The news surprised her. “I saw some vehicles north of here making that turn just a few minutes ago. That must have been them.” Ella knew the area west of Shiprock well. Over in the mountains west of Beclabito and south of Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, were more undocumented mines. But they hadn’t searched there at all, figuring that Agent Thomas couldn’t have made it that far on foot in the time between when he was last seen and his phone call to them.
Of course it was entirely possible that Agent Thomas had been transported in a vehicle along the back dirt roads before he’d escaped … or maybe Krause was trying to mislead them while Simmons went to the real target, south where most of the mines were located.
“I’m staying put,” Ella said firmly. “But thanks for the heads-up. I’ll stay in touch with Joe Neskahi from here on.”
Ella hung up, and contacted Joe immediately. “I was about to call you, Ella,” he said. “I’m about six miles east of Beclabito, off the side of the road, looking down on Krause, who’s at the bottom of a hill. He pulled off the road, too, and is just sitting there in his SUV, as far as I can tell. He’s either waiting for someone or it’s possible he suspects he picked up a tail and has decided to cool his heels for a while. It’s pretty empty out here, so he may have seen my headlights.”
“What if he decides to double back?”
“No problem, I’m parked behind that old closed-down Texaco gas station. He won’t spot me, I’m hidden by some trees. Wait a sec. Here comes another car—a sedan.”
He paused, and another two minutes went by as Ella waited impatiently.
“It’s Simmons,” he said finally. “I can see him clearly through my binoculars. He’s transferring some ropes into Krause’s vehicle.”
“Stay with them, just don’t get seen. I’m on my way.”
Ella ran back to her unit, carrying her mom’s grocery cart in order to make good speed, then stepped out of the cumbersome clothes in a flash. A minute later, wearing her original clothes and her jacket, she was on her way north.
“They’re on the move,” Neskahi said, reporting. “Going south on a dirt road that leads up into the foothills.”
“Hubert Eltsosie lives out that way, doesn’t he?” Ella asked, turning west on Highway 64 as she sped through the western outskirts of Shiprock. She was still over twenty miles away and needed to cover ground quickly.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“I remember my mother saying that he’s deaf as a stone, but even with that disability, he refused to move when the uranium mining companies came. There are old shafts everywhere you turn out there, but he still lives in his hogan with a dozen or so churro sheep. He has to buy or trade for hay for them, or watch them outside their pen because it’s dangerous to let them graze unattended.”
“I’ve met Hubert a few times,” Joseph replied. “He’s a real traditionalist, even compared to your mother and the Plant Watchers. Some of the local officials tried to get him to move into Shiprock to the low-income housing. They even asked me to drop by during one of my patrols and try to convince him that he’d be safer there. I paid a visit, but he wouldn’t budge. Not that I blame him. As he told me, he stays because that’s where his memories are. If he moves he’ll lose the only connection he’s got left to his past.”
Ella thought of her mother, then quickly focused back on the case. “We’ll want to keep an eye on Eltsosie and any other locals who may be in the area so they don’t show up at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ella said, quickly reaching for the cell phone’s headset, and then loosening her hair so it would stop tugging at her scalp. “We’ll have to use Simmons and Krause to lead us to where Agent Thomas is, but once that’s done, we’ll need to take them into custody ASAP. We can’t allow them to reach Thomas. They might consider using him as a hostage rather than risk prison.”
Leaving Neskahi to shadow the two Anglos, Ella continued her high-speed race west while she called Blalock.
“I’ve got a team of agents in my office now. We can be in the Beclabito area in less than fifteen minutes,” Blalock said.
“Do it. I have a feeling this is the end of the road.”
As soon as she ended the call, her cell phone rang again.
“I’ve got bad news,” Teeny grumbled, “and I’ve put off calling you until now, hoping I’d catch up to him again.”
“Rainwater?” The pieces were starting to make sense again.
“Yeah. That dirtbag gave me the slip. He left his house just before dark in what I’m sure he thought was a great disguise. His hair was slicked back nice, and he had a phony mustache and was wearing a business suit.”
“And he had a briefcase?”
“How’d you know?”
“Lucky guess. What happened next?”
“It sounds like you already know, but, to make a long story short, I followed his blue-green Chevy Blazer to that west-side Farmington mall. He got out, walked a short distance in that lazy stride of his, then stopped, shifted gears, and stepped off like a businessman late for a big meeting. Unfortunately, I lost him when he slipped through a coffee shop.”
Ella realized she’d never seen Melvin walk more than a few steps. He’d either been basically still or running every time she was around him up to now. She quickly explained what had happened with Betsy, then asked Teeny to keep searching for Melvin.
She was less than three minutes from Neskahi’s position when she got a call from him. “They continued south after turning onto a dirt road just past highway marker twenty. Right now they’ve stopped about fifty yards east of Eltsosie’s hogan behind some junipers. They’re probably out of sight from his place, but I can see them clearly. There’s just enough moonlight for me to use my binoculars. They’re getting out that rope, it looks like. And a big lantern.”
“Is Eltsosie home?”
“I think so,” he said. “There’s no vehicle, but his horse is in the corral and he’s got a fire going. I can see a puff of smoke and an occasional glowing ember shoot up from the smoke hole in the center of the hogan roof.”
Ella took the turnoff Neskahi had indicated, cut her lights, then proceeded slowly down the dirt road, hoping to avoid any noise that would alert Krause and Simmons. Spotting Neskahi’s unit, she parked beside it and cut the engine. The two vehicles effectively blocked the road at the point where it crossed an arroyo. Even the big Expedition would be unable to deal with the eight-foot vertical drop off.
Reaching for the shotgun clipped to a bracket behind the seat, she slipped out of her vehicle silently and joined Neskahi, who was crouched low between two big clumps of brush, north of the hogan. The Anglo men he was watching were about sixty yards farther out, looking down at a big piece of corrugated aluminum on the ground. The ten-foot-long piece of metal had rocks placed atop it in several places, obviously intended to keep a strong wind from blowing the thin sheet away.
“They’re arguing about something,” Neskahi whispered, handing her his binoculars. “They’re easier to see now that they’ve turned on one of those big electric lanterns. And we’re going to be nearly impossible to spot because they’ve lost their night vision.”
“I wonder why the old man’s staying inside? He’s deaf, not blind. Unless he’s asleep, he couldn’t help but notice that big lamp. It lights up the whole area.”
“I was just going to get to that,” Neskahi whispered. “After we spoke last time, Simmons went up to Eltsosie’s hogan. Eltsosie came out, they talked—or gestured a lot—then Simmons wrote something on a piece of paper and showed it to the old man. After reading the note, the old man went back inside and hasn’t been back out since. No telling what Simmons told him.”
“That sheet metal on the ground. You wanna bet it’s covering one of those mine openings?” Ella noticed the two men were removing the rocks now, tossing them to one side.
Hearing a faint sound behind them, Ella and Neskahi both whirled, aiming their weapons. Seeing Blalock and three other armed men approaching, crouched low, they both rela
xed.
“Is that any way to greet the cavalry, Clah?” Blalock hissed with a grin.
“We’re Indians. Get used to it.” Neskahi snickered, putting his pistol back into the holster as FB-Eyes and three men carrying assault rifles and a shotgun joined them.
“I’ll keep watch, Ella,” Neskahi whispered.
“Here, take this,” she said, handing Joseph her shotgun. He nodded and turned to watch Krause and Simmons.
As the four Bureau men gathered around her, Blalock introduced them quickly.
The agents—one a short, young-looking Hispanic man and the others seasoned-looking Anglos six feet or taller, nodded matter-of-factly with grim expressions. Ella figured that they were all probably pretty pissed off because Simmons, one of their own, had crossed the line and was maybe responsible for the injury and possible death of Andy Thomas.
“Where’s Simmons?” Blalock asked next, his hand curled around a bolt-action Winchester with a nightscope.
Ella pursed her lips and gestured toward the SUV. Blalock motioned to his men, who formed a loose skirmish line behind cover, giving each other room. Blalock then moved in for a closer look with Ella. The rogue agent was tying a length of rope to the tow ring of the vehicle while Krause dragged away the corrugated metal, revealing a dark hole about five feet in diameter.
“When do you want to make a move?” Blalock whispered.
“We’ll have to box them in, but I don’t want to risk a crossfire,” Ella said. “Have two of your men go around to the west and use the hogan for cover. Joseph can circle left with your other man and take a position northeast of the perps. You and I will provide cover for them while they get into position. Once everyone is in place, I’ll move in.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Ella shook her head. “I can move faster and more silently. You cover my back with your rifle.”
He scowled but nodded, knowing she was right.
“With everyone in place, the perps will have nowhere to run except south, away from their vehicle, and if they’re stupid enough to draw weapons, we’ll all have a clear field of fire. But we want to take them alive if we can.”
Blalock nodded. “Less paperwork.” Moving away, he spoke quickly to the others, then came up beside her again as she took over Neskahi’s position. “I’ll watch out for you. With this rifle I can hole a quarter at a hundred yards.”
Krause and Simmons continued their preparations, arguing back and forth as, first, Simmons, then Krause looked down into the mine shaft, aiming a powerful flashlight. Finally Simmons took the rope and began to fasten it around his waist in a bowline.
After getting verification from Blalock, who could see the others were in position by using his night scope, Ella moved forward quietly. When she reached the outside of the illuminated zone, she slowed, staying low.
Simmons, at the edge of the mine shaft and about to step down, suddenly decided to take one more quick look around, and spotted her as she moved forward. Reaching down to his waist, he pulled out his pistol and snapped off two quick shots. One whizzed by her ear, the other over her head as she hit the dirt
Ella fired back and, at nearly the same moment, heard a rifle crack from behind her. Simmons’s body jerked and fell back, disappearing into the mine shaft. Krause, apparently unarmed, turned to run south. Bullets impacted on the ground around him, and Neskahi and one of the FBI agents yelled “Halt!” at the same time.
Krause flattened. “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot! I’m unarmed.”
Ella got to her feet and ran forward, ignoring Krause. The rope leading from the SUV to Simmons was taut but she had no idea how far had Simmons had fallen into the mine shaft. She edged forward carefully, then circled around to the other side of the hole to look in. It was too dark to see much of anything, but somewhere below Simmons was groaning and cursing.
Pulling a flashlight from her jacket pocket, she held the light well away from her body and inched toward the edge, circling in case Simmons had somehow managed to hang on to his weapon and was aiming up. He was about fifteen feet down, hanging on to the rope with one hand, his body against the cut sandstone wall of the mine shaft, a blood-soaked hand pressed against his chest. The rope, which was still looped around his body, had saved him from falling any farther.
“Clah! What the hell is going on? You just shot a federal officer,” Simmons challenged angrily. “Get me out of here and call an ambulance.”
As Blalock and the other agents moved in, Krause suddenly scrambled to his feet and took off running, brushing past Ella before she could grab him.
“I’ll get him. Don’t shoot,” Ella called out, then added, “Let Simmons dangle, and look for Andy Thomas down there.”
Ella raced after the mortician, glad that she’d avoided looking directly into the lantern on the ground, so her eyes were at least as well adjusted to the darkness as Krause’s. Alternating between watching the ground before her and the area ahead, she kept a steady pace, following the man from the sound of his heavy footsteps. Suddenly, as she went past a large boulder, she saw Krause ahead, frozen to the spot.
“Stay where you are!” she ordered, closing in on him.
“I’m not moving,” he called back softly without even turning his head. “There’re snakes everywhere. I just stepped on one, and there’s another coiled in front of me.”
NINETEEN
Ella turned on her flashlight again and aimed the beam of light at the ground. “There’s only one snake. You must have stepped on that branch instead.” She studied the timber rattler coiled just in front of Krause, half sheltered by a low sandstone outcropping. The rattling of his tail reminded her of the sound made when shaking a hollow gourd half full of rice.
“Back away from it slowly,” Ella instructed quietly. The snake was obviously out hunting for rodents, not undertakers, but Krause’s presence had put the creature in defensive mode.
“Just shoot the damn thing!” he whispered harshly.
“It’s not ready to strike—not yet, anyway,” she said, noticing the swelled area several inches past the rattler’s jaws. It had swallowed prey not long ago and was still sluggish. “Back up.”
“Dammit, shoot it!” he hissed.
“No,” she said flatly. Navajo ways taught that to kill a snake would drive away the life-giving rains. Snakes were linked to Thunders and the Lightning People. Although she wasn’t superstitious, she found it repulsive to kill an animal or any other living creature unless there was no other choice. And, at the moment, Krause was in no immediate danger, despite what he believed. “What do you say we talk about Agent Thomas, then I rescue you.”
“That’s blackmail,” he said.
“You’re warning me not to break the law?” Ella said, and chuckled. “Just step back slowly and carefully. I’ll cover you, if it’ll make you happy.”
Krause moved out of range, one step at a time. As soon as he cleared the snake’s strike zone, Krause turned, and as he looked at her, his face contorted with anger. “Where’s your gun? I thought you were protecting me.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ella brought out her pistol. “Turn around, I need to handcuff you.”
Ella read him his rights as she patted him down. After verifying that he didn’t have a weapon, she led him back toward the hogan. “If I were you, Krause, I’d start talking. When I left, Simmons was already starting to sing. He said he was working undercover to get evidence on you and Rainwater.”
Privately, Ella wondered if Simmons was still hanging by the rope or if he was out and in a talkative mood. Somehow, she doubted that. But a bluff could be useful.
“I’m not saying another word without my attorney,” Krause said flatly.
“You and Simmons know Andy Thomas is probably still alive, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. I’m sure Andy will have a lot to say once we pull him up. But since Simmons is the only man outside my department who knew Thomas had phoned us, that fact will put his butt in a sling. Simmons has enough legal background to know h
ow smart it is to make the first deal. Think a former FBI agent wants to go to prison—all by himself and unarmed? If he cuts a deal before you do, you’re the one who’s going to be screwed, that’s a guarantee.”
Ella knew there was a chance that Andy Thomas had died since his desperate phone call about three days ago. But Krause would be on the defensive and not likely to talk if he even suspected that he’d be facing murder charges. A softer approach was the most logical option.
“You said Simmons is blaming all this on me?” Krause asked, turning to look at her. He stumbled on a rock and nearly fell.
Ella nodded, then yawned as if slightly bored by the whole thing. “Watch your step.” She aimed the flashlight in front of him so he could see a little better.
“This scam was his idea and if Simmons had pulled Thomas off our backs like he was supposed to none of this would have happened. When Simmons found out that Thomas was going after Rainwater, he came up with the idea of coldcocking Thomas, then hauling him away from the Navajos so we could work on him and find out what he knew. We were even wearing masks so Thomas couldn’t make a positive ID. But things got fouled up. Thomas wasn’t out cold. He was faking, waiting for a chance to get away. He grabbed his cell phone from where I’d set it after emptying his pockets, then dove out the door.
“We tried to track him, but there were open mine shafts everywhere around here. I almost fell into one of them myself. I went back to the SUV to get a flashlight, but when I returned, Simmons said he’d heard a yell, like someone falling.”
“So you gave up the search?”
“No, we kept looking around for hours, but couldn’t find a thing. When it started getting light outside, we saw the hogan and the old man. He’d come out to take care of his sheep, I guess, or else he heard us walking around. He had a rifle, so we decided to leave before he spotted us. But I’m telling you, Simmons jumped Thomas and clobbered him, not me. I’m not to blame for what happened to that FBI guy.”
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