Chapter 46: Eleven Acres
"All right. Her name is Cameron Arlington, and she's currently being held at Sealview Women's Correctional Facility. Give me a moment to try and find that file."
Clayton drummed his fingers on his desktop as he waited for the woman's voice to come back on the line. Same one from before; he figured that would be a good thing, as this woman had already heard from him before and at least he was slightly familiar with her.
"Does she have any other names?"
"Not that I know of—wait. Her birth certificate was issued for the name Ok Suk Park."
"All right. I found her file. Please remember if you need to call us in the future she is listed under Park, Ok Suk. That is the name she will use while detained and the name she is registered under."
"Her name is Cameron Arlington."
"Mr. Abernathy. She says her name is Cameron Arlington but her birth certificate has no such name on it. There is no paper here legally changing her name or proving her status as the lawfully adopted child of her father. She will need the adoption paper that says she was adopted and the paper that legally changed her name."
"She is the biological child of her father. She's half Native American, for God's sake, you can tell that just by looking at her! He shouldn't have needed to adopt her! I'm trying to track down her father's service record now hoping the paperwork he filed for her immigration and naturalization from overseas is in there, but it's taking time."
"If her father's name is not on the birth certificate then she needs to produce a paper that legalizes her adoption. If she wishes to use the name Cameron Arlington she needs to produce a paper in which it was legally changed. According to the prison notes, she is employing passive-aggressive resistance tactics by refusing to answer to the name 'Sue Park' and her time in solitary confinement has been lengthened to attempt to break her of that."
"Jesus…" Clayton cursed. "Wait a minute. This whole time in prison you've been using her birth name instead of her name? No wonder she didn't respond when they gave her orders when she had her flashback!" He leaned forward. "You cannot keep her in solitary confinement. Please. She was subjected to severe childhood abuse and now suffers from complex post traumatic stress disorder, and when I was at the prison I saw them strap her down to a table when she had her flashback instead of giving her time to calm down and come out of it. The physical restraint intensified her flashback and they were unwilling to give her time to 'come back' to the present. Solitary confinement will not help her recover emotionally from her CPTSD, and will instead exacerbate her condition. As well, she had just come out of surgery and needs medications, pain prescriptions and antibiotics to help her recover from that surgery. We have those medications here and I can drop them off at the prison if you need them."
"That will not be necessary. The prison pharmacy will no doubt have the medicines required and will be dispensed as the doctor feels necessary."
Yeah. I'll bet they aren't going to feel it 'necessary' although they'll give her some downers to keep her calm. He forced that thought out of his mind. "If her father never thought it necessary to fill out adoption papers for his own child, how do we prove she's his?"
Alex leaned forward so her voice could be heard over the phone. "Since her father was Iroquois, could we get a DNA test from someone in her clan or her tribe and then run hers against it? There are certain ethnic markers that crop up in DNA tests that could positively identify her as a member of the Iroquois tribe and would therefore prove she is indubitably 'legal'.
"We've never used DNA tests before." The voice sounded doubtful. "I don't know if that would be allowed."
"Cam also said she was adopted by the Iroquois tribe. Would those tribe-issued papers be proof that she is here legally?"
The voice spoke immediately. "Papers issued by Native American tribes are not officially recognized by the US Government and Customs and Immigration officials as they are not a separate sovereign entity from the US government. So no."
They were here before we were. They should be automatically protected. Clayton didn't voice that thought, opting instead for a neutral, "All right. I think I understand what she needs now. Please check with ICE and find out if a DNA match would be admissible as proof of her heritage and we will work on those official papers." He severed the connection and looked at his team wearily. "Anyone have any ideas on where to go from here?"
Alex was gathering up her papers. "I'm going to fill out a DNA request form and go to Sealview. They'll have to take her out of solitary to take a DNA swab and I'll have to be present when they do it, so she'll see me and I can tell her that we're working on it and to hang on. At least she'll know we haven't totally forgotten her."
"I'm trying to get Cam's father's service record, but it's slow going because we're Army and he was Air Force and there is a lot of red tape my request has to go through. I'll keep trying because I kind of get the feeling that's where we're going to find the required documentation." Allie looked just as tired as he felt.
Shana said unexpectedly, "I think you should go upstate. Cam has her home address listed on her enlistment papers as Cattaraugus County Reservation, and didn't she mention several times that as a warrior of her tribe she's entitled to hold property? There could be clues to her past there, maybe a forgotten paper somewhere."
Clayton looked at her in astonishment. "I never thought of that. That might work. I can also talk to some of the Iroquois there too."
"Take Charlie with you. They'll be more willing to open up to another Native American than they will to a 'stupid white man'." Shana looked amused. "And hey, if Liv's up to it, take her with you—she can pave the way though the local law enforcement office."
Clayton couldn't find Charlie Ironknife anywhere. He checked the rec room, quarters, garage bay, didn't find the man. It wasn't until he passed the gym and heard the unmistakable sound of flute music that he pinned the big Navajo down in the 'girlz only' studio.
He paused in the doorway, unwilling to disturb what looked like a private ritual. Charlie was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor dressed in full shaman regalia, a small burning candle sitting on a polished circular wooden dish in front of him, there was an incense burner close to his right knee and he was playing a soft melody on the tiny cedar flute he held. On the other side of the candle lay another flute. Cam's, Hawk guessed.
Charlie stopped playing, let the last few soft notes drift into silence before reaching over and blowing out the candle. "Yes, Clayton?"
"Sorry to disturb you," he said quietly as he stepped fully into the studio. Shana, Courtney and Allie hadn't used the studio since Cam had been attacked; the mirrors had been replaced, the floor cleaned, but Hawk could, in his mind's eye, still see the smears of blood on the floor and he suspected that was the real reason the girls hadn't used it since.
"Her spirit is strong here," Charlie said by way of explanation. "She was happiest here when she was dancing; there is a part of her soul that still lingers. I sing to her, and I pray that she will hear it, and that it brings her back."
"Charlie, we will get this resolved and we will get her back," Clayton picked up Cam's flute and examined it. It looked the same as the first one, but there was more detail, the lines finer, the deer's limbs more sharply defined. Now he understood the significance of the flames carved around the flute's holes; the fire that had disfigured Cam's body so horribly but had set her free, the freedom she had paid such a dear price for.
"I am not talking about her immigration issues, Clayton. I know you will resolve those and she will come back to base. She is in a dark place right now, she is lost and looking for help and there is no one there to help lead her back. So I play for her, hoping she will hear and it will help her find her way back to her body."
"She's lost?"
"She is having what Shana and Allie called a flashback. My people call it wandering the memory's road, so I have been keeping vigil here. Blood is the memory's river, and if she can find the river she can find her way back. She is the Deer-Who-Leads, the north star, she needs only a little help to find her way back. She is tied and hurting and unable to move, but I promised her that if she comes back we will make it all right. I will make it all right."
"Charlie…how did you know…I haven't told anyone except the girls that she's on a restraint table in solitary."
"Blood is the memory's river, Clayton. She can hear me just as I can hear her. I can hear her crying, I know she is in pain and the infection in her body is spreading, but when I play I can soothe her, give her heart to fight and keep fighting until she is safe."
"She's infected?"
"The surgery went well and restored harmony to her body but I can see darkness and I know she's infected."
It didn't even occur to Clayton to doubt Charlie's word. He grabbed his cellphone, fumbled with it until he got Alex's phone number dialed.
She answered on the first ring. "Clayton?"
"Charlie says she's infected and she's in a lot of pain. When you're there getting the DNA swab, please see if you can get them to give her some pain meds and her antibiotics!"
"She'll get them. If I have to file a lawsuit against the prison right there she'll get them." Alex didn't even ask how he knew, although Clayton knew she'd probably bombard him with questions later.
"Thanks Alex." He stuffed his cellphone into his pocket and said, "Charlie…you up to a trip upstate with me? And Olivia?"
Charlie uncoiled from the floor with smooth grace. "Where are we going?"
"I'm going to dig into Cam's past. She said she's a property holder with her tribe, so we want to go upstate and take a look at her house, and speak to some of the people of her clan. Maybe they will know something we don't."
"And you hope that if you have another Native American around, even a different nation, they may be willing to open up to you."
Clayton rolled his eyes. "Am I that transparent?" he held up a hand. "Don't answer that. If it makes you feel any better, Olivia will be coming along and she's going to smooth things over with local law enforcement while I check out Cam's aunt and uncle."
"It is a wise man who knows when he needs help," Charlie said sagely, and it was only as Clayton looked up at him that he realized Charlie was laughing at him.
Olivia took a deep sniff of the air as Clayton opened the door and helped her out. "Wow. It smells different up here, so much fresher and cleaner than New York."
"None of the pollution in the city, the rotting garbage and the smell of too many humans living too close together." Charlie defined the thought for her. "I can see why Cameron loves it up here. It is absolutely gorgeous." It was early October, and the air had a crisp bite to it; a hint of winter to come even as the panorama of surrounding trees on their right turned red, brown and gold around the small town of Irving. Off to their left, Lake Erie sat serene, a smooth unruffled surface reflecting the cloudless blue arched vault of sky overhead.
The reservation community of Eleven Acres was tiny. Absolutely tiny. You could have fit the entire population of Joe Base here and still have had space left over. Clayton had pulled up in front of the general store, which looked like something from out of a wild west painting; small, rustic, wood-framed, complete with a couple of battered wooden chairs leaning on their back legs against the front wall under the capacious porch. The only thing it was missing was a couple of guys sitting in those chairs chewing on grass stems, he thought.
He'd worn his fatigues, though he'd taken rank indicators off his sleeve; he didn't want to scare away anyone who could have valuable information to help them sort this mess out and bring Cam back home. He commended himself on that move as the three of them walked into the general store; Olivia wore some comfortable loose pants and an oversized NYPD sweatshirt, and Charlie was dressed like a typical 'modern' native American; button down flannel shirt, jeans, boots, his long hair twisted into two braids and several strands of turquoise and wooden carved beads around his neck.
There were four people in the store, loading up on items from the shelves, and one guy behind the counter, plainly the store owner or cashier; all of them looked up and went absolutely silent as Clayton, Liv, and Charlie walked in.
"Hey, soldier," the man behind the counter spoke first. "What brings you to our neck of the woods?"
"Hi. Clayton Abernathy, US Army. Uh, I'm looking for anyone who can give me information about a half-Iroquois woman named Cameron Arlington."
"What do you want to know?" the storekeeper challenged.
"She is one of my soldiers, on base, and she's been detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for being here illegally. There is some paperwork she has to provide before she can be released and I'm trying to track that paperwork down so I can bring her home."
"ICE has no jurisdiction over the members of the tribe," said a woman sharply, coming around the end of a rack of shelves, and her features proclaimed her heritage. "There is no reason she should have been detained."
"According to them, since Cam's father wasn't listed on her birth certificate it was his responsibility to formally adopt her. The paperwork they have on her has no indication of adoption or of her name change; she knows herself as Cameron Arlington but the only name that ICE has for her is Sue Park. They are refusing to use 'Cameron Arlington' until they have some sort of official paper that legally changes her name. I was hoping that I might find something here, some clue that would lead me to the location of that paper so I can bring her home."
"This is her home. We told her that the white man's world was not for her, that she should not go back out into it after what it had done to her. But she refused to listen and went back out anyway." The woman's eyes were hard and full of anger, not at Cam, but at Clayton. He understood, and he didn't take it personally; he was a symbol of the 'white man's world' that she had warned Cam against.
"To hide and run is not the warrior's way," Charlie rumbled unexpectedly from behind Clayton. "Sometimes the Deer-Who-Leads must be willing to turn and fight the wolves that nip at her heels. Freedom from the wolves, both inside and out, is the only way to achieve true balance as a warrior of the People."
The woman blinked in astonishment as Clayton stepped aside, allowing Charlie to step forward. She took in his dress, his stiffly formal manner, and said hesitantly, "You are not one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois."
"I am Navajo, from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. Kenastie Scannado is—" He used a word Clayton didn't know, but at the sound of it the woman's face softened.
"Then be welcome. I am Jennifer Aiennatha, of the Oneida tribe of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, Bear Clan. Though not of my clan, Kenastie Scannado was a dear friend and sister and if I can help get her back, I will." She hefted her shopping basket, which seemed heavy; Clayton stepped forward almost unthinkingly and took it from her. She smiled then, and allowed him to carry it to the counter for her. "Let me pay for this, and we will go to my house and talk."