Mark: A Cross to Bear Shifter Romance, page 3
“My goodness, I’ve not been out here in a coon’s age.” It was Ewing who pointed out he shouldn’t say that anymore. It was offensive to some people. “Why? No, don’t tell me. Something to do with some delicate human, no doubt.”
Mark did explain it to him just so he’d know in the future. Grandda stared at him for several seconds before he nodded, telling them all that he’d not use it anymore. It was offensive to him, too, now that he knew what it meant.
The table was taken into the house after Grannie gave it a once over. He knew she had done more than a once over, but that was what she called it, so he thanked her. The table gleamed in the big dining room, and it made the entire space look better.
“I think there is a China hutch out there too. We’ll look for it tomorrow.” He knew there was but hadn’t thought the table would fit in the room, much less a hutch. But Mark thanked his grannie for telling him about it. “You boys should fill out your homes with that stuff out there. It’s better than you’d get at any store, I’m betting.”
“I’d like to have Mom and Dad’s bedroom suite if no one else wants it.” Being the youngest, Ewing more than likely didn’t remember them any more than he did. “I have a set I picked up a couple of years ago, but I never cared for it. It might be nice to have it.”
“You can have it as far as I care.” They all agreed with Mark. “There are some crates of dishes out there too. I think they were made by an uncle or something. He was a potter that sold things in town.”
“You take that, Mark. Being the oldest, that should be handed down to your children, I think.” Everyone agreed.
They headed back out to the barn with a sticky notepad to mark what they wanted. He even got the old rocker that had been in his parents’ house. No one remembered where it had come from, but that was fine by him. He thought it would be a nice thing to put on his front porch.
By the time midnight rolled around, just about everything in the barn had been marked. There were a couple of things he’d still need to purchase. A mattress had to be specially made for the bedroom set he’d picked out. Also, he decided he was going to get himself a washer and dryer. It made more sense than having to tote all his things to his grannie’s home to get clean clothing.
Not that he minded that much. It gave him an opportunity to hang out with them. However, he was putting a lot of wear and tear on their machines, and he didn’t want to do that. He thought his brothers were doing the same thing.
By the time he was getting into bed, he was exhausted but a good kind of tired. He’d made some progress today. Not just in filling out some rooms in his house, but also Mrs. Rails had called him back to tell him he was cleared to return to work. He asked for and was granted another week to get his house in order. Mark was about as excited as he’d been in a while.
Rolling to his side, he closed his eyes. Sleep took him under quickly, and his last thought was that he needed to find himself some way of adding onto his house. The log cabin he’d built wasn’t too small for just himself, but he wanted more room. At least an office to go with the work he’d been doing.
~*~
“Doctor Kemp, I have an assignment for you. There is a young woman missing in the Smokies.” Jamie asked how long the person had been missing. Her boss, FBI agent Landon Sanders, shook his head as he answered her. “Eight days now. They’ve all but given up hope of finding her alive, so that’s why they need you and your dogs to go there. Can you leave in an hour?”
“Yes, sir. Domestic?” Yes, he told her and said she’d have to make sure her dogs weren’t put into the belly of the plane. “No, sir. They’ll have to be with me. The entire trip.”
“I’m sure the airline will be accommodating.” She snorted, and he laughed. “I’ll call the airport now and see what they have to say. But be there soon. I’ll book you out on the first flight I can get to Gatlinburg.”
Jamie had a bag packed all the time. Two actually. Depending on the weather, she could just grab the right color bag—blue for cold, pink for other weather conditions—and go. But the dogs would need to be packed each time, depending on what sort of job they were going to be doing. Hills or flat service? Waterways and marsh? Drugs or bodies? Sometimes the dogs would even be used to sniff out bomb making equipment.
She called her dad while in the parking garage at work.
“Did you know the same man that played in that movie we watched last night is in the movie we watched two weeks ago? Can you imagine how busy he gets making them back to back?” She told her dad he made the second movie some ten years ago. “Oh, so he didn’t make as much money. Never mind. What did you need from me, darling, mine?”
“Wanna go to the Smokies with me?” She had to jerk the phone from her ear when he screamed he’d love to go. “Good. Pack. I’ll be home in ten minutes, and we have to get to the airport. The dogs are traveling with us.”
“Roxy too?” She told her dad Roxy was her best dog. “You say that about all of them, and you know it.” She did too.
Once she was home, she’d get the dogs settled so they’d not be too excited to ride to the airport. They usually stayed at the center, but last night she had needed some time to work with Sidekick, and the other two came to show him how to work the job.
Once she was on her street, Jamie thought about what she was going to be doing when she got to Tennessee. Knowing she was going to look for a woman broke her heart. However, in the mountainous areas, it was rare to just find a body fully intact. Usually, larger animals would find it long before humans would.
Jamie had studied hard to become the best. Not only was she certified to handle the three dogs she’d been able to train, but she’d also been able to get her doctorate in forensic medicine. That way, she’d been to be able to assist with crime scenes as well.
Pulling into her driveway, she saw that her dad was right on top of things. Their luggage was awaiting her on the porch.
Loading into the car, she also laid out the padding for the dogs. They’d be buckled into the back seat and her dad in the front with her. As soon as she went into the house, she heard her dad talking to Sidekick.
“We’re headed to the airport. I know you hate going there, but it will be just a flight out. You’re going to be dressed up too, so that—well, I was going to say no one will bother you, but there are people out there that will think they can still pet you. I swear to you, Sidekick, people drive me insane too.” Dad came around the corner and saw her. “Look, guys, Mommy is home.”
They came at her at once, All three of them big German shepherds that had a great deal more muscle to them than a normal house dog. As soon as she was on her back, the three of them vied for her pets. Since they had no vests on, they knew they could play as much as they wanted. She loved these dogs. As soon as they finished welcoming her home, she hugged her dad and went to prepare the dogs for the trip. That finished, she ate a quick meal of toast and jelly, and they set off again. The flight would be domestic flying, but her boss said he’d make sure the dogs were with her the entire time.
They arrived in plenty of time and were taken to the gate they were leaving from. The dogs, never leaving her side, had their vests on to say not only that they were federal agents but also not to touch them. Kids were the worst, she thought, about wanting to pet them, but there didn’t seem to be any of them around.
The five of them were seated first, in first-class no less. Sidekick sat in one of the larger chairs and seemed to not care a bit about what was going on. Molly, too was relaxed looking, but she knew she was forever on guard. The people going past them to their seats seemed not to notice there were dogs in first class. That was fine by her.
As soon as Roxy stood up, the other two did as well. There were about ten passengers in the walkway, and she stood up when they did. Armed since she too was working, Jamie unlocked the gun at her side and looked at the passengers. Molly was trembling, not a good sign for whatever was going on.
Going to the cockpit, she knocked once and opened the door. There were two pilots there, both of them startled to see her. When she explained that there was a problem, they both stood up to go into the cabin with her.
“I’m sure you’re not wrong, Agent, but what do we do? Agent Sanders said you were to be treated with respect and to listen to every word you said.” She had to smile at that. She doubted very much that Landon had been that nice about it. “Do what you need to do, and we’ll be right here.”
“It might be messy if the person is not willing to be caught.” He asked her if she knew what the dogs had found. “No. They know to smell for explosive devices and their components, as well as cadavers and drugs. They’re nervous enough to take whoever it is out now.”
“Do it.”
A whistle from her had all three dogs leaping from their seats. Roxy leapt over the seats, bouncing from one seat back to the next. Sidekick stayed behind in the event that whoever it was tried to run. It was Molly that took a man down and put her mouth over his throat. Roxy, however, cornered one of the stewardesses with a sharp bark that had the woman backed against the bathroom door. The screams were deafening.
“Quiet.”
She didn’t turn to look at the pilot, who spoke over the loud speaker. When he handed the mike to her, she explained what was going on.
“This man and woman have brought something onto the plane that needs to be dealt with. If you would please bear with me for a moment, we’ll get to the bottom of this and be on our way. Take a seat, even if it’s not yours, and I promise you, things will be taken care of.” The woman in the back was sobbing. Lucky for her, she wasn’t hurt yet. The man on the floor was not just bleeding from the wounds on his neck, but where he was being held down, blood was seeping from the wounds. “Hello, dumbass.”
“You’re going to be in such trouble. I’m going to own your ass.” She only laughed. Turning just a little, she told Sidekick to find. In seconds the man’s pants were ripped open to the thigh, and she saw the knife as well as the explosive material needed to make a bomb. Then Sidekick went to the woman to find whatever it was the woman had.
Dropping the items he’d found, she asked the pilot to call the FBI. “Make sure, please, that you ask for Agent Sanders. The man you spoke to earlier.” She looked at the man. “You’re so fucked right now. Not only have you brought explosives onto a plane, but you’ve also brought a gun, as well as whatever your little girlfriend in the back has on her.”
Just then, Sidekick dropped not only a gun by the other things but also wire, tape, as well as two more knives. All in all, it could have been a horrible nightmare should they have been able to use any of it.
The Feds arrived in record time. They not only arrested the man and the woman, but they also had her write out a statement. It was times like this that she wished the dogs could write. They were the ones that had alerted her about what was going on.
Since the flight couldn’t take off until they were finished cleaning up the arrests and making sure there was nothing else on the plane, she found herself on a private plane on her way to Gatlinburg three hours later than she had hoped. Dad was happy, and the dogs were resting now that they’d been heroes. Giving each of them a special treat for the work, she leaned back on her seat and wondered what else could go wrong on this flight.
She was handed a phone to use and told it was for her. Putting the phone to her ear, she heard Landon laughing as he told her someone would meet her at the airport at the other end. She was glad for that. Jamie knew she was the worst kind of driver, especially in heavy traffic like the park would be.
“Is it like this every time you travel? If so, I’m thinking you need to take one of our planes in the event you need to get there in a hurry.” She told him again what had happened, giving all the credit to the dogs. “Yes, but you trained them, my dear. You’re not doing so would have meant we’d be having an entirely different conversation. If you had survived, that is.”
“Yes, well I did, and they’re going to prison.” The plane took off, and she told Landon she had to go. “I’ll let you know if we run into any trouble there. I don’t think there will be. We’ve worked with the forestry before, so I think they’ll know what to expect.”
“I’m glad you mentioned that. You will be working with a man, Federal Wildlife Officer Dexter Cross. I think he’ll be the one picking you up. There are a few of the Cross family working for the park, so it’s no telling who might be the one that comes to get you.” She asked him why it mattered. “They’re bears. Black bears that have lived within the Smokies since well before our time. They’re grandfathered in, and it sounds to me as though they’ll be there well after we’re gone. One of them, let me look here—” While Landon looked for his paperwork, she told her dad what was going on. “Here it is. His name is Mark Cross. He had a run-in with a patron when she wanted to take a selfie with a bear. I kid you not. Mark ended up having to kill three of the bears, and she’s being charged with their deaths. He was on administrative leave until yesterday, but he’s getting his house set up for the next several days. I’m telling you that now so you will know he might be a bit testy. Or not. I don’t know the men at all, but I was told they’re the best working officers the park has ever had.”
“I see. Okay, I guess we’ll see about things when I get there.” She glanced at her dad. “Dad and I are going to split billings for the department. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to get something over on you.”
“I’d never think of you doing anything underhanded, Jamie. Ever. And it would be our pleasure to pay for your dad’s stay, as well as his meals. I know for a fact that he keeps you calm. And he watches over the pups while you’re not there. Don’t split the checks or the room. It’s helpful to all of us, especially you, when he’s there to help you. In fact, you’ll be getting something sent to you within the next day or two. Sooner if I can get it taken care of.”
Thanking him again, she disconnected the call and handed the phone back to the agent aboard with them. She told her dad what Landon had said about him not paying for this trip.
“I like that idea, honey, but I don’t want anyone getting into trouble over me getting a couple of meals. We’ll have it done up the way we always do and let him make the decision. Not that I don’t trust him, but I like my life just the way it is and not behind bars.” They both laughed, and Jamie settled back to enjoy her flight. “I wanted to remind you that you need to make sure whoever you’re working with knows you’re a doctor too. Might save you a bit of heartache all the way around.”
She made herself a note on her phone. If she didn’t, she’d remember she needed to remember something but not have any idea what it was. Dad had a great memory and would remind her of things all the time. Jamie did keep the important dates on her phone, his birthday and hers, but very little else got written on it unless Dad reminded her.
At some point, she’d fallen asleep. Refreshed, she was glad to see the dogs had had a nice nap too. When they were up and ready to go, she made sure they had their vests on as well as their leashes. Jamie didn’t want anything to happen to them now that they’d gotten here. She only hoped that whatever she had to do, it was done quickly and well.
As soon as they disembarked, she made sure to get them out of the building and into the wooded area beyond the airport. Once their business was finished, they came right to her and sat at her feet. It was a signal—she knew they were ready when she was. She hoped all five of them were ready for this adventure.
Finding missing people was always a tricky business. Dead or alive, they’d be looking until the dogs couldn’t find anything else to go on. This time Jamie was praying for a living soul but was positive that wasn’t going to be the case this time either.
Chapter 3
Dexter was glad for the help. The family of the missing girl had been coming into the office several times a day to see if there had been any word on their daughter. It had been over a week now without any sightings or any other movement, so he, along with the rest of his family, thought it wasn’t going to end well. But, and he sincerely hoped this, maybe things would turn out differently. He put the cardboard he had with him down when he knew who the woman and her dogs were.
“You’re difficult to miss.” She smiled up at him, but he could tell she was stressed out. “If I can help you in any way, please tell me. I’m at your service until I get you home.”
“Hotel.” He shook his head as she handed him several bags that had been on her shoulder. “No, we’re going to a hotel. Landon squared it away with them when he called. They know about the dogs and have okayed them—you’re still shaking your head. I know what I’m doing, Mr. Cross.”
“I’m positive you do, Agent Kemp, but the hotel you were staying at with your father and animals has closed up. Not for anything we did to it, though if what I heard is true, it wasn’t soon enough for it to have happened. One of the guests had a rat—a large sucker—in their luggage when they were ready to check out.” She asked him if anyone had thought to ask if the guest had brought it in on their own to get their hotel for free. “You think like my brother does. Outside the luggage, so to speak. Mark said the same thing. I think he’s having a look into it today.”
“But that doesn’t help me with a place to stay, now does it?” She must have realized how harsh she sounded when he simply cocked a brow at her. “I’m sorry. It’s been a really long day, and I’m exhausted. However, whatever my day has been, it’s not you that caused any of it.”
“You’ll be staying with my grandparents. They have a nice large house now that we’ve all moved out and have homes of our own.” She started to shake her head but stopped when he asked her to give him a moment. “The last time the girl was seen was about five miles from our land. In that, we all thought, Landon, included, that you’d be better there where you could house the dogs, as well as be close to the action.”
