Strong Cold Dead by Jon Land Page B

way.”
    Isa-tai flirted with a smile. “There’s no bad enough way for a white man to die.”
    Steeldust Jack felt the other braves closing in on him from the rear. Their steps were too soft to discern through the breeze, but the cast of their shadows betrayed their motion. He made sure to hang his right hand well off his Colt, so as not to spook them.
    â€œI was wondering if there were any bear in these parts.”
    â€œA bear didn’t do it. You already know that,” said Isa-tai.
    â€œYou telling me what I know now? Are we having a language problem here?”
    The braves behind Jack Strong fanned out, enclosing him in a circle, with Isa-tai still directly before him, looking up.
    â€œYou don’t know what you’re looking for, taibo .”
    â€œWhy don’t you tell me?”
    Isa-tai looked about, seeming to sniff the air. “You should go. It’ll be dark before you know it.”
    â€œI ain’t afraid of the dark.”
    â€œIt’s what the dark breeds that you should be afraid of.”
    â€œThis all have anything to do with those rituals I heard about? None of my business, I know, and none of that dead fella’s business, either. But if, by some chance, he trespassed with an intent to do harm and got clipped before he could do so, that’s a case I can make on your behalf.”
    â€œWe don’t need you to do anything on our behalf, Ranger. We do for ourselves here, in harmony with nature and the Great Spirit. If you suspect this dead man’s fate involved his trespass, I suggest you take it up with him.”
    â€œMaybe you could introduce me to this Great Spirit of yours. I haven’t exactly seen him about lately.
    If Isa-tai was amused at all by Steeldust Jack’s attempt at levity, he didn’t show it. “That is because you see only the world before you, not around you.”
    Steeldust Jack swept his gaze about the braves encircling him. “You trying to tell me something?”
    â€œA warning.”
    The Ranger’s hand edged closer to his Colt. “Don’t test me.”
    â€œNot from us. You have nothing to fear here, other than your own ignorance.”
    â€œPretty smug talk.”
    â€œHeed the lesson of the taibo who lies dead.”
    Steeldust Jack resisted the temptation to get right up in Isa-tai’s face. “You want to give me that again in English I can understand?”
    â€œThis is our land,” Isa-tai said, his spine stiffening.
    â€œUnderstood.”
    â€œAll that lies on and beneath it belongs to us.”
    â€œNow you’ve lost me again.”
    â€œAfter my people lost our land to your kind. Forced to fight for what is ours, then presented with tiny patches like this, only to have it threatened, too.”
    Steeldust Jack mopped the heat from his brow with a sleeve already mired in perspiration, swabbing it under the brim of his hat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did that man whose body got chopped up like a side of beef threaten you?”
    Isa-tai’s spine relaxed. “Time for you to go.”
    â€œWhat was he doing here, in these parts?”
    â€œAsk him.”
    â€œHe’s in no condition to tell me.”
    â€œHis spirit then. And have that spirit take a message back to whoever sent him, that the same fate awaits whoever follows.” White Eagle turned his gaze on the sky. “But hurry. Night is coming.”
    And that was when Steeldust Jack heard the scream.

 
    11
    B ALCONES C ANYONLANDS, T EXAS
    What sounded like a gunshot ended Caitlin’s tale midthought, and the next moments unfolded in what felt like slow motion. First the police officers manning the line separating the two camps whipped out their guns. Then the construction workers mounted a fresh charge, with the young protesters not giving an inch.
    Caitlin resisted the temptation to draw her own pistol. The blast sounded more like a car or truck