by Aimée
“Come back! I can help you neutralize The Brotherhood. I know the leader, Anderson. I’ll also identify the man who killed Bitah. It was Truman. I was there when he hit him with that gun-stock. And Anderson hired us to kill you. We were waiting at the highway junction, knowing you had to pass by sooner or later. A while ago we spotted you up on the way to the hospital. We were supposed to run you off the road, making it look like what happened to the senator’s daughter. If you survived the wreck, we were to finish the job, then set the Jeep on fire to destroy your body.”
Ella knew she had his attention now. The threat of being burned to death could soften the hardest criminal. She stopped to listen, but still looked back and forth down the road, not moving toward him at all.
“Why did Anderson want me dead?” she asked.
“He hates your guts, trust me. And he wanted to kill you to prove how much power we have. You’ve managed to survive everything he’s thrown at you, even the bomb in the van. If we could take you out, others would have been very reluctant to fight us.” He glanced down at the pool of gasoline around his feet. “I’ve answered you. Now get me away from here!”
Ella turned around slowly. “You’re willing to testify in a court of law?”
“I know enough to convict Anderson. That’s my deal. I give you the testimony you need, you get me the hell away from here.”
“That’s almost enough to save your life. What else have you got?” she pushed, pretending to be trying to make up her mind.
The man tugged at his handcuffs, almost in a panic. “Come on, let me loose. I won’t try to run.”
“Keep talking. Oh, and by the way, if you keep moving around like that, you might cause a spark with those metal cuffs,” Ella cautioned.
“Okay, okay.” He grew still. “Noah Charley was taking money from The Brotherhood for keeping us informed about the Fierce Ones. Charley told Anderson that Bitah was planning to sabotage the heavy cranes and drag lines to shut down the mine. But it turns out Charley was lying about that. We grabbed Bitah, and once we found out the sabotage idea was crap, we decided to work him over just to make a point. Bitah fought pretty well, but he was outnumbered. Finally, Truman nailed him, and that was it.”
“Then Noah Charley took off,” she said, remembering the tracks that had been left at the scene.
“Yes, yes. He suddenly realized he was the only witness who wasn’t one of us. Nobody has seen him since. We never could figure out who paid Charley to tell us about the phoney sabotage, and why he was so willing to deliver Bitah to us.” He glanced at the ever-widening pool of gasoline around him, fear in his eyes. “That’s all I know. Now you’ve got to get me away from this death trap! Please?”
Ella nodded. She couldn’t prove it unless they found Noah Charley and persuaded him to talk, but she was suddenly certain Howard Lee had used The Brotherhood to keep Bitah from exposing his theft of the peyote buttons. Lee had committed murder all right, but it was Bitah’s, not Angelina’s, death he’d engineered.
Ella got the cellular telephone unit from her Jeep, and her shotgun, then unhooked her prisoner, cuffed his hands behind his back, and, at gunpoint, forced him to climb uphill with her. He was so relieved to still be alive he was almost eager to cooperate. After making him lay facedown, she managed to get a call through to Justine.
“Where have you been?” Justine demanded. “All hell has been breaking loose out here.”
“No time to explain now,” Ella replied wearily. “What’s going on?” She looked over at the man she had shot. His eyes were open and expressionless.
“When Phillip Cloud arrived, he found the officer assigned to follow Lee lying there, wounded but conscious, about fifty yards from your brother’s house. Lee had ambushed him, armed with a pistol. Your brother and I came out and drove Lee away. After making sure Loretta and the baby were alright and that help had been called for the wounded officer, we left Cloud to watch over Clifford’s family, and went after Lee. We lost the trail in the area of scrub oak and piñon west of your brother’s home. We’re about to head down to the road to see if we can pick up the trail again.”
“I’ll rendezvous with Clifford at the road. You go back to the house and get a car. I need you to pick up a prisoner for me. I’ll leave him handcuffed to the bridge. Get him to the station and have him write out a statement. He’s going to blow The Brotherhood wide open for us. There’s another one of them here, too, but he’s dead.”
Once assured that Justine was on the way, she walked her prisoner back down to the road, handcuffed the man to a sturdy portion of the bridge railing, and reached for his truck keys.
“Someone will come along soon to collect you,” she said, climbing into the man’s truck.
She was relieved to hear the rumble of the big V-8 engine. The truck was still in good condition, except for the passenger’s side exterior and a dent in the rear bumper.
Ella sped down the highway, glad for the first time that her new transportation had such a powerful engine. With the exception of some sheep, however, there were no signs of life along this stretch of road. As she cleared the next rise, she spotted a figure at the bottom of the hill waving his arms, trying to flag her down. There was another person on the ground at his feet. As she drew near, she recognized Clifford as the man standing.
Ella pulled to a screeching stop. She didn’t recognize the wounded man, but she did recognize the uniform shirt. He was a school bus driver. His shirt had been torn at the shoulder, and herbs had been placed over the wound there to staunch the flow of blood.
“I followed our enemy,” Clifford said as she came up, “but he reached the road long before I could. Apparently, he laid down in the middle of the highway, and this poor man stopped to help him. When he left the bus to see what was wrong, our enemy shot him with a pistol, and then took the bus. There are eleven second- and third-grade children on board.”
The bus driver’s voice was fierce with concern. “I shouldn’t have stopped, but I thought the man needed immediate help. He was flailing his arms but couldn’t seem to get up. I know it’s my fault, but you’ve got to do something to get those kids back safely.”
Ella rushed back to the truck for her cell phone, and called Justine, asking her to relay the message to the station. “They say we have no more units in the immediate area, but one way or another, I’ll find backup for you,” Justine said, her voice fading in and out.
“Forget backup. Get people looking for the bus!” Ella ordered as Clifford and the driver came up. “You two stay here. I’m going after Lee.”
“He’s not alone. There is another,” Clifford warned.
“No, there was only one man,” the driver argued.
Clifford shook his head. “You’ll need me with you, little sister. Your quarry has help from someone even stronger than him. I sensed it, and you will, too, when you reach him. You can’t go into this alone.”
“If you’re talking about Randall’s chindi, you’re wasting your time,” Ella said, starting the engine. “I’m not worried about anything that’s not flesh and blood.”
“Then worry now. There’s another powerful skinwalker working with him, not a spirit. I’m right about this, trust me. I sensed the second person’s presence.”
Ella knew the value of intuition. It was all too often based on information processed by the subconscious and as valuable a tool for survival as anything could be. “You’ll have to stay here. We can’t both leave the driver.”
“I’ll go with you. I’m not staying out here alone with a skinwalker on the loose.” Before Ella could stop the driver, he climbed onto the back seat, sinking into the cushion with a groan.
“I don’t have time to argue with you two,” she said. “Get in, big brother. We’re going.”
Ella floored the accelerator, holding the wheel with both hands. Trucks were not known for handling ease at high speeds, but this big baby held the road pretty well. She’d already experienced that fact earlier, the hard way.
> Three minutes later, at a speed near ninety, she saw the bus about a mile ahead. “I’ve got you now,” she muttered through clenched teeth. “You can’t outrun me and get away, so all I have to do is wait until you run out of gas. I’ll be right on your tail the whole time.”
Despite her bold words, Ella felt a tingling at the back of her neck. There was going to be trouble. She glanced at her brother. His eyes were narrowed, and he was Singing softly under his breath. He looked a million miles away, his forehead furrowed deep in concentration. Yet she knew he was aware of every detail of what was happening.
Ella slowed down to fifty, following her intuition. Suddenly the brakes of the bus squealed, and the massive vehicle turned in a tight circle, the driver’s side tires leaving the road. For a hair-raising moment, she thought the bus was going to tip over.
As it finished the loop, the bus began accelerating toward them down the middle of the road, on a collision course.
Ella stared at the vehicle, her hands tight around the wheel. He was trying to force her to give way so he could make his escape. “Hang on and make sure you’re buckled up!” she managed through clenched teeth, slowing the truck to under thirty-five.
“Move to the shoulder,” the bus driver yelled.
“No. Not yet,” she whispered. A warm, feverish glow spread over her as she listened to her inner voice.
“Swerve!” the bus driver yelled again.
Ella held the truck steady, playing the crazy game of chicken. “No. He’ll turn into us. He wants us dead, and is perfectly willing to die along with us to get his way.”
The bus was so close she could see Howard Lee’s face clearly. His expression was one of rapt concentration. Heeding her inner voice, Ella suddenly threw the stick shift into low, stomped on the gas, and swerved sharply to the left, fishtailing up the hillside adjacent to the road. The bus would not be able to follow them there.
Glancing in her rearview mirror, Ella saw Lee try to follow. Before he could get far, the bus bogged down in the soft sand. Ella braked hard to a sliding stop and jumped out of the vehicle, shotgun in hand. As she moved down toward the bus, she saw Lee forcing the children across the road. A short distance away on that side was a steep drop-off to a deep canyon.
Ella tried to angle for a clear shot, but there were too many children and, in a panic, their movements were erratic at best. Clifford had followed, and she handed him the shotgun. “Stay here,” she ordered. “I’m going around.”
Ella hurried toward Lee, crossing the road quickly and taking cover in the junipers. The children were nearly at the edge of the cliff, which jutted out over the sandstone-lined canyon. The young hostages were almost all crying, too frightened to do anything except obey Lee’s orders.
Ella knew Lee hadn’t seen her yet. She glanced around, discovering a small shelflike ledge below the top of the cliff. It was about ten feet down and ran around to an area she could approach without being seen. There would probably be enough handholds and footholds to get to the top after that. Most important of all, the element of surprise would work for her. He’d never expect her to come at him by climbing straight up the cliff face.
Ella successfully made it to the ledge undiscovered, then inched her way around. As she reached up to start the vertical climb, she suddenly felt dizzy and sick. She gasped, trying to draw in a breath. The air around her seemed to grow thick, weighing her down.
Ella sensed someone’s gaze on her. Hearing the children crying, she glanced up. Lee was staring right down at her. He’d herded all the kids to the edge and seen her when he looked down.
“I’ll throw them off this mesa two at a time if you come any closer,” he yelled, waving a revolver at her. He fired four times in rapid succession and she ducked, praying he’d somehow miss. None of the bullets came close. Howard was obviously no marksman.
As the children screamed at the frightening noise, anger swept over her, mingling with frustration. Just then, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. It was only for an instant, but she knew Clifford was drawing near along the canyon top, hidden from Lee’s view.
Suddenly the wind rose, and the junipers shook with a loud hissing sound that drew Lee’s attention to where Clifford was located.
Ella saw her brother freeze as Lee stared into the trees, searching. Taking advantage of her enemy’s distraction, Ella resumed her climb.
Then, over the desperate cries of the children, she heard her brother’s Song. It seemed mournful and terrible all at once. Goosebumps broke out over her flesh. Ella fervently hoped the sound would rattle Lee all the way down to his socks.
Ella was halfway up when a cloud of dust rose high in the air, blasting against her, making it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. The children started crying again, and in the next instant, she heard them running downhill toward the bus. Lee yelled frantically for them to stop. The clicking of his revolver told her Howard was out of ammo.
If her vision was hampered, then so was Lee’s. Ella scrambled to the summit, the wind at her back spurring her forward.
As she reached the top, and crouched low behind a rock, the windstorm abruptly ceased. She could see the children running madly across the road along with her brother, who was urging them back onto the bus. She had only a moment to savor the sight.
Lee lunged at Ella from behind a juniper, knocking her to the hard sandstone. She rolled to one side, avoiding a punch that would have broken her nose, had it connected. Lee’s fist hit solid rock, and he screamed from the pain.
“It’s over for me, but I’m taking you down with me,” he vowed.
Unable to reach for her pistol, Ella fought hard, delivering several blows to his face and head that would have incapacitated most attackers. But Lee’s rage gave him strength and endurance. They rolled around on the ground, each trying to pin the other down. Lee’s struggles were deadly as he pulled her closer to the edge of the cliff. Something hard scraped across her ribs, and she vaguely noted the massive silver buckle on Lee’s new leather belt.
Ella saw the danger and tried to twist free. She grabbed for her pistol, but fueled by desperation, Lee’s strength grew. In the distance she heard her brother’s Song. Each syllable seemed to resonate, filled with the power that came from The People’s history of survival.
Then another Song rose, an evil, harsh sound from a new direction, and Ella felt the earth slipping away beneath them. They were too close to the edge! “Let go. We’ll both die. The edge is about to collapse.”
“Then so be it!” Lee raged.
Ella felt the deadly grip of Lee’s fingers as they clenched around her hair. Suddenly the rock they were on tipped over, and Lee slid over the edge, pulling her with him. Lee released his hold on her as he grabbed in vain for a bush growing out from between the rocks.
Ella, who was second to go over, had a heartbeat longer to reach out for the same bush. As her fingers coiled around it, her descent stopped abruptly and her body slammed against the hard-packed cliff face. As Ella struggled to catch her breath, Lee’s final scream of rage surrounded her, drowning out the evil Song that had helped send them both over the edge.
In the silence that followed her enemy’s fall, Ella forced herself to remain calm. Somehow, she had to climb back up. She reached upward trying to find another hold. Suddenly she felt a hand around her leg, pulling her down. With a cry, she wedged her fingers between rocks and glanced down. Nobody was there. Her adversary was gone, his broken body lay sprawled on the rocks below. Was another evil, the source of the second Song, working against her now?
She’d never been prone to hysterics, though if ever there had been a time when they would have been justified, this was it. It was her imagination, it had to be. She forced herself to ignore the downward pressure on the lower half of her body. It was an illusion created by the steep drop beneath her and her uncertain footing.
As the ground crumbled beneath her one remaining foothold, she was left dangling. She struggled desper
ately to find a new toehold without success.
Then she heard her brother’s voice from up above. “I’m here, little sister, but you need to come up to the next ledge before I can reach you. Keep going. You can do it.”
Ella’s hands were raw and bloody as she dug her fingers into what seemed impossibly tiny crevices in the crumbling sandstone. The pressure dragging her down increased, as did the temptation to stop fighting. Pain racked her body. Finally she found a solid place to plant her right foot.
“Keep trying!” Her brother’s voice cracked through the air like a whip, encouraging her with his power.
Ella looked up. She was twenty feet or more from the top. She’d never make it. She searched for a higher handhold, but there were none. Tears of outrage and frustration poured down her face. Her body refused to fight past the pain.
“Don’t give up!” her brother ordered, his will becoming part of hers.
As Ella tried to find a way to dig her fingers into the unyielding side of the cliff, she kept her body pressed to the wall of sandstone. The badger fetish around her neck dug into her skin, hard, yet warm with the blood and sweat that poured off her body.
Ella thought of the badger and its strength. She focused on the indomitable will that had always been a part of her.
As she sucked in a ragged breath, the downward pressure abruptly disappeared, and Ella felt a surge of energy washing through her. She couldn’t give up. She’d come too far for that.
Ella forced herself not to look down as she pulled herself toward the ledge she knew was just above. Finally, she felt her brother’s strong hands grasping her forearms.
“You’re safe now,” he said, pulling her the rest of the way to the top. “You’ve defeated the evil pulling you down.”
Ella sat on the ground, relief flooding over her. Hearing rushing footsteps, she looked over her brother’s shoulder. Help had finally arrived. She could see Sergeant Hobson and the children safely on the bus, and Justine was running up the hill toward her.