Navajo's Woman (20 page)

Andi. And Joe Ornelas!

How could she have teamed up with that bastard? Didn't she remember what he'd done to their father?

Or-nelas couldn't be trusted. Their father had found that out the hard way. Ornelas had no doubt done a snow job on Andi, which wouldn't have been too difficult. There had been a time when she'd been crazy about the guy. Joe Ornelas might have fooled his sister, but he didn't fool Russ.

At least, with them showing up this way, one major problem was solved. They were heading straight toward the cave. They would find Eddie and get him the medical attention he needed. And with them distracted by finding Eddie and realizing his condition, Russ would have time to escape. He didn't know where he'd go, but he could figure that out later. Right now, he just needed to get away as fast as he could. No way was he going to give himself up to Joe Ornelas. He's just as soon surrender to the police than put his fate in that son of a bitch's hands.

Andi followed Joe, rock-hopping across the stream. Water splattered their feet and ankles, dampening their shoes and jeans. As she breathed in some fresh air, Andi smelled a peculiar, rather tangy odor, and mentioned it to Joe.

"It's the scent of fermenting sycamore and cottonwood leaves," he explained.

"Oh." His knowledge of nature never ceased to amaze her.

They stopped on the far side of the creek, as Joe searched for signs of a trail. Off in the distance a coyote howled, its mournful cry blending strangely with the sound of flowing water.

"There—" Joe pointed "—see the footprints dried in the mud."

"Yes. Yes, I see them."

They picked up the pace as they followed the obvious signs, Andi only steps behind Joe.

"This trail is leading right to that cave." Joe broke into a run.

"Wait," she cried. "If Russ has a gun or a knife—"

Joe didn't slow down. Andi's heartbeat ran wild at the thought that her brother might be armed and wouldn't think twice about defending himself. She ran as fast as she could and caught up with Joe just as he reached the entrance to the cave. She grabbed his arm. He halted, turned and glared at her.

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"Please, let me go in first," she said. "If Russ sees me first, I can talk to him and explain why you're with me and tell him that he can trust you."

“Do you believe he can trust me?'' Joe asked.

"He can, can't he?"

"Yes." Joe stepped aside and allowed her to approach the entrance first. "Call out to him and see what hap-pens."

"Russ? Russ, it's me, Andi. Are you in there? I'm com-ing in to talk to you."

Joe gripped her shoulder. "Be careful." "Russ won't hurt me."

She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked into the dark, cool cave. For a couple of seconds the blackness blinded her, but shortly her vision returned, and she saw a small fire burning a good twenty feet away.

"Russ?"

Silence.

"Russ, it's me, Andi," she repeated.

She heard a soft moan, like that of a hurt child.

"Russ, please answer me."

"Andi. . ."

When she heard the weak voice, her heart lodged in her throat. It didn't sound like Russ's voice, but if he were wounded, sick,hurt. . .?

She made her way toward the fire. There, huddled at the back of the cave was a boy. Eddie Whitehorn!

She rushed to him, knelt beside his shivering form and ran her hand over his perspiring brow. He was burning up with fever.

"Oh, Eddie."She scanned the cave's interior and saw no sign of Russ. Where was her brother? "Eddie, where's Russ?"

"Gone."

"Joe!" Andi screamed. "Come in here. I've found Eddie."

With rifle in hand, Joe made his way into the cave and over to her side within seconds.

"Russ isn't here," she said. "And Eddie's burning up with fever. He must be the one who got shot."

Hovering over his nephew, Joe shook his head. "We've got to get him to a hospital as quick as we can."

He handed Andi the rifle and then lifted Eddie into his arms. Eddie groaned. "Sorry if I hurt you." He glanced over his shoulder at Andi. “Did he say where Russ is?''

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"He just said 'gone.'"

Joe nodded. "Put out that fire, will you?"

"Sure."

Andi broke up the fire and let the remains of the roasted rabbit fall into the ashes. Then she headed out of the cave right behind Joe. Just as they neared the creek, four Tribal Police Trackersappeared, rifles in hand, the barrels pointed at Joe, Andi and Eddie.

"Drop the rifle," Joe told Andi. "And put your hands behind your head. We need to show them that we're not any danger to them."

Trembling, her hands unsteady, Andi dropped the rifle, crossed her hands behind her head and said a silent prayer.

Chapter 12

Uddiewas sent by helicopter to the nearest hospital, which was in Gallup, and Joe and Andi faced an intensive interrogation by the Tribal Police. After more than two hours of answering questions, Andi had grown tired and irritable. Joe could sense her unease, and her increasing belligerence was apparent in her replies.

"I have no idea where my brother is," Andi said. "I've told you over and over again that when we got to the cave, Russ was gone. We never saw him."

"Well, it seems odd that without anyone's help, Russ Lapahie has disappeared again," Captain Kinlicheenie said.

"Believe me,Captain, we want to find Russ as much as the police do." Joe wanted to get the hell out of the police station and check on Eddie's condition. He was almost to the point of telling Captain Kinlicheenie to ei-ther arrest Andi and him, or let them go.

"I don't suppose I need to tell you that if you learn anything about Lapahie's whereabouts, you're to notify us." The captain focused his gaze on Joe.

"No, sir, you don't need to remind us," Joe assured him.

Reluctantly the captain said, "All right then, you're both free to go."

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The minute they stepped out onto the street, Andi glanced up at the high-noon sun. When Joe grasped her arm, she jerked away from him, but he ignored her hos-tility, chalking it up to residual anger toward the local authorities.

"I want to get to Gallup as soon as possible," Joe told her.

"I know you're worried about Eddie," Andi said. "But, at least, he's safe now. Russ is still out there. I can't just give up. I have to try to find him."

"You can't go wandering off by yourself. It's too dan-gerous."

"I'll find someone to help me—maybe one of J.T.'s ranch hands. Or I could see if Aaron Tuvi—"

Joe grabbed her arm again and held fast when she strug-gled. "Get in the damn car. I'll call J.T. to check on Eddie,then I'll go with you to track down Russ." He wasn't about to let her go traipsing off into dangerous territory without him. Anything could happen to her.

Andi stared at him with round eyes and mouth agape. "You'll actually go with me?"

He tugged her toward the SUV, then opened the pas-senger door and lifted her up into the seat. She smiled at him, and that smile alone made his decision to help her worthwhile.

When he got in, slammed the door and inserted the key into the ignition, Andi laid her hand atop his on the steering wheel. "Thank you. This proves to me that you care what happens to Russ."

"Of course, I care. But I want you to know that I'm doing this as much for you as for him."

"Yes, I know."

She squeezed his hand. The moment she released her hold, he started the engine, backed up the Expedition and headed toward Black Rock. Joe realized there was a chance that they might be followed, so he kept a sharp lookout for any surveillance. Five miles out of town, with no sign of a tail, Joe pulled the SUV off the road.

"What's wrong?" Andi asked.

"Nothing," he told her. "I just want to check the Ex-pedition over and make sure Captain Kinlicheenie didn't have one of his men plant a tracking devise on us."

When he finished his inspection and found the vehicle clean, they continued their journey to Black Rock.

At the trading post, Joe bought some provisions, just in case their search lasted overnight,then drove them straight to Tsas-ka Creek. With the area having been trampled by half a dozen police trackers, Joe figured that any signs of Russ's departure would have led the police to him. Or they'd have inadvertently destroyed any trail the boy might have left. It didn't take him long to discover that the latter was true.

This was pretty much a wilderness area, and unsea-soned trackers might go off in a dozen different directions. Being a Navajo policeman didn't necessarily make a man a good tracker, and since Russ had escaped the search party, Joe surmised that either the boy had outsmarted Kinlicheenie's men or all his trackers were novices. Be-sides, with canyons, gullies and caves throughout the re-gion, it wouldn't be difficult for Russ to hide out for days. Since the local authorities didn't have the manpower to mount an extensive search, it was possible for Russ to continue escaping. All he had to do was keep running, stay
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one step ahead of them, until he was sure they'd given up.

Joe was surprised that the Arizona Highway Patrol hadn't gotten involved in the search. But then, the state authorities often allowed the Navajo to handle their own domestic problems. And Joe got the impression that Cap-tain Kinlicheenie was the type who would resent any in-terference from outsiders.

"Where we go from here will be nothing but an edu-cated guess on my part," Joe told her. "There's been so much traffic around here the past few hours that if Russ did leave a trail, it's gone now."

Andi slumped down on a small boulder and wiped the perspiration from her forehead. "I have faith in your ed-ucated guess. As a matter of fact, I have a great deal of faith in you. So you lead the way."

Joe's heart swelled with pride at Andi's statement. He valued her trust as the precious thing it was. He would do nothing to break that trust. If fate was giving him a second chance to prove himself—to prove his loyalty to Andi—then he planned to be worthy of her faith in him.

"My guess is that Russ stayed near the creek," Joe said. "He might even have gotten into the creek, since along here it's only ankle deep. If I wanted to delude my trackers, I'd probably use that method."

"So, what do we do—follow the creek?"

“Yes. Until we find some sort of evidence or any sign that someone walked out of the stream."

Once again Joe led the way. They kept to the creek side for a good three miles, and then Joe halted.

Footprints, just beginning to dry in the sun.Fresh—only hours old, he surmised. Without questioning him, Andi followed as he made his way from the creek, following the trail that someone had been in too big a hurry to disguise. Joe climbed down into a saguaro-filled crevice,then turned to assist Andi. The trail picked up again; the terrain was rocky in places, but eventually evened out, and a narrow wash appeared between boulders. The limestone walls embedded with rose-quartz glistened in the sunlight.

"Where can he be going?" Andi grabbed Joe's arm, stopping his march.

"Need a rest?" he asked, seeing plainly that she did. She was a real trouper, a brave soldier, hiking through the wilderness for hours without one complaint.

"I need just a minute to catch my breath." She bent double and sucked in huge gulps of air, then stood straight again and looked at Joe. "What can Russ be thinking, running off into the middle of nowhere?

Anything could happen to him out here."

As if on cue, an animal cry rang out in the stillness. Andi jumped, then clutched Joe's arm. He placed her be-hind him and moved in a circle, scanning the area for sight of the big cat. The mountain lion, know by some as a cougar or a panther, possessed an unmistakable cry. Once you heard it, you never forgot it.

"What was that?" Andi stood on tiptoe and peered over Joe's shoulder.

"Mountain lion."He pointed the rifle toward the hill to their left. "He's not going to bother us if we don't bother him."

"How can you be so sure?"

"These lions seldom kill humans. Maybe one per de-cade," he assured her. "They prefer calves."

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"That's good to know."

"Are you aware of the fact that we Navajo consider mountain lions messengers from the gods?''

"You're kidding."

"We have been told that these messengers bring heal-ing herbs to humans, and the gall of the lion instills cour-age."

"Well, I supposeit's better that we eat him than for him to eat us."

Andi laughed, and Joe wished that he could ensure her laughter would not soon turn to tears. He had not told her that the signs grew fresher, which meant their prey was close. Unless something went wrong, they would probably catch up to Russ within the next ten minutes. Joe guessed that the boy was tiring, perhaps had even taken time to stop and rest once he believed he was no longer being tracked.

The clouds swirled overhead, dark and foreboding, overlaying the blue sky with a gray wash. The sun blinked from behind the swelling storm clouds and the scent of rain hung heavy in the air.

"If it starts raining, we'll have to seek out some shel-ter," Joe said. "Our best bet will be to find some sort of overhang along those cliffs.Now, no more talking. I don't think we're far behind Russ, and if he hears us approach-ing he'll bolt and run."

"Oh!" She couldn't restrain the startled gasp. "I'll be quiet."

Ten minutes later they found him, resting near the ledge of a sandstone wall comprised of angled slabs.