Hawk Moon (19 page)

She stood up, rubbing her arms. She couldn't wait much longer. She had to get to the road before Will's mother got here. But she was reluctant to cross the field. The moon had risen, and she would be easily spotted.

Then she saw a flashlight beam at the back of the cabin. Two men. Both tall. The sheriff and his son. She was less than fifty yards away from them, and the flashlight beam was moving away from the cabin. She took several steps back into the forest. Maybe they had forced Irene to talk. Or maybe they were looking for her tracks. She was glad now that she'd run along the well-trodden path toward the outhouse before she'd dashed to the trees.

Then the light disappeared. The trees blocked her view. Were they rushing toward her? Did they know she was here?

Panicking, she turned and ran further into the forest until she was gasping for air. She stopped, listened. After a few moments, she heard a car engine start up. They were leaving.

She raced to the edge of the field. The police car was nowhere in sight. She waited another thirty seconds, wondering if it was a trap. Then she bolted for the cabin and tapped on the back door.

"It's okay. They're gone," Irene said. "The sheriff said you were a runaway and had been seen near here. They kept questioning me, telling me that it was a crime to harbor a runaway, that your parents were worried and wanted you back home."

"My parents are out of town. I'm not a runaway."

Irene nodded. "Don't worry. I didn't believe him. He was too intense to be just chasing a runaway. I told him I hadn't seen anyone out here."

"So he believed you?"

"He backed off after I told him I used to be a police dispatcher in Colorado Springs and would never hide a runaway."

"Thanks. I better get out to the road."

Irene opened a drawer and handed Corey a flashlight. "Take this with you. You can signal her."

The minutes stretched on endlessly as Corey waited at the roadside. It seemed she'd been standing here for hours when she finally saw headlights moving her way. She clicked on the flashlight. What if it was the sheriff coming back? She hesitated as the vehicle appeared over a rise. She decided to take a chance. She waved the flashlight and a Grand Cherokee skidded to a stop next to her.

The window went down and a woman with light brown hair, who didn't look much like Will, leaned out. "Are you Corey?"

"That's right." She climbed inside. She could see that Will's mother was surprised she was black and probably wondered why Will had never mentioned her. But there was no time to get acquainted.

"I'm Marion Connors. 'Where's Will?"

Corey saw a gun in a holster resting on her lap. "About two miles down the road. Maybe less."

Corey tried to remember where the two vehicles had been blocking the road, but it was too dark now to pick out the spot. Then the car's high beams fell on the Land Rover they'd ridden in from town and a Ford Explorer, the vehicle Burke had driven.

Marion pulled off the road. She turned off the engine and unsnapped the holster on her gun.

As soon as Corey got out, she saw the glow of a cigarette and smelled burning tobacco. Burke ambled over to them. "Marion. What are you doing here?" His voice was low and threatening.

She raised her gun and aimed it at his head. "Where's Will? Tell me right now."

"C'mon, babe. Put that thing down. That's dangerous."

Marion cocked the gun. "Where is he, Tom? I'm not kidding."

"Okay, okay. He's in the mine. But it's going to blow up in about ten minutes. That's the truth, too."

For a moment, Corey thought Marion was going to shoot him. Then she turned to Corey. "Where—where is it?"

"This way." Corey flicked on the flashlight and ran along the darkened trail. Will's mother raced after her. If Burke was following, he was nowhere in sight.

It seemed longer this time, and she was beginning to worry that she'd missed the mine when the flashlight beam fell on the entrance to the tunnel. She hurried into it, Marion right behind her.

She moved past the mining cart and stopped at the door. She was surprised to see that the lock was still on the ground. Why hadn't Burke locked the door? Was it a trap?

"Hurry! Open it," Marion said. "Will, are you in there?" Corey put her hands on the door and was about to push when she heard voices yelling inside. She thought they were calling for help, but something made her hesitate. Something about the door.

"Go ahead. Open it!" Marion urged.

"No! Don't!" Will shouted from behind them. "Don't touch that door."

"Will!" Marion turned and ran to him.

"The door triggers a bomb!" Will yelled. "Get away from it."

Corey backed away, her heart pounding in her ears. Burke had wanted them to rush here and open the door. That was why he had been so quick to tell them where to find Will.

"How did you get out?" Marion asked, hugging Will.

"There's another way. We've got to help Dad and Grandpa and Detective Olsen." He pulled away from her, leaned over the mining cart, and snatched a rope. "We don't have much time."

W
ill dashed out of the tunnel, then scrambled up the steep hill. He slipped once, grabbed on to the trunk of an aspen sapling, and pulled himself to his feet.

Marion worked out at a gym and it showed. She was agile and kept within a few feet of him, and Corey was right behind her. The landscape leveled and Will was on his feet and running. He reached the hole he'd escaped from and dropped into it. He grabbed the lantern he'd left on the ground and threw the end of the rope to his mother. "Let it all out."

He found the footholds, clambered down to the ladder, and dropped onto the lab counter.

"Will, what are you doing?" Connors yelled. "This place is going to blow." He was now working on the thick rope binding
Lansa's
ankles. Olsen's feet were free, and she was leaning over the bomb looking at the timer.

"Listen to your grandfather," Olsen said. "There's nothing you can do for us."

"We can pull you out." He reached up for the rope to tie a loop for a harness, but realized it was too short.

Even if they were able to climb onto the counter, the rope wouldn't reach.

"It won't work," he said softly.

"Will, get out now!"
Lansa
shouted.

His head throbbed, his heart pounded. He held out the lantern and lowered himself to his hands and knees as he stared at the timer on the bomb. Two minutes left.

Will looked up at his father—to say good-bye to him, to apologize for failing him—but his view was blocked by a man in a long leather shirt, leggings, and boots. He wore two feathers in his long black hair. "
Masau
," Will whispered, recognizing the figure from his dreams.

The moment he said the name, the image shifted and Will was looking at Burke, who smiled and dropped down to one knee in front of the bomb. He reached down and put his fingers on a blue wire.

"Cut this one and it won't go off."

Will wasn't sure whether the voice was spoken aloud or was inside his head. He climbed down from the counter and looked at Connors. "Grandpa, give me your knife."

"Will!" Connors shouted. "Get out of here!"

"You don't have to die with us," Olsen said.

"Give it to him,"
Lansa
said in an even voice. "He knows what he's doing."

His father knew. Somehow he knew what was going on. Connors tossed the pocketknife. Will picked it up, then dropped down on one knee in front of the bomb. He heard his mother calling him from above. His fingers were shaking. He looked at the clock. Fifty seconds left.

He reached for the wire. But now he saw there were two blue ones, one looping to the left, the other to the right. Which one was it?

He stared at the wires, sweat dripping from his brow, blurring his vision. He took the blue wire on the left between his finger tips. He hesitated, then pressed the knife to the wire. It sliced easily through the insulation, but the blade was dulled from cutting the rope. He sawed back and forth, puffing the wire over the blade.

C'mon. Cut.

He glanced at the timer. Fifteen seconds left. Ten. Nine. Eight.

The blade slit the wire.

He fell back and watched the seconds tick away. Four. . . three. . . two. . . one.

Nothing happened.

Just then he heard a muffled voice at the door. "Will, are you in there?"

The voice was familiar, but he couldn't place it. He saw the wire leading to the door. "Don't open that . . .”

The door creaked open. Will tensed, still expecting an explosion. Again, nothing happened.

Then the bomb emitted a buzzing sound. His hands froze in the air; his breath caught in his throat. The sound stopped.

No one spoke. Will slowly stood up. His mother called his name again. "I think . . . I think we're safe," he replied.

"How did you do it?" Connors asked. "How did you know which wire to cut?"

"I had some help."

Coach
Boorman
and Aaron Thomas stood in the doorway, scanning the room. "My God,"
Boorman
said. "Your mother called me from her car just as Aaron was telling me he thought you were set up."

Marion climbed down the ladder to the counter and turned to
Boorman
. "Did you call the state troopers?"

"You bet I did. They're on their way. Are you sure the sheriff is involved?"

"I'm more than sure," Olsen said from the other side of the room.

Will touched the back pocket of his jeans and was relieved to find that Burke's notebook was still there. "I've got proof, too."

"Oh, no!" Marion said in a low voice.

Will followed her gaze past
Boorman
. Burke was standing behind
Boorman
, his snub-nosed .38 in his hand. He was staring at the bomb. His eyes looked glazed.

No one moved.

But Burke simply turned and walked away without saying a word. A moment later, a single shot rang out, echoing through the lab.

T
he wind swept through the ghost town of Ashcroft warning of the approach of winter. Will and Corey were both bundled in parkas as they walked down the main street of the deserted, crumbling town. Will peered into the open doorways of the sagging buildings as if he expected to see Myra's ghost.

"You miss her, don't you?" Corey asked.

Will nodded. "I needed to come here one more time. It's the last place we were together," he said as if she didn't already know.

He stopped in front of a doorway, the same one he and Myra had entered the night of her death. They walked into the building. The bare wood walls and beams looked skeletal in the light of midday.

"She wanted to tell me something when we came here that night. Now I know it was about the drug and the factory. She'd found out, but was too frightened to say anything."

"Why didn't she tell you?"

"I didn't give her a chance."

He moved over to the window and to his amazement saw the red fox he'd seen when he was here with Myra. His ears were poised, his brown eyes staring at him from the high grass. He pointed it out to Corey.

"I saw him that night, too."

"Even though she didn't have a chance to tell you, you still found out. She left you with a challenge, and you succeeded."

It was not only a challenge, he thought, it became part of Hawk Moon, his initiation into the Hopi tribe. "I couldn't have figured it out without your help."

She looked up at him and smiled. "You helped me, too. I came out of my shell. I think I can accept this place now." She laughed. "I'm accepting Aspen and you're leaving."

"How did you know?"

"I didn't. I just had a feeling that you're going to live with your dad."