At first, Myrine tried to silence the bickering, but for every altercation she successfully halted, two more sprung up in its place. Appearing to give up, for the moment at least, she joined Carter in the back of the room. “Got any advice on how to get these guys on track?”
With a sympathetic smile, Carter simply shook his head. “There’s over a thousand years of anger between these tribes. This is probably the first time they’ve all been in a room together. You’re not going to be able to settle them down until they get a few things off their chests. All we can do is wait and hopefully stop them from killing each other.”
Myrine gave a tired smile. “How very Zen of you. Any word from Han and Jackie?”
“Not yet.”
The two members of the Omega Group had opted to miss this morning’s meeting in order to keep an eye on Ranger Christner. The poor woman allowed curiosity to get the best of her the night before and ended up seeing way more than she’d bargained for. Han was able to calm her down enough to convince her that they weren’t dangerous, but they couldn’t risk leaving her alone. She’d been a less-than-enthusiastic guest in Jackie’s hotel room ever since.
“What are we going to do about her?” Carter asked.
Myrine raised her eyebrows. “Honestly? I’m not sure yet. Han’s made his position pretty clear. He doesn’t want her memories erased.”
One of their new recruits, Jason, had the ability to enter someone’s mind and selectively eliminate memories. Even though he had yet to complete his training with Orano and Beck, his talents had already been utilized by the team in Savannah. As far as Carter knew, it had been a complete success. So, why is Han against it?
A familiar angry voice rose above the din in the room, drawing Carter’s attention. Bill, his one-time friend, was in the midst of a shouting match with the Yavapai healer.
“You’re obviously the maestro, Dyami. Everyone here knows what you did.” Bill turned his attention to Carter’s father, the Havasupai chief. “The Yavapai want a war and I say we give it to them. We can rid ourselves of these vermin once and for all.”
Bidzil stood, placing a hand on Bill’s shoulder. “Although Dyami is guilty of many things, he is not the maestro. My vision clearly depicted him as the canary. The hooded man is someone else.”
Bill swiped the hand from his shoulder and glared at Bidzil. “That’s your interpretation, not mine.”
“I assume you’re drawing from your vast experience with visions, William.” The anger in Bidzil’s eyes belied his calm exterior. Bill turned away and, thankfully, kept his mouth shut.
Taking advantage of the momentary quiet caused by Bill’s outburst, Bidzil addressed the crowd. He looked at his chief. “Chief Mockta,” he said, then turned toward the Yavapai. “Chief Istaqa, today we have an unprecedented opportunity to put the past behind us and move forward. The grievances of our ancestors have no place in the here and now. My vision was clear.” He threw a glance at Bill, who just scowled. “We have a common enemy, and we must unite if we are to defeat him.”
At first, Bidzil received only silence in response. Then someone in the back of the room began to clap. A few more people tentatively joined in, then, within moments, the entire room was filled with the sound of applause.
Nicely done, Yoda. Carter cringed at his unintended use of Han’s nickname for their healer. Then again, if the shoe fits…
At Bidzil’s request, and the two chiefs’ endorsements, Myrine took over. She laid out for both tribes all of the unexplained events of the last few months. “We came here to put an end to whatever is causing these things, but we’re no closer to achieving that end than we were when we started.”
Dyami spoke up. “I can clear up one of those events for you. The glowing aura above Kaibob Forest was Tochapa’s doing. It was part of the ceremony to give our men the ability to shift. I followed the instructions from my vision and made the potion under the new moon. When I was finished, Tochapa infused it with his power. The light was quite bright and would have easily been seen from a distance.”
“Well,” Myrine said, “that explains it, then. Can you tell us more about your vision? There might be a clue in there somewhere that can help us figure out who we’re looking for.”
Dyami squirmed in his seat, clearly uncomfortable talking about the very thing that got him into trouble the evening before. “I’m afraid I don’t remember as much as you might think. I was so focused on gaining the ability to shift that I ignored most everything else Tochapa showed me. I am truly sorry for causing such problems.”
Carter heard Gina’s angry snort from the back of the room, and he wasn’t the only one. Dyami raised his head and gave her an apologetic look, as though he was pleading for her forgiveness. What is that all about?
Before anyone else in the room had a chance to show their displeasure, Myrine continued. “Anything you can remember would be helpful, Dyami.”
The Yavapai healer took a moment before releasing Gina from his gaze, then answered. “In my vision I saw my tribe. We were surrounded by men from other tribes, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, with their backs turned to us. Each time we tried to break through their line, one of our men was cut down by a wolf.
“A robed man, with his face shrouded, stood off in the distance. The wolves sat at his feet until he gestured for them to attack us. That is when Tochapa showed me how to attain our shifting power.”
“So, I guess it’s safe to say that the robed man from your vision is the same as the one from Bidzil’s,” Myrine said. Most of the people in the room nodded their agreement. “And it sounds like he was controlling at least some of the wolves. Did anything stand out to you? Anything that might help us identify him? Bidzil mentioned that he got a feeling from his vision.”
Dyami seemed, once again, to wilt. “I don’t remember anything that could identify the man, but I did get a feeling.” He paused, as though not wanting to continue. “It felt like we were to help those wolves.”
“Are you kidding?” Bill stood and roared at the man. “Tochapa sent you to help us, and instead you attacked us?”
Bidzil again laid his hand on Bill’s shoulder. “You need to sit down, William.”
“No! I will not sit down. This man is a fraud and my wife was almost killed in their attack.”
“I think it is time for you to leave, William. Your attitude will only hinder us,” Bidzil said in a calm voice.
Bill looked to Carter’s father for support. Instead, the chief simply said, “He’s right, Bill. Until you can keep yourself under control, I think it best if you leave.”
In a huff, Bill tore off the ceremonial garb he’d worn over his clothing and stormed out of the room.
“Thank you, Chief Mockta,” Dyami said. “Although I have earned his anger”—he looked again at Gina—“and that of others, also.”
Carter watched as Gina’s eyes welled up. He could see her straining to keep the tears at bay, but when they began streaming down her cheeks, she quietly slipped out the back door.
What the hell is going on? On the one hand, Carter wanted to follow her, maybe offer some comfort. On the other, he had no desire to get involved with her in any way. She’d made her choice a long time ago and cut him out of her life in the most brutal way she could.
Despite his inner conflict, Carter found himself walking out the door behind her, before his better judgment had the chance to stop him. I’m nothing if not a glutton for punishment.
The lobby was full of bustling tourists getting ready to brave the trails of the canyon, despite the summer heat. Gina was nowhere to be seen. There were any number of different places she could have gone—the lady’s room, the restaurant, the bar—and Carter had no way of knowing which. As he spun around to return to the conference room, a bright white flower caught his eye.
Gina was walking out the main doors, her signature white flower catching the sunlight. Carter wasn’t really ready to have a heart-to-heart with the woman that had broken his, but the sight of he
r crying was too much for him to take. Why am I such a wuss?
When he stepped outside, he saw her leaning against a decorative boulder to the right of the entrance. Her shoulders were hunched and her hands covered her face. Carter slowly approached, unsure of what to say. When he came up beside her, she turned toward him. It was everything he could do not to pull her into his arms.
“Please, Carter. Not now. Just leave me alone,” Gina pleaded between sobs.
“Why was Dyami apologizing to you?”
“He was apologizing to everyone.”
“It looked to me like he was speaking directly to you, Gina. What’s going on?”
“I …” She gave him a pained look. “Please, Carter. Just leave me alone.”
Carter stood for a moment, unsure whether to keep pushing or let it go. His common sense won out. With one last look at the woman who had ruined him, he headed back to the doors.
“That hat,” Gina said from behind him.
“What? What hat?”
Gina pointed over his shoulder, eyes wide. “The baseball cap he has on is the same one the guy that was dragging you through the woods yesterday was wearing.”
Carter turned, just in time to see Bill pulling down his baseball cap and getting into a taxi.
Stunned, Carter watched as the cab pulled away.
Chapter 20
The conference room was relatively quiet when Carter and Gina burst through the door. All eyes were immediately on them.
“Is something wrong?” Myrine asked.
“You could say that. Gina just saw the guy that kidnapped me.” Carter looked at his father. “It was Bill.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Chief Mockta slammed his hands on the table in front of him. “Your jealousy knows no bounds, Carter, and as for your friend here”—the venom in his voice when he spoke of Gina was evident—“I would have thought you’d know better than to believe anything she has to say.”
Chief Istaqa stood. “Do not speak that way about a member of my tribe, Chief Mockta.”
The tension in the room grew as, one by one, the conference attendees stood to defend their chiefs. As angry voices filled the air, Carter couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. Once again, he and Gina were tearing their tribes apart.
Not this time.
“Mirissa,” Carter said. “Can you give me a hand with this?”
The smirk on Mirissa’s face told Carter that she’d just been waiting for someone to ask. As she raised her hands in front of her, the conference table shook. She turned her palms outward and thrust them to the sides. Both tribes, Yavapai on the left and Havasupai on the right, were thrown against the wall. Their shock-induced silence was all the cue Carter needed.
“Now that I have your attention, let’s lay out some ground rules. First, you will speak only when spoken to. Second, when you speak it will be with the utmost respect to everyone in the room. Third, and most importantly, you will get rid of all of your preconceived notions about who is good and who is bad. Anyone who doesn’t follow these rules will be given to Mirissa as a plaything. Are we clear?” As heads nodded throughout the room, Carter signaled Mirissa to release them. “Thank you. Now have a seat.”
As the tribal representatives scrambled to follow his order, Carter gestured for Myrine to take her seat at the head of the table.
“This is your show now. We’ll follow your lead,” Myrine said.
Carter smiled and nodded his thanks, then addressed the Havasupai. “When my friends and I were escorted out of the village yesterday, Bill wasn’t there. Do any of you know where he was?”
The men looked to each other and then back at Carter, shaking their heads. Bidzil was the only one with the nerve to speak. “I assumed he was with his wife. Her injuries from the raid weren’t life-threatening, but it seemed an obvious conclusion.”
“Did any of you see him before, say, dinnertime yesterday?”
As the other men at the table shook their heads, Chief Mockta spoke. “Just because we didn’t see him, doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.”
“Agreed,” Carter said. “But it also doesn’t mean he was. Yesterday afternoon, Gina saw a man wearing a baseball cap dragging me through the woods just outside her village. When he realized he wasn’t alone, he took off. Just now, out front of the hotel, she saw a man of the same height and build wearing the same baseball cap. It was Bill.”
The chief’s eyes turned angry. “That’s what you’re basing these wild accusations on? A mild resemblance and a baseball cap? There are many men with similar caps and even more that fit Bill’s general description—including you, Carter.”
Carter couldn’t argue his father’s logic. He and Bill had often been mistaken for each other growing up, and a baseball cap was hardly a fingerprint. Their evidence, if you could call it that, was circumstantial at best. “We still need to question him. If he is the robed man from the visions, we need to find out sooner rather than later.”
“This is ridiculous,” Chief Mockta grumbled. “Bill is a loyal Havasupai Council member. He would not deceive us like that.”
“Forgive me, Chief Mockta,” Bidzil interrupted, “but William has always coveted Carter’s rightful place in our tribe. It stands to reason—”
“Carter has no place in our tribe!” The chief shot up from his chair.
Mirissa stepped forward, but Carter stopped her. “For now, we just need to find Bill. He left in a taxi. Anyone have any idea where he might be heading?”
One of the Yavapai men tentatively raised his hand, a slight flush rising on his cheeks. “I’ve seen him with Rosie a few times. At the Trading Post.”
Carter let out a sigh. “Seriously?”
Myrine stepped forward. “Who’s Rosie?”
“She was a local escort. Judging by how much he’s blushing”—Carter tilted his head toward the Yavapai man—“she still is.”
“Then we’ll start there,” said Myrine.
Chapter 21
Bill Soyala stared at the passing trees as his taxi meandered along Desert View Drive. Getting from one place to another near the canyon was never quick. All of the roads, including the highways, followed what looked on a map like the trail of a drunken hiker. The distance between two points was virtually doubled by the routes people were forced to take.
With each passing mile, Bill’s anger increased. He clenched his fists in his lap as he thought of the smug look on Carter’s face when they’d asked him to leave the meeting. That bastard was ruining everything. After all these years, he still thought he was the better man.
As kids, they’d been so close. At least, that’s what he’d thought at the time. Carter was the chief’s son, a natural athlete, and the most popular boy at school. Bill was a nobody. Neither of his parents had important jobs. They’d sold trinkets to tourists, which put them at the lowest possible place in the hierarchy. Bill had been destined for mediocrity by accident of birth.
In the third grade, when Carter stopped a fifth grader from taking Bill’s lunch, things started to look up. People noticed him for the first time in his life. The great and powerful Carter Mockta had befriended him.
From then on, they’d done everything together. On the playground, Carter always picked Bill for his team. In class, they were partners for every project. Over the years, they grew to be more like brothers than friends. Bill’s dream of one day becoming a somebody had come true.
That illusion, however, was shattered when he went on his first real date. Although Carter had girls falling all over themselves to be with him, Bill was eighteen before he finally got up the nerve to ask someone out. He’d been so excited when Sheila actually said yes.
He took her to Havasu Falls. At first, he thought things were going well. When she continually steered their topics of conversation toward Carter, he realized what her true motivation was. She was using him to get to his best friend. When he confronted her about it, instead of an apology, she gave him the truth. The truth he’d denied for years.
>
Carter only became his friend because he felt sorry for him. He’d stayed Bill’s friend because it made him look charitable. Sheila told him how Carter asked her to agree to the date just so he’d have an evening away from him. When Bill’s eyes welled at the embarrassment, she’d grabbed his hand and said, “We all have our roles.”
And she was right. Except his role would no longer be as Carter’s sidekick. He had bigger plans in mind. He was just as strong and just as smart as Carter, but he was far more cunning. He kept up appearances, playing the dutiful best friend, and waited for his opportunity. Over a year later it came, and it was glorious.
Now he’s back, screwing up everything I’ve worked for.
The memory of his humiliating expulsion from the conference room came crashing back. The Yavapai snickering under their breath. Carter’s look of supreme satisfaction. Even the chief, who’d been like a father to him after his own died three years prior, had turned against him. A knot formed in his gut, twisting until sweat trickled from his brow. He fidgeted in his seat, unable to find a comfortable position, until he noticed the cab driver watching him in his rearview mirror.
“Are you all right, buddy?” the driver asked.
“I will be.”
Tomorrow, Bill would turn everything around, but for now, all he wanted to do was get to Rosie. The last few days had been filled with one disaster after another, and he needed the kind of comfort only she could give.
When the taxi finally pulled into the Cameron Trading Post parking lot, Bill could hardly contain himself. He tore through his wallet, threw cash at the driver, and, fumbling with the door handle, almost fell out of the car.
Rosie would be waiting for him in the restaurant, most likely eating a meal she had no intentions of paying for herself. It was their routine, and had been for almost six years. When he first hooked up with Rosie, shortly after his disastrous date with Sheila, he’d rented one of the Trading Post’s motel rooms. After he became one of her regular clients, she allowed him to start coming to the trailer she kept in the RV Park behind the motel. The money he saved not renting a room was quickly reallocated to meals and drinks.
Rogue (Book 2) (The Omega Group) Page 9
