Bear with Me (Bear Mountain Patrol Series Book 1) (8 page)

Chapter 10

Tag sat at a table on the veranda of the small hotel sipping ice tea and listening through earplugs. A cool breeze wafted across his face as he listened. Bright yellows and orange splashes of color on the walls, tables and floor gave the area a festive appeal. Too bright for his personal tastes but it worked here. The storm had been brutal and blessedly short, giving him a chance to catch up on his rest. The recorder caught any conversations Brody made while he slept. So far there’d been nothing of interest.

It was after two in the afternoon, both he and Grizzle strained to hunt. His body hummed as he listened for Brody to say something he could use to nail the guy. Grizzle hadn’t reacted to Brody which meant he didn’t see the man as a threat. Brody would lead them to Camilla or whoever had taken her.

For the past 30 minutes no one came into the agency, the phone didn’t ring, keyboards didn’t click and Brody didn’t talk to anyone. Perhaps it was a front after all. Lorenzo had called with more information on the license plate.

The car belonged to Rex Green, city manager of the town of Arriva, located between Loveland and Millen. That had been a surprise which piqued Tag’s interest. Why would a city manager of another town visit a travel agency in Loveland? Especially since neither Green nor the city of Arriva were clients? Jensen and Green weren’t related so what was the connection?

Lorenzo had quite a bit of information on Green and sent him a file along with one on Camilla. Tag read enough to know Green was dirty and ran whatever operation Brody took part in. Green’s finances were too perfect, his property dealings too above board. The man went to great lengths to appear squeaky clean. That prompted Lorenzo to hack into certain accounts and take a few snapshots of financial transactions.

Rex Green dealt with notorious characters in dark markets. These men would shoot, not ask questions and step on you as they left. What the hell was Green involved in, other than human trafficking?

Rudy Rivera had been an old acquaintance of Green’s and, more recently, Felipe Sanchez. Seeing that name connected with Green and possibly Camilla, fired Tag’s blood.

Grizzle roared. “
Find him. He hurt father
.”

Was this the same Sanchez involved with his father’s death? Who kidnapped the senator’s daughter? Did BMP know?

If Sanchez was involved, the game changed and Tag would call in favors to make sure he won this round. Unfortunately, the man never left Nicaragua and that country refused to extradite him to the States for his crimes. From what he gathered, Sanchez was a king in his corner of the world and the most the DEA had been able to do was clip off a few avenues of his distribution. Not that any of that mattered to Tag. He owed Sanchez and would make the man pay in some way for what happened to his father.

“
Yes, Grizzle, we will find him and make him pay. First let’s get more information on where to hunt
.”

“
Hunt, find, destroy
.”

Grizzles were throwbacks to a time when life had been just that simple, before civilization and laws came into effect. Definitely an eye for an eye mentality, except when it came to Tag’s father, a life for several lives.

He continued reading the pages of Green’s file but found nothing else on Sanchez, just that one entry. Kings kept their subjects on short leashes and Sanchez would’ve used someone in a government position more than once. The man laughed at the government attempts to bring him down. Except on that last job.

Tag and his team flew into South America to snatch a senator’s daughter from one of Sanchez’s holdings, a mansion in the midst of the jungle. Still reeling from what he learned about his father’s death, he jumped at the chance to get close to Sanchez even though the man wasn’t in residence at the time.

Nose to the ground, Tag followed her scent through the dense foliage, across a flowing stream and within striking distance of a makeshift camp. Sensing the girl nearby, he moved cautiously because of the appearance of another scent. When he recognized three distinct scents he raced ahead, not wanting his team to see what he suspected.

In the clearing stood Amber and Justin holding the senator’s daughter in his arms. Men dressed in soldiers gear lay motionless, bleeding on the ground. A flicker of annoyance flashed in Justin’s eyes as he moved backward a few feet, pulling Amber with him and almost dropping the girl.

Grizzle had never forgotten Justin’s treatment of him. Tag leapt forward to stop him. To this day he wasn’t sure if he leapt to stop Amber from leaving with Justin or just to beat the shit out of the other man in retribution. To his private shame, the senator’s daughter did not factor in his decision, not once.

Sharp barbs from the net surrounding the clearing, pierced his face and chest. His roar of pain alerted the hunting party of their location. Pulling back, he freed himself of the vile net and tossed it down to the ground.

Without a backward glance, Amber and Justin ran in the opposite direction with the girl leaving him to deal with the gunfire from Sanchez’s men. At some point Ryan pulled him away from the line of fire, saving his life. A sharp point had embedded next to his eye rendering him blind in that eye for months. The doctor said he had been lucky.

Since then, whenever Justin crossed his path Tag wrestled Grizzle for dominance not to tear the smaller bear apart. That whole incident left a sour taste on the back of his tongue and a feeling of failing his dad overwhelmed him to the point he quit. Losing control of Grizzle like that meant he wasn’t ready and needed time to deal with his grief.

Inhaling, Tag cursed his luck. Remaining still, he hoped they, yes he recognized both scents, would walk by and ignore him.

Grizzle growled. Tag braced for the confrontation with his beast.

“Tag,” Amber said. Her earthy and lavender scent wrapped around him. Once his heart would race and cock stiffen in greeting or whenever she was near. But no longer, which was a good thing, the woman now smelled like poison.

He didn’t bother looking up, instead he raised two fingers in greeting hoping she would take the hint that he was not interested in talking or seeing her.

Grizzle growled again and pushed against him. “
Prey. Fight. Destroy.”

“No. Stop that. We will not fight him, I told you that.”

Grizzle whined. “
Hurt.”

“
Yes but that’s over. I don’t like her anymore.”

“Him prey?”

“No. He’s a victim
.” Tag searched his mind for a way to explain and couldn’t think of anything Grizzle would understand. Justin had hurt them. Grizzle demanded retribution. “
Trust me, not prey.
”

“How are you?” she asked in a soft voice and sat in a chair at his table. Justin sat next to her, watching him. They reminded Tag of a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, with a black bear twist. Coal black hair with lavender eyes, soft face and curvy body. At first glance, you’d think Amber was soft, demure. He made that mistake once and it cost him his heart.

“Good.” Manners dictated he ask how she was doing but since she hadn’t asked to join him, he assumed they weren’t doing manners today. He met Justin’s gaze until the smaller bear turned to look across the room. Tag counted four additional black bears in the room with concealed weapons. One thing Justin learned from Rudy’s downfall, don’t use humans for your inner circle.

“This is far from home for you,” Amber said, smiling, displaying deep dimples. He stared at her a moment longer. No question she was beautiful, men turned to stare when she entered a room but she used it as a weapon to destroy anyone in her way.

“Yes it is. Same for you.”

She smiled and brushed her hand against Justin’s peach-colored shirt. “We’re on vacation.”

Tag smelled the lie then decided to challenge her.

“In Loveland? In the summer? What’s there to do here?” He infused a healthy dose of skepticism and disbelief into his voice. Then he heard Brody talking to someone through his earpiece.
Damn
. What was Brody saying? He strained to hear.

Her hand stopped moving and her lips tightened slightly. She hated when anyone didn’t go along with her. “There’s all kinds of things to do. We took the month off and are exploring Colorado,” she said. Her voice wasn’t as welcoming as before. Good.

The sound stopped coming through the mic. What happened to Brody? Tag frowned and spoke without giving it much thought. “As long as I’ve known you, you always wanted to go to new places, to get away from here.”

“Well, things have changed. Now that I’ve finally found the right man, Colorado is the place I want to be,” she snapped, showing her claw tips. Justin reached down, covered them with one hand and pushed his sunglasses up his nose with the other.

Tag laughed. That was the Amber he had come to know. Looking at her now, he thanked God for being completely over her. “I’m happy you’re happy,” he told her. Then turned to Justin. “My condolences.”

Brody started talking again but Tag couldn’t make out the words. Damn it. He strained to understand but only heard parts of words.

It took a minute for Amber to grasp his meaning. Her face pinkened then she smiled. “Fuck you, Tag.”

He chuckled. “Why did you sit at my table? We have nothing to say to each other.”

She inhaled then released it. “Lorenzo said you were here working on a case.”

Had she really forgotten he could smell a lie? Few black bears had that capability but all grizzlies could. Tag waited to see where this was going.

“He mentioned a couple names and I thought I should warn you, Green is well-connected. If it’s possible, avoid him,” she said in an earnest tone.

He detected no deceit and was surprised at her sincerity.

“Lorenzo told you this?” He doubted his friend mentioned him but Lorenzo and Amber were siblings so it was possible.

“Does it matter?” she asked.

“Yes, very much.” Friend or not, he wouldn’t use Lorenzo again if he shared this level of information with anyone.

“Not directly,” she said.

Tag pulled out his phone, punched in Lorenzo’s number and watched his uninvited guests.

“Your sister and Justin are here,” Tag said and proceeded to tell Lorenzo what just happened. Amber stood and walked off. Justin sat a moment longer, shook his head and followed his lover.

“I didn’t tell her anything. Hell, I haven’t spoken to her in two months. What’s going on?” Lorenzo asked.

“Either she can tap into your system and get information or she has a bug in your place. Maybe she’s got a shop set up somewhere and recognizes your signature. I don’t know, she’s
your
sister.” He watched the two walk down the street away from the hotel, the four men followed at a slight distance.

“Truth is, she’s really good at hacking, much better than me… I think. I wouldn’t be surprised if she does it on the side. Who’s she working for and why warn you? If BMP finds out she’s interfering with human affairs again, they may terminate her.”

Given his current mission, Tag thought about the consequences of interfering in human problems. Ryan saved his life, he owed him, end of discussion and in their world that would be enough.

“Can’t answer any of those.” He pushed the plug deeper into his ear. “Brody talked to someone, I only caught pieces of the conversation. He must’ve been walking around while he talked. Plus your sister was talking at the same time.”

“I told you that was an old piece of crap. Times have changed and so has the technology. Did you ever order the pieces I suggested you buy? They have a longer range and –”

“Not yet. So Rex Green is the next person I need to talk with?” Tag asked, rubbing his forehead.

“As far as Camilla is concerned, you’ve got nothing on him. Just a positive match on Brody. Green is high profile, in the news a lot, so BMP will find out really quick if he cries foul. You said they were already watching.”

“Thanks, if you find out anything else on Green or Brody, let me know. We’re missing something important in all of this,” Tag said refusing to comment on BMP and their snooping in his affairs.

“Will do.”

Tag stretched and yawned. If he could grab a little more rest that’d be great, but the reception in his room was terrible, that’s why he sat downstairs. Stomach grumbling, he walked outside to the pool area and pulled a covered chaise to relax on. Seconds later a waiter asked if he wanted a drink.

“Two glasses of water, two half-pounder burgers, medium well, keep the fries.”

The waiter glanced at his relaxed pose and nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

Tag checked to make sure the mic worked and pulled out his phone. While waiting for his food, he’d finished reading the files Lorenzo sent. Camilla Lopez: undergrad chemistry major, good grades.

Tiana would be jealous. His sister wanted to study science but her mother refused and his dad went along with their mom. When his sisters married, the chances of them working outside the home were slim, especially after cubs were born. Besides, mates didn’t handle daily separations well. His father hadn’t been able to go long periods away from his mom.