Witness Protection 9: S.N.A.F.U.

by Holly Copella

  “This is bullshit,” Kirk snarled, sharing his foul mood with everyone. “Perfectly good, private bedrooms, and we have to sleep refugee style in the visitor’s center because we have company.”

  “Quit your whining,” Jackie snapped as she approached one of the cots and sat on it. “The rest of us are the ones who have to suffer listening to you snore.”

  Kirk sat up on his cot and glared at Jackie. “The others may think you’re cute, Jackie,” he announced, “but your feminine wiles don’t work on me.”

  “Wiles,” Beck remarked, then chuckled from where he sat on his cot across the room. “Who talks like that?”

  “Educated people,” Kirk scoffed.

  “From the 1800s, perhaps,” Beck remarked while laughing at Kirk’s expense.

  “I like you better when you’re exclusively living at the lodge,” Kirk informed Beck.

  “My wife does too,” Beck remarked while stretching out on the cot. “But you’re stuck with me until it’s time to go home.”

  Bogart was about to take the cot alongside Jackie when she eyed him. “You don’t want to do that,” she insisted.

  “Why not?” Bogart asked.

  “Because Zack is just going to dump you onto the floor,” she informed him.

  Bogart rolled his eyes and took the next cot over. “One day, I’m going to be able to kick his ass,” he announced.

  “Yeah, well,” Zack announced from behind him, startling him. “It’s not today.”

  Zack sat on the empty cot alongside Jackie and looked at her as if he had something on his mind. She stared back at him and cocked her head.

  “What’s up?” Jackie asked.

  “I won’t be bunking with you tonight,” he informed her.

  Despite the sexual connotation of the comment, she gave him a slightly surprised look. “Really? Why?” she asked, although almost sure she already knew the answer.

  “I’m bunking with Sam,” he replied and shifted slightly. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  Jackie stared at him with complete disbelief. She sometimes wondered what went through his head. Did he actually think he needed her permission?

  “Of course, I don’t mind,” she replied with a tiny chuckle then grinned. “I’m happy for you.”

  Zack groaned, revealing some irritation by her response. “Don’t make a whole thing out of it,” he announced.

  “I’m not making a thing out of it,” she insisted while attempting to hide her humor.

  He glared at her and raised his brow. “Really?”

  Jackie hesitated, then shrugged. “I mean, I think it’s wonderful that you’re actually having a sleepover date with a nice girl.”

  Zack groaned and stood. “That’s the thing I was talking about,” he remarked. “It’s not a sleepover. It’s sex with some sleeping afterward. Well, I doubt I’ll sleep, but I kind of want the sex, so it’s a fair trade-off.”

  Jackie considered the situation and suddenly felt curious. “Where are you spending the night?” she then asked. “Not in the clinic bedrooms.”

  “No, of course not,” Zack replied, then nodded past the restrooms. “There’s a pull-out sofa bed in the office in the back.”

  “So Zack gets an actual bed?” Kirk demanded from two cots over, obviously listening in on their conversation.

  “Don’t start,” Beck moaned from his cot.

  Zack groaned and approached one of the plastic tubs alongside the portable cooler. He removed a bag of potato chips and tossed them to Kirk. Kirk caught the bag and eagerly tore it open without another word.

  “It’s as if you people haven’t learned anything,” Zack muttered, then glared at Jackie while pointing at Kirk. “When he barks, feed him. That’ll keep him quiet until he falls asleep.”

  Sam entered the visitor’s center and appeared somewhat shy upon seeing the others settling in for the night. “Where’s everyone else?” she asked while approaching.

  Zack met her halfway and indicated the empty bunks. “Night photography,” he replied. “We find it’s safer in groups.”

  She smiled and nodded, then sheepishly met his gaze. “So, uh, where are we bunking?”

  Zack nodded past the restrooms then showed her the way. Bogart moved back onto the cot alongside Jackie’s cot and watched Zack disappear into the nearby hallway with Sam.

  “Someone really needs to do a documentary on Zack’s mating rituals,” Bogart remarked, then sighed. “Because I really don’t understand how he gets laid.”

  “Aggressive women love him because he’s so fucking quiet,” Kirk announced from his cot while crunching on chips.

  Beck groaned in frustration and placed his pillow over his head.

  “They like me because I’m tall and muscular,” Kirk continued without even looking at Bogart. “And you because you’re funny.”

  Beck removed the pillow from his head and glared at Kirk. “And what about me?”

  Kirk cast a look at Beck. “They feel sorry for you,” he replied.

  Beck frowned and threw his spare pillow at Kirk’s head. Kirk deflected the pillow without losing a chip.

  Jackie sat hunched over on the edge of her cot, groaned, and held her head. “Would someone just shoot me now?”

  Bogart glanced past Jackie, shifted uncomfortably, and then placed his hand over his eyes. “Now I want to be shot too,” he muttered.

  Jackie lifted her head and looked across the room. Kirk strolled across the lobby toward one of the beverage coolers wearing only his maroon-colored, form-fitting boxer briefs that proudly displayed his package. There was no denying he had an amazingly muscular body that most women would fawn over, but Jackie had grown tired of seeing him strutting around in his colored boxer briefs.

  “Jesus, Kirk. Can’t you wear shorts in mixed company?” Beck moaned and dramatically threw his hands in the air. “No one wants to see that.”

  Kirk removed a bottle of water from the cooler and cast a stern look at Beck. “Plenty of women want to see this,” he announced, then indicated Jackie. “Even Jackie.”

  “No, not Jackie,” she insisted and refused to look at him.

  Kirk smiled at Jackie then looked back at Beck. “She’s afraid I’ll ruin her for Holden.”

  §

  Jackie had just about drifted off to sleep on her cot within the dimly lit visitor’s center when a loud clunk from the back office area woke her. Bogart nearly jumped from his cot with his gun in his hand.

  “What was that?” Bogart gasped and looked around the dimly lit room.

  “Nothing,” Kirk muttered while half asleep on his cot closest to the back hallway. “Go back to sleep.”

  “I should check it out,” Bogart insisted.

  “It came from the back office,” Kirk moaned without opening his eyes. “It’s just Zack being, well, Zack.”

  Bogart glanced at Jackie, who was now sitting up as well. She glanced at her watch and was also wondering if they should check it out. There was another clunk from the back office area. Bogart shook his head defiantly.

  “I’m going to check it out,” Bogart announced, then headed for the hallway alongside the bathrooms.

  Jackie groaned, moved from her cot, and followed Bogart with less enthusiasm. She didn’t want him wandering into trouble by himself, although she was pretty sure Kirk was right. Bogart stopped outside the closed office door. As Jackie approached, they heard the loud thump again, like someone moving furniture. Bogart knocked on the door.

  “Zack?” he announced. “Everything okay in there?”

  “Go away!” Sam screamed then cried out in ecstasy.

  Bogart stepped back from the door with an embarrassed look on his face, then glanced at Jackie. She winced slightly, hid her own embarrassment, and quickly hurried back for the main room with Bogart only a step behind her. Zack may have been clueless when it came to reading women, but even Jackie was aware of his reputation as an aggressive lover. Of course, Holden would say the same about her. As they returned to the mai
n room, Kirk eyed them from where he remained comfortably resting on his cot and grinned.

  “Amateurs,” Kirk teased, then shut his eyes.

  §

  A small light dimly lighted the back office within the visitor’s center on the table alongside the wall. The old, leather sofa bed had been opened into a full-sized bed but still remained neatly made. What few items had been on the nearby desk had been hastily cast onto the floor during Zack and Sam’s impromptu desktop romp. Zack tossed his naked body into the chair behind the desk as he took a moment to catch his breath. The old chair creaked beneath his weight. Sam leaned against the desk for support while panting, a permanent smile on her face. She finally reached for Zack’s discarded shirt and slipped into it. Sam cringed with some discomfort from the thumping pain in her injured shoulder then buttoned the three middle buttons. She sat on the desk facing Zack and eyed the naked man leaning back in the chair with his bare feet crossed and propped on the desk.

  “You have a bit of a wild streak in you,” Sam teased while attempting to contain her grin.

  Zack opened his eyes, peered at her, and then chuckled. “I’ve been accused of worse.”

  Sam attempted to lean seductively on the desk but found it difficult with her injured arm. “I’ve been alone too long,” she remarked and offered a tiny smile. “I forgot how much fun mixed company could be.”

  “I’m mildly useful,” Zack remarked.

  Sam moved off the desk and climbed onto the pull-out sofa bed. She managed a somewhat seductive pose on the much softer surface and offered her best come-hither look. Zack studied her a moment, then seemed to take his cue and joined her on the sofa bed. Sam immediately snuggled up against him. Zack tensed slightly but then relaxed with her in his arms. Sam lightly ran her finger over one of his many scars visible within the dim lighting.

  “You saw a lot of action in the military, huh?” she asked without meeting his gaze.

  “My share, I suppose,” Zack replied.

  “And then some,” she added while moving her hand to another scar on his chest. “Jackie said you served with her father.”

  “Yeah, he and I served together,” he replied.

  “I assumed that’s where you got most of your scars,” she remarked, then offered a playful smile. “Either that or you’re incredibly accident-prone. A man who can climb a tree the way you do has probably had his share of falls.”

  “Yeah, but I mostly land on my feet. I have a low center of gravity,” he insisted. “Gives me excellent balance.”

  Sam lifted her head, met Zack’s gaze, and grinned. “You’re not real good at pillow talk, are you?”

  “No, not really,” he replied. “I don’t have a lot of relationship experience.”

  “Yeah,” she replied, then sighed softly while nuzzling his chest. “Me either.”

  “Kind of hard to meet people when you live alone in the woods,” Zack informed her.

  “That was sort of why I wanted to live alone in the woods in the first place,” she insisted, then sank into her own thoughts and frowned. “Better to be alone without someone than alone with someone.”

  “I get that.”

  Chapter 41

  Late the following morning, Sam stood in the large zebra paddock with her horse and scratched him behind his ears while he nuzzled her.

  “Don’t worry, boy,” Sam announced and seemed a little preoccupied. “We’ll be going home soon. A change of dressing today for both our injuries, and then we’re out of here.”

  The horse resumed grazing on the lush grass within the zebra paddock. He didn’t seem to share her enthusiasm to return home. His accommodations at the sanctuary were a little larger with thicker grass than what he had back at the ranger’s station.

  “Fine, you can have the afternoon to graze down the rest of the paddock,” she informed the horse. “But then we’re definitely going home.”

  Sam patted the horse’s rump while again lost in her own thoughts. She then headed for the gate. As she slipped through the gate, she saw Nevada hurrying from the clinic and across the sanctuary. The bounty hunter seemed unusually distracted, possibly even frustrated, while frantically pressing buttons on her cell phone. Sam appeared curious regarding the mysterious woman who’d patched her up, but yet she’d only met a handful of times. Sam considered it only a moment and then hurried after her.

  §

  More than an hour later. The visitor’s center was relatively quiet that afternoon. Most of the team was patrolling the perimeter, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. Ross, Jackie, and Beck stood at the front desk and discussed their plans for the day.

  “If Sam isn’t showing any signs of infection from her shoulder wound, we need to send her back home,” Ross remarked. “It’s getting harder to keep an eye on her without her suspecting we’re keeping tabs on her movements.”

  “Are we sure sending her home is a good idea?” Jackie asked with some concern. “Despite what we told her, we still don’t know who actually attacked her.”

  “Ross is right,” Beck announced. “She needs to go back to the ranger’s station before her superiors start looking for her.” He then straightened and eyed both. “Someone should go back with her. Make sure the ranger’s station is safe. Maybe even spend the night.”

  Ross glanced at Jackie and raised a commanding brow. “She might feel more comfortable having another woman stay with her,” he remarked. “You’re nominated.”

  “Actually, I’m guessing this is more of a job for Zack,” Jackie informed him.

  Beck hid his smirk, but Ross didn’t seem to get the inside joke.

  “Why Zack?” Ross finally asked.

  “They’re, uh, hitting it off pretty good,” Beck remarked while trying not to laugh.

  Ross rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I would have put money on Bogart, myself,” he muttered. “Fine. Zack will accompany her back to the ranger’s station and stay with her tonight.”

  The visitor’s center door was just about thrown open, and Sam stumbled in while holding her bruised and bleeding cheek. She appeared relieved when she saw them and limped toward the desk. All three turned and stared with stunned surprise when they saw her.

  “What happened?” Ross asked.

  Jackie hurried to Sam’s side and removed her hand from her bleeding cheek. “Did your horse kick you?” she asked.

  “No,” Sam announced with some irritation and shuttered slightly. “Nevada attacked me.”

  All three stared at her with surprise.

  “Nevada?” Beck gasped.

  “What do you mean she attacked you?” Ross demanded as his mind reeled with his own theories.

  “I saw her heading across the back of the property,” Sam informed them. “I think she came from that building in the back. She was heading toward the habitat beyond the zebra paddock.” Sam shuttered slightly and looked at all three with stunned disbelief. “I called out to her, but she didn’t seem to hear me. I guess she was distracted by something on her cell phone.” Sam held her breath and tensed. “Like the friendly person I am, I followed her and again called out to her. That’s when she turned and kicked me in the face. I mean, she literally kicked me in the face.”

  “You said she was on her phone?” Ross suddenly asked and appeared somewhat concerned.

  “Yeah, I thought maybe she was texting someone,” Sam insisted, “but I don’t know what sort of reception she’d expect to get out here.” She then sank into thought. “She must have been meeting that man.”

  “What man?” Beck asked while cocking his head.

  “I don’t know,” Sam replied and shook her head. “I guess he’s someone from your party I hadn’t met yet. Tall man; dark hair; extremely handsome. He looked Italian. I barely got a glimpse of him where he was sitting on the ground before she attacked me.”

  Ross glared at Beck and pointed demandingly. “Stay with her,” he announced, then motioned to Jackie. “You, come with me.”

  Jackie and Ross ran
from the visitor’s center.

  Sam gingerly touched her bruised cheek, grimaced slightly, and seemed to tense while eyeing Beck. “Are Nevada and Ross a couple?” she whispered with some concern. “Is that why he was so upset about the other guy?”

  Beck eyed the innocent look on Sam’s face. “Uh, yeah, something like that,” he easily lied. “Let’s get some ice on your cheek.”

  §

  Jackie followed Ross into the seemingly empty clinic, which lacked anyone on guard duty. Ross just about ran past the unmanned desk and hurried to Marco’s closed cell door. Ross looked inside the gorilla cage. Marco was gone. He slammed his palm against the bars causing a dull, metallic clang. He then cursed under his breath while spinning to face Jackie with a hostile look on his face.

  “She double-crossed us,” Ross snarled as his rage spiked. “Head to the habitat where Sam said she had been heading. See if she’s there or any sign of which way she headed. I’ll send Zack to meet you there.”

  Jackie nodded as a thousand thoughts raced through her mind regarding the bounty hunter. She couldn’t believe the woman betrayed them, yet it didn’t seem so far-fetched. Jackie turned and ran from the clinic.

  Ross touched his ear transmitter with added vigor. “All hands on deck,” he announced in anger. “Nevada went AWOL and took our friend with her. Zack, meet Jackie at the rhino habitat. I want Gil and Monroe to the helo pad. Standby and await my orders. We’ll do a flyover as a last resort. Kirk and Bogart will head north in the direction of the ranger’s station. I’ll check the jeep and then head south.”

  §

  Ross hurried across the sanctuary, past the visitor’s center, and for the area where he had parked Kirk’s jeep and the older jeep that Othello graciously had friends send to Monroe. He seemed relieved to find neither jeep had been stolen, but it didn’t alter the fact that Nevada and Marco were gone. They could be just about anywhere with the hour’s head start they’d already gotten. It was doubtful Marco willingly left with Nevada, and if he did, he was playing her. He knew Nevada intended to turn him over to Vincent for the bounty on his head. Vincent would slowly torture Marco before eventually killing him, and Marco knew that. Beck and Sam approached Ross by the jeep.