by Rita Karnopp
“How about that pilot Nah’ah hired to bring supplies in two weeks? Do you know who he is?”
“I haven’t a clue. If only we could ask her. Do you think those core samples were in that computer case Joshua had on my coffee table? This is too far-fetched. There’s no way Joshua and Jordan are involved in this oil-land scheme.”
“It’s a land scheme that could be worth billions. These people are cunning and willing to allow deals like this to develop over years.”
“Our people would never permit anyone to drill for oil on our land.”
“You’ve been gone a long time, Summer. I’m sure Nah’ah didn’t want to bother telling you.”
“Not bother telling me what?”
“Our tribal leaders have already allowed companies to tap into the oil locked away in the tight shale thousands of feet underground. It’s ignited heated debates over the promises and perils of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Many feel it’s wrong to disturb the land where the animals roam. Our elders still believe the land is something living and sacred. Our young, however, feel the oil is there to help the people. To create jobs and bring money so needed to survive.”
“I had no idea that was happening.”
“One drilling rig has created forty-nine jobs for tribal members. It’s a lifeline for our unemployed.”
“I don’t understand this fracking thing?”
“Fracking is pumping a slurry of water, sand and chemicals to crack open underground rock beds to pry out the oil. You have to understand oil companies have leased out the drilling rights for over a million of our one-point five million acres of reservation land held by our tribe. Royalties can transform our reservation scarred by poverty and alcoholism. I know they’ve already collected around thirty million from oil companies. They’ve used the money to pay off debts from building the Glacier Peaks Casino and to build a tribe-owned grocery to compete with a national grocery right in Browning. That’s created jobs for our people, too.”
“I would never have guessed. Nah’ah hadn’t said a word.”
“That’s because lately you haven’t been in a listening mood. She and many other Blackfeet women have been trying to persuade the tribal leaders to stop the drilling because it threatens everything that is Blackfeet.”
“If we’ve already been fracking as you call it, then what’s so different about this Landscape Mining Company?”
“The other oil companies have leased the mining rights on the land. The Tribe receives royalties on all income pulled from the ground. The Landscape Mining Company has fraudulently purchased the land from the Tribe. Our people will receive nothing from the oil.”
“It’s similar to the napi’kwan treaty, then. Even in these modern times, they’ve found a way to cheat the Indian out of the land of his ancestors. I can see why Nah’ah became so angry. Why do they care what she says?”
“I’m guessing the tribal leaders don’t understand the true meaning of the sale, but Nah’ah does. If that’s true and it can be proved in a court of law, then the land will return to the Blackfeet. If Nah’ah is silenced, and enough times elapses before the others realize what happened, the land will belong to the Landscape Mining Company. Done deal, as Worthington said.”
“Where would they have taken her? We have to find her, Running Crane. We can’t let them get away with hurting Nah’ah.”
“Spread that towel on the grass and lie down and try to get some sleep. I’ll keep watch for a while longer before joining you.” He let go of her hand and watched as she settled down. He hoped she’d sleep. No doubt she was as exhausted as he.
Running Crane looked through his backpack, taking note they had two days-worth of power bars and water. They had matches, a pup tent, one blanket, and a towel. For protection they had two knives and a bow with six arrows. It could be worse. He nestled the bag against Summer’s back.
He added more sticks to the fire, then moved to the shadows of the large cottonwood. After listening to silence for several minutes, he slid the bow over his shoulder and pulled himself up into the crotch of the tree. Settling himself in he surveyed the area before allowing his lids to close. A subtle snap jerked his senses to alert.
Chapter Six
Summer woke, startled. She noticed the fire had burned down to low embers. Early morning light allowed her to see beyond the shadows of night. She glanced around, looking for Running Crane. Fear filled her as she realized she was alone. Had he left her or had something happened to him?
Easing herself up, she slowly grasped the towel, then noticed Running Crane’s backpack. Had he left it for her? A meadowlark’s thrill broke the silence. She grabbed the bag and eased to the protection of the nearest cottonwood.
“Look up,” Running Crane whispered.
She glanced through the leaves and spotted him. “Something woke me…he’s out there,” she whispered up to him.
“I’m coming down. Don’t move.”
Summer took the bow he lowered. It surprised her how heavy it was. Within seconds he dropped down beside her. “I hope my absence didn’t alarm you,” he whispered. “I needed an advantage in case he moved in on you.”
“I was bait? Nice. What do we do now?” Summer handed the pack to him and he slid it onto his back. He took the bow. She wrapped the towel around her shoulders in an attempt to escape the chilly morning air. “Did anyone approach the area during the night?”
“We’ll talk later. Right now we need to put as much quiet distance between us and this camp site as we can. Be careful not to snap any tree branches or leave any trail. It’s not easy, but we need to be careful. Follow me. If you notice anything, tap my back twice and I’ll drop immediately.”
She nodded, then followed him, keeping her attention fixed on moving silently. A meadowlark gave two melodic, but urgent thrills and Summer froze. Running Crane dropped and pulled her down beside him.
“What did you see?” he whispered against her ear.
“The meadowlark warned—”
The snap of a branch echoed across the space as though a tree fell. They remained pressed into the tall grass and behind scraggly, bluish sagebrush. They weren’t in the best position, but at least they weren’t moving. He would have spotted them immediately.
A light crack here and the rustling of leaves there…revealed a man on the move. A spooked deer and fawn ran past them and toward the river. The stalker wasn’t exactly good at moving without revealing his progress.
She spotted him coming over the hill just down from them. He coughed several times into his sleeve. He must have realized they weren’t at their camp; now he tracked them. She tried to see his face…the light permitted only a vague shadow of the man. Was there anything about him that seemed familiar? No, she just couldn’t see him well enough.
“Run all you want!” the man shouted. “Neither one of you will leave here alive. I’m a regular Rambo. Just saying so you know what you’re up against.”
He seemed to be looking up the ravine right at them. She waited to see if Running Crane would respond. His silence answered. Shouldn’t they try to talk to the man and ask him what he wanted? Her breathing increased as she watched him. He jerked his attention downhill toward the river, then ran off in that direction.
“He must have heard that deer and her fawn. We’ll have to be careful not to move too quickly. It’ll be easy to spot motion uphill. If we hurry we’ll get into dense woods before he makes his way back here.” Running Crane stood and offered his hand to her.
Summer grasped it and stood, leaning into him. “I couldn’t see him…it was too dark. I don’t know the voice. He said we wouldn’t leave here alive. He plans on killing us. Why? Why both of us? If he’s after me, why kill you?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is we’re going to get out of here alive…both of us. I was planning on heading for Babb, about four miles south of us, but I think that’s what he’d expect. Instead we’re going to go see an old friend of mine, Montana songwriter, David Walburn.”
“I once heard him perform at the Many Glacier Hotel. I actually like his stuff. Doesn’t he rent out a property called StoneHouse at Duck Lake?”
“That’s exactly where we’re going. It’s about two or so miles southeast of here. From the house you can see panoramic views of Glacier National Park and Chief Mountain. It actually stands at an elevation of nine thousand feet across the Cut Bank Plains. If we go into Babb our whereabouts won’t stay secret for long.”
“Something tells me that man chasing us isn’t as skilled as he wants us to think.” She followed Running Crane up the hill, wondering who wanted to kill her. How dare they kidnap Nah’ah. Nothing made sense, and stress caused her head to pound.
They crested the hill and Summer gasped for air. They were nowhere near the elevation of StoneHouse and already she felt the toll on her body. If only the pounding in her head would stop.
“Let’s take a short rest here. I know we should take it slow, but we don’t have much choice.” Running Crane sat down on a rock and slipped his backpack to the ground.
She dropped next to him. “All we need to do is find someone camping or get to a road and we can walk ourselves out of here. All this wilderness hiking makes no sense to me.”
“The best way to get caught is to be predictable. I’m not willing to involve some innocent couple or camping family in this predicament of ours. We have no idea what that loon is capable of. I know it seems easy in the movies, but in real life it’s not.”
Summer hadn’t thought about that…and it worried her even more. “I can’t stop thinking about Nah’ah. I keep wondering if those two left us a ransom note, and she’s waiting for us to come rescue her.” Summer wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
“It won’t do us any good to speculate. We have to deal with this situation right now and make sure we survive. If we don’t…who will know Nah’ah was taken?” He handed her a water canteen.
She took it and drank the warm water, grateful they had it. “I’ve been so self-absorbed in my studies. I…wish I’d have been more aware. Nah’ah needed me and I wasn’t there for her. I thought I’d get involved in life once I graduated. How could I have been so blind?”
“I think we’ve all been there a time or two…I know I have. Come, we have to keep pushing. We want to get there before dark.”
Summer eased off the rock and waited while Running Crane slipped the backpack on and grabbed the bow. She hoped they’d eat something soon. Neither of them had anything since Nah’ah’s duck eggs.
It seemed like hours since they took a break. Sweat rolled down her back and even her forehead and upper lip were wet. She pushed on, going over and over in her mind things Jordan had done or said. There had to be something she’d missed, some clue, that might reveal who had Nah’ah.
A cool breeze brushed past her…and warned her to stop. A meadowlark released a thrill with urgency. “Stop, they’re warning—”
Cracking sticks and the loud, anguishing moan from Running Crane told her she’d warned him too late. Rushing to the edge of a rocky crevice, he lay. It wasn’t all that deep, but just enough to wedge a row of stick spikes between the bottom rocks. The area had been cleverly camouflaged with thin sticks, then layers of gravel and grass. A single wooden spike stabbed Running Crane’s leg, just above the ankle. Another just grazed the left side of his hip. He’d been lucky.
“How can I help,” she asked, hoping to keep her voice low and level.
“That damn spike is wedged too tight for me to break loose. I think you should forge ahead and bring back help—”
“Like hell I will. There has to be a way I can either break or cut that spike.” She worked her way down to him. “You have any ideas?” She noticed he’d lost some blood, but at least it hadn’t severed an artery.
“Take the knife from my pack, it’s in the small zippered pocket outside on the bottom. It has a seriated edge. Maybe if you’re able to saw through the stick on both sides, leaving the stick in.”
“Why don’t I slide your foot back up over the point?”
“I don’t think we should take the stick out of my leg. Splinters might do more damage than if we leave it in and let the professionals remove it. We could poke an artery, we mess around with it and we’d be asking for trouble.”
Summer found the knife. She positioned herself down, with her back against the slanted rock and inched the knife blade against the spike. She drew it steady, pushing the other side, hoping not to put pressure on the wound. She didn’t bother looking at him. She worked the wood over and over. Half-way through, she made the cut on the other side, slicing through until it finally snapped free. Without hesitating, she sawed through the stick on the other side, leaving several inches of stick protruding on both sides of skin.
She shuddered, inwardly imagining how much pain Running Crane must be in. She looked at him and found he’d clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. “Take some deep breaths until the pain subsides. You sure we shouldn’t pull it out? How will you ever step down with a stick stabbed through your leg?”
“I’ve heard of such things and most times if they’d have left the object in, they’d have survived. That’s what we’re going to do, Summer, we’re going to survive. Help me get out of this pit.”
Summer worked her way out of the rocky pit, looked around, then leaned back toward him. “Hand up your bow and then the pack.” She took each and laid them on the ground. She ran back to where Running Crane leaned against the bottom rock. “It’s really not that hard to get out, since the sides taper up, you can walk right out like I did. Let me help you up.”
“Why don’t you let me handle that? See if you can wiggle any of those other spikes free, maybe I can use them for crutches.” He’d already managed to get up, balancing on one foot.
Impressed, Summer wiggled first one then another tall spike, managing to break two free. “Let’s strap two together, giving you stability and more surface for your armpits. We can use my dress to cut several strips of material for tying the sticks together, then what’s left we’ll use for padding.”
“Let’s work as fast as we can. Sitting here only allows him to get closer. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t hear me howl when I fell.” He hobbled to a rock and sat down, gingerly resting the injured leg in front of him.
She handed over the knife and her eyelet dress. “Start working on these while I get that small first aid kit I spotted in the front pocket of the pack.”
“Really, I didn’t see it.”
Summer pulled the red kit out and quickly opened it. “We have one tube of triple antibiotic, two packets of Tylenol, four sterile gauze pads, tape, and six Band-Aids. That’s certainly better than nothing.” She hurried back to Running Crane. He’d worked wonders with the towel and sticks.
“You sure about not pulling that stick out of your leg? Damn, it just looks wicked sticking out both sides like that.”
“I’m sure. Hurry with your doctoring, we need to get moving.”
“You have to know in advance, nursing isn’t my forte. Don’t hit me if I hurt you.” She dropped to the ground and looked over the damage created by the stick.
“I couldn’t hit you, so do your damage. Don’t fault me if a few cuss words slip out.”
Summer laughed. She squeezed an ample amount of antibiotic on two gauze pads and set them aside. She took the canteen and a strip of blanket. “Now would be a good time to grit your teeth. I’ll pour water to wash any dirt and blood from the skin.”
“Use as little water as possible, we need it for drinking.”
She ignored his comment and flushed both sides of the wound. She wiped excess blood away and once both sides appeared clean, she pressed the antibiotic into the wound edges around the stick on both sides. Covering the skin, she added another gauze pad and crisscross taped them in place.
“That’s the best I can do. I see you have the crutch ready. Be sure to set it solid before relying on it. I’m serious. We can’t afford you
to lose footing and roll down…you get the picture. Be careful. I’m not leaving you behind so safe and steady is how we’re going to have to proceed.”
“You’re starting to sound like my mother. Let’s get moving. We’ve lost way too much time already. Spring up that tree, would you? Scour the landscape and see if you spot anyone trailing us.”
Summer sensed his anxiety. If he’d felt that way before, he’d hidden it well. His injury now allowed it to surface. Using several rocks, she pulled herself up into a cottonwood, grateful for the jeans. She slowed her breathing, and searched the landscape close and far. Releasing a sigh of relief, she grabbed the branch above…and froze. There, several hills down, the distinct movement of a man heading their way.
“He’s about two hours behind us, Running Crane. He knew this trap would set us back. I just don’t know why he didn’t head south to Babb. Didn’t you say that was the logical place to go? He warned us he was a Rambo. I think it’s time to set a few traps of our own.”
“Where did that come from? You don’t seem the hunting type!”
“I’m not, but I’m also not going to let anyone overpower me. I’m tired of being taken advantage of. I don’t know why we’re being chased-down, but I’m ready to fight back.” Summer never felt more determined to take charge of her life.
“I can think of a few—”
“Let’s reset this trap.”
“What? He knows it’s here…not much of a surprise—”
“Why let him know it worked and one of us got hurt?” Summer scurried down the tree and into the indenture to adjust the remaining wood spears toward the left outside perimeter.”
“Toss two of those spears up this way. We’ll take them with us.”
She didn’t question why. She tossed them up, then hurriedly placed a thin layer of brush and sticks across the rough opening, this time pulling the grass over the rocky edge. With great care she wedged rocks in tall stacks. In the dark it would look like the firm edge. She pulled grass up over the ledge on the far right, making the edge look less wide and not the path to take.
