Call of the Cougar (Heart of the Cougar Book 2) (20 page)

Hal gave Ted a call and told him they were in the middle of apprehending a couple of poachers. "No, Ricky can't help. I'm sure he's got chores he's doing for you. All right. Out here."

When they got beyond the stand of pine trees, they saw the bighorn sheep lying dead beside the pond. Tracey was glad they hadn't wounded it and left it to suffer. She dismounted and measured his horn length. "At least one-half curl, twenty-five thousand dollar fine in addition to a fine between one-thousand up to one hundred thousand dollars, imprisonment of up to a year in the county jail, and an assessment of twenty points. If convicted, the commission may suspend any or all license privileges for a period of one of year to life. So who shot him?"

The animal had been shot several times.

Neither man spoke up.

"That's okay," she said to the men. "We'll determine who shot him." She glanced in Hal's direction. "Do you want to make the arrests or shall I?" That was one thing she loved about being a Special Agent. She had the authority not only to use a firearm in the apprehension of people like this, but she could arrest them.

"I'll do it." Hal dismounted and secured their wrists with plastic ties. Then he read them their rights. He called for backup. "I need a pick up. The hunters shot a bighorn sheep, not waterfowl as we had thought. Yeah, big fines and jail time, if we're lucky."

One of the men snorted. Hal cast him a small smile. Tracey suspected luck would have all to do with them having done so in the cougar territory. Word would spread that it was not a good idea to poach in the cougars' jurisdiction.

"Yeah, I'll head them on over to the road. You can pick them and the evidence up, and we'll head on out."

One of the men muttered to the other that they were serving no damn jail time.

Tracey hoped he was wrong. She glanced at Hal. He smiled at her. She liked that the cougars ran the territory. Too bad more didn't run other areas.

After waiting about forty minutes, Stryker picked them up in a police pickup. He and Hal loaded the animal in the back.

"What about my car," the black-haired man said.

"We'll have a tow truck pick it up."

"And I'll have to pay for that?"

"It's parked on my property," Hal said. "Remember the part about trespassing on private property, the signs posted all over, along with the no hunting signs?"

"Yeah, I forgot about that part," Tracey said. "Sounds like some more charges, more fines. Expensive hunting trip for the two of you."

Stryker looked like he'd rather be riding horseback alongside Tracey, but then she worried—did she look like she'd had a tumble with Hal? Great. When it came to her job, she forgot everything else.

After Stryker took the men in his vehicle and waited for the tow truck to show up, they visited for a bit, and then once the tow truck arrived, Hal and Tracey headed back to the ranch.

She wanted to ask if Hal thought Stryker knew about what had happened between the two of them. About how far they'd gone. But then again, she really didn't want to know.

When they got back to the ranch, Ted took the horses' reins. "Beef stroganoff is simmering on the stove. Ricky and I'll take care of the horses, and then we can eat."

"I'm going to pack." Tracey blushed furiously and hurried up to the house.

Ted smiled at Hal. "I heard she had a date with Stryker today. Did you…beat him to it…again?"

Hal smiled and slapped him on the back. "This time it couldn’t be helped." He turned to head to the house and pack.

"Couldn't Stryker have served as her bodyguard?"

"Nah. He's a full-time deputy sheriff. Dan would have been shorthanded then."

Ted said to Ricky, "That's the way to get the girl."

"I offered to protect her. I was trying to shoot at the bad guys when they had us pinned down in the cave, but she wouldn't let me," Ricky said. "What happened out there?" He motioned in the direction of the ponds.

"We'll talk about it over the meal." Hal stalked off toward the house.

As soon as he was done packing, he saw Tracey heading out to her Hummer with her bags. He headed her off. "We're taking my vehicle. I'm driving."

"I thought we would take both."

"No. Too dangerous. One vehicle. One driver."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're awfully bossy?"

He just chuckled and loaded her bags in his truck. Then they rejoined the others in the house.

When they were getting ready to eat at the dining room table, she said, "Can we sit outside? We can't watch the sun set this early, but I'd love to just sit outside and see the vista while we eat."

"Yeah," Ricky said.

"Sounds good to me." Ted grabbed his plate of stroganoff, and they all headed outside.

She really wished she didn't have to go.

"No shootouts this time?" Ricky asked Hal as if he was afraid she wouldn't want to tell him the truth. "When she's involved, someone's usually shooting at her. And at whoever's with her." He scarfed down some of his stroganoff.

"Not this time," Tracey said.

"I would've come and helped you out, but Ted wouldn't let me go. He said I couldn't ride yet, and I couldn't have my gun back."

"Maybe someday, if you keep out of trouble, you could do something like we do," Tracey said.

Then Hal told them all about what had happened, and Ricky kept asking more about laws and anything else he could think of.

Tracey hoped that meant he wanted to stay on the right side of the law and not learn how to ensure he didn't get caught breaking them in the future.

When Tracey finished eating her meal, she said, "This was so good. I'd love to have it again sometime."

"I can certainly fix it for you." Hal rose from the table.

"Are you sure that I can't go—" Ricky didn't finish what he was saying when both Tracey and Hal shook their heads at him.

"Fine. I'll just eat some more." Ricky went to the kitchen to serve up some more stroganoff on his plate.

Ted cleared his throat. "Is the agency paying for room and board for Ricky?"

"I'm earning my keep," Ricky said.

Ted shook his head.

They all laughed.

"Mind Ted while I'm gone," Hal said.

Tracey smiled at Ricky. "I'm glad you're here."

Ricky was still holding his plate, but not going anywhere. "But you're leaving."

"It's all part of the job. Watch out for anyone who might come to the ranch. Not that anyone might, but just be on guard." Tracey glanced in Ted's direction. He nodded. She was glad he'd be watching out for Ricky.

Then she and Hal headed out to his truck.

As soon as they were on their way, Hal said, "I still think this business with you is something more personal. Have you ticked off anybody lately?"

She gave him a get-real look. "Do you know how many traffickers I have put in jail or got hefty fines? Who lost their sales licenses? Hunting licenses? Who were given a black eye when it came to their friends and family? Of course, I've ticked off some people." Tracey folded her arms and leaned back in the seat as Hal drove her to her parents' home.

"A lot, huh?" Hal smirked at her.

"Yeah. A lot. I keep busy."

He sighed. "But no other case that might be connected to this one."

"What do you think would make it really personal?"

"You killed someone's brother or best friend?"

"That's possible. I killed three men in the line of duty during the shootout in Anderson on New Year's Day. One of them murdered my partner." She closed her eyes and remembered seeing her partner die, and she didn't believe she'd ever get over it. She was just lucky she'd managed to get three of them before they killed her also. "But one made a clean getaway. He was wounded also. My partner was still alive, I hoped, but I couldn't reach my Hummer to get phone reception. They were waiting for me up on the cliffs, and I knew I'd be gunned down by these men if I tried to make it through town as a human. And I couldn't carry my cell with me as a cougar."

"You suffered a knife wound," Hal reminded her.

Annoyed at herself for being injured, she scowled. "I shouldn't have been.
Stupid
mistake on my part. As a cougar, I tracked them up into the cliffs. The one who was wounded in the side, turned to shoot me. I leapt from the boulder and grabbed his wrist and bit down. He cried out and dropped his gun, which I expected. But then he reached for a knife with his free hand, which I hadn't expected. I had intended to incapacitate him and turn him over to the police so we could get some information out of him. But once he stabbed me, I couldn't risk that he'd cut me in a place where I'd bleed out before I could get help. And I still had to think about my partner. The other man had taken off. As soon as I went after his wounded buddy, who had stabbed me, the other guy was out of there."

"Okay, so what about him? Maybe one of the guys you killed was a brother or a really good friend. Partner maybe."

"I don't know. A cougar was up on the cliffs near the miners' shacks when I was on my way here. Was…that you?"

Hal snorted. "You were supposed to be on administrative leave, not looking into the case any longer. Mick said you were headed straight for Pinyon Pines Resort. I couldn't believe it when I saw you there with that patrolman. And just that patrolman. With
you
, you need a whole army to keep you safe."

She smiled a little. "So it was
you
. Looking for clues?"

"Yeah. But I didn't expect you to be there. I'd gone home to check on the mare, and found everything was fine, but I couldn't quit thinking about what had happened to you and your partner. I knew that if I climbed around the cliffs as a cougar, I might be able to smell something that everyone else missed."

"Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, that the cougar who had taken down the one guy was you. I'm sorry it had to happen—any of it. But I was glad you survived the encounter and the trafficker didn't. So what are we really up against?"

She couldn't believe he'd act as though this was his fight also. But if he was willing to help her, she was willing to let him. He wasn't just a civilian after all. And he was a cougar like her, so he could be a great aid.

"You have an elephant tusk smuggling ring. You found the fragment of the tusk in that mine tunnel. Maybe these men are hiding ivory in the tunnels on a regular basis. But there must be hundreds of abandoned mines all over the state, at the very least. On the last case where you were in the line of fire, that had been a ploy to get you there. It was only a way to set you up to take you down, don't you agree?"

"I believe so. Do you know if anyone checked out any of the mines?"

"Not likely. Just made sure they were secure. I do that from time to time at Anderson to ensure that no one is crawling around in them. They're too dangerous for the average person to explore. Even trained spelunkers have died in them."

"Okay, let me talk with my sister and find out what she was doing in the mines." Tracey got on her phone and called her sister. "Jessie, did you take pictures of ghost towns?"

"Yeah. Did Mom and Dad tell you? I'm writing a book about them."

"Why were you in the gold mine taking pictures?"

"Which one? I've been to fifty or so."

Tracey couldn't believe it! "Are you crazy?"

"Hey, I always take a guide who knows the mine, and I've got another cameraman with me. I'm writing a different book about gold mines, since many of the ghost towns were related to abandoned gold or silver mines, it's an easy way to document both. I don't get shot at in
my
line of work."

No, just had her dive regulator ripped off her face, which could have killed her.

"Jessie, you know that whoever's trying to kill me might think you and I are the same person, don't you? That they might be trying to shoot you? Thinking it's me?"

"Yeah, Dad said I was restricted to the house. Good thing Stan likes to play video games. It's driving me batty though. You know me. I'm happiest when I'm out shooting something. With my camera."

"Who the hell is Stan?"

Jessie didn't date for months, then all of sudden, she had a boyfriend who was her nearest and dearest, and she knew they were soul mates. The longest relationship she'd had may have lasted a month.

"We're not soul mates. But hey, Mom said you picked up a live one. And he's really well-built."

"What?"

"Six foot? Great shape? Sounds like a winner to me. Besides, we looked up his profile on the Yuma Town sheriff's department page. Hot, hot, hot. If you don't like him, maybe he's my kind of guy."

"He's not." As soon as Tracey spoke, she thought she sounded like she had a vested interest in Hal. Which she didn't.

Jessie started to laugh. "Okay, Sis. Sounds like you got your hooks in this one. Great hunting. How long will it take you to get here?"

"Another hour and a half. Are dad's friends getting involved in this?"

"Secret meetings.
Check.
Late night shooting at the range.
Check.
The guys taking turns sitting in their cars outside Mom and Dad's house, totally conspicuous like.
Check.
I'd say they're involved."

"Great. Just stay out of trouble until I get there. I
mean
, stay out of trouble. Period."

"You too. See you in a bit. Oh, and Mom said you are on guard duty, so you are off cake-making duty. I argued with her since I know you like to decorate them, but she's standing firm on it."

Tracey laughed. "I'll lick the icing off the spatula and see if you made it properly."

"Hey, baby, who are you talking to?" a man said in the background.

"My twin sister. Just don't get us mixed up when she gets here. All right?"

"No way, baby. I have eyes only for you."

Ugh
. Tracey already didn't like boyfriend number, well, she'd lost count. "See you soon, Jessie. Bye." Tracey hung up on her. "Don't you ever call me baby," she said to Hal.

"Huh?"

When they arrived at her parents' home on the outskirts of Loveland, a beautiful two-story, red-brick home with a five-acre forested lot, her sister and Dad walked out to greet her and Hal.