Darkwind: Ancient Enemy 2 (38 page)

“It’s true he needs to be ready,” Joe said, “but Cole is right. We need to hurry.”

“I’d be surprised if the horses aren’t already dead,” Cole mumbled, “and the four wheelers and all the other vehicles out there trashed.”

“Yes, but we can’t rush David into this,” Stella said. “If we don’t get this right …”

“But we have to bring David to the place where he can fight it the best,” Joe insisted. “We have to take him to the place where he has the best chance of defeating the Darkwind … killing it, or at least sending it back to where it came from. And we
do
need to hurry.”

“So when are we going?” Cole asked.

“Today,” Joe said like he’d just made up his mind. His face was set in a grim expression like he wasn’t going to change his mind.

“Today?” Stella said, not hiding her surprise and horror.

“He’s right,” Cole told Stella. “We need to do this before we’re trapped here. You know what will happen if we’re trapped here.”

Stella sighed and glanced back at David.

David still hadn’t looked their way; he was still concentrating on his notebook, seemingly in his own world right now.

“You two need to understand something,” Joe said.

Stella and Cole looked at Joe again.

“This journey we’ll be taking will be dangerous. David will offer some protection, but when the Darkwind is strong again it will attack and all of us may not survive.”

Both Cole and Stella nodded … they understood.

Joe smiled at him. “But I’m going to bring along some things that can help us. Some things to help give us an edge.”

S
pecial Agent Palmer rode with Captain Begay in his jacked-up Ford Bronco as they drove down a strip of pavement that seemed to run on forever through the rocks and sandy hills.

They had been driving for hours, and they had already stopped to talk to a few people. Begay had gone into homes and buildings on his own, asking Palmer to wait in the truck. Through the morning Begay had questioned several people about where Billy Nez was. Palmer was sure that bargains had been made by Begay to find Billy’s whereabouts … and he was sure that threats had been made, too.

Close to eleven o’clock, Begay left a stucco-covered adobe building where some men milled about outside. Palmer wasn’t sure what kind of place this was, but he’d waited in Begay’s truck for twenty minutes while Begay talked to some of the men inside.

Once Begay got back in the truck, his expression gave nothing away. He stared ahead with the mirrored sunglasses still on his face. He put the truck in reverse (he’d left it running for Palmer while he’d been inside to keep the heat on) and backed up to leave the dirt parking area.

Obviously Begay wasn’t going to volunteer any information.

“Well?” Palmer finally asked.

“He told me where to find Billy,” was all Begay said. It even sounded like he was angry about having to tell Palmer that much.

Palmer knew Begay wasn’t happy that he had insisted on riding with him instead of following him around all day in his rental car. Palmer had given up trying to memorize the map and the crisscrossing of the roads out here on the Big Reservation. This reservation was huge—fifteen thousand square miles: the size of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts put together. He knew it would’ve only been a matter of time before Begay ditched him and then Palmer would’ve been hopelessly lost out here in these badlands. It was amazing to Palmer how remote some of these places were, and the GPS and reception on his cell phone were spotty at best. So he had decided to ride with Captain Begay whether the man liked it or not.

• • •

Hours later, they drove down a long rutted trail through the brush and rocks, and then down a steep decline towards a large stand of trees with a creek running through them. Mountains rose up sharply in the distance. It was as beautiful as it was foreboding, Palmer thought.

Ten minutes later they pulled up to a group of trailers. Palmer thought the place looked like some kind of refugee camp. The trailers were rusted-out hulks with debris piled all around them. Abandoned junked cars and car parts hid in the weeds and scrub brush. A clothesline full of clothes was set up right in the front yard above a scattering of children’s toys.

A pregnant woman holding a baby came to the front door of the trailer, the door barely hanging on by its hinges. A curious three year old dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and baggy pants stood beside the woman on the untrustworthy wood deck in front of the door.

A scruffy-looking dog poked its head out of a doghouse that looked like it had been constructed from petrified wood. The dog didn’t even bark at them, it just stared at them with large eyes.

“Is this where Billy Nez lives?” Palmer asked as Begay parked the truck and turned off the engine.

“No.”

Palmer didn’t expect Begay to expound.

Begay got out of the truck and Palmer opened his door and stepped out into the cold. One thing was for sure, he wasn’t staying in the truck anymore.

“
Ya-tah
,” Begay said to the woman as he walked towards the trailers that sat nose to nose in the distance.

The young woman hadn’t made any kind of movement to come down and greet them.

Palmer watched as Begay made some kind of hand gesture to the woman. “
Ya-tah,
” he said again.

“
Ya-tah-hay
,” the woman finally answered in a low voice. She made a half-hearted gesture of her own back to Begay.

Begay said something in Navajo to the woman.

She just nodded her head towards the trees and the creek off in the distance.

“He’s that way,” Begay said to Palmer and he was already walking towards the trees.

It was a five minute trek through the woods that lined the stream. Then they came to a squat dome of a structure that was covered with mud and grass. Not too far away from the mud hut, a fire was crackling inside a pit in the ground that was surrounded by rocks. Palmer noticed that there were rocks in the fire too.

“Wait out here,” Begay said as he walked towards a flap that served as a door to the hut.

Palmer thought about arguing.

“Sacred ceremony inside,” Begay said over his shoulder as if he sensed that Palmer was going to debate his request. He took off his coat before entering the hut, laying it down neatly over a large flat rock.

Palmer just nodded and sighed. He thought Begay had come here to arrest Billy Nez, not hang out with him inside some sweat lodge. Obviously obstruction of justice was a petty crime out here in these parts. Palmer hoped Begay would at least get the information they needed.

• • •

Begay pulled the flap back from the mud-covered hut and entered the dark steamy interior.

Billy Nez sat on a small colorful rug that was spread out on the hard-packed dirt floor on the opposite side of the hut. Billy was nearly naked, only wearing a loincloth. His skin was shiny with perspiration and his long dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He used to be a muscular man long ago, but now what muscles he had left sagged on his old man’s body. The wrinkles were deep lines etched into his brown face.

Begay noticed that there was a similar woven rug spread out on the floor not too far away from the flap—an invitation for him to sit down, Begay guessed. And in between the two rugs was a pit dug into the dirt floor which was filled with hot rocks and burning kindling. The meager amount of smoke the fire put out drifted up towards the hole in the middle of the ceiling at the top of the dome.

Begay unbuttoned his shirt a little and rolled up the sleeves to his elbows. He sat down cross-legged on the small woven rug. It was already so hot inside the hut—a stark contrast with the bitterly cold air outside.

“Did you come here to arrest me?” Billy asked in Navajo.

“Depends,” Begay answered in Navajo. He was sure Palmer had stayed close enough to the hut to listen to their conversation; he might even be right outside the flap. But he wouldn’t understand any of it.

“I have an FBI agent with me,” Begay said. “He’s waiting outside right now.”

Billy nodded, but he didn’t seem alarmed. He seemed like a man who felt righteous in his innocence. He didn’t ask what he was being hassled about. He didn’t try to run when they had shown up. He wasn’t drunk right now or belligerent. These were all plusses in Begay’s book, all good marks in favor of Billy Nez, and Begay would return the favor by hearing the man out.

“You tricked us,” Begay said when he realized Billy Nez was in no hurry to begin the conversation. “The map Alice Newcastle gave us led to an abandoned house.”

“I gave Alice the wrong map because I knew she would break her word and call the police. It doesn’t matter how long she has lived here on this land with us, she will never be one of us. She will never truly understand our ways.”

Begay sighed. He didn’t want to get off track into some philosophical conversation with Billy right now. “Alice called us because it was the right thing to do. Those three are wanted by the law.”

“One is only a boy.”

“Yes, but the man they are traveling with is a suspect in at least twenty-one murders, two stolen vehicles, and one bank robbery. You’re helping a possible criminal.”

“Sometimes you must overlook some bad to find the greater good.”

“And you think twenty-one murders is only a little bad?”

“I don’t believe your suspect murdered those people.”

Begay nodded. “And who did?”

“You know who murdered those people. You know
what
murdered them.”

Begay didn’t respond.

Billy Nez ladled some water from a wooden bucket near him and drenched the hot rocks. The rocks hissed when the water hit them, steam rising up instantly.

“It has happened before,” Billy said when he put the wooden ladle back into the bucket of water. “The
chindi
is back and it wants things.”

“
Chindi
?” Begay asked, surprised that Billy was using the Navajo word for ghost.

“
Chindi,
” Billy repeated. “Or
yenaldooshi
—skinwalkers. Darkwind. Anasazi, Ancient Enemy. Whatever you want to call it. But it’s here again. What happened to that boy’s parents and what happened to those
belegana
scientists in that cave, you know there is no rational explanation for that.”

“So you led those three where? Right to the
chindi
?”

“No. I led them to someone who can help them.”

“Who?” Begay asked.

“A
yataalii
—a
true
medicine man.”

“What’s his name?” Begay asked. “Joe Blackhorn?”

If Billy was surprised that Begay already knew they had gone to find Joe Blackhorn, he didn’t show it.

“We know that’s where you sent them. But we just don’t know where to find Joe Blackhorn. I need to find those three before something else happens. I need to help David.”

“The boy is pursued by the Darkwind. Only he can drive it away again.”

Begay let out another long breath, trying to remain calm.

“I know you say you don’t believe,” Billy said. “I know you
try
not to believe. But deep down inside, you know something is wrong with these murders. You know something is different about the boy and the woman on the run.”

Begay thought of his conversations with Agent Palmer a few days ago and how similar they were to the one he was having with Billy right now. But in that conversation it had been him trying to convince Palmer that something supernatural might be going on, and it had been Palmer who wouldn’t even consider it.

“I met with that woman and the boy,” Billy said.

Begay nodded, indicating that he already knew that. “The boy’s name is David. David Bear.”

“They were not being forced to do anything by that man they were with. They are not being held captive by him.”

“You met the man with them? You saw him?”

“He waited outside in a pickup truck while we met the woman and David at the diner. Once they were inside the diner, they could’ve asked us to help them. They could’ve called the police. They could’ve run. But they didn’t choose to do any of those things.”

Thanks for your expert opinion, Begay thought but he bit back the words.

“They risked everything to find Joe Blackhorn,” Billy said.

Once again Begay thought of the same thing he’d said to Agent Palmer not too long ago.
Why would they risk everything to come back down here and find this shaman?

“Alice knew that I knew how to find Joe Blackhorn,” Billy continued. “We agreed to give the woman a different map so she could be caught by the police. But what Alice didn’t know was that I drew two maps, and the other one led to Joe Blackhorn’s home. I wanted to hear the woman’s story first. After I listened to her story, I knew she was telling the truth, and I knew the Ancient Enemy had come again. I knew the boy could fight the Ancient Enemy and I knew Joe Blackhorn could help him. Later, we ambushed the three of them on the road and I gave the woman the real map. I put her on the path to find Joe Blackhorn.”

“I need to find them,” Begay said. “I need you to show me where they are.”

Billy ladled more water onto the hot rocks, taking his time. Then he shrugged. “I have a map that I have drawn for you. But the four of them may not be there now.”

“Why not? Do you know where they are going?”

“There’s a sacred place,” Billy answered. “A place where the barrier between our world and the Darkwind’s world is the weakest. Joe Blackhorn will take the boy there to fight it, to send it back for good.”

Begay was beginning to get impatient. He was starting to sweat underneath his clothes and his crossed legs were cramping up a little. “Billy, I won’t come back here and arrest you if you give me that map. If you help me.”

“This is going to be a dangerous journey for you,” Billy said. “Who are you taking with you?”

Begay didn’t answer; he just huffed loudly, hopefully showing Billy that he was tiring of this game of his.

“Many could be killed,” Billy said, unperturbed by Begay’s show of disapproval.

Begay thought it over. He had to be careful here because he knew Billy Nez was not afraid of being arrested and locked up. He couldn’t threaten him to get what he wanted. He had to make sure that Billy was telling him the truth and not sending him on another wild goose chase.