel you’ve stepped out of line, they’ll happily put you on their enemies list.”

  “They’re unpredictable, I’ll give you that, and dangerous. That number they did with the dump truck could have easily cost lives instead of saving them.”

  “Do you think my cousin Thomas could have been wrong about who was trying to kill him?” Justine asked. “The Fierce Ones have been escalating their activities against gang members.”

  “Maybe, but the skinwalkers would want him pretty badly for what happened to Lisa Aspass. They also want what was taken, and would rather see Thomas dead than in our hands.” Ella considered the matter. “To be honest, I don’t know if the Fierce Ones would deliberately try to kill a kid, but Navajo witches wouldn’t let the age of the victim stop them.”

  “Don’t underestimate the Fierce Ones,” Neskahi said.

  “I don’t, believe me. But, for now, there’s not a thing I can do about them. I have no IDs of any of them, except for Bil
ly Pete, and he can be as scarce as hen’s teeth when he chooses to be. You might try to pick him up at his job tomorrow, but I have a feeling you’ll find that he’s gone on vacation or something like that.” Ella paused, then added, “By the way, were you able to dig up anything interesting on Bekis?”

  “If he’s connected to the skinwalkers, he’s hidden that link like a master. Of course, that would have to be expected. All I can tell you for sure is that I found no evidence to support or negate a possible tie. I did find out that he’s been keeping a very low profile since he made bail. His lawyer is worried he might be disturbed.” Justine answered.

  “Couldn’t happen to a more deserving man,” Ella said. “I’m going home to try to get some sleep. I suggest you two do the same. Our plate has been full tonight, and tomorrow could be just as busy.”

  As her team drove off, Ella went over to meet with Michael Cloud, who had not left his position beside the house. She filled him in, and saw the look of concern that crossed his features.

  “You want me to stay close?”

  “Yeah, I do. What the Fierce Ones don’t quite realize is while they might know when a threat approaches, I won’t, because I won’t be able to tell a real threat from one of my self-appointed guardians.” She paused. “I wish I could get them to understand that, but I can’t talk to them because I can’t even find them. I could broadcast the word, but if I do, I’m also notifying my enemies.”

  “For now, we’ve got to work with things the way they are,” Michael said. “If I see anything, I’ll call it in and check it out. We can’t afford to assume anything at this point.”

  “I wonder if they’ll realize what’s going on, and back off, or decide that I’m really their enemy.”

  “That’s out of your hands. You’re doing what you have to do,” Michael said.

  “You’re right. I just don’t have a choice.”

  As Officer Cloud drove off, Ella returned to the house. It was closer to dawn than midnight, but Loretta was waiting for her as she walked in.

  “Is everything okay?” she whispered.

  “Yeah. How are things here?”

  “Julian’s asleep and so’s your mother.”

  “No, I’m not,” Rose said, and came into the room on her crutches. “Did you catch whoever was up on the mesa?”

  Ella shook her head, and explained that the Fierce Ones had decided to protect her, but didn’t mention any of the complications that would cause.

  Rose nodded slowly. “They’ll try, but it’s just a matter of time before they’re overwhelmed by the pressures of the fight they’ve chosen. Their methods—their principles—may change as they realize what it will take to win. Sooner or later, the line between right and wrong will blur for them, and they’ll become a law onto themselves. But that’s in the future. For now, they aren’t a threat and we’re okay. You two get to bed. That’s where I’m going.”

  Rose turned around, and returned to her room.

  As Ella looked at Loretta, she saw the fear in her sister-in-law’s eyes. “It’s okay. There’ll be patrols in the area. You and Julian will be safe here tonight.”

  Loretta nodded, her tight-lipped expression betraying the fact that she resented everything that was going on.

  “I wish that things could be different for you … for all of us,” Ella said, “but you knew about our family before you married Clifford.”

  “I never realized that it would be like this. I don’t like violence.”

  “Neither do I, but I’ll do whatever’s necessary to protect our family.”

  “Where are you going now?” Loretta asked as Ella started putting on her jacket. “It’s three in the morning?”

  “There’s one more thing that needs to be done.”

  Ella drove to Lisa’s home. She’d be lucky if she managed to get any sleep at all tonight. She rubbed her neck with one hand, wondering when the Rez had started falling apart, and if anything would ever be able to stop the process, much less reverse it. Lately, things just kept getting worse.

  She took a deep breath. She’d think about such things later. Right now, she had to concentrate on finding answers to the murders, not to the future.

  As she entered Lisa’s home, she felt its now-familiar sense of oppressiveness almost engulfing her. But maybe she could define it better now. It wasn’t a sense of evil alone. What she was reacting to, what touched her and left her so unsettled, was an inescapable sense of futility, a sadness that came from acknowledging the final results of a life wasted on revenge. The skinwalker’s apparent plans to destroy Wilson in order to hurt Ella’s family seemed, in retrospect, nothing more than an ill wind that had passed through their lives, its power dissipating as its own evil consumed it. Yet that realization was not one she would share with anyone, in hopes of changing what was yet to come. Reason could not touch certain people. They were immune to it, hiding behind beliefs that gave them the illusion that they were powerful, not just pawns in a game they didn’t understand—life.

  Ella pulled a chair out from around the kitchen table and stood on it, using her pocket knife to unscrew the vent. The foul-smelling doll fell right into her hands. Revulsion filled her. It was a caricature of evil, something meant to oppress and corrupt, a tool of fear. She resisted the urge to throw it on the floor, to rip it apart until nothing remained.

  The artifact might yet produce some good. It could turn out to be her ace in the hole, and she wouldn’t risk losing it. She stepped down and stared at it blankly, trying to figure out what to do with the thing now. She wouldn’t bring the doll into her own home and dishonor her mother that way. She also couldn’t carry it around. To keep it at the police station would place it at risk. She still remembered when two of the skinwalkers had been cops. Who could say that none still remained, undetected?

  Ella walked back to her Jeep, and picked up a large brown, padded envelope from the floor of the vehicle. She’d meant to use it to mail a wedding gift to Wilson, a weaving her mother had made. It would no longer serve that purpose, but it would be useful in a different way now. It even already had priority mail postage on it, and the weaving weighed much more than the doll that was taking its place.

  Feeling awkward about removing evidence from a crime scene in such an unorthodox way, Ella snapped several Polaroids of the doll with the camera she kept in the Jeep for police work. These would serve as her backup, recording what she’d found and when. She then wrote a note explaining what she wanted done with the doll and stuck it in the envelope along with the doll.

  Lastly, she addressed the envelope to Blalock in Farmington. He’d probably dislike holding onto the thing, because he’d also encountered skinwalkers in working with her, but this way he’d have no choice and it would be safe with him. His office had a closet built like a safe.

  Ella drove directly to the post office. The lobby was open all night. Of course, with the gang problem, there was no telling how long that would last.

  Passing the envelope through the special rotating package depository, she returned to the Jeep and drove home. Everything was quiet now. As she entered the house, she felt the peace that came from finally coming home after long hours of work.

  She went to her room and lay down on her bed, surprised when Two jumped up and lay by her feet. “I’m going to have to get up in another minute and undress, so don’t get too comfortable,” she warned, but, before she knew it, she was sound asleep.

  * * *

  The phone ringing next to her bed woke her, and Ella sat up abruptly. The sun was already shining through her windows, and it was bright outside. She’d meant to be up before dawn, but she could see that it was at least eight o’clock. Tossing the covers aside, she bolted out of bed and reached for the receiver.

  She recognized Neskahi’s voice even before he identified himself. “After our run-in last night with the Fierce Ones, I went back to the area where I lost the driver who took a shot at the kid.”

  “Did you find him?”

 
“No, but I have a feeling he’s still out there, hiding. I’m going to stick around a while longer. There’s a truck that might be his parked next to a vacant house here that’s still under construction.”

  “Have you gotten any sleep?”

  “No, but maybe I’ll catch up tonight.”

  Ella knew the burst of energy that often came after complete exhaustion. She also knew about altered moods and perceptions that were an offshoot of that state, too. “Sergeant, I’m coming over. Even if you’re sure you’ve IDed the suspect, do not initiate any action on your own. Is that clear?”

  “I’m tired, but I’m doing okay. Don’t worry,” he said.

  “Fine. My order still stands.”

  Ella hung up with one hand and reached for a clean pair of jeans with the other. She washed up quickly. As she walked down the hall to the kitchen, she tripped over Two. “Sorry, mutt, but you’re in my way.”

  The dog looked up at her, wiggled his tail twice, then with a beleaguered sigh, placed his head back down on his paws.

  “Rough life,” Ella muttered, then stopped in mid-stride, wondering suddenly why Two wasn’t with her mother.

  Rose appeared at her bedroom door as Ella came by. “Mom, you’re up. Did I wake you?”

  “I’ve been awake for hours. It just takes me a long time to dress,” she said wearily, as if the task had sapped most of her energy.

  Guilt filled Ella. “Sorry. I wish I could stay this morning, but I’ve got to run and help Neskahi.”

  “What’s wrong with the sergeant?”

  “He hasn’t had any sleep at all, and is running on adrenaline. I’m afraid that he’ll be a danger to himself and others unless he gets some rest soon.”

  Ella picked up her jacket and slipped it on while grabbing a slice of bread to munch on. The house really seemed cold this morning. “Mom, are you warm enough?” Ella noted that her mother was wearing a long-sleeved velvet blouse, a shawl, and a long skirt. The traditional outfit was something her mother wore often, but it had never seemed as warm as a pullover and a thick sweater to Ella.

  “I’m plenty warm. If you wore our traditional clothes from time to time, you’d know that.”