Tribal Ways by Alex Archer

Author:Alex Archer [Archer, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Action & Adventure, Fiction, Fiction - General, General, Women archaeologists, Creed, Annja (Fictitious character), Fantasy, Science Fiction And Fantasy, Indians of North America, Contemporary, Folklore, Fantasy - Contemporary
ISBN: 9780373621446
Publisher: Gold Eagle
Published: 2010-07-13T04:00:00+00:00

17

“So what we got here,” Lieutenant Tom Ten Bears said, “is what we call in law enforcement, technically, a big ol’ mess.”

Actually, Annja was willing to bet they called it something much worse, but she wasn’t about to contradict him.

They stood together next to the grid marked out by the OU archaeological dig team. The sticks leaned. The twine boundaries sagged forlornly. The wind plucked them like flaccid violin strings, eliciting no music Annja could hear.

“And we’re right in the middle of it,” she said.

“That surely is the case. Where’ve you been hiding from me, Ms. Creed?”

“If I told you it wouldn’t be hiding,” she said. “Am I in trouble? Have I gotten you in trouble?”

“‘Not yet’ to both.” He chuckled deep in his throat. “That was a cute trick to set up this meet. Why go all around Kicking Bird’s barn to do it, though?”

She had called his cell from a pay phone. She told him to go to where they first met and ask about her. At the ICU of the Norman medical center they had given him a handwritten note. It read simply, “Dig site.”

“I don’t want to be arrested,” she said. “Much less die.”

“You don’t trust the authorities?” His voice had taken on an edge like the spring wind.

She turned to face him. “No,” she said. “You told me yourself—nothing happens in Indian country that doesn’t get seen.”

He stared at her for a moment. Then, slowly, he nodded. “I see what you mean.”

“It doesn’t necessarily mean a traitor,” she added.

He turned away and sighed a puff of condensation. “But it’s possible. Likely, even, now that I think about it.”

“Then there’s the Feds,” she said. “I didn’t want to risk them listening to your calls.”

He turned back. “You really think they’d—whoa. No need to finish that, is there?”

He walked a few steps away from her. “I’m a patriot, Ms. Creed,” he said. “Any true Indian is. Think about it. The American white-eyes beat us. That must make them the best there is, huh? So theirs is an honorable path to follow.”

He shook his head. “And it’s a good country. The bad things that were done a long time ago—they were plenty bad. They’re also long past. In the end your people treated mine better than a lot of conquered peoples have gotten. And we’re accepted—mostly.”

“Yes,” she said. She wasn’t sure where he was going.

“I’ve fought for this country,” he said. “Not just in Iraq. And I still believe in it. But—”

He shook his head again. “I can’t believe in everything it does. Done in its name. I can’t believe in what it sometimes seems it’s becoming. I see the part I’ve played in that—and I feel ashamed. Is that wrong? Am I weak?”

“No,” she said. “And no.”

“Why did you want to talk to me, Ms. Creed?”

“I didn’t want you hunting for me.”

He laughed. “That’s pretty up front.”

“I also don’t want to lie to you, Lieutenant. Mainly, I don’t know if I could get away with it. Is anybody looking for me?”

“No.

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