Stealing Childhood Page 9

  “Don’t say that. You’re helping a lot of people. All these girls need what you can do; they need you to set them free. No one can do that like you can.”

  “Like we can. You’re integral to this now.” He smiled at his son. “I should have known when you first arrived and asked me to train you. This isn’t about me any longer; it’s about you. Richard’s probably right.”

  “Then you had a heart-to-heart with him?”

  Dan laughed. He walked over and placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder, patted it twice, and let it sit there for a moment. He walked past his son and around the bed to his suitcases. He stood over the open cases, one with his drums and rattles and one with his clothes. He shook his head. “I’ll leave everything where it is and live from my suitcase for a while, in case we have to move again.”

  Jason glanced at his watch and jostled from one foot to the other. “I have to go.” He didn’t appear as though he wanted to leave, not just yet.

  “Will you tell me what’s up?”

  “Of course, Dad.” He left the room looking a little unhinged.

  Dan rummaged through his pockets and called Mindy and asked if she’d meet him at his hotel room. She laughed when he reminded her who he was, but agreed anyway. “This will be interesting,” she said.

  While he waited for her, Dan took the time to settle on the bed. He thought to read—he always packed a book or magazine—but decided to journey. He wanted to get a better feeling for the shaman that the Herders had hired. He reached for his drum, and one of the rattles that leaned against the side of the suitcase slid down and made a small mouse-like sound, which shifted his focus. That was the tool to use.

  Their room was larger than the one they originally had in the motel. It had a stuffed chair next to a standing lamp that sat near the window. He sat down, closed his eyes, and began rattling right away. He instantly felt comfortable, in control. After a few deep breaths he found himself near a large cedar. On the east coast, he thought, it would have been an oak.

  He glanced around for roots and found one protruding from the ground. A mouse—the rattle—poked its head over the root, shimmied a moment as though cold, and ran along the root toward the tree. Dan followed and a large slit in the tree opened just as Mouse got to the broad trunk. Dan ducked inside and followed Mouse down a steep slippery slope. It was difficult to stay upright, his feet kept sliding, but he managed. At the bottom of the decline, Mouse turned into Moose. The opening was no longer part of the tree but a new world with a sky and horizon. The sun reflected off of the light colored sand below his feet. How quickly everything changed.

  Moose turned to him and walked closer. It nudged Dan in the chest with its broad, flat nose.

  “Talk with me,” Dan said, knowing that in an altered state even plants and stones could speak. It nudged him in the chest a second time. Dan reached up and touched where Moose had nudged him twice. “My heart,” he said. Moose turned away and began to trot slowly. Dan followed at a similar pace.

  Moose carried primal feminine energies, the magic of life and death. Dan hadn’t thought of it before, but it all fit in. Women produce life. Orgasm is viewed as a little death for men. Primal feminine energies are reproductive. But what else was there to learn from Moose. He yelled after it what he knew, hoping it would acknowledge that he was right, but it continued to trot away.

  Shortly, Moose came to a marsh, its favored habitat, and walked into the water, ducked its head deep, and stayed there for a long time. Dan knew that Moose—physical world moose, that is—could stay underwater for a long time while grazing on grasses from the bottoms of marshes. He also recalled that Moose teaches the ability to move easily from the outer to the inner world—from the physical world to an altered state.

  Dan walked into the marsh, bent over, and plunged his head into the water. Fish swam by and grass grew in the clear, clean liquid. He heard the sound of Moose grazing beside him. But he knew he was there for a reason. Moose would not take him there for nothing. When Moose raised its head, Dan did the same. Above water there were hundreds of moose, all shadowy and transparent. Ghost Moose. The Moose turned toward Dan and walked past him.

  Dan understood that Moose was returning and in the physical world began his callback. The two of them ran side-by-side, Moose turned back into Mouse, and Dan followed it up the root of the cedar back to where they’d started. When Dan opened his eyes, someone was knocking at the door.

  Chapter 15

  He jumped up, set his rattle back into the suitcase, and opened the door. Mindy reached out to shake his hand. She wore a slight grin along with her jeans and salmon colored blouse. “It is unusual that I’d meet someone like you on a routine plane trip.”

  Dan opened the door wider and stepped aside. “Come in.”

  She hesitated, almost like she couldn’t go in, so he changed his plan. No use making her nervous. “On second thought, let’s go downstairs for a cup of coffee.”

  “That sounds like a better idea,” she said.

  Dan grabbed his notebook and led the way. “I may need a few minutes to write some things down first, if you don’t mind.”

  “Take all the time you wish. I take it you were doing one of your strange trips.” She turned toward him. “I heard the rattle.”

  “Those strange trips are called journeys.”

  “They are called a lot of things, but I’m sure you know that. I just wasn’t sure what you called them.”

  Her words surprised him. She had appeared much less knowledgeable on the plane. He didn’t know how to respond. “Glad to know you understand,” he said.

  They took the elevator and stood quietly together during their trip to the lobby. As they exited, Mindy put her arm through Dan’s, which caught him off guard. The coffee shop was around the corner from the front desk.

  “I used to do this with my dad.” She shook the arm that held to his elbow.

  “As long as you’re comfortable,” he said as he tried to sense her energy. But something wasn’t right, maybe how she got so familiar so fast.

  They got coffee then sat in two stuffed chairs near a window with a small round table between them. Dan set his coffee down without taking a sip. He opened his notebook and wrote notes about everything he remembered from his journey with Moose and Mouse. Mindy sat quietly, sometimes looking over at him and sometimes facing forward, sipping her coffee. When Dan finished, he stuffed his pen into the spiral and set the notebook on his lap. He reached for his coffee and removed the lid.

  “You are an interesting man,” Mindy said.

  “What do you know about my work?”

  “Right to the point, too,” she said.

  “You held my arm to sense my energy, put me off guard, yet you were well within my aura to learn what you needed.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You blocked your energy. I had to make direct contact. You’re still blocking.”

  “What do you expect?”

  She gave him the same grin she wore when he answered the door. “I’ve been working in the Pacific Northwest, outside Chicago, in Oklahoma, always for Native American cases.”

  “Consultant. You originally told us you were an interpreter.”

  “I needed to be careful. I had no idea who you were, yet you were brazen enough to…”

  “Then some of the languages you know are Native.”

  “A few. There are way too many Native languages for one person to learn. Many Indians don’t know their own native language.”

  “What exactly do you consult on?”

  “Tribal law. You know their laws aren’t always exactly the same between tribes.”

  “You know Richard Running Deer?”

  “Of course.” She sat back and snapped her fingers. “That’s where I know you.” She turned her head and peered out the window for a moment. “His grandfather was a wonderful man.”

  Dan smiled while shaking his head.

  “How can I help you?” She leaned over the small table.

&
nbsp; Dan welcomed her in. “I won’t ask you how you know so much or where you learned it. You can tell me when and if you choose.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” she said.

  He opened his notebook and read off the first phrase: “Nestes werden erschreckt.”

  She shrugged. “The nest is frightening. Or maybe, be frightened of the nest. Does that make sense?”

  “It does. The other one was une bouchee pourrait vous tuer.”

  “German, then French. Okay. I’d say it means a mouthful could kill you. Is someone trying to poison you?”

  “One bite,” Dan said, “that’s a mouthful.”

  “Yes, one bite could kill you. I can see by your reaction that hit home.”

  “Earlier today we found a rattlesnake in our room.”

  She leaned away.

  “Don’t worry, that wasn’t this hotel.”

  She gripped her coffee cup with both hands and leaned back over the table. “Unless you’re on the east side of the mountains, there aren’t any rattlesnakes around here.”

  “I know.” His cell phone buzzed, and he checked the text. Jason was back in the room and wondering where he was. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all. Your son, I presume? He’s cute.”

  Dan texted Jason where he was and suggested he come down. “He’ll join us.”

  “The more the merrier.” She held up her coffee cup.

  Dan relaxed into his chair. Mindy was in her low- to mid-forties, he guessed. Jason’s age. She knew enough of what she was doing that he felt he didn’t have to explain. He could be himself. She acted dumb on the plane, but she was a wise, wise woman. Interesting that she knew Richard’s grandfather. They engaged in small talk for a while.

  She grew up in Oklahoma, was around a lot of Cherokee Indians as a child, and became a legal consultant and part-time interpreter after her grandfather died. “I don’t know a lot, but my grandfather did teach me quite a bit about the idea of shamanism. The rest I learned from books, so you don’t have to worry about me messing in your space.”

  “You know enough to work with energy. That’s more than most.”

  When Jason showed up, his face looked pale.

  “What happened?” Dan stood and reached toward him.

  Jason blocked his approach with a raised arm and shaking head. “I’m going over there this evening. It’s pretty quick.”

  “You don’t have to,” Dan said.

  Mindy agreed. “Wherever you’re going, it’s not safe to go in your present state. Being scared will lower your ability to operate.” She glanced at Dan. “Right?”

  When Jason turned toward her, she shook her head. “Sorry. Wasn’t my place.”

  Dan asked, “What’s bothering you?” Before Jason pulled a chair near them, Dan knew. He sat back down but remained at the edge of his seat. “It’s Koko.”

  “They saw her going inside the building,” Jason said. “She could easily rat on me, and they don’t know what would happen after that.”

  “What do they want from you?” Dan asked.

  “Act as an interpreter.”

  “What languages do you know?” Mindy asked.

  “Spanish.”

  “Then…” Dan let his question slide.

  “I can help,” Mindy said.

  Jason shook his head at her. “Do you even know what’s going on?”

  “I trust your dad.”

  “Rafsky wants me to shut up and find out who she is,” Jason said.

  “Turn your head,” Dan said.

  “You can’t see it. They shoved it way into my ear. It’s only short-range, so they have to have someone nearby.” Jason turned back toward Mindy. “We met Mindy on the flight here. She’s an interpreter. Multiple languages.”

  Dan waited until Jason was finished talking with Agent Rafsky. “I’m going to work with her,” Dan said. “Tell her that.”

  “They have their own people.” Jason repeated what Agent Rafsky was obviously telling him.

  “The ante just doubled with Koko being involved. I need to know you’re safe. Mindy is onboard.” He turned toward her to be sure she was okay with that. She nodded. “There’s no time to argue. I’ve told her everything already anyway. She’s an interpreter, but also a legal consultant, Tribal Law. She’ll be helpful.”

  Jason smiled, and Dan knew he got away with it. “How are you feeling, son?”

  “Better.”

  “Will you join us upstairs now?” Dan asked Mindy.

  She stood. Dan grabbed his coffee and asked Jason if he wanted a cup before they went back to the room.

  “I’m okay for now.”

  Mindy put her arm through Dan’s as they walked. For a moment, he wondered if she could penetrate his resistance then let it drop. Even though he knew the FBI were listening in, he told Jason about his journey.

  “Mouse to Moose, land to water. You know the legends, that Whale turned into Moose and that Moose would return to the sea if things got too bad on land.”

  “I know.”

  “Extremely protective of youth,” Jason added. He stopped in the hall on the way to their room.

  “I know what you’re going to say,” Dan said.

  “Someone needs a soul retrieval,” Jason said. “I’ll bet it’s Koko. That could bring her back to our side.”

  Dan shook his head. “I think it’s someone else. Koko knows what she’s doing. She’s making a lot of money, I’ll bet.”

  “Doing what?” Mindy asked. She hesitated at Dan’s door, as though getting ready for something before entering.

  Jason walked into the room behind Mindy and Dan. “Agent Rafsky said Mindy hasn’t been briefed. She changed her mind and wants her off the case.”

  Dan threw his notebook onto the bed, turned, and rattled off the whole case in a few minutes.

  Jason’s face scrunched up while Dan talked. He shook his head. “You know Agent Rafsky was yelling in my ear to interrupt you that whole time, don’t you?”

  “Tell Cora she has to give me this one. Trust me. We want Mindy doing the interpretations. She has Crow energy all around her. I suspect she can penetrate metal walls if she has to.”

  “Cora doesn’t know what that means,” Jason said.

  “She doesn’t have to. Mindy can do this.”

  Jason sat on the bed. “I don’t like this two-sided conversation. I feel like I have multiple personality disorder.”

  “You’ll get used to it,” Dan said. “The two sides again…”

  Jason pointed to his ear and laughed. “Cora said the same thing. Only she doesn’t like me calling her Cora.” He tapped his ear. “Too bad. If you’re going to be inside my head, I’m going to get familiar.”

  “What’d she say?” Dan asked.

  “Nothing…yet.”

  Jason explained what he was instructed to do. “They need an interpreter because one of the kids they used got scared and skipped town. Doesn’t have to be good. Just has to interpret what the buyer says into English, not the other way around.” Jason raised his chin. “I can do that.”

  “A kid?” Dan asked.

  “One of them probably knew someone, got them hooked, but then the whole operation scared them. Who knows?”

  “How are you getting in there? Who’s recommending you?”

  “Cora didn’t say except that it’s all in place.”

  Mindy sat in the chair Dan used earlier for his journey. She shrugged. He addressed Jason. “Seems kind of sudden that they can do that. Especially since that takes a lot of information not shared with us. So, my play, you don’t go anywhere until Mindy and I are in place.”

  “She doesn’t sound happy, but okay,” Jason said about Cora.

  “In the meantime, what happens if they expect you to speak in any of the languages? Just to test you.”

  “I’m not supposed to try,” Jason said.

  “This is fucked up,” Dan said. “Doesn’t sound safe at all. Is this the only way they can get you i
n?”

  Jason nodded. “We’ve got a week before the next sale is in operation.” He nodded at Mindy. “I’ll bet she can teach me a little by then.”

  “Very little,” she said.

  “Maybe I should have that coffee now. He walked to a side table where an automatic coffee maker sat with all the necessary fixings and started to make a pot.

  Still standing, Dan shuffled past Jason. “Ask Cora what languages she expects.”

  “She doesn’t know. She has several translators available to help out. You’ll all be together in one room.” Jason poured water into the coffee maker. “I guess I’m going to have to listen to a half dozen voices.”

  “Have you met any of the interpreters?”

  “No.”

  “There’s something wrong with this,” Dan said. “How will you even be able to pronounce half the words without practice?”

  “She’s not talking,” Jason said, while preparing his cup with powdered creamer.

  “Koko?”

  “They don’t expect her to be around. Not where I am. I’m just worried if I pass her in the halls or something.” He lowered his eyes. “I know.”

  “What’d she say?”

  “That Koko is recruiting girls, not selling them.”

  “Let’s hope those are separate operations,” Dan said.

  Jason spilled some coffee as he poured.

  Mindy raised her eyebrows toward Dan, who wasn’t happy at the moment.

  Jason walked over to the desk and sat in the chair. He placed his free hand over his notebook. “Can’t take this.”

  “Do you want to journey before you go. Something calm, meditative?” Dan asked.

  Jason shook his head and stared into his coffee cup. He pursed his lips. “Tonight should be fine. They won’t start using me until next week. At least that’s the plan. I should be able to find out where the buyers are coming from by then.” He scanned between Dan and Mindy. “I’ll be okay.” But he didn’t sound convincing.

  Chapter 16

  Jason’s voice, coming from the communications unit that sat on a long table in the surveillance room, sounded more relaxed than Dan had expected. Six agents sat in chairs around the equipment. Three of them Dan knew, the other three were translators. When he and Mindy first arrived, the translators talked with Mindy in several different languages and appeared to accept her as one of their own. She was the only woman besides Agent Rafsky, who was a bit rough on most of the men in the room, giving orders and asking questions—busy being the boss.