Sworn to Protect Read online

  “Department?” he exploded, unable to hold back even when he should. “I have a dispatcher who works out of her own home because there’s no room at my station and I’m a department of one to handle all calls from domestic violence to poachers. I’m a beat cop and a fish and game warden all in one package and just when I’ve been trying to convince the feds I need help, they want to cut me?”

  “Yeah, it’s crazy. I tried to talk some sense into my old man but he’s a bureaucrat and he’s all about making himself look good. But it’s not a done deal so don’t start looking for a new job just yet.”

  “Then get your old man down here and I’ll tell him to his face that he’s a damn idiot for not seeing what’s in black and white and plain as day if he just took the time to see what’s going on here,” Sundance shot back, fuming.

  Chad chuckled as if the idea of Sundance bawling out his father amused him but he shook his head. “That’s not going to win you any points. And points you need,” Chad reminded Sundance. “We’ll get this figured out. Don’t worry.”

  But that was the thing, Sundance was worried. “What do they propose to do when there’s an incident on the reservation? This is tribal land. We’re entitled to our own police force. This is utter bull,” he said, so hot he could barely see straight. If he were thinking with a cooler head he’d realize it was probably idle chatter and highly unlikely to turn into anything serious, but deep down he was sick inside at the thought of leaving his tribe unprotected. An outsider wouldn’t care about the real issues facing the tribe, nor would they understand the residents of the small reservation. It was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

  Chad ushered him into his office and closed the door. “Here’s the thing, I’m your advocate. I will do whatever I can to show my dad and his cronies that this is an ill-advised idea but I need you to put together some numbers. You have to show them that you need more help with hard evidence of the crime levels you’re facing and I’m not just talking about the petty stuff. I mean the real violent crimes.”

  “We don’t have a lot of violent crime,” Sundance said, thinking. The incident with Iris had been a terrible shock. “But we have a little bit of everything…more than one person can possibly handle without backup or help.”

  “Well, what about that case with that nurse?” Chad asked. When Sundance just looked at him, he said, “Well, that sounded pretty serious from what I heard. Maybe she could give testimony or something to the need for police services.”

  “She’s been through enough. I’m not dragging her through some dog and pony show. I’ll find something else to convince them.”

  Chad seemed to realize Sundance was touchy when it came to the subject of Iris and backed off. “Okay, well, put your thinking cap on then because this is serious. The slice of fed pie is shrinking every day and trust me, you’re not the only tribe eyeing that pie.”

  Sundance glanced out the glass window fronting the lobby and caught sight of Sierra Buck—a girl he’d known since she was a baby—chatting with someone he didn’t recognize. He gestured with a narrowed stare. “Who’s that Sierra is talking to? I don’t know him.”

  Chad frowned and followed his stare before chuckling. “Easy, boy. That’s Brett Duncan, the new grant guy. My father said I could bring in someone to help look for funds that could be used to pay for relocation costs for the tribe. He’s totally harmless, trust me. He has very good references. Supposed to be some kind of whiz when it comes to grants.”

  Be that as it may, Sundance was wary of outsiders on the reservation. Especially when one of them was quite obviously flirting with a sixteen-year-old girl. “How old is he? Married? Where’s he from?”

  Chad shook his head with a smile. “The badge never comes off, does it?” When Sundance simply stared, Chad lifted his hands in mock surrender and said, “All right, calm down. I have his information right here.” He grabbed a file and opened it. “Graduated from Oregon State with a bachelors degree in finance, married to a perfectly lovely wife of three years, and he enjoys chess and Spanish wines. As I said, harmless but incredibly smart and I think he’s the tribe’s best shot at nabbing additional funds.”

  “So why’s he flirting with a teenage girl if he’s happily married?”

  “Nothing wrong with flirting, just touching, right?” he joked, but Sundance didn’t find it funny. Chad sobered. “All right. I’ll have a talk with him, remind him to be mindful of the rules. Sierra is a great girl and I don’t want to lose her.”

  “How long she been working here?”

  “She started last week. Some kind of work experience program with the high school. She’s doing a bang-up job. I feel terrible that we’re paying her slave wages but she doesn’t seem to mind.”

  “Jobs are hard to come by for adults much less the teens around here,” Sundance acknowledged grudgingly. He was overreacting but he couldn’t shake this feeling of something bad coming and it was driving him crazy. He forced himself to relax and even managed to shoot Chad a short smile. “Just see to it that he remembers she’s a kid and treats her like he would his own baby sister…or daughter.”

  Chad mock saluted him. “You got it, Capitan.”

  Sundance’s radio went off at his hip and his dispatcher came on line.

  “Got another altercation over at Bunny’s house. Sounds serious. He’s brandishing a weapon this time.”

  “Copy that. I’m on my way.” He clapped Chad on the shoulder in silent show of See? What did I tell you? and let himself out.

  As he climbed into his Durango he realized it felt good to have someone on his side, a friend.

  But he didn’t feel good about this Brett Duncan character. Anyone who would openly flirt with a teenage girl wasn’t worth much in Sundance’s book.

  He was going to keep an eye on that one.

  The following day Iris took advantage of the rare break in the rain that was a constant companion to this particular Washington coastline to eat her lunch outside with Saaski. She was midway through her sandwich when Mya found her.

  “I see great minds think alike,” Mya said, smiling as she copied Iris and spread out a large garbage bag along the bench so as not to get wet. Iris grinned and bit into her sandwich. Mya popped her juice and took a deep swig with a relieved sound. “That hits the spot,” she said with breathy appreciation while Iris continued to eat in amusement. “So, how are you? We’re not running you ragged on your first week back, are we?”

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” Iris assured her, finishing up and tossing her trash. “Feels good to be useful again. Glad to see not much has changed while I was gone.” She scratched the top of Saaski’s head. “I missed this…you know, the simple routines I used to take for granted, like, eating a sandwich under the trees behind the clinic. I’ve done this a hundred times and never given it much thought. I realized I took a lot for granted.”

  Mya nodded in understanding but there was sadness there, too. Iris knew that the sadness was for her. Iris reached over and grasped her friend’s hand. “I’m okay,” she said. “I mean, I’m not doing cartwheels but each day gets a little better.”

  Watching Mya’s expression lose some of its tension made the lie worth it. She wasn’t okay. She was far from it, but she wasn’t going to burden Mya with her problem when she had enough on her plate running the clinic with its overload of patients and not enough staff.

  “Sundance tells me he would like you to see a hypnotherapist,” Mya ventured, causing Iris to stiffen involuntarily. Mya noted her reaction and surmised, “You’re not open to it, are you?”

  The question was rhetorical but Iris felt the need to explain, even if the words were painful to admit. “I’m thankful for the blank spots. I can’t imagine how much worse this would be if I knew in full detail all that had happened to me. I know it must’ve been horrific because the very idea of it makes me shake but I’ve been spared the full reel and I’m good with that. Going to a hypnotherapist might dredge up the memory and I’m not ready for that.
I might never be ready. I know Sundance doesn’t understand but that’s how I feel.”

  “He doesn’t mean to be pushy,” Mya said apologetically and Iris didn’t hold it against her. Mya and her brother had always been close; it was something she’d secretly envied. She’d grown up alone with an alcoholic mother. A story that was all too common on the rez. “He just wants to catch whoever did this to you.”

  Iris barked a short, mirthless laugh. “Yeah, I know. He’s all about catching the bad guy at whatever cost. Everyone knows he takes his job as the tribal police officer quite seriously. I’m sorry I’m not going to be able to accommodate him in his quest for a perfect record.”

  Mya frowned. “That’s not why he wants to catch this person. He wants to catch who hurt you,” she said reproachfully, adding, “And it’s not because you’re a tribe member.”

  Iris met Mya’s stare. “What then?”

  “Because he cares for you.”

  “No, he cares for the tribe. Me…he tolerates. It’s always been that way, Mya. I’ve always known it, too. And that was fine with me because frankly I tolerated him, too.”

  “Iris, you know that’s not true. He’s always cared about you. And that night? I saw murder in his eyes. He wanted to kill whoever had hurt you. Sonny is always a cool head in a crisis but there was a wildness to him that night…as if the bear spirit had roared inside him. He would’ve torn that person limb from limb if he’d known who to put his hands on. The only other person he’d protect with his life like that is me.”

  Iris felt moisture pricking her eyes even as she denied what Mya was saying. “He’d do that for anyone in the tribe. He was doing his job.”

  Mya sighed and the moment stretched out between them. Mya knew her well enough to know that Iris was digging her heels in and unlikely to budge on this score. She’d seen and heard Sundance defending his actions as something he would do for anyone. She wasn’t about to read more into it than that. Besides, it wasn’t as if she had a lot to offer. She was buried under layers of grief, anger and humiliation. Anything she could offer another person would be a shadow of her true self and Sundance needed a full-blooded woman, someone who would stand up to him and refuse to back down simply because he glowered at her.

  “Sonny…he bears a lot of responsibility and he has always sacrificed his personal feelings and needs for the good of someone else. But I know my brother and he feels something more than friendship or tribal loyalty for you.”

  A spasm of pain almost caused her to grip her chest for fear she was having a heart attack. “Mya…please…I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she pleaded, wiping at the tears that had escaped to slide down her cheek.

  Mya nodded and looked aghast that she’d brought Iris to tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your lunch,” she said, on the verge of tears herself. “I just wanted to tell you…I wanted you to know…I’m sorry,” she finished in defeat, shaking her head in remorse. “I’m so sorry.”

  Iris heard so much in that simple statement. She nodded and gave Mya’s hand a squeeze. “You didn’t ruin my lunch,” she assured Mya, putting a brave smile on for her friend’s benefit. “I’m fine. See? It was just a rough patch but give me a minute and I’ll get through it.”

  Mya nodded but the sadness remained in her eyes. “I wish—”

  Iris shushed her with a shake of her head. “None of that. If you’re going to wish, wish for something useful like an influx of competent staff, new supplies or relocation out of the flood plain. Don’t waste your wishes on something impossible.”

  Iris couldn’t afford to play the wish game—the stakes were too high.

  Chapter 9

  Sierra, humming to herself to shake the odd feeling that she was being watched, hurried to her beat-up car and slipped inside, slamming the door with probably more force than was necessary. Safely locked inside, she released a shaky breath and laughed at her own jitters.

  It was night but hardly late. Her father would skin her alive if she stayed out past ten o’clock on a school night but she’d taken the night shift at the general store to pick up a few extra bucks since she wasn’t earning much working at the Tribal Center and she had a goal to reach.

  Unlike her boyfriend, Vince, who had blown off work tonight to go to a party out at the run-down shack that belonged to one of their friends. He was supposed to be here with her so she wouldn’t have to work the night shift alone. So much for chivalry. When she saw him tomorrow she’d make sure he knew how pissed she was when he tried to honey up to her at school.

  Well, if Vince wanted to hang around on the rez for the rest of his life that was his malfunction. She had bigger dreams.

  She planned on getting off the reservation and going to college someplace warm and beachy. Her dad thought she was going to attend Washington State but she’d been applying to colleges on the west coast of California. She wanted to go where the weather was mild and no one had reason to wear thermals or carry umbrellas at all times. She figured she’d break the news to her father as soon as she received an acceptance letter. Until then, it was all just hypothetical. In the meantime, she was saving every dime she could scrape up for that purpose.

  That meant taking the occasional night shift at the general store.

  She wasn’t a jumpy girl but she’d had the distinct feeling that someone had been watching her as she’d walked to her car. The darkened treeline had never bothered her before, but suddenly it occurred to her that anyone could be hiding behind that forest curtain and that freaked her out more than a little.

  Of course she was being silly, she rationalized as she turned the key in the ignition. The reservation was a safe place, filled with people she’d known her entire life.

  She went to grab her purse to fish out her cell phone so she could call her dad—he always insisted she call when she worked late—and she jumped as something sharp jabbed her in the arm.

  “Ow!” Sierra jerked and cried out just as an arm snaked around her neck from behind in the backseat and tightened until she could barely breathe. Oh, God. “Please don’t hurt me,” she gasped, clutching at the arm cutting off her airway. “Please…”

  “Shhh,” her attacker crooned in her ear, even nuzzling her temple as if he were inhaling her scent and getting off on it. She tried to remember everything she’d ever learned in health class about self-defense techniques but fear had blotted out rational thought and she was left to struggle in half-blind panic as a strange lethargy started to seep into her muscles.

  “Why…?” she asked, tears springing to her eyes.

  The soft touch of lips against her temple seemed far more threatening than the cruel press of her attacker’s forearm against her windpipe and she tried harder to get free but her head had begun to spin, leaving mush of her brain in its wake. She’d been drugged. She choked on bile as she gave one last flailing effort against her attacker.

  When she could no longer struggle, and her hands had flopped uselessly to her sides as she slumped forward, she heard the door open and close, then open again. Cold air crept inside the cab of her car and she was lifted out and slung over her attacker’s shoulder. She prayed for someone to come along but she knew it was a long shot. The store had closed an hour ago and everyone on the reservation knew it.

  Her car, the little sedan her dad had scrimped and saved to give to her for her sixteenth birthday got farther and farther away as she was carried into the forest, away from the dim, flickering light of the parking lot, away from any semblance of safety or rescue.

  From a far-off place in her mind, she thought of her dad and how he would grieve for her if she ended up dead. She’d promised him that she’d be careful but she often forgot to lock her car, especially when she ran late for work. Like tonight. Daddy, I’m sorry…

  A swirling vortex of nothingness started to suck her down even as she fought it. Her limbs felt heavy and she was unable to lift her head or open her mouth to scream.

  As she slipped from consciousness,
she understood what her English teacher had been trying to teach about irony earlier that day in school.

  She’d been worried about who might be in the forest…she should’ve been worried about who was in her car.

  How ironic.

  The following morning broke dismal and gray but having grown up in an area where sunshine was a treat and not the norm, Iris hardly noticed the inconvenience of a little drizzle. One thing she did notice, though, as she walked through the double doors of the clinic was Mya’s pale and drawn face.

  Her coffee thermos halfway to her lips, she paused when she saw Mya. “That’s not a good sign,” Iris murmured. “What’s wrong?”

  “I didn’t want you to hear but I knew you’d find out this morning so I wanted to be the one to tell you. Sierra Buck was brought in last night,” Mya said, wasting no time on preamble. “She was assaulted last night.”

  Iris swallowed but couldn’t quite get the clot of fear and guilt to go down. Sierra? She was a kid. Barely sixteen if she remembered right. “What happened? And why didn’t you call me last night?”

  “I didn’t want to upset you. It was too much to handle so soon after your own ordeal,” Mya explained with quiet efficiency that spoke volumes. Like Iris, Mya had known Sierra since she was born. The girl had come into the clinic for her various cuts and bruises from early childhood, as well as her vaccinations and flu shots. And now she’d been attacked? Terrible guilt crashed down around Iris, battering her with the realization that someone else had been hurt because she’d stuck her head in the sand for her own protection. She gulped down the lump of grief and anguish with difficulty as Mya continued, “The night physician’s assistant called me in and I handled the trauma.”

  “You should’ve called me,” Iris said, her voice thin and reedy. She cleared her throat, trying to stay focused even though she felt as if she were sinking in quicksand. “I’m your lead nurse. I should’ve been here for you.”