Black Sun Descending (29 page)

“We're even,” said Silas.

The ambulance sped away toward Kanab, Utah, where the nearest hospital was. Silas watched it go. He wondered when he would see Hayduke again.

“SILAS, IT'S ONE
in the morning.”

“Where are you?”

“I'm in Page. I have to get up in a few hours to catch a flight for Salt Lake—”

“I know. All those bones. Listen, there's been a development in the case.” Silas told her what happened. She was fully awake when he finished.

“Did they get away?”

“Yes. And I have no idea where to.”

“I'm going to call Taylor. He can deal with logistics. Hold on the line.”

Silas was driving the Chevy back toward Jacob Lake. He couldn't think of anything else to do. Fredonia was deserted at one in the morning and he didn't even have his sleeping bag.

Katie Rain came back on the line. “Silas, Taylor is getting the Coconino and Mojave County Sheriff's Departments up to speed. Where is Josh now?”

It took Silas a minute to register the question. “He's on his way to Kanab, Utah. There's a hospital there.”

“We'll have someone there later in the morning to take his statement.”

“Can't we just leave him out of it?”

“If we get these guys, and can't make anything else stick, at least we can get them on attempted murder. Where are you?”

“Just outside of Jacob Lake.”

“Where are you going?”

“I don't know. I just thought I'd keep driving until I fell asleep or ran out of gas.” He told her about the Chevy. He looked around it as if seeing it for the first time. It was a mid-sixties model, likely early in the decade. It had a bench seat, a well-polished steering wheel, and a long stick shift.

“Why don't you find a park ranger and report in,” she said. “You have information vital to this investigation. You've got to get with law enforcement, make a statement, and tell us what you know. I can't do this. I'm not a field agent.”

“Katie, I'm tired.”

“I know, Silas. It's almost over. Tomorrow we'll get Paul Love and Chas Hinkley and find out what they know. Taylor is going to drop the net on the Arizona Strip. Within an hour there will be a hundred law enforcement personnel blocking every exit from that region.”

“You and I both know that's impossible. They could have gone north into the Escalante region or bolted for Nevada, or be halfway to Salt Lake City and the airport by now.”

“Silas, we'll get them. It's what the
FBI
does. Drive to the gate at the North Rim. Use the emergency phone there. There'll be patrol officers on all night. They can pick you up. You can give a statement and get some sleep at the bunk house or whatever they have.”

Silas made the turn toward the North Rim at Jacob Lake. “Okay, I'll do it.”

“I'll try to call ahead. Call me when you're safe.”

“You sound like my mother, Katie.”

“Something like that.”

NO ONE WAS THERE. SILAS
had reached the gate at the North Rim at two in the morning. The single building was little more than a hut, where rangers collected entrance fees. Instead of continuing to drive he got out and used the emergency phone.

“Grand Canyon Dispatch. Do you have an emergency?”

“My name is Silas Pearson. I'm at the North Rim gate.”

“The
FBI
has notified North Rim Law Enforcement. They should be there soon. They are on another call.”

Silas hung up and sat in the Chevy and waited. He hadn't been asleep long when he was startled awake by a tap on his window. There were red lights flashing on a white
GMC
vehicle emblazoned with the insignia of the National Park Service. A woman was standing next to the Chevy with a flashlight pointed at him. He shielded his eyes and rolled down the window.

“Are you Pearson?”

“That's right. Do you mind?”

The ranger lowered the flashlight. Silas could see her hand was rested on the handle of her Heckler and Koch P7 service weapon. “Step out of the vehicle, please.”

Silas, weary to the point of being dizzy, opened the door and stepped out. “
I
called
you
,” he protested.

“I'm going to search you now.”

“You're going to get pretty dirty.”

She smiled for the first time. “I work for the Park Service, sir. We're accustomed to that.”

She did a perfunctory search and invited Silas into her patrol vehicle. “We're going to the administrative office. You'll be met there by the district ranger. He'll interview you and pass on your report to Coconino County sheriff's deputies.”

“Are you part of the search for the fugitives?”

“We're on alert, yes. There's only a half a dozen of us on the North Rim. Budget cuts. We're waking people up.” Silas watched her. She was in her late twenties, with long dark hair tied in a ponytail. She was heavy across the shoulders, chest, and hips, and, decked out in body armor, pistol, extra magazines, radio, Mace, baton, and handcuffs, looked bulky but ready for action. They drove to the park entrance road and Silas watched as their headlights illuminated the eyes of dozens of deer grazing in the meadows that bordered the blacktop.

The radio crackled. “This is NR6,” said the ranger. “Go ahead.”

“This is NR4, what's your twenty?”

“I'm five minutes from Admin. I've got Dr. Pearson with me.”

“Alright. I'm at the intersection of Cape Royal and Point Imperial. I've got a call out here.”

“What have you got, NR4?”

“Someone reported an abandoned vehicle off in the woods. I'm going to check it out.”

“Alright. NR6 out.”

Silas sat up with a jolt. “What was that?”

“Abandoned vehicle.”

“What make?”

“He didn't say.”

“Jesus Christ, didn't I just ask if you were in on the manhunt? They stole my Outback. They took my friend's Jeep. So they had three vehicles. I think the third was one of those Toyota Cruisers. They must have abandoned one.”

The ranger picked up the radio. “NR4, NR6.”

Static.

“NR4, NR6, do you copy?”

Static.

“Dispatch,” the ranger said into the radio as she stomped on the gas and flipped on her lights, “this is NR6. Officer needs assistance, intersection of Point Imperial and Cape Royal.”

Silas wondered if this day would ever end.

THEY REACHED THE JUNCTION OF
the two roads ten minutes later after a harrowing race through the aspen and pine forest. The lights from the patrol vehicle reflected off the trees, creating a psychedelic blur enhanced by Silas's fatigue. “You stay here,” the ranger ordered when she pulled up to where an
SUV
with the Park Service insignia and light bar was stopped next to the road. She had her sidearm in her hand before she was out of the door. Silas watched as she pulled her flashlight from her belt and cradled her gun hand over the light. He saw the flashlight bob across the road and into the woods adjacent to the
SUV
, its lights still orbiting.

To hell with this
, Silas thought. He opened the passenger side door and stepped into the darkness. His headlamp was still in his pocket and he slipped it on his head but didn't turn it on.

In a moment he was next to the second patrol vehicle. He could hear the ranger in the woods next to the road. She was talking in a frantic voice. “Officer down, officer down. I need an ambulance!”

Silas rushed into the woods. He could see, in a narrow clearing lit by the moon, his Subaru Outback parked among the aspens, its hood sprung, its front bumper wrapped around a stout tree. As he approached, the female ranger turned, her service weapon in her hands and pointed at him.

“It's Pearson!”

She lowered her weapon. Next to her on the ground was another ranger. Silas turned on his headlamp and came close. The ranger was dead. Blood was pooled around his head and body in the leaf litter. His eyes seemed to be staring into the canopy of stark aspen trees above.

“They shot him in the head,” she said. There was a crackle over the radio and the ranger instinctively turned down the squelch.

“NR6, what's your twenty?”

“I'm at the intersection of the Cape Royal and Point Imperial roads, twenty yards into the woods. Jon's dead.”

There was a long silence, then: “What's your situation?”

“I believe the reported fugitives are nearby. Possibly in a Jeep or a Toyota Cruiser.”

“Secure the scene and sit tight. Do not engage or pursue. Help is on the way. Dispatch out.”

“NR6 out.”

“Can we do anything?” Silas asked.

She looked at him and then scanned the woods. “Find these bastards.”

“WHAT'S YOUR NAME?” SILAS STOOD
next to the ranger, behind her patrol vehicle. They were facing the dark road toward Cape Royal. They had found a blanket in the back of her
SUV
and carefully laid it over the body of her colleague, and now they had positioned her vehicle in the middle of the road.

“Amanda Gwyther.” She was aiming a shotgun over the hood of the
SUV
and watching the roads that led to Point Imperial and Cape Royal.

“You knew this ranger well?”

“Yeah.”

“Point Imperial and Cape Royal are dead ends, aren't they?”

“Yeah.”

“So we'll get them, right?”

“Yes, we will.”

IN ANOTHER TEN
minutes there were two additional park rangers on scene, as well as the district ranger.

“Alright, who's going to take Mr. Pearson here back to
HQ
?” asked the district ranger.

Nobody said a thing. Finally Silas said, “I know what these people look like. Let me come along. I'll stay in the car, but I can help you find these guys.”

The district ranger nodded. “You stay with Ranger Gwyther. We're not waiting on Coconino County Sheriff's Department. It's going to be another,” he looked at this watch, “hour before anybody from Page gets here. We need to box these guys in now.”

THE DISTRICT RANGER
and a colleague drove to Point Imperial while Gwyther, Silas, and a third man drove to Cape Royal. They proceeded slowly, scanning the woods and pull-outs for any sign of Hayduke's Jeep or the Toyota Cruiser. By three they were at the parking lot for Cape Royal. The Land Cruiser was there. Gwyther radioed the district ranger and reported in.

“We're at Point Imperial. We've got the Jeep,” he said.

“What if they've split up?” asked Gwyther.

“There's nowhere for them to go,” said the district ranger. “Keep the vehicle under surveillance but do not approach. Wait for Coconino and the feds. Sheriff's deputies are at the park gate, about twenty minutes out. The
FBI
is also on the way.”

“What is
that
?” asked Silas, pointing to someone running across the parking lot in what looked like pyjamas.