Hidden (Jacobs Family Series Book 1) Page 21
“Why would you go to an Apache church service?”
“I didn’t.”
She pushed her hair back over her shoulder. “But you said you went to church with Tafoya on Sunday.”
“Mr. Tafoya is a Christian. So was Joe. I’ve visited with Mr. Tafoya a few times since I’ve been here, and he invited me to join him on a Sunday when I had a day off. I thought it might be a good time to check on the Mifflin family as well.”
Dana studied the road as she digested all he’d said. “I assumed Apaches followed their tribal beliefs.”
“He respects his tribal beliefs, but he’s dedicated his life to God.”
Dana rubbed her left hand.
“If your hand is bothering you, I’d be happy to drive.” Ben didn’t look away when she scowled at him. There was no use pretending he hadn’t seen the tremor.
“No.” Dana sighed. “It doesn’t last long.”
He reached down and picked up his book.
“Tafoya didn’t tell me what he wanted to meet about,” Dana admitted.
“He can be rather… guarded at times.”
Dana reached for her mug of coffee, waving at his book as she did so. “You don’t have to talk to me the entire way. Read.”
Ben smiled, sank back into his seat, and did as his boss commanded. Which was more difficult than he expected. The smell of her filled the car. She must have been wearing a light lemony scent. It reminded him of their run through the park in the sunshine. He wanted to reach across the space between them, rub his hand up and down her arm. Loosen the scarf and run his fingers through her hair. Knead the tension from her shoulders.
Instead, he sank into Steinbeck’s world. Read it as if he were fifteen and watching his father fight a hopeless battle with the government and lose his land to a water reclamation project and forfeit his family to a madness that would consume them all.
Fifty-nine
“Ben?”
He snapped the book shut and looked up. “Yeah. Did you say something?”
“I said we’re here.” Dana pulled in behind Tafoya’s truck and turned off the Honda.
“He brought Reggie,” she murmured.
Ben met them halfway between the cars.
Dana thought the three looked natural together, though with his brown, curly hair it was plain Ben had no Apache blood. Tafoya and Reggie could have been related though. The boy looked healthier than he had two weeks ago. He still wore the ragged AC/DC cap, but his skin had lost its pale look.
He greeted Ben with a firm handshake and seemed completely comfortable with Tafoya.
“How are you, Reggie?” Dana removed her sunglasses as she spoke to the boy.
“I’m all right.” He looked embarrassed as they all focused their attention on him. “It’s nice to be out of school.”
“And the rest your family?” Dana asked. “How are they doing?”
“Good. Frankie and Tommy like it out here. Mom has found work already.”
“I’m happy to hear that.” Dana looked to Mr. Tafoya.
He motioned to the piñon tree his truck was parked under. “Perhaps we should talk in the shade.” They walked the few feet in silence. He lowered the tailgate, and Ben took a seat.
No one spoke, but Tafoya reached out to the boy and put his hand on his shoulder. Some unspoken thing passed between them. Reggie nodded, stood straighter, then turned to Dana.
“I have a way to contact Drogan. I should have told you earlier, but I was afraid to. I’m sorry.” When she didn’t respond, he rushed on. “It has to be from my phone though, or he’ll know. And I think it has to be my voice too.”
Dana glanced at Ben, then back at Reggie. “Has Drogan contacted you since you’ve been here?”
“I’ve had a couple of calls that showed on the display as unknown, but they didn’t leave a message. I didn’t answer them.” He looked down, kicked at the dirt, then drew in a deep breath. “I didn’t want to mess this up. You know? It seemed like my family was finally safe, and I didn’t want to ruin it for them. I’d messed up everything before.”
He looked past them, out across the mesa. “But as I listened to the elders talk about community, and I heard the pastor talk about God’s grace, I knew I needed to do something.”
When he returned his gaze to them, Dana saw he’d already made his decision. She feared then, whether she agreed to his plan or not, he would find a way to accomplish it.
“I want to do this, Miss Jacobs. I need to do it. You’re still trying to catch him, right?”
Dana shook her head. It was tempting, but she couldn’t allow it. “I’m sorry, Reggie. We can’t involve a civilian, let alone a minor.”
“What difference does it make how old I am?”
“You know Drogan is dangerous.” She pushed her hair back, folded her arms across her waist.
“I do know. I met with him once a week for two, three months. You think I don’t understand what I’m saying?” Reggie sat down beside Ben on the tailgate. “I’d rather never hear the guy’s voice so long as I live. But if I call him, then you could get a fix on his location. You have some kind of tracking software, don’t you?”
Dana shook her head and fought to push away the beginnings of a headache. Maybe Ben could convince Reggie to give up the phone and the number. Of course, she could try and obtain a warrant for it, but since he was on a reservation it would take a few days.
“We might be able to get a fix on his location, but Drogan apparently knows our capabilities. If he thought we were listening, he’d keep the call short. Then we wouldn’t get anything.”
“So I’d set up a meeting with him. You could nab him then.”
“Absolutely not.” Dana’s palm came down on the tailgate of the truck, causing everyone to stare at her. “Reggie, we cannot put you in harm’s way. It’s not going to happen.”
“You don’t think I’m in harm’s way now?” Reggie was off the truck and in her face in seconds.
It was all Dana could do to hold her ground against a scrawny, teenaged kid.
“Do you think I’m going to stay here the rest of my life? Never leave? I like it and all, but what if I want to see the rest of the world, Miss Jacobs? Maybe travel to the East Coast or head up north? What then? Are you going to babysit me? Or maybe you can send Ben? What happens when my little brothers get older or my ma decides to marry again?”
“Reggie, it’s not going to take us that long to catch him.”
“So you’re closer.”
“Yes. No. Sort of.” The boy’s intensity reminded her of Ben. In fact, he made Ben appear relaxed. “Give me the phone and the number, Reggie. We’ll take care of it.”
“Like you took care of my house?”
“Reggie, I’m ordering you to give me the phone.”
“You’re not my parent, and I don’t see a warrant.” He stormed off toward the piñon tree. “Should have known you wouldn’t listen to me.”
Dana turned and walked to the front of the truck. Frustrated and angry, she remained there, wondering about the best way to proceed. She had no experience with sullen teenagers. She was still trying to cool off when Ben showed up beside her.
“Were you like that?” she asked.
“Absolutely.” He grinned, as if he were proud of the fact.
“I didn’t mean it as a compliment, Marshall. He’s strong-willed and hard-headed, not to mention stubborn—”
“All of those things are beside my name in my high school yearbook.” He put his hands against the truck’s hood. “You’re not going to win this one, Dana. He didn’t bring the phone, and he won’t tell anyone where it is.”
“How do you know that?”
“He’s a smart kid, he’s still a little scared, and I asked him.”
Dana sighed and leaned against the front of the truck. “I don’t know how to do this. I can manage a staff of thirty, but I don’t know what to do with one fifteen-year-old.” She laughed at herself. “Any ideas?”
“Me
? Nope, but I have a feeling Tafoya might.”
Turned out Tafoya did. He’d bring Reggie with him when he left the reservation to pick up casino supplies. The boy would be hidden in the back of the truck. Dana would have a person waiting to transfer him to one of their vehicles.
They would take him to an undisclosed location to make the call. If they couldn’t tag a location, they’d set up a meeting. Only as a last resort.
“Your mother must approve this plan first, Reggie.”
The boy pulled a sheet of paper from his back, blue-jeans pocket. Dana shouldn’t have been surprised to see it was notarized, but she was.
“Where did you learn this stuff?”
“TV.” Reggie actually grinned as Ben slapped him on the shoulder.
“See you, kid.”
Tafoya drove off in a cloud of dust. The entire meeting had lasted less than forty minutes, but it had completely drained Dana. This time when Ben offered to drive, she didn’t argue. He could read his book later.
Besides, if she kept her sunglasses on, she could sneak glances at him as he drove. Since she’d made it plain there could be no relationship between them, she didn’t feel bad about allowing her imagination to wander. Knowing nothing would ever come of her dreams allowed her a measure of freedom.
Sixty
Ben stared at the slip of paper in his hand.
He’d gone back and forth all evening. If he waited any longer, it would be too late.
Picking up his cell phone, he punched in the Texas area code, questioned his sanity, and hit talk.
The number had been frighteningly easy to find.
Erin Jacobs.
Livingston, Texas.
Animal Rescue Center.
Given the power of Google and those three pieces of information, he had her number in milliseconds. He’d had it for two days. Had it and hadn’t used it.
But when Dana had slept all the way back from the reservation, he’d become concerned. On one level she seemed to be pulling herself together. On another, he wasn’t so sure.
A woman answered on the fourth ring.
“Noah’s Ark.”
“Huh?”
“Noah’s Ark Animal Shelter.” The woman pronounced each word slowly, as if Ben had recently learned to speak and shouldn’t be rushed.
“Oh, right. Yeah. I’m looking for Erin Jacobs.”
“You got her. What can I do for you?”
This was Dana’s sister? She sounded impossibly chirpy. Why had he expected another wounded, reserved woman? Perhaps she’d been too young to be affected by the tragedy in her family.
“You still there, mister?”
“Yeah. It’s just that, well…”
“Spit it out. You can’t surprise me.”
He heard the sound of barking in the background and possibly the grunt of a pig.
“I’ve heard it all, even at this hour. Make that especially at this hour.”
“It’s not. I mean, I don’t.” Ben switched the phone to his other hand and tried to think of how to start.
“Cats, dogs, hamsters, guineas, snakes, horses. I’m serious, you cannot surprise me. Few weeks ago, someone gave me a pig. Whatcha got?”
“Let me start over. I’m in Taos, New Mexico, and I’m calling about your sister, Dana.”
There was complete silence on the line, so that he wondered if the call had been dropped. He checked the display to be sure they were still connected, then held it back against his ear in time to hear a screen door slam.
“Is she okay? Tell me what’s happened. I can be on the next flight out of Houston.”
“No. I’m so sorry. I’m doing this very badly. Nothing’s wrong. I mean, maybe something is. That’s why I’m calling, but she’s fine.” Ben let out a long breath, tried to roll his shoulders. “I’m Ben Marshall, and I work with Dana.”
“You’re Ben?”
“Yeah.” He waited a moment, wondering what her question meant. When she didn’t elaborate, he went on. “I was assigned to the Taos office a month ago and—”
“She told me.”
“Told you what?”
“Enough. Dana and I are very close. Only siblings.”
“Oh.” Ben stood up and paced around the room. Talking to Erin was like trying to talk to one of his younger cousins. He was never sure if they were even on the same subject.
“What’s wrong with Dana?” Erin asked.
“I don’t know,” Ben admitted. “I’m worried about her, but I’m not even sure if I should be. She’s under a lot of stress.”
Erin snorted. “My sister thrives on stress. How do you think she got that job?”
When Ben didn’t answer, she added, “This is different though.”
“Yeah. I think it is.”
“What can you tell me?”
Ben had promised himself he wouldn’t betray Dana’s confidences. He kept his descriptions vague, but gave Erin enough details to get the general idea across.
“Has she had the tremor thing?”
“Tremor thing?” Ben nearly dropped the glass of iced tea he was holding.
“Yeah. She had it once in high school. I don’t know if she even remembers. We laughed about it at the time, but I think it really bothered her. Dana really wanted out of Livingston, out of Texas in general. I don’t know how much she’s told you—”
“Enough.”
“Well, if she said anything you must have won her confidence. Most people don’t know about her Texas side.” Erin laughed, but it seemed more of a nervous laugh than one with any humor in it. “She was taking her SATs. They would get her into college—hopefully Rice University—and college would buy her ticket out of here.”
“A lot of pressure.”
“Right. Except for Dana, it wasn’t only pressure for her. She needed to make it so she could provide for me, or so she told herself. Which was not exactly true, because we were with a good foster family at that point. They were providing well for both of us—at least the basic food and clothing.”
Ben tried to picture a younger Dana, but he couldn’t.
“So the week before the SAT exams, she shows me her hand. It was shaking like a leaf. We thought it was funny at first. When it didn’t stop, I came up with all these crazy scenarios to try and help her lighten up.”
“Like what?” Ben stretched out on his cot, trying to imagine the two sisters growing up together.
“Oh, you know. We’d put her in the freak show in the circus, and I’d stand outside and take tickets. Or we’d be like the Bronte sisters and have to live together the rest of our lives so I could take care of her.” Erin’s voice faded away, lost in the memories of all those years ago.
“Did she go to Rice?”
“Yeah. Full scholarship. As far as I know she never had the tremors again. She even worked an extra job during the academic year so she could send money home to her kid sister.”
Ben thought of all Erin had told him. He still didn’t know how to help Dana deal with the stress of tomorrow, but he did have a better picture of who she was.
“I’m glad I called you, Erin.”
“Me too. I’m sort of relieved you don’t have any animal to rescue though. Already have all the boys and girls in bed around here. They get riled up when there’s a new arrival.”
He promised to call her if he needed anything. Unspoken between them was the fact Dana didn’t need to know about the call. As he was about to disconnect, he heard Erin’s voice calling to him.
“Ben?”
“Yeah.”
“Watch after her, okay?”
“I will.”
“She thinks she’s very tough, but even tough girls wear down.”
“I’ll remember that.”
He went to bed and dreamt of an ark. One which held no animals. He was all alone on it. He walked from room-to-room, searching for Dana, but he couldn’t find her. Throughout the wooden boat, blaring from giant speakers, ringing in his ears, he heard his promise to Erin.
<
br /> Sixty-one
In the end, Dana chose to use the rodeo grounds the next evening. Mainly because it was public, and they could see a long ways in any direction. Of course, they had all the floodlights on. If anyone asked, there was a maintenance crew, checking equipment. Drogan’s chances of getting there first and rigging an explosion seemed infinitesimal. She assured herself they’d taken every precaution and then some.
“I told you, the phone can’t be bugged.” Reggie squirmed as Ben went over him with the wand one last time.
Dana waited for Ben’s nod, then tapped her comm unit. She had a perimeter team set up around the rodeo grounds. Chance Drogan wasn’t getting within a mile of Reggie Mifflin.
“Any phone can be bugged, kid.” Red looked up from his table in the middle of the arena. “Nowadays phones have GPS chips in them. Drogan could have found out what your chip number is, then he’d know your location whenever you turn the phone on.”
“That’s only true for phones made since 2004.” Reggie looked at his phone with a mixture of pride and disgust. “My phone is a relic.”
“Kid knows his stuff,” Ben said.
“Five minutes until contact.” Dana spoke calmly into her comm unit. She didn’t believe Drogan had the cell phone pegged. She also didn’t expect him to answer when the boy put the call through, but since they’d had no luck finding him on their own it was worth a try.
“Okay, Reggie. You’ll talk into the phone like normal.” She ignored the roll of his eyes and continued. “Everything you say will be recorded here on Red’s computer, and we’ll be able to hear what you say and what he says. As you can see, our software will run a program to pinpoint Drogan’s location. The longer you can keep him talking, the better chance we have of finding him.”
“How does it work?” Reggie asked.
Dana looked to Red who combed his fingers through his beard.
“Ever use Google Earth?” When the boy nodded, Red pointed to the bottom quadrant of his screen. “It’s going to look similar. We’ll zoom in on him with three to six satellites.”
Dana noticed the kid pulled on his AC/DC cap more when he was nervous. “You don’t have to watch if it makes you anxious. You can turn the other way and pretend we’re not here.”