Val finally got some much-needed sleep at the hotel and then took the complimentary shuttle to the airport, which was one reason she’d stayed at this hotel. She could leave her car here for the duration of her trip without paying for airport parking, compliments of the hotel. She made it through airport security and headed for the gate where the earlier flight would take off, hoping she would be able to get a seat on standby. What she hadn’t expected was to see Howard and Jillian at the check-in counter.
Val came to a full stop. She’d truly thought she’d get there way before they did!
Howard turned and saw her, offering her the most devilish smile. She wanted to growl. Especially if she missed getting on this flight because one of them, or both, made it instead.
Still, she smiled back, admitting they were a step ahead of her this time. She added her name to the standby list and glanced at the board, hoping she’d come in ahead of one of them at least. But the board didn’t change. She was in third place. Not that she really hoped anyone would miss their connection—because she knew what a pain that was—but she still wished she’d end up with a seat on this flight.
“Cute trick,” Howard said to her as the three of them took seats in a little windowed alcove so they had some privacy. “About the car, I mean.” But he didn’t appear amused.
This time, she gave him a genuine smile. “Thanks. I did report the borrowed car, just for your information. I used the hotel phone. I didn’t want the person who owned it to think it was trashed or long gone, or for the police to spend a lot of time looking for it.”
“Good. I reported it too,” Howard said.
She raised her brows, hoping he hadn’t mentioned who had stolen it. She suspected he wouldn’t have. Not when they were all shifters and she had an important mission to accomplish. She was glad to hear they’d discovered what she’d done. She would have been disappointed if they hadn’t been that good at their jobs.
“When did you figure it out?”
“When I went to your room to escort you to breakfast.”
She chuckled. She couldn’t help herself. “That late, huh? How did you know I was taking a flight out? Manuel told my boss, who told your boss, right?” Val should have known Manuel would keep her boss in the loop. And her boss would have told Howard’s boss, who would have told Howard and Jillian. “Or my mother told you.”
“Something like that.”
“Okay, look. This is my job. I work alone. You did too when you were an Enforcer. You know how it is. Since I can’t seem to convince you that I don’t need your help, if you’re going to watch out for me, you have to do it from a distance. I don’t want Benny being spooked and disappearing again. He’s a jaguar, wily and dangerous.”
“Which is why we’re here to protect you. We’ll stay out of your hair, but you need to keep us informed of where you’re going at all times.” Howard spoke in a no-nonsense tone.
Val suspected she was going to have trouble with him not letting her do her job her way.
“Do you know any specific reason why he’s gone there? Other than it’s a jaguar hot spot,” Howard said.
“It’s possible he knows people there,” Val said.
“Or he’s just so familiar with the territory that he figures he can keep ahead of us,” Howard said.
“Keep ahead of me, you mean,” she reminded Howard. “This is my assignment.”
Howard nodded. “Right.”
Val was afraid Howard was too much of an Enforcer at heart to mean that. “Benny is supposed to be on the earlier flight.”
“Haven’t seen any sign of him. He might be in one of the restaurants or a bar,” Howard said.
“Do you have any idea where Benny’s going to be staying?” Jillian asked.
“Yeah. I got a text before I reached the airport. He’s rented a cabin at the Tropical Rain Forest Resort.”
“For just him? Anyone else?” Jillian asked.
Val shook her head. “We don’t know. He ordered the plane ticket for himself, one-way ticket. We assume he’s going to be alone, unless he meets someone there.” She paused. “We have another issue.”
“Oh?” Howard asked, sounding wary.
“Okay, my boss called last night and mentioned that a Rowdy Sanderson, homicide detective out of Montana, is looking into Lucy’s death too. He’s human but knows about wolf shifters.”
“Hell. A homicide detective is involved now too? I can’t believe this.” Howard shook his head.
“Yeah, he could be a total pain in the butt if he intends to take Benny into custody. And that a human even knows wolf shifters exist and hasn’t been turned or eliminated is a big no-no. I can’t believe a wolf hasn’t done something about this.”
“Any guidelines from Sylvan?” Howard asked.
“No killing or turning.”
Howard snorted. “That leaves telling him what all of us are if we run into the detective in Belize, and I’m sure Sylvan wouldn’t go along with that.”
The call came for passengers to begin boarding. All the shifters stood, ready to go if they were called on the standby list. Four names were now ahead of Howard and Val. Jillian’s name was still at the top.
Jillian’s name was called. “Good luck,” she said to her partner and Val.
“I’ll see you there.” Howard frowned, looking a bit uncomfortable that he wasn’t going with her.
“I’ll take your place,” Val offered, “so the two of you can stay together.” She smiled, knowing they wouldn’t go along with it, but she had to make the offer. Just in case.
Jillian smiled back. “That’s all right. See you there in a few hours.” She hurried to board the plane with the others while Val and Howard watched and waited to see if they would make it. But they were also looking for any sign of Benny boarding the plane.
Two more passengers were called on standby. That was it before they closed the doors.
Val was trying to relax and not feel so tense about missing this flight. There wasn’t anything she could do about it, but all she could think of was losing Benny completely. She took a deep breath and let it out. “Did you see anyone who could have been Benny getting on the flight?”
“Yeah, at least three men were wearing hats. The men were all the right size, build, and age. But I couldn’t see their faces to make a positive ID.”
“We need to get to the ticket counter and just sniff around for Benny’s scent. Do you have a ticket for the later flight?”
“I do,” Howard said, sounding glad about it. Or maybe that he would be on the same flight as Val. Though she suspected he was also worried about his partner. “You?”
“Yes.” At least Val was glad about that.
Then they moved closer to the check-in counter and both smelled Benny. He was on the same flight as Jillian, and Val hoped she would be all right.
Howard texted Jillian to ask her to be careful: Benny was on the plane.
* * *
As soon as Jillian’s plane took off, Howard received a text from Vaughn, wanting to know why his mate was going to Belize alone, without her partner to back her up, when the rogue jaguar was on the flight with her.
“Trouble?” Val asked as they took their seats again in the waiting area.
Howard texted Vaughn back, explaining the situation, which he was sure Jillian had already done. He assured Vaughn they’d be back together in a few hours while he watched over their mission priority—keeping track of Val.
Vaughn didn’t respond. Howard knew the wolf was worried, but he was also giving him a hard time. Howard loved to reciprocate, and Vaughn had gotten the best of him a few times.
“Why do you prefer working alone?” Howard asked Val after finishing the text to Vaughn, still not answering her question. She didn’t need to know that Jillian’s mate was on edge about her being alone.
“You have to ask me? You were the same way!” Val said, not answering Howard’s question.
Howard let out his breath. “You’re right. When we had to deal with really bad cases or take care of a group of shifters, we went in pairs, sometimes more. At one time, I had a partner. We worked well together for two years, but then he went through a divorce. On our last two missions together, he was distracted and foolhardy, not cautious like he normally was. I swore it was like he didn’t care if he got hurt, but that meant he couldn’t watch my back either.
“I wanted to leave him at the office for the second mission because he’d been reckless the day before on a case, but he insisted on coming with me. He was offended that I would even consider leaving him behind. I reminded him he couldn’t pull what he had the day before. He assured me it wouldn’t happen again.”
Val frowned. “What had happened?”
“He rushed into a house where the perp lived without taking any precautions. He was lucky that time, but I gave him hell for it. The perp was hiding in the attic. If he had been prepared to fight us, my partner could have been killed before I could reach him.
“Anyway, he assured me, again, that he was fine. He was cool. No problem. And really, up until the point we had trouble, everything was going as well as could be expected—until he got a text from his wife telling him he had to sign some papers. Shortly after that, we were in a second cat fight, and either he wasn’t thinking straight or he just didn’t care. I could have taken the perp down. I was ready for him. Just as I went to lunge for him, my partner leaped into my path. The perp tore out his throat before I could get around my partner and kill the cat,” Howard said.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, well, I was angry with him and his wife for a long time after that. I worked alone and did fine by myself. There’s nothing worse than losing a good friend on a mission. I was constantly second-guessing myself. What could I have done differently? What could any of us have done differently? I just couldn’t deal with it.”
“I agree completely.” Val settled against her seat. “I had a similar experience but different circumstances. I was partnered with another female Enforcer, and she fell for the perp.”
Howard was surprised to hear it. He would have thought he’d have heard about that through the agent grapevine.
Val continued. “I couldn’t believe it. He was like Ted Bundy. Good looking, charismatic, had a way with women. He didn’t fool me with his charm. He murdered her and nearly killed me. I vowed I’d never work with another agent while I’m with the Enforcer branch.”
“I thought that too, until I began working for the USF. Wonderful group of agents, and the great thing is we all have our special talents. Jillian is a gun expert and can hack into computers. She’ll be armed by the time we see her in Belize.”
“And you’re a big, dangerous, male cat,” Val said.
Howard smiled. “You are sneaky, quick-witted, and easily take advantage of a situation.”
She smiled at Howard wickedly.
He motioned to the eateries down the hall. “We have quite a lot of time to kill, and it’s lunchtime. Do you want to get something to eat?”
They agreed on a steak place, since they had another three hours before they boarded their flight. They found a booth and both ordered rib eyes, baked potatoes, and broccoli. When they received their orders, Val got a text and responded to it.
“Have you got anything more on Benny?” Howard asked, passing her the basket of rolls.
“We’re monitoring a credit card he’s been using.” Val cut into her steak. “He picked up groceries close to the airport.”
“Wouldn’t he figure out we could be monitoring it?” Howard couldn’t believe the guy could be that careless. “Are you sure he hasn’t given the card to someone else? Or left it behind so someone else would steal it and use it to throw us off his track?”
Val sipped some of her water. “You’d think so, but he was using it at the club, and then he paid for a trip to Belize.”
“He didn’t leave it in the club for another jaguar to find, and the thief is going to Belize?” Howard asked.
“Two jaguars identified him at the bar using that same credit card on other occasions. From what we can learn about him, he hasn’t murdered anyone else, just his wife. And he hasn’t committed any other crimes. Not everyone who commits a crime is a master criminal. From all accounts, he was in a rage when he murdered her. It appears he’s going to his old haunts—like the club in San Antonio and Belize—unsure what to do. He doesn’t have any family to speak of. He doesn’t have his phone with him, or we could track him that way.”
Howard thought Val might be right. Not all criminals were very bright. Still, he had his doubts. What if they arrived in Belize to find Benny had never gone to the resort? That someone else was staying at the cabin?
They talked and continued to buy sodas and water to keep their table longer until they had to leave on their flight. It was better than sitting in the waiting area. They finally ordered cheesecake and coffee before they were kicked out of there. Val got another text and answered it.
“News about Benny?” Howard asked. He couldn’t help it. Whether she liked it or not, she had two more partners on this job.
She smiled.
Howard let out his breath. “We stick together.”
“Sure we will. The tech that’s following his credit card usage sent me a description of the car Benny’s driving. It’s a red 2017 Ford EcoSport.”
Howard shook his head. “I still can’t believe he’s using the same credit card.”
“Good news for us.”
“True.”
After they finished their dessert, they headed to the gate to catch their flight. Howard couldn’t wait to get to Belize and make sure that Jillian was fine.
“Worried about your partner?” Val asked as they made their way onto the plane.
“She can handle herself, but yeah. I didn’t think we’d be separated like this.”
“Have you worked with her long?”
“For several months. The entire force has always been together until now.”
“I still can’t believe you went to work with them and didn’t continue to be an Enforcer.” Val reached her seat and smiled at the passenger sitting next to it. “You wouldn’t mind letting us sit together, would you? We’re newlyweds and couldn’t get seats together.”
The man got up from the seat. “Sure. Which seat do you have?” he asked Howard.
“The single one across the aisle, two rows further back.” Howard was astonished that Val wanted to sit beside him on the flight, though he was trying not to look shocked about it.
“Even better. Thanks.”
Val and Howard thanked him, and Val moved into the row to sit next to the window.
Jillian texted Howard to tell him that she had arrived safely in Belize, and he was relieved to hear from her.
I’m in the lobby at the Belize Airport Hotel, grabbing some lunch. I’ll wait here until the two of you get in. Got a cabin at the resort!
Howard texted back: We’ll be there before you know it and decide where to go from there. Great on the cabin!
“Did you get a cabin?” Howard asked Val.
“Yeah.” She settled back in her seat. “You?”
“Yeah. Jillian just texted me that she got one.”
“Better be on the other side of the resort.”
He didn’t know where any of their cabins were located. It didn’t matter. He was following Val wherever she went after they arrived at the resort.
“You didn’t want me to protect you. I didn’t think you’d want me to sit by you on the plane,” he remarked.
Val surprised Howard at every turn.
“You’re not protecting me. Not right now. Here, I’d rather sit by a fellow former Enforcer and talk. I mean it about you two staying out of sight though.” Val fastened her seat belt.
“We will, as long as you keep us informed about where you are.” He still didn’t trust that she would keep them apprised of her movements.
* * *
When they finally landed in Belize in the middle of a rainstorm, Howard called Jillian right away. “I’ve got this on speaker,” he told her. “We just arrived at the airport.”
“I’m so glad to hear from you. Vaughn is driving me nuts, checking up on me until you arrive. I’ll let him know we’re together again once you get here.”
“Val’s getting a rental car after we get off the plane, and we’ll meet you at the hotel soon,” Howard said, getting the directions.
“I’ll be waiting,” Jillian said.
They left the plane, and Val dug out a rain jacket. Howard hadn’t brought one with him. Maybe he could pick up something here. They got their bags, and Val paid for a rental car. He knew Jillian would already have a car, so he followed Val out to her car, getting soaked in the process.
“You should have brought a rain jacket with you.” She seemed amused.
“It’s on my list for next time I have an unscheduled trip to Belize during the rainy season.”
As soon as they settled in the car—with her in the driver’s seat—she handed him her bag. “Tissues in the front top pocket, if you don’t have any of those either.”
“Thanks.” He pulled out a couple and mopped up his face and arms.
Val drove out of the airport to the hotel.
“So why is Benny staying at the Tropical Rain Forest Resort?” Howard asked. “Do you have any intel on that?”
“He’s gone there before. I guess it’s familiar ground to him,” Val said. “It’s the rainy season, and the tourist rush hasn’t begun, or we wouldn’t have been able to get cabins there.”
“What about your parents? Where are they?” Howard asked Val.
“They’re in another area of Belize, a couple of hours away.”
“Are you going to tell them you’re here?”
“I will. After I finish my mission, I’ll help them with theirs.”
“Who all are they attempting to take out?” Howard asked.
“Jaguar Eric Erickson. He’s pushing purple heroin, and five people have already died from his drug sales that we know of.”
“Sounds like a good candidate for termination.”
“He is the perfect candidate. He doesn’t care anything about ruining people’s lives. All he cares about is making money off their misfortune.” Val turned onto another street, and they saw the sign for the hotel.
After they parked, they found Jillian sitting in the lobby waiting for them. She hurried to join them. “Got us a great two-bedroom cabin.” Jillian smiled at Howard.
He knew that expression meant she had pulled a fast one on Val. He wondered what that was all about.
“Better not be next to my place,” Val said. She jerked her thumb at Howard. “Before we get to the resort, Howard needs to buy a rain jacket. There’s a store near here where we can pick that up and any groceries you want before we head out to the boonies.”
Howard couldn’t have been more surprised about Val’s suggestion. He’d expected her to take off and keep her distance from them as much as possible while she tried to track down Benny. Then again, she’d need some groceries too.
They rode in her rental car to a shopping area. Val parked. He didn’t expect the two women to stay with him when he went into a clothing store, nor did he expect them to try to figure out which jacket he should get.
He realized the only woman who had ever gone clothes shopping with him was his mother. He couldn’t help being amused. He tried on a gray rain jacket when Val held up a jungle-green one, shaking her head at the gray one. Jillian had a blue-gray one she liked best. If it had been completely up to Howard, though it still was, he would have gone with the gray one. To appease the ladies, he tried on their choices as well.
“The green one. It has all kinds of hidden pockets for anything you might need to keep…hidden,” Val said.
“She’s right. And it would blend in better with the rain forest if you aren’t wearing your wilder coat.” Jillian lowered her chin and gave him a look that said he’d better go along with the suggestion.
He eyed the gray jacket again. Wouldn’t he blend in with a gray, rainy day just as well wearing it? He suspected Val would be more agreeable about working with them if he went along with her suggestion. “The green it is. Perfect for jungle rain warfare.” Though if he was going to be battling it out with Benny, he intended to be wearing his waterproof jaguar coat.
“Good. Let’s head to the grocery store and leave for the resort,” Val said while he went to pay for the jacket.
Once they’d picked up what they wanted at the grocery store, they returned to the hotel, and then Howard and Jillian followed Val in their rental car.
“I was about ready to punch you if you didn’t pick the green jacket,” Jillian said to Howard.
He chuckled. “I figured that from the stern look you gave me.”
“She seriously likes you. A woman who didn’t wouldn’t have suggested shopping for a jacket for you. And that means she could very well be changing her mind about working with us. That only makes our situation easier. She might be coming around. I hadn’t mentioned it before because I wasn’t sure if there was anything more to it at the time, but she sure was dancing close to you. If it had been your idea only, I doubt she would have allowed it. And then swimming with her? Oh my.”
He smiled. “She did ask the guy who was seated next to her on the plane if he’d take my place so she could sit with me—as newlyweds.”
Jillian laughed. “You see? What did I tell you?”
“That’s only because Benny wasn’t around. She even said so. I asked.”
“Still, it sure sounds like a step in the right direction. I was so glad to leave you two alone for a while so you could get to know each other a little better.”
“Where is our cabin in relation to hers?”
Jillian chuckled.
Howard glanced at her and smiled. “I figured the look you gave me when you said you reserved a cabin meant you did good.”
“Right next door. Each of the cabins is surrounded by rain-forest trees and shrubs, so each has plenty of privacy, but it’s still next door to ours.”
“Did you happen to learn where Benny’s place is?”
“I hacked into their reservation system and learned his cabin is on the other side of us.”
Howard laughed. “Val will have a conniption.”
“Right. But she’s our mission, and if we’re between the two of them, we can watch out for her. And if we happen to see Benny and have the opportunity before she does, we can take care of him.”
Smiling, he shook his head. “I don’t think me agreeing to take the green jacket will be enough to smooth things over once she learns where we’re staying.”
“She had the first opportunity to take the cabin next to his. The others were way too far away. I didn’t want to risk us being on the other side of the resort.”
He chuckled. “She won’t like it.”
“She doesn’t have to. This is our job.”
So much for them trying to convince Val to agree to working with them. But he totally agreed with Jillian.
* * *
Two hours later, they reached the lodge to pick up their keys for the cabins.
“You have my number, and you can text me if you see Benny before I do,” Val said for their ears only before they entered the lodge.
“We’ll let you know if we spy him. And if you’re after him, let us know,” Howard said, his voice stern.
“Sure will.”
They went inside, and Val got her key first. “You know what I said about keeping your distance from me.”
“Gotcha,” Howard said, fighting to keep from smiling about it.
“All right. See you later.” Val hesitated before she headed outside.
He swore she really hadn’t wanted to leave without them. Maybe she was getting used to them being around. He didn’t want to see her go either. But they would be at their cabin soon enough, and he was shifting and checking out the area right after that. Jillian would have cabin watch. If he’d known he would be going to jaguar country, he would have taken one of his jaguar teammates with him instead. He didn’t want her running around here as a wolf. Too conspicuous, unless people thought she was a dog. He smiled.
They waited until they thought Val would’ve had time to settle in, then drove to their cabin. Where they parked was hidden from her view. Unless she roamed around the area, she wouldn’t know they were there.
All the cabins were raised on stilts. Water was puddled in places as Howard and Jillian grabbed their bags and headed for the stairs.
Rabbits scampered into the rain forest. Squirrels dashed up trees covered in trailing orchids. The aroma of blackberries, coco palms, and cashews scented the air. Orchids’ heavenly perfumed scent added to the wondrous fragrance.
Howard didn’t smell any jaguars that had been in the area, but he would check around Benny’s cabin next.
They had brought the prerequisite hunter concealing spray to minimize the chance Benny would smell them. Howard hoped Benny wasn’t also using the spray to hide his scent. Howard didn’t think Jillian needed to wear it because the chances of a wolf searching for a jaguar shifter to take down would be unlikely. Not many people knew about the USF, unless they were agents who worked at one of the branches.
“Wow, this country is so beautiful,” Jillian said as she and Howard carried the groceries and bags up to the deck of their cabin.
Howard had forgotten Jillian had never been to Belize, and it was fun seeing her so in awe of the place. All the scents and sounds and sights really did take a newcomer’s breath away.
Howler monkeys called to each other as they swung through the trees, and birds chattered all over. Howard and Jillian both looked up at the canopy to see one watching them from a branch.
It was still raining, and Howard was glad to have a rain jacket for the trip, no matter the color or number of hidden pockets it had.
“Now what do we do?” Jillian unlocked the cabin and he followed her inside, stepping into a spacious living room with a pullout sofa and five chairs, all covered in tropical fabric, and a dining table and kitchen right off that and open to the living room.
“I’ll check out the area in my fur coat. You stay here and—”
Shrieking at the cabin next to theirs—Val’s cabin—penetrated the sounds of the rain forest and the steadily falling rain.
Howard raced out into the rain, Jillian hot on his heels, her gun out and ready.