Chapter 26

26

A gents were scattered all over, watching for Fisher to show up with Parker while Kira was on the lookout at the red safehouse, trying to see her mate running to safety with his charge. She was supposed to stop him, but she really wanted to pretend she didn't see him. But she had to do her job. She was supposed to be one of the bad guys. She much preferred being a good guy when her mate was. Now if she was working alongside him, and they were both serving as bad guys, that would be fun. Demetria and Everett were totally invested in this and having a blast.

The agents who were acting as the bad guys were just as clueless as to what was going on as Fisher and Parker though. They didn't know where her mate or his charge were. They could be coming from any direction, either close by or far away. The ones setting up the training were the only ones who might know where Fisher and Parker were. She believed Parker would be wearing a tracker in his clothes, that neither Fisher nor Parker would be aware of, so the trainers would have an idea where the two of them were at least. She wondered if Fisher would make the riskier trip to swim across the river with Parker, or head south or north to one of the two bridges, and they could more easily cross either. The bridges were safe zones because the trainers didn't want to lose either Fisher or Parker if they chose to swim across the river and ran into difficulty. But they were a lot farther away.

She paced around the grounds of the safehouse. Woodlands surrounded the house, but it had a grassy area, some rock-bordered flowerbeds, trellises covered by climbing roses, and huge Sunshine Ligustrum that was eight feet tall, providing a beautiful backdrop. But it also would help Fisher to move closer to the house without being seen.

As a jaguar, Everett was stretched out on a branch of a live oak tree at the border of the property, keeping an eye out. He'd been pacing across the roof of a storage building for an hour, but Kira suspected he felt too exposed, so he was trying to sit quietly in the tree now. But he'd moved to different branches several times. Even when he was trying to sit still, his tail was swinging back and forth. Which was great for Fisher! She didn't believe Everett was doing it on purpose to warn Fisher that he was sitting in the tree, waiting for him and he would make his move. He was too competitive for that. She thought he didn't believe Fisher would have had time to reach the red house yet, just like she didn't. She laid down on the long grass that hadn't been mowed in weeks, tired of pacing, worrying that Fisher wouldn't make it safely to the house with Parker in time. They just had to reach the porch, as far as the trainers said and they were safe.

In the Houston area, everything was in flower even after Thanksgiving, the heat having dissipated, giving the flowering plants a chance to rebloom. Which helped Fisher also. Butterflies and bees were still fluttering about the flowers and that was causing a distraction for the ones waiting for Fisher to show up.

The breeze was blowing hard in a northeasterly direction and the branches and leaves were rustling, while birds were twittering and flitting about from one tree to another or around the shrubs, which would help to disguise Fisher and Parker's approach also. But if they were moving up from the south, she and Everett would smell them way before they arrived.

She didn't have any idea about the passage of time. In the other scenario, she had a clock to watch while she was tied up as bait. But here, there were no clocks, so her best guestimate by the position of the sun was that it had been two and a half hours since Fisher left with Parker to find the safehouse. No matter what happened—pass or fail—Fisher wouldn't really fail. She couldn't tell him that. He would learn the truth once he finished. It was a way to teach new agents how to solve problems and change strategies for the next time. Every mission was completely different in real life, so it was a great way to learn from the experience.

She glanced back at Everett who was leaping to a new branch, and she smiled. If anyone was going to alert Fisher that he was watching for him, it would be Everett.

Fisher and Parker, and belatedly her mate, thanked Mabel for her delicious pie, left the robes on the bench, and both shifted. Then they ran to the truck and Meyers let them into the cab. They climbed in and he shut the door. "I can't wait to tell some of my retired friends what Mabel and I had done. Believe me, this has been the most excitement we've had in months. They'll want to come and join us the next time something like this happens. Of course, we never know exactly when a mission will take agents this way. The safehouses are located all over the acreage, and they change out the locations for different exercises." He drove down the gravel road for about five miles when a large gray wolf ran across the road in front of the truck and stopped. Meyers slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the wolf.

Fisher figured their goose was cooked because the agent was going to examine the truck and learn Fisher and Parker had hitched a ride, but when Meyers opened the door to get out of the cab, the wolf attacked him. Fisher immediately leaped out of the truck and attacked the wolf and smelled it was Reggie. Hell, he had escaped confinement?

The farmer had fallen, his arm bleeding after the wolf had bitten him. Fisher didn't want the teen involved in the fight and the older man either because of his age and since he'd been wounded.

But the teen leapt into the fracas, biting at the wolf's back, not severely and Fisher assumed Parker thought this was part of the exercise and he wasn't supposed to hurt the guy. Fisher didn't have time to tell him otherwise, and bit into the wolf's neck as hard as he could when Reggie turned to attack Parker. Fisher had a hold of Reggie for dear life when someone came up behind him. For a second, Fisher was afraid Reggie's cohorts had escaped also. But it was Meyers, wearing his jaguar coat. Fisher didn't want him to have to fight Reggie and wished instead he had called for help on his cell phone.

Reggie whipped his head around to tear into Fisher, but the farmer bit at the wolf's flank. Parker looked confused. The farmer wasn't biting decisively either. Fisher thought they could wear the wolf down. But he was afraid Reggie might severely injure the two jaguars before they knew what was going on.

Fisher howled for help right before the wolf tried to bite his neck. Then he dodged the snapping, killer jaws.

Kira howled back and Fisher knew she was on her way. She wasn't far away, but he didn't want her hurt either. He needed more backup.

At that point, since Fisher had risked his neck to howl, and another wolf who shouldn't be on his side howled in response, the farmer and Parker probably realized the wolf wasn't playing the game. They both began tearing into the wolf in earnest, which gave Fisher a chance to do the same. Reggie broke free and jumped into the cab of the pickup. Fisher knew he was going to try to drive off. Fisher leaped into the truck and bit at Reggie's neck again, but he had a massive neck, so Fisher wasn't making any headway there.

The passenger door to the cab opened and the farmer was there in his human form, then shifting. But as soon as he shifted and jumped into the cab, Fisher saw Kira and Everett coming to aid them.

Five other jaguars were coming from different directions, and they were all headed straight for the truck. Even though Fisher wanted to take Reggie down, he knew the jaguars could handle the escaped prisoner, while he needed to accomplish his mission.

Then Fisher jumped out of the truck, licked Kira's face in greeting, and nudged Parker to go with him, but the teen was still watching the scene between the jaguars and the wolf in the truck play out. Fisher nipped his shoulder, telling him to move now! Sure, Fisher wanted to see the outcome too, but they still had a mission to accomplish.

Then Parker and Fisher ran off for the red safehouse. They were in the clear now that they had the perfect diversion—one escaped fugitive.

They ran until they saw the treed yard with the rock-bordered flowerbeds and tall shrubs. The sight of the red safehouse would forever be etched in his mind as he and Parker sprinted across the yard to the steps of the house, shifted, opened the door, and went inside.

They found their clothes inside where they'd been delivered, in case they reached the house safely. The tracking device was lying on a table next to the clothes. "Your decision to shift saved us from being tracked," Fisher said, showing Parker the device.

"I never even thought of that. I just believed I could run faster as a jaguar. Who was that guy? I thought he was one of the ‘pretend' bad guys overplaying his role."

"An escaped convict we took into custody a short while ago."

"Oh. Wow. No way."

"Yeah. I was afraid to shift and tell the two of you in the event he tried to kill me, but you were biting him so gently, I was afraid he would kill all of us. He did try to kill Kira and me before."

"Wow. You fought well for a wolf."

Fisher smiled. "You did too as a jaguar, once you stopped play biting."

Then Kira came up the steps and into the house, nipping Fisher's pant leg. She disappeared into a room and returned in her human form fully dressed. "I can't believe you tried to recapture Reggie."

"I didn't have any choice. He was trying to steal Meyers's truck and I couldn't let that happen. Then you and I would have been back to chasing down the bastard." Fisher turned to Parker. "He's a newly turned wolf and was kidnapping kids."

"Oh." Then Parker smiled. "We won."

Kira gave Fisher a warm hug and a deeply appreciative kiss, which was totally welcome. "You cheated."

"How's that?"

"You rode in a truck?" she asked.

"We had to," Parker said, "because his wife gave us apple pie and then he wanted to give us a lift and we couldn't say no."

"You stopped to have apple pie?" Kira asked, her brow raised, her voice surprised.

"Nothing in the rule books said that we couldn't," Fisher said.

She laughed. "You were supposed to be in a hurry to beat my time. Instead, you're eating apple pie, riding in a pickup truck, with a hostage that turned into his jaguar coat?—"

"We swam in the river too," Fisher said.

"And I was the lookout high in a tree, telling Fisher about all the terrain features and even where Demetria was pacing."

Kira shook her head. "And then Fisher told us your location so we would all be diverted to take care of the threat so you had a free and clear passage to the safehouse."

Fisher kissed her. "Yeah, we were improvising all along the way."

Everett suddenly loomed in the doorway, his jaguar coat a little bloodied. He grunted, headed into the house, dressed, and joined them. "You had to have planned that whole thing."

"What? Reggie's escaping?" Fisher asked.

"Yeah. Here I sat in an old live oak tree forever waiting for you to appear, determined to catch you this time, and the next thing I know, you're howling for help. I was like this was a totally new strategy for a wolf to devise a plan to move us off the property so you could sneak onto it without us catching you," Everett said. "When Kira howled back, telling you she was coming to your aid, I thought you might have bamboozled her, or that even she was somehow helping you out. I couldn't believe you would truly be in trouble. Imagine my surprise to see Reggie in the truck. By the time he was contained, you and Parker were long gone. And Kira was headed back to the house."

Demetria arrived in a car with David, and they entered the house. "Well," David said, "Martin has been apprized of your unique way of handling matters, the ditching of the tracker, running with your charge as a jaguar, meeting up with Mabel and Meyers, and even getting a lift closer to the safehouse."

Fisher was afraid they might take off points for that or add a penalty to his time.

"Well done. You diverted every jaguar and Kira in the area and made it home free," David said.

Demetria hugged Everett. "Aren't you glad we recommended that Martin hire Fisher?"

Everett smiled. "Yeah."

"Oh, and, Fisher, Martin especially liked the way you talked Parker into working with you on the mission and not against you. We had a camera and audio on you before Parker shifted and the two of you took off. Then of course, we lost you. You didn't cross either bridge, we were told," David said.

"We swam across the river northeast of where the house was," Fisher said.

"And I was the lookout high in a tree, telling Fisher all about the terrain features and even where Demetria was pacing."

Demetria laughed. "Oh, that's really not fair. But ingenious, really."

"Well, Martin said we're going to use your ingenuity in a training session for new recruits. How to ensure a person you're trying to get to safety listens to you and helps you with your mission. No one has ever done that before. When the person who is being tested is told the freed hostage will thwart their efforts to get to the safehouse, they deal with the situation as it arises, which hasn't worked out too well for some trainees. Your idea was the best ever," David said.

"I told Martin he should hire Fisher," Kira said.

Fisher was glad he had done things right then. "How is Meyers?"

"He couldn't be prouder of his wolf bite received in the line of duty, he said. He was taken to our medical facility to be patched up. Reggie probably won't recover from his wounds. The tribunal had already decided he would have the death sentence for trying to kill the two of you. And after what happened with him trying to kill the farmer, you, and Parker? There isn't any doubt he would continue to be a threat to all shifter kind, and humans too," Everett said. "Also, there's no need for either of you to testify against the kidnappers. We have tons of witness statements to verify everything that had happened."

"I can't have missed out on all the action again," Demetria said.

"We did our utmost best to stay out of your sight," Fisher said.

Demetria shook her head. "I never would have envisioned Parker climbing a tree and spotting me. We thought he would be human throughout the exercise."

Parker and Fisher smiled.

"Yeah, and then we waited until you turned your back and headed out of there before we moved again," Parker said, sounding thrilled they'd been able to get by agents who were really good at their job.

"Next time we do this, I'm going to catch you," Demetria promised, smiling.

Fisher laughed. "I'll have to really be on my toes then."

"Well, if you're ready, Martin wants to meet you in his office," David said. "Kira, he wants to see you also."

When Kira and Fisher finally arrived in Martin's office, it was large and furnished with a big mahogany desk and leather chairs, very rich and showing the importance of his position. On the wall were paintings of jungles and jaguars sitting in trees or hunting. It was just beautiful.

With the way Martin had sounded gruff on the phone in the conversations they'd had, Fisher expected Martin to be in his mid-fifties, maybe a few gray hairs, but Martin was in his early forties with no gray hair and distinguished looking, dark haired and eyed, and welcomed them in.

But then first thing, Martin raised his brows as he motioned for them to take seats in a seating area where he joined them. "Eating apple pie on the mission?"

"That was all my idea," Fisher said, not wanting Parker to get in trouble for it.

"I spoke with Parker, and he said otherwise. He really has your back."

Fisher laughed. He realized then that Martin had a dry sense of humor.

"Usually, I have to tell agents what they've done wrong and could have done better. But you used the resources available to you to accomplish the mission and that's all that matters. If you were truly out in the field and civilians aided you like they did when you had been taken hostage, the more power to you. Most of all, you helped us recapture Reggie. We were planning to end the mission so that no one who was in the field would get hurt when we learned he had escaped. Well done, the both of you." Martin shook their hands and handed Fisher a badge. "You are now officially one of my USF Special Agents. Unless we have a priority mission come up in the meantime, enjoy your Christmas holidays. I understand the two of you just mated so you might want to take some time off for a honeymoon also. Just let me know."

"Thanks so much, sir," Fisher said.

Kira thanked him too, but then Fisher said, "I want to see how Meyers is doing."

"Everett and Demetria are standing by, and they'll run you by the shifter clinic to see Meyers. Again, congratulations for a job well done—both in accomplishing your assigned mission and capturing Reggie with Kira's help. The two of you work together so well, I'm sure you will be partnered up together for the most part."

"Thanks, sir," they both said.

"How, uhm, did Parker fare in the exercise?" Fisher asked, hoping the boy wouldn't be in trouble for siding with Fisher instead of trying to sabotage his efforts in getting him to the safehouse.

"He is receiving a junior commendation for helping the good guy and has a leg up on receiving additional training—both because of your persuasive technique and his own desire to become one of us when he's older. We could use you as a trainer once you've been in the field for a couple of years, if it's something you might be interested in. Though I know you have all your family in Colorado, so you'll probably want to stay there."

"Yeah, though maybe in the future both Kira and I could do that for a year," Fisher said.

"Absolutely. That goes without saying that you two would be together for the venture," Martin said. "Working as a team to solve missions is something we encourage in our training. You and Kira are naturals."

Fisher and Kira smiled at each other. He was so glad Martin saw them in that way. There was just something about Martin that made Fisher want to excel to prove his worth.

Then they left the office, Everett and Demetria took Fisher and Kira to the medical clinic to see Meyers and found Mabel there, holding his hand while the doctor gave him his release orders. Meyers was grinning from ear to ear. "All our friends are going to celebrate my fight with an escaped convict—though they're already giving me grief that a wolf bit me. I keep telling them that it's because I thought he was a good agent pretending to be one of the bad guys."

Fisher smiled. "I'm glad you're going to be alright and thanks for everything."

"You didn't get into trouble for riding in my truck, did you?" Meyers asked as he and Mabel walked out of the clinic with them.

"No," Kira said, introducing herself to Meyers and Mabel and they belatedly told her their names. "He was praised for his ingenuity. But he also has you to thank for that."

Mabel chuckled. "Well, he was so pleasant, and we wanted to help him and the boy."

"Yeah, we're retired Guardians, so it's what we do," Meyers said.

"Anytime you're in the area, be sure and drop by and say hi," Mabel said, "and if you can give me a heads-up, I'll bake something special for you."

"Thanks, we sure will. After this, we're returning to Greystoke, Colorado," Kira said, squeezing Fisher's hand.

Then they said goodbye to the couple and Demetria and Everett drove Kira and Fisher home to have dinner of barbecued ribs and potato salad before they packed up Kira's things into a rental van at her apartment and headed home.

"You're the talk of all the USF organization. You'll be getting a call from your cousin Vaughn who will give you a hard time about cheating, no doubt. But he will only be kidding because he didn't think of it first," Everett said.

"Believe me, I never expected to be presented with everything that happened," Fisher said.

"Exactly. Every mission is completely different. You might have run into hostiles instead of retired Guardian agents. The teen you were trying to take to safety might have given you trouble the whole way there. He might not have been convinced that he should help you and instead worried that in doing so he would have gotten himself into trouble," Everett said.

"Fisher might not have had such a great diversion when Reggie escaped and then we could have easily thwarted Fisher from making it to the safehouse," Kira said.

Everett and Demetria smiled at her.

"What?" she asked, before taking another bite of a rib.

They shook their heads. "I'm sure you would have found a way to help them get to the safehouse should the time have come," Demetria said. "Me? I would done everything I could to stop Everett from reaching the house, if our roles had been reversed."

Fisher and Kira laughed.

Everett raised his glass of champagne to them. "She would have tried for sure."

Returning to Greystoke meant a big celebration held by the pack, not only because Fisher was officially a badge-carrying special agent of the USF, but also because Fisher and Kira had mated and joined the Greystoke pack. Even Kira's parents had visited with the pack and were looking forward to buying a home in Greystoke, farther out, which meant they would be expanding the pack's territory out a little bit further and everyone in the wolf pack was thrilled.

Kira and Fisher even managed to get in some rock and mountain climbing the next day. And they went to the western-themed dance club that night. It wasn't quite the same as the exotic jaguar club in Houston, but when Kira and Fisher were dancing—the heat and the beat was just as wildly erotic.

After Kira and Fisher returned home from having a wonderful time at the dance club, they hurried off to the bedroom where a shower and lots more loving was on the schedule for the rest of the night. But coming up?

A honeymoon in Hawaii and they couldn't wait.