It was just before five when the truck rumbled to halt at the crest of the hill where two game trails met. Two men sat inside, peering out through a fogged windshield at the frigid prairie evening that was beginning to close in around them.
The driver lit himself a cigarette.
The land stretched out for miles around them in every direction, snow covered and ice tinged. It was an endless rolling sea of gritty grey hills and frozen grass and the men huddled in their truck like sailors in a lifeboat. The clouds above mirrored the ground below; windswept waves of slate as far as Allen could see. As the sun sunk downward, the land gradually changed colors from dust to ash.
By the time they had reached the crossroads that evening, the snow had graduated from flurry to dusting and the sun had become slim purple afterglow on the horizon. A few lazy flakes of snow fell from the sky. Allen grumbled at the sight of them. He wanted to get out of there before the snow really started. If they got caught out in any real accumulation, they could be stuck out in the middle of nowhere for days in that damned truck.
They hadn’t even needed to come so far out. In the hills, there was no difference between thirty miles from town and sixty miles from town. The cops were not about to take their cruisers off-roading so they could shine their flashlights at rocks and bare trees. The park rangers were on the take, so they wouldn’t be nosing around either. Eddie and Allen could have easily just crossed the park line and done the deal there but their buyer was particular about the details and so they had hauled everything miles out into nothingness.
Worse still, she wasn’t even there yet.
“Where is this bitch?” Allen complained. “We’re on time but she ain’t. We don’t get this thing done, we’re not gettin’ outta here tonight, Eddie.”
“Let it go. We get stuck, we get stuck.” The driver replied through puffs of smoke. “Comes with the job.”
Eddie was an old hand at this kind of thing and was in charge of this job, so Allen would have been wise to just shut up and nod. Even so, he couldn’t help himself. “Seriously, Eddie. We was supposed to meet on time. I don’t want to get stuck sleeping in this fuckin’ truck. The heat don’t even work like it should!”
“For two hundred grand, we’ll wait until judgment day for her to show up.”
Eddie sat behind the steering wheel looking out at the dying winter light as it traced snowy outlines against the horizon. He was a wolfish-looking man with a mane of grey hair and craggy, feral features resting under a spotty, ill-kempt beard. Right then, he had that look of calm he only got before important jobs of any kind; as though he were exactly where he were supposed to be and he knew it.
The old crook was as much of a fixture on the gun running scene as a man could be. Everybody knew he did serious work for serious people but nobody knew him quite so well as to say exactly what it was he actually did - except maybe Allen and a few others, like Otto. It worked well for Eddie, Allen supposed. Nobody fucked with with him and nobody had anything to say to the cops.
“Two hundred grand.” Allen repeated with relish. “That bitch better not be lost.”
It would be the biggest payday Allen had ever seen. In fact, it was the kind of payoff that people could go their whole lives without seeing. And Allen had only been at it for a year! When that money rolled in, he’d be able to pay the sharks in Vegas. He’d be able to get his own place. Best of all, he’d finally be able to buy that old Camaro he’d had his eye on. He’d already a seller and put down a little money already to keep the guy interested. Allen smiled a bit, just thinking about that car.
“Thinking about that ride of yours?” Eddie could read minds sometimes.
“Yeah. It’s going to be sweet, man. So sweet.”
“First real payday you’ve seen, eh kid?”
“Yeah.” Allen was forced to admit. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, Otto pays real good for pickups and such, but it ain’t like this.”
Eddie nodded knowingly. “Well, don’t get too flashy. A care like that in the middle of nowhere makes cops look twice. Especially with Dakota plates. And we may end up needing you more for some of the bigger jobs comin’ up.”
“Hell, Eddie. I’ll be careful.”
“I know you will.”
Allen shivered and pulled one of the truck’s heating vents towards himself. Eddie had a way of saying things that ought to be friendly so that they felt threatening. Allen allowed himself a quick sidelong glance at the older man, who was studying him like a dog stalking a rabbit. Allen returned his gaze to straight ahead.
There was a second of tense silence before Eddie reclined back against his seat and asked: “You got a color picked out?”
“My guy over in Pierre says the one he’s got is yellow but that color’s for pussies.” Allen replied quickly, glad to be chatting casually again. “I’m gonna get my cousin to do up a new paint job for it, I was thinkin’ red. Like, uhh, like a nice red, you know. Not like some kinda hot rod or nothin’.”
“Sounds good. A red ride to stand out against all this snow and ice bullshit.” Eddie replied.
Allen grinned and breathed a bit slower. Talking about cars always helped put him at ease. As he was about to go into the finer details of makes and models, he caught as flash on the horizon: headlights snaking over the hills coming towards them, bumping and shuddering as a car picked its way through grass and rock.
“Pull the shit out the back,” Eddie commanded, putting his cigarette out and pulling on his gloves.
Allen grunted his acquiescence and hopped out of the cab of the truck and into the bracing cold of the night. The sun had gone down and with it, so had the temperature. The chill punched through Allen’s parka and he shivered involuntarily. The snow was coming down a bit heavier now and in big wet clumps. Allen looked up at the sky for some indication as to how bad the weather might get - heavy wet snow was always bad news. He hoped silently to himself that their business would be done right and quick..
The truck was and old model but reliable. 99’ GMC Sierra. Eddie kept the thing running for jobs that took them out into the park, but didn’t do much else for it. The truck could haul the weight they needed and could take on the winter snows well enough but it was a pain in the ass to ride in. The heat didn’t always work and every single hinge in the thing squeaked and groaned. It was painted a dark green that Allen thought was ugly as all get out, but was an inconspicuous color and blended in nice with the pines, he supposed. The bed was covered by a ramshackle hood bolted to the sides of the bed. Eddie pulled open the gate, cursing the cold quietly to himself as he eased the rusty hinges down. Inside the truck were ten wooden crates, stacked neatly on top of eachother and held together by mesh netting.
Allen undid the netting and dragged one of the crates away from the others to rest on top of the lowered gate. He flipped two paddocks on the side of the crate and flipped the top panel open to reveal eight fully automatic rifles nestled snugly against one another. The other seven boxes had identical contents and, behind them, flush against the cab, were three other crates of smaller dimension with enough rounds inside to start world war three.
If their buyer liked what she saw- and Eddie had a notion that she would - Allen would haul the rest of the back. But for the moment, Eddie pulled out just one of the rifles and checked the action and bore, just in case. There was no time to check them all, but he did it anyway just to keep himself warm. By the time he had finished, their buyer had finally pulled up and was tracing Eddie’s silhouette against her headlights.
When the lights flicked off, Allen could see she was driving some piece-of-shit rental. It whickered and whinnied; probably needed a new converter. It was dented and rusted and duct-taped up. Allen snorted as he took in the sight of it. How had she even gotten out there in that thing? When she turned it off, the car almost seemed glad for the chance to rest. The door creaked loudly as she swung it open. She stepped lightly out of the car into the snow with a soft crunch.
Allen didn’t know what her real name was, but she had money and she had important, badass friends. Friends who wanted guns and ammo; and lots of both. She had come to Otto on her own a few weeks past, out of the blue - just strode right up to him in his own bar bold as she pleased! The fact that she even knew who Otto was was surprising enough, even more so was that he hadn’t killed her right then and there.
She said they could call her Dakota. Allen thought it was as stupid name then and time hadn’t changed his opinion on the matter. It was still stupid two weeks later, even for a codename. When Eddie had heard her say it, he just chuckled and said: “Alright, girl. Alright.”
Since then, she had gotten herself some warmer clothes, Allen saw. That evening, the girl called Dakota was bundled up tight, all in black. That was good for her, he thought. If she was going to be working up that way for long, she’d need them. Although Allen hoped this job would be the last he saw of her. He didn’t like working with her kind. Though, he supposed that, for two hundred grand, he could make an exception this once. It’s not like they had to be friends or anything.
“Evening, girl.” Eddie began as she approached. He was having some fun with her. She hated being called ‘girl.’
“It’s too cold for pleasantries.” Dakota shot back, glowering. “Do you have the guns?” Her accent was funny; the way she said ‘guns’ made it sound like ‘goons.’
She was maybe a foot shorter than Allen’s 6’2” and thick in her legs and her arms. He face was round and her eyes were big and brown. Though she had a hood drawn up over her head to keep off the snow, there were long braids of black hair under it, Allen knew. She had plump lips and a mouth made for attitude; attitude she often spouted off to the wrong people. One day, she’d say something to the worst people and she’d find out why women didn’t often get involved in this kind of work.
“Straight down to business?” Eddie replied with a chuckle. “No lovin’ for me? I could certainly use some out in this fuckin’ cold.”
“I asked you a question.” Dakota repeated firmly. “Do you have my guns?”
“You want to take a loo-” Allen began.
“Yeah – they’re in the truck.” Eddie said, silencing Allen with a wave. “Fresh ‘cross the border. Now go get us the cash.”
“Excellent.” Dakota returned to the passenger side of her clunker and returned with a slim, worn black briefcase that was fraying at the sides, revealing a cheapness underneath. She tossed it at Allen’s feet with an insolent look on her face. Allen grumbled instinctively, but picked the briefcase up and cracked it open to look inside.
The suitcase may have been unimpressive but the money inside absolutely was not. Crisp bills in neat stacks of thousands lined the interior of the briefcase, just like in the movies. Allen thought the money even glowed a bit against the dark cold of the night. “Hot damn, Eddie!” Allen couldn’t help but cry out.
Eddie shot Allen a look of displeasure. “Keep a rein on it, kid. Hand me the case and go get the merchandise for the girl.”
Allen would have flushed if it hadn’t been so cold. Instead, he passed off the case to Eddie who took it without so much as looking inside, then he turned to Dakota and asked: “Where you want all of ‘em? Cause you sure aint got space for all that cargo in that piece of shit you just rode in on. Hell, I’d be surprised if you even made it back to town, what with the snow comin’.”
“I am not worried about the snow.” She replied.
Allen waited for instruction, but Dakota remained silent with an expectant look on her face, appraising Eddie and Allen as if they were recalcitrant servants. Eddie, for his part, seemed almost amused by it, but Allen was beginning to get annoyed.
“Well?” He prompted, a little heat in his voice. “Where. Do. You. Want. The. Guns?”
At that, a look settled on Dakota’s face that was somewhere between determined and sad. She met eyes with Eddie and asked: “How old are you, boy? Not even old enough to drink, I think.”
Anger flashed dangerously through Eddie’s arms and limbs. “Who fuckin’ cares how old I am? Watch your mouth or I’ll knock it shut!”
“Eddie, Eddie.” Allen chided lightly. “The girl here’s tryin’ to get you riled up some! Now, it’s up to you not to let her.”
“God damn it! Tell her to mind her own business!” Eddie replied hotly. “We ain’t out here to be makin’ fuckin’ friends!”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Allen, I think she might have the hots for you.” Eddied replied. That wolfish look was back and he seemed to be sizing up Dakota for the first time. “Play it cool and you never know what might happen out here, kid. It’s awful private out in the hills.”
Allen looked confusedly at the older man for a moment before he understood. When he glanced to see the girl’s reaction, he was surprised to see not fear, but almost a small smirk.
“Thank you.” She said “Thank you for making this easier.”
“Now, that’s the tone I expect out of your mouth.” Eddie replied.
Dakota didn’t reply right away. Instead, she just looked to Eddie and winked. That seemed to genuinely surprise the old man. Then, it seemed to make him angry. He laughed disbelievingly to himself and then he strode towards her, kneading his hands together.
Allen thought it was about time. Money or no, Dakota needed a good slapping around to learn her place and Eddie might as well be the one to do it. Allen had never seen Eddie in a fight. Hell, he’d never even seen the man so much as raise his voice, but there were stories that got around. Stories recounted in low voices after a few beers when nobody else was listening. Word was, Eddie had put a few police in the hospital once upon a time. It only added to his legend: he’d put the hurt on cops and, even then, he still walked away.
Before Eddie could close the distance, Dakota simply raised her hand, palm forward and said: “Stop. You do not want to harm me.” Her voice had a warm and tinny sound to it, as if she were being broadcast through a radio. It reminded Allen of old timey black-and-white movies. It made her seem friendly all of sudden; kind, safe. Allen noticed a tenseness in his shoulders melt away.
Amazingly, Eddie stopped dead in his tracks. The look on his face was one of dumb confusion. “Well, no. I don’t want to hurt you none; that’s right.” He affirmed. The words seemed to be a surprise to him.
“What’d you just do to your voice?” Allen asked dumbly. The anger had melted away, now there was something else. It vaguely resembled drunkenness. “What just happened?”
Dakota turned to Allen and said, in the same warble: “Hush. It would be better if you stayed quiet, now.” And though Allen had, just a second ago, had a whole list of things he wanted to say to, ask of, and curse at the woman in black in front of him, they all fled from his head. He could not remember a single word of it.
How strange! It suddenly became clear to him how incredibly important it was that he stay as silent as possible while Eddie and Dakota figured things out.
“Good, good.” Dakota said, back to the same dull tone her voice had possessed just moments before. “Your words have already gotten you into deadly trouble. I doubt they will help you much, now.”
Eddie, meanwhile, was still standing a yard away from Dakota. The old gun runner was still mid-stride, holding the same pose he was at the moment Dakota had commanded him to stop. He was looking down wide-eyed at his feet.
“I… I don’t want to move my feet…” He said to himself, bewildered. He looked to Allen as though for answers. Allen said nothing.
Daota appraised Eddie with satisfaction. “What? No wise remarks? No threats of rape?” Anger was coming out in her voice. “Maybe you are not the big man you always are think you are, eh?”
Eddie looked up at her and snarled: “What the fuck have you done to me? You drugged me somehow! Some kinda… date rape drug or something.”
Dakota strode forward to Eddie, stopping just outside arm’s reach. She smiled and watched the snow fall around them for a moment. “Drugs, hypnosis, magic powers. It would make no difference. You are both under my control completely.”
“Ok. Ok.” Eddie said as though trying to calm a horse. “What’s going on here? What do you want from us? More guns? Money? What?”
“What I want and what I need are two different things..” Dakota replied conversationally. “How tragic it is that, in this life, they are so rarely the same thing. What I want, you filthy pig, is to go home and be done with this terrible, cold place. What I need is to is kill you and your apprentice out here in this snow.”
A jolt of electricity flashed through Allen’s body. Fear. Animal reaction. It overrode his better judgement and, suddenly, he found himself racing towards the woman in black, fists balled. He would not sit around and wait to be killed by the likes of her. He let loose a guttural battle cry as he ran.
But Dakota did not seem surprised or afraid. Instead, she waved her hand at Allen and said simply: “You have an urgent need to sit down and stay still.” And, without any conscious input from his brain, Allen’s legs buckled beneath him and he skidded to a halt a yard in front of Dakota, possessed by the very real and deep need to plant his ass on the ground be as motionless as possible. Despite himself, he shivered violently. From fear or from the cold, he couldn’t really say.
“You sure it’s that you need to kill us? You sure it’s that you just don’t want to?” Eddie asked, he seemed to have regained his composure. His voice was quieter. Resolved “I’ve seen those eyes, girl. They ain’t the friendly kind.”
Dakota didn’t respond to the jibe. Instead she turned to Allen, looked him straight the eye for a moment, took a deep breath, and said in that new, strange voice: “It is very, very hot out here. You have never been in such heat. It is stifling.”
Allen cocked his head to the side and started to ask “What the fuck are you talkin’ ab-”
But then he felt it. The heavy weight of a blazing heat pressed in on him from all sides. He was sweating almost immediately. He’d never been so hot in his life. The searing sun in Phoenix, the thick moist press of the Everglades; none of it came even close to the sensation Allen was feeling at that moment.
“This.. this is impossible.” He said weakly. Snow continued to fall indifferently all around him, as though it didn’t know it should be melting. He scooped a pile off the ground and smeared his face with it. He found no relief. It was as though it wasn’t snow at all, but some inert, lukewarm fluff.
“Allen!” Eddie yelled as the younger man started pawing at his parka, desperate to get the thing off of him.. “What in the hell are you doing?!”
“I- I know it’s supposed to be snowing but damn it, I’m dying! I don’t know what’s happening, Eddie!” Allen cried.
“Stop it, kid! Stop!” Eddie urged as Allen struggled to get his boot laces undone. “You’ll freeze!”
Dakota, apparently satisfied with Allen, rounded on Eddie. “Your friend sees the truth. It is unbearable! Like an oven. You will die if you do not cool off!”
“No it aint!” Eddie protested but, even as he did, he was tearing the clothes off of his body.
By then, Allen had laid down in the snow, stark naked, desperately trying to find some relief from the heat that threatened to bake him alive. A flush went up all over his body.
Dakota returned to him and urged him on.“Quickly! Quickly! You might die from the heat! Give me your truck’s keys and I will return with water and ice for you both!”
Good Dakota. Sweet, sweet Dakota. She’d save them! She just needed to go get supplies, was all! If she just had some reliable way of getting into town, she could come back with water. She could save them from the blaze.
“Go!” Allen moaned at her, flipping the keys up at her. She snatched them out of the air. “We’re gonna die out here if you don’t get back soon! Please!”
And yet, she didn’t go right away. Instead, she stood over the two of them, watching them twist and cover themselves in warm white snow. Allen could not be sure if it was a bead of sweat rolling down her face or something else. It didn’t matter. She was wasting time.
“Go, you dumb bitch!” Eddie shouted, smearing ice into his beard. That seemed make something click inside Dakota and she turned heel and climbed into the driver’s seat of the still running truck. The gears cranked and she backed away, leaving Eddie and Allen alone in the dark of night as the headlights receded.
As Dakota drove off into the night in the Sierra, Allen yelled and pleaded after her. “Please! We need water!”
“You heard her. She said she’d do right by us. She said she’d come back.” Eddie said through the darkness.
“How we gonna get out of this one, Eddie?” Allen asked desperately back, but Eddie said nothing in return.
The young smuggler watched the truck bob its way past unseen obstacles in the night. After she disappeared around a hill, Allen realized how tired he was. Maybe he could catch a bit of sleep before Dakota came back with the ice to save him and Eddie.
Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. Eddie curled up in the snow and drifted off into a deep sleep almost instantly.