Sarah - A few minutes earlier

From Last time ...

"Just keep your mouth shut. Nobody says nuthin' to the cops 'cept me. Clear?"

"Yeah, Stafford. Loud and clear. Besides, we didn't know there was nuthin' there and the cops ain't got no reason to suspect otherwise. Right?"

"Yeah. That's right."

And now ...

She leaned against the front fender of the Jeep, frustrated that it was stuck in the sand within sight of the Gun Shop. She had slowed down as she breached the top of this little rise she was on and the Jeep just sunk into the sand - the more she tried to move it, the deeper the back wheels sunk into the loose, dry sand.

There was a semi headed up the highway, north and a bit east, toward the Diner, and Ma's. She could see she was just a couple hundred yards off the highway, and she was just about that far up from the Gun Shop - but the way things looked, she might as well be miles off from either.

"Can I help you?"

A tall young man appeared next to her as if from nowhere. Indian, by his dress, and by his look, as well. Dark skin and long, black straight hair with a headband and a feather.

"You just scared the shit out of me!! Where did you come from?"

"Over there." He pointed off toward the Gun Shop.

"Are you Two Feathers?"

"Yes, ma'am. I am. Just call me Billy. You must be Sarah. Oh, don't look like that. We have phones on the Reservation, too."

"Okay, fine. Jake wants you to get some guys and pack up the store. Today. Get everything out of there - pack it up in a truck and take it to the Reservation. But there's some stuff i gotta show you, first - so that you get it all - and my Jeep is stuck."

"Just put it in 4 wheel drive."

"Do WHAT?"

"Manuel put a new tranny in that thing not long after he got it. It has a high-low transfer case and selectable 4 wheel drive - that's what those extra levers on the floor are for."

"Show me."

Billy got in the jeep and showed her how to shift into and out of 4 wheel drive and how to use the high-low.

"Okay, let me do it. I gotta do it if I'm gonna drive this thing."

She threw it into 4 wheel and down into low. And the Jeep pulled right out of the sandy hole in which it had been stuck. She stopped and waited for Billy to hop in.

"See the old Chevy coming down the highway? That's Stafford's car. One of those crazy white men that Bertrett has hanging around his store. I wonder what he's doing out here this time of day. Those guys are almost always out here at night."

"There's trouble between Jake and some of those guys. That's why he's got to lay low for a while and that's why he wants to close up the shop, for now."

They pulled up behind the gun shop just a minute or so later. They walked around to the front of the shop. Billy had the keys out and was just going to open the door when they heard a sharp explosion that seemed to be fairly close by.

"Damn. What's going on? First Jake's trailer and now another explosion just down the road."

"You know it was Jake's trailer before?"

"Yeah. I hitched a ride up here and we were just going by Jake's mailbox when his trailer blew up. Pieces of that thing are STILL comin' down. I knew Jake wasn't there because I didn't see his car. Where is he? Up at the line shack? Maybe it's best I don't know. Let's get in - I gotta make some phone calls and you have to show me whatever it is you need to show me."

Just as they walked into the store the phone rang and Billy walked over and picked it up.

"Hello, Bertrett's. Sure. Sarah? It's for you."


Ndinombethe.