Native Born

Chapter Five

Cassidy Walker called ahead so the tribal police wouldn’t pull her over like they did the last time. She made it to Black Mountain but did not have time to make it to her room at the Black Mountain Casino. This was one of two hotels on the property. The other was clear up in Wind River where the tribe had a ski resort, but that was too far from Clyne’s home.

From her former partner, she knew the Cosens all lived near the main town. Clyne and Gabe lived with their mother Tessa’s mother, Glendora Clawson. Both the younger brothers were newlyweds and had their own homes. Kino was expecting his first child.

Amanda is about to become an aunt.

The realization came like a kick to her gut.

It didn’t matter, she told herself. That petition would hit the minute the judge ruled. A week or two up here in the hinterland and she’d have her promotion. The judge would rule against her but the petition would reverse Amanda’s placement. In six months she and her daughter would be living in DC or lower Manhattan. One thing was certain, Amanda would have an education and opportunities she would not likely receive on the reservation. Amanda would have the chance to become whatever she wished.

The ringing phone made her jump clear out of her seat. The ID said it was Tully. She hit the speak button on her phone.

“Good morning, sir.”

“You there yet?”

“Nearly.” She had decided to catch a few hours’ sleep at home and leave at five in the morning, rather than drive up last night as Tully had suggested. “Anything on the shooting?”

She couldn’t help stretching and then winced. Sitting made her ribs hurt. Breathing made her ribs hurt. Talking made her ribs hurt. She glanced at the ibuprofen bottle and then the clock. One more hour before she could have another dose.

“Yes. One shooter, .30 caliber. Positioned on the Star of Tucson Hotel. We now have three cartridges. Forensics has everything we could pull from up there. Garbage mostly, we think. But maybe we’ll get a hit.”

“Let’s hope,” she said.

“Change of plans for today.”

Cassidy tensed. She didn’t like surprises and so tried to be ready for every eventuality. But she hadn’t seen this assignment coming. That was certain.

“Gabe Cosen called. His brother has a ground-breaking on the rez today. He wants you and Forrest on hand in case there is trouble.”

“I thought we were up here to pursue leads to apprehend Ronald Hare and investigate the—”

Her boss cut in. “Yeah. Yeah. But today try to be sure Cosen doesn’t get shot.” He provided her with the coordinates given to him by Police Chief Cosen. “Clyne Cosen has another rally off-reservation in Phoenix on Wednesday. Damned victory tour. You and Forrest are accompanying him from Black Mountain to the rally.”

“Does he know this?”

“Not yet.”

Cassidy grimaced. This wasn’t going to be good. She knew Clyne Cosen well enough to know that. But she also didn’t like the bait and switch. She was here to investigate the ongoing drug activity here. Not play nursemaid to a bristly Apache who didn’t want her within a mile of him.

“We’ll be on-site for the next rally. This one is indoors, so no BS. Love to find the shooter before then.”

“You and me both.” She couldn’t help but twist to check the sore muscles and ribs. Yup. They still hurt. “I’m here. Gotta go.”

“Check in after the event.”

“Yes, sir.” She disconnected and said, “And keep that transfer request front and center.”

Cassidy pulled into the barren patch of ground her GPS had brought her to. She would have been certain she was off course but there was a series of fluttering triangular flags flapping briskly in the March breeze. She dragged her winter coat from the rear seat. Down in Phoenix it was sixty degrees. But up here fourteen thousand feet above sea level there was ice on the ground.

“That’s why they call themselves Mountain Apache,” she muttered.

A leaning white sign advertised the future site of the Black Mountain water treatment facility. Whoo-hoo, she thought and climbed from the vehicle. The wind tore a strand of hair from her ponytail and no amount of recovery could make it stay in place. Her chin-length hair was just too short for a pony and she’d be damned if she’d be seen outside the house in either pigtails or a headband.

She glanced at her watch and saw she’d arrived forty-five minutes early. That gave her time to check the perimeter and to wish she had worn thicker socks. The open field left few places to hide and the lack of any obvious vehicle was encouraging. But with a scope, a shooter could easily be in range. Clyne had agreed to wear body armor for this event. Cassidy adjusted hers, her backup. The one without the distortion over her heart.

Back at her sedan, Cassidy was just lifting her phone to call Luke when a line of vehicles, mostly pickups, arrived in a long train of bright color. The wind pushed her forward and she had to widen her stance to keep from losing her footing. The sudden movement made her ribs ache.

She watched the men and women emerge from their vehicles. Clyne was easy to spot. She didn’t know exactly why. Perhaps his height or the crisp way he walked. He joined some men dressed in trenches, walking with them along the flapping flags.

Luke walked slightly behind them. She knew the instant Clyne spotted her because his ready smile dipped with his brow. Then he turned his attention back to his conversation with his guests.

She heard him say, “Self-sustaining and by using local labor we expect to come in below the estimate.”

She fell into stride behind him, ignoring the heady scent of pine that reached her as Clyne passed. He’d smelled like that yesterday, she recalled, when he had carried her into the hotel. Cassidy inhaled deeply, enjoying the appealing fragrance.

“Hey,” said Luke.

“How was last night?” she asked.

“Quiet. You?”

“Good.”

“What did they say at the hospital?”

She didn’t answer.

“Cassidy?”

She fessed up. “I went home.”

Luke’s smile seemed sad. He had met Amanda more than once in the times before she knew he was her uncle. Amanda’s father’s half brother. If it were only him, she wouldn’t mind Amanda getting to know him better. Luke, she knew and trusted.

“I got Gabe to put someone on Manny Escalanti. Told him our office would pick up the overtime.”

Manny Escalanti was the new head of the Wolf Posse, the Apache gang operating on the rez. It had been this gang that had held the chemicals for production and moved the mobile meth labs to keep them ahead of tribal police.

“We need ears on him, too. Do we know if the Mexican cartels are still working with them?”

“DOJ says that they are working with both the Salt River gang and the Wolf Posse.”

In January, the cartel had decided to move operations to Salt River but failed to capture the chemicals needed because Gabe and his very connected fiancée, Selena Dosela, had succeeded in stopping them. Selena was also Black Mountain Apache and her father, Frasco, had ties to the Wolf Posse and American distributor, Cesaro Raggar. Good thing Dosela was working with them now.

“What do you think of Selena?” she asked.

“I think she’s very brave and very lucky.”

“I mean, do you think she is working with the cartels?”

“No. Not at all.”

His answer was a little too quick as if that was what he hoped to be true, rather than what was true.

“Her father was recruited by Raggar.”

Raggar was the head of the American distribution operation running the business from federal prison.

“And Frasco went to DOJ and made a deal.”

“To save his hide,” said Cassidy.

“It’s a valid reason to come to us. Kept his family safe and got them out of the operation.”

“Unless Raggar retaliates.”

“Gabe is very worried about that. Even asked me about witness protection for Selena’s entire family.”

That was new information.

“But her father won’t leave the rez.”

The sentiment seemed endemic up here, she thought.

The group formed a rough circle around nothing she could see other than that this was the place that their tribal councilman had chosen to stop moving forward into the barren field.

She and Forrest stepped back, just outside the circle, scanning the audience and the surrounding area.

“Too far from cover,” she said to Forrest.

“Too cold, as well. We won’t be out long.”

But it didn’t take long for a bullet to travel through a person’s flesh and bone.

Cassidy scanned the faces, checked the hands and listened to Clyne lift his voice to describe the fantastical water treatment plant as if it were some shining tower sitting on a hill instead of a pit that strained excrement.

Cassidy scanned the faces and realized that she and the two representatives from the BIA, Bureau of Indian Affairs, were the only white people in the gathering.

Clyne spoke loud enough for the gathering to hear and she had to admit his argument for the funding was eloquent, thoughtful and timely, but perhaps wasted on the men who were wearing the equivalent of raincoats in the unceasing wind. They stomped their feet restlessly as she swept the crowd, impressed with the practical clothing of the rest of the gathering.

Clyne finished and the men all shook hands. Photos were taken for the Black Mountain webpage and Cassidy made sure she was not in any of them. The procession retreated to the string of vehicles that reminded her of a wagon train for some reason. She shadowed Clyne to his vehicle where he stopped to glare at her.

“Would you like me to follow you or accompany you?”

“Neither,” said Clyne.

“Then I’ll follow.” She stepped away so he could open his door. “Shouldn’t Gabe be here, too?”

He smirked at her and just that simple upturning of his mouth made her insides twitch in a most unwelcome physical reaction to a man in whom she refused to have any interest.

“He is here. He told me to tell you that you did a pretty good job of scouting the perimeter. Though not too good, obviously.” With that he climbed in the navy blue pickup and swung the door closed.

The truck rode high, leaving her at shoulder level with the decal of the great seal of the Black Mountain tribe that was affixed to the door panel and showed a chunk missing at the top right. The seal included Black Mountain in the background with a pine tree, eagle feather and something that looked like a brown toadstool in the foreground.

“Try and keep up,” he said and led the procession back toward town, leaving her to scurry along the icy shoulder to reach her vehicle. Her time in South Dakota had taught her about driving in snow, but she still skidded on the icy patch as she pulled into place. Clearly Clyne was as thrilled at her current assignment as she was. Somehow she didn’t think that commonality would bring them any closer together. If she could just find something that would connect the Cosens to the mobile meth ring or something that made their home unfit, she could challenge custody, collect her transfer and be on her way.

She made the drive at the end of the snake of cars, parked in the lot beside tribal headquarters and followed the remains of the procession inside, where she was asked to present her credentials, sign in and wear a paper name badge.

Hi, My Name Is... Pissed Off, she thought.

Gabe Cosen appeared through the doors and paused only to speak to the receptionist in Apache before coming to meet her.

“Agent Walker. Nice to see you again.”

She accepted his offered hand. The handshake was firm and brief. Chief Cosen stepped back from her. Gabe had none of his brother’s swagger. He had bedroom eyes that made Cassidy uneasy and the same full mouth as Clyne. But his gaze was completely different. She saw no hint of distain or banked resentment.

“Chief Cosen. I understand this isn’t the first time you have seen me today.”

“That’s true.” Chief Cosen grinned and she felt nothing. Why did Clyne’s attention stir her up like ice in a blender?

Chief Cosen removed his gray Stetson and gave it a spin on one hand. His hair was cut very short, which was so different from the long, managed braids of his older brother.

“Police headquarters is right across the street. I’m going to get you and Luke set up right after lunch. Say one o’clock?”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ve got to speak to Clyne. Would you mind?” He motioned for her to accompany him.

She forced a smile. Why had she been hoping she would not have to see Clyne again today?

Cassidy kept pace with Gabe as they walked down the hall and through the outer offices of the tribal council. She resisted the urge to look at Clyne through the bank of glass that skirted the door to his office.

Gabe paused before the assistant’s desk. The Apache woman sat with her legs slightly splayed to accommodate her swollen belly. Cassidy thought she looked ready to deliver at any moment. The woman held the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder as she wrote something on a memo pad. She still had time to lift a finger to Gabe in a silent request that he wait.

Gabe stepped back and faced Cassidy.

“You settling in?” asked Gabe.

“I haven’t been to the casino hotel yet.”

“Oh, it was my understanding that you would arrive last night.”

“Personal business. Delayed.”

His smile faded. “Of course. How are you feeling?”

She shifted testing her ribs and felt the sting of healing muscle. “Fine.”

He peered at her from under his brow and she felt he did not quite believe her.

“Well. On behalf of myself and my family, I want to thank you personally for protecting our older brother yesterday.”

The display of manners, so divergent from those of his older brother, shocked her into speechlessness.

“Ah,” she struggled. “You’re welcome.”

“Strange, don’t you think, that you would be the one responsible for his protection?”

Was there an accusation there or a hint of suspicion?

“It was a rotation.”

“Yes. So I understand.” Gabe didn’t try to hold on to his smile.

“I thought you’d be more present today,” she said.

“Clyne didn’t want the BIA feeling unsafe.”

Had she and Luke been too obvious? She didn’t think the BIA officials even noticed her.

“He’s been courting them for months and was afraid my force would raise questions about security. He has another rally tomorrow. Phoenix this time. Then Friday, some folks from a home-building charity visiting. Another outdoor gathering, touring the proposed building site here on Black Mountain.”

“So you don’t want help with the investigation. You asked for us to protect your brother?”

“No. I need investigators. But someone just tried to kill Clyne yesterday. I could use the help keeping him safe.”

“But why me, specifically?”

He watched her for a moment that stretched on to eternity.

“Can’t you guess?”

“I don’t like guessing games, Chief Cosen. Any games, really.”

“Miss Walker, you have been a mother to my sister for most of her life. Perhaps the only mother she remembers. It seemed to me that we should know something about you and that you might want to know something about us.”

She knew all she needed to know about them, or wanted to. “This has nothing to do with the investigation.”

“It does. But two birds, so to speak.”

“Do your brothers feel the same?”

Gabe rubbed the back of his neck and she had her answer.

“Gabe!” Clyne’s voice was much louder than it needed to be when he called from the open door.

“Excuse me.” Gabe stepped into his brother’s office and shut the door.

She could hear their words but did not understand Apache. The angry voices and the flailing arm gestures were clear enough as both men engaged in an epic battle of wills.

Gabe eventually reached for the knob. Clyne stood with both fists planted on the surface of his desk. Gabe cleared the threshold and planted his hat on his head. His breathing was fast and his nostrils flared as he turned his attention to her.

“My brother would like to take you to lunch,” he said.

The office assistant lifted her brows at this announcement and glanced from Gabe to Cassidy still waiting.

“I was meeting Luke for lunch.”

“He told me that he will see you after lunch,” said Gabe.

Cassidy reached for her phone and sent Luke a text. The reply was immediate.

C U after lunch.

Cassidy squared her shoulders and marched into the lion’s den.

Chapter Six

Clyne looked back to Field Agent Walker, who glared at him from the outer office, her eyes now glinting like sunlight on a blue gemstone. She held her navy parka in her lap, because he had not offered to hang it and wore a blazer, presumably a different one. One without a bullet hole in the back. Her drab gray button-up shirt did not quite hide the flak jacket beneath, and her practical lace-up nylon boots showed salt stains on the toes. Fully erect, she didn’t even reach Clyne’s chin. Her blond hair had again been yanked back into a severe ponytail but the March wind had tugged the side strands away and they now floated down about her pink face. If she were Swedish, he did not think her skin could be any paler. Outwardly, they were completely different, but they had one thing in common. They were both fighters. So why did his chest ache every time he forced himself to look at her?

She seemed ready to spit nails. He lifted one of the fists he had been braced upon from his desk and motioned her forward as a Tai Chi master summoned his next challenger.

Walker’s fine golden brow arched and her pointed chin dipped. He lowered his chin as well, as one ram does when preparing to butt heads with another. He thought he welcomed the fight, but her proximity raised a completely different kind of anticipation. He identified the curling tension of sexual desire and nearly groaned out loud. Not for this woman. No. Absolutely not.

Her stride was staccato and devoid of any female wiles. So why was he breathing so fast?

Now he noticed how her eyes seemed not quite sapphire, but more ocean blue and flashing like a thunderstorm.

She marched into his office with her coat clutched at her left hip, leaving her gun hand free.

“Just so we are clear,” said Clyne, “I haven’t changed my mind.”

“Good afternoon to you, too, Councilman.”