His words struck a chord and Pepper realized that she wasn’t weak at all. Far from it, she’d been the leader of the trip out west. Though they hadn’t reached San Francisco, she’d taken care of herself, fought a motorcycle gangster, defended herself from unwanted advances, and even, however briefly, stood up in the civil rights movement for those not allowed to eat in a “whites only” café.
With those thoughts, her chest swelled and a new strength filled her with power. She took a deep breath and changed channels. She was growing up.
She turned to Merv Griffin, something they weren’t allowed to watch in Miss Becky’s house, and watched him interview someone she’d never heard of, George Carlin.
Chapter Eighty-two
Cale took Ned’s place at the table, keeping watch out through a crack in the drapes. The police car was gone, lights flashing when it pulled back on the highway.
When the parking lot was clear, Crow stepped out of the bathroom, his clothes limp with steam. It was his wet hair that stunned them all. Instead of the long, black strands that once rested on his shoulders, it was now short with a self-administered haircut. He built half a grin. “I didn’t think you’d lie for me, Ned.”
“Didn’t lie.” He was on the bed again, exhausted and feeling older than he did fifteen minutes earlier. “Said there was a kid in there taking a shower and James was here and we hadn’t loaned the car out. The truth on all counts.”
“Why do this for me? I used y’all for myself.”
Ned spoke with his eyes closed. “I cain’t say.”
“I say we kick his ass to the street.” James tried to burn a hole through Crow.
Crow caught his glare and paused, knowing James had no chance against him in a fight. “I’ll go.” He started for the door with his usual rangy ease.
“Wait.” Ned spoke from the bed. “Let me think a minute.”
James still wasn’t over his mad. “I’ve thought all I’m going to.”
The phone between the beds jangled, startling them all. James answered and held the receiver out toward Crow. “It’s for you.”
He listened. “You sure it was Tammy?” He listened some more. “That’ll work.” Hanging up, the smile on his face spoke volumes.
James felt empty. “You find your sister?”
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“She’s for sure with the Rattlers and they went to the desert.”
“You sure Pepper ain’t with ’em?”
They still didn’t get it, or wouldn’t admit that she’d never made it that far. “I’m sure.”
“How does he know where they are?”
“He paid some hippie kids to let him ride in their Love Machine. They drove past the Black Cat and saw the Rattlers there, probably stopped for beer. The kids went to a gas station not far away and the Rattlers passed them heading into the Mojave. I figure they intend to camp out there until they find somewhere else to go, now that their house is hot.”
Crow peeked through the drapes. “The cops aren’t going to buy that story about your car for long. If I was him, I’d talk to the manager who’ll remember seeing me. Y’all need to get out of here and I’m going to get my sister.”
“How you gonna go?”
“Rocky’ll be by to pick me up. I’ll go out this back window in the bathroom and wait for him in the alley.”
“How are you gonna find them?”
“Well, James, it’s the desert. A lot of bikes pulled off the pavement onto a dirt road that leads back into some of the meanest country in this state. Their tracks’ll be easy to find.”
Ned rubbed his flushed face with a wet washcloth. “You gonna just walk up and ask them to let her go?”
“No.” Crow took a deep breath. “We have the guns from your trunk.”
“You stole Dad’s guns?”
Crow shrugged. “Stole, borrowed. What’s the difference at this point? We need them, and y’all don’t.” He pointed at the holster on Ned’s belt. “You have that one.”
“It don’t make no difference, James.” Ned held his side as if it were going to split like a ripe watermelon and felt wrung out. He laid there for a long moment, thinking. After a while, they thought he’d dozed off, but he surprised them. “Crow. Can you be certain that Pepper’s not with them, since they have your sister?”
“Ned, my sister’s there, but I can’t say for sure that it’s her idea, or theirs.”
“No matter. Pepper might be there, right?”
“She could be, but I’d bet against it.”
“Then we need to go with you either way, and James, I don’t want to hear a word out of you about it. Whether Pepper’s there or not, them rough people have his sister, and helpin’ them’s the right thing to do. We’d want someone to do the same for us. We’re going to do for that little gal, at least, then we’ll go on after Pepper.”
James picked up the phone. “I need to call and tell Ida Belle what we’re doing.”
Ned shook his head, tired, but trying to gather enough strength to get started. “They’ll take the fire out of us when they hear what we’re gonna do, and you know they’re gonna ask. I’d rather not call until we know something.”
Unconvinced, James stared at the phone.
Cale spoke up. “Can I go?”
“You’ll have to. I’ll figure out what to do with you when the time comes.”
Thirty minutes later the phone in their empty room rang and rang and rang.
Miss Becky finally hung up and waited with her news about Pepper.
Chapter Eighty-three
No matter what month, the Mojave Desert is a harsh environment full of sand, yucca, creosote bushes, catclaw cactus, rattlesnakes, scorpions, and Gila monsters. Most of what exists there can hurt you, kill you, or eat you.
It was the perfect place for the outlaw bikers to hide out for a few days. Their camp was above the basin floor where it was cooler, near an abandoned mine once named The Money Spring. More of a trickle really, the nearby spring provided cool, clear water, allowing the bikers to live there until their food ran out.
Under the bright light of a full moon threatened by the near sunrise, Rocky and Crow lay on a slight rise above the quiet camp. Chin resting on his crossed arms, Rocky didn’t take his eyes off the glowing coals of a campfire. His whisper seemed to carry as far as a shout in the pre-dawn desert silence. “They’ve done this before.”
“They can make as much noise out here as they want, and no one will complain.”
“It’s quiet now.”
“That’s the best time, when they’re all asleep, or passed out.”
“See anything?” James’ voice startled them both. Crow gestured toward the ground. “Damn, boy. Can’t you make any more noise?”
“I’ve being as quiet as I can. What do you see?”
“Not a damn thing right now, but we’ll see them all up close if y’all don’t keep your voices down.” Rocky laid his head on an arm.
They were lucky to have such a bright night. The silvery light was going to be a boon to their plan, what there was of it. They couldn’t be sure there were no guards, but Crow was convinced everyone was asleep. There was no need to post guards, and these guys weren’t even close to military. Instead, they partied until after midnight while the three men waited and watched.
It was time to move, for sunrise wasn’t far away. Rocky sighed. “You’re sure about this?”
Crow nodded. “Yep. Sometimes being too sneaky and making a complicated plan is the wrong thing to do. I believe I’m going to walk in there and see if I can find her.”
“How you gonna do that?”
“James, lower your damn voice. I’m gonna get a jacket from the first guy I find. If anyone rouses up and sees their colors on me in this light, they’re not going to think a thing about it. They’ll go back
to sleep.”
“And I’m gonna look for Pepper?”
“No. You’re staying right here with Ned’s shotgun and a pistol. If anything happens, you start shooting. There’s enough light to do some damage. They’ll grab the ground and we’ll head back for the car.”
Ned rested in the Chevy’s backseat a mile away. Rocky’s Harley and the car were already pointed toward the highway. Cale’s job was to stay where they were with the motor running. When they came back, no matter the outcome in the camp, they’d need to hie out of there as fast as possible.
Crow and Rocky rose and crept forward on bent knees, trying to move as quickly as possible while staying low. Muffled by sand, their footsteps were soft. The biggest danger for the moment was walking into something sharp and dangerous.
James watched them disappear and wiped his sweaty palms on his khakis. Pepper was his daughter, and it didn’t feel right to have two strangers doing his job. The one thing James did know for sure was that he wasn’t as dangerous as the two men moving slowly toward the camp. He’d chosen a different lifestyle than Ned’s law work, or Cody’s military experience. He wished he was tougher, wished he’d had more schoolyard fights as a kid, and wished Ned and Cody were there with him. He waited and worried.
Crow and Rocky came to a deep arroyo south of the camp. They squatted in the shadow of a Joshua tree and listened. Crow whispered in Rocky’s ear. “See where they parked the bikes?”
Rocky nodded. The Rattlers had circled the camp to line their bikes up facing away from the cut. Only yards from the edge, their positioning was perfect for what Rocky had to do.
“Once we come up out of there, you can do your thing pretty quick. If it all goes south, jump back into the wash and haul ass for the car. They can’t make this drop, and even in this light I doubt they’ll try to chase you.”
“You’re coming back through here, right?”
“Right. When I find her, we’ll pick you up in there,” Crow jabbed a finger toward the arroyo, “and we can slip away. Work fast and keep an eye out for us.”
“Don’t get anything started. You know I’m not a great pistol shot.” He gripped the thin butt of the revolver stuck in his waistband.
They found an incline that was less steep than the wash’s walls, providing a small, loose trail to the bottom. Rocks rattled down, despite their caution. With each small, clattering avalanche, they paused and listened.
At the bottom, another unanticipated source of noise came from loose gravel and dry vegetation left from the last flash flood. The two men carefully worked their way across the wash to the far wall.
The access to the lip was a soft spill fanning at the bottom and narrowing to a tiny exit between a boulder and yucca plant. Pebbles and stones trickled downhill. Breathing hard from exertion and fear, they reached the top and paused.
Crow pointed toward the bikes and slipped Ned’s largest sap from his back pocket. A proven weapon in countless fights, it was the perfect device for the situation. Rocky peeled off and disappeared.
It was difficult to place his feet, watch for cactus, and keep an eye out of the leading edge of the camp and the sleeping Rattlers all at the same time. Crow had no idea where they were, but figured that most had passed out near the fire. The ancient part of the human brain sees fire as safety and security, and most people want to sleep as close as possible to the flames.
At least that’s what Crow was counting on.
But then there’s always that one guy that breaks all the rules. This one was either sleeping in a semicircle of catclaw for privacy, or had passed out there by accident. Crow missed seeing him, but the man’s heavy breathing gave his position away.
Loose-limbed and rawboned, Crow flowed through the night like a panther, reaching the biker in half a dozen steps. He raised the sap and brought it down with all the force he could muster on the side of his head. The biker twitched, quivered, and lay still. The blow was loud enough to wake the dead, and Crow readied himself to face any attack that might rush from the shadows.
When nothing happened, he stripped the sleeveless jacket from the man’s dead weight and found a .38 revolver under his belt. Crow stood and slipped his arms through the holes. Shells weighted the jacket on one side. He tucked the revolver in the small of his back. Carrying .38s and camouflaged, he entered the camp.
***
James was tortured by an internal tug of war. Obviously out of place in such a situation, he knew that covering Crow and Rocky was the best he could offer. At the same time, he was afraid Pepper was there, and his job as a dad was to find her and bring her to safety.
He couldn’t pull his attention from a crumbling rock structure on the opposite side of the camp. The roof was long gone, as well as part of the nearest wall and half of the back. A buzz deep in his head kept telling him Pepper was in there, held against her will.
The more James thought, the more he convinced himself Pepper was inside, and here he was laying around and watching the camp. He rose, made sure the pistol was tucked in his waistband, and threw the shotgun across his shoulder.
James went to find his daughter.
Chapter Eighty-four
Dawn on that gray morning wasn’t much more than a slight difference in the light. Cody, John Washington, and a dozen Oklahoma sheriff’s deputies stopped on a dirt road out of sight from a cluster of fishing cabins of the Choctaw Fish Camp not far from the Kiamichi River. Some of the Oklahoma deputies were eyeing the big Texas deputy.
“I’god it’s raining up here, too.” John’s voice was filled with disgust as they closed the car doors softly and gathered with the local deputies.
“Don’t worry, that black won’t wash off,” someone said quietly and snickered.
Sheriff Quinn Davis dug a chew from a wrinkled BEECH-NUT packet. He tucked it into his cheek and spoke around the fresh wad. “Finny. Go wait in my car.”
“Why?”
Davis spat and rested his gaze on the deputy who’d spoken. “’cause I told you too.”
Jaw set, Finny stalked away.
“Cody, it’s a good thing y’all got here when you did.” Sheriff Davis chewed for a moment. “They’ll have to close the camp pretty soon if it don’t quit raining. The river’s about out of its banks and it’ll be here before you know it.”
The local game warden, Ricky Garfield pointed. “Cody, I believe he’s in the cabin at the far end. I called Edgar Sampson who owns the place and described West. He says that’s where he put him. Quinn had sent men around back already, but John T. couldn’t go far no-how. The river’s not twenty feet from the back door now.”
Cody wished for another cigarette, but the rain made it impossible to light up. “Do you have a plan?”
“I thought we’d drive Ricky’s truck up to the cabin beside the one John T.’s renting.” Sheriff Davis waved toward the thick stand of pines. “In this rain, they won’t be able to tell us from anybody else wearing hats and rain gear. That’ll at least get us close. The deputies can work their way through the woods, and when we’re all near enough, we’ll call him out.”
“He’ll come out shooting.”
“We’ll shoot back.”
Cody bit his lip. “How about letting me try something first?”
John growled deep in his chest. “That ain’t a good idea.”
“You don’t know what I intend to do.”
“Yeah, but I know you. You tend to bull into things and think later.”
“That’s not true.”
“The Cotton Exchange.”
Cody paused. It had been his fault when he and John found themselves trapped in the Cotton Exchange with a lunatic murderer two years earlier. “Well, that one time.”
“You boys gonna stand here and visit in this rain, or can we get going?”
Cody saw a deputy with a brown canvas, Western-style slicker. He stood out
in a group of yellow rain gear. “Trade with me, would you? And guys, y’all are gonna remind me of a bunch of Easter eggs walking through the woods in all that yellow. You need to get rid of it. A little water won’t hurt you. Yours, too, sheriff. He ain’t stupid.”
Cody shrugged into the smelly canvas and pointed toward one deputy in a billed cap. “Switch with me.”
The man traded, happy for something to block the rain from running down his neck.
Stripping off the last of the bright rain gear, Ricky climbed into the driver’s seat as Sheriff Davis took the middle and Cody quietly closed the passenger door. They drove in like registered guests and pulled up in front of the cabin nearest John T.’s. Cap pulled low to hide his face, Cody stepped out and went around to the tailgate. A wooden box of trash was closest, so he reached over the gate and lifted it out, as if it were something they needed inside.
Sheriff Davis unlocked the cabin and Ricky followed him inside. Cody sat the box on a rickety wooden table, and returned to the truck. He fumbled in the cab for a second in case someone was watching and headed toward what they thought was John T.’s hideout. Head low, he walked across the bed of pine needles to the tiny porch. Because the sandy ground drained well, it was like walking on wet carpet.
He rapped on the door with a knuckle and moved the long slicker to free his Colt, still keeping the handgun out of sight. The door opened and he paused at the sight of a barefoot young Indian woman standing there with a wet towel in her hand.
“Help you?”
“Yeah.” Cody stumbled. “Uh, I was wondering if we could borrow some…coffee? We left the house to set up camp and didn’t bring any. It sure would be good this rainy day.” He quickly swept the tiny cabin with his eyes.
She smiled, showing brilliant white teeth. “We don’t have any. John T. hates the taste of it. Besides, y’all got here too late. We’re all gonna have to leave pretty soon. The river’s up and the manager said he’s closing down today.”
Dark Places Page 28