Chapter Seven
Now
When a Tree Talks…
Right about here is where things started to get even weirder. Just before we pulled into my Great-grandmother's "outfit" the wind started whipping up and before you knew it, we had a major dust storm swirling around us. Williams pulled the hummer up, just like I had told him and killed the engine. Before we could even unfasten our seatbelts (yes, hummers have them, they don't get used much in combat, but they have them), Uncle Old Tree leaned out of the hogan and motioned us along. There was urgency in his manner that had me chivvying the guys out of the vehicle and chasing them into the hogan.
"Spirit Wind." Was all Uncle said before he wrapped me in a surprisingly strong bear hug.
Next Grammy had me by the waist and was squeezing the breath out of me.
"I have missed you both, so much." I hugged back and blinked my eyes rapidly, that dang dust can really cause problems.
Grammy slapped at my arm, "Huh, you missed us so much you have not come to see us since you have been back in your home. You have been here two months, and you have not been to see us. Why is that, daughter of my grandchild?" Boy, she could cut to the chase faster than any ten people I know.
"I have been just a bit busy, Grammy." Was that a whine in my voice? I never whine!
"Yes, yes, I know. You are an important Warrior Woman and the world will cease to exist as we know it if you are distracted." I heard Uncle chuckle and knew that I had to distract her fast or I was never going to dig myself out of this one. And by the way, yes, I do tend to sound like her. She's my hero.
"No, not that, I have been trying to make this worthless man fit for you to meet." It worked. Thomas may never speak to me again, but Grammy was sidetracked. I had the urge to check myself for wounds when Thomas glared at me. I'm not certain, but I think there is knife sticking out of my back.
"So, this is the one you have chosen." She walked over to Thomas, looked him up and down and then walked slowly around him. He gritted his teeth and glared at me again. "Yes, he looks capable of siring many children." Leave it to Grammy. Iverson started coughing, Williams turned purple. I think he was holding his breath to keep from laughing. Thomas, poor Thomas, he turned a slow red and rolled his eyes heavenward. "Does he make you smile in the blankets?"
"GRAMMY!"
"Huh. Children always think they are the only ones who know about sex. How do you think you got here?" She snorted and creaked off to stoke the fire under the old coffee pot.
"I'm going to get you for this." Thomas muttered in my ear and I smiled lamely.
"Hey, she likes you."
"Oh, yeah, how can you tell?"
This loving little bit a conversation was interrupted when Uncle pushed us gently in the general direction of the fire and started settling us in an amazing variety of chairs. Soon we all had a container of coffee, some mugs, some glasses, and Thomas had Grammy's prize teacup, the only piece left of a set that her husband had bought for her more than seventy years ago. Yup, she liked him.
Grammy kept up a running interrogation that had Thomas scrambling for answers. If the FBI were smart, they would hire a bunch of grandmothers as interrogators. Nothing gets past them, they don't hesitate to ask whatever crosses their minds, they think waaaaaaay outside the box, and they refuse to take "I don't know" for an answer.
Dan and Williams did their best to become part of the background as I talked with Uncle.
"Uncle, Uncle Joe tells me that Coyote has been seen in this place. Is this a true telling?"
Uncle Old Tree nodded slowly. "Yes, I saw him with my own eyes. Old Man Logan was with me at the time. We spoke the code words together in the Big War."
"Yes, I know. I think I met his woman in Kaibito. She said he served in Africa before he was shipped to the Pacific. Not in those words, but that's what she meant."
He nodded firmly, "We met in Africa. The war there was nearly over, but we leaned about the tanks and heard many tales about the desert and its Chindés. We spoke the words that fooled the enemy and helped the war to end there."
Okay, so both men had served in Africa, had seen the Panzers in action and would probably recognize one if they saw it. So how on earth was a Panzer running around Arizona? How did it get here, what was it doing and what did it have to do with two missing FBI agents. Like I said, my weirdometer was maxed out.
Pretty soon Grammy ran out of questions and fluttered her hands at Thomas, "Go and help your woman make the camp place for her warriors who will come. Uncle and I will ready a meal. Go, go, go." She stood up and walked away. I motioned Thomas outside with me and he followed with a shell-shocked expression on his face.
"Does your Grammy Agnes know EVERYTHING?!"
I grinned at him, "She nailed you on some pretty personal stuff, huh?"
Thomas glared at me while the back of his neck turned red, "Hey, while we are at it, what is the Coyote stuff?" He's pretty good at changing a subject is my Thomas.
I thought about it for a minute trying to figure out how the explain Coyote to someone who didn't grow up with the stories. "Coyote is, well, he's sort of a practical joke player. A Trickster. He can be helpful or malicious, depending on his mood. He led the Diné, the People, up out of the flood into this world and then went back for fire so they would have warmth in their new world. He plays tricks on people just to watch them try to figure out what is happening. If you have a flat and can't point to a specific cause, someone will say Coyote is playing with you."
"Interesting, so anything that goes wrong or strange is the fault of Coyote?" By this time, Thomas, Iverson, Williams and I were staking out a parking area, a bedroll area and a spot way down the hill for the latrine.
"Not always. Sometimes it is Raven, or the Twins or Cannibal Woman or Archer, or any of a number of the minor and major deities, but if it is really weird, it is Coyote."
I could see a string of headlights coming up the long single lane road and headed down to do a little traffic direction. The leading elements of my team had arrived.
Then
The last of the convoy rumbled by the four hidden men and once it was out of sight, they slipped out from the concealing sand and bent low, raced back to the jeeps to take stock of their supplies.
Hitch pulled out all the explosives and laid them out on the sand to study. Finally, he nodded, "We can do it, Sarge. Set up a couple about 50 yards apart, with any kind of luck that'll nail at least two and more likely four or five trucks. Then a couple of miles down the road do it again, only put them even further apart. Keep them confused, ya know? With a bit of luck, we might be able to hit them three times and each time will eat away at the supplies and we might even get a tank or two if we work it right."
Sam studied the explosives arrayed on the sand, ran the plan in his head and nodded slowly, "Do it. If we can grab anything from some of the disabled trucks, we can add to the confusion with their own supplies." He looked over at Moffitt and grinned, "Better "brew up," this will probably take a couple of hours to get the explosive bundles ready and then we are going to be running around for the rest of the day."
"Right-o, Sam. I'll make some coffee while I'm at it and see if there is anything in the rations that we can eat on the run except those crackers and that hideous peanut butter stuff."
"Hey, Doc, not likin' peanut butter is un-American!"
"I rest my case, Tully."
Tully thought for a second and then grinned, "good one, Doc."
Hitch popped an extra large bubble and nodded with a wink to Moffitt.
The desert sun climbed high overhead as Hitch, with Tully to assist, made eleven bundles of explosives, wired them and laid them carefully in a duffle with a cut up blanket acting as wadding between the layers. Each bundle was carefully primed and needed only to have an electrical charge sent down the wire to detonate it.
"Sarge, I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be."
"Okay. Let's get ahead of that convoy." Hitch and Tully started their jeeps and Moffitt slid down from the dune where he had been doing sentry duty and climbed into the jeep beside Tully.
The two jeeps made wide turns in the sand and running low behind the dunes raced to get ahead of the convoy. More than once they had to stop and make sure they were not hauling up the rear of the convoy and once had to turn west for several miles before heading south again. The convoy seemed to be taking an almost hopscotch route. The convoy leader was afraid of mines or ambushes or had very specific map coordinates to hit before proceeding.
"You don't suppose this is one of Dietrich's little games?" Troy muttered to Moffitt as they observed the convoy from a dune and plotted a route to get ahead of it.
"Doesn't seem like his wicket, Sarge. He's rather a straightforward type." Moffitt thought for a long moment, "Of course, he does have his sneaky days. This could be one of them, but I haven't spotted him, have you?"
Troy shook his head, shrugged and slid down the dune to lead the way westward again before heading south.
Finally, the convoy was behind them, far enough behind them that they felt comfortable planting three of the bundles along what appeared to be the route the convoy would take. The wires were run along the sand and down into a wadi where Tully attached them to a pressure switch. The other three moved along the route of the wires, burying them in the sand and wiping out their tracks. Finally, all they could do was wait.
It was nearly a half hour later when the lead tank of the convoy lurched into view. Troy gave the start-up signal and Tully and Hitch maneuvered the jeeps into a "run" position. Troy waited on his perch atop the dune and waited as truck after truck lumbered by. Finally, when Sam had judged that about half the convoy had passed, he pushed down on the detonator switch and was gratified to watch two cargo trucks leave the ground and burst into balls of flame, each one took with it the truck behind and the truck ahead. The third bundle disabled a tank and Troy yanked the wires free and raced down the dune. He tossed the detonator into the back of the jeep and took a flying leap into his seat. "Shake it!"
The two jeeps were gone from sight before the first crates of ammunition began detonating in the fires and causing even more chaos.
