Next came Sam the eagle. Katie asked, “Do you have an eagle gauntlet?”
“No, I don’t.” Joe grimaced. “Do you have an extra glove? Maybe a little bigger one?”
Katie walked over to the first green metal locker and opened it. The locker was seven feet high and she stretched up on tiptoes to grab a dark-colored leather gauntlet sitting on the top shelf. “Yes, here’s a man’s-size eagle gauntlet.”
“Good,” Joe said with relief. Their fingers touched. Instantly, he felt a mild electric shock travel through his hand. Joe hid his reaction and took the glove. He pulled his off and placed it on the desk next to the file. “Thanks. I’m going to have to order my own eagle glove.”
“Yes, you will,” Katie said. “Now, Sam will be eager to get out, so expect his testosterone, okay?”
Joe tugged on the glove. It fitted right up to his elbow, longer than the regular gauntlet. “I wonder if he’ll be as aggressive as that harpy eagle Eddie has?”
Katie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never handled a harpy. They have a fierce reputation and Sam, although he’s a boy eagle, isn’t aggressive. He’s just confident, is all.” She met Joe’s warm green gaze and her pulse quickened. Miraculously, the pain she’d been feeling in her heart dissolved. What kind of magic did Joe Gannon possess? The birds, thus far, had responded wonderfully to his quiet demeanor. Was she also responding to him? Confused, Katie didn’t have time to figure it all out. The report on her mother hung like a lead cape over her. It was impossible for Katie to sort through all the emotions.
“Well, I guess I’ll find out,” Joe joked. Some of the darkness in her blue eyes lessened. And when the corners of her soft, beautiful mouth lifted, Joe felt happiness. Tearing his gaze from hers, he forced himself down the aisle toward the chut-chut-chutting Sam.
Katie watched Joe handle the excited golden eagle. No one like being fed more than Sam. Joe guided the eagle onto the glove. When Sam unfurled his wings, the seven-foot wingspan was enough to rattle any falconer. Yet, as Sam spread his wings, Joe stood quietly and continued to wrap the jesses between his fingers. This was one raptor that he couldn’t trust to stay on his glove to be weighed. Eagles were at the top of the food chain, which explained Sam’s bold and confident nature. A trickle of relief moved through her as Joe successfully brought Sam out of his mew.
“Nice going,” she praised Joe.
“He’s a cupcake compared to the harpy.”
“Sam’s still a handful, though.” Katie met Joe’s gaze and melted beneath his widening smile. Man and eagle looked comfortable with one another. “You’re a good fit for Sam. He likes you,” Katie said, turning to the weight table and bringing the large scale forward for Sam to perch upon.
“I like him. He’s a beauty and really, very well-behaved.”
“Mmm,” Katie said, standing aside. The weight area was ten feet wide and when Sam spread his wings, the air rushed by her head and lifted strands of her hair. Joe guided him expertly onto the perch. Sam ruffled his bronze feathers and chirped pleadingly toward Katie.
“Weight first, big boy,” she told the eagle, “then food. You know the drill....”
Chuckling, Joe remained close, the jesses strung between the fingers of his glove. One never allowed an eagle loose in a facility. If he did get loose, he’d destroy his wing feathers because of the cramped quarters. Eagles had to be kept in a controlled state while indoors. Joe read the weight.
“Great,” Katie said, picking up the large plastic bag that contained half a dead rabbit.
Sam chutted excitedly, watching her open the bag.
“Joe, get Sam on your glove. I don’t feed him on the perch.”
Nodding, he tapped his glove. Sam leaped onto it, his talons curving around Joe’s wrist. Lifting and turning him so he faced Katie, Joe held his arm still for the feeding. A sixteen-pound eagle put a lot of stress on anyone’s arm. Sam gobbled the rabbit as if starved. Joe’s lower arm muscles began to burn from the weight of the raptor. He was glad when feeding was complete. And he was relieved when Sam was back in his mew. As he shook his arm, he noticed Katie watching him.
“He’s heavy.”
“Yeah.”
“You okay?”
“Sure. Who’s next?”
“We have the tundra peregrines, Quest and Harlequin, on the other side of the aisle to feed now.”
Joe liked that she used we instead of I. “I’ll go get the first one.”
For the next half hour, they worked with one another to weigh and feed all the raptors. But during this time, his mind kept going back to the file folder on Katie’s desk. It was unmarked and obviously important. What was in it? He saw an edge of a black-and-white photo sticking out of it. Maybe he could ease into it, try to establish a more personal rapport. “I told my mom and dad I got the job yesterday.”
“Oh?” Katie wrote down the numbers on Harlequin. “Were they happy for you?”
“Yes, they were.” He grinned. “I have a true story to tell you.” He wanted to lift her mood. “My mom loves birds and she has a green parakeet named Skippy.”
“Is that an earned name? As in skipping out of town? Escaping his cage?” Katie asked, hearing the warmth in Joe’s low voice. She fed Harlequin and kept glancing over at Joe. She was amazed at their teamwork. Truly, he was good with the birds and that lifted a lot of worry off her shoulders.
Joe laughed a little. “Yes. Skippy likes to escape out of the house any time he sees a door open. He’s been doing this for five years, now. The last time he escaped, Mom had to go next door to a neighbor rancher who had a male parakeet called Zeus. Skippy would fly over there and sit outside the window where Zeus’s cage was and chirp for hours. I think she was in love with him. They set Skippy’s cage outside the window and she eventually flew into it because she was hungry or thirsty. Then my mom shut the cage door quickly and Skippy’s wanderings were over until the next time.”
Katie laughed over the picture Joe painted. She finished feeding Harlequin, who was looking for more handouts. “Skippy is a bold little girl! Either that or she was helplessly in love with Zeus.”
“The plot thickens, though. There’s a local red-tailed hawk in the area and he usually sits in a cottonwood tree near the front door of my parents’ home waiting and watching. He’s aware Skippy escapes and is just waiting for the right day and moment to snatch her.”
“Not good for Skippy,” Katie agreed. She felt more of her gloom lift. Joe was lucky to have parents. Did he know that? Katie smiled up at him as he lifted Harlequin off the perch. When he smiled back, she felt as if light were lancing through her inner darkness.
Joe brought Quest up to be weighed and fed. As they worked, he asked, “My mother has always loved parakeets. I was raised with one around the house. Did you ever have a parakeet when you were a kid?”
A shaft of pain struck. Swallowing, Katie found herself blurting out the truth. “My growing up years weren’t exactly great. I never had a pet of any kind.” She compressed her lips to stop the flow of words. What on earth had she just said? Katie was normally very secretive about her childhood. She looked over quickly at Joe, dismayed at his perplexed gaze. Who wanted to hear her sad story? She was sorry she’d said anything. “Most kids don’t have great childhoods.”
A flush raced across Katie’s pale skin. Joe saw her gulp and quickly avoid his eyes as she fed Quest. He’d touched a nerve. He knew from her record that her childhood had been a massive, ongoing car wreck. How she’d survived amazed him because she seemed so damn fragile and otherworldly. His job was to get her to talk and trust him. Joe searched his memory for something that wasn’t as prickly a subject that she might respond to.
“Life can be hard.”
His voice was low with understanding. Katie’s anxiety shifted and dissolved. He stood with the peregrine on his glove. She felt a p
owerful sense of protection emanating from the man. The knot in her stomach lessened. “Your life as a Marine Corps officer was very dangerous.”
Joe knew she wanted to avoid talking about her childhood. Okay, he’d go where she wanted. “I liked what I did in the Marines, Katie.” There, he’d used her name. Joe had seen an instant response as her name rolled off his lips in a husky whisper. Katie’s expression changed instantly and more of the darkness left her exquisite dark blue eyes. Katie was deeply touched by the simplest things, he realized. “I liked being a leader. And I had good men working under my command. We shared a common bond and brotherhood.”
“Yes, but you nearly died in Afghanistan.”
“Came close,” Joe agreed, one corner of his mouth tucking inward. “I’ll be back.” He went to put Quest away.
Katie waited until Joe brought up Hank, the red-tailed hawk. The raptor was eyeing Joe, as if deciding whether he liked him. Then she smiled as Hank ruffled his plumage. Yep, Joe had won him over. After weighing the hawk, she said, “I’m sure your parents were worried when you were wounded. I can’t think of a more awful place to be as a parent.”
He liked her sensitivity. Katie could feel for other people and realize the pressures and stresses upon them. Originally, he’d thought she might be completely self-centered, as drug addicts and children of drug addicts sometimes were. He was wrong and the discovery made him happy for no accountable reason. “Yes, my poor mother was stripping gears to find out about my medical condition. Eventually, they flew to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany to be with me.”
“Wow,” Katie said, feeding Hank, “that must have cost them a lot of money.”
“It did. But you do anything for the ones you love. They cashed in their retirement savings. I was one happy guy when they showed up. I’d just come out of surgery, and to wake up and see my mom and dad at my bedside was a huge plus for me.”
“I can imagine. I can remember so many times when I wished my parents had been there for me.”
Katie was sorry she’d said anything.
Gently, he said, “What do you mean?” It was an opening. Would she go there? Fear and anxiety suddenly came over her expression. His gut tightened. Could someone fake such a visceral reaction? Joe didn’t know. Katie looked genuinely stressed over her admission.
Katie looked away. “Don’t mind me, Joe. I’m emotionally off today. I’m just not myself. Go ahead and take Hank back to his mew.”
So close and yet, so far away... Joe nodded and carried Hank to his mew. For a split second, he’d thought Katie would divulge something about her past to him. And then she’d closed up like a safe.
In the last mew was a female great horned owl with the name of Athena. This owl was the largest of its kind in the United States. She was multicolored with black, white, gray and brown feathers. Athena’s sharply pointed feather ears made her appear alert. She was snoozing on a large perch at the back of the mew when Joe disturbed her. Opening her huge round eyes, Athena stared unblinkingly at him.
“Is Athena a cranky sort when you wake her up?” he called to Katie
Katie walked to the entrance. “No, why?”
“She’s giving me a funny look.”
“Oh, Athena is a really slow awakener. If you think Moon was slow, Athena’s ten times worse.”
Glancing toward her, Joe grinned and said, “Hey, I relate to that. When I was a teenager, my mother used to pound on my door forever to wake me up. I was always a deep, late sleeper.”
“And you were probably late more than once to catch the school bus?” Katie guessed, feeling warmth drench her as he gave her that very male smile. Hungrily, she absorbed the care banked in Joe’s eyes. His mouth was beautifully shaped and she found herself staring at it. Inwardly, Katie felt her heart beat a little faster as he shared that intimate smile with her. It made her feel desired. Those unexpected sensations flummoxed her. Katie didn’t know what to do. Joe made her feel special when she knew she was not.
“Yep, you guessed it. My mother about pulled all the hair out of her head during my teen years. I was a late sleeper. Even two alarm clocks wouldn’t wake me up.” He chuckled fondly over those memories. Athena finally walked up to where he had his gauntlet placed against the branch. She fluffed her feathers repeatedly and then climbed, one foot at a time, onto Joe’s proffered glove.
“Are you still like that?” Katie wondered as Joe walked to the mew door.
“No. I got the stuffing kicked out of me in college. After graduation and joining the Marine Corps, I was one of the lightest sleepers in the world.”
“And when you came home to visit your parents, I wonder if your mom wasn’t surprised?” Katie laughed.
Joe allowed Athena to hop onto the perch to be weighed. The owl began whistling softly at Katie, who was holding a leg of a rabbit for her. Joe read the numbers and she jotted them down. She held up the rabbit leg. Athena opened her mouth and promptly grabbed it. Katie was always amazed how a long foreleg of a rabbit could disappear into the owl’s throat so quickly, but it did. Once the meat and bone were gobbled down, Athena fluffed and then her eyelids half closed.
“Oh, she’s a very satisfied owl,” Katie assured Joe with a grin. “When her eyes go to half-mast like that it means she’s not only filled up, but very happy.”
Joe watched the owl. “I don’t have much experience with owls and I’m glad you’re sharing all of these behavior patterns with me.”
“I love owls. They’re slow, conservative, but they miss nothing. Athena is particularly good with teens. Moon is just the opposite. She loves the kindergarteners and younger children.”
“They’re just like people, aren’t they?”
“That’s the truth,” Katie said, putting the leftover bags into the refrigerator.
Joe was about to settle his gauntlet against the perch when Athena suddenly flapped and flew up into the air. Surprised, he jerked back as the owl’s wing barely grazed his cheek as she sailed past him. He heard Katie sigh, but his focus was on the huge owl. Athena flew around the office area, her wings stirring up gusts of wind. As she wheeled and dipped toward the desk, the file folder flew open, papers and photos tumbling into the air. Joe’s eyes instantly narrowed. One of the black-and-white photos flipped and turned right side up as it landed on the concrete floor in front of the desk. A mug shot? He barely got to see it as Athena flew past him and headed down the aisle.
Katie gasped as the file flew into the air. The last thing she wanted was for Joe to see what was in the folder! Her gut tightened as one of the mug shots of her mother landed on the floor. “Joe, get Athena,” she ordered.
Joe hurried down the aisle, his glove lifted above his head so Athena could land on it. Katie scrambled and gathered all the strewn photos and papers. Jamming them inside the folder, she quickly shoved it into the top desk drawer. Her heart pounded, and she looked upward. Had Joe seen the photo of her mother? If he had, he would know it was a prison picture. Maybe she was overthinking. She craned her neck and looked down the aisle. Joe had coaxed Athena back onto his glove and had taken her to the mew.
Pushing strands of hair off her brow, Katie stood by her desk and tried to shake off her anxiety. She didn’t want Joe to know her mother had been in prison. She quickly smoothed down her hair and walked over to the weight station. Breathing erratically, she tried to calm down.
By the time Joe reached the office area, he glanced to his left. The file was gone. So was the picture from the floor. Looking to the right, he saw Katie cleaning up the weight and feeding station. Her fingers were trembling. She seemed out of breath and he could feel her tension. After taking off the glove, he placed it back into his locker. Right now, he sensed Katie needed some space. Where had she put the file? The top drawer wasn’t completely closed. Had Katie put it in there? Joe would have to be patient and wait. His boss was behaving as if
struck by a bolt of lightning. She worked swiftly, shifting from one foot to another. “Would you like me to start cleaning out the mews?” he asked in a quiet tone.
Katie barely turned her head. “Yes. The cleaning supplies and tools are at the other end in that gray metal locker, Joe.”
He couldn’t see much of her face, but he noticed she was paler than before, if that was possible. What the hell was in that folder? Curiosity ate at him but he knew better than to pry right now. Katie would have to go to lunch and when she did, he’d make an excuse to stay behind, rifle through the desk and locate the mysterious file. Joe moved down the aisle, giving her the space she needed.
As he opened the cleaning locker, Joe wondered if the file was an order from Los Lobos cartel. Had her mother sent her photos of someone she was to meet? Maybe to swap guns or drugs with them? Clearly, the file wasn’t meant for eyes other than hers. He unwound the green garden hose because he’d be giving each raptor fresh bath and drinking water. Stringing the hose down the aisle, he decided to start near the office entrance and work his way toward the rear. That way, he could rewind the hose as he went and it wouldn’t become a tripping hazard.
From time to time as Joe cleaned the first mew, he’d glance toward the entrance. Katie was walking back and forth, clearly agitated. He really began to feel sorry for her. The more he saw of her, the less he believed she was the drug-dealer type. A field agent knew how to shove down all his emotions, control his body language and keep his face carefully arranged so no one could read his intentions. Not so with Katie. In many ways, she had a falcon’s temperament. Falcons were supersensitive to everything and would overreact. That was why they were hooded until they were flown. The outside world impinged upon them too much and they became flighty, restless and agitated. Just like Katie.
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