by Smith, T. L.
She nodded, though remained withdrawn. “I’ll try to remember that. Is there anything else you need?”
I held in the exasperated sigh. “No, thank you.” Casey eased the door shut as she turned away. “Not too sure I’m going to like this idol worship thing. I haven’t even done anything yet.”
“Normally I’d agree with you, but after seeing what was on your camera, and seeing what happened last night, you’ve been crowned their leader, babe.”
He pushed the cart to the side of the bed. “Let’s get some food, then I’ll let you play with my new tattoo.”
Our dinner was real short.
CHAPTER
27
Casey kept his word to Stephanie, making sure we were up in time for the morning meeting. I was a lot stronger and ready to face them, though I wasn’t rushing. I lingered on the side of the bed while Casey started opening closet doors. Inside were clothes, new clothes. Two rods holding his and hers outfits.
“Where’d all that come from, and when?”
“Yesterday, when you were sleeping.” Casey started dressing. “Joey only grabbed us a change of clothes and the stuff from our safe. Your computer, Lutz’, the guns, papers, anything someone might want to get their hands on.”
“Good.” Inspired, I started going through the closet. A cabinet door on the side held the guns, everything I hadn’t taken with us into the mountains. Casey’s guns, hunting and assault weapons he didn’t keep in the armory. We were well armed.
Computers, valuables from the safe, passports. I locked the cabinet again.
I pulled out a crisp new pair of black Levis, a matching tank top and from a drawer removed brand new underwear. I gave Casey a roll of the eyes.
He laughed. “I only told them your sizes. You have to blame their wives for the selections.”
“I’m sure!” He often tried to supplement my ‘military practical’ style with stuff he liked. I waved the push-up bra at him. “Really?”
He grinned. “If your sparkling personality doesn’t charm them, your ta-tas will.” I swatted him with the bra as he pulled on his new black Levis. He bent down and gave me a quick kiss. “Quit complaining and get dressed. I’m starved.”
He always had a thing for being a bit matchy-matchy. His cowboy-tight Levis and snug tank top displayed his chiseled muscles, front and back. I loved his arms and now with the way the Ci’in tattoo laid over the bulging triceps…
I turned away to dress before my imagination got any more lurid. There was power over him in those tattoos and it didn’t take much for me to take advantage of that fact. I dressed quickly. The Levis fit perfect. He liked them a bit tighter, but I needed to be able to move. The shirts were simple, a black tank underneath a white women’s oxford. All new and crisp.
At least they didn’t replace my favorite cowboy boots, worn to the point that my pinkie toes threatened to pop out through the leather. I’d had them since high school and resoled them at least three times. They had a good half-tread still on them, treaded for desert terrain.
I tied off the shirt as someone knocked on the door again, followed by Stephanie’s voice. “Your breakfast is set up in the salon.”
I rushed to the door, but she was already disappearing out of the suite. I let out a sigh, backing into the room again. “Go ahead and get started while I finish up.”
“Appreciate it.” Casey slipped around me. “I’ll save you something.”
“Do that.” I headed to the dressing table and finished brushing my hair. It still smelled of eucalyptus, and was soft from the oil. I was lingering again, then nearly jumped out of my skin when an apparition appeared behind me in the mirror.
I spun around. “Lutz! Really?” I wanted to reach out to try touching him, but knew it would be pointless. “I’m not dreaming or under the influence. So you can just show up anywhere now?”
He grinned. “Yeah, kinda. You didn’t have all your abilities to see me before, so that was my only choice”
“Well, now I do, and if you haven’t noticed, this is the bathroom. My bathroom, in my bedroom. Like, did manners die with you?” I grimaced as I heard myself. “Sorry.”
Lutz shrugged. “No offense taken. And I listened before entering, since I haven’t learned to knock yet.” He silently rapped on the door. “I’m still in Ghost 101. Knocking and chain rattling comes in Haunting 210.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that one.” I rolled my eyes at him and got up from the dressing bench. “So what’s up? You here to deliver some prophetic message?”
“Wow, testy are we? I’d have thought you’d be all mellow today.”
“Ewww, you just said you didn’t peep.”
He laughed. “Partner, I didn’t even try to listen, but that hooting and howling was enough to wake the dead...” He paused, looking down at himself. “Well, maybe not. Still dead.”
“Don’t do that.” I closed my eyes, his image at the bottom of the cliff something I’d never forget. “Joking doesn’t make this easier.”
“Sorry. I didn’t come here to upset you.” I felt a pressure on my arm, a stroking, but I didn’t open my eyes. “I’m not really dead. There is an afterlife, but I need to be a part of this battle, before you release my soul. So don’t torture yourself.”
His touch was comforting and I dared to look at him again, though my throat knotted tight. “I have to explain this to Sabrina.”
Lutz pulled his hand away. “Yeah, that sucks, but she knew she was marrying a soldier and bad shit happens. By now she’ll be wondering why she can’t reach me.” He eased away, clearing the door to let me out of the bathroom. “Maybe before you release me, I’ll pay her a visit, try to ease the impact.”
He followed me across the room. “I promise I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“I know you will.”
I went out into the main room. Lutz still following me.
Casey looked up from pouring coffee and spilled half the pot all over the table. “What the hell?”
I stepped away from Lutz, glancing between them. “You can see him?”
“Shit!” Casey started grabbing napkins from the service tray as coffee started dripping off the table. “Yeah, I can.” He tried sopping up coffee, but couldn’t take his eyes off Lutz. “You’re dead!”
“What?” Lutz started slapping his chest, looking totally horrified. “I am?”
“Knock it off.” I headed to the other side of the table, using more napkins to soak up a run-away trail of coffee, shaking my head at Casey. “It appears death unleashed a twisted, not-so-funny, sense of humor.”
“I am too funny.” Lutz acted offended, then shrugged a shoulder. “Sorry to freak you out, dude. Apparently I’m not the only one who went through a change. Normally YOU shouldn’t be able to see me.”
Casey rubbed his chest, turning away only enough to grab a bar towel. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. Is there a reason you’re… here?”
“Wow, dude! Thought we were friends.” He gave me a wink.
“He’s tied to me until I do a ceremony to release his Spirit. He wants to help, somehow.”
“Well, however I can.” Lutz lingered as I took one of the chairs. “I went out to my body when they came to get it. Yazzie and her people made it look like they picked up two bodies. She fed the coyotes and they disappeared down the gulch. By the time they’d loaded up the bikes, the bad guys had shown up. Yazzie’s people pretended not to see them as they took off.”
“And they didn’t get shot at?”
“Almost. A couple of the guys took aim, but the pack leader said it would draw too much attention if anymore locals disappeared. Plan is to lay low until after the Marines come out to investigate.” Lutz nodded at me. “Actually he seemed a little sad that you were dead. Think he’ll be planning to come to our funerals?”
I rubbed my face with both hands. “Dude, really, the information’s useful, but don’t know how much more I can take of you talking about being dead so nonchalantly, as if it�
��s a joke.”
“Well!” Lutz got up abruptly. “I know where I’m not welcome.”
“No, wait…” Casey looking confused, worried. “… um, ah, geez. What am I supposed to say? Beth didn’t really mean to offend you?” He sounded completely unsure.
Lutz laughed, grinning. “Just messing with ya. I just dropped by to say I’d be around. You just have to think about me and I’ll know you want to chat.”
“Okay…” Casey still didn’t sound sure, but then it wasn’t every day one found themselves talking to a ghost. “So, before you go… If you can just show up wherever, can you go spy on the bad guys for us?”
“No. Sorry.” Lutz shook his head. “Already tried. Can’t go anywhere I haven’t been, unless there’s someone I know there. We tend to haunt people, not places.” He raised a hand and snapped his fingers, disappearing.
“Yeah, cute, dude. The special effect wasn’t necessary.”
CHAPTER
28
Casey squinted at me. “So he’s just going to pop in whenever he feels like it?
“Of course not.” I reached across the table to pull one of the overfilled coffee cups my way. “He eavesdrops first, until he learns how to knock.”
“Okay, that makes me feel sooo much better.” He switched to the other side of the table from the mess. “So he can’t go find out what this…Maxa’xak is up to?
“Nope.” I sipped at the coffee, complimented by the array of flavored creamers room service sent up. “I’m not exactly sure why he can’t be released until I do it. It’s… disturbing. Bad enough I got him killed in the first place, but he might come in handy somewhere.”
“That is disturbing. Fighting an alien monster with a ghost.”
“Well, the Maxa’xak won’t expect it.” I shook my head. “What he can do remains to be seen. Eat. We have a meeting to go to.”
There was plenty to choose from off the breakfast cart. Casey ate with a ravenous gusto, while I nibbled. My mind kept going to the meeting as the minutes got closer.
Casey slurped down the last of the coffee. “I guess it’s time. You’ve switched the soldier back on.” He pushed away from the table. He’d always said I did that when it was time for me to head to base. “May I escort you, Capt. Castle?”
“You mean Delgado now. We’ll have to fix that when this is over.” I got up, taking one more bit from a biscuit. “Let’s go see what the plan is.”
The officer in me wanted to pat my hip for my Sig, but it was safely locked in the cabinet. Casey pressed his hand into the small of my back, urging me to go. He didn’t let up pushing me down the corridor and into the elevator, then down to PH3. A short ride, but my stomach knotted up. Casey must have felt my tension, his hand spreading out over my back. “You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah.” I tightened my shoulders. I was about to face a bunch of soldiers, but not the ones I was accustomed to. These were the Ci’in and the Kwia. A wave of memories flowed through me. These were warriors and I was their leader.
The elevator doors opened and I stepped out without Casey pushing or dragging me. There were more of my kind here. I could feel their energy and let it draw me across the penthouse lobby to a set of ornate doors. They opened before I reached them, Daniel and Frankie, bowed their heads to me. I stepped into the large board room.
It was a packed room. The energy of all the Ci’inkwia washed over me. I didn’t ask, just walked to the empty space at the head of the table. Joey waved Casey over to join him in the chairs circling the room. I stood there, staring into the faces of my kind as well as local tribal leaders high-ranked enough to be included in this battle. Lucky them.
“Shall we begin?”
They were ready. Yazzie’s tribe provided holographical maps of the mountains where the enemy camp was. Most of the mortal tribal leaders from the region were present, along with the four Elders. Next to my mother was a tribal leader from the Great Lakes Algonquians. Looking at him I could see where we got our mortal genetic material. It was their men and women who made us members of their tribe. If this was the last battle for us, it was fitting they be here.
After pointing out the location of the Maxa’xak, and showing the video, a basic attack plan was laid out. Every battle had the same anchor strategies. Using those guidelines, we divided into action teams.
We needed to get all our people in place at night, while the moon was still so large and bright. We knew the wash routes were going to be watched closely, and something had set off an alarm to let them know we’d reached the ridge over the encampment.
An old Cocopah leaned over the holographic display. “My people have hunted these mountains for centuries. We know paths no one else knows. Paths no one should follow.” He poked his finger into the hologram, where my photos had been merged to show the enemy installation. “My grandfather warned us to stay out of this area. Stories tell of ghosts miners who steal the souls of wanderers. We did not suspect the Maxa’xak. No waters flow there.”
“An understandable conclusion. We heard some of the same stories and explored a number of mines for possible underground water sources.” My father nodded towards my brothers. “We’ve explored Recluse Goatherder’s, Death Valley Scotty’s, Lost Dutchman and a dozen others, but none yielded the quantities of water needed for a Maxa’xak.”
One of the Kwia from California moved around the table to look into the hologram more closely. “Even with another ten thousand years we couldn’t search every nook and cranny on this continent.”
“Being the middle of a desert, we assumed the Tinajas would yield the same results, so we’ve been focusing on other areas. Why is it here, in these particular mountains? Do we have any better geo-surveys?”
Someone pulled up more maps, satellite geo-formation maps used to monitor aquifers in agricultural areas. “The processes have gotten better since they started this, but the mountains are probably too dense for the scans.”
Movement drew my attention away from the table. Casey had left the spot where he’d been quietly listening. He came up behind me. Eyes all shifted to him and he froze. “Sorry, not to interrupt, but I have a question.”
“Of course. You know this area, these mountains.”
Casey shrugged. “Well, maybe it’s a stupid question, but if this thing’s been here for ten thousand years, why is it only on this continent. Why not Mexico, South America, or migrated to China or Russia? There’s a lot of water on this planet.”
“It’s not a stupid question.” I looked around the room to see non-Ci’inkwia raising eyebrows here and there. “It just hasn’t been asked in a long time.”
I waved my hand at the tech handling the electronics. “Take this away and show the Maxa’xak.”
The hologram turned into the ugly snake creature that slithered out of the building. The tech froze it in the upraised position. The image exposed short appendages, looking like clawed paws, intended to hold down prey. It was poised over the humans, giving a good size scale. It had horrified my mortal side, but sickened my Ci’in.
“As you can all see, they are as large as their myths. However, their mobility is limited. So migration outward from their initial landing site was slow.” That got a few half-hearted nods from outsiders. “We also found out that they can only tolerate fresh water sources. Salt water is toxic to them, as in battery acid toxic. That was probably a huge disappointment for them, but a blessing for the planet. If they get within fifty miles of a coastline, just the higher saline in the air starts burning them.”
California confirmed that info with a nod. I could see he wanted to speak, so I relented the floor to him. He stood up. “They landed in the northeast shortly after the Clovis event. They would have left the planet in search of another suitable world, but their ship had reached its limits. The ship had enough energy cells left to prolong their stasis, so they slept as the continent recover. With the Folsom period, tribes arrived to resettle the Great Lakes area. That’s when they came out of stasis, spreading out and
beginning propagation.”
“And it’s about the time we arrived.” My father spoke up. “They had scattered through the river systems by then. We found a few dead along the east coast and down in the gulf. Killed by the salt water.”
“The rest of them evaded us, making the hunt last for thousands of years. We were close to winning...” My mother spoke, her voice so mournful. “…until white people started migrating to this country. The population went up quickly, but whites had no appreciation for anything outside their one God. They created another level of threat. The Maxa’xak gave up their eastern hunting grounds and headed west.”
I saw Casey’s mouth open, but the Algonquin cut him off. “They went west because the north was too cold for them. The west was lightly populated and still innocent in their beliefs.”
“But not for long. Human migration and a quickly changing environment kept pushing them further and further west. We pursued the few that remained, evading the growing conflicts between the tribes and the new invaders. Even as the People were driven onto the reservations.” My mother looked to the Algonquin. “We kept a low profile and our pursuit.”
“It was understood our battles were not yours.” He bowed his head to her.
I remembered those years, the agony we felt as our friends were killed and oppressed. “Those times have finally passed and our war is close to ending.”
Casey nodded as he considered my last words. “So we have to keep it from reaching a third-world environment.”
“Which is probably why it’s here. It has a constant flood of hosts that no one will miss.” I finished his thought.
My father leaned on the table. “And it’s been here amassing the means to move further south. The vehicles, a helicopter, a small army of infected subjects. This location is now no longer safe, but it has to have a new hunting ground located before it attempts to leave.”
“Which means we have to take it out now, in case it’s already located a new hide-out. So we need to get on with the plan.” It was a bit less subtle than normal for me. My Spirit was getting anxious with the history lesson.
