Jaguar Hunt

by Terry Spear

  Tammy joined him and shifted, then checked out her own bag. “Nothing missing in mine.”

  He lifted his nearly empty box of condoms and she smiled a little.

  Then lightning speared the night sky and they both glanced up before the rains started again. Hell. More rain suddenly burst from the clouds.

  Hurriedly dressing, David said, “Let’s see if we can find another, safer way out of here.”

  Tammy dressed just as fast. And then they finally found an easier slope, buried in trees and shrubs and vines, and made their way up to the top.

  Tammy looked totally worn-out. He pulled her into a hard embrace and kissed her wet lips. “Let’s go.”

  The rain continued pouring down on them as they rolled the bags through the jungle, stumbling over plants and buttress roots in their path.

  “The condoms are all gone,” Tammy said as she looked around the path for them.

  “Good Boy Scouts. Leave no trace behind.” Not that he thought the boys had been in the Boy Scouts. Most of their kind didn’t participate in human-run organizations like that. He could just imagine a boy shifting on a camping trip, wanting to be one with nature and his jaguar half.

  “Do you think the boys have been watching us the whole time?” Tammy asked.

  “Maybe, until we picked up our suitcases and they made sure no one else had discovered them.”

  David wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

  “Okay, we’ve got to talk about a couple of things. Weaver’s and Krustan’s scents were in our place and the boys’ bungalow also. What do you know about them?” David asked.

  “Weaver is a club addict. He’s there all the time. He dates some, pays his bills, and never is in any trouble, except when I solved the case without him and Sylvan was pretty hot under the collar about it.”

  “So he could have a vendetta against you.”

  “Maybe. He’s kind of a mystery otherwise. Sticks to himself. Reads James Bond novels. Big on security, but had his place broken into anyway. That’s hush-hush, by the way.”

  David smiled at her.

  “Weaver loves chocolate cheesecake. When they serve it at the branch’s dining hall, he’s the first one in line to get a couple of slices.”

  “Anybody who likes chocolate cheesecake can’t be all bad.”

  She laughed.

  “What about Krustan?” David asked.

  “He loves women. Like Joe and Quinn. He likes being with someone. Not a loner. He’s on the Enforcers’ volleyball team.”

  “What about you?”

  “The guys are way too rough. I actually tried out. Had the big, hulking guys landing all over me. Left their sneaker tread marks on my shins. Decided I needed a different sport. Like…running.”

  He smiled. “I love running, playing chase…especially if you’re in front of me. Anything else?”

  “Krustan’s got a cute little shih tzu that he adores. He’s brought him to work a couple of times, once when the condo he was living in caught on fire, and he said his dog won’t eat if he kennels him. And another time when it was the day for agents to bring their kids to work and tell them about what they do, Krustan brought his dog. I think he uses him to catch the women’s eyes, too. Do you think someone who loves such a cute little fur ball would be a bad guy?”

  David smiled at her, shaking his head. “But you ditched him on assignment and he could still be sour about that.”

  “Yeah, I agree. So I don’t know. All four of them in on this? Joe, Quinn, Krustan, Weaver?”

  “Could be.”

  When they finally reached the lodge, they looked half-drowned and muddy. They’d come up with a story, though. They dragged their luggage onto the lodge’s deck and rolled into the dimly lit place.

  While most of the accommodations were separate bungalows and cabanas, ten rooms could be rented here for those who didn’t want to be as surrounded by the jungle and wanted cheaper accommodations. Card tables were set up for guests who enjoyed playing games at night. The guests were all tucked in their beds. Everything was quiet. Except in one of the rooms upstairs. David heard the soft moaning and groaning of a couple making love. That was one problem with his enhanced cat hearing.

  Both he and Tammy were dripping water all over the tile floor. He glanced down at his bedraggled partner, and she smiled knowingly up at him. He smiled back and she blushed.

  He rolled his bag to the counter and tapped on a bell.

  No one came to the front desk. He rang it again.

  A dark-haired man, Carlos, the manager, came out, his eyes half-lidded, but they instantly widened in recognition. He sputtered in Spanish. Remembering his English, he said, “The police have been looking for you everywhere.” He pulled out a phone to call someone.

  “We went on a hike, and we saw a couple of men taking off with our luggage and realized they must have broken into our bungalow and stolen it. We chased after them through the jungle. It took hours to catch up to them. We had our passports, cell phones, everything in the luggage and couldn’t afford to lose them,” David quickly said, the same speech he had rehearsed a few times before they arrived at the lodge.

  It was a flimsy story, but the lodge manager seemed so relieved to have them back that he didn’t question it. He relayed the message to the police in Spanish.

  “We finally just got back here and wanted to report that we’re okay and got our luggage back.”

  “Anything stolen?” Carlos asked.

  David said, “No. We chased them off.”

  “Description?”

  David made up a couple of fake descriptions—two scrawny, tall, blond males, middle-aged, wearing black ninja-type clothes—figuring no one would find anyone to question who fit that account.

  “The men had broken into your room and made a mess of it. We’ve straightened the place up. Here’s the new key. You…you stay longer?” Carlos asked, sounding concerned that his place might get a bad review over this.

  “We’re leaving tomorrow,” David said. “We’re tired. We need to get to the bungalow and clean up and go to bed.”

  Carlos spoke to the police again. “Sí.” Then he said to David, “The police want to talk to you in the morning.”

  “All right. We’ll see them in the morning.”

  He headed outside with Tammy into the pouring rain. They rolled their suitcases along the stone path until they finally reached their secluded bungalow. He had to walk slowly because Tammy was dragging, she was so tired.

  When they got inside, he said, “Take a shower and I’ll wheel our bags into the bedroom.”

  She nodded and headed for the bathroom.

  They would sleep and then discuss tomorrow’s plans in the morning. Since the boys’ place had also been broken into, he suspected they wouldn’t be staying there tomorrow. He hoped the kids were okay and that they’d get in touch soon. But for tonight, he and Tammy needed rest.

  He headed outside to the patio shower to wash off the mud and found a pineapple and a bunch of bananas sitting on the bench. He cleaned up and grabbed the fruit. When he lifted them, he saw a note that had been written in indelible waterproof ink. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to read, as wet as it was. RTN HM. CT? AN

  Return home? David carried the note and fruit into the bungalow and noted Tammy was still showering in the bathroom. He set the fruit down on the dresser, opened her bag, and found a skintight tank top and her red silk panties that he’d admired when they had first arrived.

  She walked into the bedroom, towel wrapped around her body, and looked at the selection he’d made for her to wear. She shook her head. “The way you keep this place like the polar ice caps, I need to wear flannel pj’s.”

  He laughed and grabbed a pair of boxers. She eyed the fruit and the note.

  “What do you make of it?” he ask
ed.

  “Return home? Connecticut? Alex and Nate.” She slipped on her panties.

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured. Except on the CT, I suspect it might be cat.”

  “Do they mean they’re going home?” She pulled the tank top over her breasts, and he smiled at the sight of the fabric stretched across them, her pointed nipples visible.

  “Uh, yeah,” he said. “I think so.”

  “Question mark on the cat. Asking us if we want to know where it is?”

  “Or the cat is missing.”

  Tammy’s expression darkened.

  “We don’t know for sure about anything. I suspect after their place got broken into, they left the area. Maybe after they picked up the condoms, they drove to Belize City for the next flight out tomorrow. They might even be on our flight.”

  She climbed into bed with David, and he pulled her into his arms and yanked the covers over them. “Yeah. It’s time to check out the circus,” she said.

  “Yeah, it is.” He held her close, loving the smell of tangerine on her. “You hungry?”

  She shook her head. “Just tired.”

  He should have eaten a couple of bananas. He was starving, having missed eating dinner and then exercising so much today. But he wanted Tammy snuggled against him all night. He breathed in her sexy smell, listening to her heart beating and absorbing the warmth of her skin.

  “Why did you pick this for me to wear?” she asked sleepily.

  “Ever since I saw those panties, I wanted to see them on you. I had an awful time visualizing you wearing them.”

  She chuckled.

  “When we were eating dinner here the first night, you were staring at my hands. Want to clue me in on why?” he asked.

  She laughed. He smiled. She explained to him what she’d read. Then he laughed. “So did I meet or exceed the survey result?”

  “You have to ask?”

  He caressed her arm. “Here I thought you were checking out whether I was married or not. You sure aren’t anything like what I expected.”

  “Good or bad?”

  “You have to ask? We need to finish this assignment, pronto.”

  “So we can get the cat home.”

  “And so we can date like normal people would.” He was not letting her get away. Maybe they’d have what it took to make the relationship work for the long-term.

  “We are not like normal people of the human variety,” she reminded him and kissed his chest.

  How well he knew.

  ***

  The morning came too early as the police knocked on their door and David explained to them all that had happened, repeating what he’d said last night. The story sounded crazy, except the break-in had corroborated that someone had entered their place, made a mess, and their bags had disappeared. With promises that they’d apprehend the men, the police left. David didn’t believe they would make much of an effort, though, since he and Tammy had “thwarted” the would-be bandits and had all their stuff back.

  Despite eating a couple of bananas before they headed to the dining lodge for breakfast, David was still starving. Even so, he rushed Tammy through breakfast, their bags already packed in the rental car, and then they took off. He had important business to attend to before they caught their flight.

  ***

  When David said they had to leave extra early to reach Belize City for something important that he had to get his boss, Tammy wasn’t sure what to expect. Something pertaining to the mission, she thought. So when David stopped at a stand where a woman was selling candy, Tammy raised her brows at him in silent question.

  “Wangla,” he explained. “It’s sugar, oil, and water, like peanut brittle only made with thousands of sesame seeds. Boss loves it. If we come home without a bag of it from Belize, Martin will not be happy. I swear he sends one of us on a mission down here every so often just to pick up his sweet treat for him.”

  Smiling, Tammy shook her head.

  “Don’t tell me your boss doesn’t expect his agents to bring him home anything if you’re on assignment in different places.”

  “Sylvan?” she asked, her voice arching with surprise. “All I know is that he loves two long-horned cows that he babies on his ranch. I can’t imagine bringing him anything that would make his cows happy that they don’t already get on his pastureland.”

  “Not into sweet treats?”

  “The cows?”

  David laughed.

  The traveling was long and tedious on the return home to Dallas. After all the craziness yesterday and all the physical exercise they’d had, they were both exhausted, but neither was able to snooze much on the plane. This time, Tammy did rest her head against David’s shoulder—and noticed she’d pleased him by doing so—though she never got quite comfortable enough.

  As soon as they headed for their cars in the Dallas airport parking lot, David seemed quieter than usual. Contemplating things, she thought. Just like she was. Or he was just plain tired.

  The weather was hot and humid here, almost as much as the jungle had been, but without thick foliage to stop it, a stiff breeze blew around them.

  “At least now we have really good reception and can get hold of everyone for answers when we need them,” she said to David.

  “Yeah.” He didn’t say anything more than that, so she quit talking.

  They finally reached the parking tower and she said, “My car is parked on the third floor.”

  “Mine’s on the first.”

  “Okay, so you want to meet up tomorrow and go to the circus? I need to clean up, wash clothes, get some rest, et cetera.”

  He looked down at her, his green eyes studying her gaze. “I’m not sure you should be alone until this investigation is done.”

  So that’s what his silence was all about. He was worried about her and probably suspected she wouldn’t buy into his protectiveness. Which she wouldn’t. Not when she was safe at home. She needed to get this business back on a professional basis. Meet with partner, search for clues, go to own homes at night. They could work in the dating—later. When they were in Belize, it was different. They hadn’t had much of choice about sticking close. And it was safer that way. She supposed she should have told him that up front. She had just assumed he’d be thinking along the same vein.

  “Hey, I’ll be fine. No zip-line adventures, no running through the jungle. I’ll be home, security system armed, just doing girlie things—like maybe painting my toenails or taking a bubble bath and reading a hot romance.”

  He smiled a little at that, but the worry crease still wrinkled his brow.

  “I’ll call you and we can have bedtime talk—later. I’ll tell you I’m tucked into bed and everything’s fine. We’ll both sleep in our separate beds. In the morning, we’ll be refreshed and ready to go. I’ll start the laundry. Fix myself a meal. Unwind a bit and get started on the investigation tomorrow.”

  “I could bring a movie over, pick up something for us to eat…”

  “Babysit me? No way. Tomorrow we’ll get together. Early.” She patted him on the chest. “We’ll be together all day. On the case.”

  Now that they were home, she really had to get focused. She’d never wanted to mix pleasure with business when she’d worked with other partners before. She knew David was the only reason she was having trouble keeping the two notions separate. Even if they had agreed to dating.

  “Okay. You don’t want me to walk you to your car?” he asked.

  She laughed. “You’ll want to drive it and…” She shook her head.

  He was smiling a little. Yeah, when the guys got close to her car, they forgot about the girl who owned it.

  She didn’t want to share a long kiss good-bye—well, truthfully she did—but that might show she was changing her mind about his coming home with her. Once she tilted her head up to kiss him and
he leaned down to respond, and her arms went around his neck, and his tongue slipped into her mouth… Well, hell, she was having a really, really hard time sticking to her plans.

  She was certain the hot and sexy way he kissed her meant he was trying to change her mind, too. She groaned a little as his hands slid down over her backside and he pressed her against his growing arousal. Luckily, there was no one anywhere nearby to see their public display of affection. She suspected tonight might be the only night that she could resist having him come home with her if they always kissed like this after they wrapped up business for the day.

  “Uh, tomorrow,” she said, still wrapped around him, and he wasn’t letting go, either. Then she pulled away and smiled.

  “Are you certain?” He could smell that she wanted to take this further.

  “Yeah, look forward to tomorrow.” Then she turned and headed for the elevator before she took him home with her.

  He didn’t move. She would have heard him rolling his bag along the concrete floor to wherever he’d parked his car. He was watching her. Making sure she made it to the elevator by herself. Or maybe he just wanted to wave good-bye or something. She was way overthinking this.

  When she reached the elevator and got on, she turned to see him observing her, somber as could be. Trying to lighten the mood, she smiled, waved, and shut the door just as she smelled Quinn Singleterry’s scent in the elevator.

  Chapter 20

  David let out his breath in exasperation. What was wrong with him? Tammy was applying the brakes big-time, and he knew when that happened he had to step back and let her have her space. But he desperately wanted to close the gap between them and feel the heat of her body, to listen to her soft sighs and the beat of her heart. He wanted to share the time they could together, just enjoying a night off, but even so, he knew they’d mull over the case, maybe even come up with some ideas. Two heads were definitely better than one.

  Hell. He had to get on with business. He pulled out his phone and started hauling his bag to his car parked in the back forty, while calling his boss. “Arrived at the airport. We’re picking up the investigation tomorrow.”