Ancient Shores (30 page)

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” She looked disgusted. “Where are you going to be staying?”

“The Northstar. In Fort Moxie.”

“Okay. Stay close. We might want to talk to you again.”

“Sure,” Max said.

He kept an eye on his rear to see whether he was being followed. The road stayed empty. He debated calling Jake Thoraldson to ask him to get the Lightning ready, but he suspected the conversation would be overheard. Consequently he was delayed a half-hour at the Fort Moxie airport while the plane was brought out and warmed up.

At a little after ten he taxied onto the runway, turned into the wind, and gunned the engines. The twin liquid-cooled Allisons rumbled reassuringly. Jake cleared him for takeoff, a gesture that inevitably contained a hint of absurdity at Fort Moxie, where the pilot was always looking at empty skies. He engaged the throttle, and the old warbird began to move.

Maybe it was the roar of the engines, the wind rushing beneath the nacelles, the geometry of the Lightning. Maybe it was his combat pilot’s genes kicking in. Whatever it might have been, his fears drained off as the landing strip fell away. This was the plane that had turned the tide in the Pacific. He looked through the gunsight. The weapons cluster was concentrated in the nose, consisting of a 20-mm cannon and four.50-caliber machine guns. Its firepower, added to the Lightning’s ability to exceed four hundred miles per hour, had been irresistible. The Germans had called it
der Gabelschwanz Teufel
—the Fork-Tailed Devil.

The guns were disabled now, but for a wild moment Max wished he had them available.

He was leveling off at nine thousand feet when he saw another plane. It was at about fourteen thousand feet, well to the north. Too far to identify, but it occurred to him he should assume they would be watching.

He was tempted to fly over the Roundhouse, dip his wings, deliver some sign that Adam could trust him. But he knew it would be prudent not to draw anyone’s attention.

The other plane was propeller-driven, so he would
have no trouble outrunning it. But he couldn’t outrun its radar. Still, even if they tracked him into Grand Forks, which they would undoubtedly do, so what? They would lose interest once he was on the ground.

He made a long, casual turn toward the south and goosed the Lightning.

Twenty minutes later he landed at Casper Field and rolled to a stop in front of a series of nondescript terminals. Casper was home to several freight forwarders, a spraying service, and a flying school. And to Blue Jay Air Transport. He climbed out of the plane almost before it had come to a stop and hurried into the little washed-out yellow building that housed Blue Jay’s business offices.

He’d been listening to air traffic control out of Grand Forks, and he knew that one of his charters was already on approach and the other was about thirty minutes out. The Sioux had sent someone to meet the planes, but Max knew
he
was going to have to coordinate things if they were to have any chance of getting Walker’s mysterious friends back to the ridge in time to do any good. He found a pay phone and put in a quarter.

Bill Davis sounded as if he’d been in bed. “Say all that again, Max?”

“Got a job for two choppers, about a dozen passengers. And a couple people from the TV station. Say fourteen, fifteen in all.”

“When?”

“Tonight.”

“I can’t get anything out that quickly, Max. I don’t even know who’s available.”

“It’s an emergency,” said Max. “We’ll pay double your rates. And a bonus for the pilots.”

“How much?”

“A thousand. Each.”

He considered it. “Tell you what I’ll do. You say you need
two
aircraft?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Look, I can only get one guy on this kind of short notice. But I’ll fly the second chopper myself.”

Max thanked him and punched in another number.

“KLMR-TV. If you wish to speak with the advertising department, press one. If…”

Max looked at his watch. It was twenty to eleven. He listened through the litany of instructions, and when the news desk came up, he pushed the appropriate button.

“News desk.”

“This is Max Collingwood. One of the people from the Roundhouse. I’d like to speak with the news director.”

“Hold one moment, please.”

There was a brief silence. Then a familiar baritone was on the line. “Hello. This is Ben Markey. Collingwood, is that really you?”

“Yes. It’s really me.”

“You’re supposed to be on top of the ridge. Are you calling from the ridge?”

“No. Listen, I don’t have much time to talk, but I can offer you a hell of a story.”

“Okay.” Max could hear the man light up over the phone. “Where can we meet?”

Max gave him instructions, hung up, and called the airport tower.

“Operations,” said a male voice.

“Duty officer, please.” Max was grateful not to have to deal with another automated call-answering system.

“May I tell her who’s calling?”

“Max Collingwood. Sundown Aviation.”

“Hang on, Mr. Collingwood.”

A long delay, during which he was twice assured that the duty officer would be with him presently. Then a familiar voice: “Hello, Max.”

Max knew most of the senior air people at Grand
Forks. This was Mary Hopkins. She was a former vice president of the Dakota Aviation Association. She was tall, quiet, unassuming, married to an irritating stock brokerage account executive. “Mary,” he said into the receiver, “I know you’re busy.”

“It’s okay. What can I do for you?”

“There are two charter flights coming in. One of them must be landing about now. The other is close behind.”

“Okay,” she said. “I see two.”

“I’m going to bring in a couple of choppers from Blue Jay to pick up the passengers. If you could arrange to keep them together and allow a direct transfer, I’d be grateful.”

“You want to keep the passengers in the planes until the helicopters get here?”

“Yes. Just park them out somewhere, if you can, where they’ll be out of the way, and we’ll bring the choppers in right alongside. Okay?”

“Max—”

He knew this violated normal procedure and that she wasn’t happy with the idea. “I wouldn’t ask, Mary. You know that. But this is important. Lives depend on it.”

“This has to do with the business up on the border?”

“Yeah,” he said. “You could say that.”

“I’ll do what I can,” she said. “Where can I reach you?”

Bill Davis was three hundred pounds of profit motive and cynicism with a dry sense of humor and four divorces. He had recently suffered a minor heart attack and now had a tendency to live in the past, to talk as if his days were numbered.

His paneled office was filled with pictures of aircraft and pilots. A signed photo of John Wayne guarded the top of a credenza.

“Good to see you, Max,” Davis said. “I’ve got
George coming down. Where are we going?” He filled a coffee cup and held it out.

Max took it. “The ridge,” he said.

Davis frowned. “Isn’t that where they’re trying to get the Indians out? National Guard, right?”

“Not the Guard,” said Max. “U.S. marshals. They’re going to shut the place down tomorrow, and the Sioux don’t want to leave.”

“Hell, Max, I can’t send anyone into that.”

“Make it two thousand, Bill.”

“Then you
do
expect trouble?”

“No, I don’t. I just don’t have the time to argue.”

Horace did his final reconnaissance at a little after eleven and returned to the command post. His first act was to call Carl.

“This is not good,” he said.

“What’s the problem, Horace?”

“The wind. Wait one night, Carl. Give us a chance to use the smoke. Otherwise it could be a bloodbath out there. Everything’s too exposed.”

“Can’t do it,” said Rossini.

“Son of a bitch, Carl. We can’t wait
one
night? Listen!” He held up the receiver so Rossini could hear the wind roar. “What the hell is the big hurry?”

“I’m sorry, Horace,” he said. “Get it done before dawn. I don’t care what it takes.”

“Then I’m going to work over the mounds before I put anybody on the ground. You’re going to have a stack of dead Indians in the morning. Is that what you want?”

“Whatever it takes, Horace.”

Horace banged the phone down. It missed its cradle and fell into the snow.

“Do not aim to kill,” said the chairman, “except as a last resort.”

“Why?” objected Little Ghost. “We are going to be in a war.”

Walker nodded. “I know. But time’s with us. The longer we can delay the decision, the better for us.”

They were gathered in a small circle at the edge of the pit. The wind howled against the tarps that shielded them from the glow of the Roundhouse.

“Please explain,” said Andrea.

“Help is coming. If we’re still here when it arrives, and if the situation by then isn’t beyond retrieving, I think we can survive the night. And maybe keep the wilderness.”

“But they’ll be trying to kill us. Why should we not—”

“Because once we spill blood,” he said, “there’ll be no stopping it. Keep down. Shoot back. But take no lives. Unless you must.”

Adam took Andrea Hawk and George Freewater aside. “I want you two on the flanks,” he said. “George, out by the parking lot. Be careful. They’ll have a problem. We’re going to show them they can’t bring helicopters in with impunity. And they can’t advance directly on us. So they’ll have to try a trick play. Maybe they’ll try to bypass us and seize the Roundhouse.”

“That wouldn’t accomplish anything,” said George. “They’d be down in the ditch.”

“They’d have the Roundhouse. That would make everything else moot. They might also try an end run.” He looked at Andrea. “That would probably mean coming up the face of the cliff. I looked down and I couldn’t see anything. But I’d think about trying it if I were on the other side.”

“Will there be a signal to open fire?” asked Andrea.

Adam was standing with his face in shadow. “No. Use your judgment. But we want them to fire the first shot.”

Grand Forks International Airport is not busy in the sense that O’Hare or Hartsfield is busy. But it services several major airlines and maintains a steady stream of traffic.

The two charter jets were parked on an apron immediately outside the administrative offices at the main terminal. Max circled overhead while the tower directed the Blue Jay helicopters down through a stiff wind.

Max talked to the charter pilots, advising them that he was coordinating the flight and that he wanted to transfer the passengers directly to the helicopters, and to do it as quickly as possible.

They acknowledged, and he got his own instructions from the tower, which vectored him in from the west and, at his request, directed him to a service hangar. He turned the Lightning over to the maintenance people and got a ride in a baggage carrier to the transfer point. When he arrived, several passengers had already climbed into the helicopters. Others were waiting their turn to board. An airport worker was helping load a wheelchair. Ben Markey was there with a cameraman. Max recognized Walter Asquith, who had visited the escarpment and who wanted to do a book about the Roundhouse. One or two of the others looked vaguely familiar, and Max was about to ask for names when he heard his own. He turned and saw William Hawk approaching.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done, Max,” he said.

“My pleasure,” said Max. “I hope it works out.”

Hawk was tall and broad-shouldered. There was anger in his dark eyes, and Max could easily imagine him on horseback, leading a charge against the Seventh Cavalry.

Bill Davis waved at them from the pilot’s seat. “Councilman,” he said, raising his voice over the roar of the engines, “we should get moving if you want to be there by midnight.”

Hawk looked at Max. “Are you coming, Max?”

“No,” he said. And then, weakly, “You’ll need the space.”

Hawk offered his hand. “Good luck, Max,” he said.

It was a curious remark under the circumstances. “And you, Councilman.” Ben Markey was already deep in conversation with the passengers, but Hawk was climbing in and the rotors were drowning out everything.

The first chopper lifted off, and someone put a hand on Hawk’s shoulder to make sure he was safely inside. Then Davis’s aircraft, too, was rising, backlit by the moon.

They arced out over the terminal and started north. Max watched them go. Crazy. They’d be lucky if they didn’t all get killed.

Max had done the right thing. He’d set things up, got Walker’s people off and moving, and now he could go home and watch it on TV.

The roar of the helicopters faded to a murmur and then gave way to the sound of an incoming jet.

He needed a beer before he went home, but he never drank when he was about to get into a cockpit. Tonight, though, might qualify for an exception. He stood staring at the sky, trying to make up his mind. And he heard the helicopters again.

Coming
back
.

He watched, saw their lights reappear.

Son of a bitch. What now? He hurried inside the terminal, found a phone, and called the tower. Within a minute he had Mary.

“Feds,” she said.

Max argued for a while with Bill Davis. He offered more
money, a lot more, but Davis wouldn’t bite, and Max couldn’t blame him. He’d be trading in his license, and probably applying for jail time, if he defied the tower’s order to return.

“Isn’t there another carrier we can use?” asked William Hawk, his gaze shifting nervously between Max and the passengers, as if they might give up and go away.

“Not that I know of.”

“What about you, Max?” said Ben Markey. Markey’s ability to blend a kind of lighthearted mockery with rock-hard integrity, the ability which made him the area’s foremost anchor, put Max on the defensive. “Don’t
you
have an airline?”

“No. Sundown restores and sells antique aircraft. We aren’t a carrier.”

Hawk was looking at his watch. “Max, there’s got to be a way.”

Max was sorry he hadn’t got into the air quicker. He could have been on his way to Fargo now.

But maybe there
was
an alternative. He picked up a phone and punched in Ceil’s number. It rang into an answering machine. He identified himself and waited for her to cut in. When she didn’t, he tried the corporate number. Boomer Clavis picked it up. “Thor Air Cargo,” he said.

“Boomer, this is Max. Is Ceil there?”

“How ya doin’, Max?” he said. “I can give you her number. She’s in Florida.”

And that was it. “When’s she due back?”

“Uh, Wednesday, maybe. They’re opening an air museum in Tampa.”

Max said nothing.

“Hold on, Max. Let me get her number.”

“No. Don’t bother. It’s not going to do me any good.” He stared at the phone, then looked up at the people gathered around him. They were an ordinary-looking group. Twelve men and a woman. Middle-aged, mostly. Could have been traveling to Miami for the weekend and not looked at all out of place.

Their eyes were fixed on him. Max hung up. “Nothing I can do,” he said.

A tall, white-haired man suggested they hire some cars.

“They would not let us through,” said Hawk. “The only way in is by air.”

The woman looked at Max. “Who is Ceil?”

“She owns a C—47. And she’s a pilot.”

“What’s a C—47?” asked Hawk.

“It’s a cargo plane. I thought there was a chance she’d be willing to try landing on the escarpment. She’s done it before.”

One of the visitors was confined to a motorized wheelchair. In a synthesized voice he asked, “Can
you
fly the C—47?”

“Me? No.”

“Have you ever flown it?” asked a lean, bearded man in back.

“Yes,” said Max. “But I couldn’t land it on the top of the ridge.”

One of the visitors looked like a retired pro linebacker. He was redheaded, and there was an intensity in his eyes that Max found unsettling. Now those eyes locked on Max. “Why not?” he asked.

“Because there’s still snow up there, for one thing. And it’s dark.”

“Max—your name
is
Max?” said the linebacker.

“Yes.”

“You’re all we’ve got, Max. I’m willing to try it if you are.” The man looked around at the others, who nodded agreement.

“It’s
not
a good idea,” said Max.

“Call the Boomer back,” said the woman. “And let’s get this show on the road.”

A voice on the fringe of the group added, “Tell him to put the skis on. And Max, if you need help with the plane, we’ve got a couple more pilots here.”

Reluctantly Max thanked him. He could see no way out, so he allowed himself to be hurried through the terminal and out onto the street, where they commandeered five taxis. He gave the drivers instructions, promised fifty-dollar tips for quick delivery, and climbed into the last taxi himself, with the woman and the linebacker. They lurched away from the curb. “You know,” said the woman, “you people don’t have this very well organized.”

Max looked for a smile but didn’t see one.

A few minutes later they were on I—29, barreling south.

The wind blew steadily across the ridge. April was crouched with Will Pipe behind one of the mounds. The chain-link fence that circled the excavation would be taken out first, Pipe was saying. Adam admired her—she was making a blood offering and asking nothing in
return. Her presence lent a sense that they were not really alone. He was grateful to her and hoped she would survive the night.

He had formed a line of defense among the mounds, about thirty feet inside the fence, and with his back to the excavation pit. Unfortunately, there would be no retreat. His people could not withdraw into the hole and have any chance of maintaining the fight.

He assumed the marshals would make an effort shortly after midnight to drive them out of their defenses. With luck, the chairman’s rescue party would arrive first. For whatever good they could do.

April was cold. She could not bring herself to believe that there might actually be some killing. She was privileged, perhaps, for her world had never contained gunfire. It was the stuff of the network news and lurid thrillers, but not of reality. Not of
her
reality.

“Look,” said Pipe.

Three of the cars that had been parked off the access road were moving. Their headlights were off, but it didn’t make any difference because the top of the escarpment was flooded with light from the moon. They were keeping a respectful distance. Pipe spoke into his radio.

April felt her stomach tighten. She wanted to be something more than just a bystander. But she could not bring herself to pick up a rifle.

To a degree, she was responsible for the standoff. They had mishandled this, she and Max. They’d been so busy with the discovery itself that they’d lost sight of the political implications. They could have thrown a blanket over everything, kept it quiet. The media and the press had been inclined to laugh, and April should have allowed them to do so until she’d taken time to think out the consequences. But she’d been too busy enjoying the media attention. Calling press conferences. Blab, blab.

Damn.

One of the three cars, a black late-model Chevrolet, had begun to pick up speed. It pulled ahead of the others, came around to the south, swung in a large circle toward them, and nosed up to the security fence. A rear door opened, and the female marshal got out. She was carrying a bullhorn. “Chairman Walker,” she said.

Her voice boomed through the instrument.

Walker showed himself, stepping out into the open. “What do you want?”

April looked at her watch. Midnight.

The bullhorn fell to the marshal’s side. “Chairman, it’s time to leave.”

The wind played with Walker’s white hair. “No,” he said.

“You’re under a court order.” She came forward to the fence until she could have touched it. “Don’t do this.”

“You leave me no choice.”

Pipe’s hand found April’s shoulder. “Keep down when the shooting starts. Better, get into the ditch and stay close to the wall. After a while they may hold up and offer a chance to surrender. If they do, show them this and give yourself up. But you will need to do it quickly.”

He passed over a large linen handkerchief.

A white flag.

“They’re still dug in around the perimeter.” The radio operator pressed his earphone close and looked at his commander. “Horace, we are locked and loaded.”

Gibson nodded. “Okay,” he said. “What’s the Rock Team status?”

“They are in place and ready to go.”

The plan was simple enough. The weakness of the defenders’ position was the fact that they were strung out with a ditch at their backs. If he could drive them
into
the ditch, it was over.

Bolt Two would bomb the chain-link fence that screened the mounds. When the fence was down, they would fire concussion grenades into the Indians’ positions and follow up with heavy automatic-weapons fire. One and Three would go in with the ground force while the Rock Team (which was settled in a sheltered area twenty feet below the edge of the cliff) came over the top. With luck, the battle would be over within seconds.

There was a delay while Boomer, Max, and two of the visitors (who introduced themselves as Wally and Scott) finished putting the skis on the C—47. They were on a seldom-used strip behind the National Guard armory. When the aircraft was ready, the passengers hurried out of Sundown’s offices and boarded. The cargo hold had benches, but it wasn’t very comfortable.

Max, with a heavy heart, watched them disappear inside, one by one. Hawk walked over and stood beside him. “Thank you,” he said. “I know you don’t want to do this.”

“I don’t guess anybody does,” said Max.

He informed the tower he was headed for Fort Moxie. They gave him clearance as he finished his preflight check.

Scott sat down in the copilot’s seat. “Mind?”

“No,” said Max. “You fly one of these?”

“I’m just here to watch a pro, Max,” he said casually.

Max wondered whether the shooting wouldn’t all be over by the time they arrived. He gunned the engines, and the old cargo plane began to move.

As he lifted into the air he was trying to visualize the summit at Johnson’s Ridge. He’d probably have to come in from the southwest. The landing space would be short, and the longest run would take him toward the cliff edge. He could angle more toward the north, where he would be pointed at the trees instead of over
the side. But that would cut his available space by about sixty yards.

He wished Ceil were here.

The mood in the cargo hold was subdued.

“Maybe that’s them,” April said, pointing at a lone helicopter.

“I don’t think so.” Pipe peered through his binoculars. “That thing’s got too many guns sticking out of it.” He looked at April. “Keep down,” he said.

Fear whispered through her.

The helicopter kept its distance, tracking back and forth at a range of about three hundred yards. Adam came in behind them and knelt beside the rocket launcher. “All right, Will. You sure you know how to use it?”

“Yes,” he said softly. “But I still think we should take the chopper out.”

“No. Stay with the plan.”

Pipe grunted disapproval, loaded the weapon, and put it on his shoulder.

“All we’re doing,” he complained, “is alerting them that we have the launcher.”

“That’s correct, Will. That’s exactly right.” Adam’s hand squeezed April’s shoulder. “We’ll be okay,” he said.

“Ready,” said Pipe.

The chopper, apparently on cue, veered and raced toward the defenses. April saw flashes of light beneath its pods, and Adam pushed her to the ground.

“Fire,” Adam said.

The launcher kicked, and the rocket rode a tail of fire out past the incoming aircraft. Simultaneously a series of explosions ripped the ground in front of her. Metal fragments thunked into the earth, and black smoke blew over them. The helicopter roared overhead, and the distant tattoo of rifle fire began.

A long section of the fence was gone as surely as if it had never existed, replaced by a series of burning craters.

“Everybody all right?” asked Adam.

One by one they answered up.

“Okay,” he said. “Now they know for sure that we have the launcher. Let’s see if they keep their distance.”

“This is an NBC news report.”

The sitcom
Angie
just dropped off the screen, and Tom Brokaw appeared standing in front of a display showing the location of Johnson’s Ridge. “Firing has been reported in the vicinity of the Roundhouse. We believe that U.S. marshals have begun an effort to seize the structure by force from a group of Sioux who have refused to comply with a court order to abandon the site. Details are sketchy at this hour because of a general news blackout. A press conference is scheduled twenty minutes from now. Meantime, here’s what we know….”

“Son of a bitch.” Gibson in one of the choppers hit the switch on the phone. “Rock Team, hold off till you hear from me.”

Charlie Evans and his two cliffhangers were waiting on a narrow shelf twenty feet below the summit. “Roger,” said Charlie.

“It’ll be a few minutes.” He switched frequencies. “Bolt Three.”

“Bolt Three here.”

“Follow us down.”

Gibson was not going to allow the bastards to blast one of his Blackhawks. He descended in a wooded area on the south and gathered his assault force. He had nine people at his disposal, plus the Rock Team. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “We are going to have to do it the hard way.”

“They’re coming,” said Little Ghost. “Pass the word.”

Shadows had come out of the woods and were gliding toward them. “Everybody sit tight,” said Adam.

The marshals drew closer, moving in a broken line. They were in black and were hard to pick up against the woods, even in the moonlight. Adam waited until they were within about 150 yards. Then he tapped Little Ghost on the shoulder. “
Now
, John,” he said. “Keep it high.”

Little Ghost fired a half-dozen rounds at the stars. The shadows stopped, waited, and came on again.

“Adam,” said Little Ghost, “it’s not going to work. If we’re going to stop them, we better do it.”

Max saw the flashes from about ten miles out. “We’re too late,” he told Scott.

The radio came alive: “C—47, you are in a restricted air zone.”

“Uh, that’s a roger,” said Max. “I’m lost.”

“Suggest you go to two-seven-zero.”

“Stay on course,” said Scott.

Max frowned. “That’s a war up there. We’re too late to stop it.”

“Maybe not.”

Okay, Max thought. In for a nickel…

The radar picked up a blip in the north. “Coming for us,” said Scott.

Max nodded and tried to look as if he did this kind of thing every day. He snapped on the intercom. “Okay, folks,” he told the cargo hold, “we’re going to be on the ground in a couple of minutes. Buckle in.”

Ahead, the chain of ridges and promontories rose out of the plain. He picked out Johnson’s and adjusted course slightly to the south. Visibility was good, and the wind was directly out of the northeast at about forty knots. “Not the best weather,” he said.

His copilot nodded. “You’ll do fine.”