Tracking Bear (37 page)

“The leg won’t kill me, but these crazies might, so let’s get going.” Bruno looked toward the side tunnel again. “I heard something in there. Are you sure we’re alone?”

“Hell if I know.”

They struggled together, making progress slowly, but the woman had strong arms and was able
to pull herself up hand over hand a foot at a time. When Bruno got within reach, Officer Michael Cloud was there with Justine to pull her, then Ella, out of the shaft. Officer Philip Cloud, Michael’s twin brother, handcuffed the prisoner and guarded her beside the opening as they waited for the paramedics to arrive from Shiprock.

“I want this mine shaft covered up again as quickly as possible,”
Ella told Justine, and explained what she’d found below.

“We’ll take care of it.”

“How did Franklin do with Shives?” Ella asked.

“Just fine. When I arrived, Shives was spread-eagled on the ground, facedown. Dr. Franklin had the barrel of his rifle at the back of Shives’s head. Sergeant Neskahi is there now, but Shives didn’t have much to say, except worrying about ‘Meg,’ as he calls Bruno.”

“Shives knows that he’ll be facing the death penalty for all three murders, either as the killer or coconspirator, if the .380 pistol Bruno was carrying as backup turns out to be the murder weapon. I’m sure he’ll want an attorney present before he says anything. My guess is he’ll fight it out in court every step of the way.”

“Did you notice the rifle in Bruno’s vehicle?” Justine asked.

“No. Don’t
tell me it’s Wilson’s lever action Savage?”

“Sure looks like it. Bruno must have thought she was above suspicion, carrying it around like that in the open.” Justine shook her head.

As they approached the campsite, Dr. Franklin came to meet Ella. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said.

“Things worked out,” she said quietly. Seeing his rifle on the ground, she pointed to it. “You can unload that now.”

He smiled, picked it up, and opened the bolt action, exposing the chamber. “It was never loaded. I knew I couldn’t shoot another human being—not even the one who killed my son.” Seeing the surprise on Ella’s face, he smiled sadly. “You were right about me. I came here to die. I had a feeling that Bruno would never confess, so I hoped to push her into killing me. Then I could join my son.”

“I’m
glad that didn’t happen. My plan
was
better,” she said with a gentle smile, “though it didn’t go exactly as we’d hoped. Our work is far from done—mine and yours. Your expertise is needed more than ever to keep the tribe from repeating past mistakes.
Dineh
like you will be our first line of defense if the nuclear power plant does open here.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

“By the way, we finally
found your research papers in the storeroom,” Ella said with a smile.

“I didn’t have the courage to destroy all that work, but I had to hide it. I didn’t want it to be misused to make more bombs. Shives was always my biggest threat. He’d guessed that I’d made a breakthrough in my research years ago and was covering it up. When nuclear power plants began to be discussed again as viable alternatives
to fossil fuels, he apparently promised to deliver the process to Permian Energy Network. But Shives knew he had to discredit NEED—at least enough to make sure that the tribe would deal with Permian instead.”

“That explains the NEED bumper stickers on the vehicles at the crime scenes.” Ella nodded. “Unless Permian got involved in the project, Shives was out in the cold. He certainly couldn’t
deal with NEED—you’d find out as soon as his name came up.”

“Delbert was running out of time, too. He started to panic about a week ago. I read his e-mail. Permian was pressuring him for details of the process so they could undercut whatever cost estimates NEED came up with. Redhouse was e-mailing him, too, asking for more payoff money or he’d also support NEED. But Delbert was running out of
money and just couldn’t deliver on his own.” Professor Franklin shook his head.

“We knew that the motive for all the break-ins was related to you in some way,” Ella said.

Franklin nodded. “I’m sorry I deceived you from the beginning. I was trying to sort out things in my mind, and once I realized why my son and others were dying, I knew that I had to end this.”

“It’s been a long, hard road
since the killings began that night at the garage. Bruno shot your son because he’d recognized her,” Ella said thoughtfully. “But it’s over, and you’ve done what was needed. So what now? What will you do with the process?” Ella asked.

“I thought about it while I was guarding Shives. I’ve made up my mind to patent the enrichment process and turn the rights over to the tribe. If nuclear power plants
and uranium production in the US begins again, on the Rez or elsewhere, the tribe can license the process and make millions in royalties.” He gazed off in the distance for a moment before continuing. “I’ve come to realize that sooner or later, another scientist is bound to duplicate my findings. But if I do something now ahead of everyone else, I can at least make sure it’ll benefit the tribe.”
He met her gaze. “It’s the best way I have of restoring harmony and walking in beauty. And maybe now it won’t be so hard to sleep at night.”

Ella was the last to leave the crime scene. It was a little past noon, and the sheepherding camp, now deserted, was quiet as she walked back to her unit.

Today had gone well—better than the disaster it might have turned into. Kee Franklin was a valuable
asset to the tribe, and his process had the potential to open all sorts of doors to their people. Remembering the disk that he’d given her, she reached into her jacket pocket. Ella inhaled sharply as she felt the long tear and the piece of cloth that dangled where her pocket had been. She’d ripped up her jacket, probably when she’d been trying to pull Bruno out of the mine shaft, and the disk
was gone.

Ella grabbed her flashlight, and the rope that had been left in the sheepherder’s hogan, then hurried back downhill to the mine shaft. The last thing she wanted to do was climb down again, but there was no other choice. It was imperative that the disk not fall into the wrong hands.

Ella removed the boards that had been replaced, tied one end of the rope around the same stout tree they’d
used before, then lowered herself inside. She searched thoroughly, even running her fingers through the soft earth to see if it had been accidentally buried, but had no luck. Swallowing back the fear that spiraled through her as she went into the skinwalker’s den, she lowered herself even deeper, well past where the skull still sat among a frightening stack of human bones.

She remained in the
cave, searching, but thirty minutes later she still hadn’t found it. As much as she wanted to continue looking, Ella knew it was too risky to go into some of the adjoining tunnels beyond that central chamber, obviously a ceremonial center for the evil ones, without a ladder and special equipment.

The badger fetish on her throat felt warm, indicating she was in danger, but she heard nothing, though
the air seemed thicker and foul-smelling now. If the disk had fallen down into the depths of the mine, no one else would be able to retrieve it either. The thought gave her some comfort. And, by tomorrow, explosives experts would come by and seal off the entrance, caving in the tunnels.

Ella returned to the police station, knowing that hours of paperwork remained before she could call it a day.
Finally, as she made her way back to her office, she saw Dr. Franklin, who was getting ready to leave.

Ella took the physicist aside and explained what had happened to the disk.

“Don’t worry. I mailed a complete, updated version of my process to you here at this station before I met with Shives. It was my way of protecting the process in case things went wrong.”

As he left, Ella went to her
office. Her desk was covered with paperwork. She sighed wearily, and was trying to motivate herself to tackle the job, when Big Ed walked into her office.

“I thought you’d want to know,” he said. “Margaret Bruno wanted to cut a deal for her and Delbert Shives. They’re hoping to get life instead of the death penalty, but in this state that was pretty much guaranteed already. She told us that Shives
knew Whitesheep because they’d both worked at the power plant, so they used him to introduce Shives to Billy Redhouse. Shives needed to find a way to get inside influence with the tribe, and that’s why they decided to bribe Redhouse.”

“So why did they kill them?”

“Redhouse got greedy and asked for a lot more money or he’d blow the whistle about their connection to Permian.”

Ella nodded. “And
once Redhouse was killed, they had to silence Whitesheep because he knew about their connection to Redhouse.”

“Precisely,” he said with a nod. “One more thing. The Tribal Council has voted to meet with the NEED project leaders. If all the big questions concerning a nuclear power plant, such as funding, safety, waste disposal, and the environment can be answered, the council is ready to seal the
deal with NEED.”

“Can they do that?”

Big Ed laughed, then shrugged. “The legal team told them that as an independent entity within the United States, they don’t have to be overly concerned with federal approval. I think they’re drawing battle lines. At least the lawyers will get rich.”

“This could be a huge win for the New Traditionalists,” Ella said. “The tribe seems to be moving forward—even
with the legacy of the past hanging on.”

Big Ed headed for the door, then, without turning his head, added, “Oh and, by the way, good job.”

Ella smiled, then picked up her cell phone and called Harry to share the news, but he wasn’t available. Disappointed, she left a voice mail.

Too exhausted to do much else at the office, she decided to go home and get some well-earned rest. Ella walked outside,
opened the door to her unit, then froze. On her seat was a human bone. Attached to it with a bright red ribbon looped through a hole in the corner, was a polaroid snapshot of the CD she’d lost in the mine. On the bottom of the photo was the word “Thanks.”

Ella stared at it in horror. Her old enemies, the skinwalkers, had gone high-tech.

David and Aimée Thurlo are the creators of the Ella Clah series of novels, which include
Changing Woman, Red Mesa
, and
Shooting Chant
. Their other works include
Second Sunrise
, the first volume in a supernatural suspense series starring Lee Nez, a Navajo vampire, and
Bad Faith
, the first in a series
of contemporary mysteries featuring Sister Agatha.

Aimée was born in Havana, Cuba. David was raised in Shiprock and taught on the Reservation for many years. They have been writing together for decades. The Thurlos live in Corrales, New Mexico. Their home on the Web is:

www.aimeeanddavidthurlo.com

To Colleen Keane, who helped us with our research concerning radioactive spills on the Navajo Nation.

To Professor Andrew Kadak, his students at MIT, and the research engineers at ESKOM and EXELON, who developed the pebble bed nuclear power plant technology presented in this novel.

Read on for a preview of

Black Thunder

Aimée and David Thurlo

Available in November 2011 from Tom Doherty Associates