Jaguar Pride (19 page)

Melissa was dying to learn if the jaguar cat's scent she had picked up on Pierre and at the compound was Kathy's. As soon as they got into Everett's rental, Pierre exited the café, moving fast. He wasn't looking anywhere but at his pickup truck.

Luke and Jason stalked outside, then got into another vehicle.

Before their “game” made his appearance in the parking lot, Pierre started his rumbly engine and drove off down the road.

Everett followed him at a distance.

“As soon as we learn where Kathy is, he's a dead man,” Avery said.

No one said a word. She understood just how he felt. Huntley wrapped his arm around her shoulders as a nonverbal way of saying he'd feel the same about her if something like this happened to her.

Well, ditto if it happened to Huntley. Which had her thinking about how dangerous being lovers while on a mission could be. They could get careless, too concerned about each other, and not pay enough attention to the tasks they had to perform to get the job done right.

They watched Pierre as he drove down one street, then another. Everett turned off on another road so the guy wouldn't realize they were following him. They continued to monitor his signal with the GPS tracker.

“He's stopped, next road over,” Avery said, sounding a tad anxious.

Everett drove onto another road and then turned onto the one that Pierre had taken.

“There,” Avery said.

Pierre had parked at a house where a man greeted him outside, dogs bouncing around them. The man shook his head, then Pierre said something. The man shook his head again.

Then Pierre was back in his truck and headed down the road.

“Something's up,” Avery said.

“What if he got word that a bunch of Jackson's men died and he's checking his sources?” Melissa ventured.

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then Huntley said, “Possibly. I'm certain the word would have gotten out to all these lowlifes.”

Melissa speculated that the guy was trying to hide his tracks in case anyone discovered he was involved.

“He appears to be heading to his house, from the address Luke gave us,” Avery said.

“Good. Once he goes inside, we can question him in private,” Melissa said.

Everett drove into the driveway and blocked the man's truck in case he decided to make a run for it. The place was isolated, most likely because Pierre was dealing in the illegal transportation of exotic wildlife.

They all hurried out of the car to intercept him as he headed for his house.

“We'll go with you.” Avery took hold of Pierre's arm. And the way Avery gripped it, Melissa knew that if the guy lived very long, his arm would be wearing Avery's handprint in the form of a very large bruise.

“What do you want?” Pierre sounded like he was about ready to expire on the spot. His face was as red as his hair. He was middle management, not one of the men running around in the rainforest risking his neck. Nope, he was living quietly here, just handing the cats—or anything else he managed to get his hands on—over to someone else, maybe another middle man?

That was what they were eager to learn.

Huntley was afraid Avery would kill Pierre before they got anything useful out of him, so he was the good cop in this scenario, giving Avery a warning look to release the man and back off. Melissa and Everett let Huntley handle it.

Avery gave Huntley the darkest, most dangerous smile he had ever seen on a man who was on
his
side.

“You had a female jaguar here. Where is she now?” Huntley asked, forcing Pierre to sit on a chair, then towering over him.

The man looked at Melissa and said, “You! You were at the café. You followed me here.” His gaze focused again on Huntley. “What do you want with me? I don't know anything about a stolen Jaguar. Look around here.” He waved his hand at the rundown place. “Would…would I have a car like that and be able to sell it?”

Huntley almost smiled. But he didn't and instead said, “Let me try this one more time. You bought a female jaguar from Timothy Jackson. She was here. DNA evidence proves it.” He lied, but Pierre would never know that. “Now, we can do this the easy way and you tell us where she's gone, or we can do it the hard way. Believe me, you don't want to do this the hard way.”

The man swallowed visibly. “How…how did you get my name? Phil Gorsman…that's who told you? He's…he's dead. You guys… Oh God.”

“Easy or hard,” Huntley said.

“You're not going to let me live, are you? If I tell you anything, that's it.”

Avery yanked off his shirt. “The hard way it is.”

“You had your chance,” Huntley said.

The man's eyes couldn't have gotten any rounder. “Wait, okay. I…I sold her to Carlos Ranchero.”

“Where is he?” Huntley asked.

“I don't know where he lives or—”

“How do you get in touch with him?”

“His phone number. I…I have it on my cell phone.”

“Get it.”

Pierre fumbled in his pocket, then finally pulled the phone out and nearly dropped it because his hands were shaking so badly.

Huntley scowled at him. “Call him.”

“What?”

“Tell him you want to see him right away. You've got a deal for him. A cat or something that you might sell him that would be so incredible he can't resist,” Huntley said. “Your life hangs in the balance here, Pierre. You either get him to come here pronto, or well, let's just say you won't like the alternative.”

“What if he gets suspicious? What if he thinks something's wrong? I just met him for lunch and didn't say a thing about this.”

“You make him believe that nothing is wrong. That you just got a sweet deal that you hadn't expected. Make it real, something the man can't resist. A couple of mating jaguars.”

“All right, all right.” Pierre licked his lips, then took a deep breath and called Carlos. “Hey, man, I got to unload a couple of cats real quick. They're a mating pair of jaguars. Yeah, no shit. Why didn't I mention it earlier? The guys just dropped them off. Said they were in a rush to get some quick cash. But you know that trouble I got into with Merco, the loan shark, a month ago? Yeah, yeah, I know, but I need some quick cash again. The cats are really healthy. Can you drop by my place? You want a picture of them?” He glanced up at Huntley, looking panicked.

Huntley nodded.

“Okay, I'll get back to you in a couple of minutes and send it to you.” Pierre ended the call. “How the hell am I going to get a picture that doesn't look like I took it off a website?”

“You watch him,” Avery said, “and I'll do this.”

“No, wait. You watch him,” Huntley said. “Everett?”

“Got your back,” Everett said.

Then Huntley and Melissa headed for one of the bedrooms.

“What…what are they doing?” Pierre asked Avery.

In the privacy of the guy's bedroom, Melissa and Huntley stripped out of their clothes.

“Getting a couple of jaguars so you can take your damned picture,” Avery said.

As jaguars, Melissa loped into the living room and Huntley followed right afterward. All the color blanched out of Pierre's face. “What…what's going on?”

“Take the picture,” Avery said.

“In…in the house?”

“Will he recognize your backyard?”

“Yeah. I have a tiled bird fountain he's often remarked he likes. It has a tile mosaic of a jaguar eyeing the birds.”

“Okay, let's do this. And don't pull anything stupid because they're friends of mine,” Avery said, motioning with his thumb to Melissa and Huntley. “And if I say so, they'll rip you to shreds.”

The man was so shaky that Everett finally grabbed hold of his arm and helped him out of the house, while Huntley and Melissa followed them outside.

“He won't believe it if the cats aren't in a cage,” Pierre said, eyeing Huntley and Melissa with trepidation.

“Skip the cages,” Everett said. “Take the picture and call him back.”

Huntley nuzzled Melissa as she stared at the camera in front of the bird fountain. He thought it was a nice salable shot. He was glad his brother said no more cages because he really didn't want either Melissa or himself to have to get into another one anytime soon.

Pierre called Carlos back. “Hey, Carlos, I took a couple shots of them. Here they are.” Pierre paused, then said, “Yeah, um, the black one is even rarer.” He looked up at Avery and Everett eyeing him, both wearing scowls. “The jaguars are really…agreeable. The tranquilizer hasn't worn off yet. I'll have them back in the cages before you get here. Okay, see you in half an hour.”

Pierre ended the call and looked like he was about to fall down. “Where the hell did they come from?”

“Believe me, you don't want to know.” Everett guided him back into the house and Melissa and Huntley followed behind Avery, joining the others inside.

Pierre glanced again at the cats and then back at Everett. “You were already at the house, weren't you? I thought things were out of order in the living room. So you left the cats in my bedroom before? What if they'd killed me?”

“Sit,” Everett told him, directing him to the same wooden chair.

“So what do we do now? I did all that you asked,” Pierre said, starting to whine.

“We wait nice and quiet-like. When Carlos gets here, we'll see what he has to say about the female jaguar. If he tells us he doesn't know anything about it…we start over from the beginning. Only we're doing it
my
way this time,” Avery said.

They waited for well past the half hour. Huntley worried that Avery would lose his cool. Melissa began to pace. Huntley lay down on the floor next to Pierre and rested his head on Pierre's boot. The man didn't dare move. Everett was observing Pierre, his arms folded across his chest.

Avery watched out the window. “Forty-five minutes and he's a no-show.”

“Maybe he's…he's spooked. You know, we got the word that some of Jackson's men were taken down,” Pierre said, grasping at any reason the buyer might not show up.

Avery sliced him a glower.

“I don't know! Maybe he was suspicious that the cats were out of the cages. I would be. Or maybe he had to get some men to help him load the cats into his truck. Just the two of us couldn't do it.”

Avery tensed. “A truck is pulling up. What do you usually do? Greet him? Wait for him to knock?”

“He'll call to let me know he's arrived. You got your car blocking my truck. It might make him wary.” Pierre's phone rang. He glanced at it, then uneasily at Avery. “It's him.”

“Answer it and watch what you say.”

Pierre nodded. Then he said, “Yeah, Carlos. I'm here. The car? It belongs to the two guys that had the cats delivered. They're still here. I couldn't pay them off until you paid me. The cats are too valuable to just… I know, I know. We don't usually do it this way. But I told you I'm in a financial bind. I can't pay them. So they're hanging around until they get paid. Okay. I'm coming out.” Pierre ended the call. “He wants me to come out.
Alone.
He sounds like he suspects something.”

Avery smiled, but the look wasn't at all pleasant. “Do you think I was born yesterday?”

“No…no, man. I promise,” Pierre said, spreading his hands out wide. “No tricks.”

Avery's phone rang, and he lifted it to his ear and smiled a genuine smile this time. “Good to hear from you. Perfect timing. The truck parked in front of you belongs to the next middleman. Make sure Carlos and whoever else is with him join us inside.” Avery turned to Pierre. “No problem. Carlos and his cohorts are being escorted inside as we speak.”

Huntley could just imagine what Luke and Jason, as that's who they had to be, thought of the situation when they walked into the house with Carlos and two other men and saw him and Melissa in their jaguar coats.

Carlos tried to back out of the house as soon as he saw the uncaged cats. Luke knocked one of the men out cold as soon as he fought to leave. The other wet his pants.

“Not so tough when the cats are out of their cages, eh?” Avery asked, his voice hard.

Luke and Jason smiled.

Everett said to Carlos and his henchman, “Take a seat, Carlos, and you too.”

“Where is the female jaguar this piece of shit sold to you?” Avery asked as soon as the two men were seated.

Carlos looked at Pierre as if he wanted to kill him. Probably would if he lived through this.

Melissa grew closer to Carlos and snarled, baring her teeth.

“She hasn't eaten lately,” Everett said. “Give us the answers we want and we'll be on our way.”

“If we tell you—” Carlos said, his voice shaking.

This time Huntley roared and displayed his very sharp, very long teeth.

“Yasmine Baker,” Carlos spit out.

“A woman?” Everett asked, sounding as though he couldn't believe it.

“I don't ask. Some woman, or anyone for that matter, asks for something, I check with Pierre and he gets with his source and gets it for me, and I give it to the buyer.”

“How do we get in touch with her?” Avery asked.

“You think you're going straight to the buyer with a couple of…” Carlos looked at the jaguars as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. “She already bought a female. She wanted a male, but the one we had was acting so vicious that she wouldn't have wanted him. So I sold her the female. But if you think I'm going to tell her where…”

Patience gone, Huntley bit into his thigh.

Carlos cried out in pain and agony, and the other man tried to scramble off the couch, but Everett grabbed his shoulder and made him stay put. Pierre's face drained of color.

“Where can I get hold of this Yasmine Baker?” Avery asked again.

Huntley had only given Carlos a minor taste of what he could give him if he didn't cooperate, but the way the man's face was sweating and his heart was racing, Huntley didn't want to give him a premature heart attack. Carlos was clutching his leg, applying pressure to the wound.

Carlos struggled to get his cell phone off his belt, then found Yasmine Baker's contact information and gave it to Avery. Then clasped his hand over his bloody wound again.

“You come with us,” Avery said. “Who's staying with Pierre?”

Huntley nudged at Melissa and she grunted at him, then they returned to the bedroom, shifted, and dressed. “We go with Avery,” Melissa said, rejoining the men.

Carlos and the other man just stared at them.

“We'll leave the jaguars here in case you have any trouble with Pierre,” Huntley said to Luke and Jason. “If we track down the woman and the jaguar, we'll give you a call. Do you want to stay with the three of these men?” he asked his brother.

“Sure.”

“Good luck,” Luke said.

Jason nodded at them.

“Let's go.” Avery grabbed Carlos's arm, but the man had nearly passed out from the pain. “He didn't bite you that hard. Hell, if he'd wanted to, he would have crushed the bone. All he did was sink his teeth in a little. Enough to let you know we mean business.”

He hauled Carlos out to Luke's rented car, and then they were off. Huntley hoped they wouldn't get stopped and have the police want to see the car rental papers.

“Had the woman wanted a mating pair of jaguars?” Huntley asked, sitting in the backseat with Carlos while Avery drove and Melissa was the passenger up front.

“Yes. She said she wanted…cubs. Once she had them, she wanted to know if I'd buy the pair of adult jaguars back from her. I told her if they were in good shape and the deal was right, I would consider it. As long as I made the money off the sale to her and then got to sell them again, I'd do so. I wouldn't have to pay the poacher any money this time. But then she didn't want the male because he was too aggressive, and she wanted me to get her another male.”

“But she lives here in Costa Rica?” Melissa asked, sounding like she couldn't believe it.

“Yeah. Well, for a few months of the year. She's American. So she returns after she gets what she wants. She'll be hanging around for a couple more months. Then I heard some poachers were killed and…” His eyes widened.

“Call her and tell her you have a male jaguar for her,” Melissa said.

“I always send her a picture first.”

“Okay, then tell her you have a mated pair, but they're inseparable. Show her the picture that Pierre sent you,” Melissa said.

“Then what? If she wants them, I deliver them. She's not going to believe I'm delivering them in the trunk of your car. And, hell, I'm injured!” Carlos said.

“He's got a point.” Avery turned the car around.

“What are you doing?” Melissa asked, upset.

“Getting his truck. The buyer will believe Carlos has the cats in the back of the truck,” Avery said.

They were only a short way away when Avery had turned around and drove back to Pierre's house. They switched vehicles, Huntley waving at Luke who was watching out the window, and then they piled into Carlos's truck and took off again.