“Basically, yes. But what the monitors show is spots with high radiation levels. Coal seams out here are often associated with uranium deposits, and the one Mortimer told me about must have been a pretty big operation. I don’t have any business in this, but if I did, I’d call the EPA down in Flagstaff and see if they have a mine-waste map for that part of the Reservation.”
“I guess I could do that,” Chee said, sounding doubtful about it.
“Here’s the reason I’d be hopeful,” Leaphorn said. “Coal seams out here vary a lot in depth. Some right on the surface, some hundreds of feet down, and all depths between. You couldn’t haul it down the canyon bottom to the river. Too rough. Too many barriers. I’m thinking the Mormons must have got tired of hauling it up to the top after digging it, and dug down to the seam from the top of the mesa. They hoisted it to the top with some sort of elevator like they still do in most tunnel mines.”
“Which would explain how our Ironhand could fly from bottom to top,” Chee said. “How our Badger could have two holes.”
He picked up the telephone, dialed information, and asked for the Environment Protection Agency number in Flagstaff.
Chapter Twenty
On the fourth call and after the sixth or seventh explanation of what he wanted to various people in various DOE and EPA offices in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Flagstaff, Arizona, Sergeant Jim Chee found himself referred to a New Mexico telephone number and enlightened.
“Call this number in Farmington,” the helpful person in Albuquerque said. “That’s the project’s fixed base. Ask for either the fixed base operator or the project manager.' That number took him right back to the Farmington Airport, no more than thirty miles or so from his aching ankle.
“Bob Smith here,” the answering voice said.
Chee identified himself, rattled off what he was after. “Are you the project manager?”
“I’m a combination technical guy on the helicopter and driver of the refueling truck,” Smith said.
'And I’m the wrong guy to talk to for what you want. I’ll try to get you switched to P.J. Collins.”
“What’s his title?”
“It’s her,” Smith said. “I think you’d call her the chief scientist on this job. Hold on. I’ll get her.”
P.J. answered the phone by saying, “Yes,” in a tone that busy people use. Chee explained again, hurrying it a little.
“Does this involve that casino robbery? Shooting those policemen?”
“Well, yes,” Chee said. “We’re checking on places they might be hiding. We know there’s an old coal mine in Gothic Creek Canyon, abandoned maybe eighty or ninety years ago, and we thought that perhaps -'
“Good thinking,” P.J. said. “Especially the “perhaps” part. That coal up in that part of the world is uraniferous. Well, all coal tends to be a little radioactive, but that area is hotter than most. But that’s a lot of years for the radioactive stuff to get washed away, or lose its punch. However, if you can give me a general idea of where the mine might be, I’ll tell you if we’ve surveyed that area. If we have, I can get Jesse to check our maps in the van and see what hot spots showed up. If any.”
“Great,” Chee said. “We think this mine was dug into the east slope of Gothic Creek Canyon. It would be somewhere in a ten-mile stretch of the canyon from where it runs into the San Juan southward.”
“Well, that’s good,” P.J. said. That’s on the Navajo Reservation, and that’s what our contract covers. The Department of Energy has hired us to help ’em clean up the mess they left hunting uranium. They provide the copters and the pilots, and we provide the technicians.”
“Do you think you’ve surveyed there yet?”
“Possibly today,” she said. “We’ve been up there south of Bluff and Montezuma Creek this week. If they didn’t cover that today, they probably will tomorrow.”
Chee had been feeling foolish during most of his earlier telephone conversations, his skepticism about this idea reviving. Now he found himself getting excited. P.J. seemed to be taking the notion seriously.
“Can I give you my number? Have you call me back? I’ll be reachable tonight and tomorrow and however long it takes.”
“Where you calling from?”
“Shiprock.”
“The copter will be coming in about an hour or so. Calling it quits for the day and downloading all the data they’ve collected. Why don’t you drive on over and see for yourself?”
