Jaguar Hunt (17 page)

“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.

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.”

He'd filled Martin in on the stuff that happened yesterday while they were waiting to board the plane in Belize City, at the same time Tammy had updated her boss. Martin was the kind of guy who listened carefully before he made any judgment or response. He'd really been silent while David had told him about being stuck in jaguar form, the police searching for them, and their missing bags. David also mentioned that Quinn and Joe had been at their bungalow
after
they purportedly flew into the States.

“I have to admit, though we suspect Joe Storm is involved in all of this, I'm really surprised that Quinn would be. I presume he's doing some off-the-books undercover work. I can speculate all day long on this. We'll just have to bring him in for questioning.” Then his boss reiterated, “I'm going to have a little talk with Alex and Nate about stranding agents without their clothes so that they have no safe way to shift.”

“I agree,” David said. “At least it all worked out. Truthfully, I think the boys had some misguided notion of protecting us from whoever ransacked our place. I can see where the kids will be an asset to the branch. They just need some guidance.” Much as he and his brother had at that age. “We just need to make sure they know they're valued.”

“I agree.”

“You'll have fun training them.” David was glad he didn't have the job. He could just imagine the kids pulling pranks on their JAG instructors—all in good fun—just like he and Wade had done some years back. “We're going to the circus tomorrow. Do you have any word about it?”

“The owner, Cyrus Wilde, says that someone stole the jaguar from the circus last year.”

Processing the information, David didn't say anything for a moment. “The jaguar had been at the Oregon Zoo for a year.”

“Yeah. So what if the owner is right? What if the jaguar was in the circus's possession to begin with, and it was stolen and handed over to the zoo?” Martin said. “And all they did was take it back?”

“Why would the circus have stolen it? Why not tell the zoo it was theirs and prove ownership? Also, if the jaguar had been the circus's, the cat should be able to perform some acts. How long had they had her?” David asked.

“A month, Cyrus said.”

“Had the jaguar learned any tricks when they had it the first time?”

“I didn't ask.”

“Okay, so the zoo cat, if it's not really the circus's cat, wouldn't have had time to learn a lot of tricks during the short time the circus had her this time,” David said.

“Right. That's the only lead we've got. He reported the cat stolen a year ago, but no one took them seriously, Cyrus said. And you're right about them stealing the cat. Unless they can prove she was theirs, which means they have official paperwork showing legitimate ownership, they're not getting her back. He explained that a former manager had made a mess of their records, and he couldn't find the paperwork to prove she was theirs on short notice.”

David thought it all sounded fishy. “What if they falsify records to use for their cover story?”

“We'll check it out with the authorities and ensure it's all authentic.”

“Any word on whether any of the boys came home?” David finally found his car.

“No. They seem to be lying low.”

“What about the Enforcer agents, Quinn, or Joe Storm?”

“Haven't been able to contact or locate any of them,” Martin said. “Sylvan's had no luck with his men, either. I do have some other news. Juan, the guide that hooked Tammy up to the cable at the zip-line adventure, went missing. He was bragging about some tourist paying him extra money on the side if he had the customers go in a certain order. Tammy was the only one who showed up from the group originally scheduled that included you, Alex, Nate, and Tammy. One of the boys, Alex or Nate, was supposed to go first. You after that. Tammy was scheduled for last. Instead, Tammy arrives with the family of four. Juan most likely figured since she was the only one named on the list, she would go first. This friend of Juan's said Juan went to get paid afterward and hasn't been heard from since. The other guide said that he was busy helping with the family, so he didn't see the way Juan hooked her up to the cable.”

David didn't like where this was going.

“Juan wasn't paid just to have the four of you go in a certain order, we don't believe. The pulley shouldn't have come off the second cable when the first broke. It should have remained in place. We've viewed the teen's video you sent us several times and sent a copy to investigators in Belize to help with their analysis. In reviewing the video, we could see that the guide hooked up the pulley to the top cable properly, but with the second one, he made the motions like he was connecting the carabiner to the lower cable, but he didn't.

“I checked for accidents that have occurred at other resorts to see if this could have happened accidentally. In two cases, similar incidents had been reported. One woman held on for dear life as the pulley was only partway hooked on and wasn't seated on the cable. She was badly skinned up and bruised when she came in to the terminal platform. The other had to be rescued. So what I'm saying is that it happens sometimes. The guide is distracted and doesn't hook up the zipper correctly.”

“Was he distracted?” David asked, popping open his trunk.

“From what we could tell from the video, Juan glanced nervously at the kid filming him as he hooked Tammy up. That could have been what distracted him.”

“But?” David knew his boss had come to a different conclusion and had good reason.

“His disappearance and his bragging about receiving money lead me to suspect he was paid to sabotage the excursion. We suspect the guide didn't know that the other cable had been cut.”

“Wait, you know for sure it was cut?” David set his bag inside the trunk and slammed it closed.

“I had Tammy's brothers go to Belize as soon as they finished their assignment in Costa Rica to speak with investigators checking into the zip-line cable breaking. It had been cut.”

“And?” David asked.

“Quinn's scent was on the cable.”

David swore under his breath.

“He might not have had anything to do with the cutting of the cable. He could have just been there ahead of us, checking into it.”

“And incriminated himself intentionally?” David asked, not sure why his boss would still be defending Quinn.

“Possibly. This other business of him sending someone in his place on the plane trip home… He did do that once during an investigation to throw a perp off. The perp got careless, believing Quinn had left the area. Quinn nabbed him then. I haven't been able to get hold of him, but he's always ignored calls from the branch when he's on vacation. If he's doing some undercover work on the side, that's not so unusual, either. He's done it before. So no red flag there.”

“So you believe he might have been in Belize, trying to get Joe to give up names of those who are dirty in the organization?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay, so what else about this Juan, the guide?” David opened his car door, got in, started the car, and rolled down the windows. He turned on the air to cool the vehicle before he left the parking tower.

“We figured Juan would have thought nothing would happen to the rider because the top cable would have allowed her to continue on her way unharmed. At least that's what we suspect. Everyone said Juan would be willing to earn some extra money on the side, but he wouldn't have done so if it meant someone would die. At least that's what his friends and relatives said. Investigators learned that he hadn't ever been convicted of any major crimes. Petty stuff—traffic violations, stole a watch once, nothing that would endanger someone's life,” Martin said.

“And we have no way of knowing who was paying him.”

“That was the interesting part.” Martin gave a dramatic pause.

David knew it couldn't be good.

“The guy told one of the other guides that the man who was paying him said if any of them wanted to earn extra cash, just to get in touch with him.”

“You're kidding. So who the hell did he say he was?”

“He said the man's name was David Patterson.”

David swore under his breath. Who the hell was trying to set him up?

“David, I want you to stick close to Tammy at all times. Even if whoever tampered with the cable hadn't meant for her to be injured, after learning Joe fired the weapon at her, discovering she'd dated him and thrown him over, and with the possibility he's involved in the missing jaguar case, I want you to stay with her always. Both of you, watch your backs.”

David was damn glad that Tammy hadn't been targeted for the zip-line accident, but he wasn't happy the line had been sabotaged. “Gotcha. I'll let you know when I have anything new.”

They ended the conversation. He'd make a couple more calls to update his brother on what was going on and call his dad to let him know he was safely home. David knew his father worried about them ever since he and Wade had joined the Service.

“Wade says you're working with a woman this time,” David's dad said when he called.

“Yeah, Dad.”

David knew where this conversation was going. Every time he worked with a woman on assignment, his dad would ask if she was single and the one. His dad had been certain they had been every time. David hadn't. Not those times. This time, he wasn't about to speculate. Well, maybe a little. He could see settling down with Tammy. She was fun, sexy, impulsive, and he loved that she was able to handle his sense of humor. Not everyone could. And he loved working with her. Between coming up with ideas for solving the case and doing a helluva job going after the facts, she couldn't be a better teammate. He didn't know what the other agents' problem had been. They were idiots.

“Wade says you're getting along well with her.”

“Yeah, Dad.”
Really
well
.

His dad was a romantic. He had loved their mom and had never remarried after her death. He felt both Wade and David would be happiest if they had a she-cat to love.

His dad had been thrilled when Wade married Maya. He had welcomed her into the family as if she were his own daughter. He was all set to be a grandfather. He had already bought a playpen and crib, and childproofed his home as much as possible. He would make a great granddad—when Maya became pregnant.

His dad cleared his throat. “When do I get to meet her?”

David chuckled. “We're just…dating.”

“Hot damn, you're dating already? You'll be married to her before you know it.”

“How do you come to
that
conclusion? Quinn's sister dumped me for that Joe Storm. Hillary didn't like my work life.”

“Olivia was nuts. You said yourself you weren't sure about her because she was so guarded about what she was doing. Olivia was cheating on you, and Hillary didn't like that you were secretive about your work. This is different. Tammy does the same kind of work you do; you get along with her brothers; you like her cousins; and you asked for this assignment with her. Your brother is married to her cousin. It's like one big, happy family. You're a shoo-in. Do you want me to talk to her?”

“No.”

His father laughed. “Well, if you do, I'll put in a good word for you.”

“Thanks, but I don't think that would help.”

“You know your mom did the same thing to me,” his dad said.

David had never heard this story. “
No
,” he said, elongating the word. He thought it was love at first sight, and within three months, they were married.

“We'd been going out every night, playing card games with friends, movies, dinners out, and she finally said she needed a break. Wanted to wash her hair, paint her toenails…”

David was reminded of Tammy's comment. He didn't know his mother ever painted her toenails.

“Well, she just said she had to take a break.”

“And you let her. Right, Dad?”

“Hell, no.”

David grinned.

“I tried. I went out with a friend of mine who said he knew a woman who needed a date that night. He was seeing another woman at the time. I wasn't interested in getting to know any other woman. I just wanted to go out. I was living in a small apartment, young, single, itching to have fun.”

“You went out with another woman while you were dating Mom?”

“We
weren't
married. And I wasn't seeing anyone else. Anyway, what happened was, the ‘blind date' was about eight-months pregnant.”

David laughed.

“I could have killed my friend. I walked out and went to see your mom. She had her hair up in curlers, bright red toenails, and wouldn't let me in her apartment. Not until I told her what her not going out with me meant. She laughed so hard when I told her about the blind date that she let me in. Told me it served me right for going out without her. 'Course I asked her: What was I supposed to do? I didn't need to doozy up my hair and paint my nails.”

“Dad.”

He chuckled. “Loved your mom. I chased her around the dining table a few times before she finally let me catch her, and we watched a movie. Tammy Anderson might say she needs a break, but when you show up, it'll be a whole other story.”