Justice for Blyss

by Reina Torres

  “That’s my boy, Boudreau!”

  And just as if Boo had nabbed the meat from prey he twisted and turned in the water doing what naturally came to an animal who hunted to live. It might have just been a game, but it made Boo’s day and really, that was all that mattered.

  “All right, you goof! Have fun! See you tomorrow.”

  Boudreau slapped his tail in the water, sending up a magnificent splash before he disappeared with his meal.

  Chapter 7

  When she woke up on Monday, Blyss was in a much better mindset. She’d taken time on Sunday to go for a long hike with a few other Game Wardens. They were the kind of people who didn’t like talking, just walking.

  They all used it for peace and quiet, but liked the safety of hiking with others in a strange kind of buddy system.

  So, when she opened her eyes, she felt a little bit of an ache in her legs. She also woke up remembering a rather interesting dream. Interesting in that she was fairly sure it was more of a memory than a fantasy of some sort.

  Her ridiculous attempt to lure Owen Mercier into her bed.

  Owen, one of her oldest friends and yes, a total hottie. The kind of hottie who attracted women with enough money to spend it on themselves and look fabulous doing it.

  Just the idea of it in her head had made her sick to her stomach when she’d woken up. Oh, the pity he must have felt for her, trying to pull him closer, offering him… well, her.

  And yet he hadn’t laughed at her.

  She couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said, but that was likely because she hadn’t heard it the first time.

  Blyss knew she had to ask Owen about it. She didn’t want this to become a thing between them. Jumping into the shower, she’d decided to send him a few texts and pave the way for a temporary insanity defense.

  As soon as she’d stepped out and given herself a quick pat down, she’d sent him the first of the texts.

  BLYSS: Hey there, crazy question, did I come onto you while I was drunk the other night?

  She couldn’t help the awkward feeling that churned up her stomach while waiting for the response.

  OWEN: Finally remembered?

  BLYSS: OMG Why didn’t you tell me!?

  OWEN: Because I knew you’d be upset by it. I didn’t want you to be.

  BLYSS: Didn’t want me to be… stupid? Or drunk?

  The three little dots started up and then stopped and started up and then stopped and finally the new message popped up.

  OWEN: You weren’t stupid. Don’t say that.

  Blyss had a feeling she heard his tone in her head. Straight forward, somewhat angry, and no nonsense.

  The little dots continued and then another message popped up.

  OWEN: Don’t overthink it. We’ll talk about it later. How about lunch? Are you in my area today?

  She smiled and it took her mind off the crazy things she’d done for half a second.

  BLYSS: Everywhere is my area today. We’ll see if we end up close enough to each other. I really don’t think I’m up for this conversation. I feel stupid.

  OWEN: BLYSS ALLISON HARDY

  She laughed out loud before her alarm blared to life and got her back on her feet.

  BLYSS: What?

  OWEN: Stop it. We’ll talk about it soon. It doesn’t have to be today.

  OWEN: I just want you to know. It’s good.

  Oh, she didn’t know what to think about those words.

  What they meant was a riddle.

  And she didn’t have time to figure it out if she wanted to get going and into the office on time to get her assignments for the week.

  BLYSS: If I made you uncomfortable that night. I’m sorry.

  OWEN: It was a good kind of uncomfortable. Now get to work.

  Oh my. What was she supposed to think about that?

  At the office, she slowed up her steps when she saw a brown paper bag on her desk.

  Moving closer, she almost thought it was something from Owen, but when she saw the coffee cup on the other side of the package, she knew it wasn’t from him. Owen didn’t do gas station coffee. It was something about mixing up the coffee and oil. He’d never really explained it and she… well, she really didn’t want to know.

  Still, someone had left the coffee and the bag. She started to reach for it when she heard a voice behind her.

  “You found it! Great. I thought we could eat on the road.”

  “On the road? What’s going on?” “After all of that crazy stuff the other day, I thought it would be a good idea for us to use one vehicle today.

  Lance Soffer smiled at her with his hands braced on his hips. “In case other stuff happens, I can be right there for you.”

  The voice in her head argued back that she could be there for him, but that wasn’t the point.

  Or was it?

  “We’re not scheduled to patrol together today.”

  He shrugged and leaned closer. “I’m sure it’ll be okay. I’ll just tell the Colonel that you’d feel safe with someone else in the vehicle for a few days.”

  She knew she was staring at him, but instead of him reading the expression on her face as one of shock and incredulity, he looked like he was happy with her expression.

  “The Colonel isn’t in yet, but he’ll be in,” his gaze strayed to the clock, “in about twenty minutes. I’m going to go get my SUV ready and when the Colonel comes in, I’ll talk to him, okay?”

  “Uh,” she struggled to find a way to say ‘No’ without making it a scene. There were half a dozen Game Wardens in the room, but she just didn’t want to make him upset. There had to be a better way to get out of his generous offer.

  It turned out she didn’t have to say a thing. Lance gave her a half-salute and turned on his heel to head for the parking lot.

  As soon as he was out the door, Blyss saw Conor walk in. Giving him a wide-eyed stare, she waved him over.

  He came to her desk and gave her a side-ways look. “What’s going on?”

  “Lance, thinks I’m riding with him today.”

  “Lance,” Conor shook his head, “Soffer? The guy who came out to the search?”

  “Do you know another Lance Soffer who wears the uniform around here?” She continued. “I’m getting the feeling that he wants to go out with me, or something. He asked me to dinner the other night and now,” she gestured at her desk, “he brought food for us to eat in the SUV.”

  “Well,” he gave her a half-smile, “there are a bunch of married rangers. I still count Miranda and Trace even though she was retired when they fell in love, but it is a thing.”

  “It would be if I didn’t- If I wasn’t- What I mean is-”

  “You and Owen getting serious?”

  “Serious?” She had to laugh at that. “Owen has had more than his share of willing women and while I might harbor some ridiculous crush, he’s not the kind of guy to be… like you.”

  “Me, like married?”

  “You, like a one-woman man. I can’t imagine how he’d feel giving up the long line of women ready and willing to give him a good time in bed. Or out of it. But still, even if I didn’t have this misguided crush, I’m not attracted to Lance.

  “And you know the stakes of what we’re dealing with. Lance isn’t part of the taskforce. Having him over my shoulder, or literally beside me all day isn’t going to make this easy.”

  Conor nodded. “If you want to get out of here without having to share a vehicle with Lance today, you should probably get going. Now.”

  She smiled at him with a full ear to ear grin. “If you weren’t married to Erin, I might just kiss you right now.”

  “Liar.” He rolled his eyes. “Now get moving.”

  Moving over to the assignment board she left the food and coffee on her desk. She saw the area she’d been assigned and didn’t bother to write it down. She knew it well. It’s one of the three main areas that she was regularly assigned. They all took turns with different assignments from time to time, but having regu
lar assignments helped the Wardens learn the terrain and develop relationships with the people.

  Taking the side door, she reached her SUV and climbed into the seat. With a quick grab she pulled the seatbelt across her chest and buckled it in. Once that was done, she was on the road.

  As it happened, her usual circuit was interrupted ten minutes into her drive. A tip was called in about a snake dealer. She knew Lawrence Jones well. If you worked in this area you knew Lawrence.

  He had one of the biggest businesses in Texas when it came to selling pythons. He had the paperwork. They all knew it, and Lawrence wasn’t shy about showing it.

  The problem was Lawrence was a squirrely kind of guy. And that was saying something about a guy who worked with snakes that could easily eat one of those furry creatures, but he did remind her of one. Always jittery. Always moving about as if he were afraid that if he stopped moving, he’d end up in the stomach of one of his pets.

  Still, he made a lot of money. Had a lot of clients.

  It seemed like a lot of the tips that came into the hotline about Lawrence might just be from his competition or less reputable breeders, but they had to check them out anyway and that was her first stop of the day.

  And where she repeated to herself her personal mantra during her job.

  The first line of defense while a Warden was on shift wasn’t a Kevlar vest, or a side arm, it was being observant and ready to do what was necessary to make sure you went home in one piece.

  And that meant exuding some kind of confidence around the scaly things that Lawrence raised and sold.

  Her fellow Game Wardens knew she was tough. They considered her an equal after the years she’d put in on the job, and she just didn’t want the people that she served to think that she was going to scream at the sight of a snake. Thank goodness she’d been on her own. The last thing she needed was Lance thinking he had to protect her from the snakes too.

  The python in question was kept in a large glass enclosure and given its size, it could have made a snack out of her, but she still kept her chin up and her hands steady. When everything checked out, she washed her hands in Lawrence’s outside sink and got back on the road.

  A few miles away she heard her cell phone blip. When she stopped at a train crossing with a big transport coming through, she picked it up from where it lay on the center console of the SUV. There were a few text messages that she’d missed. Three from Lance, which she chose to ignore at the moment. He probably wasn’t all that thrilled that she’d left without him and honestly, she didn’t know what to say. ‘Sorry, I have this secret thing to keep my attention on. Do you mind looking out the window in the other direction?’ Nope. She just had to hope that Conor could explain things well enough that she wouldn’t have to worry about Lance’s interference.

  OWEN: Where do you think you’ll be around lunch?

  BLYSS: On the road. U?

  She could almost hear him grumble at her flippant answer. Blyss could have been more specific, but then, what would Owen gripe about if she made things too easy for him.

  OWEN: Funny. Give me a ballpark?

  She saw the end of the train coming up and decided to leave him with a message designed to test his good mood.

  BLYSS: Wrigley? I can’t afford it. Will a postcard suffice?

  Less than ten minutes later she was at a popular fishing spot checking licenses and fish limits. It was a pretty blissful hour, almost two. Some of the regulars were out and she liked talking to them. There were always the ‘fish’ stories. And sometimes in their stories the fish got away!

  It wasn’t until she got to the end of the row of fishermen and women that she heard a bit of disturbing news.

  “You might want to check on the area near Fuller Pond.” He cast a look down the line as if he were afraid that someone was looking at them while he talked. “I went by there the other day, you know, they have a couple of picnic tables over there.”

  She knew the area, but hadn’t spent much time there.

  “There were some kids hanging out. Drinking and smoking. They all looked too young to drink, but at my age, so do most people,” he explained. “But the kind of smoking they were doing isn’t legal in Texas.”

  Before she could ask him if he was certain what the kids were smoking the man gave her a hard look. “I know what it smells like.”

  She nodded. To her, burning pot smelled like cheap stinky incense.

  “Okay, thanks for the tip. We’re really grateful to you for keeping an eye out for these things.”

  He shrugged. “You folks can’t be everywhere. Just don’t tell them it was me that said something.”

  “We won’t. If they’re drinking or doing something illegal I won’t have to bring up a tip. Especially if they’re at the picnic tables provided by local tax money. We’re there to protect wildlife and humans. Underage drinking and narcotics possession are totally in our wheelhouse of prevention and law enforcement. Thanks again.” She held out her hand and he had to move his fishing pole to the left hand to shake. He did it, but he put it right back on the pole in time for a big bite and tug on the hook.

  Wishing him luck, Blyss went back to her SUV and climbed in. Opening up her map app she looked up the exact location. Many of the public rest areas were little more than some space cleared here and there alongside the road. Some had standing bathrooms, but the majority had port-a-johns or just assumed that you were only there for a quick bite.

  From the sounds of it, these kids were there for more than just a quick bite.

  It didn’t sound like anything remotely connected to the drug trafficking, but maybe the kids could tell them where they got their drugs. That might help track down the source of where it was coming in from. Following the instructions of the taskforce briefing, she pulled on her vest and made sure it fit snugly before picking up her phone again.

  Dropping a pin at the picnic area. She took a quick look at the clock on the dashboard. Almost lunchtime.

  With nothing nearby besides a gas station famous for its horrifying sushi menu, she thought it might be a good time to send out an update.

  Lifting the phone back into her hand she opened the map app again and sent the pin to Owen.

  With that done she left him an actual text.

  BLYSS: Going to investigate a tip about some kids drinking at a picnic spot. Might be there for a while if there’s more than a few of them. Stop by if you want. I’ll call you before I leave.

  Looking at the monster text that she’d typed out, she hit send and set it back down on the console.

  It was just a few minutes down the road, so she shifted the SUV into drive and pulled out.

  There wasn’t an actual parking lot, and knowing that the kids might make a run for it, Blyss parked her SUV right across the opening.

  With the vehicle at her back she moved into the picnic area and spotted two teenage girls sitting at one table. The closest girl was putting on makeup and the other one was staring down at her phone with a cigarette in her mouth.

  That’s all she could tell at that distance.

  So, she had to get closer. She was going to play things easy. Conversational. It was the best thing to do until she figured out what was going on.

  “Morning, girls.”

  The one putting on her makeup, lowered her compact and barely threw a look over her shoulder. “It’s almost one.”

  Blyss knew what it was like to deal with teens. After all, she’d had her moments when she was younger.

  “True. I’ve been on the road for a bit, sorry. I was wondering what you girls were doing out here.”

  The girl with her compact let out a sigh. “We’re out here hanging out.”

  “Just the two of you together?” Blyss looked at the top of the table and counted at least four backpacks there. Backpacks that didn’t seem to match either girl.

  The girl with the compact in her hand scoffed at the question. “For now.”

  Blyss made her way around to the side of t
he table and thankfully, before she had to rap her knuckles on the table to catch the other girl’s attention, she looked up.

  “What?”

  Blyss smiled at her. “Just checking in to make sure you girls are okay. I had a report of some kids over here smoking, maybe drinking.”

  Scrunching up her lips she shook her head. “No, sorry.”

  The wind shifted and the tell-tale stink of cheap pot reached her nose. Blyss tensed and looked at the girls. They seemed to have picked up on the same thing she had.

  “Don’t play with me,” she told the girls. “Things are always better when you tell me the truth. Possession of drug paraphernalia is only a Class C felony. You’re likely juveniles and that will work for you in front of a judge. Where are your friends? And are they just smoking or is this something more serious than that?”

  The two girls changed in a moment. Gone was the bluster and more than a bit of fear entered their expressions.

  “Girls? Come on now.”

  It all happened at once.

  One of the girls gasped as the bushes behind Blyss rustled.

  Someone shouted and the girls shot up from their seats. Blyss reached for her side arm and started to turn.

  Her next breath caught in her lungs as the report of a gun split the air and something slammed into her back.

  Dropped to her knees, Blyss managed to get her hands on the ground, ready to push herself back up, but before she could, something slammed into her lower back, pushing her down to the ground.

  She breathed in dust and tried not to choke on it. “I’m a Game Warden.”

  “Bitch wears a badge. End it, Rob.”

  “Shut the fuck up, idiot!”

  “We need to get out of here.”

  “Grab the packs.”