The parade of bikes pulled off the highway into a truck stop on the Georgia Tennessee border for a pit stop and to have a bite to eat. Viper was still stressed about the strained feelings between himself and Jodi, but the fact that she was still traveling with the group caused him to feel he still had a chance to mend the broken fences.
As important as Jodi was to him, he also was feeling confused about his own judgment. He wondered if he had lost his ability to make decisions because he had allowed Pete to join the group without checking him out. As if that wasn’t enough, he had not objected when Terri caught up with the group with her Doctor friend in tow. Even after the tragic experiences with Mickey, he had let two new strangers join the group.
He dismounted from his bike and watched the others seek out places to park. He saw the pickup slip into a safe spot on the far edge of the parking lot and watched as it was immediately surrounded by bikes. He looked at Doctor Wyatt and Terri, wondering how an evidently wealthy professional got hooked up with a low life tramp like Terri. Then he eyed Pete, unable to control a twinge of jealousy as he and Jen embraced with the ease and familiarity of a couple that had been lovers for years. Somehow, it was almost like watching Jodi embrace someone else.
Snow came walking up to Viper and asked, “What are your plans for the night, Viper?”
“I hadn’t thought about it much. Should have checked on the location of KOA to camp in I guess,” Viper answered.
“It has been a long ride today and I could use some rest,” Snow said. “But we covered some miles, that’s for sure.”
“Yep,” Viper continued to watch the group parking the bikes here and there. Some had already headed for the diner wing of the massive complex of long low buildings.
In a matter of minutes the rumble of bike engines dwindled until the last one was shut down and the only motor sound was a diesel truck leaving the parking lot and entering the highway on the far end. Viper started toward the diner, hoping to intercept Jodi on the way and sit with her during dinner. About half way across the lot, he caught the sound of a couple more bikes leaving the highway. Puzzled, he stopped and turned to watch the bikes pull in, wondering if two of the group had strayed behind and who they could be.
Snow, who was still beside Viper, recognized them first. “Jazz!” he exclaimed. Sure enough, one of the bikes was ridden by Sudz and Jazz and the other by Nadu. He broke into a smile, despite his worried frame of mind. He whirled about and walked toward the two approaching bikes.
Sudz picked Viper out of the crowd and drove to him. Without shutting off the engine, he stopped and greeted the group’s leader. “There you are!” Sudz beamed like a little boy with a new puppy dog.
“Hello,” said Viper. “I didn’t expect to catch up with you until we got to Cherokee, North Carolina.”
“I know,” said Sudz, “We got there and met with Nadu’s people. Then we came back to find you guys. We met you about five miles back but by the time we got turned around and onto the West bound lanes, you were way out in front. I’m glad you stopped or you would have gone the wrong way.”
“Yes!” Nadu chimed in, looking radiant with happiness. “My tribe is preparing a big celebration for you and we wanted to show you the most direct path to the tribal council grounds.”
“A celebration?” Viper narrowed his eyebrows.
“Oh yes,” Nadu beamed. “We told them of the great journey we were on and they insisted we stay at the tribal campgrounds as their guests and they are even now cooking a great feast.”
“Man,” Sudz interrupted. “You gotta see that place and see that food. These people really know how to lay it on when it comes to hospitality.”
Snow moved around the bike as the others talked and got Jazz’s attention. He asked, “Have you contacted Merritt yet?”
She shook her head and smiled at him in a sympathetic way. “I haven’t tried but once,” she said. “I learned the shop she was going to leave word at has changed hands. The girl that I talked with said the Manager might know something and he would be back tomorrow. He had left early for a date or something.”
“What shop? Where is she?” He looked hopeful.
“The letter she left me said she was going to leave word with an old friend who runs a little shop.” She realized she had almost said too much.
“Where is the shop?” he pressed.
“Now Snow, she didn’t say she was going to the shop. She just said she would use her friend to leave word for me.”
“Where is the shop?” he insisted.
“Memphis,” she said, “but that don’t mean she’s there or that she was even going there.”
Nadu was talking excitedly and her voice got Snow’s attention, despite his need to get more information from Jazz. Nadu was saying, “They wanted us to meet you and lead you through Maggie Valley to the campgrounds tonight. The celebration starts when we ride in.”
“Yeah,” Sudz said, “and it’ll go on for a couple of days, non stop. It’ll be a blast. They put on their native costumes and have dances and cookouts and music…”
“Sounds great,” Viper said. A handful of people in their group had gathered around by now and Viper turned to find Jodi standing there. Their eyes met and Viper saw warmth in her eyes he was afraid he would never see again. He smiled at her while speaking to Snow. He said, “Snow, would you go inside and tell the guys we have a free meal waiting for us down the road before they order half the beef in this place?”
Snow looked at Jazz and said, “I’ll be right back. Don’t you leave until I find out where Merritt is. Do you hear me?”
“Hurry, Snow,” Viper said.
“Yes, hurry,” Nadu smiled, “It’s only about two hours ahead and they can eat the most wonderful food on earth.”
Viper stepped to Jodi and took her upper arms in his big hands. He looked into her eyes and spoke softly. “Are you ready for the most wonderful food on earth?”
She put her hands on his sides and smiled. “Yes,” she said. “I could use a good meal and a long talk with you.”
“Good,” he smiled back. “So let’s ride two more hours.”
The group scattered and soon bikes began to roar to a start. Nadu turned to Sudz and her face was suddenly less than beaming. She said “There is one thing I’m worried about.”
“What?” asked Jazz.
“You remember the guy named John Weatherford?”
“No,” Jazz said. “Do you, Sudz?”
“I’m not sure,” Sudz said. “Was he the one who voted no to the celebration?”
“Yes,” Nadu said. “That’s the one. He’s a hothead and he has a group of followers who hates white people. He’s been in and out of jail for most of his life for a variety of crimes, mostly against white people. He thinks he’s still living in the old days, like the 1800s, when whites were our enemies. I hope he doesn’t start trouble because of so many whites coming into an all-Indian campground.”
“One little gang of thugs won’t be able to do much damage,” Sudz said. “Stop your worrying. Let’s ride.” He moved his bike forward and turned about, heading to the parking lot exit.
Jazz pulled herself against Sudz as he slowed to a stop to wait for the bikers to get into formation. She said, “Nadu seems really worried. Do you think we will be safe?”
“Sure,” Sudz laughed. “Nadu is just all twitterpated. And who can blame her.”
“What do you mean?” Jazz asked.
“Come on, baby. Last night she slept in her tent just a few feet from our camper. All that noise you were making had to keep her awake and I’m sure it kept her mind on her virginity.”
“Sudz!” she jabbed his ribs. “You think she heard us?”
He laughed uproariously. She continued, “She never admitted she was a virgin. What she said was…” she cut her sentence off as Nadu was riding up to stop beside them.
Sudz looked at Nadu and said, “I guess you get to lead the parade for the next couple of hours, little lady.”
“I know a shortcut,” Nadu said. “There is a narrow road through the valley that will cut a good half hour off our journey. I told my Uncle we would use that road and be there before the moon is up in the gap.”
The road was indeed narrow. The bikers were forced to ride at 20 MPH in many places where the road had been cut into the side of the foothills and smaller mountains. In many places the mountain side of the road was a sheer rock wall and the other side would fall away hundreds of feet into the valley below. Riding at night on such a terrain made for slow, careful progress.
Viper rode behind Sudz and Nadu, trusting the girl to lead them because she knew the land from early childhood. Even when she led them off the road in the valley bottom and across a wooden bridge, he didn’t worry about getting lost or about her leading them into an area too rough to navigate.
Suddenly, Nadu stopped abruptly. Those behind her almost rear ended her, so sudden was the stop. Nadu sat staring ahead and looking as if she had seen a ghost.
“What’s the problem?” Viper called out from behind her.
Nadu pointed ahead at the edge of the forest that cascaded down the hillside and seemed to swallow the dirt road they were on. From the forest there seemed to be lights moving in an eerie pattern, reflecting off the trees and splashing into the opening where the bikers were.
Nadu turned on her seat and looked back at Viper. He caught a look of fear on her face. The look caused a feeling of impending trouble to course through him.
Nadu said, “There should not be anyone there. That is Cherokee land and nobody would be there, unless…”
Sudz spoke up, “Isn’t the campground just past those trees and around that hill?”
Nadu said “Yes,” then she pointed to the right. They looked and saw the headlights of several trucks coming from behind a knoll to the right. Nadu turned and looked to the left. The others swung about as well. More headlights were emerging from the forest there.
From behind the group of bikers, several hundred yards back, there was the sound of a shotgun blast. Then another. Ahead of them the moving lights came from among the trees and they saw it too was a trio of pickup trucks. Their lights showed that each truck had at least two people standing on the back with long instruments in their hands. They looked to be rifles or shotguns.
In a matter of ten seconds or so, the group of more than two dozen bikes had been surrounded by a group of one dozen pickup trucks. Yet the heavily armed men in the trucks seemed more than enough to overpower the bikers. There was a long pause when the trucks stopped and bathed the bikers in their headlights. The gentle roar of so many engines was a steady rumble, yet it was as if you could hear a pin drop. Nobody spoke.
Then Nadu shut down her bike and swung her leg over it to dismount. She walked defiantly toward the trucks that faced them and stood in the lighted area, being illuminated by the bike lights from behind and the truck lights from before her. She stopped, feet planted apart and hands on her hips. Her voice carried in the night and above the idling engines. She yelled “John Weatherford.”
For a long moment, there was no answer. Then off to the right, away from the lights, a male voice came back, “Traitor to the Cherokee. You bring an army of whites to the sacred Cherokee lands.”
Nadu turned to face the darkness from whence the voice had come. She yelled, “It is not I who is the traitor. You bring shame to our people by stealing from the whites that we depend on for survival.”
“I do not depend on the tourists to survive. I take what is theirs to discourage their return,” came the voice.
“And how do you survive? You do not hunt and you raise no crops. Your mother makes beads and sells them in her shop while you take your money to spend on dope.”
Again there was a lull. The voice came again, “Our ancestors fought and died to preserve this small homeland and you would defile it by bringing whites here to take our woman and eat our food.”
Nadu laughed aloud. “It is not the whites visiting our tribe that bothers you. No self respecting girl will sleep in your lodge and you blame it on the white men. You cannot help that you are ugly, John Weatherford.”
“Damn,” Viper said under his breath. “She’s not my pick for a negotiator.”
Somewhere behind him Viper heard a couple of snickers. He cringed, hoping the voice in the darkness didn’t hear them.
The night air was shattered by the sound of a gunshot. Viper saw a flash of light before the sound reached his ears. Nadu dropped to the ground.