“You issued an open invitation for sex in the same breath.”
He conceded her point. He should’ve quit while he was ahead. “I was trying to tell you how I felt. It’s called sharing.”
“Well, cut it out.”
The pricklier she got, the more he wanted to strip down her defenses. He liked sparring with her, and he could imagine how good it would feel to explore that energy in bed. Maybe she was right about him being bored. Unfulfilled was a better word.
Women didn’t fall at his feet, however. Not the ones he went for. He preferred sober, self-aware partners. He enjoyed giving pleasure as much as receiving it. Anyone worth doing was worth doing right. That was his motto. And it wasn’t as if he’d taken home a different girl every night. He’d dated some for weeks or months at a time.
Obviously, none of those relationships had stuck. If the perfect woman had come along, he’d have moved heaven and earth to keep her.
“Have you always wanted to work with animals?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Pretty much.”
“Since when?”
“Childhood.”
“Did you have a lot of pets?”
“Not really,” she said, picking up an apple. “My mom worked on a small farm a few miles east of the city, and we lived there for a few years after my dad died. There were goats and cows and barn cats with kittens.”
“And they were your friends,” he mused.
She took a bite of apple, not responding.
He figured that a little girl who got teased for her funny accent and serious face might feel more at home with a group of animals than a pack of kids. Josh could relate. He’d been clumsy and skinny in high school. Humor had been his crutch. “You said you’re more comfortable with them.”
“I am.”
“Because they’re better listeners?”
“And they don’t require responses.”
He laughed at this, aware that she was getting annoyed with his questions. They didn’t have to talk, as far as he was concerned. He wouldn’t mind chilling out here in the staff area for the rest of the afternoon. They could grill a few steaks later. It was a hell of lot better than trying to capture wild animals.
That reminded him of something. “I saw a hyena outside the fence line.”
She paused, midchew. “Where?”
“Birdie Trail.” It was a popular jogging path in a wooded area between the zoo and the naval hospital.
“When was this?”
“Earlier today, from the Skylift.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You were dangling in midair at the time. Then we…it slipped my mind.”
She rose to her feet, leaving her apple on the table. “Shit!”
“Do you think he jumped the fence?”
“Hyenas can’t jump that high. The fence must be damaged. We have to check the perimeter right now. If there’s a broken section, all of the code ones could be roaming the city, attacking survivors.”
She picked up the tranquilizer gun and he slung the rifle over his shoulder, following her back to the truck.
So much for relaxing.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THEY FOUND THE washed-out section of fence at the edge of Copper Canyon.
As soon as Josh slowed to a stop, Helena jumped out of the truck and approached the fence line. Her stomach sank as she saw the extent of the damage. Copper River had rerouted during the initial quake, pouring thousands of gallons of water across the dry earth. Now the ground was damp, riveted with huge cracks. About ten feet of chain link lay flat, half-buried in debris that the rushing river left behind.
She curled her hands into fists, wanting to cry. Hyenas traveled in packs, so it was likely that more than one animal had escaped. The others could follow.
This was too big a problem for her to handle. Dealing with a single code one inside zoo boundaries was a group effort. A wildlife situation of this magnitude was unprecedented. The lack of officials and authority figures didn’t help. There was no communication, no law enforcement assistance. No guidance.
Helena didn’t even know the procedure for a perimeter breach. It was a city-wide emergency. She needed dozens, if not hundreds, of helpers. Teams of keepers combing the park. More on the streets, with police backup. Maintenance crews for fence repair. Skilled construction workers to fix the compromised enclosures.
Instead, she had…Josh Garrison. Whose experience in hunting was limited to the human female variety.
She smothered a groan at the thought, still mortified by her behavior at the loading dock. The sequence of events was too overwhelming to contemplate. Bambang, the aerial tram, her runaway lust, Greg’s dead face.
It was all too much. Too disturbing. She couldn’t breathe under the weight of her stress and sorrow. Pressure coiled inside her, constricting her chest. When Josh put his hand on her elbow, she sprung away from him. He lifted his palm up in a peace gesture, his brows raised. She wasn’t usually so agitated.
“What are we going to do?” she exploded.
“Repair it,” he said simply.
“They’re already out!”
“One is.”
“More than one, I’ll wager. That’s why we haven’t seen them around the park.”
“We saw Bambang.”
She rubbed her aching temple. “Don’t remind me.”
“We’ve already got Tau, and he’s the biggest threat.”
“You’re wrong about that. Zuma might be smaller, but she’s ten times as aggressive. And a pack of hyenas will feast on corpses. They might even attack the living. Hyenas target any kind of easy prey.”
He stared into the distance, absorbing her words. “Do you want to track them?”
“I don’t know how to track them. In an urban area, over concrete and asphalt, it’s probably not even possible.”
“Then we have to let it go.”
“Let it go?”
“Yes,” he said, decisive. “We’ve got more than enough to take care of inside the park. What happens out there can’t be our top priority.”
“Public safety is always the top priority.”
“And the best way to protect people is with containment. Not by wandering around a deserted city and accomplishing nothing.”
She swallowed hard. “What if Zuma got out?”
“Is she more inclined to explore the unknown, or stay and defend her territory?”
“The second.”
“And she’s not a scavenger, like the hyenas. She didn’t disturb Greg.”
Helena walked away a few steps, her stomach roiling. She pictured Greg’s serious face, so unfairly defiled by death. His gray skin and the dried blood on his neck. When his wife and daughters found out, they’d be devastated.
“I’m sorry,” Josh said. “I know he meant a lot to you.”
“We worked together for ten years,” she said, taking a deep breath.
“Longer than you knew your father.”
This observation poked at a tender place inside her—and she snapped. Whirling around, she shoved at Josh’s chest with all of the force she could muster. He stumbled backward but kept his footing, which wasn’t very satisfying. Then he had the nerve to laugh at her failed attempt. So she curled her hand into a fist and let it fly. Instead of sinking it into stomach, she connected with the center of his palm. He blocked the blow neatly, harnessing her fury.
Damn him.
Tears pricked her eyes, but she didn’t want to cry on his shoulder. She wanted to punch his too-handsome face. Wrestle him to the ground and make him hurt. Make him hurt her. Maybe some rough pleasure would ease her pain.
He didn’t draw her closer. Letting go of her hand, he stood there, arms at his sides. Giving her a clean shot.
It was her move. Take what she needed. Hit him or hug him.
He must have meant what he’d said about backing off. He wasn’t going
to be goaded into crossing the line with her again. She’d lashed out at him in anger, not desire, but her mind had jumped from there to sex quickly. What other physical altercation could they have, after all? She knew how he’d respond if she initiated contact. He wouldn’t strike back, but he’d touch her—with permission. Her cheeks heated at the realization.
She cradled her fist in her own palm and reconsidered his father comment. He probably hadn’t been trying to needle her. He seemed intent on “sharing feelings.” Which was a swing-worthy offense, but forgivable.
“It’s a sensitive subject,” he said in an even tone.
“I don’t need you to tell me that I didn’t have a dad in my life. I’m well aware.”
“That’s not what I was doing.”
“Greg wasn’t a father figure to me, either, so you can give it a rest with the comparisons. He was very professional. He treated animals like animals and employees like employees. Not family members.”
Josh didn’t argue, but he appeared doubtful.
She pointed at the ruined fence. “Let’s focus on this. One clusterfuck at a time.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t see how we can fix it, just the two of us. We’ll have to move a ton of debris and dig out the chain link.”
“We can put up a temporary section.”
“Is there material for that?”
“Maybe in the storage yard.”
She had to give him credit for thinking of an alternate solution. He was good at that, taking the easy road. She resented it a little. Maybe because she’d always done things the hard way, and she was too stubborn to change.
Waving him back to the truck, she took the passenger seat while he got behind the wheel. Although she’d cooled down some, she still felt sick. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Trying to hit you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I could have hurt you.”
“Only if I let you.”
She watched him shift gears, a muscle in his forearm flexing. “You’re a bit overconfident, aren’t you?”
“No. I’m just the right amount of confident.”
Closing her eyes, she shut out his appealing visage. His casual self-assurance should have bothered her, but it didn’t. She was tense enough for the both of them. He was easygoing and reliable, if cocky. That was comforting. They’d managed to get a lot done so far. As much as it pained her to admit, they made a good team.
She wasn’t pushing him away because he disgusted her. She was doing it because she couldn’t resist him. Without even meaning to, he was breaking down her walls and chipping away layers, getting too close for comfort.
“I’ve had close-quarters combat training,” he reminded her. “I’m sure you can hold your own against the average guy, though.”
“Yes,” she said, bitter. “I can.”
“You’ve had to?”
She was continually surprised by his perceptiveness. “A long time ago.”
“What happened?”
“I worked at a stable one summer,” she said, staring out the window. “There was an older guy on the staff, another hand who exercised the horses. He used to call me ‘Legs.’ I think he was intimidated by my height, and wanted to make me feel small. He tried to grope me once while I was mucking out stalls.”
“What did you do?”
“I elbowed him in the gut and he fell into a pile of manure.”
Josh didn’t appear amused by her story. “Did you complain?”
“No. I just never turned my back on him again.”
He parked by an equipment shed and turned off the engine. His jaw was clenched, his hands still locked around the wheel. “Is that what you thought when I teased you? That I wanted to hurt you or make you feel small?”
She hesitated, uncertain of her answer. She knew it wasn’t fair to compare him to that old stable hand.
“I don’t,” he said, meeting her eyes. “I like you the way you are. I like you tall.”
She believed him. But she didn’t want to believe him, because it stirred something inside her. Something stronger than desire. But she wasn’t the kind of person who could deny the plainspoken truth, said straight to her face.
His sincere compliments didn’t lessen her discomfort in his presence, however. He’d said he wouldn’t make the first move, and she trusted him. The person she didn’t trust was herself.
She wanted him. He wanted her. Over the past two days, her defenses had crumbled. She didn’t know how she was going to keep her distance. He wasn’t even trying to seduce her, and she still didn’t have any self-control.
She got out of the truck, determined to stay strong. Lust, she could handle. The real killer was their emotional connection. She didn’t have to worry about him touching her body; her heart was in far greater jeopardy.
They found fencing material and the tools they needed among the construction supplies. While they were loading the truck, she spotted a stack of orange cones and a can of spray paint. “We should make an SOS sign.”
His eyes lit up at the suggestion. “Okay.”
They’d be busy with the fence until nightfall, maybe longer. In the meantime, a plane or helicopter might fly over and see the warning. Helena would feel better if they made an attempt to communicate with officials. There were wild animals on the loose. Notifying the public was essential.
They added the cones to their pile of supplies. She brought the spray paint, along with some orange flags and a sidewalk sign. On the way back to the entrance, she stopped by the staff building to collect a radio and a few more items.
Josh drove to the front of the park and stopped next to the gate, which Helena unlocked. He set up the cones in a large SOS formation in the open area near the ticket booths, while she wrote a message on the sandwich board in black marker.
WARNING
She made a list of possible escaped animals and noted the hyena sighting beyond the zoo’s borders. Then she wrote her name at the bottom and left instructions to communicate with her via radio. She put the radio in a plastic bag, hanging it on the corner of the sign. The orange flags fluttered at each corner.
Josh came back to study her work. “Where’s my name?”
She added it under hers. There was hardly any room, so she had to squeeze the letters in. “This reminds me of a Stephen King book.”
“The Stand,” he said immediately.
“You’ve read it?”
“A long time ago.”
“We’re like Fran and Harold, the only survivors in the town, painting information on the side of a barn.”
His brows drew together. “You’re a good match for Fran, but I’m no Harold.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Stu.”
“You’re not Stu.”
“Okay, I’m Larry. And you’re Nadine.”
She picked up the can of spray paint, shaking her head. “Nadine, the virgin? Please.”
Walking away from the sign, she used the can of spray paint to write another message in huge letters on the sidewalk next to the orange cones: CODE 10. This code indicated a wild animal outside the park boundaries. There were helicopters in the smoky sky overhead. She hoped a pilot would get close enough to notice the SOS, and relay the message to the authorities. With any luck, zoo officials were standing by, and help would arrive soon.
“Are you sure you want to stay?” Josh asked. “We could get in trouble for ignoring the warnings.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“They might order us to evacuate as soon as they see the sign.”
“Who’s ‘they’?”
“The National Guard.”
“They’ll have to come in and get me.”
He smiled at her stubbornness.
“Do you want to go?” she asked.
“No.”
She was glad for his company, irritating attraction aside. He wasn’t useless or lazy. He hadn’t tried to take over
, which she appreciated. Most men, Trent included, would have assumed the leadership role. Josh seemed happy to share it with her.
“If we don’t hear from anyone by tomorrow morning, we should walk down to the naval hospital and check it out.”
“You think other people are there?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. They perform surgeries and do emergency treatment. If there are a bunch of patients who can’t be moved easily, some of the staff would stay. They might have a better radio system, too.”
They passed through the gate and hopped in the truck, traveling to their next task. She was calmer now. When the new section of fence was up, she’d breathe another sigh of relief. The code ten was still a major concern, but she couldn’t be everywhere at once. Josh was right; they had to focus on containment.
Preparing the ground for the fence was a challenge. They had to fill the rifts in the earth and create a solid surface so animals couldn’t slip under the barrier.
They both did a fair amount of digging, shoveling heavy piles of dirt into a wheelbarrow. The foundation they built wasn’t flat or impenetrable by a long shot, but Josh said they could solve this problem with sandbags. They set the poles first, bracing them with metal stakes that had to be hammered deep into the ground.
The chain link was trickier to work with. After attaching one end to the pole using metal clamps, they tried to stretch the remaining material across the space. It wouldn’t pull taut enough to create a strong barrier. Neither of them knew much about construction or how to achieve the necessary tension.
“There’s got to be a tool for this,” Josh said, panting from exertion. He had gloves on, like her. His forearms were streaked with dirt and his shirt was damp with sweat. On him, it looked sexy.
“What tool?”
“I wouldn’t recognize it if I saw it.”
“We could use the truck to pull it.”
He agreed, securing a rope between the chain link and the bumper. She got behind the wheel, edging the vehicle forward slowly. When he called out for her to stop, she turned off the engine, but left the truck in gear and engaged the brake. It worked. They used the remaining clamps to secure the fence in place. Josh added barbed wire to the top, and ended up with a couple of nasty scratches for his trouble.
Wild Page 15