Chapter 1 #2
“A plane,” Amanda said. “You know, one of those flying objects with wings?” She hooked Liliana’s arm and led her toward her parked car.
“I’m due in Cody tomorrow for the next campaign speech. It’s only a two-hour drive…max.”
“While you were playing Florence Nightingale, I called Rachel and told her what was going on. I had her call the Mayor of Cody to tell him you’d have to reschedule your visit there for another time.”
Liliana ground to a halt and tugged her arm free of Amanda’s hold. “You did what?”
“I had Rachel postpone your Cody visit until we get a handle on your safety.” Amanda’s cell phone dinged, indicating an incoming text. She glanced down. “That’s Rachel. The mayor understood and will make room on the city calendar when you’re ready to come through.”
Liliana glared at Amanda. “Don’t I have a say in all of this?”
“Of course you do. As long as you agree with me.” Amanda cocked her head to one side and lifted a single eyebrow. “Now, will you come with me willingly, or do I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the car?”
Liliana laughed out loud. At five feet three inches, Amanda couldn’t throw Liliana, who was four inches taller, over her shoulder. “I’d crush you.”
Amanda’s brow rose even higher. “Try me.”
Liliana glanced around at the emptying square and sighed. “Okay. But where are we going? You said plane. Last I knew, you had to drive to Cheyenne or Denver for any decent commercial flights. And where would we be flying to?”
Amanda hooked Liliana’s arm again and led her toward the parked cars. “Carter’s boss arranged for a private plane to collect us at the Riverton Airport. They’re flying us to West Yellowstone, where their organization’s regional headquarters is located.”
“It's only a two-hour drive,” Liliana protested. “Why fly?”
Amanda stopped in front of her SUV, unlocked the door and held it for Liliana to get in. “We’re worried about you being exposed on the road without anyone to protect you.”
“Seriously?” Liliana bit her bottom lip. “You think someone would try to attack me while I’m driving?”
“After today’s explosion?” Amanda nodded. “At this point, I wouldn’t even get into your own car. Carter notified the Wyoming State Police bomb squad. They’re on their way to check it out as we speak.”
Liliana glanced toward her SUV parked a few spaces away.
A member of the tribal police was placing yellow caution tape around her black SUV.
“Until the bomb squad has checked out your vehicle, we must assume it’s not safe.” Amanda touched her arm. “If someone was desperate enough to plant explosives under your stage, they might’ve used the confusion to plant more under your car.”
An icy chill rippled down Liliana’s spine. “What have I done to make someone mad enough to want me dead?” Liliana whispered as she sank into the passenger seat of Amanda’s SUV.
“I don’t know, but I’m not trained to protect you. Fortunately, Carter’s team is. We’re going to meet with them.” Amanda closed Liliana’s door and rounded the front of her vehicle to the driver’s side.
“We?” Liliana turned to Amanda as she slid behind the wheel. “What about your work? You can’t be gone for days. Those kids need you.”
“I’ll only be gone for the rest of the day. I was off from work anyway to be here with you.” She smiled as she started the engine and backed out of the parking space. “I’ll fly back later this evening.”
“Wow.” Liliana shook her head, dizzy from everything happening around her, more so than from the bump on her head. “This is almost too much to take in. I’m running for a seat in the house, not for the presidency. Why target me?”
“Someone must think you have a chance of winning.” Amanda’s lips pressed together. “And they don’t want that to happen…at all costs.” She glanced in the mirror, hesitating to shift into drive.
Liliana glanced around. “What are you waiting for?”
“Jason Murphy promised to give us a police escort to the airport.”
“Oh.” Liliana sighed as a Riverton Police Department SUV pulled in behind them. “It all seems overly dramatic.”
Amanda cast a glance toward Liliana. “Five feet.”
She’d been five feet away from dying that day.
Liliana sat silently as Amanda drove to the airport. As they pulled up to the terminal, a small jet landed on the tarmac and taxied to the terminal.
“I think that’s our ride.” Amanda shifted into park and got out.
Liliana joined her in front of the SUV, looking around, half-expecting someone to jump out of the shadows to attack. When no one did, she shook her head. Still, she was glad when Jason Murphy left his SUV and escorted them into the building and out the other side to the waiting plane.
A man lowered the stairs, stepped out of the plane and onto the tarmac.
Amanda grinned. “Carter!” She ran to the man and flung her arms around him.
Liliana’s heart warmed for the first time since the explosion. She and Amanda had been friends since high school. Liliana had never seen her friend happier. Even the tug of envy tightening her chest couldn’t make her less ecstatic that Amanda had found the love of her life.
Liliana had been busy fighting the odds of her birthright to get to where she was so far.
So many of her people never left the reservation.
Those who stayed faced lives of unemployment, alcoholism and drug abuse.
When her father had died in a fatal car crash, driving drunk, Liliana’s mother had scraped out a living by cleaning rooms at the casino during the day and working in a bar at night to provide for Liliana.
Liliana remembered how tired her mother had been and vowed to make something of herself so that she could take care of the mother who’d done so much for her.
And she had made something of herself. She’d gone to college on scholarships and worked part-time jobs to pay for her room and board, refusing to take money from her mother.
She’d graduated at the top of her class, applied to law school and had been accepted.
She’d worked her way through law school then interned with a firm in Denver and with a congressman from Wyoming in Washington, D.C.
Later, she’d worked for a law firm in Cheyenne, gaining experience and helping the people of her tribe and others navigate the justice system's complexities. These last few years, she’d fought to protect reservation land holdings and Yellowstone National Park from being pushed around by big corporations hungry to get their hands on rights of way and the natural resources within.