Lost
Chapter Seven
Matt should know better then to get up and think that the day would bring sunshine and clear skies. He looked out the front window and wished he had rolled over and pulled Robin back to bed and shut the world outside.
"What's wrong?" Jess came up with a cup a coffee.
"You have to stop reading death and destruction into everything I say and do."
"That's what I do best."
"You ready for this meeting?"
"Depends what they're asking." Matt turned and looked at his sister.
"The sheriff department is making some cuts." He leaned against the window frame. "I think they want to put some more work on us."
"Another reason for the sheriff's department to hate our guts and try to do things them selves."
"They can't blame us for the cuts. They got all the money they asked for and more." He looked at his little sister. She looked better today then she had in a long time. "But without you this year we might have to eat a little crow when it softball season comes around. Get you coat. Cody's warming up the truck."
"I'll meet you outside." Jess went and got her coat.
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Matt sat next to his brother and sister. The board had kept them waiting more then a half hour. Cutler checked his watch again. If they heard one more speech on why another business should be issued a liquor license they were going to bolt.
"Okay, on to new business." The Mayor stood up. "Matt." Matt stood. "I have a proposition for you and your team." He walked to the front of the table. "There's been some upheaval in the Sheriff's Department. They lost three deputies to the Highway Patrol and two on maternity leave. I know your friend JT's come into town and if I authorize the money to hire him and another Ranger would you be willing to pick up the slack until the Sheriff's back on his feet?" Matt looked at his brother, sister and Cutler. They didn't look convinced.
"How much slack are we talking about Mayor? I mean an extra car accident now and then is one thing but it's a big county. I can't have my people spread that thin."
"The Sheriff's Department will patrol the outer limits of the county. The Lake Tahoe Police Department will have the city limits. You have what's in between. Roughly fifty five square miles and the mountain roads."
"And you'll pay for two extra Rangers for the rest of the year?"
"Three years." Matt raised his eyebrows. He turned and looked at his team. The looked convinced. Matt turned back to the mayor.
"What's the catch?" The Mayor smiled.
"You are your father's son. No catch this time Matt. I know your team goes above and beyond and you deserve every cent we put into your department. More then once I've discussed making you the primary law enforcement team in the county but I don't think it would be fair to you or the tourist of this area if we took you away from what you do best."
"Thank you sir."
"If you need a dispatcher when your sister is on maternity leave, let the Sheriff know. He owes you big time." Handing Matt an envelope, the Mayor went behind the table once again and adjourned the meeting. Matt went back to his seat.
"Well that was interesting." Cody looked at the people milling around.
"Do you think JT will go for it?" Matt handed Cody the envelope the Mayor had given him. He looked at the figure written in it and whistled. "If he doesn't I will." Matt laughed.
"I guess he knew the four of us would take a lot of convincing."
"I guess." He handed the envelope back. Jess had been quiet. "You okay sis?" Jess nodded. "Are you sure?" Cody thought she looked a little pale.
"I'm fine." She stood up and pushed past Cutler and headed out the door.
"That wasn't fine." Cutler looked at his friends.
"Rock, paper, scissors to see what's wrong with her?" Cody looked at his brother.
"Let's get back to the station and let Derek deal with it. I got other things to worry about then my little sister's attitude problem." Matt followed Jess out.
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Jess wasn't feeling the best when she sat back down behind the reception desk. Her head ached and her body felt like it wasn't fitting in her skin quite right. Something was wrong. Something she just couldn't put her finger on.
"Jess?" She jumped at the sound of Matt's voice.
"What?"
"What's wrong?"
"Cooper, Hart, Izzy and Derek went to Angel's Creek to find some winter campers."
"Yeah, Flynn told me." She looked at her brother.
"Something's not right Matt."
"I just talked to Hart. Everything's okay." She looked at him with those eyes that made him feel like he needed to do something to make it right. "I'll get Cody and fly over the site."
"Thanks." Matt smiled.
"You gut's seen us though a lot. Who am I to doubt it now?" He grabbed his coat and headed to the weather room to get Cody.
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Randa went downstairs to look for Cutler. She had slept better then she had in weeks and she wanted to share her good morning with the man who made the night possible. Jess was at the front desk.
"Morning!" Jess looked up. Randa looked better then she had in days.
"Morning."
"How did the meeting with the city council go?"
"Good. They want us to take over some of the Sheriff's calls while he finds some new deputies."
"More work? Wow, you guys must eat, sleep, and dream rescues."
"Pretty much. How was your night?" Randa smiled.
"Good." Jess looked up at the sound of the older woman's voice. She had a grin on her face Jess had never seen in the short time they had been friends.
"Really?"
"Really good." Jess smiled.
"Good for you." The radio cracked.
"Flying Tiger to base."
"Go Flying Tiger."
"Send Frank up here with Robin. The campers had a run in with some wolves. Izzy and Hart went after the pack but I'm gong to call them back as soon as the other team gets here."
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Jess just get Robin up here."
"Derek?"
"He's fine. I swear, just get Frank in the air."
"Yes sir." Jess hit Frank's and Robin's pager buttons."
"You don't believe him?" Jess looked up at Randa.
"Nope. Cutler's in the shed if you're looking for him." Jess turned back to the weather reports and waited for Frank and Robin to come in. Randa turned and left hoping Jess was wrong about Matt not telling her the truth.
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"Maybe we should get Trainer out here." Cody looked at the blood around the camp site.
"It's an animal attack Cody. There's nothing Trainer can tell us that we can't see for ourselves. Derek has most of it covered already."
"We need to call Izzy and Hart back. These wolves were hungry. If the get the jump on them they won't know what hit them."
"Yeah, your right." Matt keyed his radio. "Flying Tiger to Black Magic."
"Go ahead Flying Tiger."
"Head back. It's getting colder and I don't like the way these wolves are acting."
"I was hoping you'd say that. We're two clicks out."
"Watch your backs but hurry."
"You don't have to tell us twice." Cody looked at Matt.
"Do you think Bailey's running with this pack?"
"I hope not. We have to put them down. They got the taste of human blood. There's no way around it."
"Bailey's smart. He wouldn't harm a human." Matt looked at his brother.
"Did you get sucked into Jess's world again today?" Cody knew the young wolf Jess saved from a trap three years ago was no harm to anyone but he had found a mate now and had a family. Maybe she was the hunter of the group and pulled him in.
"I just can't imagine that timid thing doing harm to anyone. Hell he wouldn't even eat the rabbit he brought home."
"Not till Jess cooked it and served it to him on a plate." Matt watched Derek survey the area. "Do you think he's okay out here?" Cody looked at his brother in law.
"I think he's better then most of the people we've hired. He knows his stuff and he keeps the drama to a minimum."
"He's married to Jess. Drama comes with the job. Do you think he'll keep this from her?"
"Matt you won't keep this from her, why should we ask him to." Matt looked at his brother. "What? I know you. All she'll have to do is say your name in that way she does and you'll be spilling your guts all over her desk." Matt knew he was right. The wild dog population was getting out of hand in the mountains. Coral Ridge used to keep the numbers at a minimum but since they shut down the dogs' numbers had grown.
"I don't think Bailey's running with them. Cutler and Cooper saw him last month closer to Lake Jen. I think he smelled Jess out there and is lying low till she comes back up here and he can get her scent again." Matt looked at the body bags. "We need to get this mess cleaned up before the devil bear wakes up and gets wind of this."
"I'm all for that." The other helicopter landed. Robin got out and looked at the two body bags lying on the ground.
"Looks likes I'm a little late for this party."
"I knew it was your keen skills of observation that attracted me to you." Matt leaned over and kissed her. "Wild dogs."
"Not pretty I imagine."
"No. I need you to take a look before we take them to the coroner. I don't want a panic to induce if I'm wrong."
"You're never wrong." Matt smiled.
"Remember that in two weeks when you marry me." Robin looked over the bodies.
"The third still missing?" Matt shook his head.
"There wasn't enough left of him to bag." Robin looked up.
"You're kidding, right?"
"I wish I was." Matt turned around when he heard voices. Izzy and Hart where coming out of the woods. "Let's get packed up. The weather isn't looking good and I want us all home by lunch."
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Randa went to the barn. It was cold here. She wasn't quite sure she could get used to the cold after so many years in the desert. She found Cutler feeding carrots to Jess's Pinto.
"He's really starting to like you." Cutler looked up and smiled.
"I was hoping to butter him up so he would let me take him out." He patted the horse. "He only likes Jess and tolerates Matt. Jess can't ride him and Matt hasn't had the time."
"Pregnant woman can ride horses."
"Let's just say this one won't till things settle down." Randa stood next to Cutler.
"Thank you for last night." He looked at her and smiled.
"No need for thanks." He leaned over and kissed her. "It was a mutually fulfilling." Bekum nudged Cutler wining when his attention went to Randa.
"I think someone's jealous." Randa rubbed the horse's nose.
"He's used to getting all the attention." Cutler heard the sound of the helicopter coming in. "I'm off tonight. Dinner?"
"Yeah. I have some calls to make." She leaned over the horse's snout and kissed him again. "Don't miss me too much." Randa turned and headed out of the barn. Cutler closed his eyes and leaned against the horse stall. The woman was breaking down his walls.
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Jess met Cutler outside near the landing pad. She looked at him. He was smiling like a fool.
"I thought she was looking a lot happier. Damn it Jimmy you slept with her." He looked at Jess.
"Do I have to sleep with someone to make them happy?" She looked at him and shook her head.
"Point taken." Watching Cody land she looked at him again. "I don't think I can stand it if she breaks your heart." She said softly. He looked her in the eye.
"I don't think I can either." She smiled.
"Then treat her right and maybe it won't happen." The helicopter landed and the two friends waited as Cody shut down the machine.
"I didn't treat you too bad, did I Jess?"
"No Jimmy, you just broke my heart." Jess started toward her brother's but turned one last time. "But I deserved what I got for what I did to you." She turned back and hoped her brother's didn't see the affect of her talk with Cutler just had on her.
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"She looks stressed." Matt said as he grabbed his gloves from the dash of the chopper.
"Jess always looks stressed lately." Cody shut down the engine. "You telling her Bailey might be a wild dog buffet may not sit well with little sister."
"Who said I'm going to tell her?" Cody smiled.
"Twenty buck you don't make it the building before your spilling your guts." Matt looked at his brother.
"You're on." Matt stepped out of the helicopter and Jess was there to meet him.
"Where's Derek and the others." He looked at the warm brown eyes of his sister.
"On the way back. They should be to the back meadow by now." He started walking toward the building. Cutler went to Cody and the two watched as Matt started to crumble.
"Twenty says he won't make it off the pad." Cutler said.
"Not in the mood Jess is in. He'll walk and she'll be on his heals" Cody looked at his sister. She was tense.
"What aren't you telling me Matt?"
"Nothing to tell Jess."
"Then where are the campers? You and Cody should have brought them down. "He turned to go and she put his hand on his shoulder. Shaking his head he reached into his pocket and took out a twenty from his wallet and walked back to Cody and handed it to him.
"The campers were mauled by the wild dog pack that Coral Ridge kept thinned out. No ones been taking care of them for almost three months now and they're breeding."
"Bailey?"
"No sign of him but I cam back to get his tracker so we could make sure he's far away from the pack." Cody handed the twenty to Cutler. They hadn't left the pad.
"The campers…?"
"Pretty tore up."
"Those dogs have been in the mountains a long time." Jess turned when she heard the snowmobiles. "We need to find Bailey." She headed toward her husband.
"Jess…"Matt went after her. Cutler stood leaning against the chopper.
"You'd think he'd learn by now." Cody looked at his friend.
"After dating you for as long as she did you'd think she'd learn by now." Cody smiled and punched his friends shoulder. Cody headed to the barn and Cutler headed somewhere…anywhere other then where he was right now.
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Matt played with the tracking device as he filled up his snowmobile. He looked up when he heard the door open. Derek came in.
"You can't hide that thing from her forever you know."
"I can try." Derek leaned against the back wall.
"I got her to back off for a few hours."
"Thanks." Matt turned off the pump. He opened the shed door.
"Whoa…whose bike is that?" Matt smiled at the Harley Fat Boy.
"Your wife's."
"Get back!" Derek looked at him then the bike. "She never told me."
"She doesn't know I kept it."
"Kept it?"
"Just before we found that first body she was packed up to go on this big time road trip." Matt sat on his sled. "She was hurting really bad. I don't if it was the way things were going with Cutler the way things were between us but she was restless. I had authorized three weeks off."
"Then you found that first body?"
"I tried to push her into taking the trip but she wouldn't leave with a killer in her mountains. Her and Cutler started talking again and she started letting me in. She told me that whatever it was pulling her away was gone. When you came into her life and she found out she was pregnant she told me to sell it."
"Why didn't you?"
"She spent two years restoring that thing and had me out here in the freezing cold painting the tank. I know she still wants that trip some day." Matt pulled some maps out of the bikes saddle bags. "Up the coast to Canada then to Alaska."
"Maybe after the babies…"
"Uncle Matt and Aunt Robin will be happy to baby sit." Derek smiled.
"I may take you up on that. The trip from DC was quicker then I would have liked."
"Maybe some time off this summer before the babies are born would be a good thing for both of you."
"Let's get over this drama and we'll talk." Derek looked at the motorcycle. "She sure does good work."
"That she does." Matt stood. "I guess I can't stall any longer."
"Matt, thanks for helping us make this work. I may of only known Jess a short time before…but just know I love her more then anything." Matt looked at his brother in law.
"If I didn't know that, you wouldn't be here." He patted the man on the back and got on his snowmobile and headed out.
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Robin pulled up next to Matt. He'd been quiet all afternoon and she didn't like it one bit. When he got quiet things got messy. She learned that a long time ago.
"He's a good sixty miles from the pack."
"I want him as far away as he can get. They get wind of him and he's a goner. He'll die protecting his family." Robin took off her sunglasses.
"Kind of like someone else I know." Matt looked at her.
"You'd do the same." She knew she would. Not just for Matt or Jess but any of the team. "Maybe we should head back." Out of the trees came a sound. Matt took his binoculars and looked toward the timber line.
"Is it him?" Matt grinned.
"Yeah." Putting down his binoculars he whistled. The wolf looked up from the scent he was going after. Seeing Matt he ran toward him. "Be ready…I don't think he's gone devil dog but…"
"I got the trank gun ready." The dog was thirty feet from him before he confirmed he was right. The happy go lucky wolf Jess had rescued was still his old self.
"Hey boy!" The animal came to him. The snow was deep but it didn't stop him. "That's a good boy." Matt rubbed the wolf's ears. "Jess misses you boy." At the sound of his friends name his ears perked up.
"He's going to want to come down with us."
"Maybe we can take them up by dads." Matt looked at the edge of the timber line. "You're got your family boy?" The wolf howled. Two good sized pups and their mother came out of the woods. Robin smiled.
"They're looking good Bailey." Matt took out some jerky from his pocket and gave it to the animal. The pups were soon at their side along with Bella. Jess had named her when she was hurt before Thanksgiving. Matt handed out more jerky. "Do you think they'll follow us up the mountain?"
"As long as I have jerky…they will follow." He called in. "Flying Tiger to base."
"Ace here. Did you find the mongrel and his family?"
"Yeah. I'm taking him up to around Gabe's and dad's place. They'll be safe there."
"Good thinking. I'll tell little sister that it's all good. I talked to the DNR and we might have to help them with the dogs tomorrow. They want to get the pack put down before anyone else gets hurt,"
"They stopped selling camping permits?"
"Ten four."
"Okay, we'll be home in a few hours."
"Take your time. I'll hold down the fort. Ace out." Matt started up his sled and one of the pups jumped on the seat.
"I think you made a new friend." Matt laughed and rubbed the wolf's head,
"Great…let's get them to dads." He started his sled and they headed up the mountain.
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Jess took the plates out of the cupboard. Everyone was safely home and the fear in the pit of her stomach had subsided. Maybe it had been for Bailey or those out in the field. She never really knew why she got the feeling of danger.
"Something more bothering you Jess?" Derek finished the pasta on the stove.
"No. I'm fine. How about you?"
"I never saw animals do that to a person before. It was pretty gruesome."
"You should see what happens after a bear gets to them." She smiled and set the table.
"You really want to go there." Jess laughed.
"No. I know those dogs have been around as long as the humans that live here but they never adapted. I was hoping Satin would get his paws into some of them." Jess leaned against the counter and looked at her husband. "Sierra Penelope Morgan."
"What?"
"You heard me." He looked at her and smiled,
"Sierra Penelope, I can live with that."
"I picked mine now you need to pick yours." Derek shook his head.
"Really. You're going to trust me with something as important as our daughter's name."
"I trust you with a lot more then that." He came to her and kissed her.
"I love you Jessie Lynne." Smiling Jess ran her hand down her husband's chest.
"Not as much as I love you." Matt and Robin came in the back door.
"Dinner smells great." Derek looked up.
"Stuffed mostacholi with marinara."
"Thanks for marrying my sister." Matt looked at Jess. "You think JT's home yet?"
"JT's here." He came in carrying a bunch of files. "Dad sent these for you to go over with Randa when you have a chance. Strictly your eyes only." He glared at Jess.
"Don't look at me. I know how to keep my nose out of the military files." JT shook his head. "Well most of the time." He glared at her. "Okay I will this time." She grabbed another plate and set it on the table. The Rangers gathered and Randa came downstairs. Dinner was passed around and a prayer was said. Coversation flowed as they talked of the wild dog pack and other cases. Jess went to get desert and Matt stood.
"You all know that the board asked us to pick up some of the Sheriff's slack until they hire a few people. They gave us some funding to hire a few extra staff ourselves. JT, they mentioned you by name."
"Me?"
"They mayor is quite impressed by the self control you showed when dealing with Kitrick and the whole Coral Ridge thing. He also knows that your part of this family weather you like it or not. No formal try outs."
"How can I refuse?" Jess put a big piece of cobbler in front of him.
"You can't." She looked at him. "You can bring Mia and Mackenzie home." JT looked at his friend and ex partner. She had been his rock for a lot of years and he knew that the more people Jess had around to keep her grounded the better.
"Do you think she'll put up with me full time?"
"If I have to suffer, so does she." Jess served the rest of the pie and sat down.
"So?" Matt looked at his friend.
"What do I have to loose?" Matt smiled. JT nodded. "I'll stay." So it was done. JT was the newest member of the High Mountain Rangers.
