Tainted Mountain (26 page)

Forty-Three

“What do you mean
Charlie Podanski isn't here?” Barrett worried his heart would explode as his father's had.

The middle-aged woman with bags under her eyes lowered her voice even more. “Please keep it down. It's late.”

Later than this old bat knew. Barrett wanted Charlie out of the way. “How could he be released? He was in a bad accident.”

She eyed him like a confidante. “He wasn't really released. There was some hubbub here today with the police and everything. Two women kidnapped him.”

“What?”

She warmed to her gossip. “Well, one was a girl. That woman from the ski place had this girl with her, and they just took him. They say the girl is a McCreary. No one seems to know why they did it.” She obviously didn't know who Barrett was, the idiot.

Goddamn it. Abigail would know what's going on. He headed for the elevators.

The woman behind the front desk stopped him. “Wait. Visiting hours are long over. You can't go up there.”

He lowered his eyes. “Please understand. I want to say good night to my wife. I would have been here earlier, but I had to keep the grandbabies until our daughter got done with her shift at the restaurant.”

“I thought you came to see Charlie Podanski.”

You meddling hag.
“Oh, no. He's an old friend. I wanted to check on him while I was here. I came to see my wife on the third floor.”

She would cave; she had that look. After a moment she said, “Okay. But please make it quick. I could get in a lot of trouble.”

Nora had Heather, Charlie, and Scott's logs. Barrett only had Abigail.

But that was enough.

A
s Barrett approached Abigail's room, he heard Cole's voice murmuring. Barrett snuck closer and peered into the room. Abigail appeared to be sleeping.

Cole stood looking out the window, phone to his ear. “Those wells are in Hopiland.”

And Barrett knew exactly what wells Cole referred to. He could guess who listened on the other end of the line, and he even had a pretty good idea where they were.

Everything he'd worked for was unraveling. Cole held sway over the congressional committee. Now he knew the secret of the wells. The Hopi would never give their permission to mine once they found out he hadn't cleaned up the uranium as he said. It was lost. Over.

Barrett stood in the hallway feeling his heart expand with the panic. He labored for breath. Fucking Cole had ruined everything.

What if Cole disappeared? Barrett had already gotten away with Scott, Maureen, Big Elk, Alex. One more. Then he'd be home free. Once Cole was out of the way, Abigail would be Barrett's leverage, his ticket to everything he'd ever dreamed of for Heather.

Barrett slipped into a room across the hall with a sleeping patient. He cast about for something. Anything. A cell phone lay on the bedside table, the charging cord stretched to the outlet. Barrett snatched it, pulled the cord free, and spun around.

Cole still stared out the window, his back to the door.

Maybe he couldn't be quite as silent as his paid killer, but Barrett moved quietly enough. Cole was so shocked when the cord flew over his head and around his neck that it took him too long to react.

Barrett threw Cole face first on the ground and planted his knee in Cole's back. With all his bulk, Barrett pulled the cord and twisted it to cut off Cole's air.

Cole kicked and struggled but he was no match for Barrett's weight. It sounded like a riot to Barrett but it was certainly less conspicuous than a gunshot.

He hated what he was doing. Feeling the life seep from a body hurt his spirit, stole a bit of his own soul.

Goddamn these people for making him do this.

It seemed like hours, yet Barrett knew it couldn't have been more than minutes or even seconds. Cole quit moving but Barrett wasn't sure he was dead.

“Barrett?” Abigail leaned up on an elbow and stared at him.

He didn't move.

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God! Help!”

Dead or not, Barrett couldn't wait. He abandoned Cole and launched himself on Abigail.

Forty-Four

“We have to go
to the hospital. Something is wrong.”

Charlie and Heather stared at Nora as if they couldn't understand what she said. A sudden telephone ring ripped through the room. Nora yelped and Heather lurched toward the sound. It rang again and Nora located it on the corner of the desk.

Heather grabbed it and punched it on. She listened for a second. “Where are you?” Hatred snapped in her dark eyes and she looked at the stand, punched the speaker, and set the phone back in the cradle.

“Can you hear me now?” Barrett's low voice snaked from the phone.

Heather dripped malice. “What do you want?”

“I'm glad you finally made it home. Is everyone safe? How is ol' Charlie holding up?”

Charlie raised his eyebrows. “Fine, Mac. Thanks for asking.”

“Good to hear it. You have the cops concerned. They're trying to figure out how you're involved in all this.”

“Look, Barrett,” Nora said. “We know Scott was working for you and you killed him and Maureen to hide the increase in uranium in the groundwater.”

He laughed. “Very good.”

“We're going to the cops.”

“I don't think you want to do that.”

“You mean
you
don't want me to do that. Too bad.”

“Here's what you're going to do. You and Charlie load up that box of Scott's things, including the well logs, and meet me up on the Peak. I'll be at the springs.”

He paused. “Heather?”

Rage clouded her voice. “What?”

“You stay home.”

She didn't answer.

“Give me another chance, Heather. When this is over, we'll take a world tour.”

“Fuck you.”

Silence sat for a moment. “Nora,” Barrett said. “You have your instructions.”

“Sure. Shall we bring wine or just the cops?”

“I think you'll want to do exactly as I say.”

“Or what?”

“Or your mother might have an accident.”

“Mother?”

Charlie jumped to his feet. He leaned toward the phone.

“You don't think you're the only one who can sneak past a few nurses, do you?”

Bile burned in Nora's gut. “What did you do to her?”

Barrett sounded as if he enjoyed the conversation. “Well, you know how she is about the great outdoors. But she's holding up
fine.
Except she might trip and fall out here in the dark. Some of these cliffs can be treacherous—but I don't have to tell
you
that.”

“Please don't hurt her.” Nora could barely breathe.

“Bring the papers. If you don't, I'm sure the cops won't have a problem believing you are a very sick woman—a bad seed.”

“Let me hear her. I need to know she's okay.”

A shuffling sound came through the phone, then Abigail's voice, strong and angry. “Nora. He strangled Cole. Don't come out here. We do not negotiate with terrorists. Do you h—”

Barrett's voice came back. “Bring the box to the spring, Nora. And bring Charlie. It's been a long time since we've partied together, man.”

He hung up.

Nora immediately reconnected.

Charlie's hand shot out and grabbed the phone. “What are you doing?”

“I'm calling the cops.”

“You can't do that.”

“I don't care if they throw me in jail for the rest of my life. We have to save my mother.”

“One hint of cops and Abigail is a goner. We have to do this by ourselves.”

Tears pushed at Nora's eyes. “He's going to kill us, isn't he? All of us.”

Charlie's face sharpened. “I imagine he'll try.”

“Oh God, what about Cole?” Another person dead because of her.

Charlie straightened his shoulders, setting himself for battle. “Cole's a tough one, honey.”

She could only save one person at a time. Right now, it had to be Abigail. Nora started for the door. She stopped and looked around. “Where's Heather?”

“Didn't hear her leave.”

Heather had more courage and ingenuity than either of them. They would be better off with her there, but that wouldn't be safe. “We've got to go without her.”

Charlie reached back into the desk drawer and brought out a pistol. “We might need this, then.”

Forty-Five

Heather's car was gone
when they got outside, and Nora lost precious time running to the barn to find a pickup. Lucky for them, Barrett's belief in his invincibility extended to his vehicles because the keys dangled from the ignition. Nora skirted town on the interstate and turned off on a dark road heading to Kachina Ski. At this time of night, there wasn't much traffic and thankfully they didn't run into any cops.

The chill of the mountain air swept across her face when she stepped from the pickup into Kachina's lot. She slid the box across the seat and threw the gun on top.

Charlie snatched the gun with his undamaged hand. “Better let me hold on to this. You've never used one before.”

Her heart raced and she didn't want to waste time talking. “You have?”

He looked grim. “ 'Nam, remember?”

“Well, I'm not afraid to use it on Barrett if I need to.”

Charlie shook his head. “She's important to me too.”

They couldn't stay here and argue. She picked up the box and took off up the mountain to the spring.

Several feet from the clearing, she stopped and tried to still the panic pounding in her chest along with her heart. A dull light issued from a battery-powered lantern set on the rock.

Barrett's voice drifted to her. “Come on out, Nora. We're waiting.”

Nora stepped forward. The moon cast just enough light onto the forest to reveal Barrett in the clearing.

“I'm sure you'll understand that I had to muzzle your mother. Her tongue can get sharp.” He moved toward a boulder on which Abigail perched with her hands tied behind her back. Barrett bent over and pulled duct tape from around Abigail's mouth. He worked with one hand because his other held a gun.

Abigail gasped at the sting of the tape ripped from her mouth. “Nora, get away from here. He's insane.”

Nora walked into the clearing and set the box down. “Here it is. Now let her go.”

Barrett eyed the box, his gun dangling at his side. “You weren't stupid enough to make copies?”

The pristine spring at the base of the rocks looked like a virgin waiting for sacrifice. “This is it. All the evidence of increased uranium heading to the Hopi wells. If you keep quiet about this, you can go ahead and kill off the whole tribe and save Heather from ever living on the rez.”

Abigail stirred on her rock. “Get out of here, Nora!”

Barrett ignored her. He addressed Nora. “You've got it wrong. I'm going to save the Hopi. There's no need to reveal the uranium because I'm going to make it all go away. I'm here to protect them.”

“You can't clean it up if you don't admit it's there.”

Barrett smiled, his teeth white in the night. “That's where you come in. Or more precisely, where snow making comes in.”

Abigail stood, tottered, and dropped onto the boulder again. “You are a lunatic and I demand you release us this instant.”

Barrett looked into the forest behind Nora. “Where's Charlie?”

The sound of a twig snapping to Nora's left was the only indication of movement. Charlie stepped into the clearing. “Right here, Mac.”

Barrett didn't seem startled by Charlie's sudden appearance.

Abigail let out a sigh of irritation. “You couldn't go to the cops, just this once? I suppose it's your Communist leanings that keep you from doing the smart thing.”

Charlie turned toward Abigail and smiled at her. “Your spirit is as full of fire as always.”

“Okay, Casanova,” Barrett said. “As with everything else, you don't know when to quit. You couldn't abandon the hippie, tree-hugging life when it became clear the old methods weren't working.”

“Not like you, Mac. For some of us, the battle to save the Earth has real meaning. It isn't just something to pass the time while we wait to inherit our fortunes.”

Barrett shook his head. “You poor, deluded fool. What has all your protests, petitions, demonstrations on the tops of flagpoles and wires strung across the trails accomplished?”

“It brought awareness, man. Changing the world I touch.”

“The world I touch covers the globe.
Man
.” Barrett's voice carried contempt. “With my money and influence I've built clinics and cleaned up the rez.”

Charlie interrupted, nodding. “Yep. Built clinics for people and took away their faith in their medicine men. Cleaned up the mess that wouldn't have been there but for your greed. A real hero. But what about the messes you didn't clean up? What about the uranium-tainted water on its way to Hopiland?”

B
arrett toyed with the gun in his hand. “You read the logs, then?”

“What's uranium in the groundwater on Hopi lands have to do with snow making?” Charlie asked.

Nora took a step in Abigail's direction. Barrett didn't look at her.

“See, Charlie, you're always thinking in local terms. Saving this trail or that Spotted Owl. You've got to look at the big picture.”

Nora knew Charlie's gun nestled in his waistband in the middle of his back. Why didn't he do something with it?

“What big picture is that, Mac?”

Nora moved one step at a time toward Abigail. Charlie's eyes, so often unfocused, were like lasers trained on Barrett.

“You think I only know about making money. That I'm only concerned with how to get what I can from the Earth and leave it in any shape as long as I turn a profit. But you're wrong.”

“Is that so, Mac? What else do you care about?”

Charlie distracted Barrett with conversation and Nora didn't waste the opportunity. She was only a few steps away from Abigail.

Barrett held the gun toward Charlie. “You've seen my Heather. She's beautiful and smart and will inherit what all three generations of McCreary's have built. Everything I do, I do for her.”

Charlie put his hands on his hips, the bandaged hand as well as the good one, inching closer to the gun tucked beneath his waistband. “I see. But Heather won't be happy with you when she finds out about the uranium killing off her people.”

Barrett waved his hand. “The Hopi aren't her people. McCrearys are her people. Even so, I'm not going to let the uranium hit the well.”

“What are you going to do with it? Suck it out?” Charlie's hand slid toward his back and the gun.

“Something like that. Even Scott had to agree I have a clever plan.”

Mention of Scott made Nora's stomach flip. On the verge of shouting at Barrett and calling him murderer, she swallowed her rage. Another step and she'd be at Abigail's side.

“Tell me about this clever plan,” Charlie said.

Barrett beamed. “Diversion. If I pump water from the aquifer here, under this peak, the water that would have hit Hopi wells will flow this way.”

“What happens when that uranium-contaminated water gets to this well?” Charlie asked, his voice sounding dry.

Nora inched to Abigail's side and reached for the knots at her wrists with slight movements.

Barrett shrugged. “It's a mountain. Uranium is a natural element. People aren't going to be drinking the snow.”

Charlie didn't say anything for a moment. “You're going to pump uranium on the sacred peak, and you think the kachinas will stand for it?”

Barrett let out a disgusted breath. “Kachinas. You don't still believe in those old myths, do you?”

“You used to believe, Mac. What happened?”

“I grew up. My family, supposedly protected by the kachinas, died a horrible death, and no one told me until years later. They kept my daughter from me, told me she died with Ester and Manangya, and they slowly killed her too.”

“They didn't kill her,” Charlie said.

“What do you call raising her in such poverty and despair she turned to the bottle? If they'd have let me have her, she would be alive.”

Charlie's fingers closed on the gun behind his back. “What makes you think you'd have done any better? Your record with relationships isn't that great. Seems you thought if you left the rez, Ester would follow you.”

Barrett winced. “She was a hypocrite.”

“I might call her stubborn, smart, bull-headed, beautiful, and devoted to her people, but I never thought of her as a hypocrite.”

Barrett's mouth twisted in bitterness. “What do you call it when she talked about her family and duty and sacrifice for her people. But when it came to me doing for my people, she wouldn't listen.”

Barrett had more skill with knots than Heather, and Nora still struggled to loosen the ties on Abigail's hands.

Charlie took a tiny step forward. “She saw your abandonment for what it was: a chance for you to get back to the easy life.”

Barrett bellowed like a bear in pain. “What do you know how she saw anything? She knew how much I loved her, cherished her and our children. She was punishing me for not living life her way.”

Ch
arlie shook his head. “Some punishment. She's dead. Your son is buried beside her. And you're amassing a fortune, living in a mansion, and allowing enough uranium to seep into Hopi wells to wipe out the whole tribe.”

“Ester wouldn't listen when I told her about all the good we could do on the rez with McCreary money. If she hadn't run away she'd have seen the food deliveries that started immediately, the visiting doctors, the clinic, the school.”

With the slightest movement, Charlie pulled the gun from his waistband. “She didn't want white doctors and water lines and electricity. She wanted the freedom to preserve the old ways. She believed in the Hopi way of life and their responsibility to the world.”

Barrett waved the hand that held his gun, pretty much completely distracted by what was clearly an emotional argument for him. Words burst like bullets from his mouth. “Her bullshit religion and the kachinas and nature and balance. That's what killed her! She took my son, went out to the desert to pray, and it killed them.”

“The uranium contamination in the wells killed her,” Charlie said simply.

The rope fell away from Abigail's hands.

“If she'd have moved to town with me, her water would have been filtered and clean. She'd be alive. My son would be alive!”

Charlie shook his head. “The blame doesn't rest with a woman who was living as her ancestors lived.”

“But I have Heather. She'll make up for her grandmother's stupid choices.”

“Sorry, Mac. I don't think Heather's going to want anything to do with you from now on.”

Barrett shook his head. “She's a teenager. She's going through her rebellion, but she'll come around. She'll claim her heritage.”

“I think she's more inclined to Ester's side of the family.”

“She'll never know about that weak bloodline.”

“She already knows who she is. And she knows about the uranium in the wells.”

A twig snapped in the forest opposite the clearing from Nora. Barrett turned his head.

The conversation ended.

Charlie pulled his gun.

Nora wrapped an arm around Abigail and threw them both to the ground, landing on top of Abigail to protect her.

A gunshot erupted in the night air.