Changing Woman

by Thurlo, David

  “You okay, Ella?” Blalock asked from somewhere behind her.

  “Just a few cuts from pieces of the radio, I think.”

  Guessing from the sound of the shot that the bullet had come from behind her, Ella jumped up and ran around the Jeep, putting the vehicle between her and the lake. Unfortunately, by doing that, she knew she was also exposing her back to all the Hasih’s gunmen.

  “Anybody know for sure where the shot came from?” she yelled.

  No one answered and the silence stretched out. Then Ella heard someone running toward her vehicle.

  “I saw dust kick up from where he fired.” Harry Ute came up over from where he’d been crouched behind the SI van a few seconds ago, grabbed her hand, and pointed toward a curve in the causeway that arced around the opposite end of the power plant. A pickup was just pulling away from the spot. A wide canal paralleled the south side of the causeway, and on the north side was the lake.

  “Come with me, Ella. If we can get over there right away, we might be able to catch up to him.”

  Ella glanced at Blalock who gave her a thumbs-up. “I’ll get our people in position here.”

  Jumping into the passenger’s side of Harry’s truck, she fastened her seat belt as Harry slid in behind the wheel. Within seconds, he whipped the truck around, tires spitting gravel, and drove toward the causeway skirting the south end of the lake.

  “I saw you talking to that tall Anglo when I came in just a few minutes ago. I came across this causeway from the west side of the lake in hopes of getting a lead to where Manyfarms had gone. But I had the strange feeling I was being followed. When I stopped beside the police units, I got out my binoculars and looked back down the road. That’s when I saw the pickup parked on the causeway on the inside of the curve. Then, a few feet from there, I saw a man, prone, with this big rifle on a bipod pointing in our direction. Before I could yell a warning, he fired.”

  The pickup she’d been watching race away had already passed out of sight around the north end of the massive facility, but Ella remembered just how good Harry was trailing a suspect. There was a tenacity about him that kept him focused on his goal until he achieved whatever he set out to do.

  “I wish I had a better handle on what’s happening,” Ella said. “I hate being taken by surprise.”

  “I’ve been all over the Rez, Ella, listening to people talk about the trouble that’s been going on. The one word I keep hearing is ’éyóní. That’s the key.”

  “Outsiders, foreigners,” Ella said, remembering the Navajo term.

  As they reached the spot on the rock-and-earthen causeway where it curved at nearly a ninety-degree angle, Harry stopped the truck and they both jumped out. “He’s long gone now, but I think this was where he took the shot.”

  Ella walked over to the edge of the embankment to her left and saw the marks on the ground, including the impressions left by the supporting legs of the bipod that held the rifle steady. There were also boot prints. “I can’t remember Manyfarms’s shoe size. Do you?”

  “Eight, and that print is either an exact eight or darned close.”

  Ella saw something big and brassy about ten feet away, halfway down the small slope that led to the canal connecting the lake with the cooling ponds. As she inched down the slope, she saw it was a shell casing for a fifty-caliber round. Putting on her leather gloves, she picked up the casing and slipped it into an evidence bag she’d taken from her jacket pocket.

  “This should at least tell us something about the bolt mechanism,” she said, climbing back up to the road. “And if the bullet didn’t go into the cooling pond, Tache will eventually find it, I’m sure. He may not be able to search for a while, though, with those armed thugs around the coal piles.”

  “Meanwhile, Manyfarms is still playing with us,” he said, crouching down to study the vehicle tracks. “He can’t be more than a mile or two away from here now, but there are a lot of places to hide, and he may be heading to a friend’s home in Shiprock, Waterflow, or one of the other communities. I didn’t get a make on the truck he was driving, but the tires are narrow, so it’s not a full-sized model. I’m going to stay on his tail.”

  Harry looked back at Ella. “And you’ve got to keep your guard up while he’s at large. He got too close today, Ella. When I thought you might have been hit—” His voice wavered and he stopped speaking for a moment, looking away. “But you’re okay, and that’s what matters.” He brushed her cheek with his palm, then pulled his hand away. “I’ve got to get going. I’m going to continue on the route he had to take, and see where it leads, or where he turned off. I wish I could help you with what’s going on back there, but I have to stay on Manyfarms’s tail and catch him before he gets a third shot.”

  “I know.” Ella wanted to say more, but there was no time. Her cell phone, now with a fresh battery, began ringing.

  “I’ll take you back to the action, then get going,” Harry said as they climbed into the truck.

  Ella exchanged a few quick words on the phone, then held up her hand and opened the door to get back out. “Tache is coming up. I’ll get a ride with him. Go.”

  She watched Harry leave, wishing that someday they could actually get together at a time when the entire world wasn’t self-destructing around them.

  Tache arrived a few minutes later, and she showed him the cartridge she’d found, pointing to the location where the shooter had been. “I need a ride back, but after you’ve dropped me off, come back up here and record whatever you can find, including those impressions and boot prints.”

  Tache nodded. “You’ve got it.”

  They pulled up next to Ella’s vehicle a short time later and she jumped out. Most of the officers were already moving to positions that would allow them to keep the activists under surveillance from a safe distance and prevent them from escaping or gaining reinforcements or supplies. Another group of officers had driven around to a spot near the coal silos where they could watch the conveyor system. Learning that was where Justine and the FBI agents had moved to, Ella drove over to join them.

  Standing behind his unit in front of the padlocked fence that separated the conveyor tower and coal piles from the rest of the power plant, Payestewa was busy on the cell phone. Justine had one of the department’s sniper rifles, watching the windows of the building with the scope.

  “Anyone down here figure out where the bullet went that nearly took my head off?” Ella asked, absently running her fingers through her hair and finding another piece of plastic from the radio.

  “Yeah, somebody saw a splash in the water before the sonic boom from the rifle arrived,” Justine said. “It was right against the far bank of the cooling pond. I left a marker by the road across from it.”

  Ella nodded. “That’s good news. As soon as we can get our people over there, we can search for it. We might need a diver on a tether, so we’ll have to call the state police and ask them to send one of their people over. But until things here are secure, we can’t make a move, even though we have crucial evidence there. The perps around those mountains of coal might think they’re under attack and start shooting.”

  Justine glanced over at Payestewa. “Paycheck’s doing a great job. I heard him accuse the hostage takers of trying to whack a police officer. They denied it, but now he’s busy explaining the penalties of such an action. He’s been telling them that whatever they were trying to do has been eclipsed by that one event. With that, he’s already taken away some of their control.”

  Blalock came up then. “We’ve just been warned by the Hasih that those athletic bags they were carrying contain explosive charges. They claim to have enough high explosives to start the coal burning in half a dozen places.”

  “Will that really start a fire? I thought they used explosives to help mine coal,” Ella asked.

  “The experts say the mines use low explosives, which are less dangerous. If these people have high explosives, the risk of fire is a lot worse, especially around the conveyer belt
s, where there is a lot of coal dust. That can also cause secondary explosions,” Blalock answered.

  “Has someone called Sam Pete?” Justine wondered out loud.

  Blalock smiled. “Your one-man bomb squad?” He nodded, then added, “But I’ve also got some ATF guys coming in with dogs. We don’t know how sophisticated the explosives are they have inside and too much is at stake. The ATF guys will have more experience.”

  “Fine, but don’t leave Sam out of the operation,” Ella said firmly. “He’s a fine officer, and this is his turf.”

  “All right.”

  “Has the Tribal Council heard what’s going on?” Ella asked.

  “The tribal president is having them contacted now. Early word is that they want to keep politics out of this,” Blalock answered. “The president has given Payestewa some leeway in making whatever agreements are necessary to resolve the situation peacefully. He’ll pretty much go along with whatever we decide here if it’ll save uves and protect the plant operations. But they won’t give an inch on one thing—he warned us that neither he nor the council will grant them safe passage out of here. He said they’re no better than terrorists and, when all’s said and done, he wants these people brought up on charges. The extent of those charges, of course, will depend on what they do from this point on.”

  A moment later, Paycheck hurried over. “I need to find a council member who’ll be willing to talk to the Hasih. The tribal president can’t make it here on time, and so far hasn’t been able to find anyone else who’s close by. If the Hasih don’t get a call within the hour, they’ll set off a charge just to make a point.”

  “Any idea how big each charge is?” Ella asked quickly, “or what they’re made of?”

  Paycheck shook his head. “We’ve had a few spotting scopes set up, but, according to what they’ve told me, they’re keeping the explosives inside those athletic bags they brought with them. They won’t divulge any more details.”

  “Are all the charges placed around the piles of coal?” Ella asked.

  “I’m not sure about that either,” Payestewa answered. “They won’t give me a straight answer. I think some of the bags have been placed underneath the conveyer belt supporting structures. The plant manager, Cleary, said the hostage takers had several athletic bags with them too, and were talking about putting a few in the machines that feed coal into the grizzly, and around the conveyer tower. Some of the other hostages who were released confirmed that.”

  “Wait—you mean that you think these guys are willing to put the entire power plant out of operation just to make their point?” Ella asked.

  “They said that they’re willing to pay whatever price is necessary, if it comes to that,” Payestewa said. “But there’s a chance that it’s all just talk to up the stakes and regain some control.”

  “Someone needs to get in there and check things out.”

  “Easier said than done,” Blalock said. “They’ve got sentries watching all sides of the conveyer tower and the maintenance building beside it.”

  “But there’s got to be a blind side or an area that’s not easily monitored. That building has got several big machines around it as well as the tower. Someone should be able to get in close,” Ella argued.

  “You’re jumping the gun, Ella,” Payestewa said. “I think I’ll be able to talk them out of there. It’s really just a matter of waiting them out and staying in control.”

  Ella knew that Paycheck and Blalock weren’t taking into consideration something that was very important. Navajos knew about biding their time, and they know how to endure. “We may have a very long wait and, before long, the power plant is going to have to start shutting down their generators. Then people all over the West will be cold and in the dark. One of the transmission tlines went down last March for several hours after a grass fire, and people in three states lost power and heat.”

  “I remember that. But the plant here can start trucking in some coal from other facilities, and use cranes to transfer that to the silos. That will stave off shutting down the generators for a while,” Payestewa said. “Give me a chance to work. I’m on top of it. But I really need you to find a council member who’ll be willing to talk to the activists inside. We’re running out of time on that, because whoever we end up with will have to be brought here so I can stay by him, coaching him, and make sure he doesn’t make things worse if they throw him a curveball.”

  “All right. I’ll see what I can do.” Ella jogged back to her unit, then drove north away from the power plant complex to the main highway. She’d speak to Kevin first. He was seen as progaming, generally, and had a plan for making it happen that the perps might accept.

  Ella went inside the Shiprock tribal building twenty minutes later at a hurried pace and walked straight to Kevin’s office.

  His secretary looked up and, recognizing Ella, smiled. “He decided to leave early for the weekend, but he said for me to give you this if you came by.” She handed Ella a sealed envelope.

  Ella opened the envelope and found a note from Kevin. He’d taken off while Blueeyes was out of the office, but wanted her to know how to reach him. He’d included the name of the lodge and the phone number of the rental office. The cabins didn’t have telephones.

  The note continued, “I’ve arranged to pick up Dawn from Jennifer. She wants to go by her home to check on her mother, who’s not feeling well today. She’ll meet me at the Farmington airport in time to catch the flight. I would have gone with her, but I didn’t want to just hang around Shiprock with Dawn where someone else might see us.”

  Ella looked at the words again. She hated the fact that Jennifer had released Dawn to Kevin without talking to her first. As soon as possible, she’d have to have a long talk with her.

  But now she needed to track down another Tribal Council member who was willing to talk to the Hasih before they started blowing up things or setting fires beside the power plant.

  Ella stuffed the letter in her pocket and got the secretary’s attention again. The very businesslike woman in her early fifties was busy on some reports, but immediately stopped her keyboard entry work. “What can I help you with, Investigator Clah?”

  “I need to know if any Tribal Council members are here or in the area. I need their help with a police matter that just came up,” Ella said without divulging any details.

  “I just got a call from the tribal president. Does this have to do with the situation over by the power plant?” Jefferson Blueeyes asked as he emerged from Kevin’s office.

  The slender, well-dressed man seemed eager, stepping forward immediately to shake Ella’s reluctant hand. “Good to see you again, Investigator Clah—Ella. The president alluded to what was taking place now, and he’s been contacting all the council members, as you probably already know.”

  “What’s going on at the plant? Was there an accident?” the secretary asked, looking at Blueeyes, then Ella. “My son works on the graveyard shift. Will he be called in early?”

  “The problem is mostly at the coal storage facility, not the power plant itself,” Ella explained before Blueeyes could speak again. “But I can’t say anything more about it at the moment.”

  “I can help you track down a Tribal Council member, Ella,” Blueeyes motioned her toward Kevin’s office. She followed him inside and noticed that Jefferson sat down in a chair beside Kevin’s desk rather than in Kevin’s seat.

  Ella closed the door before speaking. “So the president gave you some indication of the trouble we’re having?”

  Blueeyes nodded. “He said that Navajo activists calling themselves Hasih apparently took over part of the coal storage area beside the power plant. They were going to start setting fires or blowing up crucial machinery unless the council moved quickly on the gaming issue.”

  “That’s it, in a nutshell. I’m now trying to find a Tribal Council member who’ll talk to them. Unless they hear from someone soon, they intend on setting off a bomb to demonstrate their sincerity. That’s w
hy I was looking for Kevin.”

  “He left word with Mrs. Johnson outside that he was going to be away for the weekend. That was a surprise to me because we still had a lot of work to do on his gaming position. Did he leave a phone number with you where I can reach him?” Blueeyes asked.

  “ ’fraid not,” Ella said, keeping the truth to herself for now. She didn’t want anyone else to know the details of Kevin’s weekend with Dawn, especially Blueeyes, whom she really didn’t trust.

  Ella looked at her watch. “We have to hurry.”

  Using the two phone lines they had available in Kevin’s office, Jefferson and Ella went down the list Kevin had, but were unable to find anyone who could get to Shiprock in time.

  In desperation, Ella tried to reach Kevin on his cell phone, but it was out of service. She’d figured as much, with cell phones being restricted on the small aircraft he and Dawn were traveling in.

  As it became apparent that their attempts to find an available council member in time would fail, Ella quickly came up with an alternate plan.

  Moments later, she raced to the mine with Blueeyes riding beside her. When they arrived, Ella half dragged Jefferson to where Payestewa was and filled them both in. “Jefferson can say he’s Kevin. Their voices are very similar, and they both know the agenda before the council. We can pull it off.”

  “I don’t know about this,” Blueeyes said quickly.

  Ella looked at Payestewa. “We’re down to five minutes. This is our only option. You can brief Jefferson and monitor everything he says. If he gets into trouble, we’ll cut off the call.”

  “All right,” Payestewa agreed. “If the Hasih get what they asked for, sort of, hopefully they won’t feel the need to take any drastic action.”

  Three minutes before the phone call was due, Jefferson sat in the crime-scene van, which served as their temporary command post and communications center. Blalock had reluctantly approved their emergency plan, but Blueeyes looked like a trapped man.