Changing Woman

by Thurlo, David

  Resigning herself to the task, Ella took the ten-minute drive back to the hospital in Shiprock where Rose was a patient. She would have given anything to avoid delivering this news to her mother, but there was no way around it.

  Ella entered the hospital through the main entrance, then went upstairs to her mother’s room.

  Rose’s expression brightened the moment Ella walked in. “Good news, daughter. The surgery went so well, I may be allowed to go home this afternoon! I think it’s because your brother did a chant for me,” Rose said, then stopped as she regarded her daughter thoughtfully. “I’d heard that the trouble at the mine had ended peacefully. Is something else wrong?” she asked, the heightened perceptivity mothers possessed out in full force.

  Through sheer willpower Ella held herself together, forcing her voice not to crack as she told her mother everything she knew. After she finished, Ella swallowed back the bitter taste of fear that lingered in her mouth. “I swear I’ll find her, Mom.”

  By then Rose was shaking. “Why didn’t you call me? How long have you known about this?”

  “An hour or two, not much more. I’ve been running around trying to get a lead since I heard, and the officers in Colorado are checking for any leads on their side of the state line. Now I have to wait for news or hope I can uncover a clue on my own.”

  “Use your instincts,” Rose said firmly, sitting up in bed. “Your intuition is your gift—one you know how to draw upon.”

  “Mom, I’m using everything I have as a cop and as a mother, but I don’t have any idea where to look next!” Ella felt tears spilling down her cheeks. Impatiently, she wiped them away. If she let herself fall apart now she’d lose the focus she needed to help Dawn.

  “Listen to me, daughter,” Rose said sternly. “You can’t use your instincts properly until you cast your fear aside.”

  “When I think of what may have already happened . . .” Her voice broke and she swallowed.

  “Stop it,” Rose said flatly. “You’re a police officer. That’s the side of you that has to come through and take over now. Go and do whatever it takes to find her and bring her back.”

  Rose gestured to the badger fetish Ella wore around her neck. “Use the animal medicine you were given when you accepted that gift. Badger medicine teaches you to defend what’s yours and keep your eyes on the goal. Most important of all, it teaches you to persist. Call upon that medicine now, daughter. It’ll work for you and against your enemies.”

  Ella nodded, then leaned down and kissed her mother good-bye. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Ella wrapped her hand around the badger fetish. It felt warm, and for a moment she could feel the sheer power of beliefs that Navajos had cherished for generations coming to her aid.

  Leaving the hospital with fresh energy in her stride, she hurried to her unit. She was just unlocking the door when her cell phone rang.

  “It’s Abigail,” the voice on the other end said.

  Ella’s pulse began to race. “Do you have something for me?”

  “It’s a lead—nothing more. I spoke to a friend of mine, and while we were talking I remembered something you may find helpful. There’s a cabin on the western, upper slopes of the Chuska Mountains east of Round Rock and on the Arizona side. Our council sometimes uses it as a retreat during the summer. Right now it’s probably empty, but Councilman Tolino knows about it, and he could have reached the cabin in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.”

  “If he didn’t take a direct route, he probably went southwest from Colorado to Mexican Water and down to Rock Point. I’ll need directions from Round Rock to the cabin.” Ella knew this was a real possibility. She wrote the directions down, then contacted Big Ed to ask for backup.

  Ella filled him in on her conversation with Abigail, then told him where the cabin was located. Instead of replying, there was a sudden silence at the other end of the line. “Chief?”

  “If that’s where Tolino took your daughter, we may have a problem,” he said slowly. “We got a report from an officer just coming on duty at Window Rock. He saw Manuelito in the Lukachukai area an hour ago before he knew his lieutenant was on the wrong side. Lukachukai isn’t very far south of the cabin site. It’s possible Manuelito has also guessed where Kevin might have gone and the syndicate sent him over there to check it out.”

  “At least Kevin already knows that he can’t trust Manuelito,” Ella said, then paused, gathering her thoughts. “But Kevin and my daughter are still in trouble. I have to get over there as soon as I can. I’m going to need a helicopter, Chief, and I want their pilot briefed that we may be flying right into the middle of an armed situation.”

  “It would take an extra half hour for the county to get a helicopter here, and the state police or military jobs are even farther away. You want to use Angel Hawk? The hospital has worked with us twice before in an emergency.”

  “Yes, especially if Jeremiah Crow is the pilot. He’s ex-military and cool in a crisis.”

  “I’ll see to it that it happens. I’ll have things set up for you by the time you get to the hospital.”

  “I’m in their visitor parking lot now, Big Ed.”

  “Good. Just get whatever gear you have on hand, especially your vest, and go up to the chopper pad. Backup will be dispatched to the cabin, but keep in mind that their ETA will be longer than yours because they’re on the ground, and the roads are going to be bad this time of year up in the mountains. I’ll try to get some personnel there via county chopper, but don’t count on it.”

  “Ten-four.”

  Ella drove around to the rear parking lot and climbed out of her Jeep. She grabbed her flashlight, extra pistol clips, then retrieved her rifle and a bandoleer of ammunition. Remembering the binoculars she’d kept in a box on the floor, she added them to her gear. Fully equipped, including her FBI loaner vest, she ran up the outside staircase to the roof of the building where the helicopter was stationed.

  Jeremiah Crow was already in the chopper, the engine starting up, as she came into view.

  Ella climbed up into the helicopter, then fastened her seat belt. The Navajo EMT, Glen McDonald, was in the copilot’s seat studying the chart in his hands, and never looked up.

  “Have you been given directions?” she yelled to Jeremiah, a hardy-looking Navajo man in a leather jacket and baseball cap.

  He turned and gave her a half smile. “Roger that, Investigator Clah. Flight plan’s already been logged, too. The trip will take thirty-five minutes, give or take, depending on wind conditions over the ridges.”

  “Remember, I don’t want Angel Hawk to draw fire in case shooting starts. You’re my kid’s ticket out. Just get me down close to that cabin.”

  The trip seemed to take an eternity. Yet the noisy, stomach-churning roller-coaster ride merited nothing more than a passing thought to Ella. The need for action was drumming through her, and underneath that was an almost overpowering fear her rescue attempt would come too late.

  The EMT offered her a chocolate bar, and she accepted it gratefully. Up in the mountains she’d need some energy reserves to support her once the adrenaline rush gave out.

  As they approached their destination, having circled in from the north past Beautiful Mountain, Jeremiah pointed to a snow-covered clearing below, east and upslope of the cabin, which was barely visible. It seemed odd seeing moisture in any form on the Rez these days, but at the moment, it was just another problem she’d have to deal with.

  “There’s no place to set down any closer,” Jeremiah said. “There are too many trees and ravines, and the parking area in front of the cabin is just too small. We can use the clearing, or go down the mountain until we find a wide spot in the road. It’s up to you.”

  “The clearing,” Ella answered. “Then stay with the chopper. I’ll take care of the rest.” She pointed to her handheld radio, and he nodded, acknowledging how they would communicate.

  Jeremiah dropped the helicopter down quickly, and Ella felt a sinking feeling at th
e pit of her stomach, much like the sensation she always got in elevators right before they came to a stop.

  The moment they touched down, she jumped out into six-inch-deep snow, still a bit dizzy from the landing, then jogged away from the chopper. As she headed to the cabin, the pilot cut the engine and the noise level dropped off quickly in the sound-absorbing forest.

  She was about two hundred yards away from the cabin when the sound of gunfire erupted from below. Adrenaline shot through her, and she increased her pace, running high-stepped across the crusty surface.

  Ella hurried downhill in a diagonal direction, making sure she remained among the long-needled ponderosa pines for cover, and advanced to a point where she could see the cabin clearly. The SUV Kevin had stolen was in the road, blocking two other vehicles where the forest path was at its narrowest point, downhill to the west. Two or three men were behind the SUV Kevin had stolen, close to the southwestern corner of the cabin.

  Using her binoculars, Ella gave the front, back, and closest or eastern end of the rectangular log structure a quick once-over. That’s when she discovered the tip of a rifle barrel poking out from inside the front cabin window closest to her, at the southeastern quadrant of the cabin. From what she could see Kevin was managing to keep them at bay. With no back door or windows on the north side, they’d been unable to get around behind him, and the side window she could see was heavily shuttered. If the west end was the same, their only access was from the front.

  She moved ten feet to her left to get a better angle on the front of the building, which faced south. There were two front windows, one on each side of the door. A man was lying beside the front window farthest from her and closest to the vehicles, squirming around with his arms, trying to remove something from his leg. A closer look with her binoculars revealed he’d been caught in a coyote trap. The snow around his leg was stained crimson. At least two more men were in the trees on the south side directly across from the cabin, firing what sounded like pistols at the window where Kevin was positioned.

  As she evaluated the situation, a fourth man with a shotgun emerged from around the far end of the house and rushed the door, dodging past the man in the trap. Fifteen feet from the door the man tripped, caught in an outstretched rope buried a few inches beneath the snow.

  His shotgun flew out and struck the ground ahead of him, discharging into the air. It came to rest beside the small porch. When the man tried to crawl forward to grab it, Kevin fired a shot with his pistol this time, and the bullet ricocheted off the stone porch. The man yelled, and grabbed his face, apparently struck by fragments of stone. Moving quickly, he rolled up against the south wall, out of Kevin’s view. Blood still streaming down his face, he pulled out a handgun and reached up for the windowsill above his head.

  Letting the binoculars dangle from the strap around her neck, Ella flipped her rifle off safe and found the man in her telescopic sights. She aimed low to avoid any portion of her bullet entering the cabin, and squeezed the trigger gently, catching the man in the side just above his belt. He sagged to the ground, dropping his pistol.

  The shot announced her presence, and created a flurry of confusion below. The men in the trees across the clearing from the cabin began firing blindly up the hill while scrambling for better cover toward the west end. Ella used the opportunity to change her own position, moving farther downhill and more to her left to outflank them and maintain cover for herself.

  The pair that had fled from the trees made it downhill to their blocked vehicles, putting Kevin’s SUV between them and her. Through the rifle scope Ella caught glimpses of Jefferson Blueeyes. She didn’t recognize the Indian beside him, but she got the impression he wasn’t Navajo. If she’d had to take a guess, she would have said that it was one of the two who’d been with Henry Estrada that day at the coffee shop.

  She suddenly saw two more men to her right and below her, moving through the forest behind the cabin, bringing the number to at least four still actively involved. Both stopped behind rock outcroppings and started firing in her general direction with handguns. Obviously they still couldn’t see her among the shadows, but hoped to pin her down and throw off her aim. To her, that clearly meant the attackers were about to make a move somewhere else.

  The man with Blueeyes suddenly broke out from behind the cover of the closest vehicle and made a dash for the window at the southwest corner, the one where two of their comrades had fallen already.

  Ella raised her weapon but, before she could shoot, Kevin fired. The running man grabbed his thigh, fell to the ground, and crawled back around the west end, out of sight.

  “Way to go, Kevin,” she whispered. He was obviously running from window to window, trying to keep an eye on three directions and, so far, had done very well for himself. Now, with her there, he’d only have to guard one position.

  Ella moved a little more to the south and downhill, trying to find a clear line of fire so she could take out Blueeyes, who was still behind the vehicles. But, almost as if sensing the danger he moved around so that he had cover on three sides.

  Ella knew time was running out. She had to take out two or more of the gunmen before Kevin ran out of ammunition for his rifle and pistol or was struck by a lucky shot. Hopefully he’d placed Dawn in the tub in the bathroom where she’d be safest.

  Suddenly she heard the sound of roaring vehicle engines from somewhere west, down the mountain. Relief flooded through her. Reinforcements. They weren’t going to be alone anymore. The odds had now shifted in their favor, and the ones trying to take Dawn would have to fight it out, surrender, or take to the woods on foot.

  Her cell phone rang. “Ella, this is Blalock with the cavalry. We’re staying off the radio just in case, but I’ve got walkie-talkies for the others that they’ll have a hell of a time monitoring. I’m about an eighth of a mile below and west of the cabin, coming up the road. What’s your situation?”

  Ella directed Blalock and the team toward the cabin, moving in from her left, right, and up the road, forcing the attackers into the center, where they’d eventually be caught by gunfire coming from all four directions. Five minutes later, Ella saw Blalock beyond the vehicles, moving east up the road but staying within the tree line.

  “I’m directly opposite you right now, in the trees above the clearing. They still can’t see me here in the shade against the bright sky,” Ella whispered into her cell phone. She hadn’t seen any of the gunmen below move in the last five minutes, but she broadcast their approximate location. “I’ll keep the phone open and in my jacket. If you say something, I’ll hear you.”

  “Good enough.”

  “How much help did you bring?” Ella asked.

  “We didn’t have regular manpower to draw from,” Blalock replied. “Most of the officers and Big Ed had to run to check all the bridges between Shiprock and Farmington. One of the Hasih in custody decided to announce that explosives had been planted on three area bridges, and that those had remote timers. Payestewa and every other cop available is on that assignment now, as well as the ATF. With so many local officers just coming off that long standoff at the mine, and all our extra help headed back across the state, we’ve almost out of manpower.”

  Ella listened, but her mind was only on the events unfolding before her now. “So who came with you?”

  “Officer Goodluck, and two deputized volunteers we’ve worked with before, your brother, Clifford, and Wilson Joe.” Blalock responded.

  “I believe there are three able-bodied men left down there. The other three are wounded or dead.”

  “Only three? Are you sure of that?”

  “No, I still have a blind spot, the west end of the cabin. I just shoot at anyone I see that isn’t Kevin. I figured we’d take them out one by one until no one but us good guys were left standing.”

  “Henry was right about you being part pitbull. Nothing ever makes you back off.”

  “You’ve spoken with him?”

  “Briefly. He’s really messed up
, but the doctors say he’s going to make it.”

  “That’s a relief.” Ella, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the perps below, spoke quickly, bringing their focus back to the present. “We’ve got trouble,” she said. “Somebody managed to start the stolen SUV. The tires are spinning right now, and he’s not making much headway, but it looks like he’s planning to ram the front of the cabin. He’s got one of the others with him.”

  “Everyone with a sight line try to take out the engine or driver,” Blalock announced, obviously using his radio and the cell phone at the same time. “Don’t hit a tire, that’ll just give him more traction.”

  Ella quickly sighted in on the engine and fired, scoring a direct hit right above the radiator. Almost simultaneously, two other shots rang out. The windows of the SUV shattered, and the engine whined, and started smoking. The vehicle, spinning badly already, slid around nearly ninety degrees, striking the porch with its right rear tire.

  Black smoke, then orange flames, began shooting from around the engine compartment, then the hood blew open with a fiery roar. The men jumped out in a panic and slipped and stumbled back to the other vehicles, diving underneath them for cover.

  “Ella, your brother says that he’s south, in the trees across from the front of the cabin. He’ll keep them pinned underneath the cars,” Blalock said through the open line of the cell phone.

  “Good deal!” Ella said, moving straight down the hill toward the cabin, being careful not to trip on a fallen branch or tree stump.

  “Wilson’s close enough to see two men crouched down low at the northwest end of the cabin, toward the back,” Blalock said. “They don’t know which way to run, and can’t move toward the vehicles without coming into my field of fire.”

  Ella continued downhill. Nothing was going to stop her from getting to her daughter now. Hearing someone to her right and above her, she dove behind cover, wheeling around with rifle up.

  “It’s me,” Justine whispered, then stepped out from behind a tree, and, at a low crouch, ran over beside her. “I came to give you this.” She handed Ella one of the two walkie-talkies she had clipped to her belt. “I was with Wilson, but ran ahead and came around on the uphill side. I’ll cover you. Don’t worry,” she added grimly. “I finally got my score back up at the police range.”