Page 1 of Arresting the Warlord

Prologue

The crawlies woke me. The crawlies meant the bad men were coming. I scrambled over to Mama and shook her awake. “Mama. Bad men.”

Mama wearily opened her eyes. “You sure, baby?”

I nodded.

She shot out of the bed and hurriedly dressed. “Put your shoes on and get your satchel.”

I quickly obeyed.

Mama gathered up our things. “How far away?”

I held up both hands.

“Ten minutes?”

I bobbed my head. “They mad.”

“So am I, CeeCee. So am I.” Mama scooped me up, carried me out to our old, rusty van and buckled me into my car seat. “I love you baby.”

The crawlies got worse. “Go now. They come, Mama.”

“I’ll find us someplace safe. I promise.” Mama got in the car and started the engine.

Safe? My belly twisted as the images of hissing fire snakes flashed across my mind. I remembered the heat, the struggle to breathe, the windows exploding, raining broken glass down on us. Mama’s cries of fear and horror when the bad men killed Uncle Max. We hid under the chicken house until they left.

An overwhelming sadness filled me. Why hadn’t Daddy Aldo come for us? Mama wanted to look for him, but the bad men kept chasing us. What had we done to make them so mad?

The road stretched out like a silver ribbon. In the distance, fiery snakes danced across the black clouds. Had the fire snakes found us again?

“Where are the bad men CeeCee?”

I concentrated. “Motel.”

“Good. Maybe I can lose them on the reservation.”

“What reservation?”

“It’s where the Navajo people live.”

“Can we live there too?”

“No, baby.”

Bang!The car swerved violently and suddenly we were tumbling over and over.Thud!The car stopped abruptly. The straps of my car seat bit into my chest, making it hard to breathe. “Mama!”

Mama moaned.

“Mama! What happened Mama?”

“Are. Are you hurt?” Mama gasped.

“Me kay.” My hands fumbled with the buckles. Had to get to Mama. I could feel her going into the light like Uncle Max. “No go Mama. No go. Stay.” The straps gave way and I crawled into the front seat. Mama’s face looked funny and there was blood everywhere.

Mama’s hand touched my cheek. “Love. You. So. Much.”

I grabbed her hand. “Stay with me.”

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