“How did you find me, anyway?” he asked, finally.
“I hired a private investigator,” she said. “He’s been looking for you for two years.”
“So, I must have made some mistake along the line,” he replied.
Lindsay nodded, “You used the same burner phone that you used to call 9-1-1 on the day you got shot up.”
Rainhorse sighed, “That was two years ago. I thought after all this time, it was safe. That still doesn’t explain how you knew to go to the Blue Buffalo Tavern.”
“The investigator pulled all the recent police records in the area and found where you had sent some shit-kicker to the hospital by kicking his ass at the Blue Buffalo,” Lindsay said. “Really, Jackson, your temper is going to be your undoing.”
“And you flew here and went into a tavern by yourself?” Rainhorse exclaimed. “What the hell are you thinking?”
“How else was I going to find you?”
“How the hell did you convince Vern Gill to tell you where I’d be?”
“I paid him in cash.”
“You pulled out cash in a dive bar? This is just getting worse and worse,” he huffed. “I gave you credit for being a lot smarter than this.”
“You know what . . . rather than saying something I will regret, it’s probably a better idea for me to just shut up.”
“You could have gotten yourself hurt,” he continued.
“I think we should just call a mutual time out,” she responded.
He rolled his eyes, “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
“Fine,” she snipped.
“Fine,” Rainhorse agreed.
She glared at him and then turned her head away again. They drove in silence for close to five minutes.
“Where did you get those clothes?” he asked, breaking the silence. “You look like a hobo.”
“I was trying to not attract attention,” she told him.
“Lindsay, you’re female and you are white,” he spouted. “It was a truck-stop diner on an Indian Reservation. You are going to attract attention . . . period.”
“I had no choice,” she said. “This was the only place Gill knew where you’d be. It was now or never.”
“Never would have been better,” he replied. He instantly caught himself as he saw the reaction on her face. He knew he had gone too far, but she had acted irresponsibly and had nearly scared him to death. He’d almost lost her forever.
She gave no response. She sat there, choking up; tears forming in her eyes.
Rainhorse shook his head and sighed. They drove in silence again.
After another mile, Lindsay perked up when she recognized a young woman walking alongside the road.
“Slow down, Jackson,” she said.
“What for?”
“The girl walking on the side of the road—it’s Ska, the diner waitress.”
“So?” he asked.
“So, she tried to help me back at the diner—she kept warning me. Look at her, she’s all alone. She’s only wearing a light sweatshirt and shorts. She’s freezing.”
“We don’t have time to mess around with her,” Rainhorse said.
“We can’t just pass her by,” Lindsay exclaimed. “Stop now. I mean it.”
Rainhorse slowed alongside the woman. When Ska noticed the truck, she began to quicken her pace, “I don’t need a ride,” she said.
“Ska, it’s me, Lindsay . . . from the diner.”
Ska stopped, “You’re alive. Thank god. I thought for sure . . . ”
“You must be cold out here,” Lindsay said. “It’s dark out. What are you doing walking along this road?”
“When the shooting started, my ride took off without me,” Ska said.
“Get in. We’ll give you a lift.”
“Lindsay, no!” Rainhorse objected.
“She tried to help me, Jackson,” Lindsay barked. “We’re not going to leave her out in the middle of nowhere.”
Rainhorse rolled his eyes as Lindsay slid to the middle of the truck’s bench seat and motioned Ska inside. Rainhorse hit the gas as soon as the door was closed.
“Are you all right?” Lindsay asked. “Did you get hurt?”
“No, I’m just shaken up a bit?”
“How far away to you live?” Lindsay asked.
“I can’t go home,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because Rattling Thunder knows me,” she said. “He sells crank to my boyfriend and I.”
“What does that have to do with you not being able to go home?” Rainhorse asked.
“Apollo and HRT saw me warning Lindsay,” she replied. “They won’t forget it.”
“Jesus,” Lindsay said. “Do you have family or friends you can stay with?”
She shook her head, “My father is dead. My mother is also one of Apollo’s customers. They all know where to find me. When they find me, I’m screwed. I will be lucky if all they do is send me to the hospital.”
“Where were you going, if you can’t go home?” Lindsay asked.
“I don’t know . . . just away from the diner,” she replied. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. “I have no place to go.”
“You’re staying with us, then,” Lindsay said, “until we get this all sorted.”
“No, she is not,” Rainhorse said. “May I remind you that we are currently being sought by the authorities. Taking Ska with us is not an option.”
“Yes, it is. We just do it.”
“Lindsay, I said no. We are in serious trouble here. I am trying to get us to safety. We owe nothing to this girl.”
“What do you plan to do—just dump her?”
“The side road Neha told us to take is just ahead,” Rainhorse said. “There is a small town less than a mile away. We will let her off here. She was born and raised on the res. She will be fine.”
“She will not be fine,” Lindsay protested.
Rainhorse pulled off to the side of the road and stopped, “I’m sorry, miss. I really am, but we cannot take you with us.”
Ska broke down in tears, covering her eyes with her right hand, exposing the needle marks in her thin, frail arm. Lindsay opened the door and got out with Ska. She put her arm around the thin Sioux woman and began walking down the road.
“Get back in the truck, Lindsay,” Rainhorse yelled.
“I told you, I’m not leaving her behind,” Lindsay yelled back.
Rainhorse leaned over the seat, grabbed the door handle and closed the door. He drove slowly to catch up with Lindsay and Ska.
“I have no time for one of your games, Lindsay,” he barked through the window. “There is much more at stake here than you know. The entire well-being of the reservation is at stake. This thing I am working on is bigger than you or I. Now quit messing around and get back in the truck.”
“Piss off, Jackson,” she said. “I’m not leaving her. If you have to go, then go.”
“I cannot stay,” he said, stiffly. “There is too much at stake. I am warning you. I will leave.”
She stopped momentarily, “What’s happened to you? You are not the same person who saved my life two years ago. What happened to that guy, anyway?”
“Lindsay, you have no idea why I am here,” he replied, pleading. “I am trying to help these people on the res.”
“You sure couldn’t prove it by me,” she said, nodding toward Ska.
“Fine,” Rainhorse blurted. “I cannot wait any longer. I am giving you five seconds to get back in the truck or I will take off.”
“Can I bring Ska?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t need five seconds. Goodbye.”
“Fine . . . you spoiled little snot. Goodbye and good luck.”
Rainhorse popped the clutch and hit the gas, burning rubber as he sped away.
“You’re one crazy white bitch,” Ska said as the truck sped away. “I’m pretty much screwed, but you? You won’t last twenty-four hours on the res by yourself.”
“Don’t worry,” Lindsay said. “He’ll be back in five minutes or less.”
“I don’t think so,” Ska said. “He was pissed.”
“Look, I may not know the things you know but I know a lot about men, especially this man,” she said. “He’ll be back—five minutes, tops.”
She checked the time on her phone and showed it to Ska.
“What makes you so sure?”
“Jackson is actually one of the finest men you’ll ever meet,” she said. “He’d never leave me out here—not in a million years. He’s pissed at me. I’m pissed too, right now, but we could never stay mad at each other for long. This is the only way I could be sure he’d let you come with us?”
Ska looked at her, very confused, “You mean, you’re manipulating him?”
“Oh yeah, of course,” she replied, as if it went without saying.
“That’s a dangerous game, girlfriend,” Ska said.
“With some, perhaps,” she admitted. “Not with Jackson. I know what I’m doing. We haven’t formerly met, by the way. I’m Lindsay Vanderbilt.”
“Ska Red Feather,” she replied. “Thank you for what you are doing, even if he doesn’t come back.”
“He’ll be back, don’t worry.”
Ahead of her, headlights appeared coming toward them. She heard the familiar sound of the clunky old truck. It was Rainhorse. Lindsay smiled at Ska and looked at her cell.
“Three minutes, twenty-two seconds,” Lindsay noted with a small smirk.
Ska returned the smile, revealing darkened teeth common among meth users.
Rainhorse drove past them, turned around and pulled alongside them. He stopped. He leaned over and opened the passenger door, saying nothing. He simply looked ahead and sat there with a scowl on his face. Lindsay stepped aside, allowing Ska to get in first. She winked at the Cheyenne waitress.
CHAPTER NINE
______________________
Within fifteen minutes of getting into the vehicle, Ska was fast asleep. Lindsay had her arm around the Cheyenne girl, her head resting on Lindsay’s shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said.
Rainhorse didn’t answer. He had not said a word since he picked the women back up.
Lindsay sighed and began stroking Ska’s hair, “I never heard of the name, Ska. I wonder what it means?”
Rainhorse remained silent.
Lindsay allowed Rainhorse to drive in silence for what seemed like a long while.
“It means, ‘bird,’” he said, finally.
“Ska means bird?” she repeated. “So, her name is literally ‘Bird’ Red Feather.”
Rainhorse didn’t answer. His head seemed frozen in place, eyes on the road. Lindsay allowed the quiet to hang in the air for another minute.
“I didn’t mean it, you know,” she said, breaking the long silence.
Rainhorse glanced in her direction briefly, noting that Lindsay was not looking at him, just staring at the road. He turned his head back to the road, again saying nothing, allowing another two minutes to pass in silence.
“Did not mean what?” Rainhorse replied, finally.
“A little while ago, I said that I hated you,” she replied in a soft, monotone voice. She shrugged, “I was just mad. I didn’t mean it. I could tell it hurt your feelings.”
He sighed but still did not respond. Lindsay waited for him to say something . . . anything, but he didn’t. He just continued to drive. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of awkward quiet, Lindsay spoke up again.
“I say stupid things when I’m mad, that’s all,” she said.
Rainhorse managed a short grunt but said nothing.
“You know I care for you, Jackson,” she said, softly. “Why else would I pay someone to look for you for two years? Because I care for you. I always will, no matter what. It’s why I came. I had no idea I would find you in the middle of some tense situation. I’m really sorry for the . . . I don’t know . . . problems . . . confusion . . . chaos . . . I’ve caused. I would have never done anything intentionally to put you in danger. You have to know that.”
Rainhorse glanced her way momentarily and nodded ever so slightly, then turned his attention back to the road.
When it became apparent that he did not intend to reply, she began to get angry again. She sulked quietly for a few moments, allowing the anger to build to the point where she could remain silent no longer.
“This is bullshit. You know, Jackson, this is supposed to be the part where you say, ‘Lindsay, I care for you too. I know you had no idea that I was involved in anything. It’s not your fault. I’m just so happy to see you.’”
Rainhorse glanced at her again and drew a deep breath, contemplating what she had said.
“That is what I am supposed to say?” he asked.
“Yes,” she affirmed. “I just opened up my soul to you and dumped my heart into your lap and you left me hanging, you big lump of dumbass. You never leave a girl hanging like that. It makes me think you don’t care about me at all. Don’t you know anything?”
He shrugged, “I suppose I do not.”
“Ahhh,” she spouted in exasperation. “You drive me crazy sometimes.”
Rainhorse looked at her again for several seconds. She stared forward, refusing at first to make eye contact. Finally, she glanced in his direction. A small smile began to form on his face. He tried to fight it back but couldn’t.
“What the hell are you smiling at?” she asked.
“Did you ever think I was just paying you back a little for the way you manipulated me back there?” he said.
“Huh? What? Manipulated?”
She did her best to form an innocent, confused look, but she knew she was not pulling it off. Rainhorse scoffed at the effort.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about . . .” she began.
“Save it, Lindsay, you’re busted,” Rainhorse interrupted. “I know exactly what you were doing back there.”
“So, what is this, a game?” she spouted. “I hurt you. You hurt me. This is not a contest, Jackson.”
Rainhorse thought for a few seconds. After a moment he turned to her, “It is when I am winning.” He smiled.
“Keep your voice down,” she said, suppressing her own smile. “Don’t wake Ska up.”
“She’s had a rough day,” he replied. “I do not think a twenty-one-gun salute would stir her.”
“Who is Neha?” she asked.
“Are we done being angry now?” he wanted to know. His voice sounded sincere to Lindsay. It was tinged with sadness.
“Yes.”
“That is good,” he replied. “I do not like it when we are angry with each other. It makes me feel . . .”
“Feel what?”
“It saddens me. I do not like it.”
“Me either. So, who’s Neha?”
“Neha Littlebird is a dear old friend of mine,” Rainhorse said. “She and her daughter, Lona, are the reasons I am here.”
“Dear old friend?” Lindsay asked, curiously. “As in . . . you know . . . ?” She puckered her lips and made fake kissing noises.
He sighed, “Yes and no. I fell in love with her many years ago, before I joined the Rangers, when I was close to your age. She and I were . . . a thing, for a while, but I went into the service. While I was gone, she fell in love with my best friend, Henry Littlebird.”
“Why did you go into the service in the first place?” she asked.
“I grew up on a reservation,” he said. “I was poor and uneducated, but I had dreams of a better life. I loved Neha but I could not provide for her. Hell, I could not provide for myself. With the army, I could see the world, I could get training, earn money for education. I thought I could come back, get a good job, marry Neha and provide her with the life she deserved. It did not work out that way, though.”
“That sucks,” Lindsay replied. “She wouldn’t wait on you? It doesn’t sound like she deserves you to me. Maybe it was for the best.”
“No, it
was not her fault. I never gave her the chance,” he admitted. “When I was a Ranger, I was assigned to the Airborne Division. I worked in special ops performing clandestine missions. I wrapped myself up in my duties. I was gone for very long periods of time. I almost never wrote to her. She had to have thought I had forgotten her.”
“And your best friend, Henry, he offered her a shoulder to lean on?” Lindsay asked, putting the pieces together.
“Something like that,” Rainhorse said. “The straw that broke the camel’s back is when I reupped for another tour without even discussing it with her.”
“You reupped for another four years of duty without speaking to her . . . at all?” she asked incredulously.
He nodded. “That was very bad of me, was it not?”
“Oh yeah. That answers a lot of questions. That was certainly crappy of you, Jackson,” Lindsay replied.
He nodded, a dour look formed on his face as he was reliving the memory, “A year into my next tour, she wrote me, and told me she was marrying Henry.”
“Men are so stupid,” Lindsay said.
“It would be difficult for me to make an effective argument against that,” Rainhorse agreed. “I decided to allow her to live the life she wanted. I was never going to be able to give that to her. I never contacted her again.”
“Until recently, I’m guessing,” Lindsay noted. “She called you?”
“Yes, just last week,” he admitted. “Henry died, seven years ago. I didn’t even know.”
“Why did she reach out to you after so long?”
“Neha’s daughter, Lona, has been kidnapped by Apollo with Hank Rattling Thunder’s help. It happened just a few days ago. Neha is certain Lona will be forced into prostitution or sold into sex slavery.”
Lindsay gasped, “Oh my god! That’s horrible. How old is she?”
“Sixteen,” Rainhorse said, “and she is beautiful—I mean, she is Lindsay Vanderbilt beautiful. She will be Apollo’s most prized acquisition.”
Lindsay blushed for a second. She always melted when Rainhorse called her beautiful.
“Wow. That’s why you’re here . . . to find her,” she said, recovering quickly. “You were at the diner to confront the men who took her?”
Brotherhood Protectors: RAINHORSE (Kindle Worlds) Page 7