Page 3 of Arresting the Warlord

“No. Stay with you,” I told her.

“Stubborn. Like your dad.”

“Me are.”

A dark form loomed up. “Gotcha, bitch.”

Boom!The gunshot echoed loudly in the quiet night.

The man grunted and fell.

“You fucking bitch,” another man yelled.

Whoosh!A knife suddenly penetrated his chest. A look of shock on his face, he toppled over.

“Samuel?”

“Yes, CeeCee. Let me have a look at your mother.” A tall man with long silver hair leaned into the car. Samuel placed his hand on Mama’s head and sighed. “It’s her time, little one.”

Tears poured down my cheeks. “No! I won’t let it take her.” With every ounce of strength I had, I fought back the light. “Go away. Go away.”

“Stop child. Would you doom her to wander forever in the void?”

I shook my head and let the radiance engulf Mama.

The pain vanished from Mama’s face and she grabbed Samuel’s arm. “Promise. Promise me you’ll keep her safe.”

“You have my word. I will raise CeeCee as my own.”

“Thank. You.” The breath rattled in Mama’s chest and she passed into the light.

“Mama,” I sobbed.

Samuel cradled me in his arms. “Shush, daughter, she has joined her ancestors. You’re safe now.”

And I was. I became CeeCee Tsosie, the daughter of Samuel Tsosie, a powerful Navajo shaman. With my Italian heritage, I blended right in. My adopted father taught me everything he knew. Like how to control the weather and other goodies. My power to talk to the dead was treasured, not feared. As I grew older, I gained more talents. I became the best tracker in the tribe. One look at a person’s aura and I could tell if they were lying. The crawlies, or my early warning system, grew stronger. I could sense an approaching threat from ten miles away. When I hit puberty, I was suddenly able to wrap my power around a person and hold them immobile. I called it my freeze ray. Since I’m rather petite, it came in handy when I became a police officer. It didn’t matter how big the suspect was, I could take him. Easily.

Occasionally, more bounty hunters would show up. They would mysteriously disappear and when I asked Father about them, he would just smile. My birth father, Aldo Dragos, never came for me. A fact I learned to live with. Eventually.

When the Tai-Kok attacked our world they soon discovered the Navajo Nation was a place to avoid. They couldn’t defeat the Skinwalkers, our version of a shapeshifter.

The Jones clan’s psychic abilities gave the rest of the world an early warning system, which allowed people time to get to the hastily constructed underground shelters before the Tai-Kok and their ally, the Rodan, could chow down.

I remember when Kaylee Jones had the bad idea to hook up with a Coletti warlord. Her stunt brought Earth to the attention of Zarek, the Coletti Overlord. Once he discovered the Jones family’s unique psychic powers, and their blood’s ability to heal cellular damage, he promptly seized control of Earth.

The fools at Central Command decided an alliance with the Coletti Empire was a Godsend. The Coletti warlords and their allies did do a terrific job of wiping the Tai-Kok from existence. But their protection came with a price. Zarek demanded we turn over all psychic women to him. Seems he needed us as breeding stock.

Big shocker, the Coletti warriors’ tendency to take things that didn’t belong to them started the Great Galactic War. Unfortunately for the females of the universe, chemicals used on the Coletti people in the war created a genetic anomaly, and only one female baby was born for every one thousand males. The Coletti women were going the way of the dodo bird and guess who got to pay the price for their men’s stupidity? Us psychic females.

Central Command suddenly began enacting new laws. Anyone with extrasensory abilities had to report to their local military base, fill out registration paperwork, and get chipped like an animal. You faced fines and jail time if you refused.

The Navajo Council Elders refused to comply with the new laws. We were a sovereign nation and Central Command had no jurisdiction over us. The first time the Coletti warriors showed up, I discovered my mental shields and turquoise shaman’s amulet prevented them sensing my psychic abilities. To them I was anormalhuman.

Almost all our psychics were shamans and male. The few psychic women we had were elderly. To say the Coletti were disappointed would be an understatement. Apart from a yearly visit, they left us alone. Hmmm. We were due for another visit any time now.

Chapter One

Most of the time I loved being a cop, but radar duty sucked. The majority of tribal lands are flat, sandy and dotted with an occasional sagebrush or stunted tree. I’d hide behind a scraggly cedar tree and wait for a speeder. Which could take hours. To pass the time I made up silly hip-hop chants. “I am more than I was. Raah, Raah. Vem Hum. One heart. One mind. Eu quero. No ritmo. My journey has just begun. Oi-oi-oi-oi.”

---