by Lukens, Mark
Begay looked at the four-wheelers parked near them, and then he looked back at Joe. “I have my truck parked a few miles away from here. I followed your trail, but I had to follow you on foot after the group of rocks.”
Joe nodded like he understood exactly where Begay was talking about.
“I have a large first aid-kit in the back of my truck. There’s anti-venom in there for rattlesnake bites. Agent Palmer will still need medical attention, but the anti-venom will help for now.”
Joe nodded again.
“I want you to take one of your four-wheelers and get the anti-venom for me.”
Joe didn’t move.
Begay lowered his gun and holstered it. “I’m not going to arrest you two,” he told Cole and Stella. “I just want to help Palmer and I want all of this to be over. I just needed to have your guns.”
Cole lowered his hands and nodded like he understood, but he still looked wary.
Joe walked over to his four-wheeler without another word. He started it and then drove off down the street towards the ghost town.
“What about the FBI agent?” Stella asked Begay. “How are we going to get him out of here?”
Begay just sighed … he didn’t have the answer.
CHAPTER 75
“Look what I found,” Joe said as he drove up on the four-wheeler with his horse following him. It had taken him nearly an hour to get to Begay’s truck and back. “We can put the agent on my horse and take him back with us,” he said as he smiled.
After the injections of anti-venom, Cole helped Begay load Palmer’s body up onto the horse, laying him facedown over the back of the horse. Joe got into the saddle, and rode the horse with Palmer’s body right behind him.
Cole drove one of the four-wheelers and he had Stella with him. Begay drove the other four-wheeler with David on the back. They all left the ghost town.
*
Thirty minutes later they were at Begay’s Ford Bronco. Begay and Cole laid Palmer down in the back seat. Palmer was somewhat conscious for a few moments, but he didn’t seem to know what was going on, and then he passed out again.
Begay looked at Stella and Cole. “When Agent Palmer wakes up, I’ll tell him that you two got away. But I have to take David back with me. He has an aunt who’s very worried about him.”
Stella nodded. She knew this was coming. She knew there would come a time when she would have to let David go.
Cole knelt down in front of David and gave him a hug. He wiped at tears in his eyes. “Thank you, David, for fighting that thing. For sending it back. For saving all of us.”
“Thank you for helping me,” David said, holding on to Cole tightly.
Cole stood up and then Stella knelt down in the sand in front of David. She was already crying, but she smiled at him. “You’re a special kid. Don’t you ever forget that.”
David cried harder. “I love you.”
“I know. I love you too, but I have to go now.”
David held on to her, sobbing.
“Okay,” Begay said and even his eyes were wet with tears. “We have to go. I need to get Agent Palmer to a hospital.”
David let Stella go. He climbed up into the passenger seat of Begay’s Ford Bronco.
“Buckle your seatbelt,” Stella told him, wiping away at her tears.
David smiled at her and then Stella shut his door. She watched David slip the seatbelt over him. Stella looked away from David.
Joe walked up to Begay. “Thank you,” he said. “You’re doing the right thing.” And then he said something else in Navajo that Stella and Cole couldn’t understand.
Begay looked down at his necklace and he took it off. “Billy Nez gave it to me before I came out here,” Begay answered Joe in English. “He said it would keep me safe.”
“May I open it?” Joe asked.
Begay handed it to him.
Joe studied the silver and turquoise charm on the necklace for a moment and then he twisted it open. He pulled out a small lock of hair tied in a tight braid, with a thin piece of leather string wrapped around it. He held it up so everyone could see.
“What is it?” Cole asked.
“It’s a lock of David’s hair.”
Cole looked confused. He glanced over at David who waited in Captain Begay’s truck.
“No,” Joe said, smiling. “This lock of hair is from the other David … the one before this David.” He looked at Begay. “This is what kept those snakes and spiders away from you. It’s what kept you safe on your journey to this ghost town. It’s been passed down in Billy Nez’s family for some time now.”
Begay nodded solemnly as Joe handed the necklace and lock of hair back to him.
“I will make sure it gets back to Billy Nez,” Begay said, and then he walked to his truck and got in the driver’s side. He started the truck and drove away.
*
An hour and a half later Stella and Cole sat in Joe Blackhorn’s trailer. They were both exhausted from their ordeal, but energized at the same time. Cole was ready to get on the road soon. He didn’t entirely trust Begay’s word that they wouldn’t come after him and Stella. And even if Begay’s word was true, Cole still didn’t trust the FBI agent. When Agent Palmer woke up, he would come after them for sure. But they probably had at least twenty-four hours before that happened … at least he hoped so.
Joe prepared a big dinner and they drank more tea and coffee. Stella talked with Joe about archaeology and past civilizations and the history of the Navajo. She seemed surprised about some of the things she’d learned from Joe. It was a good dinner. For the first time in such a long time, they felt safe.
*
Later that night Cole and Stella lay on the living room floor, covered up with the blankets even though it was warm inside of Joe’s trailer. Joe had gone to the back to his bedroom, followed by his dog.
It was warm inside the trailer. It was quiet. They were safe. But Cole wouldn’t truly feel safe until he was out of the country.
He asked Stella what her plans were now, and he was surprised when she asked him about Costa Rica.
“What about your job?” he asked her. “Your career?”
Her head lay on the pillow, her blond hair spread out on it, her skin so white in the moonlight filtering in through the open blinds over the windows. She smiled in the darkness, her eyes twinkling. “My career is over. I’ll never get hired by another university after this. If I go back, the cops will arrest me. They will interrogate me until I give you up. They will ask me question after question about what happened and they’ll never believe me. They’ll charge me with something.”
Cole nodded. He agreed with her about that.
She smiled at him. “I don’t see that I have many other options besides running away with you … if you want me with you.”
Cole smiled and nodded at her. “I do.”
“So you feel like having some company?”
“More than you know,” he said and kissed her.
She kissed him back, and then they looked at each other for a moment. She smiled at him.
Moments later exhaustion took over and they both fell asleep in the darkness.
*
Cole and Stella got up early the next morning. Joe had offered one of his pickup trucks to them. He told them they could take it down to a small airport near Page, Arizona and leave it there. He would have someone pick his truck up for him in a few days.
On the way to the airport, Cole planned on calling V.J. and asking him to have a small airplane and pilot waiting for them. He would also have V.J. create a new I.D. for each of them so they could fly out of Phoenix down to Costa Rica. V.J. owed Cole a lot, and this would more than make them even now.
Cole left a pack of money hidden in Joe’s refrigerator, and they left Joe’s home as the sun was just coming up. They got into his pickup truck and started it, then drove down the long and rutted trail away from his place. They passed the pickup truck they had stolen and driven here. Cole maneuvered around
the truck carefully on the hard-packed dirt, and then they drove away, leaving it behind.
Stella stared out the passenger window as they drove. She was happy now. Still tired and sore, but happy. She hoped David would do well. She knew she would never be able to have any contact with him again, at least for a while, but that was okay. She wanted him to have a normal life now, and she didn’t want her presence to ever bring back those terrible memories of his parents’ death and everything else that had happened afterwards.
She’d meant what she’d said about finding a new life down in Costa Rica. She felt the same way Joe did now, that science had let her down in some way. There was still so much out there in the world to see, so many things to discover, so many more mysteries that science didn’t have the answers to.
But she didn’t think she could completely abandon her love of archaeology. She could explore ruins in Central America. She could write papers and publish on websites. She could write books. For the first time in a long time she felt some hope, she felt like the future was wide open for her … and it felt good.
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER 76
Iron Springs—hospital
Captain Begay visited Special Agent Palmer in his hospital room. He was recovering fully from the rattlesnake bites—the anti-venom that Begay had given him had saved his life. The ceiling collapsing down on him was a different story; he had two broken ribs and he had bruises all over his body. But he seemed to be in good spirits despite his injuries.
Begay set a small potted cactus down next to Palmer on the table beside him. Palmer lay in the hospital bed watching him. The TV was on across the room, mounted high up on the wall, but Palmer had the sound turned all the way down. There was a view of the desert out the window.
“Thanks for the plant,” Palmer said.
Begay nodded. He smiled at Palmer. “They tell me that you’ll live.”
Palmer nodded. “Doesn’t feel like it,” he said and grinned.
The two men were silent for a long moment.
“What about Stella and that guy she was with?” Palmer asked.
Begay just stared at him.
Palmer sighed like he already knew the answer. “They got away, didn’t they?”
Begay didn’t confirm nor deny.
Palmer looked away from Begay at the window. He stared out at the desert for a long moment. “I saw some things I never would’ve believed,” he said. “I can’t explain what happened. I … I don’t even know how I could.”
Begay remained silent.
Palmer looked back at the big captain. “But if they got away, then they got away. I’m not going after them. There’s no evidence, nothing to tie them to the crimes. My guess is that they’re heading out of the country.”
Begay just shrugged. “Not my problem anymore.”
Palmer smiled. “Me either. I’m going to retire. My wife, she always begged me to retire before I killed myself with this job. Maybe she’s right. Maybe it’s finally time to quit.”
Begay nodded and stood up from the chair. “I have to go. I hope you get better soon.”
“I will.” He watched Begay walk to the door. “At least the nightmares have stopped.”
Begay stopped at the door and looked back at Palmer, waiting for an explanation.
“I kept having these nightmares,” Palmer said. “I saw that thing we saw in the ghost town … or just a glimpse of it … in my dreams. It was chasing me. And I had the feeling that if it ever caught me …” He let his words hang in the air.
“Well, it didn’t catch you,” Begay said and he left.
*
Begay left the hospital and got in his truck. As he drove, he thought of Palmer’s dream, of the Darkwind chasing him in his dream. And then he thought of his wife’s dream, the one she’d had before he had left with Palmer to go out to Joe Blackhorn’s property. It was like they’d had the same dream. The Darkwind had been coming for all of them … who knew what it would have done if David hadn’t sent it back?
Begay shuddered at the thought.
He drove out to David’s aunt’s house. He had called Awenita earlier to let her know he would be coming by. He just wanted to see how David was doing. She told him David was doing really well considering what had happened, but it would be a long road to full recovery. David was still quiet and withdrawn.
Begay parked alongside the road in front of Awenita’s home and got out. He went inside and talked with Awenita for a moment, and then he talked with David.
David was more talkative now, but he was still a quiet child. He was still scarred by what had happened. Probably always would be. Begay felt a profound sadness inside of him. Why did all of this have to happen to a little boy like David? Why did this kind of responsibility have to fall on the shoulders of such a small child?
Who knew the way the world really worked?
At least it was over. At least David was safe.
At least they were all safe.
*
Half an hour later Begay left David’s new home with his aunt. David surprised the captain by giving him a hug before he left. The boy squeezed him tight for a few seconds before letting him go. Begay smiled at David. He knew then that David was going to be all right someday soon.
Begay walked to his truck parked across the road. On the way to his truck he heard a noise in the desert brush. He stopped and watched as a coyote crept out of the brush. The coyote just stood there, watching Begay for a moment.
Was there a spark of intelligence in that coyote’s eyes? Begay wondered.
Was the Ancient Enemy back?
But then the coyote ran away, bolting back into the brush.
No, Begay told himself as he got into his truck. It was gone. The Ancient Enemy was really gone.
PART 1
THE WOODS
CHAPTER 1
Arizona Badlands—1891
Jed Cartwright knew he and David were being followed as he rode his horse through the badlands. Scrub brush dotted the hills as far as he could see with a jagged rise of mountains lining the western horizon. The trail he followed led to a labyrinth of canyons down in the valley below. Buzzards circled the air above those canyons—there was something dead in there.
He turned around in his saddle to look behind him, the leather creaking in the silence of the desert. He didn’t see anyone, but he could feel them. They were out there somewhere in that vast wasteland, watching and following. They were skinwalkers. That’s what Red Moon had called them.
David, a Navajo boy, rode right next to Jed. He had found David in his home only a few hours ago. The boy’s entire family had been slaughtered, their bodies taken away by the murderers, leaving only blood and gore smeared all over the walls and floors of the home.
The skinwalkers had taken David’s family, the same skinwalkers that had killed Jed’s deputies and the prisoner that he had been transporting back to Smith Junction—Red Moon. And now Jed was sure those same skinwalkers were trailing them through the desert right now.
David had barely said anything except his name. He was traumatized after seeing what had happened to his family. Jed could only imagine the horrors the boy had seen—the same horrors Jed had seen up in those woods when his deputies were taken in the night, their bodies mutilated. It would take David a long time to get over the things he had seen in his own home . . . if he ever got over them at all.
Jed looked at David as he rode his horse. David stared straight ahead, his stare blank, his face expressionless; he was good with his horse, strong and confident in the saddle.
The sun hovered just above the line of mountains, there would only be a few hours of daylight left now. The air was cold, but it wasn’t freezing. They had ridden away from David’s house quickly after Jed found him hiding in his bedroom, but over the last few hours they had slowed their horses down. The horses were tired, and so was Jed. They would need to find a place to make camp soon.
Jed thought back to how this had all started—with
the capture of Red Moon.
*
For eleven years now Jed had been a U.S. Marshal. He’d gone after plenty of bounties over the years, but the notorious outlaw Red Moon had to be one of the biggest bounties he’d ever chased down. Red Moon was as bad as they came; he was wanted for twenty murders, multiple robberies, and horse thievery. And he was going to bring a hefty bounty for Jed and his men: Roscoe and Dobbs.
Roscoe had worked with Jed on bounties half a dozen times, but Stephen Dobbs was a first-timer. Roscoe was much older than Dobbs, even older than Jed. His hair and mustache were completely gray. His clothes were always rumpled except where his shirt was stretched over his pot-belly. But Roscoe was quicker than most people expected, and he wasn’t afraid of much. He was an experienced tracker and a good shot. But most importantly to Jed, he was trustworthy and dependable.
Dobbs was young, only twenty-three years old. He’d come on a recommendation from one of Jed’s friends, and that was good enough for Jed. Dobbs had been nothing but respectful and eager to learn on this trip. He knew his place among Jed and Roscoe, and he’d been excited about being a part of the team that would be nabbing the notorious Red Moon. Dobbs was shorter than Jed and Roscoe, and much thinner, but he was strong for his size. He had a shock of bright red hair and a spattering of freckles across his face.
On a tip from a reliable source, Jed had found out that Red Moon was shacked up with a woman in a farmhouse. Jed, Roscoe, and Dobbs had staked the place out overnight and planned to storm the house as the sun came up.
That night, as they waited, Jed had fallen asleep. He had awoken in the darkness, biting back a scream. His skin had been covered with sweat, his muscles twitchy. He couldn’t remember the dream, but something had frightened him badly. All he could remember was the feeling of suffocating in the dream, like a living darkness had been smothering the breath out of him, holding him down so he couldn’t move.
