Bear's Kiss (Bear Heat Book 2) (9 page)

Caleb acknowledged Baxter's
nod just before he pulled his hard hat lower over his eyes. The
Mayor wrapped up his speech to rousing applause and stepped back to
shake hands with the Police Commissioner.

They stood in the middle of
the stage to pose to photographs and camera flashes popped in rapid
succession as a band began to play. People held up their mobile
phones to record videos and pictures.

A balloon rose into the air
and burst, triggering some screams from a few babies and toddlers.

Caleb swung his gaze up and
saw the glint of a sniper scope from the top of a tall building.

Baxter followed his gaze and
immediately crouched and took aim.

A little girl was making her
way purposefully towards the hotdog stand with her younger brother.
Caleb moved quickly to intercept them.

“Excuse me, sir, but
you're blocking my way.” The girl frowned up at Caleb. “I'd
like to get a hotdog for my brother.”

“Sorry, sweetheart, but
the hotdog man is busy right now. He won't be selling any hotdogs,”
Caleb said tersely, crouching so that he could look them in the eye.

“How do you know?
You're just a construction guy, not the hotdog man,” the girl
answered indignantly, staring at his construction worker vest and
hard hat.

“Go back to your Mom.
There are no hotdogs. Listen to me. You have to move away now.”

“But...”

There was a loud bang and
Caleb pushed the children away as the hotdog cart overturned behind
him. Twisting round, Caleb cursed under his breath when he saw that
the sniper had hit the side of the cart and was now taking aim at the
hotdog vendor. But the hotdog man was no sitting duck. He was armed
and ready.

Baxter's hotdog vendor
costume might be bright and cheery, but his face was a mask of grim
determination and concentration.

People started to shout and
scream at the sight of the hotdog man aiming his rifle at the top of
a nearby building.

Baxter didn't lose his cool
and his concentration through all the noise and commotion around him.

He had to hit his target, or
the sniper would take him out with his next shot.

Baxter squeezed the trigger
just as another bullet whizzed past his cheek.

The sniper toppled from his
perch on top of the ten-story building and fell to the street below.

Screams, panic and chaos
erupted.

Caleb was already sprinting
towards the stage, his gun out.

“Get down,” he
yelled to the Mayor, who was being hurried across the stage by the
Police Commissioner and a bevy of bodyguards and police officers.
“Stop moving! Just get down!”

A shot rang out just as the
Mayor dropped to the floor.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

Prisha gasped as the hotdog
cart rolled over and clattered noisily. The hotdog man was crouched
behind the overturned cart, but he wasn't holding a ketchup bottle.
In his hands was a deadly rifle.

The hotdog man fired. People
screamed and stampeded, pushing and colliding and falling.

Prisha couldn't see past the
crush of bodies.

Everything was just happening
so fast.

Prisha looked up and saw
Caleb rushing up the stage, his gun trained on his target.
“Don't...” he yelled, just as a shot exploded.

A young police officer who
appeared to have been ushering the Mayor and the Police Commissioner
to safety had suddenly pulled out his gun and turned his weapon
towards the Mayor.

The police officer fired
once, then took aim again.

A second shot rang out.

The police officer staggered
back. But even with a bullet in his shoulder, he tried to complete
his suicide mission.

The man lifted his gun and
tried to shoot the Mayor again.

But Caleb tackled him and
knocked the gun out of his hand.

Against the crush of shoving,
squirming bodies, Prisha felt herself being yanked back.

Tom stepped forward, putting
himself between her and Ray Shapez. His gun was out, and it was
pressed to the back of Ray's head.

Prisha's eyes bugged. What
was happening? What was Tom doing? Why was he holding a gun to his
boss's head—if Ray was indeed his boss? Just...who was Tom
working for?

Prisha felt hands on her
elbows and she jerked round to see herself flanked by two men in
colorful Hawaiian shirts.

“This way, please,
Ma'am,” one of the men muttered as he showed her his police
badge. “You okay?”

Prisha nodded shakily and
followed the two plainclothes policemen towards a waiting ambulance.

She turned to see a group of
uniformed officers surround Ray Shapez and Tom. But only Ray was
handcuffed and taken into custody. Tom, it appeared, was free to go.

Prisha's eyes darted around
the chaotic scene, searching desperately for Caleb. Was he all
right? Was he hurt?

She saw Caleb holding the
bleeding, writhing assassin down on the ground. Paramedics loaded
the screaming man onto the stretcher, and three policemen followed
the paramedics closely as they rushed towards the ambulance.

Caleb searched the crowd
anxiously and once he found her, he leaped off the stage and came
rushing towards her.

“Prisha!”

He reached her and crushed
her into his embrace. Kissing her hair, her temple, her face, he
murmured, “My Prisha, you're safe. I...I'm sorry I took so
long...” He captured her face in both his hands and thumbed
away her tears. “Did they hurt you? Are you okay? How...”

“I'm okay, I'm okay,”
she assured him, swallowing and blinking hard. “You...you're
here now. With me. Everything is okay.” She pressed her face
into his chest and sobbed as she hugged him tightly.

“Hey, Beta.” A
deep voice greeted Caleb.

Prisha's head jerked up and
she stifled a cry when she saw Tom, Ray Shapez's bodyguard, standing
beside Caleb.

“Y-you...” she
stuttered and stared from Tom to Caleb. Caleb wasn't in the least
ruffled or disturbed by Tom's presence. On the contrary, he
looked...mighty pleased.

And—what did Tom just
call Caleb?

She must have heard wrongly.

Beta?

Caleb smiled and nodded at
Tom.

“Prisha, this is Thor
McKenzie. He's a Black Bear, and one of our best undercover agents.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE

“Undercover...Black
Bear,” Prisha spluttered. “But...you shot him! I saw
you shoot him in the chest! In that alley...”

“He shot me, but he
missed my heart. On purpose.” Thor shrugged. “And it
wasn't a silver bullet, so the bullet wound healed very quickly.”

Prisha gaped at Thor. “Caleb
shot you on purpose,” she repeated slowly, shaking her head.
“He could have killed you...”

“He didn't. He
wouldn't. And he can shoot me again if it means smashing the whole
crime syndicate once and for all,” Thor answered with a
straight face but she saw the conviction and fire in his blue-green
eyes.

Prisha paused before asking,
“What about the other guy...the one with you in the alley...”

“Oh, he's dead all
right. Caleb shot him right through the heart. On purpose,”
Thor deadpanned.

“So...it was you. Back
at the restaurant. You told Caleb your location and what you had
been ordered to do, so he could come and shoot you. By shooting you,
he stopped you from blowing my brains out, and prevented you from
blowing your cover.”

“Yes, Ma'am. I would
never have hurt you, but I had to look convincing. I'm sorry if I
frightened you.”

She shook her head and let
out a laugh of amazement. “You infiltrated the Mob and gained
Ray Shapez's trust,” she told Thor. “That's really
impressive undercover work.”

“Oh, I didn't work
alone. I was in contact with Caleb, and the Black Bears were behind
me all the way,” Thor said with a lopsided smile. His smile
faded and his expression became grim “I infiltrated the Mob,
but the Mob managed to get its tentacles in the police force as
well.”

Caleb nodded. “Yes.
That assassin was on a suicide mission. He would have turned the gun
on himself after shooting the Mayor. But we got him alive.
Hopefully we can get some useful information out of him.”

“They should let Baxter
have a go at him. Bax can get information out of anybody.”
Thor grinned.

“Did someone just
mention my name?” a deep voice boomed from behind them.

Prisha turned to see the
hotdog vendor sauntering up to them, clasping his deadly rifle to his
side.

“Hey, Bax. That was
some sharp shooting.”

Baxter gave a little bow and
bumped fists with Thor. “Good to have you back, man.”

“I don't know.”
Thor blew out a sigh. “There's still a lot of work to be done.
The Mob has moles all over the place. In the police force, prison
services...”

“Let's hope they
expedite Ray Shapez's trial, before there's a prison break and Ray
escapes from the law once again. It's happened before,” Caleb
said. “The District Attorney will have her work cut out for
her.”

“It'd be a while before
they can shake all the government departments free of Shapez's
reach.” Thor rubbed his chin, frowning. “Somebody's got
to do it. I can go in again and try to smoke out all the moles...”

“No.”

All eyes swung to Caleb.

Caleb clapped Thor on his
broad shoulder and said firmly, “You're not going back in.
It's too dangerous.”

“But I...”

“Your cover is blown
anyway. I am not sending you in again. And that's final. Welcome
back, to the land of the living.”

Thor smiled. “It's
good to be back, Beta.”

One of the policemen standing
patiently behind Prisha spoke up, “We need to get you to the
hospital, Ma'am.”

“I'm not injured...”
Prisha protested.

“It'd just be a routine
checkup,” Caleb said gently, taking her hand. “They need
to make sure you're okay. I'll come with you.”

She laced her fingers tightly
through his and whispered fiercely, “You'd better. I'm not
letting you out of my sight.”

Caleb bent down and kissed
her long and hard. “And I am not letting you out of my life.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

Prisha placed the pot of
curry on the table and announced, “And here's my famous Devil's
Curry! It's hotter than hot! You've been warned.”

The Black Bears weren't
daunted. They gamely spooned the red, spicy curry onto their places
and took huge mouthfuls of their curry-smothered rice.

Baxter's eyes widened and his
face turned as red as the curry, but he refused to reach for his
glass of ice water.

Thor guffawed and egged him
on. “Come on, Bax, have more curry. Here, I got you a nice,
juicy drumstick. And some delicious curry gravy to go with it.”

Baxter stuck out his tongue
and panted. “Oh my God! That was...incredible! It's like a
bomb just went off in my mouth! Yep, I'll have more of that.
Thanks, Thor!” Sweat poured off his face as he tucked in with
gusto.

Ethan Flint, the Alpha of the
Black Bears, came up to her and smiled. “Thanks for throwing
this party for the clan, Prisha. But you shouldn't have closed the
whole restaurant just for us. Your customers...”

“My customers can come
back tomorrow,” Prisha smiled, glancing at the “Closed
For A Private Function” sign in front of the door. “This
is a special party. It's a welcome back party. For Thor. And for
you guys.” Prisha grinned at Ethan and Cora, who had stepped
away from the rowdy bunch of Black Bears to join her mate. “I
hope you guys had a great honeymoon.”

“Oh, we did.”
Cora sighed and absently caressed her belly. She wasn't showing yet,
but that gesture gave her away. It was the universal gesture of
pregnant women the world over. “But I'm really glad to be
back,” Cora went on. “I think the cub felt homesick.”

Ethan hugged his pregnant
mate and chuckled. “Our cub is only a fetus at this stage.
Admit it, you missed those loud-mouthed, busybody bears.”

Cora laughed. “Yeah.
I missed the clan.” Smiling broadly, she came forward and
hugged Prisha. “Welcome, Prisha, welcome to the Black Bears
clan!”

Prisha was about to reply
when she heard a sound behind her. She turned to see Ali protesting
loudly as Caleb hustled him out of the kitchen. “There's still
more...”

“No, there isn't any
more cooking to be done,” Caleb said, folding his arms and
planting himself in front of the kitchen door to bar Ali's way.
“You're not going back into the kitchen. You're joining the
party. Now, put away your apron, and grab a plate.”