Spirit Horses (37 page)

Vince knew the Shoshones would never lease him the
land as long as the horses were on it. He stayed deep in thought all the way
out to the Arapahos’ hunting camp. He didn’t speak a word to Bo during the hour
drive. The only people who knew of his scheme were his partners, his son, Bo,
and the two Arapahos. The crews from
the oil company didn’t know they were on reservation land when they were
conducting the seismic tests. If his strong-handed
business partner, John Rosolli, or his oil company man, Barry
Russell, knew there was any trouble going on with this scheme, they would
surely back out.

Especially, since at this point, they didn’t have
any money invested. Because of this, it was crucial that he keep anyone from
finding out about the dead Arapaho and, of course, keep his sidekick, Jack,
quiet about it. There were millions to be made with this scheme and Vince would
do whatever was necessary to keep Jack’s mouth shut.

Chapter 23

The light of day was quickly fading away into dusk as they arrived at
the place where Bo had dropped off Thomas’s body, Jack, and their two horses.
From the road, it was about a half-mile walk into the woods to their camp. This
was a secluded spot, far away from any ranches or main drags. Vince felt
comfortable this was a safe place to deal with the situation. Bo had done at
least one thing right today when he dropped the Indians off way out here.

As they walked into the open area of the camp, Vince
saw Jack sitting on a chair near the old hunter’s shack. His face was blank as
he stared off into the woods. He was aware the two men had walked into the
camp, but he just kept staring into space. Jack had wrapped his dead friend in
a blanket and laid the stiff, lifeless body next to the shack’s entrance. The
blanket was soaked with blood.

Vince walked over to Jack and pretended to show
remorse for Thomas’s death. “I’m sorry about your friend.” Jack continued to
look straight ahead as if Vince wasn’t there. Vince commanded, “We need to keep
this quiet for now, do you understand? We can’t call the authorities.

“Jack slowly changed his line of vision over to
Vince and nodded his head. “I don’t need any law involved. I’ll take care of
the bastard that’s responsible.”

“Not now!” Vince insisted. “Listen to me, there is a
lot of money at stake here. I’ll pay you well to wait for your revenge. If you
don’t wait until this land deal goes through, I’ll have your neck. Now, do you
want to be a rich man or a dead man?”

Jack looked Vince in the eye and answered, “I can
wait until you have your lease, but I want some money now!”

Vince anticipated this, and had brought along some
cash. He reached in his pocket and handed Jack a bundle of money. “There’s ten
thousand dollars there. That’s just a drop in the bucket to what you’ll get if
you dispose of the body and keep your mouth shut.
Does Thomas have any family or people who will be looking for him?”

“He had no one but me. If anyone asks, I’ll tell
them he went to Utah. There are a few who know we had a job offer there to
guide some elk hunts later this year.”

Vince looked Jack in the eye. “Once this is over and
you’re paid off, that would be a good place for you to go. Do you understand?”

Jack nodded. “I understand. I’ll need to disappear,
but not before I get that son of a bitch, Shane.”

“As long as you wait until I get my lease, I hope
you do kill that piece of shit. Until then, you lay low, all right?” Jack
nodded. “Now, you make sure no one ever finds your partner’s remains.” Then he
and Bo turned to walk toward the truck. They could hear Jack calling out the
Arapaho death chant as they left.

Later that night under a clear sky with a quarter
moon, Jack took his lifelong friend deep into the wilderness and sent him off
in the old traditional Arapaho way.
 
When
this lonely ritual had ended, he buried Thomas in a shallow grave, just as his
tribe had always done with their dead. Then, suddenly, in a fit of rage he
fired his rifle
several times into the dark night sky, vowing angrily under his breath, “You’ll
pay for this, Shane Carson. I’ll make you wish you had never come to the Wind
River!”

Shane, JB, and Hawk arrived back at the ranch around five. They
unloaded their horses and gear, then went their separate ways in a solemn mood.
There was no way anyone could have been through what had happened today and not
be affected.

Tommy was just starting to feed up when Shane walked
into the barn with Tory. The boy’s face lit up when he saw him. “Can you help
me with the horses tomorrow?”

A tired Shane replied, “Tommy, I can help you early,
but I have to leave by eleven to pick up a friend of mine at the airport.”

Shane was looking forward to seeing Megan Tillie. He
also knew that seeing her would trigger bittersweet memories of the times she’d
spent with him and his family. Nevertheless, he was excited about her visit and
her potential for helping to solve the tribe’s problems. But, the way things
were rapidly evolving, he knew they were running out of time.

“How did your hunting trip go this weekend?” Tommy asked.
The boy knew nothing about what was going on in the valley.

Shane smiled, patted him on the back, and answered,
“It went fine, bud.” Then he quickly changed the subject. “How is Sloppy doing?
Did you have a chance to ride her this weekend?”

“Yes, sir, I’m keeping her in good shape for when
you turn her loose. When are you going to let her go?”

“Soon�—�I hope real soon. I’ll be here
at the barn by seven.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll have everyone fed up and ready to
go.” The boy’s
eagerness to work with the horses every day and learn all he could put a grin
on Shane’s face and lightened up his fretful mind.

Shane was walking back to his shack when he noticed
Tara stepping out onto her front porch. As soon as they saw each other, a slow
uncontrollable smile came over each of them.

Tara was standing at the top of the stairs, leaning
against the porch upright with her hands in the pockets of her taut-fitting
jeans. Shane walked up onto the porch, leaned back against the post on the
other side of the threshold, and crossed his arms. For a long moment they stood
there with stupid grins plastered on their faces, not saying a word. Finally,
Tara spoke.

“Did you think of me at all while you were out in
the valley?”

Shane hesitated for a second, shyly looked down, then
looking back up at her said, “Only when I wasn’t getting shot at.”

Tara grinned and shook her head. “I guess no one has
ever
accused Shane Carson of being much of a romantic, have they?”

“I guess not.”

“I’ve got a thick cover of trail dust to clean off
me,” Shane said. “I’ll pick you up in about an hour, and we’ll go eat.”

Tara moved over to kiss him on the cheek, and then
whispered, “I missed you,” before she turned and went inside. Even though she
didn’t give him any time to respond, he knew he should have said something.
Instead, he just stood there speechless, like a school boy with his first
crush.

His wife, Jen, used to call him romantically
challenged. “I guess she was right,” Shane said aloud, to himself. Then he
shook his head, grinned, and walked down the porch stairs.

Dinner with Tara was a good distraction, but he did
have a lot to stress about. Could he expose Nethers in time to save what was
left of the mustangs? Was the Arapaho whom JB shot hurt badly? He knew he was
making friends out here, but he was also making some pretty dangerous enemies,
and these were the kind of people who would love to see him out of the picture.
He also carried a guilty, helpless feeling when he thought about having to
leave the injured wolf in the valley. Maybe he could hire a vet and take him
out to Butch in a Jeep. Hopefully, there would be time for him to look into
this tomorrow after he picked up Megan at the airport.

On top of all this were his thoughts of Jen, Jacob,
and Tina that were always just a breath away. Yes, Tara was a powerful
distraction for him, but his feelings for her were also confusing. Especially
since neither one could say if they had any kind of future. He knew Jen would
want him to go on with his life, but he struggled between pursuing his
affections for Tara, and the strong feelings he still carried for his wife and
kids. Ever since he lost them, his mere survival had depended on dealing with
life on a day-to-day basis. For now, he needed to find solace in this
philosophy and let destiny run its unpredictable course. So, tonight he would
allow himself to enjoy life in the arms of this remarkable woman, who cared for
him probably more than he deserved.

From the moment he picked her up for dinner, the
evening was filled with conversation, laughter, and friendship. While out in
public they both held in check their consuming desire for the passion that
already felt so familiar to them. When they made it home to the privacy of
Shane’s cabin, it was a different story.

The following morning, Shane arrived at the barn by seven as he had
promised Tommy. He knew, without a doubt, that all the horses would already be
fed and tacked up. The boy had always been dependable. By now he was beginning
to feel if Tommy worked hard enough, he could surpass even his own abilities
and skills. After all, the Shoshone kid had been born into it. Horses were a
part of Tommy’s ancient culture.

As much as he wanted to work with the boy this
morning, he couldn’t get his mind off his many concerns. Tommy was aware that
he was distracted, but respectfully didn’t question Shane about his mood. When
they finished, Shane patted the boy affectionately on the back and told him,
“I’m going to be pretty tied up for the next couple of days, Tommy, but I’ll
check out the horses at the end of the week and see how you’re doing. You keep
Sloppy legged up for me.”

“Thanks, Mr. Shane.”

“No problem, son, you have a real knack for this.
You promise me you’ll keep after it, okay?”

“Yes, sir, I will.”

Megan’s flight would be arriving at one. He planned
to bring her and the photographer back to the reservation this afternoon and
put them up for the night. This would give him the evening and all day tomorrow
to get her up to speed on the current events and introduce her to Tigee for an
interview. He also planned to take her to Fort Washakie so she could gather
more background information on the history of the mustangs.

Tomorrow evening they would stay in the town of
Reddick at the local, upscale hotel. In town they could rent a car, and Megan
would be able to work on the article without interruptions. He also wanted her
to interview some of the locals on their views of the
situation. This would get the word circulating around town about the article,
and he knew this would quickly work its way back to Nethers. Getting Megan and
her photographer deep into the valley to see the mustangs might prove to be a
bit more challenging.

The herd was getting pretty spooked now, and it was
getting harder, even for the Shoshones, who were guarding them, to keep up with
their position. Even though Shane had plenty of pictures of the mustangs, Megan
would want to see the herd for herself. He would just have to cross that bridge
when he came to it.

Kate O’Hanson with her group of activists had left a
message at Tigee’s. She said there would be about a dozen of them driving into
town on Tuesday afternoon. Shane figured the large group would draw a lot of
attention in such a small town. He wasn’t sure what they were planning, but he
knew whatever Kate had up her sleeve would be loud and very visible. Good ole
Kate would definitely stir up a big pot of publicity over what was happening to
the mustangs in the valley. Shane chuckled to himself as he thought about the
look on Vince Nethers’s face when all this got back to him.

Megan’s plane was on time, and she hurried over to
Shane as soon as she laid eyes on him, greeting him with a big hug. “It’s been
way too long,” she said as she turned him loose and looked him in the face.

“It certainly has,” he said with a big smile.

“This is Brett, my assistant and camera man.” After
claiming their baggage and equipment, Shane took them to a restaurant and
bought them lunch. Brett sat quietly while Megan and Shane talked about old
friends and times they shared. Megan was a considerate and classy woman and
didn’t mention Jen and the kids. There would be a time and place for that.
          

During the drive to the reservation, the
conversation finally turned to business. Megan listened intensely as Shane
filled her in on all the latest details, which included the killing of the
mustangs on Saturday morning.