'When I went in to talk to The Preacher, when I was here before, nobody stopped me. I didn't see any sentries.'
Bobby Horse pointed toward the ravine. Hawk and I looked. I saw nothing.
'Keep looking,' Bobby Horse said. 'Near the top of the ravine. A cluster of scrub? Just below it a ledge? Under the ledge.'
I found the scrub and the ledge and kept looking. Then I saw a glint of light reflecting from under the ledge.
'Gun barrel,' Bobby Horse said, 'belt buckle, sunglasses, maybe a wristwatch.'
'How many you think?' I said.
'Two.' Bobby Horse said.
There was no uncertainty in his voice.
'So they let me in because I was alone and not carrying any visible weapons,' I said.
'Probably thought you was a tourist got lost,' Bobby Horse said.
'Or a dashing soldier of fortune,' I said. 'And they hoped to recruit me.'
'We put somebody at the ravine,' Hawk said, 'we need to eliminate them first.'
'I can do that,' Bobby Horse said.
'Both of them?' I said.
'Sure.'
'You Native Americans are scary,' Hawk said.
'Heap scary,' Bobby Horse said.
'Talk funny, too,' I said.
We stayed on our bellies and stared down through the shimmering that rose from the canyon floor, until most of our water was gone, and we had internalized the layout of the Dell. Then we edged away from the rim, stood and walked the half-hour walk back to the downslope of the hill behind the Dell.
'We got the people to do this,' Hawk said as we started the long scramble back down. 'You put the shooters up here, Vinnie, Chollo, maybe the little hard case from Vegas. Me and you do the close work in the ravine, with Tedy Sapp and Bobby Horse.'
'If we need to,' I said.
'How you going to know if we need to?'
'When I figure out what's happening here. I'm not going to slaughter a bunch of people and then find out we didn't have to.'
Hawk shook his head slowly.
'A sweet nature,' he said. 'A sweet fucking nature.'
Chapter 44
WHEN WE GOT back to the house there was a silver Lexus parked in front and Chollo was sitting on the front porch with Morris Tannenbaum's guy with the horn-rimmed glasses, who looked like an accountant but wasn't.
'You remember Ronnie,' Chollo said.
'With pleasure,' I said.
Bobby Horse paid no attention to Ronnie. He went on past him and into the house. Hawk didn't say anything but he looked steadily at Ronnie. Ronnie looked at Hawk for a time and then turned his attention to me. Hawk leaned against the porch railing, still looking at Ronnie.
'Hot,' Ronnie said.
He was wearing a white linen suit with a flowered sport shirt open at the neck. His shoes were woven leather. He looked like an accountant on vacation. 't
'Yeah,' I said, 'but it's a dry heat.'
Ronnie nodded as if the heat were a real topic. I waited.
'Morris wanted me to talk with you,' Ronnie said.
'You always do what Morris wants?' I said.
'Yeah.''
I waited some more. Ronnie seemed in no hurry. Hawk was motionless against the railing. Chollo might have been asleep in his chair.
'Morris wanted me to tell you things have changed a little,' Ronnie said.
'Un-huh.'
'Morris says he got no further interests out here.'
'Which means?'
'Morris says if you want to take out the Dell, he'll give you a walk on that.'
