Page 32 of Taming Her Bears

“I see.” Josh’s brow furrowed a little and thickened. It must be tough to be the rule-breaking captain of a team of rule-breakers. At some point, it’s no longer about chain of command, but just a lot of free-thinking agents. “The admiral is concerned that a member of the Alaskan Coast Guard was killed by a bear. He wished to remind me; military personnel are to be brought in to face trial. Was the lieutenant going for his gun?”

“No, sir,” said Lee with a military snap to his voice. “He wasn’t quick enough.”

“But he had a gun?”

“He had a gun, sir.”

“He probably would have gone for his gun if he had been quick enough.”

“I expect he would have if he had thought quick enough, but it wouldn’t have done much good.”

“Both men had probable cause,” Josh said cheerily. “Darkhorse, work on Lee a bit. Make him”—he waved his hand around in the air as though the words would appear there—“Governor acceptable.”

The state troopers were still up in the air about me. I had been working on their clock, without their authorization once I had received the opportunity to return to Valdez and turned it down, but I had helped solve the biggest missing persons case of the year. The state troopers didn’t mind bending rules either, when it brought results. I wondered now how many had met up with shapeshifters; and even, how many were those strange between-world characters.

Our issues were minor and quickly resolved through a few secret phone calls. Canada wasn’t as lucky. It had far more to explain to the public than a mysterious attack by bears. When the helicopters first hovered over the yacht and saw the blood-stained deck, they knew this was going to be a tough one. They had rappelled down in full riot gear, expecting enemy fire. All they saw, beyond the scattered dead, was a group of wealthy, well-connected, international businessmen. Extremely terrified businessmen. Some of them drooled and spoke gibberish.

If one perplexing question wasn’t enough, another came into view after a search of the vessel. Why were twelve naked young girls crashed out on drugs in one room? The survivors were too far in shock to answer. They were evacuated from the boat and taken into Vancouver for processing.

Once the girls had come out of their drugged state enough to give their names and where they were from, the worst question of them all was put to the businessmen. Why were all the girls on Alaska’s missing person’s list? Within twenty-four hours, lawyers, diplomats and journalists were popping up in Vancouver like roaches.

Canada got the collar, the glory, and the nightmare of closing the book on an international crime ring. Alaska got its girls. We got our revenge. The bear question was shelved for the more serious ones of criminal proceedings. There wasn’t much you could proceed against with bears. It’s not exactly like you can pull them from a line-up and state positively, “That’s the one.” You can’t make laws for them. Canadian Parks responded by putting up ‘beware of bear’ signs and even placing brochures in the harbor master’s office. This satisfied the public.

The Canadians were anxious to send the girls home quickly. They even encouraged the Alaska Coast Guard fleet to come get them. I think they were afraid Seattle would swoop in on the girls first and create a big sensation in the city. The Coast Guard responded by sending two helicopters into Vancouver for the victims and bringing them to Ketchikan.

I was cleared to see Rhoda the day after she got back. She was pale and had lost weight. She looked older in some ways. Her eyes no longer flashed merrily with mischief; she no longer spoke in a rush. She was sitting up in bed, chasing around a lump of Jell-O, when I walked in. At first, she didn’t recognize me, then her eyes brimmed over with tears.

We had a good, long girl cry. All this time, I had been worried about her and all this time, she had thought I was dead. Reunions like this do things to you. They wipe up all the messes you made in the past, giving you a clean slate with each other. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you,” she whispered finally. “I’m sorry I wasn’t braver.”

I pushed back her hair and looked into her eyes. “It doesn’t matter now. You’re here. I’m here. We’re safe. We survived.”

She nodded and sniffled, rubbing at her nose. “A state trooper was in here earlier. He asked me some questions. I didn’t want to answer. I don’t want to talk to him, but I’ll talk to you. You’re still a state trooper, aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes at her, the way we did when we got caught red-handed doing something. “Maybe. They haven’t decided yet. I went AWOL.”

“Natalia! You’re dedicated to the troopers.”

“I was!” I sat close to her, no longer trying to obtain information on the most painful episode in her life but wanting to fill her in on the days we’d spent apart. “I still am, but I found I was more dedicated to you. I went into Canadian waters after you.”

“You were with the Canadian Coast Guard?”

“Not quite.” I winced, realizing I had already told her too much. I hedged, trying to come up with a plausible story. “How much do you remember about your last day on the yacht?” I asked testily.

She laughed and bumped up against me. “Girlfriend! There was enough of that drug inside me to rape an elephant seal!” She straightened slowly. “Wait, though. I did see something. I thought it was a hallucination, but it was on the television, so I know it’s real. I saw a bear.”

“Do you think it was strange the bear didn’t kill you?”

“Maybe the bear thought we were dead. We were a bit comatose.” She pushed aside her food tray. “What I want is a milkshake. When can you get me out of here so I can start binging?”

“I can probably get you released tomorrow. Where did you want to go, Rhoda?”

“Not back to Valdez.” She frowned. “You didn’t answer my question. You skirted around it. How did you track me into Canadian waters?”

I quickly retrieved the official story. “I was on an Alaskan Coast Guard vessel looking for theChristina, the vessel the kidnapping ring pirated.”

She gave me an agonized look. “Then you saw the murdered crew?”

“You saw them, too?”

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