Interregnum, A Curt Huntinghawk Story, Part 3

 

markwildyr.com, Post #129

 Still no Grove, and Hawk’s already had to fight off temptation. Maybe his new partner being winged in a gunfight with drug traffickers will give our hero time to cool off. Unless, of course, temptation comes his way from a different direction.

 When we left Hawk last week, he had turned over the drug smugglers to Amadeo and the rest of the Red Rezes and seen Robert on the way to the hospital. Then he set out to check out something he’d seen while approaching Dragon’s Back before the interdiction. Let’s see what caught his eye.

 * * * * *

INTERREGNUM, A Curt Huntinghawk Story, Part 3

           An hour later, Hawk found what he was looking for. At least a dozen people had been heading for the Dragon when the gunfire scared them off. Illegals. Not his business, and he would have dropped it after notifying the INS except that they’d been chased away from the only water in the area. They might need help. He raised Amadeo and asked him to notify La Migra before taking off after the group.

          Hawk rounded a bend in a broad, sandy arroyo at a trot and suddenly halted. A man stood in the middle of the gully. It was seldom anyone took Hawk by surprise, and after a moment he understood why. The man, a boy really, was motionless, mouth open, lips burnt, hands shaking. He was on his last legs. For one giddy moment Hawk thought it was Ramon, but this one was taller and there was something more of the man in him.

          “¿Agua?” the youngster gasped. “You have water?”

          Deciding the Mexican youth posed no threat, Hawk led him to the shade of a scrub at the side of the gully and gave him a modest drink.

          “¿La Migra?” the boy gasped, wiping his chin to save a precious drop.

          “No, but I’m a peace officer. Where are the others?”

          The youth motioned with his head down the arroyo. “Not far. Bad shape. You give them water, no?”

          “How many?”

         “Twelve of us. The coyotes ran off after we got across the border. Women, children…one baby.”

          “Shit!” Hawk cursed. “You stay right here! Don’t move. I’ll be back for you.” The boy sagged against the gully as Hawk hurried down the arroyo.

          They were in such bad shape nobody even tried to run. Hawk rationed his water carefully, trying to ease the suffering until INS arrived. The agent in charge, someone Hawk had worked with before, soon had them loaded in vans and headed for the detention center and medical help. The vehicles had pulled away before Hawk remembered the kid back up the arroyo. Oh, well, he’d take him to the center himself. But there was no one in the shade of the scrub.

          Hawk took off his hat and rubbed his head. The son-of-a-bitch had more spunk than he’d thought. Wearily, he followed the tracks out of the arroyo expecting to find the prostrate form of a sunstroke victim. Nothing moved over the desert that he could see. The little shit had lit out as soon as Hawk was out of sight!

          Without hesitating, Hawk made for his vehicle and drove in a big circle back to Dragon. They’d been headed for water, so the kid probably knew about the spring. He kept his foot light on the accelerator to hold down his dust plume. If the illegal spotted it, he might shy away from the spring and die out there.

          As he had once for Ramon, Hawk settled himself against a shadowed rock wall and waited patiently for his quarry to come to water. A tiny stream trickled out of the pool and straggled down the wash, evaporating in something less than a mile. If the kid tried to drink out there, Hawk would see him.

          He did not. He made for the cover of the rocks and fell to his knees at the edge of the pool without spotting Hawk in the shadows. The kid took a desperate drink, ripped off his shirt, soaked it, and doused his head to bring down his body temperature. He swayed on his knees from his efforts.

          “Hola, amigo”, Hawk said quietly.

          ¡Dios, mio!” the boy gasped, staggering into the small pool.

          “I told you to stay put. You don’t listen very good.”

          “Please,” the boy said, backing away and muddying the water.

          “Get out of the pool, idiot!” Hawk said. “A lot of animals water there.”

          “¡Lo siento! Sorry!” the youth said, scrambling out of the water on the far side of the little pool. “You won’t hurt me, will you?”

          Hawk recalled Ramon’s fractured sentences. “You speak good English.”

          “Thank you. Please, don’t hurt me.”

          “Why do you think I’m going to hurt you?”

          The boy swallowed hard and tried again. “Don’t rape me!”

          “Rape you? Why do you think I’d rape you?”

          “My friend, he was caught. He… he got raped in detention.”

          “Maybe,” Hawk acknowledged, “but not by INS. He was probably raped by his own people, especially if he looked as good as you.”

          The boy’s eyes bugged. “I know you’re an indio, but please don’t—“

          “You think I’m going to rape you because I’m an Indian?” Hawk asked half in surprise and half in anger. “You think we’re savages?” Suddenly Hawk laughed. Half of Mexico was mestizo, but they got their idea of “real” Indians from John Wayne movies. “Think I’ll scalp you after I’ve fucked your ass.”

          The boy squared his shoulders. “You joke with me, no?”

          “Yeah, I joke with you. What’s your name?”

          “Luis. Luis Carlos Delgado y Ortiz.” That chore completed, the boy swayed and dropped to his knees. Hawk made it to his side in half a dozen steps and pulled him to his feet.

          “Okay, Luis Carlos Delgado y Ortiz, let’s get you some help.”

          “Please, mister. Don’t take me to detention.”

          “What you want me to do with you? Turn you back out on the desert?”

          “No! Not the desert!” the boy cried weakly. “Town. Let me go.”

          “I might as well take you straight to INS. They’ll pick you up within a couple of hours. All right, I’ll tell you what, Luis. I’ll take you home, feed you, clean you up, let you rest some, and then we’ll figure out what to do, okay?”

           “Thank you,” the boy said faintly, slumping against Hawk.

          Hawk picked up Luis’ soaked shirt and half-carried him to the four-by wondering what in the hell he was doing? He'd taken Ramon home and it had worked out, but Hawk worked for the federal government—indirectly, at least—and they frowned on breaking their laws. He radioed that he was going straight home. In view of the skirmish this afternoon, Amadeo made no objections.

          Luis had lost his possessions, so Hawk found something for him to wear. Still uncertain of Hawk’s intentions, the kid had to be talked out of his pants. He washed the young Mexican’s filthy clothing while the kid showered. Then Hawk studied the youth as they ate green chile stew. When the swollen, blistered lips and sunburned face healed, he’d be one good-looking son-of-a-bitch, as handsome as Ramon, but with a difference. The nose was thin and patrician. The big, brown eyes, even exhausted, held an air of insolence. Ramon had been a beautiful peon, a peasant. This one came from the middle-class, if not the upper crust. What the hell was he doing crawling across the desert? The kid was larger than Ramon too. He stood as tall as Hawk and carried around a hundred and seventy pounds when he wasn’t dehydrated, Hawk figured. Good, broad shoulders, long torso, slim hips and legs. Educated too, probably.

          “Do you take me to the detention center now?” the kid demanded after two bowls of stew and a quart of milk.

          “Luis,” Hawk answered. “I’m too damned tired for that, and I think you are as well. I’ll put you up in the spare bedroom so you can get some rest, but I need your word you won’t sneak off in the night. And I’m an indio, remember? We’re like cats…see in the dark and hear things that aren’t there.

          Luis looked down his nose with as much of a sneer as he could manage with his swollen lips. “I give you my promise.”

          “Can I trust it?”

          This time he managed the sneer even if it cost him some pain. “The word of Luis Carlos Delgado y Ortiz is good with any man in Mexico.”

          Hawk tapped him on the chest. “This ain’t Mexico, old buddy.”

          They retired to separate rooms after Luis showed some concern that there was no lock on his door. The kid would probably sleep in his pants tonight, Hawk surmised with a secret smile. As his groin tingled, silently acknowledged that might not be a bad idea.

          Hawk sipped his coffee on the front porch the next morning by the light of the morning star and came to the conclusion he would leave the boy alone while he worked. Luis would more than likely be gone by the end of the day, solving Hawk’s dilemma.

 * * * * *

Offhand, I’d say fate’s laying a trap for Curt Huntinghawk, but maybe he’s right. Perhaps Luis Carlos Delgado y Ortiz vacated the premises while Hawk was at work. After all, the young hidalgo was worried about being raped by a wild Indian. Until next week.

 My contact information is provided below in case anyone wants to drop me a line:

Website and blog: markwildyr.com

Email: markwildyr@aol.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr

Twitter: @markwildyr

 

The following are buy links for CUT HAND:

 

DSP Publications: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/cut-hand-by-mark-wildyr-420-b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Hand-Mark-Wildyr-ebook/dp/B073D86RWV

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/book/cut-hand/id1256084273

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/cut-hand-2

 And now my mantra: Keep on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say, so say it!

 Until next time.

 

Mark

 New posts at 6:00 a.m. every Thursday until the story is completed. Then we’ll revers to the first and third Thursday of the month.

Interregnum, A Curt Huntinghawk Story, Part #1

 markwildyr.com, Post #127

Okay, okay. Some of you are impatient for another dose of Hawk, so I’ll give in and do another one. As usual, I’ll post weekly until the story is completed.

Here we go.

* * * * *

INTERREGNUM, A Curt Huntinghawk Story, Part 1 

          Curt Huntinghawk woke to find Grover Whitedeer studying him across the pillow in the breaking dawn. Hawk greeted his best friend and lover, stretching lazily and stroking Grove’s bare chest fondly.

          “I don’t wanna go, Hawk,” Grove said. “Tell me not to, and I won’t.”

          “If you don’t, you might never see your mom again. I won’t be responsible for that.”

          “I wouldn’t feel any more shitty about that than leaving you,” Grove observed, laying a hand on Hawk’s muscled shoulder before heaving himself out of bed. “It’s not like my family’s all that close. Yeah, I know, she’s my mom.”

          Hawk shaved a three-day growth of almost non-existent stubble while Grove pissed and brushed his teeth. After that, they met in the shower. Today would be their last opportunity to make love for some time. Once Grove was on a plane headed east, neither knew when he’d return. He’d given up his apartment and took an indefinite leave of absence from the Rezagados Colorados yesterday after his brother’s call about his mother’s cancer. No one knew exactly what the future held or when it would arrive.

          Grove leaned on his hands against the front of the shower while Hawk lathered his body. They paused to kiss before exchanging places. Once they were squeaky clean, they entwined themselves to deposit semen on one another’s bellies, Grove drew a ragged breath and whispered in Hawk’s ear.

          “I know you, Curt Huntinghawk. Just like you know me. I-I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, and—”

          “Hush, Grove. I’ll wait for you.”

          “No you won’t. And I can’t promise anything in return. We’re both sexual animals. And once we discovered one another, the ladies don’t do it for us… at least not as a steady diet.”

          He hugged Hawk closer. “So it’s okay. You can find somebody, just don’t forget me.”

          Hawk stroked the back of his lover’s neck. “Never! And I’ll—”

          “No you won’t. Not if I’m gone for long.”

          “Okay, deal. For both of us. It’s okay to get with someone. But it won’t mean anything. Just a holding pattern for when you’re back. Same goes for you. Okay?”

          “Deal. But—” Grove’s hands fondled Hawk’s buttocks. “—not there. That belongs to me.”

          “You got it.”

          “Damn, Hawk,” Grove whispered distractedly, “you’re so much man, how did we ever get together?”

          “Slowly and carefully,” Hawk said with a smile, recalling the long, painful process.

           Three hours later, Hawk stood watching a Southwest Airlines flight take off from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport carrying his friend… his lover away from him for God knows how long. His gut clenched as the aircraft disappeared from view.

           Hawk suffered on his lonely trip back home. He ran a gamut of emotions, surprised to discover that anger was among them. He was angry at fate for imposing this obligation, with Grove because he was flying away in a big silver bird, with himself because he should have insisted they wait for one another instead of agreeing each was free to find relief with someone else.

          The next day when he reported to work, Amadeo Tomé, his boss at the Red Rezes, assigned him a new partner.

          “Hawk, be reasonable,” the man argued when Hawk bucked. “I shoulda broke you and Grove up a long time ago. You’re two of the best I’ve got, and you oughta train the new men. Besides, you know I don’t like my men to work alone.”

          “All right, but only till Grove comes back. We’ve got the best interdiction record in the outfit, and you don’t want to fuck with that.”

          “We’ll see,” Amadeo hedged.

          “Bullshit. Either Grove’s my partner, or I’ll find something else!”

          Hawk—with a youngster in tow—left for the desert country south of them wondering if he’d revealed too much to Amadeo. The man was no fool, but loyalties ran deep among the men, especially long-time partners. He suddenly smiled, realizing that he didn’t really give a damn. Let him think whatever he wanted. The revelation was liberating.

          “Come on, kid. You drive; I’ll keep an eye out,” he said to Robert Tanara, tossing him the keys to the four-by-four.

          They cut three different sets of tracks and followed each on foot until they were certain of what they had, two small groups of illegal aliens and a team of drug mules. They reported the wanna-be-immigrants to INS by radio and set out cross-country at a steady trot after the mules.

          Robert Tanara was from a neighborhood tribe but was taller and more slender than the locals due to outside blood, probably. He looked impossibly young even though Hawk knew he was twenty-one. Robert had been with the Rezagados about three months and followed a pretty faint trail, meaning he had a good eye for sign on rocky ground. Hawk thought of him as a kid, a boy, but Robert was a man. They caught the two drug runners as they neared civilization in the middle of the hot afternoon.

          The smugglers tried to run, but the desert had taken its toll. The traficantes didn’t have the stamina to make it back to the truck, so Hawk used his hand-held to radio for help. Amadeo was pleased with the ten pounds of pure cocaine and hundred pounds of weed they recovered.

          By the time they started back for headquarters, Hawk knew he had a devoted admirer in his new partner. Later as he left Amadeo’s office at headquarters, Hawk overheard the snatch end of a whispered conversation. Robert was singing his praises. Hawk said goodnight and headed home.

          Grove called a week later. His mom had stabilized, but he was going to hang around until something happened, and nobody could tell him when that would be. Bitter disappointment ringed Hawk’s heart when Grove said he had a lead on a job. That meant Grove expected to be there awhile.

          As soon as he hung up, Hawk headed for the Blue Mesa Bar and downed four beers without doing much breathing between bottles. Mindful that he had been at the edge of becoming an alcoholic when he was a teenager, Hawk started to nurse his bottle instead of draining it. He became a little more sociable, trading small talk with Sheila, the Pueblo girl he used to go to bed with fairly regularly. He ended up at a back table with a few of the Red Rezes, including his new partner, Robert Tanara. Before the evening was out, Hawk knew with absolute certainty that Robert would come home with him and do anything he asked. Not that the boy was queer, but he was into some heavy hero-worship that made Hawk uneasy enough to leave early. When the door opened behind him as he was crossing the parking lot, he knew without looking that Robert had followed.

          “Hey, partner!” the young man called. “Wait up.”

           Hawk turned, dismayed that the boy looked so handsome in the faint outdoor lighting. “Yeah?”

          “It’s early,” Robert said uncertainly. “Thought you might want to grab a six-pack.” The young man laughed nervously. “Guess I’m still wired from this afternoon. It was my first interdiction,” he admitted ruefully.

           Hawk eased up. “That can get the blood flowing, but there’ll be more.”

           “Yeah, for sure with you as my partner.”

          “Look, kid. I’m no different from any of the guys with some time under their belts. I joined the Rezes when I was your age. I can track and have some endurance. That’s all. No more; no less.”

          “Yeah,” Robert said. “I understand. Sorry, I bothered you.”

          Hawk relented. “I could use another beer. Meet me at the back wall.”

          “You bet!” the youth said, suddenly beaming.

 

* * * * *

Well, well, it didn’t take long for temptation to rear its head. What was it, a week? Next week, let’s see what happens.

 My contact information is provided below in case anyone wants to drop me a line:

Website and blog: markwildyr.com

Email: markwildyr@aol.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr

Twitter: @markwildyr

 

The following are buy links for CUT HAND:

 

DSP Publications: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/cut-hand-by-mark-wildyr-420-b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Hand-Mark-Wildyr-ebook/dp/B073D86RWV

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/book/cut-hand/id1256084273

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/cut-hand-2

 And now my mantra: Keep on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say, so say it!

 Until next time.

 Mark

 New posts at 6:00 a.m. every Thursday until the story is completed. Then we’ll revers to the first and third Thursday of the month..

Grove – A Curt Huntinghawk Story (Part 4 of a 5 Part Series)

markwildyr.com, Post #123

Is Hawk’s friendship with Grove lost? At least, Grove didn’t come out swinging when he caught Hawk coping a feel. Maybe Hawk can convince him he was just testing to see if he was conscious or not? Yeah, right. And how close are they to catching the rogue INS agent? Let’s see what happens today.

*****

GROVE

A Curt Huntinghawk Story

          Monday afternoon the sheriff intercepted them as they returned to headquarters. “Can we talk a minute, fellows?” They joined the lawman in his big Crown Victoria. “Got a little intelligence from south of the border. Supposed to be a big shipment coming through here tomorrow morning early. What’s the likeliest way through the desert?”

          “Big Willow Wash across to Dragon’s Back. From there, they could go two or three directions. That’s the way I’d do it,” Hawk replied.

          “You guys been right so far, so I’ll bet on you again. Can you go out on patrol early tomorrow?”

          “Sure. Any luck tracing that tire?”

          “It’s the same tire the INS uses on all their vehicles. Saw the track in the parking lot a couple of times, but so far we haven’t spotted the vehicle it’s mounted on. But it might be too late. Some of my people have shown a lot of interest in the vehicles at INS, so the guy might have wised up.”

          “By dawn, we’ll be in a place above Big Willow where we can park and not be seen easily,” Hawk said.

          “That within radio range?”

          “Yeah, but what good’s that going to be if the guy’s INS? He’ll have all our frequencies. If we need you, we’ll call on our cell phones.”

          It was quiet again the rest of the way to headquarters. After telling Amadeo they were going to patrol early the next morning at the sheriff’s request, Hawk drove Grove home. They agreed to meet at four a.m. in the headquarters parking lot.

          Hawk slept surprisingly well and was rested when he pulled into headquarters in the darkness early the next morning. They loaded into their Rez four-by and headed for the desert. It was breaking light when they parked in a draw that gave a good view to the south. Grove pulled the vehicle into some mesquite bushes to break up the outline of the truck.

         Grove opened a thermos and offered coffee. Hawk gratefully accepted. His hand brushed Grove’s when he took the cup. The electricity was still there. They watched in silence until full light. Grove got out once to piss, and then Hawk took his turn. He was just getting back into the truck when Grove spoke.

          “Hawk, I’ve been thinking—”

          Hawk held up his hand as the sound of a motor became audible, growing steadily louder. A green INS four-wheel vehicle passed within a hundred yards of them and slowly motored to the southwest.

          “I’ll check it,” Hawk said, easing out of the truck. “Not the same vehicle,” he told his partner a minute later. “Or else he got wise and changed tires. They look like a new set.”

          The INS four-wheel hove into sight as it climbed a slight incline. To their surprise, it halted behind a small embankment sheltering it from the south, but in plain sight of them. A tall figure got out of the vehicle and stood peering over the embankment. They took turns with a pair of binoculars.

          “Can you tell who it is?” Grove asked.

          Hawk shook his head as the agent settled down to wait.

          “Uh oh,” Hawk said after an hour. “He’s spotted something. Damn, I can’t see, can you?”

          “No. Yeah! One…two…three…no, four men coming up out of Big Willow. Man, they’re loaded down. If that’s all cocaine, it’s worth a lot of money. Hey! What’s he doing?”

          The INS agent had returned to his vehicle. He drew a rifle from its rack and steadied himself against the embankment. Grove hit the horn and held it down, but the ambusher held steady and fired. One man fell; the three others broke for the wash. The killer didn’t hesitate, he swung around and fired. Something crashed through the trees and starred the truck’s windshield.

          “Mo-ther-fuck-er!” Grove sang, scrambling out of the car. Hawk bailed out the other side. Both men turned rifles on the distant target as the killer broke for his car.

          “He’s running! Put some holes in the vehicle so we can ID it.”

          “Rather put holes in that son-of-a-bitch!” Grove yelled, throwing shots rapidly.

          Both of them emptied their magazines, and the four-wheel seemed to lurch before it disappeared over the rise. “We got a tire, I think,” Hawk yelled, scrambling into the truck.  While Grove tore out of the wash after the wounded vehicle, Hawk got on the raido to relate events on the sheriff’s band, then switching to the Rez wavelength to bring Amadeo up to date. Hawk banged on the dash for Grove to stop and went to help the man who was down. Grove was off again before Hawk even slammed the door.

          There was nothing Hawk could do for the traficante; he was dead. From his armaments, the man was the group’s guard, but they’d been so greedy they’d loaded him down with drugs as well. He hadn’t had a chance.

          Gunfire sent Hawk racing up the long slope. He knew exactly what had happened. The rogue agent had abandoned his vehicle, backtracked, and was trying to take Grove out. It seemed like an hour before he covered the long mile to where the volleys were coming from. He eased up to a big rock at the top of the rise and took in the situation. The agent held the high ground behind rocks and a clump of juniper. Grove had taken refuge behind their four-by. Nobody was hurt, but the Rez vehicle looked disabled.

           Hawk reloaded his empty weapon and poured four rounds into the clump of rocks and bushes where the killer hid. Immediately, return fire came his direction. Grove took the opportunity to shift positions. When he started firing from a new direction, the agent retreated, working his way northwest. Probably where he’d left his stricken vehicle. When Hawk heard a sluggish motor turn over and catch, he raced from cover and gained sight of the INS vehicle as it slowly started to limp away. Hawk threw his rifle to his shoulder and started punching holes in the hood. The four-by stalled.

          More gunfire struck the truck from the back. Grove aimed for the gas tank, and moments later liquid soaked the sand and rocks at the rear of the vehicle. Lead began striking rocks sending up innocent looking sparks as Grove tried to ignite the gasoline. He succeeded. The flames were almost invisible when they first caught but grew and turned orange. There was no explosion, but the leaking gasoline fed the fire until the rear of the vehicle was engulfed.

          Hawk was working his way around to the front when a single gunshot sent him into the dirt. Cautiously, he raised his head and spotted a man was slumped in the front seat of the INS truck. Wary of a trick, but prompted by the flames, Hawk came down out of the rocks and approached the front of the car. Grove reached the open driver’s side door at the same time he did. An INS agent they both knew and liked lay forehead to the steering wheel, not bothered in the least by the building inferno. Several wounds were evident on the man, but the shot through the bottom of the jaw from the revolver still clutched in the dead man’s hand had been what killed him.

          Wordlessly, they pulled the corpse from the burning vehicle and laid it a safe distance away. Then they worked to make certain the flames didn’t spread. The sheriff had just pulled up and crawled out of his vehicle when the back end of the burning four-by gave a loud pop and split itself open. Thereafter, the flames began to die.

*****

It looks as though the killer INS agent has been called to account. But we still don’t know why the man went rogue. Pursuit of that killer was the last thing holding Hawk’s friendship with Grove together. What happens now that it’s resolved? Next week, we finish the story.

As usual when I have a three-part or more story, I’ll post weekly until it’s ended. Then I’ll return to first and third Thursday of the week.

Tell your friends to order a copy of Cut Hand and Johnny Two-Guns from Dreamspinner Press. I’d like to convince them to publish the rest of the Cut Hand Series, including the unpublished manuscript Wastelakapi… Beloved, It’ll take some help from readers to get Dreamspinner interested.

My contact information is provided below in case anyone wants to drop me a line:

Website and blog: markwildyr.com

Email: markwildyr@aol.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr

Twitter: @markwildyr

The following are buy links for CUT HAND:

DSP Publications: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/cut-hand-by-mark-wildyr-420-b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Hand-Mark-Wildyr-ebook/dp/B073D86RWV

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/book/cut-hand/id1256084273

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/cut-hand-2

And now my mantra: Keep on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say, so say it!

Until next time.

Mark

New posts at 6:00 a.m. on each Thursday until the story is finished. Then we’ll return to first and third Thursday of the month..

Grove – A Curt Huntinghawk Story (Part 3 of a 5 Part Series)

markwildyr.com, Post #122

What, oh what, is Hawk to do? He and Grove are involved in solving a mystery that might set off a deadly drug war if it isn’t solved. At the same time, Hawk’s fighting a one-sided love affair that the other side isn’t even aware of. And as we’ve seen, Grove’s a very physical guy, taking on a truck driver twice his size over a perceived insult. Read on.

*****

GROVE

A Curt Huntinghawk Story

          Neither Hawk nor Grove was in very good shape when the phone rang early the next afternoon. “Sorry to bother you Hawk, but the sheriff’s calling for you’n Grove?”

          An hour later, the sheriff did a double take when he set eyes on Grove. “Damn, I won’t ask,” He cleared his throat. “Somebody shot up an INS vehicle early this morning. Two agents are okay, bailed out and hit the ground. Feds are holding it close to their vests, but I’m going out for a look around. Figured you might help.” The lawman threw a thumb Grove’s way. Now I ain’t so sure after looking at him.”

          INS and DEA were both on the scene when they got there. Any viable tracks were long destroyed, even so Hawk and Grove found where two men had set up an ambush of the agents. The fact the bushwhackers had picked the low ground was all that saved the two agents. The two Rezes also found the tracks of several men and concluded that the drug mules had armed escorts.

          "It’s a fucking war,” the sheriff mumbled. “No doubt about it.”

          “Why an INS vehicle?” Grove asked through his cracked lip.

          "Losses too heavy, I guess,” the DEA agent with them commented. “Wasn’t going to lose this one to INS or anybody else. This means it’s open season on law enforcement officers. Better warn Amadeo, Hawk.”

          The next three weeks were relatively peaceful, but drug interdictions by the Rezagados were down to almost zilch. It was as if the drug cartels had shut down the flow of the stuff through the area. Then one of the Rez teams stumbled on another body shot through the chest same as the other. The kill was relatively fresh. Hawk and Grove examined the site with the sheriff and a DEA man. The two Indians exchanged glances.

          “Got the wrong man,” Grove said through an almost healed mouth.

          “What you mean?” Reed demanded. 

          “This guy wasn’t running product. He was probably an illegal crossing over.”

          “Why you think that?” the DEA man asked.

          “Look at him. Body hasn’t been disturbed. No sign of a pack or duffel on the ground. Killer didn’t even come all the way to the body,” Grove explained.

          “Damnation!” the sheriff said. “Killing innocents now!”

          “It’s the same killer, though,” Hawk said quietly.

          “Damned right it is,” the sheriff said. “Same M.O…everything.”

          When they walked back to their vehicles, the lawman said he was headed to INS for a meeting with them and the DEA. “I haven’t told them about the tire track we found with the first kill. Gonna do it today. You boys’re welcome to come along.” They agreed.

          After parking behind the sheriff in the far end of the parking lot, they got out of their four-by and joined Reed. The big lot was graveled, but in places the gravel had worn thin and sandy spots appeared. As they walked toward the office, Hawk and Grove halted and called the sheriff back. Trying not to make it obvious, they showed the lawman a perfect imprint of the tire of the killer’s vehicle.

          “Shit!” Reed cursed. “No wonder those traficantes shot up an INS car. It’s an INS agent killing them! Well, this changes things, boys. Ain’t gonna say a thing about tire tracks. How old’s that fucking print anyhow?”

           “Probably made yesterday,” Grove said. Hawk nodded agreement.

          The meeting was a waste of time. Reed wasn’t about to let go of what he had, and nobody else seemed to have anything. Hawk looked over the six white and Hispanic men at the meeting. Was one of them the killer.

          Grove hadn’t been out catting since he got messed up at the Blue Mesa, and it was beginning to tell on him. “Friday afternoon he started agitating for a trip south.

          It didn’t happen. They stopped by the Mesa on the way out of town and never made it out of the place. Grove hit the beer keg and didn’t stop until Hawk drove him to his house and spilled him into bed in the spare bedroom. Once again, he removed his friend’s clothing. His hand touched a nipple, and he resisted the urge to taste it. His hand traced a path down Grove’s chest, his belly and came to rest atop his partner’s groin.

          “Wha…what the fuck you doin’?” Startled, Hawk jerked his hand back and looked into Grove’s confused eyes. The confusion changed to shock and morphed into anger. Grove bounded out of the bed and took a drunken swing at him. Hawk absorbed it on his shoulder and backed away.

          “Sorry, man. Shouldn’t have done that.”

          “Damn right” Grove slurred. “Fucking weirdo!” He forgot his anger in his haste to get into his clothing. Hawk waited in the living room, filled with shame and fear that he’d ruptured the most important relationship of his life.

          Grove stormed out the front door, reappearing almost immediately. “Give me your fucking keys!”

          Hawk tossed them over. “You oughta let me drive you home.”

          Grove didn’t bother to answer, just spun on his heel. A moment later, the Dodge motor turned over, and the truck peeled out of the driveway.

          Hawk took a beer to the front porch and let his eyes rove the heavens without taking much solace from the Creator’s marvels. After thirty minutes, he went inside and picked up the telephone. When Grove snarled a hello into the phone Hawk put down the receiver, relieved his friend had made it home. Then he proceeded to drink every can, every bottle of booze in the place. Oblivion brought peace, even if it was false and only temporary.

          In his dream Grove was beating on him. One unusually hard blow caused him to open his eyes. Through a blurry mist, he made out the form of Grover Whitedeer hovering over him. It was broad daylight and he was lying on the floor. Grove hauled him onto the sofa.

          “Here, eat some of this, you son-of-a-bitch!” A spoon of something hot and tangy got shoved into his mouth. It took three swallows to identify it as his spicy green chile stew. He lurched into the bathroom and promptly lost it.

          That cleared his head some. He sat in a kitchen chair and worked on a cup of coffee while Grove paced the room. “Came to give you your truck back, but you’re too fucked up to drive me home. Shit, I’ll pick you up for work Monday.”

          “Hey, man, I’m sorry about…about…”

          “Shut up!” Grove made a cleaner exit this time.

          Monday morning both of them were in reasonable shape when Grove honked for Hawk. It was uncustomarily silent on the drive until Hawk spoke. “I’ll ask Amadeo to split us up.”

          “Dumb fucking idea. We’re gonna ask for new partners right in the middle of a murder investigation? Yeah. Right!”

          Hawk flared, a little tired of the attitude. “You don’t have to be an asshole about it.”

   

*****

Well, the cat’s out of the bag now, and Grove didn’t react the way we’d hoped he would. All that’s holding the partnership together now is the mystery of who’s conducting the deadly ambushes of drug runners. A rogue INS agent, apparently. But which one?

As usual when I have a three-part or more story, I’ll post weekly until it’s ended. Then I’ll return to first and third Thursday of the week.

Tell your friends to order a copy of Cut Hand and Johnny Two-Guns from Dreamspinner Press. I’d like to convince them to publish the rest of the Cut Hand Series, including the unpublished manuscript Wastelakapi… Beloved, It’ll take some help from readers to get Dreamspinner interested.

My contact information is provided below in case anyone wants to drop me a line:

Website and blog: markwildyr.com

Email: markwildyr@aol.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr

Twitter: @markwildyr

The following are buy links for CUT HAND:

DSP Publications: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/cut-hand-by-mark-wildyr-420-b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Hand-Mark-Wildyr-ebook/dp/B073D86RWV

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/book/cut-hand/id1256084273

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/cut-hand-2

And now my mantra: Keep on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say, so say it!

Until next time.

Mark

New posts at 6:00 a.m. on each Thursday until the story is finished. Then we’ll return to first and third Thursday of the month..

Grove – A Curt Huntinghawk Story (Part 2 of a 5 Part Series)

markwildyr.com, Post #121

Last week, Curt finally faced his longings for his very macho partner. But Grove’s a physical guy, quick to anger and quick to love. And Hawk can’t be sure which way the wind blows. So what’s he to do? Let’s see what Part two reveals to us. Oh, and by the way, there’s a real-life mystery going on at the same time Hawk’s fighting these unexpected feelings. A deadly mystery.

*****

GROVE

A Curt Huntinghawk Story

          Midday on Thursday, the truck radio squawked. “Hawk,” Amadeo said, sounding distant. “Sheriff Reed called. Found another body. Asked if he could borrow you’n Grove.”

          Hawk got directions to the site, and twenty minutes late, they spotted the sheriff and four of his men standing beside a patrol car. Reed was apparently impressed with their talents because he hadn’t let any of his own people near the body this time. He shook hands with them grimly and got right to business.

          “Blowed to hell like the last one. See what you boys can reconstruct for me, okay?”

          Hawk took the perimeter again while Grove slowly approached the body, carefully scanning the ground before putting down a booted foot. Thirty minutes later Hawk showed the lawmen where the bullet had been fired from and how the killer had approached the victim afterward. This time, it looked like a backpack was taken. Grove pointed out a small amount of white powder on the ground.

          Hawk summed it up. “Bullet went through the man and entered the pack. Shooter wiped out his tracks like before but didn’t notice he was trailing powder. Same vehicle, at least it’s the same tire. Got that little notch in it. Departed to the east to hook up with the highway, I’d guess.”

          One of the deputies held up a field test of the white substance. “It’s pure-ass cocaine, Sheriff.”

          The lawman swore. “That rips it…it’ll bring in the feds.”

          “We won’t tell them if you don’t,” Hawk volunteered.

          “Naw. I’ll play by the rulebook, but I’m gonna keep my hand in. Thanks, men.”

          After duty the next day, Grove wanted to hit the Blue Mesa so they stopped without even going home to clean up.

          There were times when Grove went to the bar to pick up women, and there were times he just wanted to drink. These tended to be more dangerous because he’d been known to pick a fight or two.

           A big white man with the look of a trucker got up from his table too fast or too drunk and backed right into theirs. Grove caught half a pitcher of beer right in his lap and came up like a shot.

          The man turned around. “Hey, man! Sorry! Shit, made a mess, didn’t I?”

          Hawk breathed easier. It might turn out all right.

          “I like you red-asses, so I didn’t do it on purpose. ‘Scuse hell outa me.”

          “What’d you call us?” Grove asked in his you-wanna-fight-you-got-it voice.

          “Sorry ‘bout that. Meant ta say redskins. There, that better?”

          Grove got right in the man’s face. “No, it’s not! I’m a hundred percent Native American of the Machik persuasion, not a fucking redskin.”

          Shit, ya don’t have to git snotty about it. Somebody oughta teach you some manners. I ‘pologized best I know how.”

          “Your mama didn’t teach you how very good.”

          “You leave my mama outa this.”

          “Don’t tell me you know who your mama is?”

          “Why you son of a bitch! I’m gonna give you a lesson!”

          Before the man could wind up, two bouncers ushered them outside. Others at the trucker’s table trooped along to watch but didn’t show much interest in backing him up. Nonetheless, Hawk stood at the ready, a little worried that Grove had miscalculated this time. The man had the look of a street fighter. Of course, so was Grove, but he was outweighed by forty pounds and outreached by several inches.

          The fight was long and brutal. The man could box, and it cost Grove dearly to get in close to put an end to it. Once the trucker was down, Hawk approached his friend gingerly. When Grove’s blood was up, he’d swing on anyone. But he was hurt this time and didn’t protest when Hawk loaded him in his Dodge and drove him to his rented house. He grimaced as he inspected his friend by the kitchen light. One eye would be black and blue in hours. Cut lip. Swollen nose. Hawk stripped Grove, dumped him in a tub of hot water, and left him to soak while he heated up some green chile stew.

           When he returned to the bathroom, Grove was exactly as he’d left him. With a sigh, Hawk picked up a washcloth and gingerly cleaned the dirt away. Grove lay with his closed, but he was conscious. Hawk picked up his friend’s bruised and torn hands and scrubbed grime from the knuckles. Grove grunted once. Before he realized it, Hawk was bathing Grove’s smooth chest, enjoying the feel of firm muscles. He’d actually taken a swipe across the belly when he caught himself and tossed the washcloth to his semi-comatose friend.

          Grove worked half-heartedly at cleaning his nether regions and allowed himself to be helped from the tub. Hawk dried his head and torso, barely able to keep from taking liberties. He handed over the towel and fled the bathroom, busying himself with preparing tortillas to go with the stew.

          “Shit, Hawk,” Grove complained a few minutes later. “Chile’s not the best thing to serve a guy with a split lip.”

          Hawk released his tension in a gust of laughter. “Taking on a truck driver with forty pounds on you’s not the best preparation for eating chile.”

          “Damn, man! Don’t make me laugh,” Grove said with a painful grin. “You expect me to stand for the man calling me a red ass?”

          Hawk suppressed a grin. “Have you looked at your ass lately?”

          “Oh, no! I’m not gonna play that game. You got me to admit I was a fucking Indian once, you’re not going to do it again. Sure picked on the wrong one, didn’t I?”

          “He did, too, bro. He did, too. You’re an amazing son-of-a-bitch, you know that?”

          “So they tell me. Now bring out the beer.”

          “You’re still flying. But okay, it’s your funeral.”

          Hawk poured Grove into bed around one o’clock and once again found himself undressing his comatose friend. He couldn’t resist stroking Grove’s chest, circling the aureoles with the tips of his fingers. When he found himself cupping his friend’s genitals, he turned and staggered out of the spare bedroom to masturbate.

*****

Wow. Things are about to get out of hand. Masturbation? Hawk hasn’t done that in a long time. So the pressure’s getting to him. What happens next week?

As usual when I have a three-part or more story, I’ll post weekly until it’s ended. Then I’ll return to first and third Thursday of the week.

Tell your friends to order a copy of Cut Hand and Johnny Two-Guns from Dreamspinner Press. I’d like to convince them to publish the rest of the Cut Hand Series, including the unpublished manuscript Wastelakapi… Beloved, It’ll take some help from readers to get Dreamspinner interested.

My contact information is provided below in case anyone wants to drop me a line:

Website and blog: markwildyr.com

Email: markwildyr@aol.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr

Twitter: @markwildyr

The following are buy links for CUT HAND:

DSP Publications: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/cut-hand-by-mark-wildyr-420-b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Hand-Mark-Wildyr-ebook/dp/B073D86RWV

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/book/cut-hand/id1256084273

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/cut-hand-2

And now my mantra: Keep on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say, so say it!

Until next time.

Mark

New posts at 6:00 a.m. on each Thursday until the story is finished. Then we’ll return to first and third Thursday of the month..

Grove – A Curt Huntinghawk Story (Part 1 of a 5 Part Series)

markwildyr.com, Post #120

As promised, this week I’ll bow to a little pressure and give you some more of Curt Huntinghawk. I call this a series rather than a short story because after cutting it from near novella length, I still ended up with 5 installments. Beyond that point, I wasn’t willing to go.

*****

GROVE

A Curt Huntinghawk Story

          Four vultures circling over the hot Sonoran Desert caught the two Red Rezes attention. As Curt Huntinghawk and Grover Whitedeer watched, more birds joined the quartet and set up a slow spiral descent.

          “Whatever it is, it’s big,” Grove observed, gunning the four-wheel drive vehicle across the hard desert pan. They were only two hours into their patrol of a stretch of the Mexican border on the lookout for drug runners.

          Hawk’s deep baritone filled the cabin. “Hope to hell it’s not another illegal.” His biceps rolled as he tossed a twig he’d been idly chewing out the open window. The pair seldom used the air conditioner because it made exiting the vehicle more insufferable.

          Grove flapped a hand toward the twenty or more buzzards now wheeling in the sky like a black-feathered tornado. “Where’d they all come from?”

          “They’re just trying to earn a living, Grove,” Hawk joked grimly.

          After Grove halted the truck at the top of the rise, they got out with rifles at the ready. Fifty yards down a wash, something lay unmoving. One turkey vulture contemplating it from a perch on a nearby rock dropped to the ground. Hawk fired his rifle into the air, but the carrion bird only retreated to a more remote roost.

          “Oh, shit!” Hawk said as they drew closer.

          As two-year veterans of the Rezagados Colorados, or Red Rezes, an elite unit of Indian trackers used by the Border Patrol to hunt drug runners along the Mexican border, they had seen dozens of wetbacks left to die on the desert by their coyotes or guides. But this was different. The man lying in the arroyo had been murdered, his chest ripped apart by a high-powered rifle.

          Hawk went back to the truck to radio his boss Amadeo Tomé to contact the county sheriff. While they waited for the deputies to arrive, Grove remained close to keep the vultures at bay while Hawk walked a big circle. By the time Sheriff Adam Reed arrived an hour later, they had a story to tell.

          “The bad guy parked up here, Sheriff,” Hawk explained, indicating indistinct tracks in the hard pan. “After he shot the man, he walked down the slope to the body, keeping to the rocks. On his way back up, he wiped out all his tracks. You can see smudges but not a clear print.”

          The Sheriff grunted. “Left us nothing, huh?”

          “There’s something over here,” Grove said. The something was a three-foot length of tire track where the killer crossed a sandy spot.

          “This far out in the desert, had to be a four-wheel rig,” the lawman observed. “You fellows see any sign of one on your patrol?”

          “Nothing. Not even a dust plume,” Hawk replied. “But see that chink out of the tread. We’ll know that tire when we see it again.”

          Sheriff Reed glanced down the slope to his men working the crime scene. “So you figure the victim was shot first, then the killer went down to the body… for what? To make sure he was dead?”

          “Wouldn’t have climbed down for that,” Grove said. “He’d just pump another couple of rounds into the man. He went to get something.”

          “Drugs,” the sheriff suggested.

          “That’s what we figure,” Hawk confirmed. “We didn’t get too close to the body; didn’t want to mess up the crime scene. But when your people are finished, we can take a look for signs to read.”

          An hour later, the two Rezes searched the area, now thoroughly trampled by sheriff’s deputies and the medical examiner’s people. Hawk was the one who found an impression almost obscured by the deputies’ footprints.

          “Something about the size of a duffel bag was dropped here. That’s what the killer came for.”

          “How you know?” a deputy demanded.

          Hawk eyed him coolly. “Because it’s not here.” Their unofficial part of the investigation over, the two Indians resumed their patrol.

          “Hey, bro,” Grove broke the silence after a mile or so. “Aren’t you tired of living like a monk? How about we go across the border tonight.” To Grove ‘going across the border’ meant only one thing…poontang, as the southeastern Woodland Indian called it.

          Hawk recognized a ploy to get a gruesome murder off his partner’s mind. “You ever think about settling down?”

          “Nope.”

          “What’s the matter with us. Man, we’re twenty-three years old—”

          “Not me, Tonto. Still a young buck at twenty-two.”

          “Yeah, for another month or so. Seriously, why haven’t we found somebody to get serious about and settle down. You know, have kids.”

          “Overrated,” Grove quipped.

          “You got any kids?”

          “Not that I know of. No matter how drunk I get, I’m kinda careful about that.”

          “Don’t gimme that, I’ve seen you ride bareback.”

          “Yeah, if she’s using something.”

          “That’s putting a lot of faith in somebody.”

          “Ain’t that the truth. How about you?”

          “Kids, you mean? Nah.”

          Hawk glanced out the window to study a pile of rocks known as Dragon’s Back where he’d met and fallen in love with a young illegal Mexican national. Ramon Aquila had introduced Hawk to his secret life. Hawk spoke in a near whisper. “Wonder if we’re looking in the wrong place?”

          “What do you mean?”

          Hawk’s mind returned to the truck from wherever it had gone in time to cover his gaffe. “Crap, we find them in bars and on the streets.”

          “Where you wanna find them? In church?” Grove seemed his question serious consideration. “You figure church chicks fuck?”

          "You’re impossible! Every conversation ends up about screwing.”

          “Answer my question? You wanna go across tonight? We’ve got the weekend off.”

          Hawk pumped enthusiasm into his words, but his heart wasn’t in it. “Sure, let’s go.”

          Hawk and Grove frequented Mama Maria’s when they looked for a woman across the border in Mexico because her prostitutes were inspected regularly and thoroughly. They picked a couple of decent looking women of a proper age and got their ashes hauled. On the drive back across the border, Hawk felt prickly and vaguely dissatisfied. While he’d been in the middle of the act with the girl, his thoughts strayed to Ramon. And—he turned to glance at his partner—to Grove.

          God, he looked great! Nothing better’n a good-looking Woodland Indian. Unless it was a good-looking Plains Indian, or… oh, hell, a good-looking Indian.

          “What?” Grove asked.

          “Nothing.”

          “You were thinking about my girl tonight. You wished you were with her instead of the one you ended up with.”

          Close, but not on target. “She did seem like a hot tamale.”

          Grove grinned. “She had a hot little twat, I can tell you.”

          “Hot what?”

          “Twat.”

          Hawk laughed aloud.

          Grove went defensive. “It’s good word. What we called it back home, anyway.”

          Hawk snickered. “What are you, a redskin or a southerner?”

          “Both! No law against that.”

          Hawk’s morale took a nosedive as soon as he opened the door to the rented adobe house where he lived alone. He almost regretted turning down Grove’s invitation to the Blue Mesa, a bar many of the Red Rezes frequented. He’d been afraid to go. Given the wild thoughts filling his head, he couldn’t chance alcohol unleashing his tongue.

          He missed Ramon Aquila… longed for the boy with every fiber of his body. But Ramon was gone and wouldn’t be back. He was a fugitive from the INS, and risked prison if he returned. So Hawk had sent him back to Durango, Mexico, ending that sweet part of his life forever.

          And now? Now, he was slowly, but surely falling for his best friend. Although Grove was adventurous and might do a lot of things out of curiosity, something like that would get in the way of his macho self-image. Danger lay in that direction.

*****

It’s pretty clear that Curt Huntinghawk, the man usually in control, has a problem. How’s he going to handle it? Let’s see next week.

As usual when I have a three-part or more story, I’ll post weekly until it’s ended. Then I’ll return to first and third Thursday of the week.

Tell your friends to order a copy of Cut Hand and Johnny Two-Guns from Dreamspinner Press. I’d like to convince them to publish the rest of the Cut Hand Series, including the unpublished manuscript Wastelakapi… Beloved, It’ll take some help from readers to get Dreamspinner interested.

My contact information is provided below in case anyone wants to drop me a line:

Website and blog: markwildyr.com

Email: markwildyr@aol.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr

Twitter: @markwildyr

The following are buy links for CUT HAND:

DSP Publications: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/cut-hand-by-mark-wildyr-420-b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Hand-Mark-Wildyr-ebook/dp/B073D86RWV

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/book/cut-hand/id1256084273

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/cut-hand-2

And now my mantra: Keep on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say, so say it!

Until next time.

Mark

New posts at 6:00 a.m. on each Thursday until the story is finished. Then we’ll return to first and third Thursday of the month..