The Humvees came to a screeching stop as dust billowed around the tires. Everyone got out of the vehicles, and stretched tired muscles from the long trip. Eight hours straight in the Humvee down a desolate and dangerous road wasn’t relaxing.
“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Kyle asked. Kyle had taken quite well to joining the group, after being reunited with everyone back in Big Springs. He’d become an invaluable part of the drive up, as he was one of the few that learned to drive the Humvees, besides Rick and Dawson. Chase really wanted to drive, but Dawson wasn’t sure he was ready for that level of stress.
“Oh, we’re in the right place alright,” Rick said, motioning towards the figure coming towards them. It was Pritis, in her unmistakable muumuu dress. Some things hadn’t changed.
Pritis didn’t look to be her usual jovial self. She looked the same physically, as her outward appearance looked much as it always had. That cigar still rested in her mouth. You could tell just by the way she walked towards them, though, that she wasn’t having a good day. She did her best, however, to put on a good appearance. She’d met Dawson, Chase, Jake and Rick before. The rest of the group she didn’t know.
“Dawson, good to see you. It’s been a while,” Pritis said, offering him a big hug. Dawson was a little taken aback.
He reciprocated the hug. “I have to assume that you’re being a little bit sarcastic there, Pritis, but it’s good to see you again as well. I’m sorry about the circumstances.”
“It would seem that our conditions are going to be like this for the near future. Unless, that is, you have some magic wand you can wave over the entire country to fix our problems.”
“I wish I could, Pritis, I really do.”
“So, I see you brought some reinforcements with you this time. I know I had you a little scared of me last time you were here, but I’m surprised you brought so much help to back you up.” Spotting Veronica, Pritis knelt down in front of the little girl. “And who would this precious little one be?”
“Well, that’s my daughter Veronica. She’s very excited to be here.”
Veronica interrupted, “I was going to come here last time, but my daddy decided it would be better for me to be kidnapped by a stranger.”
“Ah come on,” pleaded Rick. “I’m not a stranger.”
“Well,” Veronica stated matter-of-factly. “You may as well have been back then, I’d only known you for a few days and had a bad experience with strangers in the past. What with having them really kidnapping me and all.”
Pritis looked confused as she looked up to Dawson. “I assume there’s more to the story than I’m getting here?”
“Oh yes there is,” Maggie said, introducing herself. “I’m the other woman in Dawson’s life.” She offered a hand to Pritis as she stood up, groaning about her creaking knees. “I’m also Jake’s wife. I’m sure you met Jake as well; he’s the one with the fancy underground paradise back home.”
“Oh yes,” Pritis responded. “I heard all about the fabulous prepper-style bunker. There were a number of conversations over the pros and cons of living our lifestyle in the EarthShips, versus digging a hole in the ground.” Pritis and Maggie shared a smile.
“Hey!” Jake said indignantly. “It’s a whole hell of a lot more than just a hole in the ground. I’ll have you know it took me years to design and build that place.” Maggie and Pritis shared an oh-here-we-go-again glance between them.
“It really doesn’t take much to get him going,” Maggie said.
“I can see that,” Pritis said.
The rest of the introductions carried on for the next few minutes. Then, Beth, Kyle and Veronica recruited Chase as a guide for a tour of the EarthShip community. They were quite taken just by the initial size of the place. For anyone who’s never been to an EarthShip home, let alone a collection of them arranged in a crazy artistic hippie-style community, it’s quite a sight. The rest of the group made their way back to Pritis’ house for a discussion about what was going on in the community these days.
* * *
“Are you sure these people have actually gone missing?” Rick asked as diplomatically as he could. “I mean, this is out in the desert, right? You people tend to—”
Pritis interrupted, “First of all, don’t ever refer to us as ‘you people.’ We’re just regular people, like everybody else, we just happen to view the world in a different way.”
Rick rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. “You know what he means,” Jake said.
Pritis looked to Maggie and shook her head. “I know what he meant, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. And that doesn’t mean I’m just going to let it go by. Here’s the thing. Our people have been missing for days. They left children behind and just took off out into the desert or somewhere else. It makes no sense that they would do something like that. Somebody else must have given them a reason or taken them away by force. I know these people, and I know what kind of people they are. They’re not the kind to just leave their children.”
Dawson spoke up this time. “Things have changed.” He looked around the room. It was Pritis’ place, where they’d spent time together not so long ago. It looked a little disheveled compared to the last time they’d been there. Pritis had other things on her mind than housekeeping lately. “The world is changing, and it won’t go back to the way it was for a very long time. That can have a profound effect on people, and maybe that’s what happened here. People get depressed.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but there’s something you don’t understand about the way things work here. We came here, all of us, because we wanted something different. We made a deliberate attempt to change the world we live in by changing how we live. Change is not a problem for the people that live here. It’s what we search for. Change for the sake of change could be the mantra of some of these people. They’re not the type to just run away when things start to go south.”
“We believe what you’re saying, Pritis,” Maggie added to the conversation as she sat on the couch beside her. “We were just hoping that maybe there was another explanation. Hoping against hope. We had to ask.”
“Yeah, sure, that makes sense. I was hoping the same thing too in the beginning,” Pritis said. She got up and walked into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.
“We wouldn’t come all this way if we didn’t think it was critical,” Jake said. We left a lot behind.” He gave a sideways glance to Maggie, who smiled as best she could back at him. “We want to help. Rick has a lot more information about those people that came after us when we were here. And I don’t mean the motorcycle gang.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling we’d get to that,” Pritis said. “I don’t think it’s the terrorist groups that are doing this. I believe that it’s someone else. Someone that lives in the area, so to speak.”
“The motorcycle gang?” Rick asked. “I thought we pretty much took care of them. You haven’t seen any of them around, have you?”
“No, it wasn’t the motorcycle gang I was thinking about, it was someone else. I believe that you met him when you were here before. His name is Owl. He’s a bit of a strange duck, but he’s been haunting these parts for decades. Longer than I’ve been here, and longer than this community has been here.”
“We did meet him,” Dawson said. “Chase and I met him, a few miles outside of the community. He seemed friendly, although we didn’t talk for very long.”
“Like I said, he’s a bit of a strange one,” Pritis said. “He’s not too fond of neighbors. That’s where most of the confrontations came in over the years between the EarthShippers and him. He’s an extreme example of one of us. He lives in a crazy little shack down the ravine, hidden amongst some massive rocks and overhanging cliffs. Pretty remote and hard to get to, but he seems to like it that way.”
“Do we need to pay him a visit?” Maggie asked.
Pritis winced. “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that.”
Chapter 13 ~ Stealing Rab
bits
Harish was now capable of getting himself up and around without much difficulty. Not that it did him a whole lot of good other than making himself feel a little freer. He had no idea where he was. Being surrounded by nothing more than cliffs, rocks, sky, and a few miles of desert didn’t help his sense of direction. In spite of the fact that his ancestral roots could be traced back to the desert, it still made him feel uncomfortable. Apparently, living most of his life in the city had changed his DNA. Still, his surroundings didn’t feel entirely unfamiliar. It was a puzzle he couldn’t resolve. Owl had decided not to keep him restrained, as that wasn’t his style. He may as well have, though, considering the current location. It’s not like Harish was about to go off running through the desert to try and get away. That would just send him back into the same situation that Owl had rescued him from. For the moment, Harish was content just to stay where he was. His life over the last few months had been nothing but turmoil. Not that it was all that great to start with, living a subsistence lifestyle, scraping by from paycheck to paycheck. Although, in hindsight, that seemed like an idyllic situation. At least back then, there was some pattern and routine to his life. Finding jobs, losing jobs, and stealing what he had to. Those were just things that had become part of his life. You’d think, after being stuck in a situation like that, that finding your lost brother would be an opportunity to celebrate. The way events had turned out, it was anything but.
Owl returned from his habitual morning walk into the desert, to find Harish sitting in the shade. That was Owl’s favorite spot to sit, but he didn’t say anything about it to Harish. They hadn’t spoken a whole lot in the days since Owl had rescued him from the desert. Harish couldn’t decide whether to thank him for that or not. Harish was a confused man these days, and unsure of the decisions he’d made recently. Deciding to join up with his brother and his so-called cause seemed a dubious decision to make, but it was his brother. He seemed like someone that Harish could trust. Harish didn’t have a lot of people in his life to start with, certainly not a lot of friends anyway. When his brother came back and started talking to him about their family and where they came from, he was incredibly passionate. It was that passion which finally won Harish over and convinced him to join this cause. Harish never considered himself an overly religious individual, but that started to change when his brother entered his life. Religion consumed his brother and ignited a curiosity within Harish. Maybe that was what he needed? A purpose? Something to believe in? Maybe that’s what had been missing all his life? It seemed to work for his brother Ahmed. Now he wasn’t so sure.
Owl slumped down and sat cross-legged in the dirt facing Harish. They stared at each other intently for a few minutes, which seemed to be what they did most of the time together. Harish was the angrier of the two, while Owl sat and stared with patience. Harish appeared to be weighing his options for fight or flight, whereas Owl was employing a more contemplative stare, as if waiting for just the right question.
“Why didn’t you just leave me to die in the desert? I’m sure the coyotes and vultures would’ve appreciated it,” Harish said, almost in a whisper.
“What’s that you say?” Owl responded.
Harish just stared at Owl and wondered if Owl really thought he was stupid. Clearly Owl had heard what he said. Why did he have to repeat it? Was he playing a control game with him, trying to teach him some lesson? Whatever the reason, Harish didn’t appreciate it.
“You heard me,” he said, more adamantly this time.
“Did you want to die?” Owl shifted in the dirt and started drawing patterns in the sand. “It’s hard to tell if someone wants to die or live. You gave me the feeling that you were undecided, so I decided for you and chose life. Funny, that’s not what I would usually do.” Owl scratched his back. “Life is work, and if a creature doesn’t have the ambition to do the work, then what’s the point? Perhaps I should’ve left you to the coyotes. They’re often smarter than I, and would’ve made a wiser decision.”
“What the hell kind of answer’s that?” Harish got up and walked from the shade into the sun, pacing aggressively. “I asked you a simple question. I didn’t ask you about coyotes, and I didn’t ask you about my friggin’ aura or whatever it is you think you’re reading off of me. I asked you why you didn’t just let me die. That’s it. A simple question.”
Owl jumped up and took the spot that Harish had vacated. He grinned triumphantly, as if he’d just won a major battle by capturing enemy territory. “There are no simple questions. Only simple answers. In my time, I’ve come to believe that people who ask the hardest questions already know the simple answers.” Harish kicked at a few rocks.
“All right then, give me the simple answer that I already know.”
“OK. I’ve got two answers for you here. Pick the one you like.” Owl stared into the sun and mumbled something indecipherable to Harish. “Number one … I was bored. Number two … those goddam coyotes have been pissing me off by stealing my rabbits all week, so I figured I’d steal their food for a change.” Owl spit in the dirt where he’d been drawing patterns, then gave Harish a sly grin.
Chapter 14 ~ Stakeout
“It’s like trying to sneak up on a rattlesnake while you’re wearing an elf suit covered in jingle bells. Suicidal and hilarious all at the same time,” Pritis grumbled under her breath, a little too loud for Rick’s liking.
“If this is supposed to be a stealth mission, I wish you’d keep all chatter to a minimum. Only essential communications are required,” Rick ordered.
Dawson smirked to himself, but sensing that the other two were agitating each other enough, he decided not to say anything. They’d been hiking now for several hours off the main road, through the foothills and across the desert. Pritis had the lead and was setting a relentless pace. Dawson was amazed at how resilient the bigger woman was, trekking under the hot desert sun. Initially, he’d suggested that it might be better to go in the evening when it was cooler, but Pritis said they’d never get a good look at Owl’s encampment in the dark. That made a lot of sense to Rick as well, so they decided to acquiesce to their tour guide’s suggestion.
They were looking for proof. Proof that Harish wasn’t dead, and that maybe there was a possibility they could use him to get to the leaders of the terrorist cell. Or at the very least learn more about them. There were many variables that they didn’t have control of, and no one was one hundred percent sure that this would really work out. Dawson prayed that it would, as they’d left a lot behind already by moving everyone here to Taos. They could certainly go back to Big Springs, but he feared what that would do to the morale of the group. There’s something about human nature that demands moving forward. As long as you’re making progress, as long as the traffic is moving, as long as we have at least the illusion that we’re in control and doing something to maintain that control, then people are happy. If they had to head back with the knowledge that they’d done nothing to eliminate the terrorist threat, it would be hard getting up every morning. Constantly looking behind you to see who’s running at you with a big rock is no way to live.
So, at the very least this expedition would answer one question. Was Harish alive or dead? None of them knew for sure, and that was worrisome as well. Worse to Dawson, in the sense that Harish could be part of the missing people problem. If that was true, then he was at least partially responsible for it. He was the one that couldn’t pull the trigger on Harish when he had the chance. He could’ve put an end to that threat once and for all, but killing in cold blood didn’t sit well with him. Even now, if he had the chance, he wasn’t sure he could pull the trigger. As much as that felt right, he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt.
If the sweltering sun was bothering Pritis, she showed no signs of it. She was the least agile of the group, but also seemed the most determined. These were her people that had gone missing, and she felt parental responsibility for each and every one of them. She was the spiritual, moral, and practical guardian
of the community. Their safety and well-being were her responsibility. Dawson tried to keep track of how to get back to the Humvee where Jake and Chase were waiting, but eventually he lost track of the constant turns. All these rocks and canyons looked the same to him. Pritis seem confident, however, and he felt like Rick was recording every movement in his mind’s eye like a digital camera. As long as he had those two, Dawson had no doubt that he’d be able to get back to the Humvee.
Pritis stopped and signaled for the other two to join her behind cover at the edge of a small cliff. It wasn’t a sheer drop, but it would’ve been a tricky grade to negotiate on foot. They lay flat and peered over the edge. The sun was behind them, so there wouldn’t be any reflection from the binoculars spying on the small enclosure at the bottom of the ravine partially covered by an outcropping of rocks. Rick scanned up and down the ravine for signs of movement. The only two figures he could make out were just outside the small enclosure. The older man sat cross-legged in the dirt, wearing a bandanna and sunglasses. The other man sat on what looked like a chair made out of sticks, bones and tortoise shells.
“I believe we’ve found who we’re looking for,” said Rick as he handed the binoculars to Dawson. “Is that your guy?”
Dawson set the binoculars to his eyes, then turned the middle knob to bring them into focus. He stared for longer than it should have taken to figure out who the people were down there, as his hand was shaking badly. Rick noted the tremor. He was undecided as to whether it was nerves or anger. “Yes, that’s definitely Harish. He looks thinner than the last time we saw him and maybe a little beat up, but I’d bet anything that’s him. I only met Owl briefly, but I suspect that’s him. Pritis?” He handed the binoculars to Pritis.
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