Something Wild In Anchorage (Alaska Adventure Romance Book 5)

by Renee Hart

  “You’d probably better ask Mr. Shilling about that,” she replied. “I’m not sure I could do justice to the story.”

  With that said, she turned and headed inside hoping to end his inquiry. It wouldn’t do her reputation any good to be caught telling tales. She doubted Mr. Shilling would be in a hurry to share anything either. The man wasn’t the chatty type.

  As Lissa reached for the door handle, two things happened simultaneously. Her phone rang as Gary tried to reach around her to open the door like a gentleman. She quickly reached for the phone in the pocket of her backpack as he leaned forward. Her elbow caught him right smack in the nose, and they both jumped when he howled in pain and grabbed for a handhold on the small porch. Finding nothing but air, he fell backwards off the porch onto the sidewalk.

  Lissa turned towards him to see what had happened when the door swung open and knocked her off the porch. She landed on the sidewalk next to Gary, who was holding his bloody nose and saying some very ungentlemanly things.

  Mr. Shilling looked at the two of them with a smirk on his face. A few other faces appeared in the background and then quickly disappeared as Mr. Burns hurried to the door.

  “You see! I told you the woman was a hazard,” Mr. Shilling stated firmly. “She’s gone and done in another one of your field agents.”

  Mr. Burns stared at the two of them with the strangest look on his face. Lissa quickly got to her feet and brushed herself off. Gary sat up trying to stop the flow of blood from his nose. Noticing his dilemma, Lissa offered him some crumpled tissues from her pocket. He gave her a look of disgust and ignored the offer.

  “What’s going on out here?” Mr. Burns finally ventured to ask.

  “Uh, nothing really,” Lissa said. “We just had a small collision at the door. I accidentally bumped Gary in the nose with my elbow as we were coming inside….you see, my phone rang…”

  Lissa stopped talking as it really didn’t seem as if the boss was actually listening to her.

  “Gary, when you get yourself cleaned up, come into my office. You need to fill out an accident report,” Mr. Burns mumbled as he turned to go back inside. The rest of what he said was lost to them as the door closed behind him.

  “I’m…uh…I’m sorry,” Lissa offered.

  Gary just gave her a look and hauled himself up off the now bloody sidewalk. As it was quitting time, a few agents came out the door and looked at the two of them. No one said anything, but the looks on their faces spoke volumes. Gary headed inside to clean himself up and Lissa decided her best course of action at this point was to simply go home. After all, Mr. Burns hadn’t requested her presence in his office, she figured. Besides, it wasn’t her fault Gary got bumped in the nose. He was guilty of following much too close anyway. With that thought, she headed for home.

  Chapter Five

  The next few days, Lissa made it through her shift without any mishaps. Her new partner was still acting more like a dictator than a trainer, but at least he gave her a little more instruction as they went about their routine. They’d spent several hours monitoring a couple of moose mamas shepherding their calves through the suburbs and answered a few bear sightings without actually locating any bears. There’d been one report of a lynx stalking some children playing in their yard, but the evidence was weak at best.

  By Friday afternoon, the calls had picked up some and they were kept busy running from one end of town to the other. Lissa was hoping to make it through the week without any more problems. She watched the clock as she monitored the radio.

  Rick was pretty relaxed since it was nearly quitting time when the radio crackled to life with the report of a bear prowling around an apartment complex. There was a large park with a playground full of children nearby. The local police were already on site and had requested back-up with a tranquilizer gun. Rick quickly did a U-turn and headed them in the right direction while barking instructions at Lissa.

  “Grab the gun case in the back and get the gun ready! You do know how to load a gun, right?”

  Lissa didn’t bother to answer as she strained to reach the gun case sitting behind her seat. Rick was driving pretty erratically and she struggled to keep herself calm. Opening the case, she grabbed one of the darts and carefully placed it in the chamber. Sliding the bolt into position, she held the gun across her knees, waiting for her next instruction.

  Rick spotted the police waving at them from the far side of the park. He decided to take a short cut and bumped over the curb. Racing over to their location, he slammed on the brakes and threw the truck into park.

  Surprised by his sudden stop, Lissa lost her grip on the gun. Grabbing for it, she somehow tangled it up in the straps of the backpack sitting between her feet. She was trying to work it free when Rick reached for the barrel of the gun, intending to jump out and take charge of the situation. He did manage to get out of the truck. He even got in a couple of steps before the bear-sized dose of tranquilizer overcame his good intentions.

  Lissa made it around the truck to his side just in time to watch him fold up like an accordion as he fell to the ground. She stared in horror at the feathery dart sticking out of his right thigh. This was much worse than tossing someone out of a boat. This was….murder!

  Two officers ran over to see what was holding them up. They called for an ambulance, seeing Rick lying on the ground. It was clear he wasn’t going to be any help to them.

  “Do you have more tranquilizer darts?” one of the officers asked her.

  “Oh. Yes….of course,” Lissa answered turning back to the truck.

  “We need to take this bear down and get him relocated,” the other officer said. “He’s not in a very friendly mood. I’ll stay here with your partner until the EMT’s arrive and you can go with my partner and do what needs to be done.”

  Lissa realized they didn’t have any idea this was only her second week on the job and she had no idea how to tranquilize a full-grown bear. However, she’d just taken out her partner. How hard can it be to shoot a bear, she thought to herself. Anyway, I’m probably going to get fired for sure now. I might as well try and do something good before I go.

  Lissa followed the other officer over to some bushes at the edge of the park. She noticed a news van had pulled up across the road and the camera man was taking some footage of the scene. When the EMT’s arrived, the news crew went over to find out what was going on. She tried not to think about what kind of story was going to come out of this mess.

  They searched for nearly an hour, but the bear had clearly left the area. As they were heading back, a news reporter intercepted Lissa. The young woman was very interested to find out the background on the man that had been shot with the tranquilizer. No one she’d interviewed so far seemed to know what had happened.

  “Hello, I’m Jane Winston for Alaska News. I understand it was your partner that got shot here today. What can you tell us about what happened to him?”

  Lissa hesitated. She wasn’t inclined to lie about anything, but the truth wouldn’t look so good on the evening news. It wasn’t so much herself she was concerned about, but Fish & Game would take a hit along with her in the public eye. Thinking quickly, she figured out a way to tell the truth….almost.

  “My partner and I got a call that some children in the park were in danger. Apparently there was a bear in the area. We raced over to the scene, hoping to avert a disaster and my partner was trying to respond to the police officer’s directions when the tranquilizer gun misfired and, unfortunately, he got stuck with the dart.”

  “Did you get the bear?” Ms. Winston asked.

  “No. The bear got safely away…this time…and no one was injured…besides my partner, and I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

  “Well, there you have it, folks,” Ms. Winston said to the camera. “Just another day in Alaska!”

  Turning to the camera man, Ms. Winston signaled the end of the interview and turned to go. Before she walked away, she stopped and turned back to Lissa.

 
“I didn’t get your name,” she said.

  “It’s Lissa…with two s’s,” Lissa said quietly.

  “It was nice to meet you, Lissa,” Ms. Winston said, and she headed back to the news van.

  The EMT’s had taken Rick off to the hospital somewhere so Lissa packed up the truck and headed back to the office. She knew Mr. Burns would be waiting for her when she got there.

  Driving along, she argued with herself as to whether this counted as her second or third strike. It probably depended on how the coffee attack on her boss ranked alongside Gary’s bloody nose. Though neither of those things were actually her fault, they could be held against her, depending on who was doing the counting. In all fairness, she decided this was really only her second strike and hoped Mr. Burns would see things her way. She steeled herself for a very bad outcome as she pulled into the parking lot.

  Deciding that informing Mr. Burns of Rick’s current whereabouts was of far more importance than unloading the gear from the truck, Lissa hurried inside. She found Mr. Burns in his office staring at some more paperwork with a worried look on his face.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Burns,” she began.

  He looked up with a startled face at the sound of her voice. One look was all it took to know what was coming next wasn’t going to make him happy. He forced himself to stay calm no matter what came out of her mouth.

  Noticing the white lines appearing across her boss’s forehead, Lissa attempted a contrite look before starting again.

  “Uh, there’s been an accident. The EMT’s have assured me Rick will be fine, but they took him to the hospital just in case there were any complications.”

  Mr. Burns took a couple of deep breaths before asking the obvious question.

  “What did you do now?”

  Lissa launched into a rushed account of the afternoon events, but it was clear Mr. Burns stopped listening by the time she got to the part where Rick got out of the truck. He’d pulled out a bottle of aspirin and taken at least four by the time she was finished with her story. Reaching into his desk drawer, he pulled out an accident form and pushed it across the desk to her.

  “You have to fill out an accident report,” was all he said between tightly clenched teeth.

  Picking up the form, Lissa tried not to stare at Mr. Burns’ shaking hands. She feared he was having some kind of attack or worse, was considering attacking her! Backing towards the door, she reached for the door handle.

  “Make sure that’s on my desk before you leave today.”

  Lissa nodded and turned to go as Mr. Burns reached for the phone. The last thing she heard as she left his office was something that sounded like a cross between a moan and a growl. She didn’t stop to figure out which.

  ***

  After finishing the accident report, Lissa unloaded the truck and put away all of the gear. She was almost done when Gary appeared at her side. She looked up at this bruised face and winced. He just grinned back at her with his usual Cheshire cat face.

  “Does it hurt a lot?” Lissa asked.

  “Nah, not really. The worst comes when I forget and look into a mirror,” he replied. “Other than that, nothing’s broken.”

  “I really didn’t mean to elbow you in the face, you know.”

  “No. Don’t worry. I don’t blame you. However, if you’re feeling guilty, you could come with me to have a cup of coffee or something. I know a great place.”

  “Thanks, Gary, but I really need to get home. It’s been a very long week and Rick…”

  Gary looked around and then back at her.

  “Rick what?”

  Seeing Lissa’s face turning bright red, Gary took a step back.

  “Don’t tell me! You’ve had another accident…”

  Lissa nodded sadly. She hated to admit another mishap related to her had caused another agent to fall in the field, but there was no way to avoid it. Sooner or later, everyone would be thinking of her as some kind of jinx. She was even starting to think of herself as bad luck. After all how many strikes did one get in the real world before they got fired, and Mr. Burns hadn’t even yelled at her yet? The whole situation was beginning to feel very strange.

  “I just don’t get it. Mr. Burns didn’t even yell at me or anything,” Lissa said with a shrug. “I was sure he was going to fire me. He just told me to fill out an accident report. What’s up with that?”

  Gary just stood there with a funny look on his face. When he didn’t say anything, Lissa turned to head off. She was convinced there was more going on here than anyone was saying, but it was clear no one was interested in telling her.

  “Have a nice weekend,” he called after her.

  Yeah, right, Lissa thought to herself. I can spend my free time going through the want ads to find a new job.

  Chapter Six

  On Saturday, Trey came by and asked Lissa if she’d like to accompany him and his mother to the zoo on Sunday. He told her they would be going early so they could arrive when the zoo opened. With the sun coming up far earlier than Lissa was used to seeing it, there wasn’t any problem for her.

  “That’s when the animals are the most active,” Trey informed her. “The other good time is the last hour of the day, but Mom prefers mornings. It’s not a very big zoo. They mainly take in animals that were orphaned or injured and wouldn’t have survived in the wild. So what do you think?”

  Trey looked at her hopefully as she considered his offer.

  “That sounds like fun,” Lissa said. “You know how much I like animals. We should go to the zoo.”

  “Yay! I’ll let Mom know you’re coming so she can pack extra sandwiches,” Trey exclaimed, giving her a high five. “Make sure you wear comfy shoes. The walking paths there are like hiking trails.”

  ***

  When Lissa headed over to Jessie’s the next morning, she was happily surprised to see Ryan’s pick-up parked in his parent’s driveway. Smoothing down her summery top, she checked her reflection in the front window of the cabin. The grin on Ryan’s face when he came out the door let her know he’d seen her preening like a peacock. His smile widened a bit as a blush came over her cheeks. Wisely, he decided not to tease her about what he’d seen.

  Trey was hot on his heels with a big picnic basket filling his arms. She hurried to rescue him as he waggled his feet, trying to feel for the steps.

  “Oh! Thanks Lissa! I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the car,” he exclaimed.

  “Well, you’re the one that wanted to carry the picnic basket,” Ryan teased him. “Maybe next time you’ll pick up something a little more your size.”

  The boxing match that ensued after his comment had Lissa laughing as Trey ran circles around his uncle. Jessie appeared with a large box and told them to stop fooling around as they were already running late. Taking a couple more swipes at each other, the two of them turned to load up the rest of their gear in the car.

  “Lissa, you ride up front with me,” Jessie ordered as she climbed in the driver’s seat. “Those two clowns can sit in the back.”

  As everyone scrambled to find their seats, the friendly banter continued from the back. Jessie turned on the radio and pulled out, ignoring their teasing. Lissa relaxed as the sound of their happy voices washed over her. It was good to be doing something fun again.

  When they reached the zoo, Ryan took charge of their group. He was well acquainted with the staff and they were welcomed into places not usually open to the public. Knowing Lissa’s interest in animals, he introduced her to several people he knew there. They were willing to share their knowledge once they learned of her job at Fish & Game.

  “We take in a lot of orphans here,” one woman explained. “They can’t survive in the wild on their own and if the mother gets hit by a car or killed by a hunter, they need help. We like to have a good connection with your office so you can call us when something goes wrong.”

  “That’s great,” Lissa said. “I had no idea there was someplace like this here in Anchorage. I’ll keep thi
s in mind as I’m out on patrol.”

  As she spoke, a shadow passed over her face. Ryan was watching her at that moment and wondered at the reason she looked so sad, but he kept quiet. He hoped things were going well for her at the new job. Maybe they’d be able to talk about what was troubling her later that afternoon.

  At the wolf enclosure, Trey searched high and low for his favorite wolf, Lobo, but he was nowhere to be seen. As he ran back and forth along the trail, the three adults found a spot to sit down and set up their picnic lunch. When the food was laid out, Trey came running back towards them with an anxious look on his face.

  “You don’t think anything’s happened to him, do you Mom?”

  “I’m sure he’s fine, Trey. Come and eat,” Jessie replied. When we’re done, Ryan can go find Jim and see what’s up with Lobo. He may just be hiding out in the enclosure. It’s pretty warm out here today.”

  Trey flopped down on the blanket and grabbed a sandwich. He sat with his back to them watching the shadows carefully for a sign of his friend.

  “So, how’s everything going over at Fish & Game,” Ryan queried. “Are you still liking your new job?”

  Lissa chewed carefully as she considered her answer. She wasn’t sure Ryan was fully aware of all of the mishaps she’d been party to in the last couple of weeks. None of them had yet heard the story of Friday’s misadventure.

  “I’m not sure that’s the right question,” she began, “about me still liking my new job, I mean. It may be more right to ask if the people at my new job still like me.”

  “What do you mean?” Jessie asked. “How could anyone not like you?”

  “Well, you know what happened with my first partner…”