Undercover Mission

by Sharon Dunn

  “Good to hear,” Poppy said. “Anyway, just wanted to let you know what is going on with that reindeer farm that Katie’s aunt owns.”

  Katie was Lorenza’s assistant. “Did the surveillance equipment you guys put up show something?” The ranch had suffered harassment, and reindeer had been let out of their pen. All but one was eventually found and then another reindeer was stolen.

  “Yes indeed,” Poppy said. “We caught a man in black with a hoodie covering his face running around the storage area and the bunkhouse on the ranch. Or should I say sneaking around, because his body language and the time of day all suggest he was up to some kind of mischief. Lorenza thinks if we can catch this guy, we’ll get to the bottom of what is going on.”

  “Obviously from the way the guy was dressed, he didn’t want to be identified. Any idea who it might be?”

  “Not sure. All the people Katie and her aunt suggested might have something against the ranch had alibis that put them elsewhere.”

  “What’s the team’s next move then?”

  “Lorenza is posting some private security guards by the place,” Poppy said. “We think given the history of theft and destruction of property the guy in the hoodie will come back.”

  “Let’s hope so. At least that’s progress, huh?”

  “Yes. How are things on board the ship?”

  “Well, as I’m sure Lorenza has kept you up to speed. We have a suspect, but he’s hiding out somewhere on the ship. He’s a crew member so he knows all the good hiding places, and this is a big ship.” As she spoke to Poppy, an idea occurred to Maya. Joel did know the ship really well. So wouldn’t he go someplace the security cameras weren’t likely to spot him, especially after he’d been tracked down in the theater? It seemed like he’d go deeper into the less public parts of the ship.

  “Sound like you’re getting close to bringing him in,” Poppy said.

  “We’re concerned that once we dock tomorrow morning, he’ll slip out into the general population. That doesn’t give us much time. I would hate to have identified him as a very prominent suspect only to lose him out in the wide world.” Maya felt some of the tension ease from her body. Talking with Poppy about the case, hearing her team member’s encouragement, renewed her strength. She and David and the rest of the security team were going to catch this guy.

  “I know you Maya, once you narrow in on a suspect you are like a dog on a scent. I bet before too long you’ll be telling us that your suspect is in handcuffs and ready to be brought ashore.”

  “Thanks, Poppy. I needed that pep talk.”

  “That’s what I’m here for.”

  Maya heard a male voice in the background like someone had come into the room where Poppy was. Her teammate’s voice got fainter and Maya could no longer discern what she was saying. She figured she must be talking to the man who had entered the room.

  Poppy came back on the line. “I got to go. Lex is here with Danny. We’re going to make a picnic lunch and head to the park so Danny can play.”

  Lex was a park ranger that Poppy had recently worked with on a poaching case in Glacier Bay National Park. They had been romantically involved ten years ago, but it had ended and Lex had married someone else. Lex had lost his wife and been left to raise his son Danny alone until he was reunited with Poppy and they’d rekindled their romance.

  Poppy was a year older than Maya. The fact that her colleague had found true love gave Maya some hope that she shouldn’t assume that at thirty she was facing a life of singleness.

  Maya said her goodbyes to Poppy and hung up.

  The nurse popped her head around the curtain. “I heard voices in here. The doctor’s orders are that you rest then we’ll check you out in a bit.”

  Still gripping the phone, Maya nodded. “Okay.”

  The nurse’s head disappeared, and Maya waited until the footsteps had receded before she put in a call to David to share her theory about where Joel might be hiding. He didn’t pick up, so she texted him. She stared at the phone, half expecting an instantaneous response.

  Though her mind was spinning with what to do about catching Joel, she leaned back and shut her eyes. It surprised her how easily sleep overtook her. She woke up in the dark. The nurse must have come in and shut the lights off. When she checked her phone, which had slipped out of her hand when she nodded off, she saw that only a half hour had passed. David still had not responded to her text.

  An empty feeling invaded her awareness. She had to admit that getting a text from him lifted her spirits even if it was just about the case.

  She could hear whispers and footsteps growing closer. She was reminded of the last time she was in this infirmary and she had wondered if the man they now knew as Joel Morris had come in to do her harm but been scared away. The footsteps grew louder and then took what sounded like an abrupt turn. More hushed voices landed on her ear.

  Her phone pinged. She looked at her screen expecting to see David’s text response. Instead, the message was from an unknown number, though it was crystal clear to Maya who had sent it.

  I’m coming for you Maya. I know who you really are. You are in my way.

  Again, she heard approaching footsteps pounding intensely as they came toward her. This time they did not veer off.

  * * *

  Fighting off a sense of defeat, David sat down on a bench to check his texts and email messages. Maybe Hans had spotted something on the security monitors or maybe a call had come in from a passenger who’d seen Joel. Sarge sat at David’s feet and gazed up at him. He had to admit the dog had found a way into his heart. He reached out and stroked the K-9’s ears and muzzle.

  The only text and missed call was from Maya. She hadn’t left anything on voicemail, but he was happy that she’d sent a text.

  I’m thinking that Joel knows this ship really well. He’s going to go somewhere the security cameras can’t see him.

  True. But where to start? There were parts of the ship that even some of the crew didn’t have access to. The engine room for instance. Only the captain and authorized maintenance people could go in there. Joel might steal a card key to get in there to hide. But that seemed like a lot of work and too much risk of being caught. The laundry facilities and other public parts of crew quarters did not have cameras. So that was a possibility. Hans so far hadn’t spotted anyone who looked like Joel on the security cameras though it would be nothing to find a hat to cover his face from view.

  Maybe he could brainstorm with Maya and come up with a plan. He dialed her number, but it went to voicemail. Maybe she’d turned it off and was sleeping.

  He called the desk at the infirmary.

  Someone picked up right away. “Alaska Dream infirmary. How may I help you?” A woman’s voice came across the line.

  “Can you check on Maya Rodriguez for me? She’s not answering her phone.”

  “One second. Stay on the line. It’s a short walk.”

  David heard footsteps and then the nurse spoke up. “She’s not in her bed.”

  David swallowed hard to push down the rising panic. “Do you think she might have left?”

  “Maybe, but the doctor requested to check her out one more time before that.”

  David stood up from the bench. “Maybe she just went to the bathroom or something. I’m on my way there. See you in five.”

  Sarge whimpered.

  “Let’s go, buddy. I’m afraid something might have happened to Maya. We sure wouldn’t want that, would we? Since we both care about her.”

  He trotted along toward the infirmary when his phone pinged again. He breathed a sigh of relief. The text was from Maya.

  Meet me in the hallway outside the back of the infirmary.

  It was easy enough to reroute and head to where Maya had said she was waiting. He and Sarge stepped into a hallway that had three doors connected to it. All of which, judgi
ng by the signs on them, held medical supplies. He slipped past the first door and called Maya’s name. Maybe she was in the adjoining hallway. Her descriptions of places on the ship could be a little wonky because she didn’t use the same lingo that the crew did to describe locations.

  Sarge sat on his back haunches and growled. The dog started to turn back in the direction they’d just come.

  David had only a moment to register that the door they had just passed was slightly ajar before a jolt of electricity hit his back and he crumpled to the ground. The last sound he heard was Sarge yelping as though in pain.

  * * *

  After realizing that Joel might be coming for her while she was in her hospital bed, Maya had slipped out and hidden in the first place she could find, a closet on the other side of the curtain from where her bed was. It wasn’t until she was hiding that she realized in her haste that she had left her phone behind.

  Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she waited in silence. When she didn’t hear any more footsteps, she returned to her bed. Her phone had been stolen. She hurried to the front desk.

  “Did you see anyone come or go through here? A man with brown hair—he may have had a hat on—average build?”

  The nurse shook her head. “No, sorry. But the security officer should be here by now. He was on his way to talk to you when you didn’t answer your phone.”

  Maya’s heartbeat skipped up a notch. “Is the front entrance the only way in and out of the infirmary?”

  “No, there is a back way where we keep our supplies. I’ll show you.”

  The nurse led her past the curtains that served to divide the three hospital beds to a door which she opened. “It goes around the corner and then into a hallway.”

  “Thank you.”

  Maya hurried around the corner. She gasped at what she saw. Sarge lying prone, his legs jerking spastically. David flat on his face, not moving. And a man kneeling over Sarge holding a Taser. Joel Morris.

  She had no gun, no weapon of any kind, but she didn’t care. Joel had hurt, maybe killed, the two beings she cared about more than anything else in the world.

  “Stop right there.”

  Joel lifted his head. Green eyes caught and held the light. She moved toward him but hesitated when he bolted to his feet. Facing her as he backed up, he aimed the stun gun at her. Where had he gotten that? Both Sarge and David were shaking and immobilized from the jolt of electricity they’d received.

  She held her hands up and backed far enough away that the stun gun wouldn’t reach her.

  “You will pay for thinking you could catch me, detective.” He stepped toward her. His hand on the finger of the stun gun.

  There was noise up the hallway—the sound of people, maybe coming this way.

  Joel lifted his chin at the noise, turned and ran in the opposite direction, disappearing around a corner.

  Maya chased after him. She entered a long hallway but Joel was nowhere in sight. She ran back to where Sarge and David lay. There were no people in the hallway. They must have turned down a different way. At least the potential of a crowd had scared Joel away before he could hit her with the stun gun.

  David had stopped shaking but had not yet sat up. Sarge’s legs still spasmed.

  Maya grabbed David’s radio off his belt and notified Noah where Joel was headed. She jumped up and ran down the hallway where she had just come from, calling for the nurse, and then returned to be with David and Sarge.

  David was sitting up but looked very pale. Her K-9 partner had stopped quivering but still lay on his side, making yipping sounds that indicated he was in pain.

  She handed David’s radio back to him.

  David’s hands were shaking when he took the radio. “Thank you.”

  Maya drew her attention to her partner. She made soothing sounds. She petted his head and then along his back and stomach. Despite the pain and shock he must be going through, Sarge’s tail thumped on the carpet when she touched him.

  “Poor guy,” David said. “It takes a while for the effects of the stun gun to wear off. I still feel like I am vibrating from the inside.”

  She rested Sarge’s head in her lap. “And it doesn’t make any sense to him.” Part of police training at the academy involved being zapped with the stun gun, so Maya knew what it felt like.

  The nurse came around the corner. “What happened?”

  “These two were hit with a stun gun.”

  Her eyes widened. “Well, let’s get you to an exam room.” She looked at David. “Do you feel well enough to walk?”

  “I’ll be fine. It just takes a bit to feel normal. I don’t need a doctor to look at me.”

  “What about the dog?” The nurse’s voice filled with compassion as she stepped closer.

  Maya stroked Sarge’s head. She hated seeing him like this. “Let’s just give him a minute. The stun gun doesn’t do any permanent physical damage. I guess I yelled for you because I was so afraid when I saw these two just lying on the carpet, so disabled.”

  “Okay, then,” the nurse murmured. “Let me know if you need anything.” She headed back down the hall.

  “I heard you talking to Noah,” David said, reattaching his radio to his belt. “Maybe he’ll spot Joel.”

  “The only reason that creep is coming out of hiding is to come after me and you. So far Hans has not spotted him on any of the security cameras.”

  “He knows the ship pretty well and he must be finding ways to avoid the cameras.”

  She nodded. “He must have a hiding place. Any ideas?”

  “After I saw your text, I thought about that.” David shook his head. “He would have access to all the areas that are for the crew members only. But there could be an empty cabin he managed to get into.”

  Sarge lifted his head and whimpered. Joy surged through Maya. “Hey buddy, welcome back.” She rubbed his ears.

  David reached out to pet him. “He growled right before the attack. Things could have been a lot worse if he hadn’t been with me.”

  Sarge got to his feet and licked Maya’s cheek. “I always feel like he has my back. I couldn’t ask for a better partner. How did Joel get a stun gun anyway?”

  “Hans texted me a while back that he’d taken off his belt to jump into a pool to help when a developmentally disabled who had been drowning started to pull the lifeguard under with him. When he put the belt back on the stun gun was gone.”

  “That makes our perp that much more dangerous.”

  Both David and Maya petted the now fully revived Sarge. Their hands touched. Maya gazed into David’s eyes as she felt a spark of awareness between them. Maybe it was just because she’d seen both her dog and the man she had to admit she cared about deeply in such a vulnerable state. All the same, she could not deny she had feelings for this man.

  David slowly stood up “Come on, the three of us have a job to do.” He held a hand out to help Maya to her feet.

  When he grasped her hand, warmth spread up her arm and was like a zap of electricity to her heart. She glanced at him and quickly looked away, feeling her cheeks grow hot. Why did he make her feel like some sort of shy junior high girl?

  David had turned to head up the hallway. She reached out for his arm, touching his elbow. “I’m just glad you and Sarge are okay. That was pretty scary to see you both lying on the floor like that.” Her voice sounded breathless, but she didn’t care.

  David studied her for a moment. The blue sparkle in his eyes grew a little duller. “All in the line of duty, right?” His voice had no emotion at all.

  Just like that he threw cold water on her feelings. “Yeah...right...sure.” Her tone of voice did not hide her disappointment.

  SIXTEEN

  As he turned to head up the hallway, David cringed at his icy response to Maya. She had merely expressed that she cared about him...and that scared
him. What would it mean to open his heart to a woman? It meant he could be hurt again. Not a chance he wanted to take.

  Until she’d come into his life, he had liked his floating world with the ever-changing scenery. He’d felt a sense of purpose in knowing it was his job to keep the people on board safe. Now everything had gone sideways because if he was honest with himself, he cared about her too.

  The realization made David walk even faster as if he could outrun his feelings.

  “Slow down... Sarge and I can’t keep up with you.”

  “Sorry, I’m just thinking that time is running short for catching Joel.” That wasn’t entirely true. Even though he was frustrated by the guy’s ability to evade them, the fast walking had nothing to do with the manhunt they were in the midst of.

  Maya and Sarge came alongside him. “So how do we find out if there are any empty cabins in the crew area?”

  “We can check with the lady who makes those assignments. She’s one deck up in a little administrative office.”

  As they walked side by side toward the elevator, he kept stealing glances in Maya’s direction. Despite all his resistance, she had somehow managed to tap into some part of his heart that he’d thought had gone dormant. The part that wanted to love and give.

  They rode the elevator up and David led them to the information office. The woman behind the desk smiled when she saw him. Juanita Dickens May was a woman in her sixties who had worked for the Alaska Dream cruise line in some capacity since she was twenty. David always felt like they understood each other in wanting to call the ship home and she had become a substitute mom for him in many ways.

  “David, always good to see you! I have cookies I made myself in the crew kitchen if you’re interested.” Juanita stood up. “They are just in the back room.”

  “I wish I had time. We’re kind of in the middle of something that can’t wait.”