Jaguar Hunt (22 page)

“Uh, yeah, sure.” He noted the annoyed look Tammy gave him. But what could he do? They had to keep up appearances.

The girl signed his brochure.

“What about the jaguar?” Tammy asked.

“I don't remember anything about a jaguar. They have tigers. Really got to go.” She smiled again at David, and it was a lot friendlier than the smile she gave Tammy. And she'd taken longer to sign his brochure than Tammy's.

Tammy yanked it out of his hand before he could read it. “With all my heart. Love, Zelda Younger,” Tammy said in a really sweetly annoyed way and then in a darker, “she-cat is pissed” tone of voice, “
and
she left a phone number.”

“Maybe she gave it to me in case I wanted to call her to discuss Joe or the jaguar.”

“Right.” Tammy tossed the two brochures in the trash.

He chuckled.

Tammy didn't know what to think. Why was it that everywhere they went, Joe Storm was involved? And why couldn't they confirm any sightings of the jaguar? She gave David another irritated look. “You didn't have to smile so much at her. No wonder she gave you her phone number. I'm surprised she didn't give you her address.”

She wasn't sure why David's response was irritating her so much. Maybe all this talk of Joe was just riling her up.

David was about to respond when an athletic blond woman dashed across the field. Without warning, she jumped on David, wrapping her legs around his lean hips, hands on his shoulders, looking up at him with adoration. “Oh my God, David, is that you?”

Shocked at the woman's action, Tammy stared at her and David, forcing herself not to fold her arms and trying to keep from growling. So the woman just jumped any man's bones and after the fact asked if he was the right man?

David's hands were planted under the woman's jean-covered ass, which meant she was seated against his crotch.

Tammy reminded herself that his relationship with the other woman had nothing to do with her, and that he had to be over and done with it if he was now dating Tammy. So why was she fighting the feral need to shift and draw blood? Both the human woman's and David's?

When David didn't put the woman down, Tammy was about to suggest in a totally catty way that they meet up later so he could visit with his old girlfriend. But when she opened her mouth to propose it, the woman said to David, “It's me. Merilee Beckett.”

“Yeah. How could I forget? Where's your boyfriend?”

Tammy narrowed her eyes a little at David. How could he forget? A throaty growl slipped out, though she'd meant to curb her jaguar urges better than that.

David didn't look her way, but he smiled just a little. He'd definitely heard Tammy's growl.
Damn
it
. She didn't want him thinking she was jealous. She was
not
envious of his relationship with this woman or any other.

“Howard? In the slammer. We broke up again and he learned I was dating some other dude, and he killed him,” Merilee said.

“You didn't go back to Howard this time?” David asked.

“Hell, no. He's got life.” She smiled. “So I'm working a gig at the circus. Ticket taker. But I'm free until two. Want to get some lunch?”

“Why don't you?” Tammy told David, as if she was part of the conversation, trying to sound totally businesslike, professional, and not like a jealous jaguar who was ready for a catfight with another female over a male.

“Sure,” David said, glancing at her, looking as though he'd forgotten they might be working a mission together. She was his partner. Remember? She could have roared in annoyance. “I'll meet you…?”

She
so
wanted to say that he was on his own. Don't worry about meeting her anywhere. He could concentrate on finding the bad agents in the branches, and she'd locate the missing cat like she was first tasked to do. She was in Texas again, no need to have another agent teaming up with her to protect her like when she was in the jungle. End of story.

He was waiting for her to decide, his mouth curving up a bit. She was scowling. But that was because he was still holding on to Merilee.

“At two, where the kiddie pony rides are set up,” Tammy said, way too belatedly.

David finally released Merilee, and Tammy turned and stalked off before he saw just how furious she was. She shouldn't have been. He was just getting together with an old girlfriend and probably intended to learn if she had any inside information about the circus. Although if Merilee had just started working for them, she probably knew nothing.

But if she could escort him around the place, David was sure to get more out of Merilee if Tammy wasn't hanging around.

Tammy heard a lion roar and headed in that direction, thinking where one cat was located, the others would also be. Just as she made her way around a blue house trailer, a man stepped in front of her—sexy, built, and wearing a darkly interested smile. “Only performers and permanent staff are allowed back here,” he said in a thick Russian accent.

She looked him over—he wore tights, no shirt, and leather bands around his wrists. With his hard abs and pecs, he was really hot for a human. “What do you do?” If she'd still had her brochure, she could have asked for
his
signature, and she would have told him to sign it:
With
all
my
love, whatever his name was
and add his telephone number
.

“Duo balancing with Luke,” he said.

Another man headed toward them, but
he
wasn't smiling. “She's not a new hire, is she?” he asked, his tone abrupt, same accent as the other man's.

“No, Luke. At least I don't think so.”

“She's not allowed back here.” Luke was dressed in the same manner, the same hot body, but he was fairer in coloration, his jawline stronger.

“Thanks, but the manager okayed my being back here to talk to a couple of people about the missing jaguar. I'm trying to locate it for the owner. Do either of you know anything about the big cat?”

“We joined the circus three months ago, so we don't know anything about it. Must have been before our time here,” Luke said.

“Okay. Well, thanks. I just thought my friend was working back here, and we were supposed to meet for lunch and—wait. There he is,” Tammy said, pointing in the direction of the trailers, pretending she saw a friend.

Before the duo-balancing guys tried to stop her, she stalked off toward one of the clowns—the same clown she'd given the evil eye to—who was talking to a woman walking a couple of dogs. Tammy was intent on seeing where the lion was caged up, hoping she'd smell some sign that the jaguar had been here and maybe even still was.

The dogs were yipping, excited, and Tammy smelled elephant droppings in that direction.

The animals had to be contained beyond the trailers.

She started heading that way when she thought she saw the Enforcer agent, Weaver, slipping behind one of the trailers. She quickly changed her plan, deciding to follow him instead. Suddenly a man called out to her, “What the hell are you doing here?”

She turned and saw Quinn Singleterry coming out of the blue trailer as he quickly secured his hair in a tail. What was
he
doing here?

Tammy watched as a woman peered out of the trailer that Quinn had exited, her brown hair all in shambles, looking as though she'd had a thorough romp with him. The woman frowned at Tammy as if she might be interested in doing the same with Quinn.

“See you later,” Quinn said to the woman. He kissed her cheek in more of a sisterly way—as if he was trying to put on a show for Tammy—and hurried to join her. He took her arm and led her away from the trailers. “What do you think you're doing here?”

She immediately yanked her arm out of his grasp. “Investigating a missing zoo cat. What else?” She was annoyed with herself that she had given him a reason, though he already knew that's what she'd been working on. “Besides, what business is it of yours where I am?”

“This is a restricted area of the circus for safety and insurance reasons.”

“Like you have some kind of special pass? The manager approved my being back here. What are
you
doing here?” As if she had to ask.

“I assumed you could figure that one out for yourself,” he said, smirking.

“Were you also investigating the missing zoo cat, which is why you were here and…following up leads in a trailer?”

His smile broadened.

“How did you learn that Joe Storm knew where I was going to be when he tried to shoot me?
I
didn't even know where I was going to be.”

“He was shooting at me.”

Her jaw dropped. She quickly closed her mouth.

“Only you suddenly appeared and I had to get you out of harm's way fast.”

“He was shooting at
you
?” That thought had never occurred to her. She had been running, so she could see how she suddenly appeared in the shooter's path, and she could have been hit accidentally. And it sure would explain why Quinn had been there at the right time and the right place to save her.

“Yeah. I suspected he had something to do with the missing cat, but it was a lot more than that—one or two agents in the organization are bad. He's working with them, I'm certain. So I asked him to meet with me.”

“Alone? In the rainforest? Kind of dangerous, wasn't it? Didn't you figure that he would try to kill you, rather than give up his contacts?”

“It goes deeper than any of that, Tammy. Would you like to get some lunch and we can talk?”

“Sure.”

About a dozen long picnic tables were situated in a grassy area with people milling around, crunching on candied apples, slurping pink or blue snow cones, munching on vinegar fries, licking ice cream, and devouring funnel cakes. With so many people, including a group of clowns on stilts who blocked her view of the tables, she couldn't see David or Merilee, no matter how much she tried to look around those in her way.

Circus-goers were standing in long lines at the various concession stands, and she and Quinn were finally able to order. There were too many choices. She hadn't been to a carnival or circus in years. She picked out a hot dog, purple cotton candy, and roasted peanuts, all served in a clown hat. Though she tried to look for David and Merilee again after she ordered her food and while the man prepared it for her, she still didn't see any sign of them. Had they left the circus grounds to eat somewhere else?

She was trying
really
hard not to care.

She scooped up her clown hat and thanked Quinn for getting lunch for her, recalling she didn't have any money on her—too late.

“How can you eat all that?” Quinn asked, after getting a turkey leg and a soda as he looked down at her figure. He led her to one of the tables.

“I burn the calories off while I'm working.”

“And playing?” he asked, brows raised.

She ignored him and took a bite of her dog.

“I see you ditched your partner.”

She wasn't about to let him know that David was here with her now. Maybe if Quinn thought she was working alone, he would feel freer to talk to her about what she needed to know.

Before she could ask him any questions, Quinn looked beyond her and smiled.

Tammy twisted around to see what he was smiling at—David talking to Merilee at a table in the distance. Tammy let out her breath in annoyance. She had thought maybe Merilee sneaked away with David to one of the trailers, but she didn't believe the woman would have access to one if she was just a ticket taker. So much for Tammy pretending she'd ditched her partner.

“She's David's old girlfriend. They had some catching up to do,” she explained, hating that she sounded like she was defending him.

“She's been seeing Joe Storm,” Quinn said, sounding irritated.

Tammy's lips parted slightly in surprise. Hell, the guy sure got around, not that she was really surprised. “Who
hasn't
been seeing him?” she blurted out, and then wished she hadn't and licked some of the ketchup off her hot dog. Just like she shouldn't have added, “Just like you.” She supposed she said so because she'd dated Joe and didn't want Quinn thinking he was any better than the guy as far as being with women went.

Quinn smiled a little at that. “I didn't know you were keeping count.”

“The two of you are cut from the same spotted cloth. I don't keep track. I can just imagine.”

“Not exactly. See, he makes false commitments to women he's dating. Asks them to marry him. The women I date know I don't plan on marrying them. Not only that, but he's into illegal stuff. I'm certain he's working with someone in one of the branches, and they're getting kickbacks on the crimes committed. Only somehow my boss got the notion I might be involved. Any idea how that might have happened?” Quinn asked.

“So Martin got hold of you?”

“Yeah.”

She shook her head. Quinn thought
she
was responsible for his getting in trouble? “Okay, you were on an unscheduled trip to Belize, just happened to be stalking the boys, and were there when the shooting occurred. Kind of makes one speculate. Then you pretended to take a flight home?”

Quinn lifted his head a little, smiled at someone behind her, and waved. She didn't look this time. “I wondered when David would notice you were eating lunch with me. He shouldn't have taken up with Merilee and left you alone. You are still his partner after all, right? He looks like one pissed-off cat. Funny how he was having a fine time eating lunch with her until he saw you sharing lunch with me. The storm clouds moved right in and rained on his little picnic.”

“He probably doesn't trust you. You have to admit you were being sneaky in Belize. If you'd wanted to let us know you were there and working the same case—”

“I wasn't. Working the same case as you, that is. If you'd said you wanted to work with me in the beginning, I would have turned you down. I was just giving David a hard time. Nothing personal. Except you're a woman. After Joe nearly shot you…” He shrugged. “I would have been justified in worrying about you.”

“Why did he want to kill you?”

“He was seeing my sister. He promised to marry her. She had everything planned. I hadn't ever seen her happier. I discovered he was a total fraud. Had a string of girlfriends and another fiancée planning a wedding for a month after my sister's. My sister was so distraught that she killed herself.”

“Oh, Quinn, I'm so sorry.”

“Yeah, well, I felt responsible because I had told her the truth about the other women.”

Tammy couldn't believe he'd feel that way. “Joe was responsible for breaking her heart. And she would have learned the truth eventually anyway. It wasn't your fault.”

“You were one of the women he was seeing at the time.”

Astonished, she stared at Quinn. Did he condemn her, too? “Wait. I investigated the women, including the two fiancées, he had been seeing. Olivia Farmer and Evelyn Higgenbottom. No Singleterry.”

“Olivia had been married once before.”

Tammy shook her head. “I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I was broken up over the whole thing myself when I learned Joe was seeing other women and had been hiding it from me.”

“I know. She'd been seeing David before that. He would have been good for her.”

Tammy snapped her gaping mouth shut. Olivia was Quinn's sister, the same woman David had been dating. And he'd caught her with Joe. Not to mention that all three men had worked together in the JAG. Crap.

“I told Martin about Joe's lifestyle. I couldn't bring my sister back or smooth over my mother's grief at losing her oldest daughter. But I could get the bastard fired. Joe loved being a Golden Claw just as much as he loved being with a woman. It wasn't until later that I learned he was working with bad agents. I wanted to meet with him to learn who was dirty in one or more of the branches. I swore to him he'd be free of prosecution. That we'd strictly go after the rotten eggs in the organization. He gave me a date, time, and location to meet him in the rainforest.”

“And he tried to kill you. Why didn't you realize he might try to do that?”

Quinn finished his turkey leg and set the bone down on the paper plate, but didn't say.

“Why would he trust you? Why would he want to give up the men and cut off his money source?”

“Because I know he's dirty. And he knows I know. If he doesn't come clean, we'll take him out, but it would be better if we learn who the bad agents are first. I guess he wanted to get me back for having him fired. Maybe he thought if he killed me, the evidence I have that links him with dirty dealings would never come to light.”

“Maybe he's worried that you might still tie him into the criminal activities, despite what you said. That you would turn him over to the authorities along with the bad agents.” She still didn't trust everything Quinn was saying without further proof to back up his every word. “What about the missing zoo cat?”

“Is that why you're here? Thinking it was at the circus? They've never had one here.”

Now
that
, she didn't believe. “How would
you
know?”

“I checked.”

“You said you had a couple of leads about the zoo cat, but they didn't pan out. You said you weren't working the case.”

“Just something I'd overheard. Probably the same thing you heard. That the zoo cat was here at the circus. But you know how leads are. Most don't go anywhere. Still, if I could have easily solved the case, I would have done so.”

“Okay, so why would the owner say it had been reported stolen?”

“Was it? Reported stolen? Have you checked and found they filed a police report?”

She didn't say anything. They'd have to check into it. But it did bother her that the manager said he couldn't find the paperwork on it. She wondered if Joe Storm, the one who must have reported it, had not done so at all.

“The owner must have lied about having a jaguar. Or something,” Quinn said.

“Why would he do that? Besides, the boys said they saw it here.” She wasn't going to let Quinn think she was completely taking him at his word. She wasn't going to mention the part about how the teens said they'd stolen it from the circus, either. Did Quinn already know? “Were they lying, too?”

“Teens can be teens. Those two have been in enough trouble that the Service wants them under their wing, right? So what makes you think they've been perfectly honest with you?”

Quinn had her there. She'd wanted to believe in them, for one thing. But that didn't mean she should. She remembered Weaver's comment that she shouldn't trust the kids.

“Why were you following them?” she asked.

“I wasn't. I was trying to reach Joe.”

“What do you know about Krustan and Weaver?” she asked.

Quinn sat up a little taller. “I worked on a job with Krustan once. He's really got an eye for the ladies.”

“Competition for you.”

Quinn smiled.

“Did you know the two of them were in Belize looking for the friends of the two boys we were trying to get in touch with?” She was certain Quinn had to have come across their scent trails at the very least.

“I smelled Krustan in the jungle and another male jaguar that I didn't know. Must have been Weaver. I really don't know anything about them being down there or what their business was. I never ran across them. I didn't even learn why you were there with David, knowing you were looking for the missing cat and it couldn't possibly be in Belize. Until I heard the kids he was supposed to be watching had some information about the cat and had disappeared in the rainforest down there. I did run across two other male jaguar scents. Heavy aftershave lotion. Don't know who it belonged to. Couldn't have been the boys unless they're doing some heavy-duty shaving.”

“What I don't understand is why Martin would send two men to look for the other two boys, and then Peter and Hans skip to Belize. But instead of the JAG agents who were looking for them following them down there, Weaver and Krustan were after them. And they were supposed to be on vacation.”

Quinn shook his head. “I don't know. Seems you or your boss would know the men better than I would. Are you certain the other two boys were actually in Belize?”

Tammy finished her cotton candy as she considered Quinn's comment. She'd never smelled the other male jaguar scents. But Alex and Nate had said their friends were good at evading pursuers. They probably hadn't been close to where Alex and Nate were, or they would have made for an easier target. And they had been at the airport. It didn't mean they'd come in from Belize.

“I don't know for certain if the two boys were in Belize. We'll have to check into it further.”

She recalled having smelled several shifters' scents at their bungalow and the boys'. She narrowed her eyes at Quinn. “Why were you in our bungalow? You, Quinn, Weaver, and Krustan?”

“I didn't see any of them. I had heard about a couple of tourists that went missing. The two of you—specifically. I checked out your place to see if I could learn anything. No foul play at the time. Just you were gone. Your luggage was gone. I smelled the two jaguars' heavy aftershave scent and that was it. I heard you had returned later that night, and I couldn't find Joe, so I came home to try some other angle concerning the crooked Service members.”