Murder on the Rio Puerco (CC,MATURE) complete,8/4/2012

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ken_r
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Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg5,ch10, 6/10/12

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: Sometimes the lines between love and convenience are blurred.

L-J-L 76: Kyle has a problem. He has to be a cop, but he is also a friend and the one who can investigate UFOs.

keepsmiling7


Chapter 11

It was close to noon when they finally turned off the interstate onto a dirt road. They had spent the morning renting a different vehicle. This time, Max wanted a four-wheel drive SUV. He chose a Ford Explorer. It had enough room for equipment and luggage, along with the ability to carry several people through relatively rough country. Max and Liz had each brought a suitcase of clothes. There was no telling what might happen back behind the ‘Puerco. Max, also, had a small camping kit with a small supply of food. They expected to be back shortly, but you never knew.

Across the highway, Max could see the new casino. This was becoming the new industry for much of New Mexico. Many of the Native American reservations were putting their share of the gambling money to good use. Better housing, this time the Native Americans having a choice in the construction, better schools and more jobs. The housing was a joke because when the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) had built housing for many of the Native Americans. They used the new houses as barns to house feed and livestock. The BIA, not realizing what the reservation needed in terms of usable housing, the light frame houses did not stand up to the cold winds and hot sun of the reservation, which made them unlivable.

At first, the dirt road showed recent travel. There were many people using the dirt road to get where they wished. Eventually as they got closer to the giant volcano plug called Cabazone, meaning the head, the ranch roads were more for just the people who lived in this region. It fell to Liz to tend the many gates. As they traveled, Liz kept up a dialog of what she learned from Frank about the geology of the country. This was interspersed with Liz pointing to various hill tops. There might not be many people living in this area, but the stories about this land were many. At one time, Max saw that this area had been a major habitation area.
------------------------

Ta had sired many children; some had even lived to adult hood. He had two sons who were very close to him. He had given much of his knowledge to them. Along with the teaching of their mother’s brother, they were growing to be strong young men. They would take up leadership in the family of their woman. Maybe, they would start families of their own. The shaman was still affecting the man who was joined to Ta’s sister-in-law. This man knew he couldn’t turn Ta. Ta was too strong to fear the shaman. Ta had shaman of his own who he sometimes listened to. Ta still was known as being his own man. He might listen, but Ta still made up his own mind. The shaman began to attempt to influence Ta’s two sons. The people were usually very peaceful. There were too many other misfortunes to fight for them to allow dissension within their own family. Ta’s oldest son wanted to club the man, even if he was associated to a member of his mother’s clan. He did not argue with his father, but he did suggest that for the harmony of the family, the influence of the shaman must go. Killing a member of another clan was a serious thing. It could lead to open warfare. None of the people could afford to be involved in a war. Hunting and gathering did not leave luxury time to carry out warfare. Ta also realized that the threat was not even the shaman. It was the strangers who appeared in the light. To Ta, the shaman was weak. The man who joined himself to the woman in Ta’s family was weak, also. Ta was not yet ready to declare weakness as a reason for war.
-----------------------------

As they drove between two hills, suddenly, three man on horseback rode out to stop them. They were dressed similar to Eloy as working cowboys. One man was carrying a Winchester lever action. He fit best to what Max thought of as a cowboy. He was wearing a serape pulled over his head and loosely flapping about his waist. The third man was also a cowboy, but the rifle he was carrying was a scoped deer rifle. Max didn’t know enough about rifles to know the make. It did have a sling, but the young man carrying it kept it at ready. Max slowed and keeping his hands where they could be seen, he waited until Eloy Ortiz approached. Eloy looked in the SUV and seeing Liz he said, “Glad to see you Doctor Liz. We are sorry for your loss. Sammy Martinez will be glad to see you up and around.”

Good to see you also, Eloy,” Liz returned. “I am heading to the Martinez’s to thank Sammy for helping me. I understand he was the one who scared off, whatever it was that killed Frank.”

“Yes, Sammy Martinez did his papa proud. These two men are my sons, they live in California but they are spending some time here to help the old man watch for strange things.” As he said their names, “Emilio, Vicente,” each son nodded with a slight salute with his rifle. Eloy continued, “Tell Kyle that I do not know how well I can keep the promise I made about shooting at aircraft. Something flew over very low last night. The boys wanted to break out the deer rifles and give it a go. The cows were making a hell of a racket. You would have thought rustlers were out and about. There was no sound of machines. No motors or rotor sounds. I do not think it was a Cessna.”

Max turned to Eloy. “Mr. Ortiz, just be careful. These things are very dangerous,”

Ortiz looked Max in the eye. “I guess you would know, Mr. Spaceman,” he stated.

Max looked back and he saw the two boys shift in their saddles. He assumed that they were getting into a better position in case Max did anything. Doctor Liz was known or they thought they knew her. Max was an outsider and he believed that Ortiz was guessing, but Kyle said not to be devious with these people in any way. “Mr. Ortiz, I have dealt, fought and tried to hide from these people all my life. Some of them might even be relatives. When Liz and I were young it was a toss-up as too whether they would destroy us or those who mistrusted me in our own government would beat them to it. No matter what race or species, those who deal in drugs are bad. What they buy and sell hurts people on earth and elsewhere.” Max carefully watched Eloy Ortiz to see how he accepted what had just been said.

Eloy Ortiz leaned back in his saddle. Max could see his sons relax. “Kyle said we could trust you. Doctor Liz has been our friend for several years. For the moment, we shall call you friend, also. Amigo, don’t disappoint us,” with this Ortiz and his sons rode off.

Max kept following the road marked on the map that Kyle had given him. Several times as they traveled, they both saw a rider watching them on a hilltop. Max was sure that the watchers were friendly else they wouldn’t have shown themselves against the skyline. They arrived at a gate which had a sign attached to the poles which held it up. The sign said, “Bar-M” and had a brand burned into the plank it was written on. A young man was waiting on horse back as they approached. Liz leaned out and yelled, “Buenos tardes, Sammy.”

The young man smiled and shouted back, “Hi, ya Doc.” He then opened the gate without getting off his horse. Max could see the resemblance he remembered in Joe Martinez. Sammy was dark complected, as much from working in the sun as from his genes. His horse danced as the gate opened and Sammy showed his ability in controlling the animal. After Max drove through, Sammy and the horse repeated the same dance closing the gate. Max remembered once, reading one of Michael’s western books that a cowboy will do anything that he possibly can from horseback. Sammy was proving this. “Mama is waiting at the house, Doc. Meet you there,” Sammy shouted as he started his horse across country. Max had to stick to the lane. The lane leading to the Martinez home was carved out of the sage bush flat by a tractor blade of some kind. Sammy or one of the other men would probably run the blade after any of the infrequent storms, which would hit this region. It was a good quarter of a mile to the house proper. In the field beside the lane, Max saw several horses and a milk cow. At one end of the field, there were mangers, which contained alfalfa and a watering tank. As they approached the house, Max saw several sheep grazing in another field. Soon, the road was dotted with chickens that squawked noisily as Max carefully navigated through them. By the time they arrived, Sammy had unsaddled his horse and was returning from the barn. Angie Martinez was waiting for them at the door.

Normally, Angie would have dressed like the men folk. She did much the same activities as they did. Kyle’s call had alerted her and she was wearing a dress complete with apron. When they were in town, Angie could dress like the other women in her neighborhood. Out here guest were scarce. Angie wanted to make an impression when she had a chance.

Liz embraced Angie and shook hands with Sammy. She introduced Max as her first husband who had returned to help her settle Frank’s things. Baked bread could be smelled as they entered the house. Wrapped in warm towels and sitting on the sideboard were fresh flour tortillias. As soon as Joe and the boys came in, they would all sit down to a feast. Twin girls, miniatures of Angie herself, shyly came out to greet Doctor Liz. Sammy had disappeared, but he soon returned dressed in clean levies and western shirt. He was even wearing his Sunday-go-to-meeting python skin boots. When they were back in town, Max imagined the boots traveled to more movies, restaurants and dances, than Sunday schools. Sammy was a senior in high school and a good-looking boy. There probably were several girls who thought the young cowboy would be a good catch.

They were seated on a couch covered with Navajo blankets. Liz could have told Max that several of the blankets were just double saddle blankets, but a few of them were blankets of quality. She imagined that Joe or Angie or both had bought them at the monthly auctions at Crownpoint. The auction of Navajo weaving was known world over. There were shelves around the fireplace and they were full of trophies and certificates. It was seen that the Martinez children had been active in 4-H, which is an organization for farm and ranch children to show off their agricultural skills. There were also several trophy belt buckles, attesting to the fact that the children were also active in rodeo. Even Max recognized one or two buckles with the bucking bull for winning bullriding contests. Max, looking around, saw that this was a typical middle class ranch home. There would be another house in some town where the children could attend school, but Max was sure that their hearts always remained here.

They were sitting in the living room. Max guessed that the ranchers might have called it the parlor. Liz and Sammy were deep in discussions about the early people who lived here. They were discussing as to whether they were related to today’s Native Americans or to another group altogether. Max smiled because Sammy wanted to call these people his ancestors. Liz was pointing that there were several migrations of people throughout the multiple ice ages.

Sammy’s mother came in, “Sammy I don’t care if our ancestors were cavemen or not, we are eating at the table like proper ranch folk. Show our guests where to wash up. Your Father and brother will be in shortly. I saw them ride up to the barn a minute ago.

Max and Liz were taken upstairs. Sammy pointed to two bathrooms, which clearly were the children’s. Liz entered one room, which was full of shampoos and other feminine things. The twins appeared and handed her a fresh towel. Max was taken further down the hall and from the boot polish on the shelves and the electric razors charging near the sink, he was sure this room was reserved for the two Martinez boys.

By the time they were washed up and down stairs, Max heard the back door slam and the clump of booted feet. Soon Joe entered, wearing a fresh shirt and clean boots. Rafel, his oldest son, came down the stairs. Likewise, he had changed his shirt and work boots. Max was introduced to Rafel, but his father Joe had eyes only for Doctor Liz. As Joe hugged Liz, Max heard him say, “We were so worried about you. We have watched your campground, but no one or no thing has approached it. That state policeman and this man, pointing to Max, are the only ones who have been around.”

Liz stated, “Max said everything was destroyed. I am not sure that I want to go back there, at least for a while.”

Joe nodded and Angie ushered them all to the table. Seated, Max noted that everyone bowed their heads. Then with an “Amen,” the Martinez family all made the sign of the cross. Max noticed that Liz did likewise. Except for a few discussions they had one Christmas back in high school, Max and Liz had never talked much about religions. Max had informed Liz that he really didn’t understand where he fit into Earth’s theology. He remembered that he had, finally, told Liz that he believed in her. He would place his faith in his Liz to guide him through any religious paths.

The blessing out of the way, conversations about the ranch, strange happenings, the joy of seeing Liz again, occurred as the bowls and plates of food were passed around. Max was treated to steaks, fried potatoes, tamales and stacks of hot white flour tortillas. The tamales were made with bits of meat. Max wasn’t sure what the meat was. Then, they were covered in a cornmeal dough and, finally, they were wrapped in corn husks and steamed until done. These were very different from what Max had tasted in restaurants. There were several bowls of different salsas, which were mostly salads of chopped tomato, chili and onion with plenty of spices. Tortillas, salsas, steaks and conversation flew around the table.

Max found it hard to keep up with everything around him, but he did learn what it was like to be in a strong Hispanic, ranch family. After dinner they were ushered to a large room. Joe offered Max a cigar, but Max pled off. Nicotine would wreck havoc with his alien system. Joe was studying Max carefully. “You are the first husband of Doctor Liz?” he asked.

“Yes, Liz and I were married right out of high school. Pressures forced us apart and it wasn’t until Kyle called me that Liz was in trouble that I returned to assist her,” Max explained.

Joe Martinez sat nodding his head. “Eloy says that you are not from around here,” Joe made it as a statement.

“No, we are all from Roswell,” Max began.

“No, no, that is not what I mean. Eloy says that you may be related to what ever we see in the sky,” Joe said.

Max remembered what Kyle said. “Do not be untruthful to these people.”

“Yes, we do not know much about ourselves, but we believe we were connected to the Roswell crash of 1947. That is a lot of what broke Liz and me up. There were a lot of people looking for us, who meant us no good. We were facing death at every turn. I just couldn’t keep bringing Liz into that. We annulled our marriage and went our separate ways. I had heard that Liz remarried and I hoped that she would be safe. That just wasn’t to be,” Max told them sadly.

Joe again nodded, “Yeah, some people won’t leave you alone unless you dress, think and act just like them. I keep telling the kids, we are Hispanics, we are ranchers and we don’t make apology to anyone for this.” Then, Joe had a little laugh. “I have a hard time looking at gringos back in the city dressed in boots which never tasted cow shit. I guess we all just like our own.”

They all laughed at Joe’s admission.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg5,ch11, 6/18/12

Post by ken_r »

L-J-L 76 : the story of Liz has to do with her grandmother. It will be resolved at the end.

Nalalie36

keepsmiling7: Usually the meat in tomales is pork scraps. Ranch families don't waste so there might be other products from leftovers.

begonia9508: a lot of the material about ranch families comes from staying with my uncles when i was very young. the ranch families i use here were met when i worked an airplane wreck back in the 70s near the old volcano "Cabazone," west of Albuquerque.


Chapter 12

The conversation went on to things that Eloy had said. “There are just too many things in the sky which are threatening us. Kyle says not to shoot them down, but if they don’t leave us alone… It is a long way to the authorities. Our lives are tied to right out there.” Joe pointed to the door. “We have to be law unto our selves.”

“Joe, those strangers from the sky are very dangerous. They have almost killed me several times. They have powers which can do a lot of damage, witness what happened to Liz’s husband,” Max informed them.

“Max, we all depend on each other, here in this valley. We are good friends and terrible enemies. There mostly is no law for more than forty miles.” Joe pointed to his oldest son, Rafael. “Raffe, here, goes out on Sundays to shoot east of Albuquerque with those cowboy action shooters. They all dress up like they think was done in the wild west. He shoots black powder cartridges until he smells so bad that Angie makes him strip at the door and she takes his clothes to the washing machine with a pitch fork. Now Raffe has that rifle.” Joe pointed to a large lever action standing in the corner. “That rifle is a 45/90. It is supposed to put a buffalo bull back on its heels. You saw what Sammy did with those 44/40 slugs when he tried to save the doctors Johnson. We don’t have toys like Kyle has in his pickup, but we do know how to use what we have. We are not going to run and hide just because some rustlers from outer space want to intrude into our lives.”

“That is good, Joe, But we need to work together to stop the drugs, whether it is for your people or mine. Drugs are bad. I just want to warn you to be careful,” Max said carefully. These people were very proud. He didn’t want to offend them.

Angie Martinez walked into the room. “Kyle called and he wants you both to stay out here for a while. Something about not talking to the city police for a few days.” Then, Angie turned to Liz, “Doctor Liz, could you help me make up your rooms?”

Once out of the room Angie turned to Liz. “Kyle said to put you in the same room with Max. I wanted to make sure that was all right with you,” she said.

“Yes, being in the same room with Max gives me more safety. We were married for several years. Circumstances broke us apart. We never stopped loving each other. Neither of us thought we would ever see each other again. That is why I married Frank. Max was always understanding,” Liz explained.

“Well, okay then. It is just sometimes that men make plans without consideration for a woman’s feelings,” Angie stated.

Liz smiled. “I understand, Angie, but it is fine. Kyle is right I will be safer in the same room with Max.”

About that time Max, received a call on his cell phone. “Hey, Max, I just checked with Angie Martinez. I want you to stay with the Martinez’s a couple days until I find out what is going on. The city police are freezing me out. They are demanding to interview Liz. I want you to stay loose and give me a couple days to see if I can sort it all out. Something is not right. Chavez won’t talk to me and Silverton won’t even see me. This stinks some how.”

Max and Liz were sitting on the bed of the room they were to share. “Angie asked me if it was all right for us to share a room,” Liz told him.

“And, what did you say? I imagine they think it is sudden for you to be with a man so soon after Frank was killed,” Max said.

“I explained that we had been married before and we had never fallen out of love. I don’t know why it is so hard for people to understand that a woman can deeply love two men,” Liz stated.

Max put his arms around her, “Liz loving one man is a sign of how strong the family tie is. It is hard for them to see that I was happy for you to be safe with another man, even though I loved you deeply.”

“Well, once I explained that I would feel safer with you, Angie seemed to agree that we should be together. These people do understand defending each other,” Liz said.

Max and Liz could hear the other members of the household moving about and preparing for bed. As the lights went out and the noises stopped, Liz could hear the night noises. This was something that she was used to. That was one of the romantic feelings of camping with Frank. The coyotes called. Liz could hear in their mournful tone, the longing for each other. When the call was answered, Liz could only imagine that the poor fool had found a mate to share their evening. Maybe, they were a mated pair and they were each hunting separately. The call was to inform the other of success. Maybe, the call was to inform the other that the cubs, back in the burrow, would be fed tonight. The beasts, maybe, had the same relationship problems that she did.

There were the night wings as the flying hunters played their flights through the blackness. Liz, suddenly felt a sadness. Some thing was searching for her. In that time of half sleep when she did not know if what she was dream or reality, Liz felt the longing of some entity to find her. In her mind, she started to get up. Anything that wanted her that much should be answered. Still in sleep, Liz saw her self get out of bed and put on her robe. The Liz who now was out of bed and walking to the window, looked back to the bed and saw the other Liz falling deeper into sleep still held tightly by Max. The walking Liz heard the cry, “I have been searching for you for many years.”

The walking Liz said in a voice so sweet, “I am here. I am yours to take. Come for me when you will.”

Now Max was lying holding to his wife as something took shape in his mind. Max couldn’t tell what it was, but the feeling was that something was trying to take his wife from him. As sleep fled from his mind, Max thought, Liz isn’t my wife, but something wants her. So far, Max hadn’t moved. Suddenly, Max felt a strong fear. He shook the sleeping Liz and the walking Liz in her mind dissolved itself away.

“Liz, what was happening?” Max whispered.

Liz, now fully awake, her dream quickly starting to fade, shook her head. “Max, I only know that something wants me. I also know that if confronted, I may not be able to protect my self. I almost have the feeling that if they appeared and commanded me, I would obey. I think you are the only one who is keeping me here.”

They both lay back and with Max holding her, she drifted back to sleep. This time, Max made no effort to hide his presence. Max wanted what ever it was to understand that there was an alien presence protecting Liz. Max wondered which enemy was trying so hard to take Liz away from him.

There were no more disturbances that night.

As soon as Liz and Max heard the Martinez children cease their noise of getting up, they grabbed their things and each going to a different bathroom, they showered and dressed.

The children were busy setting the table while Angie was trying to calm Joe. “Those cocksucking pendejoes. Something was out there last night and it wasn’t natural.” Joe was exclaiming.

“Now Joe, you got up with the spot light and the shot gun and didn’t see anything,” she said in a calming voice.

Max looked around and saw a powerful battery spot light sitting on the kitchen counter and in the corner, he saw an old Winchester hammered, pump shotgun. Joe looked at Max. “Didn’t you hear anything last night?” he almost accused.

“Yes, Joe, we heard things, but they were not things of this Earth,” Max explained.

“The damned coyotes were screaming like they had cornered a sheep dog bitch in heat. Usually when something strange is going on, coyotes slink away. They ain’t no fools. They don’t try to take on anything that is bigger than they are. My house dogs were hiding under the steps until I came out. I have seen them take on a single coyote and rip him apart. Until I came outside they wanted nothing to do with what ever was out there. You can tell Kyle that I am going to put my target rifle away and send to town for one of those ‘Tonka toy,’ AR rifles like Eloy is carrying.”

Max knew that Joe was referring to the AR-15 that Eloy was carrying that first day. It was like its military brother mostly plastic and many riflemen in the military and out felt it was more made by a toy factory than a real weapon.

Joe was continuing, “I am gonna get something like old Eloy has and a bunch of twenty round clips. If it is war which is brought to us, I hope they bring their own body bags.” Heaven help one of the drug smugglers, if they were caught by Joe, today. Heaven help, if one of those strange ships got low enough for Joe and his sons to take shots at. Heaven help any stupid soul, who tried to do loop ‘t loops in his Cessna this afternoon, over the ‘Puerco, Max thought. Joe was plenty ‘het’ up.

Joe was glaring at Max. “Joe, we heard something, but it was in our minds. There was something trying to lure Liz away. When she fully woke up the… what ever it was, became silent,” Max explained. “We didn’t hear anything with the coyotes after we fell asleep, last night.”

Angie served plenty of coffee along with hotcakes, bacon, fresh butter and butter milk. The boys and Joe fell to eating as soon as she sat down. There was not much conversation during breakfast and it was after they left the table when Sammy asked if they wanted to go over to the campsite where Frank had been killed.

“I don’t think Liz is ready for that, Sammy,” Max started to say. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Sammy, I think I am ready. Will you go with us?” Liz asked.

“Papa told me to stay with you while you are here,” Sammy Martinez said. “Let me put my things in your truck and you can drive us over there. You remember the way, don’t you?” he asked.

Liz nodded, “Yes, Sammy, I think I do.”

Max saw Sammy carrying both a duffel bag and a long rifle case. Both of these were placed in the back of the SUV. Sammy crawled into the back seat of the truck leaving Max sitting beside Liz who was driving.

When they arrived at the burned scene, Max, again felt that maybe, Liz had shown more bravado than sense. She was shaking as they got out of the SUV and walked over to where Frank’s truck was slowly rusting away. Liz was clutching Max’s arm as they walked around the ruins of the vehicle. When they stood beside the pile of rocks, which Frank had collected, Liz was openly sobbing. With her foot, she turned some of the blackened stones over. Liz was looking for something to remember Frank by. Finally, she found a reddish stone, which she bent to retrieve. Using the techniques of field researchers, Liz spit on the stone and cleaned it on her jeans. The stone was deep red, Liz had picked up a little knowledge from her years with Frank. She was pretty sure it was jasper. Frank had shown her the stone when he found it. “Liz, this will make a beautiful stone for you. I will get one of the mineral buyers to polish and make a silver set for you,” Frank had promised. Now, she would still get the stone set in a necklace or broach in his memory.

As they approached the place where Sammy had found her, the feeling of being pursued strengthened. Liz was shaking and even Max could feel the presence of something alien. They walked around the site. They had done this before, but this time, Sammy was describing the location of everything. He was the only eyewitness of whatever this was. Fifty yards off from the blackened area, there were several brass cases of 44/40. That is where Sammy had stood as he levered the cartridges into the object in the sky. Sammy bent down and picked up the brass. This day in time, many shooters reloaded their brass; the price of ammunition was going sky high.

All the time he was pointing out things in the area, Sammy kept looking at the sky. Soon, Max was also watching what might appear in the sky. In the far distance, they saw a small plane. Taking his field glasses, Max saw that it was a small single engine plane, probably some Sunday pilot just out for practice.

Liz was thinking that there was nothing left of her notes. In the burned debris of the camper on the truck, Liz found the remains of her computer, It was completely melted. There would be no way to reclaim any information from the hard drive. Except for what she had back in her office she had nothing to tell of her summer’s activities. About a hundred yards from the camp site, they found a strip which had been bladed out. It was a makeshift landing strip. That is why the campers Johnson had been attacked. They were too close to where something in the future was to take place.

Liz was still holding onto Max. He looked at Sammy who understood. “I think we ought to head back, Doctor Liz,” Sammy said. Without saying anything, he crawled into the driver’s seat of the SUV and Liz followed. This time it was Max who sat in back. Sammy drove up to the crest of a nearby hill. All three of them got out and looked back at the playa. The burned spot showed up as well as the carved strip. Way in the distance they could see a dark line, which was probably the location of the landing strip which Kyle had taken them to the other day.

On the way out, Sammy apologized, “I need to check some of the tanks and salt licks on the way back. Pop and his friends, have been spending so much time looking up into the sky, they haven’t been watching the welfare of our stock. In cattle country, tanks were both dammed up arroyos or runoff areas to create artificial lakes and windmills, which pumped water into galvanized tanks from which the animals could drink. Since all the animals drank from the same source, these locations told a lot about what was going on in the area. That information this time, included tire tracks of some vehicle, which drove up to the tank to appropriate water. In normal times, the ranchers felt that water was for any passers by no matter how many feet they stood on. That is why New Mexico had a law against camping too near any water source. Now, any activity was looked on with suspicion.

When they returned to the Martinez home, Joe had returned from where ever he had been on his ranch. He was looking grim. “Doctor Johnson,” Liz was surprised at the formality in using her official name, instead of the nick name she was known by in the valley. “Kyle warns that there are problems in town. He is still not sure what they are, but he says that it is important that you return tomorrow. If there is to be trouble with the police, you are both welcome to stay in the valley. No one finds anything here unless we want them to,” Joe stated.

“No, Joe, I am sure that the city police just want to question me more about Frank’s death. I should go back,” Liz explained.

Max was stoic. There was more to whatever Kyle told Joe. Max wondered what it could be. Kyle must be getting pressure to cooperate with the city police to make this request. After all, they were back here on his suggestion. Kyle also must have misgivings that Joe couldn’t quite explain.

It was a quieter group who gathered around the supper table that night. There was not the need for late night conversation. They all went to bed early.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg6,ch12, 6/24/12

Post by ken_r »

mary mary

begonia9508: keep your eye on Liz's past

keepsmiling7


Chapter 13

Just as before, the night noises were noticed as soon as the household got quiet. The coyotes howling and the night wings fluttered as the miscellaneous squeaks and squeals that could be heard as the night creatures made their lives and found their deaths.

This time, Max heard the coyotes go mad. He also heard a whoosh somewhere outside. Quickly, he got dressed and helped Liz to do the same. As they got to the door, Angie cautioned them to be careful. There were no lights on in the ranch house. As Max went through the door, he saw Sammy, Rafael and Joe, all looking up at the sky. Max could see a shadow and a gleam shining off the shadow from the starlight. About twenty feet in front of them, a glow started to develop. Liz had gotten used to this as it was the same as before. The glow grew and two dark eyes formed within the glow. The glow continued lighting the thin arms, the frame and, finally, the legs. In her head she heard. “Who are you?”

Max also heard the voice in his head, but none of the Martinez men gave any indication that the creature had spoken. Again, the creature spoke. “Come with us. We will return you to your home.”

Max looked down at Liz’s hands and they were sending out sparks from her finger tips. At the call, Liz started to move toward the creature. Max blocked her movement with his arm. She placed her hands on his arm and you could smell the flesh burning. Max quickly formed his green shield. As Tess had told him, Max pushed the shield against the creature. Max cast a quick glance at Liz’s face. Her eyes were just black orbs. They had no definition. Liz was still pushing against the arm blocking her.

“Sammy, Rafael, the ship,” Joe called. As one the three men pointed their weapons at the ship in the sky, the noise was deafening. Joe was shooting his M-1 target rifle. It was a semi-automatic but Joe emptied magazine after magazine into whatever was above. Sammy was carrying Rafael’s elk rifle. It was a heavy magnum and although it was a slower bolt action, he emptied the magazine and then knelt to reload from a box of cartridges, he had placed on the ground. Rafael was using his buffalo rifle and the slow, heavy bullets were making a thud against something in the sky every shot. Suddenly, the creature behind Max’s green shield flew backwards and whisked itself back into the object in the sky. With another whoosh, the night sky was clear.

Max collapsed from both the strain of making the shield and also, from the burns caused by Liz. Sammy and Rafael carried him into the house. They placed Max on the sofa and Liz knelt beside him. She was crying and her tears were falling on Max’s burns. Max’s face was dripping in sweat. His body temperature, just like Isabel’s did long ago, was rising to help him heal himself. When this happened to Isabel, the survivors had all worried when the temperature had risen above what a human body could tolerate. Max, at that time, had been killed and his soul was captured in the body of the evil Clayton Wheeler. Michael, Jesse and the sheriff Valenti were all witness to the recovery of Isabel. Clearly, her metabolism was well beyond the knowledge of modern medicine.

As Liz sat beside him, weeping the ranch family saw the burns on Max’s arm slowly heal. They also saw green streaks like veins in her hands, running just under her skin. As Max recovered, Angie handed him a cup of hot coffee. His body had depleted itself of energy, so the now chilled Max welcomed the warmth of the drink. “Max, I am so sorry. Something was drawing me to it and I was fighting against anything that was holding me back,” Liz sobbed.

“Liz, you couldn’t help it. Regardless of what the city police want, we need to get back to town and talk to Michael and, maybe even, Isabel. Michael had done a lot of research in his writing and Isabel was possessed on her wedding night by Kivar,” Max explained.

Liz helped Max back to their room and the ranch family retired for the night. Max and Liz were soon fast asleep and were not bothered anymore that night.

Ranchers, farmers and people who work with nature tend to be early risers. Again, when Max and Liz came to breakfast the family was already up and planning the chores for the day. They were treated to a ranch breakfast of eggs over bean and chili filled tortillas all smothered in a salsa. When they were packed, there were tears between the Martinez family and Liz. “Come back soon, Spaceman. I will show you the joys of ranch life. ‘Course, you have to have a job in the city to afford to keep it going, but we have a lot of freedom and we wouldn’t trade the life for any other,” Joe said as he shook Max’s hand.

At first, the driving was slow as they navigated the dirt ranch roads. Soon, they were on the graveled roads which led to the uranium mines, then, they were on the highway back to the city. It took most of the morning to get there. Kyle was waiting for them. “The city police want to interview both of you. I don’t like the looks of things here, so I took the liberty of calling Jesse Ramirez. Max hadn’t seen his sister or her husband for several years. They corresponded a little and had talked on the phone. Max knew that in many circles, it was whispered that Jesse had become a powerful lawyer. Max also knew that Jesse had hired Max’s father, Philip Evans, as a consultant.

Jesse had started as a junior intern with Philip. Then he had run off with Philip’s daughter, Isabel. That caused some tension; Isabel at the time was just 18. Their marriage had many ups and downs. Finding out that his wife was not completely human was a trial for the young lawyer. Learning of the escapades his brother-in-law was involved in to protect their secret also challenged Jesse’s sense of law. Finally, when the ‘Special Unit’ was going to take Isabel, Jesse, without hesitation, killed the agent in charge. This made him forever part of the alien conspiracy. During Isabel’s break and later reunion as the three aliens, the humans, Liz, Maria, and Kyle all took off on a road trip running from what was left of the ‘Special Unit.’ It was now over, but Michael’s original prediction that they would have to break up, finally left Kyle to return home, later to be joined by Ava. Max and Michael took off from their loves on their own and Isabel decided to return to Jesse and trust in his ability to protect her from human agents. Jesse had agreed to return to Albuquerque if necessary. Kyle had no idea what the city police were up to, so Jesse would depend on him to keep the law office back east informed.

Kyle drove Max, Michael and Liz to the police station. Once inside he and Michael were barred from following the couple. “Kyle, this is a city investigation. The state police have nothing to do with it,” Chavez informed him as he blocked the two men. Michael looked at the officer with fury and hatred. Once again, Michael saw that they could trust no one. Kyle looked over Chavez’s shoulder and saw Silverton. Jolene had a look on her face that was disturbingly like what Kyle remembered from Tess when she thought some scheme had succeeded in trapping Max, so long ago.

Without definite proof, Chavez and Silverton could not detain Kyle. If they knew of a wrong doing on his part they might file charges, but to not be clear in their accusitions would start another of the many interdepartmental feuds, which would quickly rise to the captaincy level. Feuds like that did not lead to a long career. Neither Chavez nor Silverton had ever seen Michael before. They had no idea of who he was.
Jolene was conducting the interview with Liz. It clearly was an interrogation. “Ms. Johnson,” she began.

“Doctor Parker-Johnson,” Liz corrected.

Annoyance flashed across her face. “Doctor Parker-Johnson,” Jolene corrected. This was a problem. Jolene was not interrogating some street person or some debutant. Jolene instinctively recognized that Doctor Johnson was heads above her in intellect. She did not have the tools to read this woman. Intimidation was going to be difficult. Jolene’s intentions were to throw Liz into a jail cell filled with whores and addicts. She had been sure that that would soften the lady to answer her questions. After all, the questions were only for show with Chavez. What Jolene wanted was to separate Liz from Max as she had been ordered. Jolene knew that behind the mirror which dominated the room she was being observed. Jolene must continue the charade until she found a cause to cast the women into the despicable conditions of incarceration.
“How long have you known the man, Max Evans?” Jolene asked.

“Since the third grade,” was the response.

“Weren’t you involved with him in several questionable episodes as a juvenile?” Jolene asked again.

“I think those records have been sealed, I would have to have a lawyer inform me if I have to answer that question,” Liz answered.

Liz saw a fury cross the face of Officer Silverton. “You do not need a lawyer until we charge you with something. We are just discussing your background being the wife of a murdered man,” Jolene stated. Jolene was having trouble holding her anger. Jolene started again. “Tell me what you and Doctor Johnson were doing behind the Rio Puero the night he was killed,” She demanded.

“My husband was a field geologist. When he wasn’t teaching, he spent his time studying geological formations and collecting specimens. I went with him and cataloged habitation sites for the university. I am an archeologist,” Liz attested.

“Why did you choose the Rio Puerco?” Jolene asked.

“The Rio Puerco runs along a fault line. The volcanoes that you see on the western horizon are part of this. There are many mineral deposits as well as abundant surface specimens of semi precious stones. Frank was studying this area and he picked up the surface stones as a sideline. Since the Rio Puerco is an ancient water source and men have lived in this area for a very long time, I went with him to study who these people were and where they lived,” Liz felt that she had explained this before, at least where a normal freshman could follow what she said.

“What was your association with the drug smugglers?” Jolene suddenly asked.

“None,” Liz stated. “When they were active in the area, we left,” Liz stated.

Why didn’t you file any complaint? You were witnessing a felony!” Jolene asked angrily.

Liz looked at the woman with sparks almost coming out of her eyes. “Because you can’t or won’t do anything about it. There are too many high placed politicians and officials who benefit from this trade. We just wanted to continue our studies. We hoped someone would trip up and get caught. We did not feel that there was anything we could do,” Liz said.

“Then, what is this?” Jolene stated as she pulled out a small package sealed in plastic. It was marked with a scorpion brand and Liz thought she could see that it was some sort of powder.

Liz looked at the package and then, at the woman as if she had never seen it. Of course, she hadn’t. Jolene was present in the raid they conducted on Max’s room that morning as soon as Kyle had called that he was bringing the couple in. Jolene had carefully planted the small package for other officers to find. Liz, tight lipped, stated, “I wish to talk to my lawyer. I have never laid eyes on that package.”

Jolene smiled, these academics thought they were so smart. Probably the woman would request some professor from the law school who she knew. “We can provide you with one. It will take some time,” Jolene explained.

“No, I want my lawyer, Jesse Ramirez.” Liz handed the woman a card from her purse.

That man is from Boston, I don’t think he would be allowed to practice in New Mexico. Better take a closer one. I can give you a list,” Jolene said.

“If you look, you will find he has offices in Roswell. He is licensed to practice in New Mexico as well,” Liz said.

City Officer Silverton stood. She was rolling the card Liz gave her between her fingers. We shall see.” Officer Silverton left Liz alone in the interrogation room.

Jake was facing Max. He wasn’t having much better luck. “Come on Evans. We found the drugs in your hotel room. What is it; your ex-wife remarries and the both of you want to get back together? You plan to off Frank somewhere there can be no witnesses?” Jake asked.

“I have stayed away from Liz for years. It wasn’t until her husband was killed that Kyle called me to help her. I never had anything to do with drugs and neither did Liz,” Max stated.

“Look Evans, you are a big newspaper reporter. You are all over the southwest. That is a perfect cover for transporting drugs. We found the package. The Johnson woman will break. Neither of you are getting out of here until you are arraigned. That won’t be until tomorrow,” Chavez stated.

“Look Chavez, Liz needs protection, a lot more than you have here in this jail. Remember, that thing we saw at the apartment the other night? It was here to get her,” Max said.

Jake almost smiled. “What thing are you talking about?” he asked.

Now Max was annoyed. “Look, Chavez, you can deny whatever you want to your superiors, but you and I know that there is something out there. I am telling you now that the something wants Liz,” Max angrily stated.

“Look, Doctor Parker-Johnson is being held in the city jail; she is surrounded by armed men. Don’t you think that is enough protection?” Officer Jake Chavez smugly said.

Max just shook his head. “Chavez, talk to Kyle. He, at least, understands what we are facing.”

Jake smiled, “Kyle has nothing to do with this investigation. In fact, we may end up investigating him.”

Kyle was right, something about this set up stank. Max had met Jake Chavez before and he might not be a candidate for a class in abstract physics, but he wasn’t stupid. Right now, he was being unreasonable. A flash went through Max’s mind. Had Chavez and possibly Silverton both been mind warped? It had been some time since Max had needed to consider mind warping. Tess could do it and to some extent, some of the skins could do it also. Nicholas had been known to rape a mind, taking complete control of it. “I want to see my lawyer,” Max stated.
Jake Chavez nodded. He had talked long and hard with Jolene about this interrogation. She was sure that Doctor Johnson, being an academic would request some professor from the university Law School. Such a lawyer would not have the experience at handling criminal cases. Jolene had insisted that they keep Max and Liz separated. She had no idea of what kind of lawyer the news reporter would want. It did not go through Jakes mind why Jolene, being the junior member of their team, was telling him what he should do.

“Max, you can have your lawyer when you are arraigned for the possession of narcotics. That is tomorrow. For now you are going to be our guests.” Again Jake knew that this wasn’t exactly legal. Max could call for a lawyer any time he wanted. Why Jake said this again was not clear.

Max’s eyes narrowed. “Officer Chavez, my lawyer is Jesse Ramirez. He will personally go after you and your department if anything happens to Doctor Johnson.”

There was something about the way Max said all of this that convinced Jake that it wasn’t a threat, but a promise. Jake signaled a guard and Max, was taken to be processed and incarcerated. There was something in Jake’s mind, but it would not come out. He knew something about a lawyer named Ramirez. He just couldn’t remember, but he thought that Ramirez was very powerful lawyer.

Jake found his partner. She seemed almost joyful. “What did you do about Doctor Johnson? Jake asked.

Jolene smiled, “I had her booked and placed in a general holding room. Maybe a night with the lowest life in the city will make her more amendable to talking.”

“Change that,” Jake ordered. “I am starting to remember who Jesse Ramirez is. He sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation and won. The suit was hush-hush, but it was something about an on going investigation that Ramirez didn’t believe was justified. He sued the FBI for a ton of money. The department will have both of our asses in a sling if something happens to that woman.”

Jolene scowled; Jakes conditioning was weakening faster than she intended. Well, if Liz was in solitary, then she could be picked up tonight. It would have been preferred to have softened her up first, but she was not yet ready to have a confrontation with her partner, yet.

The indignity of being booked was bad enough. First, Liz was placed in a cell with several other women. Liz took one look and moved as far away from them as she could manage. “What you in for, honey?” one woman asked.

Before Liz could answer, one other woman stated, “I bet she didn’t fix her man his coffee and he filed charges against her.” This precipitated laughter among the group.

“I bet she couldn’t make $50 a night working the streets,” another said.
Liz was an anthropologist and she had been trained to work in different cultures. The depths these women had driven their culture was impossible for her to imagine.
“Maybe, she had a party and passed out too much coke,” was heard. “That Silverton bitch has a hard on for little house wives and their addictions,” was continued.

Liz was smart enough not to pretend to be one of the crowd, but now they were pressing against her in the crowded cell. Liz was an academic not a fighter. She was becoming terrified. That is what the guards found when they approached the cell. “Mavis, get your butt back against the wall,” one burly woman yelled. Jennifer Morehead didn’t have a firearm but she did swing a mean stick. Right behind her, Maria Gonzales was holding a TASER.

At the moment, Liz didn’t know who to fear the most. So far, her experiences with those running the custodial system had not been pleasant. Morehead walked into the cell and motioned for Liz to follow. “Honey, someone must like you. Orders just came down that you are to be kept in a separate cell. Much the better for you.”

They led Liz to another place. Now, except for certain holding cells, jails are not compartments with bars. Most modern jails have small rooms with steel doors. There are windows, which are supposed to be unbreakable. They allow the guards to see whatever is going on inside. Many of the rooms are sound proof so the guards do not have to listen to the noise the inmates create. They are equipped with listening devices so the guards can communicate if they want to.

The room Liz was moved to had a cot and a toilet. That is all. Even though the guards were normally female, the open toilet was demeaning to a woman like Doctor Parker-Johnson. Once Liz was in the locked room, an order to ignore her until the morning was passed down. The guards had plenty other inmates to worry about so out of sight, out of mind.
Chavez had walked Max through his booking. “Max, maybe, you had nothing to do with the package in your room. It has been several years since you have seen your ex-wife. Maybe, she isn’t the woman you remember. We still think it is strange for two Gringos to spend so much time back behind the Rio Puerco. Maybe, she and her husband were involved with the drugs. If you know anything, just fess up, so to speak,” Now Chavez was trying to be the good cop.

Max glared at Officer Chavez. “I told you that there is something trying to hurt Liz. If that wasn’t so, Kyle wouldn’t have called me. Your whole damned department is not strong enough to protect her,” Max said with anger.

“Max, I ordered her to be placed in a single cell and the guards will keep an eye on the whole night. She is safer here, than she was outside with you,” Jake informed Max. Jake had no idea of the order Jolene had passed on to the guards about ignoring Liz.

“Max, tomorrow call your lawyer and see if he doesn’t agree that you should quit protecting that woman.” Chavez thought he was being reasonable. Max just gritted his teeth and said nothing. Max was taken to a single cell where Chavez was sure nothing would happen.
----------------
Did you ever think your dreams were real? read Warrior Chicks of Aswam

Little Napoleon is a powerful lady cop. She learns that she is also chosen as the queen of an alien population and her husband has been already chosen. Little Napolleon, the 13th victim is the second part of a detective story involving aliens and humans.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg6,ch13, 7/1/2012

Post by ken_r »

mary mary: ulcers were never my intention.

begonia9608: The drug packages are shown on the banner. Max is learning that there may be several races of aliens. Drug enforcement people are very careless in their investigations. Suspicions can ruin a person's reputation. Yes Eve, when i was younger and in good health, the desert and semi deserts of New Mexico were very interesting.

Author's note: looking back at the banner, Cabazon the volcano core is shown. The Martinez's and the Ortiz's ranches would be somewhere at the foot of this mighty plug. The stone Liz picked up in the last chapter was found by me sometime in the 70's. I gave it to a jewelry maker and he polished it and cut it wearing out several saw blades. I don't remember what eventually happened to it.


chapter 14

Ta was sitting on a hilltop. Below him he saw his family preparing for evening. In the distance in the setting sun he saw smoke tendrils which showed the family of the shaman was also preparing for evening. They were camped about a day’s journey away. Ta did not want open warfare. That was not productive to the family or to any of the clans. The evil shaman had sent word that unless Ta tithed to him a curse would fall on Ta’s woman. This shaman already had several families under his control.

Ta did not have the concept of romantic love, but he did care for his woman. She brought children to the family. She helped in preparing the food he brought in. She kept him warm when he returned late from hunting. In return, Ta brought her the best animal skins to make into clothes. When food was scarce, Ta made sure she received a share. When she was with child, Ta made sure some of the other women helped with her chores. Besides all of that, she was part of his family. Ta was very protective to his family. The evil shaman brought power from the stars. This was not fair. It was not bringing order or harmony to the people. That was wrong. Ta would have to plan to kill this shaman. Killing someone from another family might start a war. It might even start a war with the clans. Killing was a big step. Ta would have to think about this. Think, but not for too long. His woman had been threatened.
-----------------

Max lay in his cell. Noise had been isolated from him so there was nothing to disturb his peace, nothing, except for his worry about Liz.

It was near midnight as far as Max could tell. His watch and everything else he owned had been taken at booking. He had allowed his alien feelings to wander. There was something out there. It was alien, but not challenging him, yet. He kept wondering why Chavez and Silverton had picked this time to investigate Liz? Why had they shut Kyle out? Without good reason, this could start that interdepartmental feud. Max was sure that there was something he didn’t yet understand going on.

Suddenly, the connection he had long ago shared with Liz kicked in. They hadn’t explored this since he had returned. Now, definitely, Liz was frightened. Max concentrated on the door. What was the difference between a gas and a solid? The binding the molecules had on each other. That binding could be decreased by exciting the molecules. This would need heat. That wouldn’t do. A super hot cell door would attract attention of everyone, not to mention the danger it would make for him. For Max, there was another way. Humans still held by Newtonian Physics, modified by Einsteinian discoveries and finally, facing the probability of quantum physics, did not understand what Max knew instinctively. Max simply weakened the bond of the steel and passed through the door. Max did not have the energy to hold this power for very long, so as soon as he left the door again became impenetrable.

Jake arrived early at the station. His normal shift was the early evening shift, but for the first time since he had been paired with Jolene Silverton he was having doubts. As he entered the wardroom, there was a call. “Hey Chavez, it is a good thing you came in this morning. We were just about to call you. You have a visitor,” the sergeant said.

“Hey, Sarge, can you tell them I won’t be in until the afternoon?” Jake requested.

“No way, Jake. It is Jesse Ramirez, himself. He is accompanied by a stenographer and another lawyer, a Philip Evans. Jake, did you know that Max Evans is Jesse Ramirez’s brother-in-law? Ramirez has already stated that he represents both Evans and Parker-Johnson. Whatever that partner of yours has cooked up, I would make a lot of distance from it, if I was you.”

“How in the hell did he find out so fast? Jolene had made sure neither of them could get a phone call out until this morning,” Jake inquired.

“What about that state officer, Jolene pissed off yesterday? I understand that Evans was his consultant. He already filed a complaint with the captain.” The sergeant pulled Jake closer. “You just better hope that package you all found can’t be tied to anything in the evidence room. Silverton is too aggressive on this case. Don’t let her take you down.”

Jake sighed; he better see what he could patch up with this lawyer.

Jake entered the room where the lawyers had set up. “Good morning, Mr. Ramirez,” Jake started.

It was the older lawyer who spoke first. “I want to know why my son was not allowed his phone call last night?” Philip demanded.

“It was late when we booked them and any bail would not be arranged before arraignment today.” Jake knew what he said was weak and probably illegal. Damn that Jolene, this had been her idea. Why did he follow her anyway? Jake was the senior officer. “Excuse me, I would like to call the other arresting officer so you could talk to both of us.” Now that really did sound wimpy. When they saw that it was his partner who orchestrated much of this, he would really sound ‘pussy whipped.’

Jesse just nodded. “While we are waiting, I would like to have both Evans and Doctor Parker-Johnson brought in,” Jesse demanded.

Jake made a last ditch attempt. He turned to the older lawyer, “Mr. Evans, we are not sure how much your son is involved in this. I would suggest that they be kept apart until we sort it out. I would also suggest that Parker-Johnson and your son have separate lawyers. Their individual interest might not be the same,” he stated.

Jesse took back control. “I think you will find out that I am the lawyer of choice for both of them. I, also, now formally request that you bring both of them in so I may interview them together.” Jesse was intimidating when he wanted to be.

Now, Jolene Silverton was mad. That stupid Chavez had someway lost control of “her” case. Someway, one of the suspects had made a phone call. As she walked into the police station, she was joined by Kyle.

“Silverton, I want both Doctor Parker-Johnson and Max Evans released as soon as possible. You can release both of them into my custody if you want, but there was another murder west of the ‘Puerco last night. Evans and Parker-Johnson have rapport with those people back there.” Kyle was definitely angry.

Jolene gave a little smile. She was sure that the doctor had been abducted last night. That was the purpose for having her in jail in the first place. She didn’t give a damn about Max Evans. “They” hadn’t mentioned him at all. “They” were very insistant that Doctor Johnson was made available.

She was annoyed that Kyle followed her into the interview room. He had nothing to do with this case. She was even more annoyed when Jesse extended his hand to Kyle. “Hey, Kyle, how is the Mrs.?” Jesse asked.

Kyle answered, “She is fine, Jesse. She has undertaken to be Liz’s psychologist. Liz is still suffering from her ordeal. This incarceration crap isn’t helping, either.”

Jesse turned back to Jake asking the question with raised eyebrows. Just then a guard entered. He whispered to Jake and Jake’s dark complexion turned gray. Jesse spoke up. What is the problem? Can’t you find my clients?

Jolene had to fight to keep her expression neutral. They must have just discovered that Doctor Parker-Johnson was missing. Let them try to solve that one.

Jake turned to Jesse. “They must have moved Max Evans to a different cell. The one he is signed out to is empty, he declared.

Jolene frowned. “They” must have taken Evans along with Johnson. Oh well, there was nothing to connect her with this. The jail personnel would suffer inquisition for carelessness.

Jesse stood. “I demand to be take to the cell where you are keeping Doctor Parker-Johnson,” he stated.

Jesse’s entourage of three plus Kyle all followed the two officers and a female jailer. Jolene wondered what would be said when they arrived at what she was sure was an empty cell. The female jailer was talking. “We were ordered to place the subject in a single cell and then, to leave her alone. I don’t think anyone has checked on her this morning.”

Jesse turned to the jailer. “Is that standard procedure to ignore a prisoner?”

“No, sir, but that was the order given to us. It came from the police department. We figured they wanted to soften her up for interrogation this morning,” the jailer explained.

When they arrived at the cell, Jesse looked inside and then stepped back and smiled. Jolene couldn’t help wonder, what did he have to smile about? They looked inside and there was Max lying on the cot. Spooned tightly against him, since the cot did not give much room for two, was Doctor Parker-Johnson.

Kyle already didn’t trust Jolene. He was watching her face as they all looked into the cell. It fell. When the guard opened the cell, both Max and Liz woke up. As the group stepped to the cell, Jolene saw three piles of dust. With the door opened, they already were blowing away. She was hit with a great sadness. Three troopers had given their lives last night.

As Liz got up, the stenographer stepped forward and embraced her. “Liz, it is so good to see you again.”

“Yes, Isabel, but the last few weeks have been a trial,” Liz answered.

“Evans, how did you escape, last night? Jolene demanded.

Max smiled a very infuriating smile. “I didn’t escape! I am right here. I just changed accommodations. Liz had to be protected.”

They all marched back to the interview room. Jolene was demanding that Max be charged with something. After all, he had moved from the room that the jail had assigned him.

Jesse sat back for a few minutes. Then, he turned to Jake Chavez. “I think your case is falling apart. You have endangered my client and I am sure that if you check, the evidence will be traced back to some previous city police case. There is something funny going on within your own department and evidence room.”

Jake was worried that what Jesse said might be true. That damned Silverton had pushed too hard. Jake was still confused why he had gone along with her. That wasn’t like him. At the moment, all Jake could think of was getting Max, Liz and Kyle out of the station and out of his hair. He signed the papers for their release. Silverton made one last ditch effort to assert herself. “You are both still under suspicion. Make sure you do not attempt to leave town,” She tried to state with authority.

Jesse just shook his head. “Sorry, Miss Silverton, but they are working for the state police. I think you can rely on the state to produce them, if necessary.” Jolene did not miss Jesse using her name instead of her rank of officer.

Things couldn’t be worse for Jake Chavez. The captain had called him in and chewed him a new one. “You stupid shit! Didn’t you have any idea of whom you were fooling with? Neither of them were junkies you could lean on and get any sort of confession. Max Evans runs a column in the Denver Post on law enforcement. Doctor Parker-Johnson has half the professors at the university calling and asking why we aren’t looking for dope smugglers instead of arresting a grieving professor, and you pissing off Kyle Valenti. That has to be the stupidest thing you have done! Major Wilson just left my office. He is the creepiest son-of-a-bitch I ever saw. He acts like a cross between James Bond and the CIA. I hear that he takes care of things which would embarrass the governor. He is internal affairs for the state police and, in some way, Valenti works for him. He wanted to know why we were interfering in Valenti’s investigation. I asked what Valenti’s investigation had to do with internal affairs and he told me it was none of my fucking business! I have had three phone calls from the mayor; seems the governor is leaning on him. And, where in the hell is that goddamned partner of yours? She may be facing a three day suspension with what Maggie over at the jail says. She told them to isolate Doctor Parker-Johnson. Son, if you are not on school crossing guard duty, after this, I will be surprised!”

When the captain looked like he was going to have a heart attack and stopped for breath, Jake snapped at attention and said, “Yes sir. I will look for her sir,” and with that, Jake got out of the office the fastest way he could.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg7,ch14, 7/9/2012

Post by ken_r »

mary mary: In Little Napoleon I decided why some aliens turn to dust.

begonia9508

keepsmiling7: Max changing accommodations on his own, might make heads roll.


Chapter15

It was toward evening and Max was walking Liz to Kyle’s apartment. At one end of the line of apartment buildings, there was a small park, playground and picnic table surrounded by trees. A woman stepped out from the shadows. At first, Max didn’t recognize her. She was in civilian clothes and her face was contorted by anger. “You stupid Antarian. We have a treaty with Kivar. You should mind your own business!” Then she hit Max with a power blast that pinned him against the picnic table.

To Max, it brought back memories of when he had faced the skins at Copper Summit. He and Tess had held them off as long as they could. Jolene Silverton was much more powerful than the skins had been. Whatever she hit him with paralyzed him totally. If she was a skin, she was a more powerful than any he had met before.

“They want her,” Jolene said. “If you had just minded your own business nothing would have happened to you. Now, I am going to have to kill you. I don’t want to leave anyone in my past who knows who I am.” She raised her hand and prepared to strike.

Max wasn’t sure what happened. The fireball that struck Jolene was green. It was unlike any powerblast Max had ever seen. From the finger tips of Elizabeth Parker-Johnson green energy kept feeding the ball. From the interior of the flame, you could hear the screams of Jolene Silverton as she was melted away. Liz fainted.

Max quickly picked her up in his arms. He looked around and could see no one around. As he carried her to Kyle’s apartment, he heard her murmur, “The wicked witch is dead.”

Liz felt like a feather as he lifted her. She had expended most of her energy. Max was worried. He had experienced fights where he exchanged power blasts, but they were just that, blasts. Liz had hit Jolene with a continuous power. Max had never seen anything like that. He now worried, would Liz recover?
----------------------

Ta climbed the hill over-looking the valley below. Less than the flight of a crow in early mornings lay his family unit. As said, it was a relatively big village. Ta was a respected leader and he had proved, many times, he was a great hunter. Almost a day’s walk, Ta could see the smoke of another family’s village. It was the home of the evil shaman. Ta had a problem. Hunting and gathering left little time for anything else. Open warfare could easily destroy both villages. If something happened between villages, families or clans, it was up to the leaders to find accommodation. Quarrels among people always would break out. Usually, they were little more than shouting matches. Sometimes, villagers would take sides and there would be scuffles. Serious fights where someone was killed were few. When they happened, it was up to the village leaders to find someway to settle the disagreement. If a villager, family person or a clansman killed someone, then the leaders could do several things. If the aggrieved family accepted it, the killer might be forced to undertake the care of the family who lost a valued member. If the wounded family demanded more than that, the killer might be expelled from the village. This was a death sentence. Alone without a village, a man could not survive. Who would skin and cook the game the hunter brought in? Who would share the nuts and roots that, normally, women gathered as the men hunted? Who would make the clothes from the hides the hunter was able to obtain?

These are all restrictions to men. Women seldom caused any trouble. They might squabble over some things, but normally, they worked together very well. If it was a woman who caused dissention, what was he supposed to do with her? If a woman in some way failed her man it was up to the man to beat her. It was also the man’s problem if the beating only made her fight back. It was not Ta’s problem. This time, a woman had killed a man of another village and clan. The village and clan were demanding something be done. Ta couldn’t demand the woman to take on duties of the man she killed. A woman couldn’t do man’s work. Ta couldn’t expel her. A woman alone would just be picked up by any nearby village who wanted another woman to pleasure a man or to help in women’s work.

The other village, for some unknown reason, was demanding the woman’s death. The people did not execute their members directly. Expulsion was equivalent to that, but like people in modern times who abandon the unwanted puppy along the highway, the people did not have to see the death that abandonment caused. The other village didn’t want abandonment unless it was agreed they could execute her. There was wisdom in Ta that refused to let this precedent occur. Besides that the woman in question was his woman.

Not only was the person in question his woman, but the circumstances surrounding the killing were suspicious. The evil shaman had cursed Ta’s woman because Ta refused him tithe. The man she had killed was a close follower of the shaman. The delegation from the dead man’s village, also, looked like followers of the shaman. They informed Ta that they would take his woman back to their village to do with as they wished. Ta was sure that if he released his woman to them, she would be taken back to the distant village to be repeatedly raped and then, beaten to death. That was the fate of a strange woman who was not intended to be incorporated into the various families. It wasn’t the fate that was planned for his woman that concerned Ta. It was the fact that Ta was not sure he wanted to give into the shaman. It was like agreeing that he would bow to the tithe. Again, you must remember that Ta had no concept of romantic love, but his woman had given him children to add to the family and she had always served him well. Ta wasn’t sure that he wanted to lose her, even to accommodate a neighboring village and clan, even to preserve peace.

In a darkened hut, the woman cowered. The hut was scrub brush pilled to make the walls and covered with skins set out to dry to keep out the heat. Of course if it rained, the skins might be ruined and they would only help, keep out the rain. They weren’t a perfect covering.

The woman was dressed only in a kilt of skins. She was bent over sobbing. She had done something forbidden. Forbidden because it happened so seldom. Even in war, women did not take part in any killing. They were prizes to be taken and life with one man was seldom any worse than with another. A woman might be captured and her fate was to continue what she had always done just in a different setting. This time, Ta’s woman believed her fate was not to be given to another, but her fate was to die.

She had never known any man, but Ta. He had not taken her as a prize, but he had joined her village and become her man. Ta was of another clan, but his leadership was recognized. Soon, other hunters of her village deferred to his leadership and he rose in respect within his wife’s people.

Ta’s woman had a name, but like the real name of Ta, her name was secret. It was a name she brought forth in her thoughts when she was with a man. It was a secret name, which would help her conceive another child. Bearing children was a woman’s purpose. Now, this life and purpose were over. She probably did not know of the fate the other village wanted for her, but she was sure it included death. Ta was a proud man. He might kill her himself, thus preserving the peace demanded by the other village and yet, not giving into their entreaties.

Ta looked down below at his village. He knew the delegation was waiting for his decision. His clan, her clan, the clan of the victim and the wishes of the shaman were all weighed on his mind. He told them he would make his decision by the time he sun died in the west. Maybe, it was fitting that his woman die, at the same time as the sun.
--------------------

Max carried Liz to Kyle’s apartment. It was dark enough that no one saw him as he passed. Most of the curtains had been pulled. He walked down the sidewalk. He tapped the door with his foot and Kyle answered it.

“We were right Jolene Silverton is a skin or some type of alien. She trapped me outside and she was more powerful than I was. Something triggered in Liz. She produced a continuous powerblast and Jolene is no more,” Max explained.

Kyle quickly showed Max to the spare bedroom. Max placed the unconscious Liz on the bed. He was trying to sense her wounds and he could find nothing. Ava entered, “Max, she might not be wounded. She might just be exhausted. None of us ever heard of a continuous powerblast.”

They left Liz to rest and went back to Kyle’s living room. “Max, why didn’t you sense Jolene if she was an alien?” Kyle asked.

“Michael and I have been keeping our alien presence shut down. I assume Jolene has been doing this all along. I don’t think she knew I was an alien before I changed jail cells. I am sure what I did to the door left traces she could feel. Liz doesn’t even know what she has, but I am sure they all could sense something strange in her. For some reason, the aliens want to capture Liz and not to kill her. Maybe, they don’t know what she is either,” Max explained.

There was a pounding on the door. “Police! Open up,” came the call.

Kyle went to the door holding his badge and identification. “What can I do for you officers?” he asked.

The officers looked at Kyle’s identification. He was the state policeman who Officer Silverton had warned them about. “Do any of you know anything about that fire that was burning in front of the building?” one of them asked.

Another officer stepped forward. “Is Doctor Parker-Johnson here?” he inquired.

Before Kyle could answer, Ava stepped forward. Beautiful Ava, her perfect body, her bright yellow mane of hair and eyes that would have even frozen Tess is she had been there. “The answer to the first question is that we have been here with our friends all evening. Yes, Doctor Parker-Johnson is here and before you ask, no, you can’t see her,” Ava declared.

“And, just who are you ma’am?” one officer asked.

Ava gave him a cold smile. “I am State Policeman Kyle Valenti’s wife. My name is Doctor Valenti and I am a licensed psychologist, Doctor Parker-Johnson is under my care. She is suffering from a beak-down caused by your false arrest and incarceration last night. We are preparing a claim against your department.” From the look Ava gave all of them, Kyle could almost swear that flames ‘were’ coming out of her eyes.

The city officer made one more try. “Have any of you seen Officer Silverton, tonight?”

Max spoke up, “No, we haven’t seen ‘Officer’ Silverton tonight.” No one, but those inside the apartment noticed how Max emphased the word ‘Officer.’

With a nod to Ava and the statement, “Have a good evening,” the city officers left.

“I think it is time to make another trip back behind the ‘Puerco,” Kyle stated.

“Yeah, did you say something about another murder?” Max asked.

“Slim Hutchins, a old cattle inspector. Now, he might have looked at the wrong cows or something, but we have to consider everything in terms of the drug smugglers. If is just a rancher who was caught doing a bit of rustling then it should be simple to solve. However if Old Slim’s death has anything to do with the smugglers or with the UFO’s, then this case gets nasty quickly. Killing a state officer is not allowed,” Kyle stated with his typical wisdom. “Eloy Ortiz phoned and said for us to meet at the Martinez place. He said to bring Liz. Maybe, the Martinez family just misses her. I could hear Angie Martinez in the background when he was calling.”

Max turned to Ava, “Do you think she will be able to travel tomorrow?”

“Max I am starting to think there is more alien in Liz than we think. When we exhaust ourselves using powers, we just need sleep to recharge. We will see when she wakes up. Leave her here and you take the couch tonight. Sorry, but that bed in the guest room is just a twin bed, too narrow for two.” Ava was rethinking what she knew about Liz. Liz had done something none of them had done before. Was it something just special to her or had she discovered power the rest of them never thought of? A continued blast could be very powerful.

Come morning, Liz was in fine spirits. Ava thought that she seemed in better humor than she had been before. Liz was changing. She would need close watching by all three of them. Ava hadn’t yet seen Isabel. Isabel and Jesse were staying in Albuquerque for a while. That meant there were four aliens to watch over Liz if needed.

The city police were still looking for Jolene Silverton. Officers don’t just disappear for no reason. The captain was going to tear her a new one and he might even put her on the desk, but Jolene was missing. He needed to find her first. He feared that she had run afoul of someone somewhere. That Evans guy and that Doctor Parker-Johnson were the only people he knew who might have it in for her. He would keep close eye on them and the state policeman, Kyle, also.

Michael pulled out a laptop and using the WIFI where Maria was staying, he began to hack into records to see what he could find about Jolene. Michael and Maria had coffee with Jake Chavez one morning. Jake knew Maria as a singer and was delighted to meet her. Maria had produced several CDs in both English and Spanish. After getting Maria’s autograph for his wife, they all sat and talked. Normally, Jake wouldn’t talk about another officer, but Michael seemed to know a lot about her already. “Did Officer Silverton have a boyfriend?” Michael asked.

“Yes, she brought one around to meet Sadie, my wife, right after we became partners. You know Sadie wasn’t that happy for my partner to be a woman,” Jake said.

“What did she have against Max Evans and Doctor Parker-Johnson?” Michael asked again.

Jake shook his head. “I don’t know. The whole case was like being in a dream or something. We both made too many mistakes. I have no idea why I didn’t stop her,” Jake stated.

Michael thought, the poor sucker had no idea that he was being mind warped. Jolene being with him so many years, probably, made it easy for her. If Jolene showed Sadie Chavez a boyfriend, the question was did she introduce Sadie to another alien or did Jolene dope some slob she picked up somewhere, giving him synthetic memories and passing him off as someone she had known for a long time? The next question Michael thought of, but couldn’t ask, was how many more of these creatures were in the Albuquerque Police Department? Michael would talk to Kyle as soon as he could. Maybe Kyle, in this case, couldn’t trust anyone in the Albuquerque PD. After coffee, Michael and Maria went back to their room, hacking for information about Jolene or anything that might look in Michael’s eyes like something of alien origin.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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ken_r
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mature, pg7,ch15, 7/16/2012

Post by ken_r »

mary mary

keepsmiling7: I want to show that there are many kinds of aliens. Like there are many different kinds of humans. The ranch family is who Kyle decides to trust.

L-J-L 76: Liz is turning into someone who can take care of herself. The police officer was of some race of aliens who had political dealings with the Antar of Kivar. What the aliens want of Liz will be shown, soon. I think Liz and Max back together, now is certain. Happy endings?" Like landing an airplane, any ending they can walk away from is happier than the alternative.


Chapter 16

They took two trucks, Max’s rental Explorer and Kyle’s pickup. Kyle still had his toys firmly fixed in the bed of his truck. This gave Liz a chance to talk to Max in private. “Max, I have no idea of what I did, last night. She had you in some sort of power and I just pointed my finger at that bitch and somehow my anger channeled against her. I am not even sure what was happening,” Liz stated.

“Ava thinks you are changing and she thinks it is more than just my healing you. Ava says it might even be something that happened to your grandmother or maybe, your grand father. She wants to talk to you about how we met. What attraction did you see in me? Had you any feelings about me before I healed you? She has several other questions, also. You might want to start thinking about this. Ava thinks that there is something about you that these aliens are curious about,” Max said.

They continued following Kyle’s map. They waved to Ortiz sitting on horseback with his two sons as they passed. They knew that Ortiz and his sons would meet them at the Martinez ranch sometime tonight. Now, Liz was in familiar territory. She saw Sammy and his horse on a hill watching for them. Soon they arrived to the welcome of Angie Martinez.

-----------------------

Ta dreaded this. Taking a life was not good. Giving in to the shaman was not good. Starting a war was not good. Ta now knew many things, which were not good. As he slowly walked back to his village he passed an old man waiting for him. The man had lived his life and much of that life had been dedicated to Ta. Ta’s uncle had lived for many years at the village of his woman. When she died and he became past the age of taking another one, he moved closer to his nephew who he had guided for many years. Ta greeted him, “Uncle, it is always good to see you.”

“Yet, you walk with a heavy heart, nephew,” the uncle replied.

“I must save the balance; I must save the village; I must bring justice to the people,” Ta answered.

“Yes nephew, a life for a life. That is a kind of justice,” his uncle stated.

“I must kill the person myself. I can’t give in to the shaman by giving him the woman. I must, to save the balance, kill my own woman,” Ta answered.

“Yes, and what did this woman do that she must be killed by her own man?” the uncle asked.

“She did what women do not do. She killed a man, she killed a man of another village and another clan,” Ta stated.

“Yes, she did and why did she kill a man of another village and another clan?” his uncle asked again.

Ta was silent. Finally, he said, “I don’t know.”

“Nephew, I taught you to chip stone. I taught you to throw the spear. I taught you to lure the pronghorn. I taught you to use his curiosity. Now, why won’t you use your own curiosity? Ask why your woman killed this man?” His uncle, finally, was getting through to Ta.

“The man was crawling into the hut where my woman was working,” Ta said thoughtfully.

“And, why was he crawling like a snake into the hut where your woman was working? Did he need the service of a woman? He could have made known his need and almost any man would have shared his woman. Your village is known for its generosity. Did he want something that was in your hut? Again, he had only to ask. You would probably have shared with him. What was the cry when you refused the shaman his tithe?” Uncle asked.

Ta answered, “He cursed my woman.”

“Right, and to fulfill that curse, this man crawled into your hut to murder your woman. It would have been seen as the fulfillment of the curse,” uncle said.

“And, if I kill my woman to preserve the balance, it will also fulfill the curse,” Ta angrily stated.

“Yes nephew, but you are not like the prong horn. Your curiosity will not bring your death. It will bring to both you and your woman, life,” Ta’s uncle smiled. Ta was the greatest nephew an uncle could have.

Ta walked tall as he entered the village. He called the delegation. You demand a life for a life, that, I will give you. You are invited to witness how I preserve the balance of the people,” Ta had spoken.

The three men followed him to his hut. “Woman come out!” Ta commanded.

She now knew she had been right. Ta himself would take her life to save the peace. His woman crawled out the low door. She sat with bowed head. She had no idea of how he would kill her. She whispered her secret name so her spirit could be freed from her body. As always, Ta was holding his thrower and his darts. He dropped all the darts except for the light colored one he had traded for. Ta thrust the dart deep into the chest of the nearest delegate. “I have given you a life for a life. The man who crept into my home was already dead. Only a dead man would risk killing a woman of another village and clan. I give you this follower of your shaman in exchange for the life he took to force a man to commit such a thing. I challenge your shaman to meet me in three nights on the side of the lake first seen by the new sun. When the new sun is born, only one of us will greet the sun.” Ta turned taking his woman by the shoulders and guiding her back into his hut. The two remaining delegates struggled to carry the other one back to the shaman.

Ta’s woman busied her self about her cooking. When she was ready to serve him, Ta grunted. He pointed to the old man sitting in the doorway. “Give the first piece to Uncle. He showed me the prong horn today.”

Ta had some other thinking to do. If he had approached his woman, grabbed her by the hair and presented a knife to her throat, she would probably have allowed him to kill her. She had been prepared to allow him to take her life before the delegates. Ta had no doubt that almost any other woman would have allowed him the same thing. Women did not kill men. By killing the man creeping into her home, she had saved Ta from the results of the shaman’s curse. She had acted differently than expected. Ta would have to think about this.
--------------------

As Max carried their luggage into the Martinez ranch house, he thought. Just how strong is Liz? He had been held prisoner by the alien. Was Jolene a skin or something else? She was more powerful than Max that was obvious. Looking at Liz as she was greeting Angie, this was not the same little girl he had saved from the gunshot so long ago. Yet, Ava said she was the same little girl. Even then, Liz had something special about herself. It just had remained hidden until last night. When she came out of whatever closet she had hidden in, Liz was, now, a power to be reckoned with.

“Doctor Liz, you are looking good,” Angie stated.

Max wondered what Angie would have thought if she had seen Liz passed out last night.

Soon Joe, Rafael and Sammy all were back from their chores. They all were gathered around the dinner table. Except for the evening prayers, which seemed more solemn and intense, it was almost as before, except, Liz had eaten two big thick stakes for dinner. The Martinez family said nothing about that, they were used to people with healthy appetites. Max thought, she is trying to recharge. He didn’t yet know of the drain her newly found power was on her body and mind. Kyle brought up the latest murder. “What do you think happened to Slim Hutchins, Joe?” Kyle asked.

“If he ran into rustlers back there, they might have shot him,” Joe answered. The Tapia boys used to take a steer or two as Saturday night’s wages to spend at the casino. Eloy caught them a few years ago and beat the hell out of them. As far as I know, they are model citizens now. They attend brandings and barn raisings. They always pull their share. There is talk that Johnny Tapia is stepping out with Mary Sanchez. He says that when they get married, he is going to take over his father’s spread. The old man has let it slide for several years. At their worst, they were just good time ole boys and murder was never their style.” Joe took a sip of his very hot coffee. “The only outsiders are the cops and the smugglers. I don’t think the cops would shoot Slim, so that means Slim ran into the smugglers. Were they messing with cattle or did Slim decide to be a hero and try to stop the narcotics?” he continued.

The conversation went from narcotics smuggling to UFOs and cattle rustling to politics to weather, a typical night of conversation around a ranch table.

Shortly after dinner was finished, a truck was heard drive up to the ranch house. Liz had stayed in the kitchen helping Angie with the dishes. There was a knock at the door and Eloy Ortiz and his two sons entered. Emilio and Vicente both shook hands all around. “How’s the graze in the bottom of the ‘Puerco?” Joe asked.

“It is fine in the bend just below the sandstone bluff,” Emilio stated.

“Better keep a sharp eye if you drift them that way,” Eloy stated. “The rains might come any day. If they have something up in the mountains near Cuba, it can come down the ‘Puerco damned fast,” he continued.

“I moved most of Dad’s cows off the playa today. If there is any more of those damned smugglers, they might just decide to take a beef along with their stash,” Vicenti stated.

Soon, the women joined the men. Liz could have told Max that usually men did not include their wives in the talk about business. The talk was going get close to home tonight. Angie was here alone many days and nights. Both Eloy and Joe felt their wives needed to understand what was going on; the danger would be shared by all. Kyle turned to Eloy. “Did you learn anything more about Slim, Eloy?” he asked.

Eloy nodded. “It ain’t rustlers. Nobody is loosing any cows to speak of. The Tapia boys are all grown up and according to Delbert Arrivas, Slim said something about checking on one of those landing strips. Damned fool. He should have stuck to cows. At least, he knowed about them rustlers and such,” Eloy declared.

Kyle spoke up, “I gotta ask. Was he killed by humans?”

For several seconds, everyone was quiet. Then, Eloy turned to Max. “You are the expert. Them relatives of yours in spaceships ever use firearms?” he asked.

Max shook his head. “They might not be related to me. Liz and I ran into a type of alien I had never seen before. She was one tough woman to destroy. Unfortunately, she was a police officer.”

Joe shook his head, “Killing a police officer is a mighty bad thing. What did you do with the body? Will they be looking for you?” he asked.

“Joe, when that kind of alien dies they just melt into dust and blow away. She had managed to throw Liz and me in jail over night. They separated us and I had to use powers to break out and find Liz’s cell. By the time I got to her cell, there were three aliens already there trying to take Liz. I sort of got rid of them and they blew away, also. I spent the rest of the night in her cell with her,” Max explained.

Joe frowned, “Well, did you ever hear of aliens using firearms? Could they have picked up a pistol somewhere and shot Slim?”

“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Maybe like that city Police woman, she had a departmental issued Glock.”

Max shook his head. “The only way I ever knew of an alien killing someone was like they murdered Doctor Johnson. Sometimes, they do things like interrupting a person’s heart. We all can use power blast when we want. Jolene was a special case. She might have used her weapon to not let Chavez see what she was. She had Chavez in a mind warp most of the time, anyhow,” Max stated.

Joe turned to Kyle. “Then, I think we have to believe that Old Slim ran up against one of them human smugglers, human style, I guess,” he said.

Kyle stated, “The smugglers must have some human guarding the landing strips. You all gotta be careful riding around. They might let loose a few shots at you if they think you are close to something they consider important.”

Now, it was Eloy’s turn to frown. “This is our land. We have to tend to our cows and do ranch work. If we find someone hanging where we don’t think he should be, we will call you. But, if he fires on us then it is Katie bar the door. Or in our case, I guess it would be Cati cerró la puerta and we don’t care if they are Hispanic, Anglo or alien. The cracks in the lava are going to fill up with bodies or dust damned fast.

Author note: “The phrase Katie bar the door,” probably comes from a Scotish poem. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/213750.html To bar the door, imagine the time when to lock the door you dropped a bar of wood across it so it couldn’t be opened on the other side. Colloquial usage is like “batten down the hatches” in the navy. We are preparing for a storm or an attack. Misha and I decided that “Cati cerró la puerta,’ probably came close and for Joe Martinez that would be close enough to emphasize his Hispanic ancestry.

Liz and Max were again in the same room. Angie didn’t say a word about it. She was more worried about Liz’s safety. If it wasn’t for her fear that aliens were still after her, Liz would have really enjoyed her stay at the Martinez ranch house, with the crisp cool air, the night noises, which she had learned to love, while camping with Frank, the friendship of the Martinez family and last the closeness of her first love, Max. Liz almost had all her dreams. As she slept she felt changes in her body. Her dreams were more vivid. Even asleep, she heard things more clearly. There was one mark of sadness. Liz didn’t like violence and what she had done to Jolene bothered her. In her dreams she was bothered even more because she seemed proud that she had saved Max. It was sorta like she had repaid him for what he had done for her all these years. What would Frank say about his little woman, now?

Liz always had been an independent girl. She had always enjoyed the niceties of being a girl, like men holding the door open, the offering of an arm and being treated like someone grand, but she was never totally dependent on a boy or man. Unlike Isabel, Liz could change a flat tire. Liz could repair a door on a cupboard, and Liz could fix a broken toilet. Now, it seemed that her powers were even stronger than those of Max, Michael and Isabel. Liz would have to discuss this with Ava the first chance she got. She didn’t remember if Ava had ever used powers to protect herself. She did remember that Tess depended on Isabel to save her from Whitaker and Whitaker was just a skin. Maybe Ava would have advice as to how much Liz revealed to the other Roswell aliens.

It seemed that she had just fallen asleep when there was a pounding on their door. “Hey Max, get the lead out. Kyle is on the phone with the narcotics squad and Sammy is getting our pickup out. The Tapia brothers just shot the tires out on a drug smuggling pickup. They have the drivers pinned down. We don’t know if the smugglers are calling for help, but the Tapias are. The fastest the state helicopter can get there is a little over an hour. For once, those boys are trying to do something good. We don’t want to let them get hurt,” Joe Martinez shouted.
-----------------------------

Warrior Chicks of Aswam the dream is almost over.

Little Napolleon, the 13th victim As Liz prepares to take her rightful place with the aliens, she sees that there are many crimes in the alien/human community which need her attention.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mature, pg8, ch16, 7/22/201

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508:

mary mary: We know as teens they were learning about their powers.

keepsmiling7: Ava and Kyle will make a report about Liz soon.

L-J-L 76: Liz is just now learning about her new powers.


Chapter 17

Max had to make a quick decision. Leave Liz here with Angie Martinez or drag her along to what was bound to end up in a shoot-out. There was no question about him going with Joe and his sons. The Martinez family had extended their hospitability twice. They had, or at least Sammy had, saved Liz when Frank had been killed. In the end, Max decided to trust in Liz’s new found powers and let her give Angie Martinez some protection.

----------------------------

Jake Chavez had problems. He had had coffee with those friends of Kyle’s. They didn’t have anything against him, but they were unhappy with Jolene. Then, a Foot Patrolman turned up what was left of Jolene’s uniform. He had found it in an alley near the police station. It had been yanked off with some violence. It was torn in a couple places and many of the buttons were off. As if things were not bad enough, the uniform showed no signs of blood, but it did have the strangest DNA associated with it that the crime investigators had ever seen. They couldn’t identify it, but they declared it wasn’t human.

Jake was thinking about Lonnie Zamora, the State policeman his cousin had introduced him to. Zamora had said, “Given another chance, I would have just ignored what I saw and gone off to arrest a drunk somewhere.” Was Jake getting himself into some UFO incident. He had finally found reference to who that Guerin character was. Guerin was a science fiction writer. Guerin’s name had been linked to Evans’ in several UFO investigations. With the DNA evidence on her uniform, had Jolene been abducted someway? If she had been, did Guerin and Evans have something to do with it or did Silverton run into whatever they had been investigating. Was there any link to his partner and the death of that Doctor Johnson on the far side of the Rio Puerco?

Jake sat at his desk musing. Where in the hell did that singer fit in? Maria DeLuca had been reported to be living with Guerin in some hotel room. They both spent a lot of time with Kyle Valenti’s wife. While he was thinking about everything, just how did a state police officer like Kyle get a wife like Doctor Valenti? She looked like a movie star, but there was not a hint of any infidelity about her or Kyle. Ten years of learning police work and watching people were in the shitter. Nothing Jake had learned seemed to fit this case.

Michael had done what they should have done before. “Izzy, we need to know what goes on with that city policeman Jake Chavez,” he said. “Here is a picture I got from a newspaper in the library when he graduated from the city academy.”

“That is real helpful, Mike, like taking our pictures from the high school year book and finding us now,” Isabel declared.

“Sorry, Izzy, that is all I could find. Please do the best you can. We need the information,” Mike replied.

Jesse Ramirez had a business back in Boston to run. He would return if he was needed, but in the mean time he booked a flight back east. Philip was still concerned about his son and about Liz, who had been part of his family in thought if not in deed for many years. Both he and his wife Diane were getting to the age where emergency flights of travel were painful. He wanted to get back to Diane as soon as possible.

Isabel felt that if there was about to be some new alien invasion, she might be needed to support the rest. She moved into the spare room at Kyle’s. The small institutional bed in the room caused her pain. She looked forward to when she could get back to her “Sleep Number” bed, with Jesse. Isabel had been thinking they needed to investigate what was happening to Liz. Was she to become a welcome ally in any alien fights in the future? If she could find him, tonight Isabel would dream walk Jake.

--------------------------

Max was riding with Kyle as they bounced across the county side. They had traversed some of the roads that they had driven over earlier. Then they had driven slowly and carefully. Now, Kyle was trying to keep up with the pickup driven by Joe Martinez and his sons. They had offered Max the use of several rifles, but Kyle told them that Max had his own protection. There was nothing to hide. The Martinez family and the Ortiz family both knew about his character. If they saw a few sparks, power blasts and green shields, that would just be more proof that Max was from somewhere else. Martinez stopped and one of his sons got out. They turned off their engines to listen to the night noises.

They heard a staccato of medium arms fire, Kyle leaned close to Max. “That is Ortiz or one of his boys with their AR-15,” he stated.

Max was watching the dark when a shadow appeared. It was Rafael Martinez. He was carrying his big lever action rifle. He came close to the two pickups. “The Tapias are on the next ridge of hills. They have the smugglers pinned down in a wide arroyo about a hundred yards away. They need support and they need you, Kyle. You can give a little legitimacy to this endeavor. You are the only badge here. Deputize us or something.”

Kyle had been told that the state police helicopter with the SWAT team would be there in about an hour. The state SWAT team had been organized to fight the riots of the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. Originally, the SWAT team was manned, by the toughest State Patrolmen in outlying districts. These were men who did not depend on backup. They were men in one man districts. They might be supported by locals within the district, but getting any other officer to help, could be hours away. Now, the SWAT members were highly trained police officers, usually trained by the military.

Kyle explained to Max what they all were worried about. “Max, the smugglers have aircraft also. A Cessna with its doors off and a man with a full automatic weapon can cut groups like ours to pieces. The smugglers also may have more trucks close by. The narcotics police will get here as soon as they can, but until some official man-power arrives it is up to us. Max, if someone in a plane opens fire, just remember these are the men who hurt Liz. I would take it as a favor if that plane fell out of the sky.”

Kyle clearly didn’t want to use his toys in front of too many people. The toys were for UFOs anyway. Kyle didn’t think the UFOs would support the smugglers in something like this. That would get the air force back involved. Kyle remembered once back in high school, it was rumored that the air force had shot a UFO down. It turned out to be real, a craft driven by Tess, Ava’s duplicate. Tess was bringing her infant son back from Antar where its human status almost got them both killed by Kivar.

With Joe Martinez leading, the two Martinez boys, Max and Kyle swiftly walked over the crest of the ridge and down into the small valley below. It was difficult climbing back up the ridge on the other side of the valley, especially at night. There were several curses breathed softly as they made their way up the hill. “Rafael, it that you?” was heard from one of the men already on the crest of the hill.

“Yeah, Eloy and I have the others with me,” Rafael answered.

Kyle crowded up and said, “Give us a brief. What are we facing?”

Eloy made a quiet call and two men who Kyle had never met walked up in the dark. “Johnny, Fred, this is the state policeman I was talking about. Kyle meet the Tapia brothers,” Eloy said.

There were handshakes all around then the Tapias saw Max, “Who is the dude?” Johnny Tapia asked.

“Boys, this man knows more about those things in the sky than any of us. Johnny, Fred, meet Max Evans. He ain’t from around here,” Eloy explained.

That seemed to satisfy the Tapia brothers. “Eloy, just about sundown we saw that truck that has been coming around. It is the same one that was high balling it out of here the other night. One of them saw us near the skyline and let off a shot. We both jumped off our horses and opened up on them,” Fred explained. Max saw that he was carrying a deer rifle. Looking at the large cartridges on his belt, Max figured that it was a very powerful rifle.

Johnny chimed in, “Fred put a half dozen bullets through the engine block. That truck ain’t never going anywhere until it gets a new motor.”

“Yeah, then we called on our cell phone for help. We have had them pinned down since then. Now that it is dark, they might try to slip away, but they will have a long walk to get anywhere,” Fred remarked.

In the distance all of the men heard the sound of a small plane. It probably was the Cessna from the other night. Kyle reached in his pack and took out several devises. “Long ago, my grand daddy told about being on the top of a hill and the Kaiser’s finest were down in a valley much like this one. These are just fireworks, but grand daddy called them star-shells.”

------------------------

When she finally made contact with the dream world of Jake Chavez, Isabel saw a path as if it had been pruned or mowed. On either side of the path, there were tall shrubs and something else that wasn’t clear. Isabel had always told everyone else that dream walking was not a science. Since she had met and spent time with Ava, Isabel was having mind changes. Ava was the true pro. For Izzy, the concepts she found had to be seen in things, which were familiar to her. She had no idea of what Ava might have found. The carefully trimmed path Isabel saw was the condition Jolene had left Jakes mind and memory. Isabel knew that eventually the shrubbery would regrow and the path was become a vague memory. It could be seen that until he had been paired with Jolene, that Jake had been an honest, hard working cop. Isabel saw that Jake was looking for Jolene, but he had no idea of where to find her. Isabel nudged the words of Lonnie Zamora. Something difficult to explain, maybe it never happened.

-----------------------

Kyle took out a small flashlight and Max saw him set up several tubes attached to squares of wood. Kyle tilted them slightly toward the valley. Then he lit the fuse on the first one. There was a bang and a flash. Then, Max saw a bright cinder flying through the sky. It rose on a high arc above the valley. It went off and blue stars spilled in a fountain lighting up the valley below. Kyle must have whispered his plan to the Martinez men because when the light went off, Max saw them very near the stalled truck. The Tapia brothers opened up on the men at the truck and Kyle yelled, “Throw down your weapons this is the state police.”

Joe Martinez turned on a powerful electric torch and yelled, “Arriba las manos!,” (Up with your hands.)

Kyle set off another star shell and this time, the valley was bathed in red light. Joe marched the captured men in front of their truck and Sammy turned on the headlights. The truck had lost its engine, but the battery still worked. Kyle passed out cable ties and all the prisoners were secured. Eloy and the Tapias nodded to Kyle then the Ortiz boys and the Tapia brothers all disappeared. You could hear the “Whap, whap” of the state police chopper as it neared the lighted field. The sound of the Cessna grew fainter. They wouldn’t have to have a combat in the sky.

“Let me do the talking. We will just let Major Wilson talk to these boys. I am sure that some one here knows about the murder of the cattle inspector, Slim Hutchins,” Kyle directed.

The State Police helicopter landed. Max had heard tales of the major from Kyle. He even remembered one or two stories from the police blotter back in Denver. In the military, he had been charge of developing prisons, like Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo in Cuba. When the investigations were started, Max heard that no one wanted to testify against the major. In New Mexico, he had been hired to be a troubleshooter for the governor. When the Albuquerque City Police had jailed Max and Liz and then shut Kyle out of the investigation, the major drove down from Santa Fe and calmly walked into the Chief’s office. Jake Chavez thought he had received a dressing down from his captain, but that wasn’t half as bad as the captain had received from a chief who was still shaking from his meeting with the major.

The Major stood over six feet. His bull shoulder, Tony Lama boots were highly polished as always. His shirt was black silk and his jeans were black denim. His Bushnell glasses in their gold wire frames were with variable tint lenses. He wore a low crush silver XXX Stetson. His Kimber 45 automatic pistol, wore grips by Esmeralda. http://www.esmeralda.cc/

Despite his Hollywood appearance, every movement of the major showed economy and efficiency. Kyle almost saluted when he talked to the man. “Sir, some locals called me that there was a drug truck broken down here in the valley. Martinez and his boys guided me to this location. We secured these men and I think it best if you conduct your own investigation. There is a chance they know about the murder of Slim Hutchins, the cattle inspector.”

The major listened to Kyle, then, he raised his hand. Three SWAT members jumped out of the helicopter carrying M-16 battle rifles. At the SWAT’s prodding the men that Kyle had secured marched into the aircraft. After The Helicopter had left, Max said, “God, Kyle he is like one of those ‘Storm Troopers’ from World War II.”

Kyle shook his head, “No, Max, he is like one of the men who interrogated the ‘Storm Troopers.’ We will know all about the murder of the inspector by tomorrow.”

Max, wisely said nothing. He was sure that the major knew that Kyle and the Martinez family were not enough to round up that many men. As Kyle said, “The report is to be neat and efficient. No use adding confusing
testimony.”
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mature, pg9, complete, 8/4/

Post by ken_r »

mary mary: Keep it simple

begonia9508: we had an inch and a half of rain, it almost flooded us

keepsmiling7


Chapter 18

Liz, Angie Martinez and the twins were sitting in the living room waiting for the men to return. “I know that Kyle will take care of Joe,” Angie stated. “He has been a good friend to all of us back here. I, also, know that Joe has a level head on his shoulders. He and the boys will do what is needed, and they will be careful, but one always worries.”

Liz just nodded. An anthropologist and the wife of a field geologist did not get into dangerous situations like this. A friend of aliens and a woman who spent her teen years running from bad aliens and bad humans, understood what was happening very well.

It was all of a sudden when the coyotes began to howl. The twins crowded themselves very close to Angie. Looking through the windows of the ranch house, Liz saw a dim light shinning on the front yard. Except for the howling of the yodel pups, it was quiet outside. Usually, there would be wind noises, but now, there wasn’t a breath of air.

The women and girls had been sitting in the living room watching the fireplace. They had not turned on the lights. The room took on a glow and Liz saw that oval face form in the corner of the room. Angie looked from the face to Liz. She gripped the girls closer to herself. As the face formed and the two black eyes were seen along with the small mouth, Angie saw Liz’s hands. Like St. Elmo’s fire, there were coronal discharges from her finger tips. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire

Ava had predicted changes in Liz long ago. She had sensed these changes when she was caring for Liz. Liz was not the creature she was only a couple weeks ago. The threat of Jolene Silverton had accelerated the changes and now, not only was Liz threatened, but her close friends also were in danger.

As the spindly creature developed in the corner, Liz could hear in her head the whispering voice. “You are not like these Antarians. Let us take you back to your home,” The creature whispered where only Liz could hear.

The creature turned to where Angie and the twins were sitting and raised a hand toward them. Liz had no way of knowing if the creature meant to harm them or not. Liz sent a green shield much like those of the Roswell group, but the shield that Liz created was sparking. When the creature raised its hand toward Angie and the girls, the shield began sparking in its direction.

Liz had no idea what she had created. She had seen Max make a green shield to protect them many times. This shield was nothing like what Max had created. The creature was fully resolved, now. It had no expression or no expression that a human could read. Liz felt an anger and the creature cast a bright lightning toward Angie and the twins. They all three screamed, but they didn’t need to. The shield that Liz had created backfired the lightning to the creature in the corner. Liz could almost imagine she saw it singed.

“Your great grandmother was royalty. She was banished to this backward place. It was intended that she perish on this planet, inhabited by primitive primate creatures. Her people did not realize that their information was thousands of years out of date. She must have mated with the inhabitants of this planet and produced off spring. You should be returned to your rightful place. There is no need for you to consort with Antarians or humans. We will get a great reward for your return,” Liz heard in her head.

Liz spoke aloud. She wanted Angie Martinez to hear what she said. “If someone banished my great grandmother, then let her remained banished. I am sure she would not be that forgiving to want to return after she made a life for herself here. We both know that I am much stronger than any of you. You are also learning the primitive weapons of this planet can be deadly,” Liz spoke with more authority than she had ever done before.

----------------------

Max and Kyle were following the Martinez pickup. Max imagined that the Ortiz family had already made it home. Kyle had only involved the Martinez family partly in the capture of the drug smugglers. If the major intended to use testimony in court, Max was sure that he and Kyle would be enough. Max was also thinking what Kyle had said, “The major is like those who intimidated the Storm Troopers in the second World War.”

Max was not sure about his own feeling about what kind of fellow the major actually was. The major ran rough shod over many ideals that Max was trained to believe. His reverie was interrupted by Kyle’s cell phone.

Max heard Joe Martinez over the phone as Kyle answered it. “Kyle, that damned thing is over our house. I am going to get the boys and start blasting it.”

“Hey, Martinez, call Angie and make sure she is all right. Wait for the shooting until we get there. Let’s make sure that we put a stop to this galactic interference with Earth affairs once and for all,” Kyle stated.

When Liz destroyed Jolene, it took all of her energy. Now holding the alien at bay in the corner of the house seemed almost natural. Liz was getting stronger by the minute. Liz saw Angie reach into the pocket of her apron. When she withdrew the cell phone, Liz could hear the chime. “Joe, where are you? One of those strange things has gotten into our house. Doctor Liz is somehow keeping it in the corner, but you need to get here pronto and exterminate it. Yeah, the twins are right here with me. Doctor Liz has powers like that space man, Max. I don’t know what is going on, but I am damned glad she is our friend,” Angie closed her cell phone knowing that Joe would be here soon. Women out here believed that their men were strong. Angie didn’t look forward to the recoil of one of the boys, big rifles, but she would use one if she had to defend her family.

The Martinez house was built in the shadow of a mesa. Some of the locals called this a rincon or ring cone, probably incorrect, but it described a curve in the mesa that gave protections from the snows of winter and the winds that blew much of the time. As Kyle and Max approached a hill some distance from the house, he parked beside the truck belonging to the Martinez’s. As Kyle busied himself at the rear of his pickup, Max walked up to the Martinez family. Joe turned and said, “Angie says one of them things is in the house. She says that Doctor Liz is holding it against the wall. What gives, spaceman?”

Max shook his head. “I don’t really know Martinez, Liz has been changing for years. Nothing that obvious, but she has been able to do many strange things, even before we broke up. She was so angry with that alien cop the other night. None of us can do what she did.”

Kyle came up and he had a large tube on his shoulder. “Everyone make sure there is nothing behind me. After I fire this thing, get busy putting out fires. Won’t do any good to bring this thing down and be burned by a prairie fire, Kyle stated.

There was a “Whoosh” and Rafael and Sammy both grabbed shovels out of their truck and began to beat out the several sage bushes which had burst into fire from the flaming exhaust of the MANPAD. Max looked toward the strange object and saw that the trail of whatever Kyle had fired, made a trace right to the side of the thing in the sky. The resulting explosion caused the strange thing to spiral out of control and plunge into the mesa behind the house.

Both parties jumped back into their trucks and raced down the hill to the ranch house. Joe jumped out and ran into the home. Kyle joined Rafael and Sammy as they progressed to the site of the crash putting out fires as they went. Max walked into the ranch house.

Joe had his wife and children in his arms. They were talking Spanish and hugging each other. Liz was sitting on a couch, looking at a thoroughly pissed off alien. Max heard in his head, “Antarian, Kivar rules your people now. We had agreements with him. Let me go!”

Max looked at the alien behind the strange shield Liz had made. “I was sent to Earth. My people are here. I am an American and most of my family are Republicans. None of this has anything to do with Kivar. Any people I had back on Antar, I am sure Kivar has killed. People I associate with do not smuggle dope or attack women and children.” Max was imagining what connections, Kyle’s mysterious major had with Area 51. This was one alien, Max would be glad to see in their tender mercies.
____________

Ta had been watching the stars. They now had made half their journey across the sky. Soon, he would pick up his spear thrower and supply of darts. Ta had been very careful to not remove the blood from the special dart. Ta was an honorable man. Ta was a respected man. Ta’s word was his bond. He, alone, would meet the evil shaman on the side of the lake which first saw the sun. Ta was not afraid. Ta had strong medicine. Ta had the dart, which killed the messenger sent seeking for him to kill his woman. Ta intended to use the dart again.

Ta’s eyes were attuned to the almost dark of the starlight. It was dangerous to travel alone at night. The sun was man’s friend. The darkness was ruled by those who brought danger. True, no one in Ta’s family had seen a long tooth. Few of them had seen the great wolf. Only stories remained of the giants. Maybe the only spirit of the giants was held in the totem, Ta had on the string about his neck. There still were dangers. Those who crawled without legs were abounding in the cool of the evening. Some of those could spit death. There were other wolves, maybe not as dangerous, singly, as the giant wolf, but they traveled in packs. Then, there was danger that Ta had no medicine against. Falling on the rocky trail, he might become injured. If he was hurt and there was any blood, all sorts of creatures would be drawn to Ta.

The sun returned and began his journey for another time. Ta was standing on one foot, his other foot tucked into the bend behind his knee and leaning on his spear thrower was watching the direction of the sun, while leaning on his spear thrower. Out of the morning glare, a figure appeared. It was the evil shaman. He did not appear to be carrying any weapon. Ta stood waiting for whatever would develop. “You killed my messenger and your woman killed the other one I sent,” The shaman yelled.

Ta said nothing. What the shaman said, was true, Ta had nothing to add.

“I will curse you and see you die,” the shaman yelled again.

Ta knew that his death was to be seen. So far, the shaman had shown no weapons. Was he going to kill Ta with just words? Ta touched his totem. Uncle had assured Ta that the totem was taken from a giant who fed the village for a long time. The giant was alive and the men of the village had valiantly killed it. Ta was sure that the strength of the giant was flowing through his body. Ta had no intention of dying today.

Then, Ta saw it. Widely separated, on each side of the shaman, were two shapes crouching in the shadows. As they approached Ta, he finally made out their features. Both men were renown hunters from the shaman’s village. They were the danger, not the words of the shaman. One of the men was advancing faster than the other. Ta was sure that he was the younger one. That was like a wolf attack. The younger wolf would attack fast. Then, the older, wiser wolf would follow and bring the game down. Ta was sure that unlike wolves, the shaman would only approach when he was sure that Ta had been subdued.

Ta remained motionless. The two hunters were preparing to attack. When the younger man started running toward Ta, Ta cast his dart at the older hunter, the one remaining motionless. A man cannot cast a dart while running. He must stop first. If Ta had been concentrating on the younger man, the old hunter would target him and probably Ta wouldn’t have seen the dart in time to dodge it. A running man would also be more difficult to target. As Ta thought, the older hunter was not expecting to receive Ta’s dart. Out of the sky came the spear. It entered the older hunter’s chest as he was preparing to target Ta. Ta was sure of his aim. Immediately after casting his dart, he ran at the younger hunter. The man stopped preparing to cast his spear. The spear thrower is not an easy weapon to use while running, but it did make a good club. Ta felt the satisfactory crunch as his spear thrower crushed the young hunter’s skull.

Now and only now, did Ta stop to take in the scene before him. The old hunter lay on his back, the spear sticking out of his chest and blood running from the wound. He was also foaming blood from his mouth. Ta knew that he was an adversary no more. The close hunter lay still. There was no movement from him at all. His skull was rapidly being covered in blood. The shaman was screaming incoherently. He was shaking a strange object. The object had a long tail and it was blinking red lights. Ta ran to the shaman. In Ta’s hand, he had the medicine point. Pulling the shaman’s hair back, Ta slashed the point across his throat. The blood flowed. As Ta was congratulating him self for surviving, he felt a shadow blocking out the sun.

The strange object associated with the stranger man who brought evil medicine to the shaman was now descending. Ta picked up his spear thrower and with the medicine dart in position, he prepared to meet the strangers. They had nothing Ta wanted. He would not be bought like the shaman, who lay bleeding on the ground. The stranger had the big head with the large black eyes that Ta remembered from before. The stranger’s arms were never meant to cast spears or subdue enemies. The stranger’s legs were never meant to run or carry game back to the village.

As the stranger approached and Ta prepared to cast his medicine dart, Ta heard in his mind, “My son,” it had been ages since Ta had been called anyone’s son and that had been by his uncle. “I am not your enemy,” the stranger seemed to say. Pointing with his spindly arm, the stranger indicated the strange object still in the shaman’s hand. “That does not belong here. Give it to me and I will leave only to return when you are matured.”

These words still were strange to Ta, but everything about this scene was strange. The object with the long tail glowed and the stranger approached the body of the shaman, knelt down and retrieved to object. The scene seemed to melt away. The stranger was gone, the object from the sky was gone and the thing that the shaman was holding disappeared. Ta walked over to the old hunter and pulled his dart from the body. Then, he knelt and folded the hunter’s arms across his chest. Ta did the same for the younger hunter. Both of these men had challenged him fairly. Ta would send some women from his family to properly prepare the bodies and if their own village didn’t come for them, Ta would make sure that the bodies were properly secured from the scavengers. Ta approached the body of the shaman. He looked down at what had once been a man. A man no longer, he had to be possessed or he never would have caused so much trouble. Ta kicked sand in the shaman’s face. Ta was not sure if the spirit still remained in the body of the shaman. If the shaman’s village wanted to care for his body, then so be it. Ta and his family would show no kindness to something possessed by a demon or whatever Ta’s people saw as a demon.

Ta had a lot to think about when he returned. Ta had never done this much thinking before.
_________________

Max and Liz returned to Albuquerque. The Martinez family along with the Ortiz boys and several other families from the surrounding area, had spent several days cleaning up what was left of the strange ship. There wasn’t much. When the aliens died, they just turned to dust and blew away. The remains of the ship was only some spindly struts along with some Mylar like material. Most of this was stuffed into cracks in the near by lava.

The major contacted Joe Martinez. Joe’s boys led him to the wreckage, but Joe warned him not to poke to deeply into the cracks of the lava. The major nodded; he understood families who had to protect themselves and the loss of a few smugglers didn’t trouble him. The strange alien had been transferred to Area 51. The major was willing to mark this case closed.

The city had several missing officers to explain. Jolene wasn’t the only skin working for them. Was she a skin? Max wasn’t sure any longer. They had met several different species the last few months. Now Max had another question. What species was Liz?

Epilog

It was left for Kyle and his wife to finally solve the question. Kyle had access to almost all of the state of New Mexico records. He traced everything that had on Jeff and Nancy Parker. Nancy’s family was easy to trace. Her father had been working on a project for the war department. Kyle ran into a dead end there. It was one of those projects where Nancy’s father and mother were to report to a vacant lot in Santa Fe. Kyle picked up the trace back in Kansas where they met in college. Nancy’s father became disillusioned with the work he had been doing and he moved around a lot after he parted the military. From what Kyle learned, both Nancy’s mother and father were a bit paranoid. Their life tuned to a very low key. The parents were so disillusioned that they never encouraged their daughter to attempt college. Nancy married Jeff, a considered wild boy. Somehow, they ended up in Roswell.

Now Jeff was a different story. His life as an adult in Roswell was exemplary. Jeff belonged to the Lions Club of Roswell. He was active in many projects for youth in Roswell. He wasn’t much of a church member, but he had been raised Catholic despite the fact that his mother, Claudia, was of the Jewish faith. His only demonstration of religion was occasional attendance at the local Knights of Columbus organization. He kept up his dues, but he wasn’t that active. Jeff was a tireless member of the local Restaurant Owners Organization.

Juvenile records are usually sealed. With diligence, anything can be opened. Jeff’s juvenile records went back to when he was 13. His mother, Claudia, had moved around a lot. She was an anthropology professor. The records for the time she had been working for the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque were not that hard to crack. They had lived in Arizona several times and once back in Chicago. Kyle imagined that Claudia was working at various universities during those times. There was a psychology report attached to Jeff’s juvenile record. It probably shouldn’t have been there, but it showed he had a deep resentment about the loss of his father. Try as hard as he could, Kyle couldn’t find anything about Claudia’s marriage. He found tax records that there was a man named, Jefferson Noname along with the same addresses as Claudia. Then nothing. This Jefferson Noname just disappeared, almost like he had turned to dust. This was the start of Jeff Parker’s troubles. The record of Jeff Parker ended in an arrest for vehicular homicide and Driving While Intoxicated when Jeff had the wreck and killed his girlfriend.

Claudia Goldstein who later petitioned the court to change her name to Parker for an unknown reason, had graduated from Northwestern University in Chicago. There was no reason for choosing the name Parker that Kyle could find. Like many progressive or maybe, rebellious women of her time, Claudia fell in love with the Southwest. On the Colorado New Mexico border, Doctor Claudia Goldstein found an overlooked, ruin. It was just off the Navajo Reservation. For a while, Northwestern University sponsored her “dig.” The Department of Anthropology thought Claudia was becoming obsessive about this ruin. That was about the time Jefferson Noname appeared.

On Jefferson Noname, there was nothing. Kyle turned to his wife and said, “Ava, he appeared out of nowhere, sired a child with Claudia and after 13 years he disappeared in a puff of smoke.”

“Of course, you mean a pile of dust,” she corrected. Liz mentioned some connection to her great grand mother. Do you suppose the great grand mother had a child that had no name? Ava mused.

Kyle had helped a young man get on at the state crime lab. The young man had been languishing in the lab of a private college, doing grunt work for the doctors. He badly wanted another job. On the quiet, Kyle’s three blood samples were tested. One of the samples belonged to Max, the other to Liz and finally, the last was Kyle’s own.

Max, Liz, Michael, Maria and Isabel were all gathered together, when Kyle and Ava presented the three files. All three samples showed a copper anomaly. Liz had the highest to Kyle with the lowest. “Liz, you were close to your grandmother, Claudia. Do you know anything about your grandfather?” Kyle asked.

Liz shook her head. “Only that he died when my father was a teen,” Liz responded.

“I think that your father knew something that really upset him. There are no records of your grandfather and the name he used, Jefferson Noname is more for tax records than showing much creativity. The three DNA samples are very different. Starting with yours, Liz, you have the most anomalies. This does not count the green flakes in the blood stream. I have the least anomalies, but my blood is not normal. Max brought me back to life and I am sure that is what changed me. Liz, Max healed you but there are more markers in your blood than in mine. Your blood was different before you ever met Max,” Kyle concluded.

“I cleaned up at the hospital. The way they run the place made it easy to lose a blood sample and a little mind warp caused the technicians to forget whatever they think they saw,” Ava explained.

Kyle spoke up. “Liz, it looks like that your grandfather, was not from around here or maybe it was your great grandfather or great grand mother. Maybe that is the attraction both you and Max felt. No way could the greatest sports hero of Roswell High compete against that.”

Max and Liz huddled while Kyle and Ava made their reports. When it was over, Liz was sure she wanted to renew their marriage. She wanted her alien husband, no matter what danger followed him. This time, Max agreed. Liz was in more danger alone than she ever was with him. Max was sure that he wanted his, even more alien wife, by his side.
Last edited by ken_r on Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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