Call of the Cougar

by Terry Spear

  "Hiking." Yeah, the boss had to be trying to give her a hint. He didn't make mistakes like that.

  "There's no cougar hunting season in the Rockies in the summer. Run…wild for a bit. Enjoy yourself."

  "What…part of the Rockies?" she asked slowly.

  "I know of the perfect place. Cabin resort, lake view, mountains. I've got a reservation there but can't get away, and it's already paid up. The place is booked solid, so I didn't want to have to cancel and lose it. You'll find something to enjoy while you're staying there if you let your hair down a bit."

  "Is it…safe there?"

  "As safe as it usually is for our kind."

  When she didn't agree or disagree, he let out his breath. "I was going over your file."

  Because she'd lost one partner and nearly another? She knew that if she didn't agree to do this, he was going to put restrictions on her movements. Maybe even lock her up in a safe house. That would drive her batty. There was no way that she was going to hide out while some other agents caught up with the traffickers.

  "You haven't taken a vacation in two years. You don't date anyone—"

  "What has that got to do with—"

  "You need a break. And that's an order."

  "All right." She'd go along with this, for now. But if she got any leads that took her away from the resort, she was following them up. "What else?" She knew he wasn't letting her off that easy. Not when she was sure he would worry about her working on the case again.

  "I've got some friends in that location. That's why I stay at the resort from time to time."

  "Friends." Already she didn't like the scenario. Male friends, she suspected. And if he wanted her there, it was because—no, he couldn't be considering what she thought he might be considering. "Special Forces buddies of yours?"

  She'd remembered him talking about his time in the military, and he'd shared a couple of stories about some of his friends in the Special Forces.

  "Yeah. Chase runs the resort and he's a part-time deputy sheriff. Dan Steinacker is the sheriff, Stryker Hill, his full time deputy, and Hal Haverton—"

  "Of Yuma Town? And he's a deputy sheriff also?"

  "Part-time. So you know him?"

  "He was at the shootout, okay? He came and helped me. So no, I don't know him. Unless you count my saving his ass, his returning the favor, and talking for a minute—means I know him."

  "He's a good guy. I want them to watch your back while you're in the area."

  "Your friends can't have agreed to this."

  "We're like brothers. And you're like….well, given you're one of us and in law enforcement, you're like our sister."

  She doubted Hal saw her like that, not the way he watched her when she pulled her badge out of her shirt for him to see and his eyes hadn't focused solely on her badge.

  "So do we have a deal?" her boss asked.

  "Let me get this straight. I stay in the cabin resort run by your service buddy who happens to also be a deputy sheriff, but you don't expect him to date me, do you? Or to serve as my bodyguard or something crazy like that?"

  "No. His wife's twins are expected soon."

  Tracey felt her whole body warm with chagrin for thinking her boss was trying to set her up with a married guy in the family way. "All right. And the other guys are all married?" If Hal was, she'd punch him for looking at her like he was really interested in getting to know her better.

  "Single."

  She was relieved—in Hal's case—to hear it. "No bodyguard and no dating."

  "It's up to you, but you're on vacation, and if you suspect anyone suspicious in the area, I want you to alert one of the men."

  Then she realized there was more to this than just watching her back. They would try to ensure she didn't investigate the case. As if they could stop her while they were going about their daily business.

  Footfalls headed in her direction and she looked over her shoulder to see the doctor stalking toward her. "Got to go. Doctor's coming. Update you in a minute."

  Then she spoke to the doctor. Anton was going to pull through. Thank God. Relief washed over her and she hadn't realized just how tense she'd been. She couldn't take losing another partner like that. Agents didn't shed tears over each other—at least that's what she told herself as tears welled up in her eyes. She thanked God again he was going to make it.

  "Thank you, Doctor." When he left, she relayed the news to her boss.

  "I'm sending some of our men to watch him, but the police are supposed to be providing protection around the clock," her boss said.

  Tracey glanced at the two policemen waiting nearby. "Yes, they are."

  "All right. As soon as he's out of the recovery room and in a room of his own, I want you to head north to Yuma Town."

  "Will you have me tailed?" Her boss would, if he was worried about her safety even if she was off the case.

  "You're getting a police escort—not a tail. Drive straight to the resort. Patrolman Holland will follow you there. He's there at the hospital now. Just tell him when you're leaving."

  She thought about how much she wanted to slip away and see the ghost town one more time. It was directly on the route to Yuma Town. Or maybe while Chase was busy taking care of his resort, she could slip out and check Anderson out. She'd be happy to take one of the men, if he didn't say no and report her plans to her boss. Which was just what she suspected any of them would do.

  ***

  As soon as Dan gave Hal and Stryker the word about Tracey Whittington coming to Yuma Town, Chase had scrambled to make a place for her at one of the cabins he'd closed for renovation, though both Hal and Stryker had enthusiastically offered to put her up at their own places.

  Mick, her boss, had thought it would be better if she had a little more freedom than that.

  For now, Hal and Stryker were having their Friday night pizza and beer party while watching a movie with Dan. Only this time they weren't watching a movie.

  They'd been anxiously waiting for four days for Tracey to arrive in Yuma Town. Hal was ready to go to the city of Rocky Tower Springs and escort her here, though he understood that she wanted to be at her partner's side should he take a turn for the worse. If her partner had been a shifter, he could heal faster. But no such luck.

  When Hal went to the kitchen to grab some more cold beers, he heard Stryker talking to Dan about picking her up just like Hal wanted to do. He returned to the living room and passed out the beers. Hal would have beat him to it though. "Hopefully she likes horses. As soon as the mare foals, I can show it to her. She's sure to love it."

  "Hell, pull out the baby animal card," Stryker said with a smirk.

  Dan laughed. "Better you two vying for a chance with the woman than me."

  Hal smiled. Dan was too wrapped up in their police dispatcher to be looking for any other woman in his life. At least for now, though he denied he was dating her.

  "I'm going for a puppy." Stryker yanked off another slice of pizza.

  Dan shook his head. "You don't have a puppy."

  Stryker smiled. "I can get one before we go on a hot date."

  "Puppies are overrated, way too common. A foal is…special." Hal finished off his pizza.

  "If she likes horses. What if she's afraid of them? Not everyone likes horses." Stryker bit into his pepperoni pizza.

  "She's a cat. Maybe dogs don't appeal." Hal wasn't going to agree with Stryker, but it did worry him. What if she didn't like horses? Maybe she was afraid of them? There would go any chance at getting to know her. On the other hand, challenges were the name of the game. And he'd sure aim to convince her just how nice horses could be.

  "She can't cuddle with a colt or filly on her lap." Stryker smiled. "They're really not pets. Not like dogs are."

  "A puppy can get in the way and need way more attention. You'd have to potty train it," Hal said.

  "Housebreak." Dan laughed.

  "Yeah, housebreak it, feed it, and play with it all the time. The puppy would want all this
attention right when you're getting ready to kiss the woman. Then what? Well, hell, you think that she's going to ignore the bundle of fur? No. She'll forget all about kissing you and…" Hal smiled evilly. "Yeah, Stryker, get a puppy."

  Dan and Stryker laughed.

  "She isn't delaying coming out here because she has a hankering for her partner, is she?" Stryker asked. "I'm not into breaking up relationships. Though, with him being human…"

  Dan shook his head. "He's got an ex-wife and she arrived yesterday morning. Apparently, she might be working things out with her ex-husband, and that could get the ball rolling with Tracey leaving. Tracey's been anxious about him. Just like any of us would be worried about an injured partner. Shows she's sympathetic to his situation."

  "Right." Hal finished his beer, leaned back on the couch, and stared at the blank TV screen. "I'm going to pack it in. I've got to go home and check on the mare."

  The guys laughed.

  Standing, Hal frowned at them. "What? I've never done this before. What if something goes wrong?"

  Dan slapped him on the back and headed into the kitchen with two empty beer bottles and the pizza box. "I can just imagine what you'd be like when you have your own kids on the way."

  "Yeah." Stryker finished his beer. "I thought Chase was bad the way he's so anxious about his wife and the babies."

  "Either of you guys would be the same way if you were raising horses, and this was your first foal. Dan, if you hear that Tracey's on her way, give me a heads up. Will you?"

  "But me first," Stryker said.

  Dan just laughed.

  The party was over, the earliest any of them had ever closed it down. Hal swore that it wasn't because they were getting to be old men.

  Chapter 3

  Dealing with her first partner's death a few months ago had been awful, but Tracey had felt better working through it. Now with her second partner in the hospital, she didn't want to sit around taking a break when she could be trying to track down the men who could have killed her and her partner.

  This afternoon when she'd checked on Anton, he was sitting up, looking much better, not as pale, and he was talking again. His ex-wife, Shirley, truly seemed to want to work things out between them, whether he continued to serve on this job or ended up in another. Tracey thought his wife's change of heart was another reason that Anton was looking so much better. She liked the wife and their adorable daughter, so she hoped it would work out between them. Which meant it was time for Tracey to get on her way.

  It would still be early when she left for Yuma Town. The ghost town of Anderson was right on her way. She had the greatest urge to stop there and walk through the town—to try to understand why the traffickers had been there twice and had shootouts with her both times. She knew she couldn't ditch her police escort without getting into hot water with her boss though.

  Before she left the hospital, she said to the patrolman who would follow her to Yuma Town, "I want to stop off at Anderson to just—walk through it."

  His dark eyes narrowed a little, Patrolman Howard Holland said, "You know your boss will want me to report this."

  "Haven't you ever been in a situation before where you had to return to the scene of the crime to try and figure out the significance of it?"

  "Yeah, I have, actually." Howard looked around as if the waiting room walls had ears. "Okay, look. You know what your boss said. Sorry about that. I'd feel the same if I was in your shoes, but my boss is in agreement with your boss. It's time for you to go on vacation. I'm escorting you to Yuma Town and after that?" He shrugged. "It's up to you as to what you want to do."

  "Just for a few minutes? It's miles from Yuma Town, but we'll pass up the wagon trail along the way there."

  "Sorry, no can do. Orders were specific. You need to step away from the case. I've been there, done that," Howard said. "Actually, I was the one who got shot on a case similar to this, different perps, but I was raring to take down the bastard who'd nearly killed me. I needed the time to recover, both physically and emotionally. You lost your other partner. And now this. You need the break."

  She thought he was saying one thing, but meaning something else. That he was watching what he said because the police who were providing security for her partner might be listening in on their conversation, and he didn't want to get into trouble with his own boss.

  "Okay, so if I just happen to take a little detour—"

  She thought he was fighting a smile a little as he shook his head. "Come on. Let's drop by your hotel and grab your bags."

  She wasn't sure if he would stop her or not. But she was going to give it a try. After saying goodbye to Anton and his ex-wife in his hospital room, Tracey returned to her hotel and picked up her bags, then headed out to Yuma Town.

  When she was close to the old wagon trail that turned off to Anderson, she flashed her left turn signal. She thought if Howard was opposed to her going to Anderson, he would flash his police lights to let her know that he wasn't going to allow it. And she really expected him to do so. To her surprise and delight, he followed her up the rutted, dusty trail. But then, she felt a sudden chill race down her spine—a fitful apprehension suddenly filling her. If she hadn't managed to get herself killed the last two times she was here, why not try it again? Yet part of her said that the men would not be here again. The odds were totally in her favor.

  Like she thought was the case the last two times she came here.

  Howard followed her to the spot where they had to park and then walk. When she got out, he was calling someone, and she assumed it was her boss or his. Maybe just letting everyone know they could be headed into danger.

  "What do you think you'll find?" Howard asked, as he walked with her up the trail, side by side.

  "Nothing really. But I just have to see the place. See if there's anything I missed the other two times. Others combed the place for clues, but they hadn't been here or seen what I saw when I was here before. Like, for instance, I hadn't thought of it at the time, but those men came out of a storeroom at the saloon. They had to have had another way in since they had only left recent footsteps from the storeroom to the bar. Not that it means anything. And I'm sure that investigators would have discovered this, but I just wanted to see it for myself."

  "Sounds reasonable."

  "So who did you call?"

  "My boss. Who will inform your boss and—"

  Tracey's phone buzzed in her pocket. She ignored it. At least it was on vibrate, and Howard didn't hear it. But when she didn't answer her phone, Howard got a call.

  He answered it and glanced at her and smiled a little. He handed her his phone. "Your boss wants to talk to you."

  She grimaced and took the phone. "Yes?"

  "Don't you ignore my calls. I know your phone was vibrating in your pocket. What the hell are you doing going back to Anderson? The only way I want you up there is to go with a military escort."

  "What would the odds be that I would run into these men yet again?" And if she did, she was killing them. Every last one of them.

  "In your case—good."

  She smiled a little at that, despite not wanting to agree that it was kind of true.

  "You have one hour up there."

  "But…"

  "One hour, Special Agent Whittington."

  He only used her title and last name when he was pulling the boss card on her.

  "But—"

  "Let me talk with the patrolman."

  She sighed and handed the phone to him.

  Howard smiled a little at her and stuck the phone in his pouch. Her mouth gaped for a second.

  "What?" he asked, clearly not getting what surprised her.

  "My boss wanted to talk to you. You just hung up on him."

  Howard's phone rang and he chuckled, pulling out his phone again. "Yes, sir." He glanced at Tracey and nodded. "Yes, sir. One hour. Or you send in the troops. Got it."

  When he ended the call, Tracey frowned at him. "We can't get anything done in one
hour."

  "I've heard you're a bit of a wild card. I've gone along this far, but this is it. One hour and we're back on the road headed for Yuma Town."

  She nodded, grateful she was allowed this much time, truly. She hoped maybe her boss would be so busy, he'd forget the time. Knowing Mick, he'd set an alarm.

  Maybe her police escort would forget the time. Even better? The patrolman wouldn't get reception in town so neither her boss, nor his, could remind him of the hour.

  They finally reached the first building in the town. She was about ready to begin inspecting the buildings all over again when movement on the cliffs caught her eye. She turned and fully focused on the rocky boulders. A cougar was standing on a boulder up near one of the decrepit miner's shacks, his tan coloration nearly blending in with the rocks.

  Howard glanced in the direction she was looking and pulled out his gun.

  "No," she said, laying her hand over his gun, pointing it toward the dirt ground.

  "That could be the cougar that killed one of the gunmen. The same man who stabbed you. You were just damn lucky the cougar didn't come after you too, once you were bleeding."

  "The cougar saved my life."

  "You were just lucky." Despite his objection, Howard holstered his gun.

  Was the big cat a shifter? Or a real cougar?

  Howard was right if it was a cougar; he could be dangerous.

  The cat sat down on the boulder and observed her. She was certain he was a shifter. An all cougar would most likely leave. If it was one of the shifters, was he looking for more clues like she was? She hoped so.

  After not finding anything new at any of the closer buildings, she headed for the saloon and saw that the storage room did have a door that led to it from the outside.

  She examined it. "No fingerprints. Nothing," she said, more to herself than to Howard.

  She noted Howard glancing at his watch when she headed for one of the churches. No access anywhere there. She moved to one of the gambling halls and again found no entrance that she could see.

  Twice more, she saw Howard look at his watch. But she was working really hard to locate any evidence they had missed the first time around. She knew it was getting later because the sun was beginning to sink in the sky. And the longer they were there, the more often Howard checked his watch.