by Gail Koger
“Yes, ma’am.” The words were full of venom.
The poor baby wasn’t used to having his ass handed to him. I put the car in gear and glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “Gotta admit I’m shocked you haven’t contacted your buddies at Central Command to come rescue you.”
“I’m a warlord. I don’t need rescuing.”
“Okey-dokey.” The warlord didn’t say another word until we reached the police station and he noticed four big Navajo officers waiting by the rear door.
“Backup?” He sneered.
“I’m a shaman and I don’t need help controlling you.” I parked my patrol car.
“Never underestimate a warlord.”
I shot back, “You underestimated a shaman and it landed you in jail.” I got out and opened the back door. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. What’s it gonna be?”
The Jackass’s eyes burned with the promise of retaliation as he got out of the car.
Power roiled across the parking lot. “The easy way.”
Oh hell. This couldn’t be good. General Saul Jones, the commander of Central Command’s western sector and Zarek’s liaison on Earth, stood next to my father.
Even in his seventies, my father was a powerful man, but General Jones was downright scary. The General had the eyes of a predator and wore his thick gray hair in a military cut. Instead of a spiffy uniform he had on black Coletti battle armor and literally bristled with weapons.
“Take his cuffs off, CeeCee,” my father commanded.
“But…”
“Do it.”
The fact that my father was wearing his ceremonial black velveteen shirt, silver concho belt and shaman turquoise jewelry gave me pause. Something was seriously wrong. “Yes, sir.” I unlocked his cuffs and stepped back.
The Jackass rubbed his wrists. “She’s psychic. They’ve been lying to us for years.”
“I’m a police officer who also happens to be a shaman, and the wuss hates the fact that a woman kicked his ass.”
“You didn’t beat me.” The Jackass moved toward me.
General Jones stepped in front of him. “Stand down, soldier.” He turned to me. “What are his charges?”
“Criminal speeding, fleeing a law enforcement officer, no valid driver’s license or current vehicle registration, assaulting a police officer, and possessing prohibited weapons. Last but not least, making terrorist threats,” I added for good measure.
The General cocked a dark brow. “Are those charges true, Jake?”
“Mostly.” Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “But does it look like I assaulted her?”
“You tried,” I inserted.
My father slid into my mind. “Enough CeeCee. Provoking the warlord will not help the situation.”
“What situation?”
“A Coletti warrior was supposedly murdered on our lands.”
“Damn.”
I heard the General ask, “Why did you take the Mustang instead of a Hummer?”
“I wanted to test out the new engine,” Jake responded.
I sniped, “At a hundred and twenty miles an hour?”
Father shot me the evil eye. “I’ve had the evidence we’ve gathered put in the conference room.” He gestured to the back door. “Please follow me.”
Chapter Two
Our small conference room held one table, six chairs and a communications screen. Two evidence bags lay on the table. One held a knife, the other a badly damaged warrior’s bracelet.
General Jones picked up the bag with the bracelet and scanned it. “The data has been corrupted. Is this all you’ve collected?”
“Canyon de Chelly monument covers eighty-three thousand acres and I was waiting for my best tracker to return to continue our search,” Father replied.
“Who’s your best tracker?” General Jones wanted to know.
“My daughter.”
Jake sighed. “You’re his daughter, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
The General gave me his full attention. “Can you find Jivo?”
“I’m not making any promises, but I’ll go out to the site and see what signs I can pick up,” I said. Once the Coletti Overlord discovered that I also had psychometry abilities, being a shaman might not keep me safe from becoming a brood mare.
His face set in grim, angry lines, Jake interjected, “You’re being evasive. Are you hiding something? Did one of your people kill Jivo?”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” I snapped.
Father inserted calmly, “My daughter’s a shaman who has the ability to read objects. You will treat her with respect.”
Without hesitation, General Jones handed me the evidence bag with the bracelet. “Find him.”
I could see where the Jackass got his arrogance from. I took the bag and focused on it. A jumble of images rolled across my mind. An eight-hundred-foot sandstone spire, the charred remains of a jeep, a bloody corpse, and… The breath left my lungs in an involuntary gasp of shock. A monstrous, gray bipedal creature with large yellow eyes and spikes running down its spine. A Chupacabra? Holy hell, that wasn’t possible. Was it?
“What did you see?” Jake barked.
I took a deep breath. “There’s a body. I’m not sure if it’s Jivo’s.”
“Where?” The General demanded.
“Spider Rock.”
My father flinched.
“Take us there.” The expression on the General’s face reminded me of the scary ass sociopath I had arrested last week.
“I’ll go get the jeep,” I said and started for the door.
Jake grabbed my arm. “Picture where you want to go in your mind, and I’ll teleport us there.”
“You can teleport. I’m driving.” I tried to break free of his grip.
The jerk held me effortlessly. “Teleporting’s faster.”
“His soul has passed. There’s nothing you can do to help him.”
“How do you know his soul has passed? Can you talk to the dead?”
I pulled my pistol and stuck it in Jake’s stomach. “Let go of me. Now.”
“We need to collect what evidence is left before it’s destroyed.” Jake snapped, not a bit intimidated by my gun.
“Put the gun away, CeeCee. He has a point. Do as he asks,” Father ordered.
With a growl, I holstered my weapon. “Fine.” I focused on the bank of a creek that flowed by Spider Rock.
The Jackass wrapped a muscular arm around me. There was a fleeting flash of black and presto. We were standing next to two towering red sandstone spires.
The General and my father appeared next to us.
The burnt-out remains of a jeep protruded from the slow-moving creek.
Thankfully, the water had kept the flames from spreading to the cottonwood trees and bushes.
A horde of flies swarmed over a large pool of blood. The General scanned it with his warrior’s bracelet. “It’s Jivo’s blood.”
The Jackass tightened his grip on me. “Where is the body?”
“Spider Rock is a sacred place.”
“And,” Jake drawled.
“It needs to be cleansed of the evil that was done here.”
“Your father can deal with that. Where’s the fucking body,” Menace radiated from Jake.
“Show him,” Father said.
I pointed at Spider Rock. “Up there.”
Poof. We were standing on top of the left spire. A darkness like nothing I had ever felt before hung over the area. My gaze fell on the mangled body sprawled across the crown of the right spire and my stomach knotted in horror. Our holy place had been desecrated. Dried blood stained the white rocks and bones from previous kills were scattered around the corpse.
“Fuck. Something ate his face off.” Releasing me, Jake teleported over to the spire and examined the body.
I linked with Father and flashed him the image of the deceased and the creature I had seen in my
vision. “Chupacabra or alien shapeshifter?”
“Difficult to know. Use your gifts to discover the truth. If General Jones summons the Overlord, we are doomed.”
“Yes, Father.” Assuming a lotus position on the rocks, I chanted, “Creator, source of all knowing, cleanse this space of all negativity. Banish all energies that would mean us harm. Let love and light fill each of us and our sacred space.” Once I felt the negative spirits disappear, I focused on who or what had violated our holy place. I caught fleeting glimpses of an injured Jivo fighting off the Chupacabra with a knife. For some reason he seemed unable to teleport and where the hell was his body armor?
I concentrated on the creature. Grisly hair sprouted from its misshapen skull. It had pointy ears, a mouthful of serrated teeth and lethal claws. I knew without a doubt, it was not of this Earth. I shuddered. The creature was driven by a hunger that ruled its every thought. It needed to kill. It wouldn’t stop until it was dead.
Jake was suddenly in my head. “That’s what killed Jivo?”
“Yes.” Alarm flared to life. How had the Jackass breached my shields?
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jake said as he shared the image with General Jones.
“Neither have I.” General Jones teleported up and studied Jivo’s corpse. “I have a shuttle coming to transport the body and Shrek will do a complete autopsy. Zarek’s informing the family.”
Father’s worried voice sounded in my head, “There’s been another murder.”
“Where?”
“Outside Many Farms.”
A knot of apprehension formed in my gut. Had the Chupacabra hit again? “Any details?”
“All I know is a tourist found a woman’s body on a hiking trail and called it in,” Father answered.
“Do we have a cause of death?”
“No, Mellie said the comm-link kept cutting out. Sergeant Thomas is coming to pick us up.”
“The General and the Jackass can deal with this crime scene. By the time I climb down, Thomas will be here,” I said walking over to the edge of the pinnacle.
“You could ask the General to teleport you down.”
“And explain why? Not a chance.” I eased myself over the edge of the eight-hundred-foot high spire and lowered myself into a crevasse. Previous climbers had chiseled handholds into the rock, and I used them to climb down.
“Going somewhere?” The Jackass snarled from a foot away.
The idiot was hanging from a ledge by one hand. I knew Coletti warriors were strong, but seriously, not a smart move. “I have other duties that need my attention.” I yelped when the Jackass grabbed my weapons belt and I was suddenly dangling seven hundred feet above the ground. I latched onto him. “Are you fucking nuts?”
Jake bared his fangs. “What duties? And if you lie to me, you won’t like the consequences.”
“Answer him CeeCee,” Father ordered.
“There’s been a murder and I need to investigate it.”
“Another murder?” Jake’s eyes narrowed in pure exasperation. “And you didn’t think to tell us?”
“The victim isn’t a Coletti warrior.”
The cocky bastard smiled as he released his hold on the ledge and we abruptly plummeted earthward.
A terrified scream broke from me. There was a flash of black and we were at the base of Spider Rock. A relieved breath broke from me. We hadn’t gone splat! My relief quickly turned to anger. “You did that on purpose.”
Jake smirked. “Now tell me about the new homicide.”
“There’s a dead woman outside Many Farms, which is my jurisdiction, not yours.”
“Nevertheless, you will keep us informed.” He cocked his head. “What kind of modifications did you do to your stun gun?”
That’s when I realized I was still wrapped around him like a limpet. I could feel the color rushing to my cheeks. Damn. “None of your business.” Unlocking my arms and legs, I slid down his rock-solid body and stomped away.
“Was it good for you too?” He whispered in my head.
I gave him the one-fingered-salute and noticed Uncle Jesse wading out to hook a tow chain to the charred vehicle. I hurried toward him and stumbled to a stop as a spine-chilling howl erupted in my mind. It was followed by brief flashes of Jivo making a run for it in the jeep. Whoosh! A Molotov cocktail exploded in the backseat. Once again Jivo didn’t teleport. He dove into the water to escape the flames.
“Hold up there. I need to scan the vehicle before you tow it,” Jake called and slanted me an irritated look. “Gotta see if it was hit by a Molotov cocktail.”
Cold fear knotted my stomach. How was he doing this? Had teleporting with the Jackass created a mental link of some kind? If so, I was in big trouble.
Jake teleported to the jeep and scanned it with his warrior’s bracelet. “You’re right CeeCee. It was hit by a Molotov cocktail.”
I glared at him. “Officer Tsosie. Only my friends call me CeeCee.”
“Oh, we’re going to be more than friends, CeeCee,” Jake replied.
I sucked in a calming breath. I was a trained police officer and shaman. I could deal with the Jackass.
“Crank her up,” Uncle Jesse called.
A smile touched my mouth. The Jackass was perched on the hood. I hit the winch control button and the jeep jerked violently. Jake pitched forward and poof he vanished only to reappear next to me. “Nice try.”
Sergeant Thomas pulled up in an ancient SUV.
I hurried over to him.
Through the open driver’s window, Thomas said, “Yellowhorse says the victim was ripped apart and partially eaten.”
“Did the witness see anything?”
“No, she just found the body.”
“I’m coming with you,” Jake announced.
“But…”
Father cut me off. “We welcome your help.”
“What are you doing Father?”
“If we have an alien shapeshifter killing people, we’ll need their help. We don’t have the Coletti Empire’s resources, and I won’t let more people die unnecessarily.” Father stated firmly.
Father was right, but how long would it take the General or Jake to realize I wasn’t Navajo? The murders also gave the Overlord and Central Command a legitimate reason to interfere in Navajo Nation’s business.
A shuttle dropped from the sky and hovered over Spider Rock. General Jones was suddenly standing by the SUV. “My warriors will finish processing this crime scene. I want to examine the new victim. Have your officer take pictures of the area and send them to my scanner.”
Father tapped his commlink and relayed his instructions to Officer Yellowhorse. A couple of minutes later the General had his photos. He touched an icon and holographic images of the slaughtered woman appeared in front of us.
Damn. The woman’s injuries matched those of Jivo’s. We had an alien serial killer on our hands.
A frown shadowed the General’s features. “How many homicides did you work at Phoenix P.D. Jake?”
“Twenty-eight, Uncle Saul.”
Uncle Saul? Shit the Jackass was Jake Jones, the police officer who had single-handily stopped the Tai-Kok assault on south Phoenix. What had happened to turn the hero into an arrogant prick?
“CeeCee has solved four murders,” Father stated proudly.
What? Oh, hell no. I wasn’t working with the Jackass. Before I could protest Father assumed his Elder demeanor. “You will work with them.
“It won’t take them long to figure out I’m Italian not Navajo.”
“When you discovered Jake was Coletti you should have issued him a warning, but you didn’t. Why?”
The Jackass’s pissy attitude wasn’t a valid reason, so I went with, “He broke our laws.”
“They have done so before and you never used your gifts.”
With a sigh, I admitted, “I know. There’s just something about him that pushes my buttons.”
�
�You’re attracted to him. It is time you took a mate,” Father replied.
My jaw dropped. “What? I’m only twenty-four and I’m not hooking up with that jackass.”
“The spirits have spoken,” Father said firmly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Father ignored me and turned his attention to the Coletti warlords. “CeeCee will assist you in your investigation. She knows every inch of our lands and her knowledge of our people will be an asset.”
“Not to mention her unique talents,” Jake added snidely.
A spark of satisfaction lit the General’s eyes. “We welcome her help.”
Muttering curses under my breath, I opened the back door to the SUV.
“Where are you going, partner?” Jake’s tone was smug and delighted at the same time.
“To the new crime scene.”
“Teleporting is much, much faster.” Jake opened his arms. “Come to Papa.”
I set my lips in a stubborn line. “I’ll prefer to drive there. You try to stop me, and I will hurt you.”
“I’ll teleport you,” General Jones interjected.
My father said sternly, “Go with the General, CeeCee.”
“Fine.” I grabbed the murder kit from the SUV and stomped over to General Jones. “I accept your gracious offer.”
The General placed his hand on my shoulder and poof. We appeared at the crime scene.
Officer Tom Yellowhorse’s face was ashen. His partner, Yas Begay, was puking in the bushes. One look at what was left of the woman and my stomach roiled. Bloody body parts were scattered over the sand. The metallic stench of blood mixed with the putrid smell of ruptured bowls. Hundreds of flies crawled over the remains.
Jake teleported in with my Father. “Fuck.”
“Jake, I want you to do your magic with the witness while Elder Tsosie and I talk with the officers. Document the crime scene CeeCee,” the General ordered.
“Yes, sir.” I watched Jake stride over to a woman in her fifties, who was sobbing hysterically, and with one touch, she stopped crying.
The air shimmered like a rainbow around the body. I opened my psychic senses. Damn. The woman’s soul was still here. Trying not to breathe too deeply, I walked over to the woman’s ghost. She had been a pretty blonde in her thirties. “Hi, my name is CeeCee. What’s yours?”