“We should have looked for Bettinger and Lion Mane’s trail after they dropped in on Mylar and Smith and then left.” David was already sitting on his bed, the box springs squeaking as Wade was doing the same thing in his room, pulling on his boots. “I figured that the men had just arrived in the country like we had. When I thought it over, I assumed the shifters wouldn’t have stayed with the humans.”
“You’re right,” Wade said, heading out of his room. “So we check out their old place and then see if we can find a scent trail to another cabana.”
When they arrived at the backside of Mylar’s cabana, David provided security while Wade peered through the bathroom window before he entered the place. He shook his head. “They’ve left. Nothing’s on the counter. Place is clean, fresh towels on the towel rack. No toothbrushes, shaving kits, nothing. It looks as though Smith vacated the place after they discovered Bettinger and Mylar were dead, and he took Mylar’s stuff with him as a precaution, maybe dumping it somewhere along the way.”
A gnawing feeling of dread filled Wade. He’d rather they found the bastards and ended this right here and now.
Maya finally left the bathroom, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and dressed in hiking boots, jeans, and a cotton top. She frowned to see her brother still there and expected to get another lecture from him.
He was sitting on her couch, waiting. His gaze held hers. “Did you hear the plan?”
“I did. For what it’s worth, I think it’s a good plan.”
Connor nodded. “Kat and I were talking about what we’d do with our remaining time here, since we can’t run as jaguars.”
Maya let out a heavy breath and joined Connor on the couch. “Is she disappointed?”
“A little. But she’ll be fine. She just wants to make sure she gets her fill of the jungle before we return. We won’t be coming back until after she’s had the twins, and not until they’re a little older. She’s been doing really well.”
“Yeah, when she’s a jaguar, you said.”
“The cave-tubing trip is a tour-guided activity that includes a seven-mile water ride. I think she’ll do fine on the water ride. It’s just the hiking through the jungle and the cave as a human that might be a little much. But she’s in excellent shape from being in the Army and running as a jaguar. She insists she can do it.”
Maya bit her lip. “Okay, let’s plan on her keeping to the jungle in her cat form. We’ll carry anything she needs for the cave tubing.”
Now they just had to wait for Wade and his brother to come back and hope that nothing bad happened to them while they searched for Lion Mane and the other smuggler.
Wade and David spent a couple of hours searching for the scent of Lion Mane and Smith, but they couldn’t locate either in the jungle or around the cabanas.
“They have to have taken a vehicle—a bus or rental car—out of here,” David finally said. “They might have packed up their bags and gone somewhere else. The Amazon, even.”
Wade didn’t feel right about it. He stared past Smith’s cabana at the jungle beyond. “Bettinger and Lion Mane were together at the club.”
“Yeah.”
“We were together. Maya’s cousins, Huntley and Everett, were with one another,” Wade reasoned.
“Yeah, so…?”
“You and I are brothers. So are Huntley and Everett. If Maya had been with anyone else when she went to the club, she would have been with her brother and sister-in-law, had they been home,” Wade said. His thoughts were headed down a dark path that he didn’t want to consider.
“I don’t follow you.”
“We’re thinking these guys, Bettinger and Lion Mane, were cohorts in a criminal act. They’re shifters. But what if they were brothers?”
“Shit,” David said, turning pale. “If he was close to Bettinger…”
“Lion Mane might want revenge for his brother’s death. I was thinking he was just working with the guy, no great loss. They might have been friends, but not friends enough to get himself killed over. A brother? Possibly.” Wade would if someone killed his brother.
David stared at Wade, recognition in his eyes. “He might have left the area already. The evidence points in that direction. That he’s gone.”
“What if he’s not?”
“We’re back to the plan of trying to catch him if he attempts to go after Maya on the excursion,” David said slowly. “We need to get back to her place.”
Wade was already heading in the direction of their cabana. “I’ll get our bags. You go check us out.”
David stalked toward the main lodge while Wade went to their cabana. He hastily packed and then, with their bags in hand, he pulled open the door. A man stood in the doorway, his gun pointed at Wade.
Narrowing his eyes, Wade took in the tall, scrawny man, his blue jeans muddy from the knees down, his camouflage shirt smelling of sweat and ripe body odor. The man’s hair was plastered against his scalp, greasy and long, around the balding crown.
Wade took a deep breath, smelled the man’s odor again, and said, “Smith, I presume.”
The hunter who’d been staying with Mylar was just as dangerous as his now-dead friend.
Wade had no intention of attempting to reason with the man. He backed up as if agreeing to whatever Smith had in mind. He had to get the hunter inside the room. Once the guy shut the door behind him, Wade lunged like a jaguar shifter in human form. Smith’s pale blue eyes rounded, his mouth gaping as he tried to raise the gun.
The human was too late. Wade struck him hard in the nose, breaking it with a crunch. Smith screamed in pain but didn’t release the weapon.
Wade grabbed for the man’s arm, yanking it so quickly and sharply behind the man’s back that he heard a snap—the arm breaking. The gun clattered to the floor, the muffled pop of a round striking the mahogany leg of the coffee table.
With the constant jungle chatter, Wade was certain he and Smith wouldn’t draw attention with any noise they made. At this time of morning, many guests would have already started out on day treks and wouldn’t be in the vicinity. Only animals with keen hearing would hear a scuffle.
Smith collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks as Wade finally released his arm. “Who sent you?”
The human glowered at Wade. Either he was acting tough, or he was just too stupid to believe Wade wouldn’t punish him more.
Wade, standing in front of Smith, tilted his head to the side and scowled at the bastard. With the rap sheet he had, the guy was probably the one usually towering over a cowering victim. “You know where Mylar went, right?” Wade asked.
Smith’s eyes widened.
“Yeah. You got it. You could join him next, though I’m sure there’s not much left of him. The crocs and piranhas aren’t choosy.”
The man swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“Who… sent… you?” Wade demanded.
The sound of the window being yanked up in the bathroom had Wade twisting around to look.
Smith lunged for the gun with his uninjured arm. Grabbing it in his left hand, he turned to shoot Wade.
“Damn it.” The guy must be ambidextrous, Wade thought. He seized the man’s left arm, fully intending to break it as well, but the gun went off.
The man collapsed, clutching his chest. Not hesitating, Wade jerked the gun from the man’s hand and aimed toward the bathroom down the hall.
“Just me!” David said, hands in the air. “I heard the fight and didn’t want to get shot coming in through the front door.” He looked down at Smith. “That must be Smith.”
“Yeah,” Wade muttered, looking back at the human, who was now lying on his back, his eyes open and sightless.