Winter Hawk's Legend

Taking a deep breath, Holly forced herself to look away. He wasn’t checking her out in a man-woman sort of way. He was a professional, sizing her up as he would any stranger in his environment.

Hearing herself being introduced, her focus shifted instantly to the job at hand. Holly beamed a confident smile to everyone in the audience as she strode up to the podium. Prepared, she started her presentation without skipping a beat. Martin had already loaded her graphics into the projection system and the remote worked perfectly.

Even though nearly every seat in the room was occupied, she felt completely at ease. Her engaging voice kept everyone’s attention, even through the dry, technical segments of her presentation.

Everything went smoothly until she began to explain the specifics of the new extraction process—an improved technique for freeing up deposits of natural gas far below the surface. Out of the corner of her eye Holly saw a Navajo man wearing a denim jacket rise from his seat. He sidestepped past the seated guests and headed toward the center aisle.

Holly wondered if the man was having difficulty keeping up with the technical portion, but she was forced to block him from her mind and focus on her presentation.

As soon as he reached the aisle and turned toward the podium instead of the exit, Holly recognized him instantly. Clyde Keeswood was a community activist who’d opposed the tribe’s energy resource operations from day one. He’d shouted out his opposition in every press conference and lecture she’d held the past few months. Now what?

Almost as the thought formed, she saw Daniel Hawk on the move.

“This is the same PR bull we hear every day,” Keeswood shouted, walking toward her. “Why don’t you give us the whole story?” He came to a stop next to her empty chair and glared at her.

“I promise to answer your questions after I finish explaining the details of the extraction process,” Holly said, refusing to raise her voice. “I’ll keep it brief, Mr. Keeswood, then we’ll address whatever concerns you have. If you can take a seat….”

He remained standing. “Nothing will be brief, except our way of life after the wells run dry. Sure, the tribe and their big business partners will make gobs of money selling natural gas to— I don’t know, big developers, factories? But the water table will be contaminated with chemicals—that’s if the wells don’t go dry first. You think this is a desert now? Just wait.”

“No chemicals except water itself will be used to free up the gas formations. Let me show you how it works,” she said. She stepped to the left and pressed a remote. A projector on the far side of the room produced an image on the screen behind her on the wall.

The man spat out a curse and picked up her chair. As he raised it over his head, Daniel Hawk was suddenly there. In a split second he yanked the chair away from Keeswood.

The force threw the activist off balance. He fell backward and toppled onto the tile floor. Daniel set the chair aside, and straddled the troublemaker, ready to roll him over and cuff him.

Keeswood punched upward but Daniel blocked the jab, grabbed his hand, then twisted it around, forcing the man facedown on the floor. By then, two uniformed security guards arrived. They hauled Keeswood to his feet and quickly led him away.

Barely ten seconds had passed, but the room had grown completely silent. Holly glanced at Daniel, and he nodded, giving her a thumbs-up.

“Harmony has been restored. I think we can continue now,” she said, and the room exploded in applause. Holly glanced back, looking for Daniel, but all she saw was his back as he left the room.

Disappointed, she focused on what she had to do. Later, when she could get away, she’d catch up to him and thank him personally for what he’d done.

Chapter Two

Once her presentation came to a close, Holly smiled at her largely enthusiastic audience and thanked the group for their patience. “Now I’d like to answer all your questions. Please ask me whatever you’d like.”

The question-and-answer session took another thirty minutes. Afterward, they broke for a well-deserved lunch.

Holly followed the attendees to the small cafeteria at the other end of the building. Going down the buffet line, she opted for a large bowl of fresh mutton stew, warm fry bread and hot coffee in a big white mug with the tribal emblem on the side. With her tray full, she headed to a table by the windows. As she approached the spot, a tingle of awareness spread through her.

Female intuition… She knew even before she could confirm it that Daniel Hawk was looking at her.

As Holly set her tray down, Daniel came up and introduced himself, but according to Navajo customs, didn’t offer to shake hands.

“No introduction is necessary, Mr. Hawk,” she said, noting how low and masculine the timbre of his voice was and how it seemed to fit him perfectly. “I know who you are and I’m glad you came over.” She sat down and invited him to join her. “I owe you a big thank-you.”

“No thanks are needed, but I thought you could use some pointers on how to spot trouble before it happens,” he said, taking a seat across from her. “We can talk now while you have lunch.”

For a moment she wondered if he was somehow blaming her for what had happened. “I’d like to hear what you’ve got to say,” she said, “but my job is to give presentations. If there’s a problem, security has to handle it.”

“They will. I just thought a few tips might give you an edge. If nothing else, it could give you time to duck.”

She smiled, but before she could answer, two more session attendees came up with their trays to join them at the table. They’d only been there a minute or so when Daniel’s pager went off and he was forced to leave.

“He’s really something, isn’t he?” Jennifer Long, a representative from a local utility cooperative, whispered.

Holly watched Daniel until he left the cafeteria. “He’s observant, too. I get the feeling very little gets past him.”

“Do you suppose he knows he’s total eye candy?” Mary Randall, an attorney for the tribe, said with a mischievous smile.

They laughed, and as Holly ate lunch, two more people joined them. It wasn’t until later that afternoon, during a pause in the schedule, that Holly saw Daniel again. He met her by the coffee urn as she stepped out of a meeting room during a short break.

“I’m glad we ran into each other,” Holly said. “I’ve been thinking about what you said and I would like to get some of those tips you mentioned. If I remember things right, you were on the move today before the trouble with Keeswood began. How did you know what would happen?”

“I watched him from the moment he came into the room. His shoulders were rigid and he looked like a man looking for trouble. I went with my gut and stayed close.”

“So it was reading his body language that did it,” she said with a nod.

“There was more,” he answered. “I noticed that he kept checking out the location of security with his eyes, but not moving his head to stare directly. This is all part of what I wanted to talk to you about. If you’re willing to set aside some time, I’d be happy to teach you a few things.”

“I’ll be through here at four-thirty. Would you like to meet then?” she said.

He checked his watch, then shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t. I’ve still got two more meetings to attend today. One of them will probably run over, too, since we’ll be working out the details of our next security training exercise. How about if we meet for dinner tonight? You name the place?”

She hesitated. She didn’t date people associated with her work. That hard-and-fast rule had helped her company run smoothly.

“Please don’t think of it as a date. It’s business,” he said, almost as if he’d read her mind.

She nodded, relieved. “How about we meet at the Simple Pleasures Café in Hartley, off Twentieth Street? Do you know it?”

“I’ve never been there, but I’ve passed by. I can meet you at, say, seven?”

As she looked at Daniel, in his weathered brown leather jacket and jeans, she wondered if his tastes ran closer to the Bucking Bronco, just outside of Hartley and a world away from Simple Pleasures.

The Bucking Bronco was a bar and grill well-known for the good ol’ boys it attracted. It wasn’t a rough place, at least not if you judged solely on the number of police visits per month. The bar, in county jurisdiction, had its own way of handling trouble. She’d heard that disputes there were settled inside a cage until one of the parties went down.

“Seven it is, then,” she said, realizing that her thoughts had wandered.

“For what it’s worth, I admire how you kept your cool when Keeswood confronted you. It showed courage and character.” He flashed her a heart-stopping half smile, then his gaze shifted. “Martin needs me,” he said, giving their boss a nod. “I better get back to work.”

“Me, too. Break time’s over,” she said, looking down at the foam coffee cup she’d never filled.

The rest of the day went by in slow motion. She’d always prided herself on her ability to stay focused, but Daniel Hawk was proving to be a very persistent distraction. She was curious about the man she’d heard women whispering about around the coffee machine. No matter what else, it promised to be an interesting dinner tonight.

HOLLY ARRIVED HOME in Hartley shortly after six. She stepped inside her small, World War II era casita, a two-bedroom home in an established middle-class neighborhood, and felt the tranquility of the house welcome her. She’d worked hard to make the fixer-upper place she’d bought two years ago into the home it was today.

She smiled as she looked at the light apricot-colored walls, her favorite color, and the old hardwood floors, worn in the center and slightly concave in places from decades of foot traffic. She’d lovingly refinished the thirties era armoire and the solid oak bookcase to match the honey glow of the tongue and groove floors.

All her furniture had a past and its own history. She’d bought most of the pieces at auctions or estate sales. Each had called to her in a special way, maybe because of an intricate carving in the wood, or the construction itself.

Most important, all her belongings spoke of endurance and stability. Growing up, change had been the only constant in her life. Her father, a gambler usually on the run from creditors, the law, or on the lookout for fresh pigeons, had kept them on the move.

Her own home was a reminder that those days were finally behind her. It was a symbol of permanence and security, the very things that had always eluded her and what she valued most. To the observant, her home’s whispers revealed much about her, things she wanted to keep private. Maybe that was why she usually only invited close friends over.

Holly stopped by the big cardboard egg crate that held all her Christmas ornaments. She’d set it against the wall, ready to open up as soon as she brought her Christmas tree home. It would be a six-foot blue spruce this year, with lots of branches. She already had an image of what it would look like in her mind.

Reaching down, she picked up the hand-carved angel she’d placed on top of all the other ornaments. It was a lovely piece signed by a turn-of-the-century Spanish carver in Santa Fe. The other ornaments were also antiques, salvaged here and there from unlikely places. Even the metal stand, though simple in design, dated back to the nineteen-fifties.

As her cherrywood grandfather clock chimed the half hour, Holly hurried into the bedroom. She needed to shower and change before meeting Daniel.

Twenty-five minutes later, she emerged from the bedroom wearing a simple emerald-green turtleneck sweater and dark, comfortable wool pants. Grabbing her coat from the rack as she left, she set out.

It was a perfect evening, so she’d decided to walk to Simple Pleasures. The night temperature was unseasonably warm, and tonight there was going to be a meteor shower. The chance of seeing a shooting star was too good to pass up.

Though it was still early in the evening and she knew that most celestial activity would be after midnight, she kept her eyes on the heavens as she walked. The cloudless sky would make it easy to see nature’s light show. The streets here were dark enough for that, with streetlamps only at the intersections between blocks. No one minded, since the neighborhood was as safe as could be.

Although the south side of the boulevard beginning at the end of the block was zoned commercial, ordinances restricted light pollution and business signs. The coffee shop on the corner and the converted homes beyond served mostly as law and real estate professional offices and didn’t shout their presence.

There was no traffic at the moment, so Holly decided to leave the sidewalk and cross diagonally. There was a big pine tree in the median and she loved its Christmassy scent. As she stepped out into the street, Holly heard footsteps approaching from behind.

She turned, ready to greet a person she assumed would be one of her neighbors—but she was wrong. A man wearing some kind of dark bandanna over his face lunged toward her. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight as he grabbed her hard by the shoulders, pulling her close.

“Let go!” she yelled, pushing him in the chest as hard as she could.

Holly tried to scream, but a heavy glove quickly covered her mouth, cutting off her breath. The man spun her around, wrapped his free arm across her middle like a vise, then dragged her over the curb and onto the grass between the trees. When she kicked him in the leg, he lifted her off the ground, leaving her flailing in midair.

Grunting, he pushed her face down into the grass, his knees on her back. He smelled of sweat and strong aftershave, and his weight was crushing the air right out of her lungs. For a moment his hand slipped off her mouth and she screamed as loud as she could.

Holly felt him slip the loop of heavy cord over her head and knew he intended to strangle her. She was in a fight for her life. Terrified, she scrunched her chin against her chest and slipped her hand up under the cord, trying to keep it away from her throat. Her fingers pressed into her throat painfully, but if she wanted to live, she had to keep them in the way. It was her only hope.

Chapter Three

Daniel turned into the alley and parked his SUV in the rear lot of Simple Pleasures. The coffee shop—a former home—was off the street and had a big front porch with dining tables underneath for warmer weather and sunny days.

He pressed the key button remote to lock the car and wondered if he was early or late. When he was off the clock he preferred to go on Indian time, but he had a feeling that Holly was the kind of woman who appreciated promptness. It was certainly a plus in her type of business.

As Daniel strode down the narrow sidewalk toward the coffee shop’s rear entrance, he heard what sounded like a scream cut short. It had come from across the street, toward the front of the building. Instinctively he cut around the coffee shop and sprinted toward the sound.

Dimly illuminated by the streetlight were two people lying on the grass between the sidewalk and the street curb, fighting. Reaching into his jacket pocket as he ran, Daniel brought out a small flashlight and switched it on.

A guy wearing a blue bandanna over his face, like a cheap rustler from an old cowboy movie, had a cord wrapped around a woman’s neck. As the would-be killer turned his head to look, the glare of Daniel’s beam blinded him for a heartbeat.

The suspect instinctively threw his arm up to shield his eyes, revealing Holly’s face in the grass.

“Holly, roll!” he yelled, closing the gap between them.

Holly twisted away, breaking his grip. Her assailant immediately jumped to his feet and swung around, crouched and ready to counter Daniel’s expected tackle.

Daniel led instead with a flying kick, catching the man full force in the chest. The impact knocked his opponent off the grass and across the narrow sidewalk, slamming his back into the low stone wall that bordered the lawn of the residence behind him. Daniel glanced at Holly, who was now on her knees, coughing.

“I’m okay,” she croaked, gasping for air.

Daniel focused once again on his enemy, who’d risen to his feet and was now in a fighting stance, right leg and arm slightly forward—his strong side.

“Come on,” the man whispered harshly, motioning confidently with his gloves. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

His attacker clearly had some training, but Daniel knew the initiative belonged to him now. He assumed an attack position, hands up and open, ready to advance or kick, or block with his forearms. The guy was bigger than he was, but that had never been much of a problem.

The man advanced, throwing a left jab to set up a right. Daniel slipped to the side, countering with a left punch to the man’s ribs as the incoming jab barely brushed his cheek. The man gasped and rocked back, stunned by the blow.

Suddenly they were both illuminated by the headlights of an approaching car. The glare caught Daniel by surprise and he was forced to step back, arms up. Yet no blow came—his attacker knew it was time to run.

Holly’s assailant shot down the sidewalk, leaped the low retaining wall, then raced across a front lawn toward a side street.

“I’m going after him. Stay here,” Daniel said, leaping over the low wall.

Confident he could keep the man in sight and eventually catch up to him, Daniel raced across the grass. As he started to narrow the gap, the man faked left toward the street, then cut right, heading down the side of the house toward a three-foot-high wall that enclosed the backyard. He jumped it cleanly, never breaking his stride.

Daniel followed seconds behind, but lost a step as he hurdled the wall and nearly collided with an outdoor grill. By then, his opponent was already nearing the opposite wall. Again, the man, wearing some kind of jogging sweats, hurdled the wall like a track star and actually gained ground.

Daniel reached the wall four seconds later and leaped over, only vaguely aware of the sound of a television program somewhere to his right.

As soon as he cleared the wall, he saw the back of the running man dodging some barren rosebushes as he sprinted toward another low wall on the far side of the next property.

Daniel knew he was gaining ground, but, focusing on his target, he nearly crashed into a rose trellis. He swerved at the last second, barely missing the plant. When he looked up, all he could see was the upper half of his target, fading away in the dark. The guy was a natural hurdler and soon went over the cinder block wall like an equestrian—minus the horse.

“Damn!” Daniel heard a female voice say from somewhere behind him and recognized Holly’s voice. She’d followed. Why the hell were women so difficult? They always seemed to do the opposite of what a man expected.

He pushed back the distraction. At least she’d recovered quickly enough to race after them, so he didn’t need to worry about her right now. He kept his gaze forward, and this time leaped just high enough to touch the wall with his right foot as he went over. It was easier now that he had his rhythm back, but he wasn’t gaining enough to bring down the suspect.

The next yard had the back porch light on, and he could see his target clearly. Almost as if sensing that he wouldn’t be able to outrun Daniel for long, the guy veered to his right, slipping on the cold grass and almost falling flat. Recovering quickly, he ducked around the side of the house toward the street and disappeared.

Daniel slowed down, suspecting a corner ambush, then caught a flash of something moving to his left, low to the ground. Spinning around, he saw a huge dog—or at least two rows of gleaming white teeth against a dark shape.

As the dog growled, Daniel jumped up onto the three foot wall. Forced to watch his feet, he ran along the narrow top. As soon as he reached the yard’s wooden gate, he jumped high over the top, praying he wasn’t leaping blind onto a stack of firewood.

Luck was with him. Daniel landed with a crunch on light gravel just as the dog slammed into the other side of the gate with an awesome thud.

Daniel glanced around quickly, but the driveway before him was empty. Then he heard the sound of squealing tires. As he turned his head back toward the boulevard, he saw taillights racing away. He’d lost him. It was over—for now.

He was walking back up the street in the direction of the coffee shop when he heard footsteps approaching to his right. “He’s getting away,” Holly called out, running across the lawn toward him. “I tried to catch up, but those danged walls kept slowing me down.”

“I thought I told you to stay put.”

Holly bristled. “And do what? Stand there gagging in the dark, hoping he wouldn’t circle the block and come back for round two? I felt safer chasing him.”

“Did you get the license plate, by any chance?”

“No, did you?” she answered.

He shook his head, dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed the police.

LESS THAN THREE minutes later, an officer drove up. The attractive blond officer recognized Daniel and smiled at him as she took out a small notebook. “You stirring up trouble on my beat again, Hawk?”

He gave her a grim smile. “It’s good to see you, Penny,” he said, then updated her, giving as much of a description as possible of their attacker.

“That’s not much to go on. He’s going to be changing his clothes right away, and his approximate height and build aren’t going to give us much of a lead.” Still taking notes, she glanced at Holly. “Did he speak to you at all, Ms. Gates?”

Holly shook her head. “No, he never said a word, Officer White,” she said, noting the officer’s name tag. “Somehow that made it even worse. He wanted me dead, but he had nothing to say to me?” Her voice broke at the last word and she swallowed hard.

“Have you had problems with anyone lately, an old boyfriend, maybe, or an ex-husband? A neighbor?”

Holly shook her head. “Never married, and no on the rest. Is there any attacker on the loose? Our neighborhood watch usually warns us regarding a crime spree, but I haven’t heard about any serious problems lately.”

“Things have been quiet,” Officer White said. “Particularly in this neighborhood.”

“Not anymore,” Daniel said.

Officer White nodded somberly.

“I have one possible lead for you,” Daniel said, then told her about the incident with Keeswood earlier that day.

“Clyde Keeswood’s basically a loudmouth,” Holly said, shaking her head. “He wants attention and makes noise to get it, but he’s not really violent. He knew I’d see the chair coming and dodge. Had he really meant to hurt me, he would have rushed the podium.”

“It’s still possible that tonight’s incident was in retaliation for what happened earlier,” the officer said, placing her notebook back into her pocket. “We’ll talk to Mr. Keeswood and get in touch with you if we need to do a follow-up. In the meantime, you might want to avoid going for walks alone at night,” she said. Giving Daniel a quick nod and smile, Officer White got into her patrol car and drove off.

“Why don’t we go have something to eat and try to sort this out? Are you up to it?” he asked, noticing how she had her arms folded, almost as if hugging herself.

She nodded, then walked with him up the street. “Do you really think this had something to do with my work for the tribe?”

“What happened tonight could have a dozen explanations, including a stalker, but let it go for now,” he said, his voice steady. “Once you eat something and have a little time to relax, you may find that you’re able to remember more, little details you might have blocked out because you were too busy staying alive.”

“All right. I’ll try. I want this man caught and put behind bars. He’s…crazy.”

“Maybe,” Daniel muttered under his breath as he walked beside her down the sidewalk.