Wild Country

by Anne Bishop

  The fact that the majority of that transitory work force had been male, single, and in their late teens or early twenties might have been a factor in that decision. Or not. Hard to tell since the terra indigene were making up the rules.

  Speaking of terra indigene . . .

  Jana hurried back to her room to brush her teeth and give herself a last chance to change her mind about what to wear for her first day on the job. That was another thing that hadn’t been mentioned. The sheriff could wear whatever he wanted, but were deputies supposed to dress in a uniform? Wearing jeans made sense to her if she was spending part of her day on horseback, but was there a specific shirt or color that would be identified as the law? And was there anyplace in town that sold uniforms?

  She’d figure it out. She had to. Most likely, this was the only chance she would have to be a serving police officer, and Virgil Wolfgard was already against having her on his staff. Typical male. But she wasn’t going to buckle or back down. She’d stood up for herself against every man at the academy, and she would stand up for herself now. Besides, once she got her horse, she could do her work and avoid the sheriff much of the time.

  She put a few personal items in her daypack, double-checked that she had her room key, and headed for the sheriff’s office.

  * * *

  * * *

  “Here she comes,” Kane said from his post in the open doorway of the sheriff’s office.

  Virgil pounded a nail into the last corner of the sign he’d attached to the cellblock wall, then stepped back to admire his work.

  Tolya had wanted a human deputy, saying humans would be more inclined to ask for help from someone who wouldn’t bite them. What was understood and not said was that Virgil wasn’t interested in helping humans; he was interested in protecting the terra indigene by eliminating two-legged problems with swift, bloody efficiency. But leashing him to a small female? What good would that do? He’d listened to what some of the humans had said yesterday. They thought it was a joke. A female deputy? Ha ha.

  If anyone except Simon Wolfgard had chosen her, Jana Paniccia wouldn’t be reporting to work this morning. At least, not reporting to work with him. But he knew Simon. More important, he trusted Simon— and Simon had seen some potential in this female.

  Time to find out if she still showed potential now that she was here.

  * * *

  * * *

  Jana smiled at the man lounging in the doorway of the sheriff’s office. It was a professional smile—friendly enough that men wouldn’t mutter “bitch” after she walked by but not warm enough to be in any way mistaken for an invitation to be friendly. When he removed the sunglasses and she saw the amber eyes, she hoped he wouldn’t be interested in finding out if she was friendly.

  “I’m Kane Wolfgard. The other deputy.”

  Oh good. She got to work with two snarlies instead of just the one she’d met yesterday.

  “I’m Jana Paniccia.”

  Giving her a brisk nod, he went into the office and disappeared through a doorway that had to lead to rooms in the back, leaving her to come in and look around the open area on her own.

  Would one of the desks be her workstation? Who took the calls, or did they have a dispatcher? Each desk had a telephone, but there was only one computer and printer set up at its own workstation against the wall.

  “Deputy Jana.” Virgil walked through the doorway where Kane had disappeared a minute ago.

  “Sheriff Wolfgard.”

  Virgil pointed to the desk closest to the computer workstation. “That one is yours.” He stared at the computer for a moment. “You know how to work that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then that one is yours too. Tolya set up the e-mail thing for the sheriff’s office. You will watch for those.”

  “One e-mail for the whole office? Don’t you want a private one?”

  Now he stared at her. “Why?”

  Okay, e-mail wasn’t private. Good to know. Not that it mattered since e-mails, like the phones, were limited to within a region.

  “You can also sort mail.”

  Desk work. If she’d wanted to work at a desk, she wouldn’t have gone to the police academy, wouldn’t have taken extra classes in order to prove she could do the job.

  Virgil opened a drawer, took out a badge, and set it on the desk.

  “You’re not getting someone to run the office?” she asked.

  “We have you.”

  She clenched her teeth to stop herself from saying something she might regret. Before she could come up with anything safe to say in response to that statement, a big Wolf trotted out of the back rooms, came up to her, and stuck his nose in her crotch.

  “What the dickens are you doing?” Jana demanded.

  “Kane is getting your scent,” Virgil replied.

  “If you need to do that, you sniff an arm or a leg, but you don’t stick your nose there,” she snapped. “It’s crude and it’s rude and . . . How would you like it if I sniffed your penis?”

  Virgil and Kane cocked their heads. The fact that one looked human and the other was furry made the identical move kind of creepy.

  “Humans do that?” Virgil sounded like she had finally said something interesting.

  “No.”

  “Oh.” They sighed in unison.

  “You will need human weapons,” Virgil said. “They are back there with other human things. When you have chosen the ones you will use, I will show you the vehicle you will drive.”

  Jana blinked. “I thought I was going to be a mounted deputy and have a horse.”

  “The horse is for inside the town boundaries. The vehicle is for outside.” Virgil walked over to a map on the wall, then turned and stared at her until she joined him. “This is Bennett. The red line shows the new boundaries. This is where humans can live. This is where they will work.”

  The new boundaries shrunk the town to half its previous size. “Do the terra indigene live on the other side of the boundaries?” That kind of division was bound to keep the residents divided in other kinds of ways.

  “Some of us live away from the humans, and some forms of terra indigene have chosen houses on the streets where humans are living.”

  Jana wasn’t surprised to hear that Virgil was one of the Others who didn’t want to live around humans.

  “So I do horse patrol within the new boundaries?” she asked, wanting to be certain.

  “Yes. We protect the territory within the red line, but if we need to sniff out something beyond that line, you will drive us.”

  Ah, so she was driver as well as secretary. This was getting better and better. “Who protects the property beyond the boundaries?”

  “Namid’s teeth and claws.”

  Jana swallowed hard. Maybe being the designated driver wouldn’t be a bad thing after all.

  “You should select your weapons now,” Virgil said. “As deputy, you are allowed to have weapons so that you can do your job and protect the citizens of Bennett. The Elders agreed to this.”

  The Elders. Namid’s teeth and claws. The forms of terra indigene who had wiped out the original population of Bennett.

  “When I’m considering weapons, is there any particular danger I should keep in mind?”

  “There is a pack of bad dogs that were raised to fight and kill. They attacked a human and attacked the horses in the corral. They are dangerous.”

  Jana tucked her daypack in the bottom drawer of her desk before going into the back rooms to explore and find her weapons. When she walked into the storeroom, her mouth dropped open as she eyed all the handguns carelessly piled on one set of metal shelves. The metal shelves on the opposite side of the room mostly held office supplies, but one shelf had been cleared and was now packed with an assortment of knives—everything from combination knives with all kinds of gizmos to switchblades to hunt
ing knives that could do some serious damage to almost anything smaller than a grizzly. Rifles and shotguns were stacked on the floor or leaned against the shelves.

  Whoever was in charge of clearing out the houses must have had the workers collect the weapons and bring them here, and whoever was doing the work had little or no knowledge of gun safety.

  She broke open a shotgun and muttered her worst swearword as she checked two more.

  Gods above and below, not only were the weapons carelessly stacked; the darn things were still loaded! The Wolves were lucky they hadn’t knocked something over and gotten a foot blown off—or worse.

  After removing the shells, she set the three shotguns aside and considered her immediate needs.

  She slipped a combination knife into one front pocket of her jeans and a switchblade into the other pocket. After a little hesitation, she selected a big hunting knife that was still in its sheath.

  Stepping to the other side of the room, she found a six-shot, police-issue service revolver and its holster, as well as two boxes of cartridges and a couple of speed loaders that fit the revolver. She had to try on a few of the duty belts stuffed on another shelf before she found one small enough to fit her. After attaching the holster and the speed-loader pouch to the belt, she figured she’d have to look for the rest of her gear later—including a kit to clean the revolver. But for now, this was enough, and she didn’t want the sheriff to think she was hiding out in the back to avoid doing her job.

  After tucking the sheathed hunting knife into her waistband, Jana picked up the two boxes of cartridges and left the storage room. She’d have to talk to Virgil about keeping that door locked until someone—probably her, since it sounded like her job description included everything Virgil and Kane didn’t want to do—examined all those weapons and made them safe to store.

  A quick exploration of the other rooms back there showed her a bathroom complete with a shower stall and a kitchen with a coffeemaker, a wave-cooker, and an under-the-counter fridge, as well as a square wooden table and four chairs. Mugs, glasses, and plates in the cupboards. Silverware in the drawers.

  On the other end of that hallway, just past the half-closed door of what she assumed was Virgil’s office, was another door. Jana opened that one and found three basic cells with nothing but a cot in each. Not even a toilet, which she’d thought was pretty standard these days.

  Then she noticed the sign printed with large black letters and an arrow pointing to the last cell. THE ME TIME CELL. And she knew, just knew, which gender was being targeted.

  Mad enough to spit, Jana spun around and almost plowed into Virgil.

  “What the dickens is that?” she yelled, jabbing a finger in the direction of the sign.

  “It’s a sign.”

  “The Me Time cell? Really? And who ends up in there?”

  “Females who need time to figure out why they shouldn’t yap at me.”

  “Females.” She snarled the word. “Females who challenge you get put in a cage. What happens to the men? Huh? What happens to them?”

  Virgil stepped forward. His shoes bumped hers. She had to crane her neck to look up at him without taking a step back. That would be a submissive act, and she would not be submissive. Her time at the academy had shown her that she had to stand up for herself and fight for everything she wanted. She’d thought it was harassment and bullying; she hadn’t appreciated that it was a necessary part of her training.

  “What happens to them?” she said again.

  He brought his face close to hers and she saw odd flickers of red in his amber eyes. Baring his teeth and revealing fangs too long to be human, he snarled, “I. Bite. Them.”

  Stay focused on the job. Stay focused—and don’t start a pissing contest you can’t win.

  Jana took a step back. She would stay focused and show the darn snarlies that she could do the job. “Most, if not all, of the weapons you’ve shoved into that storeroom are still loaded. That’s dangerous. That room should be locked at all times, and the weapons unloaded. Sir.”

  Virgil stared at her. “You know how to do this?”

  “Yes, sir, I do. Should I add it to the rest of my duties?”

  “Yes.” He walked away.

  Yes. Just yes.

  She stayed in the holding area a full minute before she felt she could see him again without launching herself at him. If she did that, she’d end up in one of those cells for assaulting a superior officer—assuming she didn’t end up seriously hurt. Virgil was bigger, he was stronger, and he had meaner teeth. And he’d have Kane throwing in with him.

  “You can get through this shift,” she whispered. “Just get through your first shift.”

  Virgil reappeared in the doorway to the holding area. “Why are you still there? You have to see the car and find a horse. You can sniff around the cells later.”

  She paused long enough to put the hunting knife and boxes of cartridges into a middle desk drawer—and found a gun-cleaning kit already there. Then she went outside and followed Virgil and Kane, who was still furry, to the back of the building. The only vehicle in the spaces designated for the sheriff’s office was a shiny black utility vehicle that had “Bennett Police” painted along the sides.

  Wasn’t a patrol car like she was used to seeing in the Northeast. In fact, except for the lights, it didn’t have any of the accoutrements usually associated with police cars. It did have a sizable cargo area, which made her think the backseats had been folded down to accommodate the snarlies.

  Could Wolves be backseat drivers? She didn’t relish the idea of Virgil breathing on her neck and growling opinions while she chauffeured him around town.

  “The humans who take care of cars made sure this one could travel,” Virgil said. “You make sure you can drive it and know how to make it light up and howl.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Kane lifted a leg and peed on one of the tires. Since he went around to the other side, she figured he was peeing on one of the tires over there too.

  Either he was letting other predators know that this was a Wolf-approved vehicle, or he was providing the Wolves with an easy way to track the human deputy.

  “Are we going to have a dispatcher?” she asked.

  “Dispatcher?” Virgil frowned. “What for?”

  “So that someone can call in if they need help, or for one of us to call in if we need backup.”

  Kane raised his head and howled. Jana felt a shiver run down her spine.

  Suddenly there were Crows—Ravens?—flying toward them. When Virgil looked up, Jana noticed a large brown bird now circling overhead.

  Then he looked at her and said, “If any terra indigene spots trouble, we’ll know. But you should talk to Tolya Sanguinati and Jesse Walker about a phone you can carry with you since you can’t howl loud enough to be heard. Then humans who need help can call you.”

  Because you won’t help them.

  She was getting the message loud and clear. Had the town leaders known about the animosity Wolfgard felt toward humans, or didn’t they care? Was she not just fighting to earn some respect for herself as a police officer but also fighting to maintain some kind of balance between humans and Others?

  She had wanted this job. Still wanted this job. But she was starting to appreciate how daunting being a cop in this town was going to be when she had the double strike against her of being female and human.

  “You should go to the livery stable and find your horse now,” Virgil said. “Then you will eat the midday meal humans need to avoid becoming weak. Then you will come back to the office and I will walk with you around the square so that many humans will see that you are a deputy. Then you can return and do office things until it is time for you to go home.”

  “And when, exactly, is that?” Jana asked.

  A growly silence. “Ask Tolya. He will explain about human work
hours.”

  Virgil and Kane looked at her.

  “I guess I’ll go find a horse.” Jana felt them watching her all the way up the street.

  It wasn’t easy admitting to the two Simple Life men who were at the stable that she’d never actually ridden a horse since the pony rides of her childhood, despite having been hired to be a mounted deputy. And since sitting on a pony’s back and being led around a ring wasn’t the same as knowing how to ride . . .

  They admitted that they’d arrived in town a few days ago and weren’t familiar enough with the available horses to know which one might suit her the best, but they recognized a few that would not suit a beginner.

  After some discussion, the men presented her with a bay gelding that they deemed was docile enough for her. They saddled the bay, led her to the empty corral, and gave her a basic riding lesson. For an hour she circled the corral with one of the men keeping watch and offering advice. She and the bay walked in one direction, then the other. They circled the corral a couple of times at a trot, and Jana was sure her pelvis would never be the same. But when the bay lifted into a canter, she felt invincible and free and able to take on the world—including a boss with big teeth.

  Riding the bay gelding was the high point of her first day of work. Being walked around the town square like she was Virgil’s pet was demeaning. The Crowgard and Ravengard rushed out of each shop as they passed by, wanting to know who she was and then staring at her with those bright dark eyes. Same with the Eagles and Hawks. But when they encountered the big golden cat that Virgil introduced as Saul Panthergard, she was glad the Wolf was with her—until they continued the walk and he made snarky comments about her not yipping at Saul for sniffing her.