by Rachel Lee
“Maybe. Certainly once they found out you weren’t aboveboard, the ring could offer you a piece of the action. That would be the smart thing to do.”
“Exactly. Which is what everyone was hoping for.”
“So it does make sense in a way.” She sat up suddenly. “Then why does it feel so wrong?”
He couldn’t answer that. It had been bothering him for a while now. Sensible yet somehow senseless. Putting him in the water like a baited hook? Or getting him out of the way. And why the heck had they put in a license application for him? That seemed to defy his entire purpose here, and had been the first thing to worry him.
To convince local law he was on the up-and-up? Certainly not to convince Desi since he’d been told to hook up with her and make it look like he had her in his pocket, which meant telling her what he was doing. No reason to think she’d have agreed to get closer to him without an explanation. No reason anyone should have expected that.
She sighed and once again lowered her head to his lap. “There’s something we don’t know.”
“Obviously.” He resumed stroking her hair. “I’m used to having things more straightforward than this.”
“Get used to life with the wardens, Kel. People lie to us all the time when they’ve done something wrong.” She gave a weary laugh. “I will admit this is different, though. And I hate to say it, but I’m wondering who the target really is.”
“I know,” he answered. “Me, you or the poaching.”
“Or both of us.”
* * *
Later they made slow, sweet love. Kel let Desi take the lead, and she fully enjoyed it, discovering her power over a very powerful man, enjoying his enjoyment each time he moaned or quivered. She pursued the pleasure of learning every inch of him, then opened herself to his touches in a way she never had before.
Never had she guessed there could be so much freedom in lovemaking. It was as if her lost youth blossomed once again, all the excitement, anticipation and hope. She was reclaiming part of herself, and Kel helped her each step of the way.
At last they collapsed together, sweaty despite the cool bedroom, in tangled sheets and blankets, just holding hands for the longest time.
But trouble didn’t stay away for long. The phone beside her bed rang and she answered it. The sheriff spoke into her ear.
“Desi? Don woke up and gave us a pretty good description of the guy he saw before he was shot. I’m sending over the rendering now.”
She sat bolt upright. “Thanks. Did he say anything else?”
“Only that the guy wasn’t from around here, but he had the feeling he’d seen him in the woods before.”
And we might know exactly where he is. “Thanks, Gage. I appreciate it.”
When she hung up, she looked at Kel. His gaze was alert. “There’s a message coming in downstairs. Don was able to give a description of the man with the dogs. I need to get the description out to all my guys and it’s easier to do down there.”
Kel sat up, too. “This I want to see. So Don’s okay?”
“He will be.”
* * *
The day had warmed enough that they didn’t bother to zip their jackets as they went downstairs. Once inside the office, Desi headed to the computer behind the counter. The message was waiting already. She printed out the black-and-white drawing of a man’s head and together with Kel studied it.
“I’ve seen him,” she said. “Around. The best I can do. But he’s been in this area before.”
“I’ve seen him, too.”
Desi caught her breath and looked at him. “When?”
“Around. So he’s been in my corner of the state, too. Near our offices.”
She looked at the drawing again. “Now, what the heck could he be up to?” But she was beginning to guess, and she didn’t like what she was guessing.
Using her phone, she snapped a photo of the drawing and sent it to her wardens, telling them to keep an eye out.
Then Kel said it. “Somebody has pull in the department. Someone who is involved with this ring. I’m not saying it’s one of our people. In fact, our people may not know how they’re being used. But someone is manipulating us.”
“Man,” she breathed, “I can hardly wait to get up on that mountain tomorrow. I want answers.”
“It could just be a bunch of hunting buddies setting up a camp,” he reminded her.
“I know. But my gut is telling a very different story.”
She closed her eyes, and although she was reluctant to let go of a single moment of her time with Kel—despite their unhappy cogitations—she felt the lack of sleep all the way to her bones. She examined every single person she knew in the department and kept running up against the inevitable wall. She didn’t want to suspect anyone she knew, but there was no escaping the fact that politics always played a role. It did in every government bureaucracy. The department needed support and funding for its operations, which meant you had to be careful about the people you upset.
If someone with the pull to affect the funding—not necessarily a politician, but one on the inner circles of power—well...
Sleep caught up with her.
* * *
Kel smiled as he looked down at her and realized she’d drifted into sleep. Good. She needed it, and so did he. But his mind wasn’t letting go of the impenetrable puzzle they faced. Something was wrong. Or they were looking at it from the wrong perspective. Whichever, uneasiness was riding his back like cold, wet leaves.
He let his head tip until it rested on the high back of the sofa. This was a whole new game to him. In the military, like any other organization, politics inevitably mattered: who you knew, who liked you, who was your father-in-law. Were you one of the golden boys destined for high rank? How much did you dare throw your weight around if you were?
As an enlisted man, he’d avoided most of that, although it still existed. He’d managed to get his promotions more easily than some, but he made a practice of not stepping on any toes. Pointless anyway. Why aggravate the people who were giving you your orders? You’d not only make it harder on yourself, but you might make it harder on the men under you in your unit.
But this was different. In the military, you polished the right apples and things went smoothly. Here it was possible someone higher up the tree was polishing an invisible apple. But why? The entire department was devoted to protecting the wildlife and ecology. It was their mission. Who would want to help poachers, even indirectly?
It would require some pretty strong pressure to bend someone in WIU, or at least he believed it would. No one joined this outfit as a lark. The work was demanding, the hours long. No, it required commitment to the mission. Real commitment.
And therefore it would require some serious pressure to bend someone enough to try to protect poachers.
Not that it couldn’t happen. A sigh escaped him and he glanced toward the window. The morning was slowly turning into afternoon. No calls yet. Maybe, like Desi, he could cadge whatever sleep he could. They’d need their energy and wits tomorrow for sure.
He looked down at her again and smiled. Grab it while you can was a mantra from his days in uniform. He applied it now, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. Who knew, sleep might bring something useful out of the back of his mind.
Regardless, he’d be ready tomorrow.
Chapter 14
They left at three in the morning, while darkness cloaked the world. Kel had hugged Desi all night, and they’d stolen an hour or so to make love then a little more time to eat, but rest was paramount for this expedition.
Both of them were well-prepared for the kind of hiking they planned. They wore layers of rugged clothing with heavy hiking boots, and loaded backpacks with everything from matches to flares to first aid kits and freeze-dried food. Des
i remarked she had snowshoes, then looked surprised when he said he did as well.
She smiled at him, and he was glad to see her eyes dance for the first time in what seemed like ages. “Always prepared?”
He laughed. “That’s the Coast Guard. But yeah, me, too. Show me a mountain and I need to hike up it.”
“No Everest?”
“That thing’s a tourist trap now. Covered in filth. I think not. If I want to get into that kind of mountaineering I’ll try some other place.”
She paused to look directly at him. “You said the mountains bothered you some, now.”
“Not enough to keep me off them.”
They piled everything into the back of her truck and set out. Kel felt the rush of excitement that always came to him when he knew the waiting was over. He knew full well that there were a lot of things he couldn’t control. Afghanistan had taught him that lesson well. But he’d also realized that he had some control when he started acting, more than he had while he was sitting on his fingers waiting for others to make up their minds.
The night sky was almost painfully clear, blazing with stars. As it had been in Afghanistan, where light pollution didn’t wash away the diamonds that studded the night sky. The soon-to-be hunter’s moon was sinking in the west, only half visible now as the mountains claimed it.
A perfect night. He loved the night. It changed the whole world into a silvery wonderland or a darkness-drenched cavern lit only by the stars above. It sometimes concealed threat, but it also offered safety.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as they drove higher and patches of snow began to appear here and there.
“About this? Glad to be getting to it. Half hoping we find out the camp is aboveboard, half hoping we settle this problem once and for all.”
He understood the mixed feelings but frankly wanted this over. Not because he wanted to leave the area, but because shadow boxing was not his style. Give him an enemy he could see.
“We’re violating one of the basic principles of trekking in the wilderness,” he remarked. “No one knows where we’re going.”
“When I get as far as I can in the car, I’m going to call the sheriff and let him know where we are, and what coordinates we’re headed for. But I’m not telling anyone else.”
“Okay.” Good plan, especially since suspicion was digging its ugly fingers in everywhere. She had trusted the people in the department for a long time, unlike him, and this had to be painful for her. To even wonder if someone she knew was in cahoots with the poachers...well, he wouldn’t care to walk in her boots right now.
As they climbed higher, he could sense the air thinning and chilling even more. Brisk, refreshing, but that cold would soon become a problem once they were out of the vehicle. Well, he’d faced that problem many times and knew the best ways to deal with it.
His thoughts turned to other matters, mainly Desi, and it occurred to him he needed to say something to her. “Desi? Once we start hiking we’re not going to have a lot of breath to waste on talk. So...I want you to know that our sex meant a whole lot to me. I feel proud that you trusted me.”
She glanced his way, and he was delighted to see the corners of her mouth had turned up. “It meant bunches to me, too,” she said as she returned her gaze to the worsening road ahead. “It changed me. Broke some old chains. How do I thank you for that?”
“I think you already did.” But his chest swelled a little anyway. That may have been one of the most important things he’d done in his life.
After that, they remained silent until the end of the road.
* * *
Ponytail man was feeling quite pleased. His shill had given the coordinates of the campsite to the damn warden. She was on her way up there with her sidekick, the wannabe outfitter. And there had not been a single quiver on his information net that she had told anyone where she was headed, only that she had logged out for the next two days.
This would be too easy. Since Randy had already blown it, he was going to get to blow it again, by blowing the two of them away. He had no doubt Randy could do it...before he died. Because Randy was a loose cannon he couldn’t afford.
None of his partners knew what he planned. None of them knew that he had contacts, none of them had the least idea of what was coming down. Which was just the way he wanted it. Conspiracies involved too many mouths and no guarantee that someone wouldn’t say the wrong thing.
As far as his partners were concerned, he was no different from them. If any of them talked, the worst he would get was a big fine and maybe some jail time for running an illegal outfitting company. He wasn’t worried about the jail time; he had a damn good lawyer and he could take down an important man at Game and Fish if the guy didn’t give him room to wiggle out of this.
But he didn’t think that was going to happen. Two people were about to disappear on a mountain and no one would ever know what had happened to them. Not once the forest took care of them.
How nice that those two had become suspicious enough to keep their plan a secret from everyone. Delicious even. He’d hardly dared hope that the warden would be so stupid. But what could you expect from a woman? Ponytail man had loathed her since she took his cousin Fetcher’s promotion. Fetcher should be the senior warden.
And Fetcher was on the inside of Game and Fish, not that he knew what his cousin was up to. So were a couple of others higher up who owed pontytail man favors. They’d all helped him at one time or another and they’d shut up rather than get involved in any trouble.
Fetcher would take his rightful position and life would move on, short at least one major pain in his butt, and another guy who might become one.
Not to mention Randy. That guy was going to meet with some trouble when he came down from the mountain. Ponytail had just the man lined up to do it.
Despite the early hour, he decided to indulge his secret vice: some very expensive brandy. One small snifter would make his cigar that much more enjoyable, and it wouldn’t cloud his mind.
A celebration was definitely in order, and why not? His plans were working almost better than he’d dared to hope. The Westin guy was a surprise in his campaign to get rid of Desi, but a manageable one. Two birds with one stone. Lovely.
* * *
Up on the mountain Randy got the message. The warden and the other guy were on their way up to the campsite. He was to take them out. For the first time in a couple of days he actually felt good.
But his preparations were already in place. Trip wires to warn him, because he had to be prepared, not taken by surprise by anyone.
It was one of the things he was good at. Besides being a damn good shot, he’d used trip wires to help catch trophy animals, to give hunters time to prepare their shots.
He didn’t mind cheating, and evidently their clients didn’t either.
It would feel so good to take out that Desi Jenks. That woman had an absolute nose for finding the remains of trophy kills. Well, that was about to end. This time she and her friend would be the trophies.
* * *
The sun wasn’t up yet as the two of them left the vehicle behind and, after a call to the sheriff to tell him where they were and where they were going, began their trek into the woods. Desi felt it was safe at this point to use flashlights and he agreed. As near as he’d been able to determine from the terrain maps he’d looked at, and from the GPS on his satellite phone, they had a good five miles of hiking and climbing ahead of them.
The danger, apart from breaking a leg, would truly begin when the sun cast its first light across the world. If there were any hunters about, they could start shooting. And he honestly wasn’t sure that their orange vests and caps would be enough to protect them.
Not up here. Not with what they suspected.
Desi, it appeared, was half mountain goat herself. That cute and ti
dy little package she came in concealed an awful lot of strength and endurance. She forged ahead tirelessly, testing her footing when she thought it necessary. To his relief the canopy was thick enough that the ground wasn’t buried in snow, although chunks of it occasionally plopped down from the branches above.
The snowshoes began to seem like an unnecessary caution.
Almost as soon as he had the thought, they reached a spacious clearing and stopped at the forest’s edge. The faintest gray light had begun to appear.
“There was a fire here a few years ago,” she remarked. She pulled out her binoculars from a case that had been banging against her backside, and scanned the area slowly. “It looks okay.” But she handed Kel the binoculars so he could check it out, too.
“We’re a ways out from the campsite yet,” he remarked. He stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen. Two fell into his hand and he took them dry, thinking shut up, knees.
“Which doesn’t mean hunters aren’t wandering around out here. Or that guides aren’t keeping watch.”
True. He knew better than to underestimate the enemy. The problem was, little as he truly knew, he got the feeling that the enemy in this case wasn’t very bright. Shooting a couple of hunters and drawing all that heat? Stupid. But entirely possible as remote as this area was.
They walked around the clearing, wisely not edging into the open or leaving a track on the snow. Desi checked her GPS, and said, “We should be within a mile of the camp by noon.”
“Eyes on,” he remarked.
She gave him a half smile. “Absolutely.” She hooked her radio back onto its loop on her belt and pulled her gloves back on. “Ready?”
“Always.”
* * *
Kel had learned to function at two levels simultaneously. While they hiked, he could safely let his mind wander because his ears, eyes and nose would alert him if something needed his attention. So much of this was automatic to him now, after so many years of doing it. He wondered if Desi enjoyed the same freedom, because intense concentration could eventually wear you out and make you blind to important things. A relaxed, open state of focus was most important.
