by Spear, Terry
She took off her clothes in the bedroom, setting them on a chair, then pulled a long flannel T-shirt out of a bureau drawer. Once she pulled it over her head and arms, she climbed under the covers and closed her eyes. The image of Stryker filled her brain. His infectious smile, his twinkling, blue eyes, and oh-god, the rest of him—half-naked as Santa, and fully naked in the shower, trying to wash off the stench from her skin, and her hair, as she worked on his body. Aroused body. Very aroused body. And kissing goodnight. She so hadn’t wanted to end it there. What was the matter with her anyway?
No hot cougar in her life, ever. Lukewarm, yes, some passable humans, but nothing like this sexy cougar.
She took a deep breath and sighed, trying not to think of anything, but his birth certificate came to mind again. Why in the world was she seeing that now? She rolled onto her stomach, trying to block out everything but sleep.
And then she heard one of the trap doors slam shut outside, trapping another skunk? She laid there for a while, wanting to ignore it. She guessed she could hear it this time because she was trying to sleep, and no one was here visiting and distracting her and the guest bedroom was closer to that part of the yard. She was so tired.
She continued lying there, attempting to shut off her mind, but she kept imagining the little stinky critters freezing to death out there. She rolled to her side. Flipped onto her back, and then with an aggravated sigh, she gave up and got up.
She yanked off her long-sleeved T-shirt and tossed it on the bed, then shifted into her cougar. Racing out of the bedroom, she tore down the hall, annoyed. They shouldn't have baited either of them for the rest of the night. She bolted through the cougar door and was soon outside in the snow. To her delight, it was snowing, which brightened her spirts again. She loved snowfall, the snowflakes settling on her nose and head and back. In Austin, she rarely saw snow.
She licked at the flakes as they were falling in the air all around her, big, fat, beautiful snowflakes, and batted at them, yeah, so she was a kitty cat at heart when she was in her cougar form and the snow was falling.
Then she got back to business and headed for the cages. Smelling new skunks in one of them, she vowed to empty the cage and she wouldn't fill it with bait again. She returned to the house and shifted and dressed in her warm clothes, then trudged back out to the cage. She carried it to her hatchback, shoved it inside, found a broom so she could use the handle to set the critters free from a little bit of a distance, got in her car, and set the GPS for the town of Anderson.
She'd never been to a ghost town before and she was excited about seeing it, though she wished she wasn't so tired. She drove the half-hour through the blowing snow to the town of Anderson. When she finally reached the tiny, weathered-old sign for the town on a side road, she turned off on the road and realized she could only drive so far on the snow-covered road. Ugh. She hadn't thought of that, but she realized the old mining town had closed so long ago, it must have only been used for horses and wagon traffic and wasn't a paved road even. And there wasn't any reason to clear the road of snow for traffic since it didn’t go anywhere except to the ghost town.
That meant she had to carry about twenty pounds of skunks and cage, and the broom pole to use to open it from a distance so she wouldn't get skunked, through the deep snow. She left her purse tucked under the driver’s seat, though she was certain she wouldn’t have any trouble in an old abandoned, mining town late at night. Her 9mm gun was hidden in the glove compartment and she locked the car doors. She didn’t want to carry any other cumbersome baggage with her, not to mention the extra weight would be a pain. Her purse always seemed to weigh a ton.
Then she made the long trek through the snow, glad at least there was a narrow road between the encroaching trees anyway. The snow continued to fall around her and she loved it.
When she finally reached the town, she was in awe. A moon cast a light glow on the snow giving her some additional light, though she could see with her cat's vision at night also, the light snow falling making it even more magical. Four saloons were still standing, an old schoolhouse, two churches, three dance halls, two gambling halls, and two parlor houses. She set the cage and pole down on a mound of snow and went to explore. She didn't want to set the skunks free and then chance running into them in town where they could skunk her while she was looking over the place.
Forget about sleeping. Now she was way too excited. She might have to call Stryker early, or leave him a text message, telling him to visit her a little later in the morning. Shoot, she forgot her phone. Though she figured she wouldn’t have reception here anyway. She trudged through the snow to the first building in her path, the tavern, and frowned to see all the bullet holes all over the place. It looked like a gunfight had occurred here and not all that long ago. Certainly not by armed gunslingers of the old west. She immediately began looking at the place in terms of her FBI training and not from the standpoint of being a visitor, getting a bit of a thrill at seeing the old west for real and not on a movie screen.
She ran her gloved finger over one of the bullet holes. The rounds were aiming toward the doorway, but hit the siding at an angle, as if someone had been shooting at someone else inside the building. The rounds hadn’t been fired straight at the building, as would be more of the case if hooligans were just shooting at the building without any clear purpose in mind.
She entered the tavern and saw some shell casings. Then she noticed a clear spot on the dusty floor where a sleeping bag had lain and the wooden floor, the vision of the old, weathered floor came back to her in a flash. She stopped dead in her tracks. Ohmigod, her sister had slept here. Nina immediately took a deep breath and smelled her scent. Her sister had truly been here, and not that long ago. She thought of her cell phone. Damn it. She wished she’d thought to pull it out of her purse at least and carry it with her, so she could have at least tried to call Stryker. She might not have gotten through though, depending on cell service in the area.
She was torn between returning to her car or searching for her sister on her own and just hollering for her or locating her last trail and finding her that way. Ava might be more willing to see Nina if she didn’t have Stryker with her.
Suddenly, Nina heard someone's footfalls crunching in the snow. Her first instinct was to face the person, believing it to be her sister and convince her to come with her to their aunt and uncle's home. But Nina’s sixth sense told her that it was so late at night, who else would be out here wandering around in the snow, except someone looking to cause trouble. If her sister was sleeping here, wouldn’t she already be sleeping here? Nina hurried out a side door and into the snow and headed toward the next building. Whoever it was, couldn't smell her at least. And once she was inside another building she could get a glimpse of who it was.
Her heart racing, she slipped into the one-room schoolhouse and peered out through one of the boarded-up windows, and saw a man in a heavy, hooded white parka come out of the tavern and head straight for the schoolhouse. Chills swept up her spine, and she was reminded she hadn’t brought her gun with her.
He might not be a dangerous criminal, like she was afraid he could be, but what were the odds that some nice man was out wandering around in the ghost town this late at night? Following her?
He wore a fur-trimmed hood pulled over his head and she couldn't see his face, except she thought he wore a dark beard. If he was a cougar and after Ava…was he the pharmacist who framed her sister? He'd have to murder Ava so that she didn't get caught and put on trial, and then end up in prison. He just needed her to die and take the rap for him.
Nina found a back door, but she couldn't outrun the man in the drifts of snow. If he was armed, she could have her own shootout, if she hadn't left her gun in the car. She quickly yanked off her clothes, shoving them in the teacher's desk drawers. Then she shifted and raced for the backdoor as she heard the footfalls crunching through the snow in a hurry, headed for the front door. She bolted out of the backdoor and into the snow,
leaping from drift to drift, unable to do anything but make for the rocky cliffs and around to where she could get to her car. But she had to stay out of sight, just in case the man was armed with a gun, and she had no reason to believe he wouldn't be.
She was just headed back down the rocks when a round was fired and slammed into the ice and snow-covered rocks near her. Ice splintered and she leapt down from the rocks to find refuge in the piled-up snow and the cover of blue spruce trees.
If she could have easily reached him, she would have found her way back to him and killed him as a cougar, but she couldn't get close to him without him seeing her. She still didn't know if he was the pharmacist, a cougar, or anything. He could have just followed her scent trail to the schoolhouse if he was a cougar. As a human, her tracks in the snow would have been enough for him to track her. The fact he shot at her as a cougar meant? He probably was a cougar also.
Staying in the woods, she needed to get to her car in a hurry. At least her purse was in the car so she hadn’t left it behind with her clothes. And now she was thankful her cell phone was in her purse, thank God for small miracles.
She leaped through the snow, staying to the trees, not wanting him to see her on the clearer road. She was afraid he'd tried to beat her to the car, but he couldn't. Not in his human skin, trudging through the deep snow. She finally saw her car ahead through the trees, and she felt a little relief. But if she didn't make it to it before he could reach it, he could still shoot her.
She made several more leaps and bounds and reached the snow-covered road. As soon as she was at the car door, she shifted, and shivered in the icy cold while poking at the security code on the car door with her shaking finger. She jerked the car door open, jumped in, and slammed the door shut, locking it.
She saw the man coming then, but he didn't shoot at her this time. He held up his phone and took a picture of her car. She didn't think he could see her license plate for the piled-up snow in front of her on the road. Quickly, she started the car and backed down the road. He took another picture of her car. Probably this time catching her license plate. He must have access to that information. Why else would he bother, unless to try and intimidate her? But he shot at her when she was in her cougar form. Because she was a cougar? Or because he knew she was a shifter? Or because she looked like her sister?
She was trying to back down the road as fast as she could without veering off the path and hitting a tree. That could be the end of her. She called information on her Bluetooth and got Stryker's number as she continued to back down the darn road that seemed to have gotten longer since she had arrived. The hooded man watched her for what seemed like an eternity, and then headed back toward town. Probably to find her clothes. Then what? She had no personal information on them. Thankfully. But she had only one warm coat, and it was now in the schoolroom. Not to mention the poor skunks. She still had to return to release them, but she was taking Stryker with her this time, and she was going to be armed with her own gun too. As soon as she reached the main road, she backed up onto it and tore off down the road toward Yuma Town.
She was finally able to get through to Stryker, the first time only getting voice mail and she wasn’t leaving a message! "I need your help!"
8
When Stryker got the call from Nina, she sounded out of breath and he thought she must have been running out to the skunk traps and run back into the house to tell him she had another skunk trapped that he had to remove from the premises. He definitely wasn't baiting them for the rest of the night. Or if he was, he was going to stay there, on the couch if he had to, and he'd bring his dogs so he wouldn't have to worry about feeding them in the morning. He'd already be there to eat breakfast with Nina then. That would work.
"Stryker, are you awake?" she asked in the same breathy tone.
"Yeah, more skunk problems? I'm getting dressed right now."
"No, I mean, yeah, and I need to release the poor critters, but I was in Anderson Town and was shot at."
Stryker stopped pulling on his boot. "What?" What the hell was she doing in Anderson? The skunks! She thought to release the skunks there. No people. And he’d been the one to mention it to her in the first place. "In Anderson?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way back to my aunt and uncle's place. I’m not wearing any clothes. I hope no one pulls me over for anything. God am I cold, though I've got the heater on high."
"You ran as a cougar to escape? Just start at the beginning. I'll meet you at your place."
She explained what had happened and he was so angry, he couldn't help himself. He would kill the bastard himself. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I wasn't shot."
He'd figured out that part. He was worried how she was doing mentally.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Though if I'd had my gun with me, and hadn't left it in my damn glove compartment, I would have killed the SOB. Oh, and my sister had camped out in the tavern. I smelled her scent. Now I don't have a coat or gloves. I'll see if my aunt has spares. I just hope the bastard doesn't steal my clothes. I need to go back and get them."
"Not without me and half of the law enforcement guys here."
"Right. I'm sure they're going to wish I hadn't come into your territory."
"Are you kidding? Cougars take care of cougars, the good guys and the bad. I'm going to contact Dan and he'll get the ball rolling. Just hang on the line, will you?"
"I'll remain on the line." She scoffed. "I should have had a change of clothes in the car like you guys do. Not that I really had any time to dress. I was glad I'd left my purse, keys, and phone in the car though. Too much to lug through the snowdrifts while carrying the skunks in the cage. I certainly didn't think I'd run into any trouble out there."
"You were supposed to call me."
"I didn't want to wake you and you had mentioned this place. I just figured it would be far away from everyone."
"One of the guys can take them somewhere else. We need to keep our eyes on Anderson now if your sister, and whoever the armed guy is, are hanging out there. Do you think it's the pharmacist?"
"Or someone he's hired to get rid of her. I guess it would be good to check further into his background. Is he a hunter? A shooter at ranges? Former military? He almost hit me, but I moved just in time, and then I was out of his sight. Either he’s a damn good shot, or he just got really lucky that he nearly hit me. I was kind of surprised he didn't shoot at me when I was in the car, but I suspected he didn’t want to leave any evidence on the car and figured he couldn't kill me that way anyway."
"Okay, calling Dan. Be right back." Stryker didn't want to lose touch with Nina for even a second, and his heart was pounding, just with the thought she could have been killed by some murdering son-of-bitch. As soon as Stryker got ahold of Dan, he said, "Hey, we've got trouble."
"And you're on vacation," Dan said, sounding like he'd woken him up from a deep sleep, just like Nina had done to Stryker.
"Right." Then Stryker explained to Dan what had happened.
"Hell. Okay. You get back to Nina and I'll get ahold of everyone else that I can. You stay with her at the Robinson's place, or take her to your home and watch over her."
Stryker didn't believe the former FBI agent would agree with the plan, but he'd ask her what she wanted to do. "Thanks. Though don’t be surprised if we’re both out there in a bit.”
“Yeah, well, you just wait until the rest of us are there too.”
“Will do. Out here." Stryker opened up the phone line to Nina again. "I'm at your place and I've alerted Dan. He'll inform the others of the trouble. Did you want to stay here with me while they get this sorted out? Or go with me to my place?"
"My sister may still go to my aunt and uncle’s place, so I want to continue staying there. I want to question the bastard if they catch him though. I’ll accompany you back to Anderson."
Why did he know that's what she'd say? Because if he were her, that's what he'd say. "All right."
Then she pulled into the drive and he could se
e she was naked from the breastbone up. Hell, he'd forgotten about that part. He'd already unlocked the front door to the house, but pushed it open now. Then he pulled his coat off as he hurried to the car to wrap her in it and carry her inside.
He opened her car door for her and she stepped out into the snow.
"It's not necessary that—"
He wrapped her in his coat and scooped her up in his arms, then headed to the house, carrying her. It sure as hell was necessary!
She was shivering, looking furious, hopefully not about his gallantry. Some women didn't like to be coddled. But it was damn cold out here. He belatedly realized she could have shifted if he hadn't interfered in her plans.
"What kind of weapon did he have?" Stryker asked, setting her on the tile floor in the foyer and she handed him his coat, shifted into her cougar, and raced down the hall for the bedroom.
"A Glock," she said from the guest bedroom, after she’d shifted. "Hey, can you check in my aunt's coat closet and see if she has some spare gloves and a winter coat for me to wear?
"Yeah, sure." He opened the hall closet and found several coats and jackets. "Yeah, she's got a ski parka and gloves in here."
"Thanks. That’ll be perfect."
"No silencer on the weapon?" he asked.
"No. He wouldn't have needed one where we were. No one would have heard any shots he'd fired."
"Okay. While you were getting here and then dressing, the others should have arrived at Anderson and will be looking for any sign of the shooter and your sister."