Cops were stupid-too dumb to realize that the train tracks were highways, just like roads, only better.
The cast on his arm banged against his broken rib as he ran, but the pain didn't bother him. He laughed until cold air rushed into his lungs and made him cough. tub snow at the top of the rise was too deep for the truck, so Nita and Kerney pushed ahead on foot. The storm had erased any footprints or tracks. Kerney scrutinized every drift they passed for telltale signs of Robert. He saw nothing. If Robert's body was nearby, it wouldn't be found until the first good thaw.
The raw Arctic wind kept the temperature well below freezing, and the branches of the pinon and juniper trees cracked like gunshots as they snapped under the weight of the snow. Each step they took broke trail in the frozen crust, and they were knee-deep in drifts. Nita didn't tire or falter, but Kerney had a hell of a time with his bad knee. The tendons and few remaining ligaments ached every time he pulled the leg free to take another step.
The ridge ran at a right angle to the hills. At the top, Nita held them up. Without warning, the ridge sheared off, revealing a granite monolith standing in the middle of a narrow gorge. A rockfall closed off one end, and the only approach seemed to be through a shallow arroyo that ran up to the ridge.
Kerney guessed the monolith to be fifty feet long and ten feet away from where he stood. He looked into the shadows and waited for his vision to adjust. Fifteen feet below the drop-off, a slender ledge ran along the length of the monolith. Above the ledge, at about the chest height of a small man, a duplicate of the serpent on Pop Shaffer's fence had been chiseled in the stone. It was surrounded by images of birds, fish, and other symbols, including a horned demon.
'How deep?' Kerney asked. The snow in the gorge stopped at the ledge of the monolith.
'Less than twenty feet. Do you think you would have found it on your own?'
'I probably would have fallen into it,' Kerney said.
'What's on the other side?'
'More rock art and lots of rattlesnakes in the summer,' Nita answered.
'It gets good sun, and the snakes like the heat. I don't think Robert's been here,' she added.
'We'll poke around anyway.'
The wind died down and Kerney heard crunching sounds from behind. Out of the sun, two men were coming straight at them. Another man flanked them, cutting off any retreat. He saw weapons in their hands, and without thinking he pushed Nita over the ledge and jumped with her as the men opened fire. He crashed into a snow- covered shrub, branches whipping his face, and landed in a heavy cushion of snow.
He scrambled to the ledge of the monolith, grabbed Nita by the hand, and pulled her to him.
'Move,' he hissed, freeing his handgun.
'Get to the other side, out of sight.'
Nita gave him a petrified look. He pushed her to get her started.
Automatic rounds sprayed the gully as he turned the corner. Nita was off the ledge, standing waist-deep in a drift.
'What is it?' Nita asked.
'What's happening?' It was all she could think to say.
'Don't talk.'
The gorge was wider on the back side of the monolith, where the arroyo had eroded the ridge. Kerney heard the thud of two men dropping into the gorge, and looked for cover. Below the ledge circling the monolith was a crevice large enough for one person. He yanked Nita by the hand, forced her down, and shoved her into it.
'What are you doing?' she whispered.
'Curl up in a ball and be quiet,' he said.
'I'll come back for you.' He pushed her knees to her chest and piled snow over her, trying to make the mound look as natural as possible.
He held his breath and listened. Nothing. Three men were coming at him from front and back, and there was no place to hide.
The mound covering the crevice was in deep shadows.
Maybe they wouldn't spot Nita; maybe she could survive.
A small conical cedar tree stood at the far end of the monolith, where sunlight had yet to reach. Kerney eyed it. About the height of a man, the tree would be the first thing a shooter would see coming around the front end of the monolith.
Kerney took off his coat, went to the tree, wrapped the garment around it, and buttoned it up. At a quick glance, it might pass for a standing man. With his back against the monolith, he hunkered down and waited, listening for footfalls in the crusted snow, scanning left and right. He saw a long shadow flicker on the snow beyond the cedar tree.
The shadow appeared again as the silhouette of a man.
Automatic fire ripped through Kerney's coat. When the man stepped into view, Kerney shot him twice in the chest, checked his flank, and ran to the snow-filled arroyo that sliced into the side of the ridge. With any luck, he could belly-crawl to the top of the ridge without being seen, and swing behind his pursuers. delpino kept Carlos in front of him as they moved slowly along the ledge of the monolith, following the tracks left by Kerney and the woman. He stopped at the sound of Felix's Uzi and the two answering shots that followed. He waited for Felix to fire again. All was silent.
'Something's wrong,' Delfino said. He dropped off the ledge, stepped past Carlos, and chanced a quick look around the corner. He spotted Felix's prone body near a coat wrapped around a tree. There was no sign of the gringo or the woman.
'Felix is down,' Delfino said, turning the corner.
Carlos followed and stopped by a mound of snow that filled a small crevice under the ledge. Ahead, Felix sprawled on his back, not moving, the Uzi clutched in both hands.
'He's dead,' Carlos said.
'We can still cut them off,' Delfino replied.
'They must be up ahead. Go back the way we came, and circle around.'
Delfino glanced down and saw only one set of footprints in the snow-Kerney's tracks. Where did the woman go? Before he could look to find her hiding place, Carlos shot him in the back of the head.
Smiling, Carlos picked up Delfino's Uzi, bolstered his pistol, and retreated. Now that the odds were even, he would follow Delfino's advice, backtrack around the monolith, find Kerney, and kill him. kbrney winced when he heard the pistol shot. He cursed himself for leaving Nita behind, reversed his crawl, and scanned from low to high ground as he moved down the arroyo. The sun was higher in the sky, but the monolith cast a fat shadow, and he could dearly see only the dead man by the tree, where his bullet shredded winter coat flapped in a light breeze.
As far as he knew, two more men were still in the gorge, setting up a cross fire, which would be the smart thing to do. The arroyo gave him cover only if he stayed prone and low. He wanted to get up and make a dash to Nita. He forced himself to wait. The men stalking him controlled the action. All he could hope to do was counterpunch and survive.
Cold and soaked to the skin, he burrowed into the snow and tried not to shiver. carlos workbd his way slowly and quietly through the snow until he reached the end of the monolith.
Darkness still lingered in the constricted ravine, but the sun was in his face every time he glanced up.
He took one more look at the ridgetop, and a snowball hit him in the face. He squinted into the sun, and started firing the Uzi at the moving shape above. It vanished before he could focus on it. He stepped forward to fire again and a bullet tore through his stomach and shattered his spine. He took another bullet in the chest as he fell.
Carlos hit the ground and Kerney ran in a low crouch, zigzagging past the dead man by the tree, waiting for bullets to tear into him. He made it to Nita's hiding place and found another man with the back of his skull blown open, the snow around his head icy pink.
He dropped his handgun, dug into the mound with both hands, and pulled Nita out of the crevice. She was pale, shaky on her feet, but unhurt.
'My God,' she said, staring at the body. She started to cry.
'Not now,' Kerney said sharply.
'Robert is out there somewhere. Find him.'
