Soldier's Promise

by Cindi Myers

  “They both like you a lot,” he said. “Even if you stop pretending to be one of the Prophet’s faithful, I hope you’ll help me persuade my mom to leave here. I think she’ll be more inclined to listen to you.”

  “Maybe not, when she figures out I’m a cop. But I’ll do my best to continue to be her friend. And your sister’s, too.”

  “And me?” He moved in closer.

  “I’m still trying to figure you out,” she said. She rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not sure I trust you.”

  “You can trust me.” He slid his arm around her and snugged her closer. “Give me time to prove how much.”

  She tilted her head up, and he brushed his lips across hers. When she made no protest, he deepened the kiss. She held herself very still at first, as if waiting for him to prove himself. He slid one hand beneath the heavy fall of her hair and savored the heat of her body against his, the softness of her mouth and the earthy, herbal scent of her. The tension left her, and she angled her mouth more firmly against his and tightened her hand on his arm, keeping him with her, though he indicated no desire to leave. She kissed him the way he had seen her do everything else—with strength and confidence and a command of the situation that took his breath away.

  She broke off the kiss but held him with a steady gaze. “I’ll give you a chance to prove I can trust you,” she said.

  “You won’t be sorry,” he said as she stepped away.

  “I hope not. Just remember—I don’t give second chances.”

  She walked away. He stared after her until she was no longer visible in the dark, feeling as if he had just been sucker-punched—and wanting to be hit again.

  Chapter Eight

  Carmen made it back to Ranger headquarters the next morning in time for the commander’s briefing. She had packed up her tent and slipped out of camp without saying good-bye to anyone, though she’d left a note, taped to the door of Phoenix’s trailer, saying she had decided to go back home but that she hoped to stay in touch. She planned to keep her work as part of the Ranger Brigade secret for as long as possible, since she still hoped to visit the camp to check on Phoenix, Sophie and the others. Once Daniel Metwater and his followers learned she was a cop, he would try to keep her from what he saw as interference with their way of life.

  It felt good to be back in uniform, seated at her usual place to the commander’s left in the utilitarian conference room. “Welcome back, Sergeant Redhorse,” Commander Graham Ellison said after he’d called the meeting to order. “I think we should start with your report.”

  “To summarize—I didn’t find anything actionable at Daniel Metwater’s camp,” she said. “No signs of abuse or neglect. As far as I could determine, the children and pregnant women in the camp aren’t receiving any kind of regular medical care—which we already suspected. But they all appear to be healthy.” She frowned, remembering Phoenix’s fainting spell and unnatural paleness.

  “Why do I sense an ‘except’ at the end of that statement?” the commander asked.

  “There was one incident while I was there—a woman named Phoenix fainted. She didn’t look well but insisted she was fine.” She shrugged. “You can’t force an adult to see a doctor, and I didn’t get the sense that Metwater would prevent her from going to a clinic if she wanted to.”

  “And Andi Mattheson seemed fine to you?” Agent Simon Woolridge asked this question. He had been Carmen’s biggest supporter when she had suggested the undercover investigation. A former Emergency Medical Technician, he suspected the young woman who now went by the name of Asteria might be suffering from diabetes or some other complication of her pregnancy and felt the Rangers should intervene.

  “She seemed fine,” Carmen said. “Though she spent most of her time closeted with Metwater.”

  “We’ll keep an eye on things in the camp, as usual,” Graham said. “But for now, we’ll turn our attention to other matters.”

  “Something else did come up while I was at the camp,” Carmen said. “It’s not related to Metwater. Only peripherally to one of his family members.” She was about to tell them about Jake and his investigation into cactus smuggling, when a knock on the conference room door interrupted her.

  “Come in,” Graham called.

  One of the administrative assistants stuck her head around the door. “There’s someone from Fish and Wildlife here to see you,” she said. “He says it’s urgent.”

  “Then you’d better show him in,” Graham said.

  Carmen wasn’t surprised to see Jake Lohmiller step into the conference room. But the sight of him in uniform did give her a jolt. The man she’d first met as a slightly scruffy camper in the backcountry was now the picture of a spit-and-polish officer of the law, from his clean-shaven face and freshly trimmed hair to the gleaming toes of his boots. The combination of authority and sex appeal unnerved her a little more than she wanted to admit.

  “Hello.” He nodded to the officers gathered around the conference table. “I apologize for interrupting your meeting, but I didn’t think this could wait.” He stepped toward Graham, who had risen to greet him, and offered his hand. “Special Agent Jake Lohmiller, Fish and Wildlife.”

  “Graham Ellison, Ranger Brigade.” The two men shook hands. “What can we do for you, Agent Lohmiller?”

  “I’m working an undercover operation, shadowing a German tourist who is suspected of smuggling thousands of dollars of rare cactus out of the country for sale to collectors in Europe,” Jake said. “It’s a sensitive case we’ve been building for more than a year.”

  “We’ve had some trouble with plant smugglers in the national park.” Lance Carpenter, the Montrose County Sheriff’s representative on the Ranger Brigade task force, spoke up. “Not cactus, but ornamental plants. A local landscaper was digging them up without a permit and offering them for sale to customers.”

  “This case has a much bigger scope,” Jake said. “These stolen cactus go to hobbyists, primarily in Germany and Japan, who will pay a premium for wild-gathered rare species. We know, for instance, that this German is targeting the Colorado hookless cactus, which is on the endangered-species list. Its scarcity makes it a prize for collectors. We believe the man I’m following is a fairly low-level player in an international smuggling ring.”

  “What do you need from us?” Graham asked.

  “I’ve learned that the German is paying locals to dig the cactus for him. If they’re caught, they pay the penalty, while he gets away. My assignment is to shadow the German, so I’m asking your help in making contact with these locals.”

  “Why weren’t we made aware of this investigation before now?” Graham asked. Several heads around the table nodded. The Rangers were responsible for law enforcement on public lands, but not every agency believed in sharing information about their cases.

  “The fewer people who know about an undercover investigation like this, the safer for everyone,” Jake said. “The idea was that I would follow the German and document his activities for the few days he’s supposed to be in the area. I’d be in and out before you even knew I was here. But that was before this new development. I contacted my supervisor this morning, and he is supposed to be getting in touch with you.”

  Graham could have insisted he needed to wait to speak to Jake’s supervisor before he agreed to help the Fish and Wildlife agent. Carmen resisted the urge to confirm that his story was legitimate—then she would have to explain how she knew him and why she hadn’t mentioned him and his case before now. Never mind that she had been about to tell all before Jake interrupted—it still looked bad.

  “I can spare someone for a few days,” Graham said. “Lance, since you worked on the other plant-theft case, you can work with Deputy Carpenter.”

  Carmen ordered herself not to react. Yes, she had wanted to work with Jake on his case, but saying so now would only arouse suspicion about her motives. Since w
hen was she so interested in cactus? And, since every time she and Jake looked at each other she imagined sparks arcing between them, her co-workers might pick up on that. It was tough enough being the only woman on the team, without confirming any suspicions any of the men might have that she was ruled by her emotions. She was as tough as any of them when a case got difficult, but some men always had doubts, and she didn’t want to do anything to strengthen those.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer a woman for the job,” Jake said. He avoided looking at Carmen, though she felt as if every other eye in the room was on her. Way to be subtle, she thought.

  “Why is that?” Graham asked.

  “The person the German has contacted to dig cactus for him is a woman. She lives with a group that’s camping in the Curecanti Recreation Area—they call themselves the Family and are some kind of commune or something.”

  While the ability to lie was a good talent to have for undercover work, Carmen couldn’t help thinking Jake was a little too good at it. What was wrong with admitting he knew Metwater and his followers? Or was it simply ingrained in him to never reveal more information than he had to? Whatever the reason, it didn’t make him any easier to trust.

  “Or something,” Simon muttered.

  “I think a female officer would have better luck getting this woman to confide in her,” Jake said. “If we could persuade this woman to work with us, we could build a stronger case against the German.”

  On the outside, Carmen was Jane Cool, but inside she was groaning and covering her face with her hands. No one was going to believe that, were they?

  “You’re going to a lot of trouble to nail one plant collector,” Simon said. “Why?”

  “He may be only one man, but we suspect in the past year he’s shipped over two thousand specimens, many of them rare and irreplaceable, out of the country,” Jake said. “Some species have already been wiped out in the wild by similar collectors. My agency wants to send a strong message that this kind of destruction of resources won’t be tolerated. In addition, if he can lead us to the dealers he supplies, we already have agreements in place with law enforcement in Europe that could enable us to shut down the market for these cactus.”

  “Officer Redhorse, do you have any objection to working with Agent Lohmiller?” Graham asked.

  Yes, because the man tells the truth only when it’s convenient, and he’s too sexy for his own good, and I have a hard time keeping my mind solely on the job when he’s around. She cleared her throat. “No, sir. It sounds like an interesting case.”

  “Officer Lohmiller, if you’ll wait in the other room until we’re done here, you can meet with Officer Redhorse,” Graham said.

  “Of course.” He looked at Carmen at last. She hoped she was imagining the wink he gave her—and that no one else around the table had seen it.

  The commander waited until the door had closed behind Jake, then returned to his seat at the head of the table. Carmen held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t ask her if she had known about Jake and his cactus-smuggling case. She would have to admit the truth, and that would look very awkward.

  “What were you saying before our interruption?” Graham asked.

  She blinked. What had she been saying?

  “Something else that happened while you were undercover in Metwater’s camp,” he prompted.

  Right. She’d been about to tell them about Jake. But she couldn’t do that now without looking guilty of something. Which she wasn’t. She searched her mind for anything else plausible she could say and settled on the other curious thing she had made note of last night. “One of the women in camp, who goes by the name Starfall, has a big file of newspaper clippings about Daniel Metwater—not his writings as a prophet or anything like that, but articles about his life before he decided to wander in the wilderness. Quite a few of the articles are about his brother’s death.”

  “The brother who was murdered,” said the man next to Carmen, Marco Cruz with the DEA.

  “Right,” she said. “The police in Chicago suspected a hit by organized crime but weren’t able to pin the murder on anyone.”

  “Why is this woman so interested?” Simon asked.

  “I don’t know,” Carmen said. “But I thought it was odd. Something worth adding to the other information we have about Metwater and his group.” And probably not worth bringing up, if she hadn’t needed something to answer the commander’s question.

  “Be careful around the minnow Mountie,” Simon said.

  She stiffened at Simon’s use of the slang term for a Fish and Wildlife officer. “Why do you say that?”

  “I think it’s suspicious that he didn’t want to involve us until he needed help,” Simon said. “And asking for a woman, when you were clearly the only woman in the room—I think he’s up to something.”

  “Come on, Simon, would you want to work an undercover op with Lance, when you could have our resident beauty queen as your partner?” Marco asked.

  Carmen tensed. Last month her mother had mailed a package to the office that included the crown and sash from her brief stint as Miss Southern Ute—a not-so-subtle reminder of Carmen’s place in the tribe and part of an ongoing campaign by her parents to encourage her to leave the Ranger Brigade and sign on as a member of the Ute Tribal Police. She had made the mistake of opening the box in front of some of the guys, and now she might never hear the end of it. Carmen had even wondered if the teasing had been part of her mother’s plan, too. Wilma Redhorse was a sharp attorney and a brilliant strategist, so Carmen wouldn’t put it past her mom to foresee this development.

  “Some people might consider that a sexist remark,” Graham said.

  Marco sent her an apologetic look. “No offense intended.”

  “I don’t take offense,” she said. “I take revenge.”

  “You’re in trouble now,” Lance said.

  “I think we’ve said enough on the topic.” Graham consulted the notebook in front of him. “Just a few updates on current cases to take care of...”

  Carmen turned her attention back to the commander, but part of her mind was on the case ahead and the confounding, intriguing man she’d have to work with. Even though Jake made her uncomfortable, his case and its environmental and international implications interested her. This was the kind of case she had joined the Ranger Brigade to work on—something much bigger than keeping order on her family’s reservation. Why couldn’t her mother see that?

  Half an hour later, Carmen stood with Jake in the parking lot behind Ranger headquarters, next to a battered and very dusty pickup truck, the bed piled with camping gear. “This definitely doesn’t look like an official vehicle,” she said.

  “That’s the idea.”

  She nodded toward the headquarters building. “Was all that really necessary in there? You couldn’t have told the truth—that we met at Metwater’s camp and you thought I could be useful to your case?”

  “I wasn’t sure you’d want your co-workers knowing we’d met before. After all, I’m the untrustworthy Cactus Cop.”

  His teasing tone almost made her smile—almost. But she wasn’t about to let him think she was going soft. “I hope you don’t really think I’m going to persuade Starfall to do anything for you—she hates my guts.”

  “I have faith in you.”

  “You don’t need me to persuade her—make her think you’ve fallen for her charms, and she’d probably do anything for you.”

  “Then maybe you can make her think agreeing to help me is the best way to catch my attention.”

  “I’d be better off persuading her you’re going to pay her a lot of money. The woman is seriously motivated by cash. When I was going through her trunk, searching for your badge, I came across a couple of things that made me wonder if she was holding other people’s property hostage. Or blackmailing them.” For instance, was there something in those ar
ticles she had collected about Daniel Metwater that she was using to blackmail the Prophet? She was the one woman in camp who didn’t fawn over him, and yet she seemed to hold a position of privilege. It might be worth looking into...

  “I’ll leave it up to you to decide how best to approach Starfall.” Jake brought her attention back to his investigation. “Whatever you can find out about her relationship with the German could be helpful, but I hope you’ll also try to persuade my mom that she and Sophie need to leave Metwater’s group—the sooner, the better.”

  “You left in a hurry yesterday afternoon,” she said. “And Phoenix wouldn’t say anything when I asked if the two of you had had a nice visit.”

  “She told me that Daniel Metwater told her that he wants to marry Sophie!” His voice strained with agitation. “What kind of man says that about a fourteen-year-old?”

  “Do you think she was telling the truth?” Carmen asked. “I mean, I’m not saying your mother is a liar, but that seems so preposterous.”

  “She said he intends to wait until Sophie is eighteen, but in the meantime she can prepare to be his helpmate.” His look of disgust mirrored her own emotions. “I have to get her out of there,” he said. “And I need to get Mom away from there, too, if I can. I stopped by to see her this morning, and she was still in bed—Sophie said she was resting, but when I saw her, she looked ill. They told me you’d left and showed me your note. That’s when I decided to come to Ranger headquarters and plead my case.”

  “Did you really talk to your supervisor and ask him to bring me in?”

  “Yes. I do sometimes tell the truth, you know. Most of the time, actually.”

  “All right. I’ll talk to Starfall, but don’t expect much. And I’ll talk to Phoenix, too. If she really is ill, maybe I can persuade her to visit the clinic in town. And I’ll try to find out more about this marriage proposition of Metwater’s. If she still thinks I’m one of his followers, she might give me more details.”