Treasure of the Anasazi Page 22
“Jones?”
“Yeah?”
“What now?”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice. We’ll have to open fire and kill as many as we can. Maybe that’ll scare the rest away. Ready?”
“I guess so.”
Just as Smith and Jones were raising their rifles, the coyote parted and a young Indian woman walked between them.
“This is a warning. The only one you will get. Turn around and leave immediately. If you do this, you will live to see another day. If you do not, you will not see another sunrise.”
Jones, at first shocked by the encounter, now began to laugh. Smith looked sideways at him, thinking he had finally lost it.
“John, what’s wrong with you? We’ve got a chance to get out of this. Let’s take it,” pleaded Smith.
“After we’ve come this far? Not on your life.”
“I’m leaving,” proclaimed Smith as he dropped his rifle to the ground.
“You’re not going to desert me!” yelled Jones. “Pick up your gun!”
“Sorry, not this time. We’ve always done things your way. No more. I think you’ve lost it, Eddie. But it’s not too late. Come with me.”
Smith began to back away. The beasts parted to let him through.
“You coward!” yelled Jones. He raised his gun and fired at the girl. She stood firm, unharmed. He fired again. The coyote charged. Jones fired as rapidly as he could cock the 30/30. Two of them yelped as they went down. The others hesitated, but did not run away as Jones had hoped.
“See? They’re afraid,” he yelled out. He turned to see if Smith would change his mind and help. Smith stayed behind the line of coyote. They no longer showed him any aggression. When he decided to surrender, the coyote no longer considered him a threat. Jones quickly realized that Smith wouldn’t be helping him. He was still on his own.
* * *
I heard multiple gunshots. They were even closer this time. I motioned for the two men to watch Sam as I ran outside. I could hear yelps and howls just outside the village perimeter. They had moved in closer than I would have ever expected. I climbed down to the canyon floor and took off in a run, two braves running with me. As we ran along, I glanced to my sides to see that they had transformed into two coyote keeping pace with me. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and flash less than forty yards away. I abruptly stopped. I covered my head as a light shower of sand and gravel fell down on us.
* * *
Sawyer quickly sat up in the pickup. Now he was wide awake and alert after hearing the explosion. He hadn’t anticipated dynamite. He was going to have to step in after all. He crossed the fence quickly by grabbing a fence post and slinging himself over in a pole-vault like manner. He took off in a dead run in the direction of the sound and flash. He was very familiar with the trail, having grown up there
* * *
I continued on, still accompanied by my two escorts. There was a scorched area surrounded by a dead young Anasazi man and two injured coyote. Then I saw Sarah standing in the middle of the path. Past her was Jones, holding a stick of dynamite in one hand, threatening to light it with a cigarette in the other. Sarah turned to me as I ran up.
“Jack, help us. We don’t know what to do.” I heard the helplessness in her voice. It was the first time I had heard her refer to herself as one of the Anasazi people. I slowly edged toward Jones.
“Stay back!” yelled Jones, “or I’ll blow you to kingdom come and this time I won’t miss.” He looked past me. “Where’s your lady friend?”
“Someplace where you’ll never get close to her,” I said.
Jones tilted his head back and yelled, “Ranger! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Smith was forced forward by the coyote as Jones continued to edge his way up the trail, drawing closer and closer to the village. I was relatively sure that the Anasazi had never experienced anything like dynamite, but from what Sarah had said, they knew about guns and what they could do, including the case of seeing Emitt being shot. But, dynamite appeared to be entirely new to them and they weren’t certain of how to deal with it. I knew they would continue to do whatever was necessary to protect the village. They began to close in on Jones once again. He lit the fuse as he continued to move forward, turning as he went, showing the beasts the lit fuse. The coyote kept their distance, quickly learning that the sizzling and sparking fire led to certain death. A few seconds later Jones broke into the open at the edge of the village. Women and children poked their heads from the doorways and windows of the cliff-dwelling structures and from the adobe shelters scattered along the canyon floor.
“I knew it. The journal was true. This is amazing,” exclaimed Jones. He yelled back to Smith, “I told you! The treasure is here!”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not going to do you any good now,” Smith yelled back.
I stayed near Jones as he moved toward the village, looking for an opportunity to jump him.
“Why don’t you give it up, Jones?” I asked. “You’ve gone as far as you’re going to go.”
Unfortunately, curiosity drew Sam out of the kiva and Jones saw her immediately. I don’t know why he had it in for Sam, but he was determined to either kill her or make her pay for whatever it was she had done. Rudy and I had been with Sam when we first surprised Smith and Jones and had taken them into custody. I didn’t know of anything she had done to be singled out. Maybe he just didn’t like women in positions of authority.
“There you are!” he yelled as he flung the lit stick of dynamite with all his might directly at Sam. The fuse had burned almost completely down.
“Sam, watch out!” I yelled. She stood frozen, watching as it flew toward her.
In midair the dynamite exploded. I dove to the ground, covering my head. I picked myself up and looked back to see Sawyer leading Smith to us, the barrel of his military-issue Colt .45 1911 still smoking.
Jones was pulling out another stick of dynamite. This was my chance to jump him. I began to rush him, but the coyote were on him first, dragging him, kicking and screaming into the brush. The screams continued for several moments, followed by silence. Smith’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, terror on his face. Sawyer forced him forward with the muzzle of his gun.
“Nice shot!” I said.
“Thanks. What do you propose we do with this one?” Sawyer asked.
“The lady said I could go,” reminded Smith.
“What lady?” asked Sawyer.
I looked around for Sarah. She was nowhere to be seen.
“I don’t see a lady,” I commented. “You must be hallucinating.”
“But I…,” Smith started. “Please don’t let the wolves get to me.”
The valley was beginning to lighten as the sun would soon break the horizon. Several of the men and women of the village were standing nearby. Some had returned to their normal routines. I looked around. There were no coyote to be seen, only a group of the Anasazi men. All had transformed back to their human form.
“What wolves?” I asked. I didn’t bother to correct him.
The small group of Anasazi parted as one of the women came through holding Sam’s hand, leading her to me. Sam ran to my side and threw her arms around me.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Shut up and hold me,” she replied.
“Is it over?” she asked, as she let go and stepped back.
“Jones won’t be bothering you ever again,” I told her.
She looked at Smith. “What about him?”
“That’s what I was just asking,” said Sawyer.
“What do you suggest?” I asked Sam.
Smith mouthed the word ‘please.’
“I’m tempted to leave him here with them. I’m sure they can come up with something,” said Sam. “But I suppose we should take him in town to Joe.”
“I suppose it’s the right thing to do,” I said.
“It looks like this is your lucky day,” commented Sawyer, with a slight smirk
.
“How do you figure?” asked Smith.
“Would you rather be left here?” asked Sawyer. Smith was silent.
“There is a problem that you’re overlooking?” stated Sawyer, matter-of-factly.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Smith knows about the village and how to find it. How do you propose we keep him quiet?”
“I won’t say anything to anyone!” pleaded Smith. “You have my word.”
Sawyer tried unsuccessfully to contain a laugh.
Sam was silent as she considered it. These men had tried to kill her. Twice. She wanted payback, but not to see them dead. She would be perfectly satisfied to see Smith behind bars, but then it wasn’t just about what she wanted. Sawyer was right. The protection of the Anasazi was at stake. How could they let Smith leave this place, to go to jail, with the possibility, or likelihood of him telling any and everyone about what he’d seen?
Smith turned quickly, hitting Sawyer squarely on the jaw, knocking him to the ground. He ran down the canyon as fast as his legs would carry him in the sandy soil. Sarah appeared directly in his path. He stumbled as he tried to sidestep around her, falling face first into the sand. He jumped up, continuing to run, looking back at Sarah, horrified at the realization of what she was. Two coyote ran past us in rapid pursuit. They were on him before he could round the bend. He died in a matter of seconds as one of the coyote grabbed him by the throat with one vicious bite, shaking the victim until he went limp.
Sam turned toward me, burying her face in my chest.
“Problem solved,” announced Sawyer, without a shred of emotion.
“Why do you say that?” asked Sam. “Isn’t this what we wanted to avoid? I know it isn’t what Sarah wanted.”
“You’re right, but it seems things have worked out anyway. I’m not going to tell anyone, and I know you and your friends won’t, so what’s the problem?”
“What if someone comes looking for them?” asked Sam.
“You really think anyone cares what has happened to those two? I don’t think so,” said Sawyer. “You’re not missing them are you?”
“No. I may have thought I wanted them dead, but this isn’t what I expected,” said Sam. “How can you be so cold? They may have had families.”
“Let me refresh your memory. They tried to kill you…twice,” reminded Sawyer. “They got exactly what they deserved. And now the Anasazi are safe once again and my assignment has been accomplished successfully. If you need me again, just contact Mr. Whitney and I’ll be back.”
He walked over to Sam. “It was a pleasure meeting you. You’re doing a great job in Emitt’s absence. Keep it up.” Baker beamed with pride. He offered his hand and they shook.
He then came over to me. “Jack, take care of yourself and good luck with your cabin renovations.” He looked at Sam and I. “You two make a good couple. You might want to work on that.”
I was surprised when he walked over to one of the elders of the tribe, spoke a few words softly, embraced the elder warmly, then abruptly turned and walked back down the trail. The coyote never gave him a second glance. It finally occurred to me that this was not the first time he had been here.
“We should go, too,” I told Sam. “I don’t think there’s any reason to stick around.”
“Can’t we look around?” asked Sam. “There’s so much to see and learn here.”
“There’s a reason the Restricted Area was created. The less contact they have with us, the better.”
“I suppose you’re right, but it won’t keep me from dreaming about it.”
We turned to leave, but were surrounded closely by coyote. An outer circle had formed by the women of the village. Sarah walked toward us. She handed me the journal that had been taken from Jones’ body.
“Thank you, Jack. The council was right. You were the one to help us. The Coyote People will always be grateful.”
I knew the Anasazi had been called the Coyote People, but I had no idea it was so literal.
“But I didn’t do anything. They did it on their own by meeting the danger head-on and protecting themselves.”
“But you, Jack, put everything into motion. You, Rudy, and Ranger Baker will always be welcome here.”
“Thank you. I will be back. I promise. Are you going to be all right?”
“I’ll be just fine. This is where I belong.”
“There are some things mentioned in this journal,” I held it up, “that I believe now, but there is one that I’m not sure about. It mentions a treasure. Do you know anything about it?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking, but there is a treasure here. It’s more important than gold or silver. It’s the healing pool, Jack. The water. It keeps the Anasazi who they are.”
It took a moment to sink in, then I understood.
“You know, it’s sad that Smith and Jones never knew the truth about the treasure. I can only imagine the expression on Smith’s and Jones’ faces if they’d found out the treasure was the water from the spring in the kiva.”
“Men that want something for nothing take their chances,” Sarah said, “but I am sorry they had to lose their lives.”
For a brief moment I forgot Sarah was a ghost, until she vanished into a vapor before our eyes.
“Jack, let’s go,” said Sam. “I’m ready.”
As the sun rose from the horizon, a group of the Anasazi had already begun to move back to the village and their daily activities, waving farewell with warm, friendly faces. We began to walk back down the trail to the vehicles, noticing that there were no longer any coyote.
“Now, I’m going to have to convince Benny to give up this journal. It needs to be put away somewhere safe and I know just the place. And Rudy, he’s not going to be very happy that he missed out on all the excitement.” Then something else dawned on me. “I hope Smith and Jones didn’t pay him a visit first.”
“Would you like to go to the cafe? I think we need to talk,” asked Jack.
She took my hand in hers. “I was thinking of something a little more private.”
Thank You
Thank you for reading
TREASURE OF THE ANASAZI
A Jack Trader Adventure
Please visit my website at
www.adventurewithmike.com
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Thank You