“Vicky’s grandparents were so sweet, and so good to us. They didn’t deserve to die like that. I can’t imagine what Vicky must have gone through, being all alone there after it happened. If we’d known that was going to happen, we’d have never left.”
“It probably wouldn’t have made a difference,” Eric said, “other than it may have gotten you both killed. You made the right choice to get away from Gareth and his friends.”
“I can’t believe he had the nerve to go back there, after all he stole from the ranch. And now he’s dead. I suppose it was bound to happen. Gareth couldn’t be content to just focus on survival, like the rest of us were doing. He was always looking for something more.”
“Yep, it sure seems that way to me, from what I’ve heard about him,” Eric said.
“I was a fool to ever listen to anything he said in the first place. I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry I caused you all that trouble without even knowing it.”
“You have nothing to apologize for and nothing to regret, Megan. We all make mistakes. The best you can do is learn from them.” Eric knew that Megan had been infatuated with Gareth, and maybe even thought she was in love with him before she found out who he really was. But hearing of his demise now, she didn’t exhibit any emotion to indicate that she still clung to even a shred of those feelings. Relief was all he sensed from her, and understandably so.
Her friend Aaron had been listening to the conversation without comment as he drove, but when Megan said nothing else about Gareth, he questioned Eric’s other actions at the ranch.
“So, you just let Brett and Jeremy go free? Even after they killed that old man you were riding with?”
“I did. But only because I don’t think Jeremy meant to kill him. It was a mistake and Bob did have a gun in his hand. I know they were in with Gareth and with him when he tried to track the two of you down, but you know as well as I do that letting them go with no supplies or weapons wasn’t exactly doing them any favors. They really only had one option if they wanted to survive, and that was to head down out of the high country and try to find their way to one of the refugee camps. I have no idea whether they made it or not, but it’s not my problem and I haven’t given it any more thought.”
“You did the right thing, Dad. They did some stupid things, but it was Gareth that influenced them. He had a way about him that made people want to follow him, but the more that happened, the more he started changing. He went off the deep end pretty quickly, and I’m glad he won’t be hurting anyone else.”
“No, he won’t. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“No, but now I’ve got to worry about Mom! I can hardly believe she came all this way with you! That’s insane!”
“I don’t think it’s insane at all Megan. She is your mom, you know, and you know how tough your mom is. She’s not afraid of anything. She would have eventually made her way out here to find you with or without me.”
“I’m sorry I put you both through all that worry. I should have tried to get home as soon as the semester was over, before things started getting bad. It’s just that no one thought it was going to get this bad.”
“You made the best decision at the time, Megan, given the information you had. You were a lot better off staying put than going back to Florida, considering the impact of that hurricane.”
“So, our house is like totally destroyed, huh?
“Not leveled like some, but yeah, that whole area is uninhabitable now, and will be for the foreseeable future, because nobody’s there to restore services.”
“That’s really sad. I feel so bad for all my friends and the other people I know down there. I hope they made it somewhere safe and somehow survived. I feel bad for Andrew and my stepdad too. I know it must be hard on them, losing everything and having to leave it all behind.”
“They’ll be okay. They’re with your Uncle Keith and your Grandpa, so they’re as safe as they could be anywhere right now.”
“That’s awesome that all of you sailed all the way to Uncle Keith’s from Florida!”
“Daniel wasn’t too happy about the idea at first, but he came around.”
“And he was cool with my mom taking off out here alone with you?”
“I wouldn’t say he was exactly cool with it, but he managed to deal with it. It’s not like he had a choice. Your mom wasn’t having any part of staying behind, and there was no way I was bringing him and Andrew with us.”
“I can see that. They wouldn’t have been able to handle all you’ve been through to get here.”
“Not likely. The way it turned out though, your mom and I didn’t end up traveling together most of the time anyway.”
“And now you’ve left her waiting again,” Megan said. “I can’t imagine that she’s happy with you about that. I can just hear her now, the day she woke up and discovered that you left without telling her.”
“I’m sure she had a few choice names for me, especially after she read my letter, but it couldn’t be helped. I didn’t want anyone slowing me down once I knew where you were headed. They are safe where I left them, and they have everything they need right there in that cabin. The only problem is that now I have to go back there to get them.”
“Not by yourself though, right? You know I’m going with you.”
Eric hadn’t thought that far ahead yet at all. Until that afternoon, his entire focus and mission in life was finding Megan. He’d vowed to turn over every rock in these mountains to find her, if that’s what it took, and he’d fought his way through a world of shit to get here. But now that he’d found her alive and unhurt, he needed to make plans for the next phase. Getting Shauna, Jonathan and Vicky was a top priority, but he wasn’t ready to commit to taking Megan with him just yet, at least not until he had a better understanding of the situation here on the reservation, so he could assess whether or not it was safe to leave her here.
“If you go, I’m going with you,” Aaron said to Megan, before turning to Eric: “My uncle and my other relatives will help us too, Mr. Branson. They will provide horses, supplies, weapons, whatever we need…”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Eric said. Despite his run-in with the militia forces in the mountains and getting thrown in jail by the tribal police here on Jicarilla land, finding Megan hadn’t taken as long as Eric had expected when he left Shauna and the others behind. The three of them were well-supplied at the cabin, with plenty of food, firewood and other necessities, so it wasn’t like he had to leave today to rush back after them. There was still a lot to talk to Megan about, and many questions to ask her about all she’d been through in these months that changed her life from a carefree college student to a refugee of war in her own country. There was no need to burst her bubble now, but Eric doubted he’d be taking her and Aaron with him when he went back to that cabin. As much as he hated the thought of letting her out of his sight again, it didn’t make sense to expose her to more danger than necessary. It was going to be tough and risky enough getting all of them back to Louisiana, and Eric still had no idea how he was going to go about doing that. It was a bridge to be crossed when the time came, but for now he was content to be sitting there with his arm around Megan’s shoulders, knowing she was alive and unhurt.
Eric had never given up on Megan, despite what he’d found since arriving at the campus in Boulder. His girl was a survivor, and she’d proven it, no doubt aided by some of the things he’d taught her long ago during what little time he’d had with her between overseas deployments. She’d also gotten a lot of help from her friends, including Vicky and her deceased grandparents, and the brave young man beside her who’d been willing to bring her here to his homeland despite the risks of the journey. Eric was looking forward to talking more with the young Apache man, who clearly knew his way around in the mountains and deserts of his ancestral homeland. He owed the boy his gratitude for what he’d done for Megan, and he looked forward to meeting more of his people now that he was no longer considered a trespasser,
but rather a guest. Eric didn’t have hard feelings towards the men of the security patrol despite his treatment. He knew all too well how a lack of communication between different branches of an organization could lead to such circumstances. Fortunately, someone from the reservation had finally put two and two together and remembered the young white woman who had recently arrived seeking refuge and claiming to be a friend of Aaron Santos. The charges against him were dropped of course, as soon as Megan identified him when the jailor brought him to the council room. It was only after they arrived at the home of Aaron’s Uncle Ethan and Aunt Ava that Eric learned why the security detail had been so persistent in tracking and apprehending him once he entered Jicarilla land.
“Those people are taking control of as much land as they can, especially the remote areas that are uninhabited or only have a few isolated ranches here and there,” Ethan told Eric. “Our lands are directly along the corridor they are using between Mexico and the north, and so they have been crossing our borders as well. They think they can intimidate people and drive them out, but it will never work with us.”
“Who?” Eric asked. “Who is doing this?”
“The drug cartels from Mexico, and their hired soldiers on both sides of the border. They are more powerful than ever now, and they are using the breakdown of law and order as an opportunity to move north and take over the entire region.”
Eric remembered Keith mentioning rumors of this happening in the west, and he’d heard bits and pieces from others over the course of his journey here as well. If this was true, it would better explain the presence of the ‘militia’ groups he’d encountered in the mountains, but with the economy in shambles and most people in survival mode, Eric had to wonder what kind of market there would be for the illicit products of the cartels.
“It’s not just about money,” Ethan explained. “The biggest cartels have more money than some entire small countries. They are after power and control, because they know that eventually the market will be back. They are looking to expand their bases and eliminate their competition. The border has always been a problem, even though it never did much to stop their business. But now what is going on everywhere is making things so much easier for them. They are counting on the anarchy that’s happening across the country to result in its collapse. And since little has been done to stop them, they are taking what they want and killing anyone who gets in their way.”
Ethan couldn’t give him more details than that, and Eric still had to wonder how much of what the old man was telling him was truth and how much was rumor. He could see that it was plausible, and it made him curious for sure, because he definitely wanted to avoid crossing paths with these cartels when he headed back east with his family.
“You can get a lot more information from Nantan and some of the other fellows in the tribal security force. They have been watching not only our reservation borders, but the passes and other natural routes beyond them, and they have seen some of the activity I’m talking about. They will be glad to talk to you now that they know who you are, and that you are not working for those criminals. Your daughter tells me that you are a soldier yourself, and that you’ve seen plenty of action, probably worse than anything here.”
“I’ve seen a lot, but now that I’ve been back a while, I’m not sure it was any worse,” Eric said. “This is a crazy situation our country is in.”
“And it will probably get more so, from what we’ve heard. Our people don’t want any part of it unless they bring it to us. But we intend to keep our homelands and if anyone tries to take them from us, we will fight. It won’t be the first time the Apache fought for these lands, and we will honor the sacrifices of our ancestors with our own blood if necessary. This land is all we have left now, and here, we will stand our ground.”
Eric nodded. Aaron’s uncle was probably in his sixties, but he was hard and lean from a lifetime of working outdoors, and he reminded Eric of his own father, Bart. Eric had no doubt Ethan would indeed fight to defend his homeland. It wasn’t Eric’s fight, but the information the man had given him was something that he certainly wanted to follow up on. He would meet with those tribal security guys before he finalized his plans to go back north to the cabin. Any intel they could give him on the movements of these cartels would be useful in planning his route so as to avoid them.
“I’m sure Aaron won’t mind driving you back to town tomorrow,” Megan said when Eric told her what he had in mind that evening after dinner, while the two of them took a short walk near the ranch house.
“Aaron seems like a good guy, and a smart one too, I suppose, considering he talked you into coming here.”
“He is a good guy, Dad! I didn’t really get to know him until we all left the campus together to hike to that ranch. I was so wrapped up in Gareth at the time, I just didn’t notice. I was totally being stupid!”
“You weren’t stupid, Megan, probably just infatuated. But you got your butt out of Boulder, and that’s what’s important. It wasn’t looking good there at all by the time I arrived. The campus has been converted into essentially a detention center. You’d be locked up there if you’d stayed and were lucky enough to survive.”
“What’s going to happen to all those people they’re keeping like that, Dad? They can’t hold them indefinitely, can they?”
“I honestly don’t know, Megan. The rules have changed, and whoever is in control can do whatever they want, I suppose. It’s a really bad situation, far worse than the rumors I’d heard, and I’d already heard enough to know that I had to come back here and get you and your mom out. And your grandpa and uncle. It’s too bad your Aunt Lynn didn’t make it, but nothing can be done about that now. The main thing is to get you and your mom back to Louisiana, so we can all get on the boat and leave this mess behind us.”
“That seems pretty extreme to me, Dad. Does it really make sense to leave the whole country? All we need to do is stay away from the main roads and towns, right? I mean, it seems safe enough right here to me. Aaron said so.”
“Aaron just got here too. He probably hasn’t heard everything his Uncle Ethan just told me. They aren’t immune to trouble here just because this is reservation land. The troublemakers aren’t respecting any boundaries, not even national ones. Remote doesn’t necessarily make you safe either. That ranch you and Aaron left was remote too, but now the house is burned to the ground and Vicky’s grandparents are buried there. Your mom and Vicky and my friend, Jonathan could be in danger too, even as remote as that cabin is, so I don’t plan to delay returning there to get them out.”
“What is Vicky going to do? She doesn’t have any place to go with her grandparents dead and her mom living so far away. I can’t just leave her here alone. I mean, I’m sure Aaron and his aunt and uncle wouldn’t mind, but I was hoping we could all stick together. Maybe we should wait here for a little while and see. Besides, how would we get to Louisiana anyway?”
“We’ll figure all that out when the time comes, Megan. Just try not to worry about it right now. The main thing I have to do is go to that cabin and get them. Let’s take this one step at a time. It always works best that way, right?”
“Yeah, you always say that. I’m sorry. I just can’t help thinking ahead too though.”
“You’ve done a great job so far, Megan. I knew you were a survivor, and I knew you wouldn’t just sit around that campus waiting to see what was going to happen. Now we’ve got to work together as a team again to get through what’s next.”
“That’s why I need to go with you. Me and Aaron both want to go. If we’re a team, then we should stick together. It doesn’t make sense for us to just sit here. If something happens and you don’t make it there, we’d never know. Just like Mom and Vicky and Jonathan don’t know that you’ve found me yet. If you hadn’t left them there, we’d all be together now.”
“I did what I thought was best, Megan. I couldn’t afford to wait, and I didn’t know what I’d run into out there. Sometimes you just have to mak
e decisions and go with them.”
“Then let me make mine! My decision is to go back there with you, and with Aaron.”
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, Megan. First, I plan to meet with those tribal security guys that arrested me, and now that we’re on better terms, see what intel I can get from them before I plan my route.”
Nine
“SO, WE MEET AGAIN; the mysterious white man caught sneaking onto Apache lands! I apologize for the rough treatment, but it didn’t look too good, the way you arrived.”
“My bad,” Eric said, after shaking hands with Nantan, the tribal council member who’d also been leading the security team that apprehended him for trespassing that first morning he’d arrived here. “I guess I’ve gotten used to using the back door and not knocking first. It’s been necessary in most of the places I’ve worked lately.”
“So I’ve heard. I understand that you were a special forces operator; a Navy SEAL, no less.”
“In another lifetime, or so it seems now.” Eric said.
“Marine Recon myself. I’ve played in some of the world’s hotspots too. As have several of my brothers here on the reservation.”
“Well, I can see that you’re keeping in good practice and running top-notch security. Thanks for taking me alive for questioning. I guess it could have gone differently, and you would have been within your rights.”
“You seemed a little too interesting to shoot on the spot. It took some balls to come in here alone, and we wanted to hear your story… who you were working for… and why they sent you... Some of the guys wanted to use the old methods of my people to make you sing, considering they caught you sneaking onto our land like an enemy, but I could tell you were a warrior, and I knew you were a worthy adversary, even if you didn’t really have a chance.”
Feral Nation - Convergence (Feral Nation Series Book 6) Page 8
