Wind Spirit [Ella Clah 10] (13 page)

“Thanks for your help,” Ella said, walking back to her unit.

“If you’re thinking of trying to arrest him for something, you better take some reinforcements. No one forces that guy to do anything he doesn’t want to do, and he’s liable to put up a fight.”

Ella considered it. “Would it be all right if Sheriff Taylor put one of his deputies up here on your land for a few hours?”

“Like a sniper?” He shrugged. “If you really think he’s done something bad, then go ahead. But tell me, are you going to question him about that fire at the councilman’s house? The one that killed the poor woman in the wheelchair?”

Ella’s radar went up. “What makes you ask that?”

“The timing . . . and the fact that I just remembered something. I had to go to the Quick Stop for a few groceries yesterday morning and I saw him outside by the gas pumps. He was filling up gas cans and loading them into his truck. He never saw me because when he came in to pay he got into an argument with the clerk and I ducked behind the row where the dry goods are. After he stormed outside, I went up to pay for what I bought and I saw him through the window. He walked off the concrete pad and grabbed up a handful of mud where the water had pooled from spray. You know how they wash off the concrete with a spray hose?”

Ella nodded and smiled, wondering when he’d get to the point.

“Well, he smeared the mud all over the license plate, then flipped his hand to splash a little more mud on the bumper. When he turned around, probably to see if anyone was watching him, I stepped to the right and the cash register hid me,” he said. “I remember thinking that he was acting like a crook straight out of the Dick Tracy comic strips. Do you remember those in the newspaper?”

“Yes, I do.” Actually Ella knew who Dick Tracy was, but the comics were a little before her time. “Thanks for taking the time to talk to me this morning,” Ella said, getting back into the vehicle. Victor sure liked to talk. Maybe it was because he lived basically by himself out here and missed the kind of conversation TV just couldn’t offer him. But he’d given her valuable information.

As soon as she was under way, she called Blalock and updated him. “Call Sheriff Taylor, and get him moving on this. We need one of his SWAT boys with sniper training up there, just in case. The owner has given his permission.”

“I’ll do it right now. Drive back to the main highway and take a break. We’re still waiting for the county officers to get into position.”

It was around two when Ella pulled up in front of Smiley’s house. According to plan she stayed in the vehicle, waiting and trying not to remember that a high-velocity rifle bullet wasn’t likely to be deflected by the windshield. Time passed slowly. Someone pushed the curtains in the living room back enough to peer at her, but no one showed up at the door.

Blalock hailed her on the radio. “Don’t get out of that vehicle unless you place some solid cover between you and the house. Something about this stinks. He should have come out by now.”

“He’s there—or someone is,” Ella said. “I’m going to step out and lean against the side of my unit, but I’ll make sure
the vehicle is between me and him. Let’s see what happens.”

Ella got out, then waited. After fifteen minutes passed, she got tired of waiting. Following a spur-of-the-moment idea, she pretended to see someone coming up from behind the house. She held her hand over her eyes, peering into the sun, and called out, “Good morning!”

Ella walked around her vehicle, taking a few steps toward the house when a voice suddenly boomed out from behind the front window. “Don’t come any closer. Get off my property.”

“Mr. Smiley, is that you?” Ella called out, then pretended to look into the distance again.

“Cut that out. There’s no one out there but you.”

Ella gave up the pretense. It had already accomplished what she’d hoped for—getting his attention. “I’m with the Tribal Police, and I just need to ask you a few questions. If you don’t want me in your home, can you come outside?”

He stuck a rifle barrel out the window and fired a shot. Ella saw it coming, dove to the ground, and rolled behind her unit, coming up in a crouch behind the engine block with her pistol in hand.

“That was a warning,” Smiley yelled. “If I’d meant to shoot you, you’d be dead now.”

Ella heard a call coming over the radio, then her cell phone started ringing. Opening the car door, she picked up the handheld. “I’m all right. He didn’t appear to be aiming at me.”

At that precise moment, the cell phone went silent. It had probably been Justine, and she’d heard Ella’s radio response.

“We’re moving in, Clah. Stay in place and keep your head down,” Blalock said first. “Taylor is here. He and his men will cover the north and east in case he rabbits on us.”

Justine and Neskahi spoke next. They were coming from the east. With Blalock behind her to the south, Payestewa
accompanying him, Smiley had no escape route. Before long more Tribal Police units and county sheriff deputies had come to help.

“You’re surrounded, Mr. Smiley,” Ella called out to him. “Set your weapon down and come out now.”

There was no response. As one of the county sheriff deputies made a dash toward a large boulder fifty feet from the house, Smiley fired from one of the windows to the east. Ella saw the deputy fall to the ground hard, clutching his leg.

“I don’t want to kill anyone,” Smiley yelled out from inside. “Leave me alone. I’m on my own property and I haven’t broken any laws.”

“You have now. You’ve wounded a deputy,” Ella countered. “But we don’t have to do this the hard way. Lay down your weapon and come out.”

Blalock pulled up in his unit, then hurried toward her. “There’s no cover anywhere close to the house, so coming up undetected is out. He’s got a clear line of fire all around for a hundred feet.”

“I’ll shoot to kill if anyone tries to enter my home,” Smiley called out. “You’ve been warned.”

“I want his phone service disconnected,” Ella said. “I don’t want him calling out or anyone calling in. We also need to cut off power to the house.”

“He’s already done that himself and started up the generator. It’ll run for hours probably,” Blalock pointed out.

“Can we disable it with something? Like a well-placed bullet?”

“It’s over there beside the propane tank. If we hit that gasoline-powered generator we could start a fire—right next to the propane. The last thing any of us will ever hear is a loud boom.”

“He’s been getting ready for us, that’s obvious.” Ella raised Justine on her handheld radio. “Turn off his phone service.”

“We can shut off his regular phone, but if he has a cell, it’s going to take a while to find out what carrier he uses.”

Before Ella could reply, Sheriff Taylor called Ella on the cell. “I have bad news. A camera crew from the cable station in Farmington bypassed our roadblock by going cross-country. They’re being detained by my deputies about a quarter of a mile from your position.”

“Can you keep them there?”

“Yes, but I thought you should know that they’re claiming Mr. Smiley invited them.”

“Our Mr. Smiley?” Ella asked.

“He told them he wants to be interviewed on the air, live,” Taylor said.

“No way. He’s not getting any publicity until he’s in custody.”

Taylor spoke to one of his deputies, then added, “Make that two camera crews. A second station is at the roadblock now.”

Ella considered her options, then called Justine. “Have you found out yet if he has a cell phone? I need to talk to him.”

Less than two minutes later, while Justine was still looking into it, dispatch at the Shiprock station called Ella on her cell phone. “We have a call from Bruce Smiley. He’s demanding to speak to you.”

“He just saved me some time. Give him my number,” Ella said, then updated Justine.

About two minutes later, her cell phone rang again. “This is Detective Clah,” Ella said.

“You’re the woman who came up first. Are you really in charge, or should I talk to someone else?”

“You’re talking to the right person.”

“You sure? I’ve seen FBI jackets and county cops.”

“This is Rez land—our turf. The FBI is here because you’re known to be in possession of at least one unlicensed
automatic weapon and that’s a federal violation. Since you live right beside the boundary between our jurisdiction and the county, sheriff’s department deputies are also here. I’m here on behalf of the tribe because we need to question you regarding the death of Mrs. Hunt and the arson attack on the Hunt residence.”

“I’ll consider coming out
after
I talk to the television reporters. Send them in when they get here.”

“They won’t be allowed to come into the perimeter at all until you’re disarmed and in our custody. Lay down your weapons and come out peacefully. Then you can have a few minutes to make a statement to the press or whoever you want.”

“How stupid do you think I am? The minute I step out this door, you’ll blow my head off.”

“With all those TV cameras aimed at your door from behind our lines? We’re not stupid either. We’d like this to end peacefully as much as you do.”

“Don’t lie to me. By now you know exactly what happened at the Hunts’ or you wouldn’t be here. It wasn’t my fault the woman couldn’t get out of her house. There was no car there so how could I have known anyone was inside? All I was doing was standing up for the rights of the
Dineh
before those fools on the council leave us defenseless. Cops and crooks will always have guns.”

“You’ll have your day in court,” Ella replied, weary already of his twisted logic. “That’s
your
right. We don’t want to shoot you nor do we want you to shoot at us. If what you really want is to die in a spectacular firefight that’ll be broadcast across the entire country, it’s not going to happen. We’re prepared to wait you out for as long as it takes. Eventually you’ll fall asleep or the generator will run out of gas.”

There was a long pause, but Ella didn’t interrupt the silence. Finally, Smiley spoke again. “You’ve had firsthand experience on what it’s like to die, Clah. Tell me about it.”

This was definitely not something she wanted to discuss with anyone, but at least when he was talking he wasn’t firing his weapon. “First, I didn’t die. Without immediate medical intervention the dead tend to stay dead. All that experience did for me was bring home the fact that life is too precious to waste.”

Ella waited, then realized he’d hung up. She tried calling back but all she got was a message saying the call couldn’t go through. It hadn’t been Justine’s doing, so Smiley must have turned off the phone himself. She was trying to think of something to yell over to him when a redheaded woman reporter suddenly ran up in a crouch and shoved a tape recorder in Ella’s face.

“Did you really come here to confiscate his guns? Have your actions forced this standoff?”

“How in the hell did you get over here? Get down behind the engine block! He’s already shot one deputy.”

A moment later another police unit drove up right next to hers and stopped. With her vehicle protecting him from direct fire, Neskahi slipped out the door, staying low, and came up.

He grasped the reporter’s arm firmly, then looked at Ella. “Sorry! She got out of her vehicle at the roadblock and managed to get a head start before I saw her.”

He pulled the reporter toward his car. “Get going. If you refuse to cooperate, I’ll arrest you and you’ll be sitting in jail when this story breaks.”

As soon as Neskahi got the reporter into his car, Blalock and Justine took advantage of the extra cover and joined Ella behind her unit.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Blalock said. “He’s hunkering down and going to remain uncommunicative.”

“I’ve got an idea.” Ella explained quickly and Justine left to get what was needed.

A half hour later when Justine finally returned, no progress had been made.

“I’ve got what you wanted, Ella,” she said, opening a case and bringing out a tranquilizer rifle borrowed from the local vet.

Blalock shook his head. “You’re going to have to get close to your target for this to hit the mark and too many things can go wrong. We’re not after a feral dog who’s attacking sheep. What if you miss or the dart’s deflected?”

“I’m going to try and place a shot through one of the open windows,” Ella replied. “This is the only way to avoid killing him. I don’t think he has any intention of surrendering.”