Call of the Cougar (Heart of the Cougar Book 2) (6 page)

"She'll go looking for trouble." Dan rubbed his chin as he considered how to handle it.

"Right. So I need you to coordinate a few things for me. Get a cabin at Chase Buchanan's resort for me if you can. I imagine it's already booked for the summer, but I think that would be the best location for her. Maybe he can work out some arrangement that will accommodate her. I know Chase has got babies on the way, but he could be there kind of watching out for Tracey. Beyond that, whenever she's not up at the resort, I need her to be occupied with other stuff—other than investigating this case. I know you're busy running the whole show there, but if Stryker or Hal could handle it, I'd be much obliged. If neither of them are up for it, and you can't provide any other backup, let me know. We're really tight on staffing with cutbacks and now with one of my investigative teams in a shambles, it's even tougher."

"Are you going to let her in on this? Don't tell me it's going to be a sham case of one of the guys dating her and then she learns he's only there to protect her."

"No. I'll tell her what I expect of her. She hasn't dated in forever. Bad divorce. So she's not going to date anyone, per se. And she's not going for a bodyguard scenario because she's highly trained herself. But if I tell her it's either that or she moves in with me—"

Dan smiled.

"No one who knows me wants to move in with me."

Not as much of a perfectionist as he was. "Okay, but just make sure she understands what's up. Or this is on your head."

Mick chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. The guys will have my head. She's a nice woman, smart, funny, and she kicks ass. The only problem I can see you having is determining who's going to win the lottery to serve as her protection."

Dan shook his head. "I'll do what I can. But if she really wants to go after this case, I assume nothing's going to stop her."

"I'll owe you."

"Yeah. You will." They ended the call and Dan phoned Chase to see what they could do about the situation with a cabin next, knowing that at the height of the season the Pinyon Pines Resort was always booked. "Hey, Chase, I've got a bit of a situation."

***

When her boss called her at the hospital, Tracey was afraid he would put her on administrative leave, per regulation, but she was raring to get back on the case before it grew too cold. Her reasoning wasn't just because her partner was shot and could be fighting for his life. Or that one of them had been involved in the shootout that killed her other partner. But these men were dangerous to anyone and they had to be stopped.

"We went by the book." Which for them meant improvising a lot because there was never any way to know where their investigations might lead. She and Anton had no way of knowing they were being led into an ambush. And she had to find the damn informant who had set them up.
Ricky
. That's all they knew about him—dark brown hair and eyes, scraggly beard, slight build, nervous—always looking over his back, and appeared to be barely eighteen. But he'd fed them the best information before. Not this time.

The boss spoke up again, as if she hadn't said anything about going by the book. The problem was they could really go out on a limb and as long as they resolved the case without any dead bodies and no injured or dead partners, the boss considered the job done correctly—and by the book—no matter how off the book it might be. "Until you have a psychologist clear you for field duty again, you can't work anything but a desk job once you return."

Grinding her teeth, she choked back a response. She knew the drill. She'd had to go through this in January when she lost her first partner. She knew Mick wouldn't find anything wrong with what had happened. It was just two cases of misinformation, and certainly not enough to get search warrants, convictions, nothing. That was their job—to investigate the allegations that these men were up to their eyeballs in wildlife trafficking. The boss knew that.
Damn it.

"I want you to take a vacation."

She opened her mouth to speak, and then clamped her lips shut. He was telling her something. Clueing her in. He wasn't telling her to take a vacation. She didn't think. "Where should I go on vacation?" She hoped she was right.

"Genova will be in the hospital for a time. Why don't you stay in the area? Good skiing."

"It's
summer.
"

"Hiking, I meant."

"Hiking." Yeah, the boss had to be trying to give her a hint. He didn't make mistakes like that.

"There's no cougar hunting season in the Rockies in the summer. Run…wild for a bit. Enjoy yourself."

"What…part of the Rockies?" she asked slowly.

"I know of the perfect place. Cabin resort, lake view, mountains. I've got a reservation there but can't get away, and it's already paid up. The place is booked solid, so I didn't want to have to cancel and lose it. You'll find something to enjoy while you're staying there if you let your hair down a bit."

"Is it…safe there?"

"As safe as it usually is for our kind."

When she didn't agree or disagree, he let out his breath. "I was going over your file."

Because she'd lost one partner and nearly another? She knew that if she didn't agree to do this, he was going to put restrictions on her movements. Maybe even lock her up in a safe house. That would drive her batty. There was no way that she was going to hide out while some other agents caught up with the traffickers.

"You haven't taken a vacation in two years. You don't date anyone—"

"What has that got to do with—"

"You need a break. And that's an order."

"All right." She'd go along with this, for now. But if she got any leads that took her away from the resort, she was following them up. "What else?" She knew he wasn't letting her off that easy. Not when she was sure he would worry about her working on the case again.

"I've got some friends in that location. That's why I stay at the resort from time to time."

"Friends." Already she didn't like the scenario. Male friends, she suspected. And if he wanted her there, it was because—no, he couldn't be considering what she
thought
he might be considering. "Special Forces buddies of yours?"

She'd remembered him talking about his time in the military, and he'd shared a couple of stories about some of his friends in the Special Forces.

"Yeah. Chase runs the resort and he's a part-time deputy sheriff. Dan Steinacker is the sheriff, Stryker Hill, his full time deputy, and Hal Haverton—"

"Of Yuma Town? And he's a deputy sheriff also?"

"Part-time. So you know him?"

"He was at the shootout, okay? He came and helped me. So
no
, I don't know him. Unless you count my saving his ass, his returning the favor, and talking for a minute—means I know him."

"He's a good guy. I want them to watch your back while you're in the area."

"Your friends can't have agreed to this."

"We're like brothers. And you're like….well, given you're one of us and in law enforcement, you're like our sister."

She doubted Hal saw her like that, not the way he watched her when she pulled her badge out of her shirt for him to see and his eyes hadn't focused solely on her badge.

"So do we have a deal?" her boss asked.

"Let me get this straight. I stay in the cabin resort run by your service buddy who happens to also be a deputy sheriff, but you don't expect him to date me, do you? Or to serve as my bodyguard or something crazy like that?"

"No. His wife's twins are expected soon."

Tracey felt her whole body warm with chagrin for thinking her boss was trying to set her up with a married guy in the family way. "All right. And the other guys are all married?" If Hal was, she'd punch him for looking at her like he was really interested in getting to know her better.

"Single."

She was relieved—in Hal's case—to hear it. "No bodyguard and no dating."

"It's up to you, but you're on vacation, and if you suspect anyone suspicious in the area, I want you to alert one of the men."

Then she realized there was more to this than just watching her back. They would try to ensure she didn't investigate the case. As if they could stop her while they were going about their daily business.

Footfalls headed in her direction and she looked over her shoulder to see the doctor stalking toward her. "Got to go. Doctor's coming. Update you in a minute."

Then she spoke to the doctor. Anton was going to pull through. Thank God. Relief washed over her and she hadn't realized just how tense she'd been. She couldn't take losing another partner like that. Agents didn't shed tears over each other—at least that's what she told herself as tears welled up in her eyes. She thanked God again he was going to make it.

"Thank you, Doctor." When he left, she relayed the news to her boss.

"I'm sending some of our men to watch him, but the police are supposed to be providing protection around the clock," her boss said.

Tracey glanced at the two policemen waiting nearby. "Yes, they are."

"All right. As soon as he's out of the recovery room and in a room of his own, I want you to head north to Yuma Town."

"Will you have me tailed?" Her boss would, if he was worried about her safety even if she was off the case.

"You're getting a police escort—not a tail. Drive straight to the resort. Patrolman Holland will follow you there. He's there at the hospital now. Just tell him when you're leaving."

She thought about how much she wanted to slip away and see the ghost town one more time. It was directly on the route to Yuma Town. Or maybe while Chase was busy taking care of his resort, she could slip out and check Anderson out. She'd be happy to take one of the men, if he didn't say no and report her plans to her boss. Which was just what she suspected any of them would do.

***

As soon as Dan gave Hal and Stryker the word about Tracey Whittington coming to Yuma Town, Chase had scrambled to make a place for her at one of the cabins he'd closed for renovation, though both Hal and Stryker had enthusiastically offered to put her up at their own places.

Mick, her boss, had thought it would be better if she had a little more freedom than that.

For now, Hal and Stryker were having their Friday night pizza and beer party while watching a movie with Dan. Only this time they weren't watching a movie.

They'd been anxiously waiting for four days for Tracey to arrive in Yuma Town. Hal was ready to go to the city of Rocky Tower Springs and escort her here, though he understood that she wanted to be at her partner's side should he take a turn for the worse. If her partner had been a shifter, he could heal faster. But no such luck.

When Hal went to the kitchen to grab some more cold beers, he heard Stryker talking to Dan about picking her up just like Hal wanted to do. He returned to the living room and passed out the beers. Hal would have beat him to it though. "Hopefully she likes horses. As soon as the mare foals, I can show it to her. She's sure to love it."

"Hell, pull out the baby animal card," Stryker said with a smirk.

Dan laughed. "Better you two vying for a chance with the woman than me."

Hal smiled. Dan was too wrapped up in their police dispatcher to be looking for any other woman in his life. At least for now, though he denied he was dating her.

"I'm going for a puppy." Stryker yanked off another slice of pizza.

Dan shook his head. "You don't have a puppy."

Stryker smiled. "I can get one before we go on a hot date."

"Puppies are overrated, way too common. A foal is…special." Hal finished off his pizza.

"If she
likes
horses. What if she's afraid of them? Not everyone likes horses." Stryker bit into his pepperoni pizza.

"She's a cat. Maybe dogs don't appeal." Hal wasn't going to agree with Stryker, but it did worry him. What if she didn't like horses? Maybe she was afraid of them? There would go any chance at getting to know her. On the other hand, challenges were the name of the game. And he'd sure aim to convince her just how nice horses could be.

"She can't cuddle with a colt or filly on her lap." Stryker smiled. "They're really not pets. Not like dogs are."

"A puppy can get in the way and need way more attention. You'd have to potty train it," Hal said.

"Housebreak." Dan laughed.

"Yeah, housebreak it, feed it, and play with it all the time. The puppy would want all this attention right when you're getting ready to kiss the woman. Then what? Well, hell, you think that she's going to ignore the bundle of fur? No. She'll forget all about kissing you and…" Hal smiled evilly. "Yeah, Stryker, get a puppy."

Dan and Stryker laughed.

"She isn't delaying coming out here because she has a hankering for her partner, is she?" Stryker asked. "I'm not into breaking up relationships. Though, with him being human…"

Dan shook his head. "He's got an ex-wife and she arrived yesterday morning. Apparently, she might be working things out with her ex-husband, and that could get the ball rolling with Tracey leaving. Tracey's been anxious about him. Just like any of us would be worried about an injured partner. Shows she's sympathetic to his situation."

"Right." Hal finished his beer, leaned back on the couch, and stared at the blank TV screen. "I'm going to pack it in. I've got to go home and check on the mare."

The guys laughed.

Standing, Hal frowned at them. "What? I've never done this before. What if something goes wrong?"

Dan slapped him on the back and headed into the kitchen with two empty beer bottles and the pizza box. "I can just imagine what you'd be like when you have your own kids on the way."

"Yeah." Stryker finished his beer. "I thought Chase was bad the way he's so anxious about his wife and the babies."

"Either of you guys would be the same way if you were raising horses, and this was your first foal. Dan, if you hear that Tracey's on her way, give me a heads up. Will you?"