by Terry Spear
Bridget patted her backpack. “Just take his clothes with you in case he turns into his human form in the meantime.”
“I think we need to alert the press too,” Addie said, “just in case.”
After that, they helped Chet carry Carl to his car, Bridget tossed her backpack in the front seat, and Chet drove off.
“I wish you could have gone with them,” Addie said to Dan as they returned a still unconscious Paris to the area where Addie had shot her.
“I was part of this. And I don’t want to go to the hospital until you can come with me.”
“Hang on then.” She called the press first, then Briggs, telling him what had happened.
In the meantime, Chase called the hospital to send a couple of ambulances for two wounded people—one who needed to be taken into federal custody.
“We’ve got agents on the way,” Briggs said. “I can’t believe Alicia had taken part in all of this, but I understand why she had the three of you on the team then. We’ve located the courier’s body, and he was killed like you said he was. We really do want to reinstate you.”
“Thanks, but I like the change of scenery, and the people here have my back.”
“I understand. Warrants have gone out for the arrest of several key people. I’m one of the few who managed to keep my job. Take care. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you when this goes to trial.”
“Keep your nose clean, sir.”
“I will.”
The ambulances came for Paris and Dan about the time the agents arrived to get everyone’s testimony. Addie quickly gave hers, and then left with Dan for the hospital. She hoped their stories all matched. It was hard telling what you did when you couldn’t mention being a cougar part of the time.
She hadn’t even learned what had happened with the others, but she hadn’t wanted to discuss it in front of Paris, in case she was awake. And for her statement to the feds, she only needed to know her part in this. Chet would be sure to tell Carl what the story was and that he wasn’t involved in the whole mess.
After about an hour at the hospital, waiting in the room with Dan after they removed two bullets from his arm, she kissed him and hugged him. He hugged her back with his good arm. “It will be so good to return home and take you to bed with me.”
“I need to close out my apartment in Portland, Oregon,” she said, just now realizing it. She wasn’t ever going anywhere else, except on a job. To live? She was staying in Yuma Town. “I need to pick up my clothes and personal items. The apartment was furnished, so it all stays.”
“Would you mind too much if someone else volunteered to pick up your things?”
“Personal items,” she reminded him. “You don’t have to go with me. The bad guys are all taken down. Or at least when the rest of this documentation gets out there, they’ll all be heading for cover.”
“Or trying to take you out.”
“For revenge? They’d be stupid to come after me. Not when they know what that will get them.”
Dan shook his head. “I don’t trust that it would never happen.”
“You have to be busy with sheriff duties. I understand. I—”
He sighed. “I’ll go with you.”
“Only if you lie on the bed, watching me pack.”
“By the time we get to your place—”
She gave him a stern look like she meant it, which she did. He was going to rest while she packed, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
He smiled. “As you wish.”
She knew he didn’t mean it.
The sound of footfalls made her want to pull out her gun, but because of the investigation and her and Dan shooting Dirk and Paris, they had to hand them over.
Before the people reached the door, she readied Dan’s tray to shove against the door. “Just us,” Bridget said. “You probably feel as naked without your guns as we do.”
“Yeah.” Relieved, Addie moved the tray back toward the bed when everyone but Chet and Carl showed up.
“How’s Carl doing, do you know?” Addie asked.
“We called Chet to see if we needed to go there first, but he said Carl’s still sleeping as a cat and seems to be okay. We’ll be heading that way shortly,” Bridget said. “We all need some sleep. Travis called, and I had to tell them what we were doing. He said he’d never leave me home alone again just to chill out.”
“You were protecting me.”
Bridget smiled. “Yeah, well, despite what you’d already been through, he had the mistaken notion nothing else would happen. Shows what he knows. Chase let Stryker know that Dan was wounded.”
“I’m nearly ready to go home,” Dan groused.
“The doctor said tomorrow,” Addie said.
“We’re delayed returning home,” Bridget said.
“Not all of us,” Addie said. “Hal, I know you need to get home to Tracey and the babies.”
“I called Shannon and told her the situation. She’s fine with me being here until we can get the two of you back home. We go together,” Chase said.
Hal agreed. “It won’t be but a few more hours. Tracey’s family and mine are helping out and when I get home, that’s all I’ll do for a while.”
“What about you, Bridget?” Addie asked.
“Leyton and Travis got their man, but they won’t be returning until tomorrow night late. We should be there by then, or the next day, at the latest.”
“I’m checking myself out of the hospital so we can get on the road,” Dan said.
“No, you’re not,” Addie said.
He frowned at her. “You know how fast—”
“Not that fast.”
“Did he ever tell you about the time he was hit on the battlefield, and he refused to leave the rest of us during the heat of battle? Chase, Stryker and me?” Hal asked. “Our commander threatened to court martial him. He makes for a terrible patient.”
Addie smiled. “How about if I play doctor and nurse, Dan?”
Dan smiled. “I’ll go along with that.”
17
Dan couldn’t believe all that they’d been through, and was glad Addie had decided to mate him and stay in Yuma Town, no matter what Briggs had offered her. She was right where she belonged—with him.
She stayed overnight with him at the hospital, despite that he wanted her to go to Chet’s place to rest. She wasn’t about to, and he knew it was because she still wanted to make sure he had protection. Though some of the time she had fallen asleep too.
They got an update from Chase about Carl when Dan was sharing his lunch with her. Carl was human again, and he was healing well. Which was good because they didn’t want to have to make up some story of how he was cut, if he had to be brought into the hospital. The police would have to be notified then.
It was not until the next afternoon that Dan was released, against the doctor’s objection, but Dan’s wounds were healing too fast to be normal, and they needed to get on the road.
Chase picked them up and drove them to Chet’s house.
“Are you all right to make the trip?” Dan asked Carl. “You could stay here and Chet could bring you later.”
“No, I’m coming with you. If it hadn’t been for all of you, I would be dead. And if I hadn’t been a cougar when I was cut and had the faster healing genetics.”
“All right. We’re ready to go then. Thanks, Chet, for all your help with this,” Dan said.
“I live for the danger and the excitement. Though I dodge better than you.”
Dan laughed. “The woman wasn’t aiming at anything. Just shooting indiscriminately. I couldn’t have moved any faster to avoid getting hit.”
“He’s right. I was afraid she would hit both of us with lucky shots,” Addie said, hugging on Dan.
He loved that she was his mate for real. He couldn’t say it enough times or mean it any more than he did. “Let’s go then.”
They had a long drive ahead of them, and he suspected he and Carl were going to have to sleep more on the return tr
ip than when they drove out to Cheyenne. He still wished Addie would let someone else pack up her things, but he understood how she felt. Now, with him, he wouldn’t have cared if someone else had packed up his stuff and moved it.
“What happened to everyone during the shootouts? We heard three cats cry out,” Dan said.
“The first one was me,” Carl said. “Big mistake. I’m not used to being a cougar, and so when I came upon a woman, I didn’t know what to do. Especially when she smelled like a cougar.”
“Alicia’s pretend mother,” Dan said.
“Yeah. She lunged forth with a long knife and sliced me. Damn near killed me. I collapsed. I guess she didn’t want to shoot me and alert everyone they were out there. She didn’t have a clue who I was either.
“Then she went back to lying in wait for everyone else. I just laid there feeling useless and like I was dying, praying one of you would come for me and save me, or that these faster healing abilities would kick in.”
“Glad you made it,” Dan said.
“Me too. And thanks, Addie. I learned you’re the one who stitched me up.”
“Yes. The scar will disappear completely in a few days. You’ll need to take it easy for a while,” Addie said.
“Who was the second cat?” Dan asked.
“Hal. He was warning us he’d found one of the guys, right before he killed him,” Bridget said. “And Chase was the other cat who called out. He killed the guy too.”
“Hell, two men dead from cougar bites,” Dan said.
“No problem. Chase and Hal corroborated that a cougar had attacked the men, and Chase said Alicia killed it. They’ll find the cougar’s DNA on the knife that Alicia had dropped when she went to shoot Addie,” Bridget said.
“Who fired the other shots?”
“I did. I took out two other men while Chase and Hal were cougars. They hadn’t had a choice about killing them as cougars. They were trying to locate them, but they were afraid the rest of us would walk into their ambush,” Bridget said.
“How in the hell did they learn where we were?” Dan wondered if they’d followed their cell signals, or something.
“Okay, now that’s the bad part,” Carl said. “And I can’t apologize more for it, except we took out the rotten asses.”
“What did you do, Carl?” Addie asked, sounding highly annoyed.
“The woman who hired me—Paris—grabbed my wrist at one point, as if I had intended to leave before she was through talking to me. I wasn’t. It didn’t occur to me that something else was going on,” Carl said.
“Chet ran a bug detector over Carl’s clothes and it came up with nothing. He suspected if anyone was wearing a bug, it would be the man who was working for the bad guys. Then Carl remembered he had left his watch on the floor of the car when he was in a hurry to shift the one time. Chet checked it out, and sure enough, it had a bug on it,” Bridget said.
“I didn’t know it. I swear to God, I didn’t.”
“We believe you,” Dan said, though he looked at Bridget for confirmation. She nodded. “Addie wouldn’t let me watch the news while I was supposed to be sleeping. What’s the latest on that?”
“Addie’s boss is stating left and right he’s taking down the corrupt agents in the Bureau, and he’s been promoted to take Alicia’s place,” Bridget said.
“If you all don’t need me for anything, I think I’ll go to sleep,” Carl said.
“Why don’t you get some sleep too,” Addie told Dan.
“You know I can drive on the way home.”
Addie didn’t answer him.
Bridget smiled over the passenger seat at him. “I think her silence means no way in hell.”
He chuckled. “I kind of got that impression. All right. Your loss.” He settled back on the seat, hoping they wouldn’t encounter any problems, and fell asleep.
A week later, Addie wanted to go home and take care of the apartment. She’d lose her deposit for not giving two months’ notice, but she and Dan were willing to pay any price to be over and done with it. He’d still tried to talk her out of going, but she was dead set on doing this herself, reminding him he didn’t need to go with her. No way was he going to let her go without accompanying her.
Several agents were being held on bond, and an internal investigation was ongoing. He really didn’t feel she was in danger from any more attempts on her life. He’d still feel better once she was home again with the cougars in Yuma Town.
Ricky was all healed up, and so was Carl. She wondered if the two of them would ever forgive each other for injuring one another. The same with Kolby, but some had faith they would.
Two days later, they arrived at her apartment with several packing boxes to find her manager showing her place, annoyed she’d left it in such a mess. She hadn’t wanted Dan to see her place when she hadn’t picked it up, though she said she thought it was never that much of a mess.
The place had been trashed! Hell, Dan was glad he was there for Addie. “Go ahead and start packing, and I’m going to talk to your manager.”
“I can’t believe she’s such an idiot that she can’t recognize a messy place from one that has been broken into and ransacked!” Addie just stood in the middle of the mess and Dan took her in his arms.
“Why don’t you tell her that, I’ll call the police, and—”
“I’m liable to say or do something I’ll regret. I’ll be fine. I’ll call the police.”
Dan waited a minute more, rubbing her back, comforting her. “All right. I’ll be right back.” He was liable to say or do something he’d regret. He stalked into the apartment manager’s office, and she folded her arms and looked cross at him.
“I want to know how someone broke into Addie’s apartment and you were too blind to realize her place has been ransacked? For the record, I’m Sheriff Dan Steinacker of Yuma Town, and anyone with an ounce of sense can see the place has been rifled through. She keeps her place neat as a pin, but after she was nearly killed by assassins, they must have come in search of something at her apartment. You’re lucky they didn’t kill you.”
The woman’s jaw hung agape, her brown eyes wide.
“She’s moving, not because she wants to, but because she’s identified several FBI agents who were involved in the murder of her parents, both FBI agents. And she is one also. Or was. She’s a deputy sheriff for Yuma Town now, but also under my jurisdiction in case she has any more hits ordered on her. You can see why she couldn’t give two months’ notice.”
“Of course. Yes. She has to move. Once the place is tidied up, I’ll give her deposit back.”
“The police have been alerted.”
Her jaw dropped again.
“She’ll appreciate your goodwill gesture of returning her deposit. Thanks for supporting your law enforcement officials.” Then Dan stalked out of the manager’s office and returned to Addie’s apartment and found her staring at the mess. “Hey, honey, I’m so sorry about this. What can I do?”
“The police are on their way. They know about the case and they’ve called the FBI.”
“Your manager has graciously offered to refund your deposit.”
That earned Dan a smile and he loved when Addie was all smiles. He drew her into his arms and kissed her.
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight. “How in the world did you manage that?”
“I told her that she’d be safer if you were out of here.”
Addie laughed. “Thank you.”
He kissed her soundly, wanting to take this to her bedroom, but afraid of what they’d find in there.
She pulled away and sighed. “Let’s start packing. Unless the police find a dead body, they’re not going to check for fingerprints. I need to see if anything’s missing, but I imagine they did this when I was hospitalized.”
“I’ll get the boxes.” Dan carried the boxes in and then began taping them up so she could fill them.
She was folding her clothes into one while he wanted in the worst
way to straighten up the place so she wouldn’t feel so bad about it, not to mention they could move about more easily. They needed to leave things the way they were, except her clothes were fine to pack away. The bastards had torn up her couch cushions even. He suspected the same with her mattress. He headed in there to see what a disaster it was. Just as he figured. The mattress was ripped apart and the thugs had searched through it.
“Police are here. And I guess FBI agents.” Addie asked, “Did you bring a spare gun?”
“Yeah, what’s the problem.” He stalked back into the living room to see what was going on.
“They’re arguing with the police, telling them this is their jurisdiction and to get lost. The police are holding their own, and now they’re both on phones, probably calling their bosses to sort it out. I really don’t like the looks of it.”
“Why don’t we go outside and talk to both of them, so that we’re not a target if the police are there, witnessing this whole thing?”
“I’ve got another idea too.” She called the local paper and told them who she was and if they wanted a news story, come right over. “Hurry. The police are here, but the FBI agents are trying to make them leave… Thanks. See you in a few minutes.” She gave them the address.
Then the two of them went out to meet with the agents and the police.
“Forgive us if we feel a bit paranoid after all that’s happened, but we’d appreciate if the police hung around too,” Addie said.
“This is our jurisdiction. The police aren’t authorized to be here.”
“Can we see your credentials?” Dan asked. He examined them, then gave them to Addie to check out.
A news crew showed up and Addie said, “These nice officers and agents are here to see the break-in I had.” She gave them an impromptu interview.
“I’ll just give my former boss a call and see what he has to say.” Addie called Briggs. “I have two agents here at my apartment that was ransacked, probably at the time that I was hospitalized. I need to move my clothes and personal items to my new home. I wanted someone to verify that my place was torn up during a burglary. I want the local police here because, as I’m sure you can well understand, I’m wary of anyone posing as federal agents.” She nodded and handed her phone to one of the agents.
