by Rachel Lee
“So you get out there before the official hours start and patrol the roads?”
“Essentially, yes. We all do. Anyway I find a parked vehicle, I stop and listen. I’d better not hear a shot before the appointed time.”
“And if you do?”
“Then I walk in. Or I wait by the vehicle. I mean they’ve got to bring their kill out soon.”
“So they’re not all falling over each other out there?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “You said you spent all summer hiking up there, Kel. You know how much land is out there. We’d need half of Wyoming hunting right here to have them stumbling over each other.”
“Which makes your job challenging.”
“You know, I realized a long time ago that I wasn’t going to catch them all. Nobody could and some enforcement is better than none. Being random about who we catch keeps the guys who think about edging around the law a whole lot jumpier.”
“I guess it would. You never know when a warden might swoop in.”
“That’s the idea.” She paused to pass him a mug of coffee before coming around the counter and sitting on a stool to eat. “Help yourself to anything when you get hungry.”
“I’m going to the diner when it opens. I’ll have to eat there. You know that place is a great source of intelligence.”
She gave a little snort. “Kinda like the churches. The community’s beating heart. Or gossip central. I like it there, too. When I first started here, it was a great way to make connections. I went in wearing my red shirt, and right away I was sharing my table with five guys. They were checking me out, but that’s the first step. I made a lot of friends over the next months. You hang out there enough and one of them will warn you if they think someone suspicious is looking for you.”
“They will?” The idea surprised him, but he guessed she would know. He’d seen how small Afghani communities could be like that, but he hadn’t expected it here. Maybe because he was used to being one of the guys no one really wanted around.
“Sure,” she said, carrying her plate to the sink and setting it to soak in a small dishpan. “By now they all know where you’re sleeping at night. That should speed things up for you.”
Then she pulled on her belt, holstered her gun and donned her outerwear. Swiftly she left, leaving him feeling as if he had just seen a wraith, here and then gone.
Her words had struck him, though. They all know where you’re sleeping.
Hell, he hadn’t given one thought to what that might mean for her. Sure, she could say they were old friends, whatever, but it seemed a whole lot different when phrased the way she had.
They all know where you’re sleeping.
Why had he been too stupid to think of that before? This wasn’t some major city. He might be making things harder for her.
But she hadn’t objected. She’d offered the bunkhouse, such as it was. Maybe it didn’t matter any more here than it would have in a major city.
Or maybe it did, and neither of them had even considered it.
He didn’t mind dangling himself as bait, but he didn’t want her in that noose with him. He figured these guys had a motive to kill him. What if they thought Desi knew what he was doing?
Would they try to remove her, too?
Her daily job involved going out and talking to people, every one of whom was armed. And while game wardens and other conservation officers weren’t exactly on the top of the list when it came to being shot in the line of duty, it happened, and such killings were on the rise nationally. A dangerous job, like law enforcement of any kind.
And he might have set her up for more.
Damn. Needing something to do, he rounded the counter and started washing her breakfast dishes. It sounded so casual, his suggestion that he make it look as if he were buttering her up so she wouldn’t scrutinize his activities too closely. But what if the ring he was hunting read it differently? It didn’t seem likely because she was a warden and that should protect her from their suspicion. She devoted her life to trying to stop the very thing he was pretending to do, the very thing that ring did.
No reason for them to think she was in on it. But They all know where you’re sleeping sounded sinister to him now. God, he’d royally screwed up.
He grabbed some more coffee and sat at the counter, reviewing everything he’d done, what might or might not be known, and trying to figure out just how much danger he’d exposed Desi to.
It was too late now to move back to the motel. Everyone knew he’d moved in here. Maybe he needed to solidify the story over the next few days, making it clear he was sleeping in the bunkhouse. He could do that casually enough without making it seem like he was sending a message.
But would that be enough? He’d come here knowing he would need Desi’s help. It wasn’t a one-man job. But he’d been hoping to tap her network of friends, the people who called her when they saw something suspicious. The romancing her part had only been intended to create an impression that he was sweet-talking her. The instant she claimed him as an old friend had set this stone rolling. Who’d leave an old friend at the motel when she had a bunkhouse on the other side of the door? So he’d moved in, the natural thing.
Well, he supposed it was good that it looked natural, but even so he was beginning to wonder if he was cut out for this undercover stuff. He might have inadvertently put a woman in danger because he hadn’t been quick enough on his feet, because he hadn’t even really thought about what could happen.
He’d have to find a way to adapt. He was used to the best plans going awry, an inevitability in combat situations. He’d deal with it. But it made his heart skitter uncomfortably when he thought about how Desi might have been dragged into more danger.
Damn, the woman was growing on him, and it couldn’t have been clearer that she didn’t want to grow on anyone.
Maybe he needed his head examined. No time for that now, though. Soon two of his colleagues were scheduled to arrive for a “hunt” and he needed to get that storefront space up and running. Stake himself out like a Judas goat.
That had been the plan all along. He’d assumed he could do it because he’d been in much more dangerous situations. But he hadn’t often been in them with someone who hadn’t volunteered.
Then he had a thought. There appeared to be empty rooms above the storefront. Moving in there would also seem like a natural step, and would draw attention away from Desi. If it were possible, he needed to do that. It wouldn’t destroy the “old friend” designator like moving into the motel would. It would appear as if Desi had simply offered him a cot until he had a better place to rest his head.
Satisfied that he needed to take care of that ASAP, he decided to make a light breakfast because he was going to eat at Maude’s diner again in a couple of hours. Put his finger to the wind. See if anyone had noticed anything unusual.
* * *
Desi liked patrolling before dawn. She loved the dark peace of the woods, pierced only by her headlights. It was a dangerous time, too. If anyone out there didn’t wait for first light, she could be mistaken for game. Of course, that could happen at any time, orange vest and cap or no. Some hunters were just too quick on the trigger, like the guy who’d mistaken his hunting partner for a game bird. Yeah, the partner had been wearing orange, but it wasn’t visible through the brush. So the brush had rustled, and the hunter had made a bad choice.
At least no one had died, but she’d given quite a stern lecture to the offending hunter about not shooting when he couldn’t clearly see his target. Not that he seemed to need the lecture at that point. He’d been distraught enough to see the error in his ways, but the lecture was required anyway. The other hunter went to the hospital but was all right and refused to press charges. Both of them were lucky men.
And the first hunter lost his right to hunt for a while.
>
The sad thing was, she’d seen that more than once, heard of it too many times. It kept her cautious when she got out of her vehicle. Everyone sitting in a stand right now, or who had tracked a game animal and was just waiting, was eager. Too eager. Intentional or not, that made them dangerous.
While she prowled the roads looking for vehicles pulled to the side, her thoughts wandered back to Kel. Boy, had she hightailed it out of there this morning. Earlier than she had really needed to, but she could excuse it because it allowed her to patrol some of the more distant parts of her area.
But seeing him this morning, freshly wakened, a little rumpled...well, he was only more attractive. Dang, she needed to keep her mind in the game, not her urges. The guy would probably be gone in a few weeks; he was here only for business. She couldn’t have picked a worse guy to suddenly get attracted to.
It made her so uneasy to feel that tug toward him, that pleasant ache for him. She’d managed to quash all that for years. But here she was doing it again.
Then it struck her that maybe she was responding to him because it was safe. He was going away. No complications. Nothing messy. And a good reason to park her yearning and not act on it.
Anyway, after last night and their intimate conversation, she felt better about everything. She’d shared something she had never shared before and her confidence had been accepted with caring. He’d shared something he probably didn’t share outside a group of vets, and she appreciated the importance of that. A special guy.
Part of her was sorry to realize that he’d be moving on as soon as they solved this, or a soon as the WIU decided this wasn’t working.
Every time she thought about it, the idea that a whole ring of illegal outfitters was operating in this state, she got a real burn going. Occasional poaching happened because people were people, but to take large sums of money from out-of-state hunters who couldn’t or wouldn’t wait to get a permit for the game they wanted? Who wouldn’t pay for even the most basic license and take their chance in a drawing like everyone else?
She knew those out-of-state licenses were expensive, but there was a reason for that: to protect hunting for residents. It would be awful to have locals shunted aside as wealthy trophy hunters snapped up licenses in huge numbers. Plus, it helped support Game and Fish, who were looking after a whole lot of things for people who paid other fees all year round. Call it a makeup fee. Paying for year-round services that out-of-staters planned to use for only a few days. Services that made it possible for them to find game here.
But then her thoughts started drifting back to Kel again. She could have laughed at herself if she weren’t troubled about her own state of mind. Stuck in a rut, she decided. But it wasn’t the first rut she’d met in her head.
As the road made a hairpin turn, she saw a pickup pulled over to the side, lights off. This was far out from anywhere, so it wasn’t surprising that someone had gotten here well before first light.
Still, she probably needed a little chat with them, unless they were camped somewhere in the woods. Under those circumstances, trying to find them would be a waste of time. She switched on her roof bar and red-and-blue flashers. The swirl of colors made the darkened forest around look eerie.
She put the pickup in Park and set the emergency brake. Just as she was about to climb out, the driver’s side door of the truck ahead opened and a man climbed out.
People often did that, but she wished they wouldn’t until she was out of her vehicle with complete mobility. At least he didn’t try to approach.
She unlatched her seatbelt, felt for her sidearm, making sure she had clear access, then climbed out, keeping the open door between herself and the man.
“How’s it going?” she called.
“Dawn could hurry up,” the man answered. “Seems like I’ve been sitting here forever.”
“Not much longer. You have any loaded weapons in your truck?”
“Not loaded, but yeah, me and my buddy got a couple of rifles.”
“Take them out slowly please and leave them in the bed of the truck.”
The man seemed to have no troubled with that. He reached inside the cab and pulled out two hunting rifles in padded carrying cases, and laid them in the bed.
“You need my buddy to get out, too?” The guy asked.
“Not really. Just checking licenses. Sorry about the guns but caution requires it.”
“I get it.”
“Any other weapons?”
“Hunting knives. You want them in the back, too?”
“Please.”
Once the weapons were taken care of, she approached. “Just the standard check. You get anything good in the drawing this year?”
“Elk,” the man said proudly as he handed over his license, permit and ID. “My buddy already got elk and moose a few years ago. Some people get all the luck, don’t they?”
She heard the guy inside laugh. “I shared the meat with you, Bob.”
Bob grinned. “He did. Invited me and the family over for dinner a few times.”
Desi smiled. “I hope you’ll be doing the cooking this year.”
“Count on it. Doby’s wife has the best recipe. I’m planning to beg for it.”
By the time she finished checking them out, she decided that she really liked both of the men. As she got ready to return to her vehicle, she paused and turned back. “We’ve got a poaching problem,” she said.
Bob shook his head. “Don’t we always? I hate it when they take the big game. Say, Warden, can you tell me something?”
“If I know.”
“Does the poaching affect the available permits for the next year?”
She hitched her gun belt to a more comfortable position. “That depends. We do our best to count the herds and then decide how many we can afford to harvest. If there’s been a lot of poaching, then yeah, the population might decrease and we might offer fewer permits.”
“I figured,” said the guy in the passenger seat. “You getting on top of it, Warden?”
“We’re trying. It seems to be on the increase, though. Say, if you gentlemen see anything suspicious while you’re out here, will you let me know? I’d like for both of you to be able to win big game permits next year. Likelier if we can offer more.”
“I know,” said Bob. “Believe me, if I see something I’ll be in touch.”
“Just don’t try to police anyone. Wouldn’t want you getting hurt.” She passed him her card. “You can call night or day. This time of year I sleep on the phone.”
That caused both of them to laugh. She waved and climbed into her vehicle again, switching off the light bar and flashers.
She thoroughly enjoyed encounters like that. After both men were safely back in their truck, she drove on.
Then her mind, as if it were attached by a rubber band, snapped back to Kel. All she could do was shake her head at herself. Most of the people she met on this job were like the men she had just talked to. Regardless, for her own safety she had to keep her head in the game. Completely in the game.
Sexy, fuzzy thoughts about a man weren’t going to help her. Nope, pure distraction. But then she laughed. It had been so very long since she’d allowed herself that distraction. It was kind of fun.
* * *
Kel rented that storefront he’d been looking at, paying the guy for six months. He and his headquarters team had debated that, whether a very short-term lease would make him look more suspicious, or whether it would lessen his threat to the ring they were after. Finally they decided on six months as a good compromise. It meant Kel wasn’t planning on quitting, that he wasn’t just a one-time threat to their income stream.
In the meantime, he now had a place to put all the camping gear from his pickup. Yeah, he’d just have to load it all up again when his “clients” arrived, but h
e could make a show of checking it all out, like he was getting ready. The rifles and pistols he kept in the truck. By the time he was done with that, it was lunch hour and he headed back to Maude’s diner to get something to eat and listen for anything that might perk his attention.
And for the first time he felt as if he were being watched.
There were a lot of people in the diner; any one of them could be staring a bit. But it had started, the first prickles, as he was unloading his truck. Just prickles, easily dismissed. Now it was stronger, and he looked casually around the diner. He forced himself to eat, then return to his storefront to lay out all the camping gear for inspection. None of it really needed it, but it made him look serious if anyone was interested.
Dang, he thought finally as the afternoon began to wane. He had to get out of here. He was having crazy feelings, and he honestly didn’t know if he could trust them.
Back at the warden station he saw four more official vehicles parked out front. Desi must be having a powwow with her colleagues. His curiosity piqued but he couldn’t just walk in on them. Instead he headed upstairs and let himself in.
He could hear voices and laughter from down below, but couldn’t make out any words. He hoped he hadn’t caused her any problem by showing up while everyone could see him, then brushed the thought away. Probably they all knew he was staying here by this point.
He went to the sink, washed the coffee carafe and started a fresh pot. Out the window over the sink, he caught sight of two wardens carrying a plastic-wrapped carcass out to the evidence freezers. More poaching?
His interest quickened again and he wished he could just go down and ask. Well, he could wait for Desi. He doubted she’d refuse to tell him. It wasn’t like it was a state secret.
At least the feeling of being watched had stopped. He hated that skin-crawling, hair-raising sensation. Most people could sense it and dismiss it, but after where he’d been, he was unable to ignore it. He was also unable to trust it. With time he’d begun to understand that not all his reactions were justified by what was happening in the present.