The attack had come at night, while on her way back to school from the visit with her parents.
“Why did your mom think it was the Patriots?” Alex asked.
“We’ve had trouble with them before. My mom started this organization. You could ask about their history, she won’t mind.”
“I’m going to have to take a rain check on that. I’m due at home. When do you think you’ll return to classes?”
“Not sure. I’m going to have to get a special prosthesis made, and then learn to use it and all. Not next semester, for sure. Maybe spring semester, next year.”
“I’m so sorry, Dawn.”
“Thank you. I’ll be okay. Listen, Alex. You be careful.”
“That reminds me. Do you remember a Sarah Davis? Her mom mentioned she knew you.”
“Yeah, I know her. Haven’t seen her around lately,” Dawn answered.
“Did she say anything about leaving? Turns out, she used to live where I live now, and no one has heard from her for over four months, not even her parents.”
Dawn sat up abruptly. “No, she didn’t say anything. Isn’t someone looking for her?”
“No. Her things were cleared out when my housemates got back from a trip. I guess they go to Rocky Point almost every weekend. Anyway, they called her parents, and the parents called the police. No one is seriously looking for her. Since her belongings were gone, it appears she went off on her own. Was she the kind of girl who’d just go off and not say anything to anyone?”
“I didn’t know her well,” said Dawn. “I don’t think so. She was into us, you know? Almost like she wanted to be us. She was even learning some of the language.”
“Weird,” said Alex.
“No weirder than you, Alex,” Dawn said, laughing. “You like us because we’re Native, don’t you? It’s like reverse discrimination.”
Shocked, Alex stared at her. “No! That’s not it.” She paused. What could she say to redeem herself with Dawn? “I mean, okay, I guess I’m passionate about the way Native peoples have been treated, but my main focus is on the unidentified remains.”
Dawn turned serious. “Well, I can tell you that those Patriots you seem so interested in are behind more of those than the authorities realize. They hunt people like big game, Alex. They’re monsters.”
Alex asked for an explanation, but got no further. Dawn said she was tired, and as if she’d been listening, her mom came in to ask Alex to give Dawn some time to rest. Alex told them both goodbye and left with more to think about than she’d bargained for. The nearly two hours to Dodge passed almost unnoticed as she tried to fit the puzzle pieces together. The key eluded her. It obviously had to do with the Patriots, but she didn’t really know their agenda. She thought they were anti-illegals. Why were they targeting Pimas and Caucasian college students?
The road was almost deserted, and as she drove, Alex thought she knew why. There was virtually nothing out here. After the small town of Maricopa, which was even smaller than Dodge, miles passed with little more than dirt roads leading off the two-lane road she was traveling. Seeing a signpost marking the border of the Sonoran Desert National Monument was a surprise. She’d been through the area on Highway 8 before, but never really noticed. It was just more of the same, desert, punctuated by creosote bushes, saguaro cacti, and an occasional outcropping of broken black rock.
It was even more surprising, then, when, not too far from her turn at Gila Bend, she passed a group of motorcycles riding in the other direction in tight formation. She had little time to wonder if they were the gang Dylan was always fussing about, when an eighteen-wheeler with no insignia blew past her, with another group of motorcycles behind it. The tractor-trailer rig must have somehow cut the motorcycle club in half when it came off the highway, she reflected. Before she knew it, she was at Gila Bend and had to slow down for the town speed limits and to turn onto Highway 85.
TWELVE
Dylan wasn’t sure where Alex planned to stay on Friday night. He wasn’t even sure if he should suggest she stay with him. Dodge was different from Casa Grande. Even though it was no longer a secret they were a couple, tongues would wag if Alex’s car sat in his driveway all night.
He recognized that his mind kept skittering off the subject because he hoped desperately she would spend the night with