Taming the Wild Cougar

  She yanked back from him and growled, “What the hell is going on, Dan? Unless any of you have a medical emergency, you’d better just get back in your cars and hightail it out of here.”

  “Kate—“

  “Don’t you ‘Kate’ me. I told you Leyton was one of the good guys. So leave this business alone. If he wants to call and talk to me, then he’s welcome to do it. And no one’s going to bother him. Do you hear?”

  “Kate—“

  “I have a long day ahead of me, starting at five. Go on. Go on home to your loved ones, or go deal with a real emergency.”

  “Kate, damn it, he’s coming here. He told your emergency hotline number that he had a medical emergency.”

  Kate’s jaw dropped. She was furious with all the underhanded, aggravating—wait, why hadn’t she gotten the call?

  “Does he have a medical emergency?” Considering the last time she saw him and that he was after this Butch guy, he could very well be sporting a few new bullet wounds.

  “No. He—“

  “She’s fired. Off my property, now.”

  “Kate, listen, Becky said the guy was angry, insistent she give you the message. It’s for medical emergencies only. You know that. And then when she insisted he give her one, worried he was in a lot of pain or stress and that it was something kind of personal and he didn’t want to share it, he said he was having chest pains. Damn liar.”

  “Chest pains?” Kate frowned, then smiled. “Thanks, Dan.” She hugged him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, then turned to enter her house.

  “Kate, he said he’s on his way.”

  She scowled at Dan over her shoulder. “Then unless there’s a law against a cougar visiting another in Yuma Town, leave him alone.” She went inside and slammed her door and locked it.

  Ohmigod, Leyton was having chest pains. For her. And it was personal. Something he hadn’t wanted to discuss with anyone else. Just her.

  If Dan or anyone else on the force had him arrested, well, they’d just better not.

  13

  Leyton had reached the gold mine in question, but there was no sign of Travis or anyone else for that matter. He explored inside, saw the telltale signs of where rounds had hit boulders and pinged off walls, chipping them, but it had happened a while ago, as if someone had been in a shootout. Which was another reason he needed to set up a field office here. Looked like the regular force could use some help. Besides, he would be canvassing the whole state and surrounding states, not just here. He’d have to hire some guys to work for him too. He hadn’t really thought of what it would be like to be the boss of a bunch of undercover guys, just as wild and unpredictable as him. He almost felt sorry for his boss. Almost.

  But he did smell that Travis had been in here recently. But not Butch. Leyton wondered what information Travis had that had led him here.

  Leyton went back to his car and grabbed a headlamp, and just to be on the safe side, he tossed a rope and medical kit into his backpack, and slung it over his shoulders. Then he went deeper inside the cave until he reached a ladder, peered down, couldn’t see anything, and climbed down into the pit. He hoped he wouldn’t find Travis in trouble down here. He was hoping that Travis was off on a cougar hunt and just couldn’t check in like Leyton hadn’t been able to do for so long.

  When Leyton reached the tunnel, he found no sign of Travis here, but his scent led to a ladder that dropped into another shaft. Leyton peered down into it, but couldn’t see a thing. No sign of light if Travis was at the bottom exploring. Leyton climbed down the ladder, smelling Travis’s scent all the way into the next tunnel. Still no sign of his friend. The walls were covered in water and algae and Leyton felt uneasy being even this deep underground. He’d had a couple of missions where he’d had to rescue cavers, but it wasn’t his favorite job to do.

  He walked down the tunnel until he came to another ladder leading down. “Travis?” he called out.

  Leyton really didn’t want to go any deeper if Travis wasn’t there.

  “Is that you, Leyton?” a voice from deep within the tunnel called out, faint, hopeful.

  “Travis, what the hell are you doing down there?” Leyton hesitated to climb down the ladder. He really didn’t want to go down there.

  “I’m in…kind of a bind.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you say so?” Leyton was already to hurry down the ladder, but then he paused. “What kind of a bind?”

  “You might want to grab some material to make a splint, if you don’t have anything readily available. And watch out for the missing rung on the ladder about five steps down.”

  “Ah, hell, Travis. If you injured yourself on purpose just so you could get my Kate to doctor you up…”

  Travis laughed. “Yeah, hell of a way to get her attention, but it seemed to work for you.”

  “Okay, be right back, buddy. Hang in there.”

  “Don’t take your time. Butch’s liable to come back down here at any time and finish me off.”

  “He did this to you?”

  “No, but he’s got some shit down here. And if he finds me down here sitting pretty with his stash…”

  “Hot damn!” Leyton was thrilled that they finally had located one of Butch’s weapon caches. Leyton planned to get some other materials to make a more reliable splint now. “Okay, gotcha. Be right back.”

  At least that was the plan.

  * * *

  Dan gathered his men together out front of Kate’s home. “You heard the doc. She’s fine and she wants to see this Leyton character. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

  Everyone looked as worried about it as he felt, but really it was Kate’s life, she was a grown woman, and it appeared she had real feelings for the guy.

  “You can’t mean it,” Stryker said.

  “We’ll investigate him thoroughly, on the sly and we’ll keep an eye out for him. I don’t want her getting hurt. But we’re not arresting him, picking him up for questioning, or any of that.”

  Chase frowned. “Unless he breaks the law.”

  “There is that.”

  “Speeding violations?” Hal asked.

  “Jaywalking?” Chase added.

  “Wearing candy cane scrubs and no shirt or shoes—indecent exposure?” Stryker asked.

  Everyone smiled.

  Dan slapped him on the back. “Let’s call it a night and unless this Leyton proves to be real trouble, we’ll let him and Kate be.”

  Hal’s phone jingled and he answered it. “Yeah, honey?” he looked at Dan, frowning. “Thanks, we’re on it.” Hal ended the call and said, “Looks like we have a real police emergency to take care of. There’s been a blast at Pine Ridge Gold Mine near my ranch.”

  “The one Tracey and Ricky had the shoot-out at?” Dan headed for his vehicle.

  “Yeah, same one.” Hal jerked his door open. “I’m beginning to think that place is really bad news.”

  Dan got on his cell. “Dottie, got a blast at the Pine Ridge Gold Mine near Hal’s ranch. No telling if anyone’s been injured, but alert key personnel who can help at the mine if we need them.”

  “Right on it, Dan, and be careful.”

  “I will be. Check in with you later.” Dan had planned to have a special crew seal off the tunnels for good, but the mine was private property and the owner was on a year-long cruise. Dan couldn’t have it done without his permission, but maybe the mine blast this time had sealed it off for good.

  * * *

  Laying prone on the rocky floor, his body covered in small rocks and dust, Leyton wasn’t sure what hit him in the back of the head, or why he was flat on his back. The way his head was pounding, he felt like a sledgehammer had hit him. Good thing he had a damn hard head.

  His shoulder was killing him too, and he looked down at it. Fresh blood soaked his shirt, only it was the other shoulder this time. Damn it to hell.

  No light was coming from the shaft above like there had been before. For a moment, he just remained there, trying to
get his bearing, trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Luckily, his head lamp was in good working order, and he quickly checked himself over and found the only two injuries he’d sustained were to the back of his head and his shoulder. Well, and he couldn’t hear anything except some ringing in his ears.

  He saw dust and small rocks falling, but couldn’t hear the sound at all, neither of which boded well. Cave-in? Ah hell, now that would be just great.

  He didn’t even remember being shot. He remembered being struck from behind. Was it Butch?

  He smelled two other men there who had been at the cabin where Butch had shot him.

  Leyton fished out his phone. No reception. Not that he expected it would have any, but he still was disheartened by the lack of signal. At least the phone was fully charged so if he could get to someplace with a signal, he could call for help. Then he remembered Travis. Damn it, anyway. Travis needed his help pronto.

  “Travis, you okay, buddy?”

  His friend didn’t answer and Leyton quickly tore off his shirt and made a half-ass bandage to stop the bleeding from his shoulder wound. Then he carefully made his way toward the ladder leading down to where Travis was. He gripped the ladder and began the descent, carefully watching for any missing rungs. When he reached the next tunnel, he surveyed the floor, looking for Travis, then saw him sitting against a wall, his head tilted over to the side like he was sleeping or dead.

  “Travis!” Leyton hurried over to him and felt his wrist, saw his chest rising and falling, and knew he was still alive. His head was sporting a knot probably as big as Leyton’s, only his was on his forehead, not on the back of his head.

  “Hey, buddy, time to get out of here.”

  Travis groaned, his eyes opened, and then widened. “What…the…hell…happened?”

  “Mine blast. I think. Not sure. I was knocked out before it transpired, but what happened to you?”

  “Hell, he and another couple of men came back. Butch laughed about me being stuck down here and he said he’d help make it my tomb. Then one of the other men struck me in the head. You nailed the bastards before they left the mine, didn’t you? Tell me you got the three bastards when you went to get the… Why do I smell your blood?”

  “What happened to you?”

  “Broken leg. Rung on the ladder broke. My own damn fault. Too impatient. Informant told me to check out this gold mine for Butch. It was the best lead I had.”

  “Your car’s gone.”

  “Figures. I kept going until I was down here and found a real gold mine. After I fell and broke my damn leg.” He looked over at another area of the mine, then back to Leyton. “You got them and you got the weapons when they took them out of here, right?”

  “About that…”

  “Ah, hell, Leyton.”

  “We’ll get out of here. And we’ll get them. But I’ve got to move you up to the next two levels.”

  “You’re going to carry me with my bum leg when you have a round in your shoulder?”

  “Got to do something. You know me. I never like to sit still. And a little pain never hurt anyone. I’ll splint this the best I can. I’ll have to carry you up on my back. But we need to do this now before I can’t manage.”

  “What are you waiting for?”

  Leyton tore open Travis’s pant leg and saw the bruising, swelling, and it appeared the bone was out of place, but not too terribly bad. It was a simple fracture, not having broken the skin. Leyton began splinting the leg using a couple of pieces of wood he found and hoped they would last and not disintegrate, but as soon as he tore up Travis’s shirt and used the strips to tie up the splint, the pieces of wood disintegrated under the pressure. He swore and pulled the backpack’s metal frame out—there was always more than one way to make a splint in an emergency—and bound Travis’s leg with that.

  Before he could toss his supplies back in his bag, Travis said, “Give me the gauze and let me bandage your gunshot would, Leyton, before you bleed all over me. No wonder you had to see the doc the last time to take care of your wound.”

  Leyton smiled a little and sat down next to Travis, who groaned as much as Leyton did as he applied the gauze and wrapped it around his shoulder.

  Then Leyton stood and got ready to stand Travis up first, while Travis held onto Leyton’s shoulder to prevent setting any weight on his leg.

  As soon as Leyton hoisted him in a fireman carry, he groaned.

  “We’re a pair,” Travis said.

  “Yeah, reminds me of a couple of binds we got into before, but we always came out all right, scraped, beat up a bit, but we survived.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “Your leg?”

  “No, up top?”

  “I don’t know. The tunnel I was in was okay.” Then Leyton made the climb up the ladder, slowly, watching he didn’t miss his footing where the missing rung was, hoping that double the weight wouldn’t break any more rungs.

  When they made it to the top, he set Travis down easily and took a breather. “I’m going up to the cave tunnel to see how bad it is. See if the dust and rocks have settled.”

  Travis was breathing through the pain. So was Leyton. Next time he got shot in the damn shoulder, he wanted six weeks to recuperate, even if he only needed a couple of weeks to feel better with his enhanced healing genetics.

  He headed up the ladder, made his way through that tunnel, climbed the last ladder and surveyed the cave-in. Massive rocks and smaller ones filled the entrance to the top. But if he could climb nearer the top and pull away some of the smaller rubble, maybe he could squeeze out and call for help. They had about twenty feet of space to rest in. Or at least, Travis would be resting. Leyton had his work cut out for him. All he had to do was make a small enough hole for him to crawl through, then he could use his cell phone.

  Wait! Could he call for help here? He snatched his phone out of his pocket, and turned it on. Hot damn! He had a signal. The clinic wasn’t open, naturally, but he got hold of the same woman he talked to before that took calls for medical emergencies after hours only.

  “I have two medical emergencies. One bullet to the shoulder, and the other, a simple fracture. And on top of that, the ambulance you send needs to bring a crew to clear a cave-in before we can get much needed medical assistance. Do you get that? This is an emergency medical situation. One gunshot wound and one leg fracture. Get the doc for me ASAP. Or faster,” he said quickly, the pain in his shoulder just now hitting him full force.

  “Your name?”

  “Leyton Hill.”

  “Ohmigod, are you related to Stryker?”

  “Who? I’m an agent with the Cougar Special Forces Division, CSFD, and Field Director of the new office in Yuma Town. And my buddy, Travis MacKay, is the other agent down. He’s the one with the broken leg.”

  “Location?”

  “Pine Ridge Gold Mine.”

  “I’ll send help right away.”

  “And Dr. Parker.”

  “I don’t know that she’ll go out to the mine. The EMTs will and she’ll be waiting for you at the clinic.”

  “And Dr. Parker.”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll tell her. Wait, she said to give you her number if you called with another ‘medical emergency’.” She gave him Kate’s number.

  Halleluiah! Only he wished the woman had done so way before he’d talked himself to death, trying to convince her he did have a medical emergency.

  Then he called Kate, but the signal dropped as soon as he headed for the ladder. He called down to Travis, “Good news, Travis. Help’s on its way. Coming to carry you up in a minute.” Then he stalked back to the blocked entrance and called Kate again.

  “Hey, Kate.”

  “Leyton—“

  “I’ve got kind of a medical emergency. Real this time. Not that I didn’t mean it about the other.”

  “What’s happened? I’m getting dressed. What’s wrong?”

  “I’m in a gold mine, cave-in, buddy of mine has a simple leg fracture. I
’ve been shot, other shoulder this time, I imagine the same bastard who shot me the last time. I didn’t get to see him. This is really getting old. But I wanted you to know I came back for you. I cleared it with my boss and he okayed me opening a field office here. They need me here in the area.”

  “You’re injured and you’re buried in a mine,” she reminded him.

  “Just temporary.”

  He thought she was crying. “Kate, don’t worry. Just bring a splint for my buddy and some more bandages for me and we’ll be good as new.”

  “I’m on my way over. Which mine?”

  “The one off Highway 15, maybe twenty-five miles east of Yuma Town. Pine Ridge.”

  “Near Hal’s ranch. I’m on my way.”

  “Okay, got to get my buddy. He’s in a tunnel two levels below this, but I don’t want him going into shock. I’ll lose the connection as soon as I move toward the ladder.”

  “Don’t kill yourself before I get there.”

  He smiled. “I’ll try not to. See you in a bit.”

  Then he ended the connection, worried about Travis, and headed back to the ladder and then went down it. “Hey, Travis, hang in there.” He traversed the next tunnel, and went down the other ladder, the pain in his shoulder pounding.

  Travis looked pale, but he smiled a little as soon as he saw Leyton.

  “Have anything in that bag of yours that will curb the pain a bit?” Travis asked.

  “Yeah, hold on.” Leyton joined him, dug through his bag, and gave Travis some over-the-counter-pain medication, and a bottle of water, then took some himself. “I don’t know how we get ourselves into such binds sometime.”

  “I do. I was trying to save you.”

  “I’m glad you found the weapons.”

  “But we lost them.”

  “You took a picture of them, didn’t you?” Leyton half joked. He knew as good as Travis was, he would have if he could have.

  “Hell yeah. Got a shot of Butch and his men too when they thought I was passed out. They were hovering over their weapons. Took a shot and shoved the camera back in my pocket before anyone looked in my direction. One of them must have seen me with my eyes open though because that’s when Butch told me he’d bury me down here and then the curly redheaded guy slugged me in the head with the butt of one of the rifles.”