Winter Counts(71)

“You talk to the guys?”

He opened the refrigerator and looked inside. Marie had cleared out most of the junk food he liked to eat. “Yeah, for like a second. They’re coming after school tomorrow. With the stuff. When school ends, around four o’clock.”

I wondered how he was so nonchalant. Maybe it was just an act, or the hubris of early adolescence. But perhaps it was for the best. I called Dennis and told him the buy was on. He said that Nathan should come home right after school tomorrow—early if he could—and meet with his team. They’d put the wire on him, give him some money for the purchase and a burner phone, and he’d go back to school to meet the dealers. After the buy, they’d be arrested and this whole mess would be over. Nathan would have satisfied his obligation to the prosecutors, and the charges against him would be dropped. We’d put our lives back together. If we could.

THE NEXT DAY PASSED by in a blur. Marie stayed at her house; I suspected she wanted to keep out of our way while things began to happen. I watched mindless TV shows, the first one about people who made bids at auction on abandoned storage lockers and the contents inside. It took me a while to understand; I didn’t get why the people who’d rented the storage units would leave their belongings there. Why not just empty the unit if you didn’t want to pay for it anymore? This made no sense to me, not to mention that storage lockers were a crazy wasicu concept in the first place. On the rez, people would toss extra stuff in their backyard rather than pay rent on some tiny garage-like storage space. Or give it away to someone who needed it.

Nathan came home after school, around three o’clock. Dennis was already at my house, waiting for him.

“Let’s get you set up,” Dennis said. “First things first, how much cash do you need?”

Nathan looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“To buy the drugs. How much did they say they’d sell you? Ten hits? Or did you ask for more?”

“Uh, yeah, they said they could do ten chunks.”

“What’s a hit go for here?”

“I guess ten or fifteen dollars.”

Dennis handed Nathan some bills. “Here’s two hundred. If they offer you more, go ahead and buy it. I need you to sign this form; you’re acknowledging I gave you the money. Government makes us keep track of every dime.”

Nathan scrawled his name on a piece of paper. “What do I do with the change? You know, if any’s left over?”

“Hang on to it and give it back to me later. Or not. Main thing is, buy as much drugs as you can. Okay, next thing: You still have the burner phone I gave you?”

Nathan nodded.

“Let’s see it,” said Dennis. “How’s the battery doing?”

“Charged all the way.”

“All right, call me; make sure it’s working. There’s only one number programmed on there.”

Nathan punched some buttons on the cell phone, then we heard a buzzing sound from Dennis’s pocket.

“Okay, it’s operational. Remember, only use it if it’s an emergency. We’ll come in and assist if you call us. You remember the emergency code?”

Nathan shook his head.

“Say ‘Going to a friend’s house.’ That’s all you have to say: we hear those words, we’ll be there in one minute. You got it?”

Nathan nodded and smirked. I could tell he thought Dennis didn’t trust him to take care of himself.

“Last thing,” said Dennis. “Let’s get the listening device on you.”

“You mean the wire?” I said.

“Yeah. We don’t call it that anymore. It’s all digital now.” He took out a small black device that looked like a remote entry key for a car. “This is the transmitter. Just hook this on your key ring and keep it in your pocket.”

“Where’s the microphone?” I asked.

Dennis smiled. “The cell phone. The burner I gave him. There’s an app on the phone called Envoy that automatically records and sends data in real time to our people.” He turned his attention to Nathan. “But make sure you don’t turn the phone off. When you’re making the buy, just set the phone down like you normally would. The only thing you can’t do is stick it in your pocket. We won’t be able to hear you.”

Now Nathan looked concerned. “Like, can you show me how to hold it? So I don’t mess it up?”

“You don’t have to hold it any special way. Just put it down on a chair or carry it in your hand. Like I said, don’t jam it in your pants or turn it off.”

Nathan looked dubious. “Uh, okay.”

“There’s one other thing I need you to do.” He pulled his chair closer to Nathan. “Don’t overdo it, but I need you to describe—out loud—what’s going on at the buy while it’s happening. Say something like, ‘How many hits did you bring?’ We only have audio, so we need a verbal record of what’s happening. That make sense?”

Now I was concerned. “Won’t he tip off the drug guys that he’s recording the conversation? If he says something that sounds weird?”

“That’s the whole point,” Dennis said. “Be natural. Say things you’d normally say. Talk about what’s happening, ask questions. You think you can do that?”