Chapter 16
"Another one?" Sydney said as she and Gage met Walker and Trivette at the crime scene.
"Geez, this poor girl doesn't look more than eighteen years old." Gage said as he knelt down next to the body.
"We have to get a lid on this stuff, quick before more people die." Trivette said as his expression hardened.
Walker turned to Gage. "I think it's time to call your friend in the DEA." He said as a smile crept its way across his face.
"Agent Michaels, so nice to see you again." Walker said as he shook the DEA agent's hand.
"Nice to see you again, Walker, and I'm sorry to give you bad news, but we are just as stumped as ya'll are." She said as she shrugged.
"Well, if my memory serves me right, the last time we joined forces, we caught our man." Walker said.
Michaels grinned at him. "Well, okay then. Let's put our department's heads together and see if we can't collar this mutt?"
Walker smiled cordially at her. "Sounds good, we'll take any help we can get. Gage and Sydney will get you caught up."
Agent Michaels nodded politely to Walker as she sashayed over to Gage's desk where he sat with a mountain of paperwork in front of him.
"Ranger Gage! So nice to see you looking much better since the last time I saw you." Agent Michaels said as she leaned against the side of his desk.
Gage grinned up at her. "I certainly feel better than I did when you saw me last." He replied.
"Oh, I am sure there is another reason for that." She said as she glanced at his partner's desk, Gage said nothing, and tried to retain his cool façade, but his coloring cheeks betrayed him. "Don't be embarrassed about it, hell, I think it's GREAT! Anyone would be lucky to have a woman like that." She said.
The sudden clearing of a throat captured their attention. "Ah! Ranger Cooke! We were just talking about you!" Agent Michaels said as she flashed Sydney a pleasant smile.
"Is that so?" Sydney said as she tried, and failed to hide her jealousy over the intimate conversation she had just witnessed between them. It seems that her fears about Gage and his former playboy ways were hard to let go.
"Gage, could you excuse us for a few minutes?" Agent Michaels said as she smiled at him sweetly, Gage shot her a suspicious look before glancing at Sydney, who nodded to him with a reassuring smile.
"Okay … I have to turn in this paperwork to Walker, anyway." He said as he left their company.
"Look … I would first like to start off by saying that you are super lucky, I have known Gage for a long time and I never thought he would EVER settle down." Michaels said with a chuckle.
Sydney didn't quite know how to respond to this, so she remained silent. On his way back from handing his paperwork to Walker, Gage made a stop at the coffee station, he couldn't help wondering what they were talking about, more importantly, what Michaels was telling Sydney.
"You just make sure he knows what a catch you are and how lucky he is to have you." Michaels said with a wink, and she turned to leave, Sydney was still confused, she had no idea why this woman, who should be her competition, was basically egging her on.
As if sensing her thoughts Agent Michaels paused for a moment. "Oh, and you should know that you don't have to worry about me, honey. I bat for the other team, if you know what I mean, I would be more apt to steal you away from Gage if he screws up." She said as she left their company, giving Gage a hearty clap on the back in passing.
"What did she say to you?" Gage said, his tone guarded as he returned to his desk.
"Oh nothing, just girl talk." Sydney said with a reassuring smile.
"Well, hey there, Jinx." Michaels looked up from her glass of spiced rum and coke as a doughy middle aged man sat in the vacant stool next to her, Michaels glanced dismissively at him out of her peripheral vision; his face was pig like, complete with a wide, flat nose and small, sunken, beady eyes.
His beard had once been a mustache that had been left unkept, and his greasy, jaw length hair was combed over the top of his head in a futile attempt to hide his receeding hairline.
"What do you want, Buck?" Michaels sighed in exasperation as she took a deep sip of her drink.
"Well, no one has seen you around since the Draculs' bust, and the word is you got pinched, that you're workin' for them now." He said.
"Them?" Michaels said as she turned to face him.
"The Texas rangers!" The man called Buck said, his voice rising in anger.
"Oh yes, them … sure they brought me in, they tried to pinch me, I told them a load of shit they thought they wanted to hear, and they let me go. Period, the end." She said as she turned back toward the bar.
Buck smacked a small bundle on the bar in front of her, if the bartender noticed, he made no notion of it.
"Then prove it!" He said, a menacing tint to his voice.
"What's this?" She asked
"Dragon's breath, you're gonna sell that whole damn thing for me by tomorrow this time." He said.
"And what if I don't?" Michaels said, Buck's smile broadened.
"Then we'll all know which team you chose to be with, the word will get out you're a turn coat, and you ain't gonna last long, there ain't no law enforcement organization in the world that is gonna be able to protect you."
"Well … when you put it that way …" Michaels said as she flashed him her best smile as she snatched the bundle up and put it in her jacket pocket.
"Damn it! we have collared ten or more of these mutts and no one knows who the supplier of this crap is!" Gage said as he watched Michaels through his binoculars.
He wanted to barge in there, Wild West style and take the whole damn place and pinch everyone in it, but he knew that doing so would blow Michaels' cover for sure.
"Every day we don't catch this bastard, more people die." He said as he let the binoculars fall into his lap.
"Hey, we'll catch the son of a bitch, we always do." Sydney said as she put a hand on his arm.
"I sure hope it's soon, because this case is seriously cutting in to our alone time." He said as he grinned lopsidedly at her.
Sydney smiled sadly at him, he was right! They hadn't had any since they caught this case, and the sexual tension between them was so thick it was stifling.
"Don't worry, when we do get some time to ourselves, I will definitely make it worth your while." She said with a wink.
"Like, what did you have in mind?" He asked as he regarded her with a raised eyebrow.
Sydney leaned in close and whispered her naughty plans into his ear. The temperature in the car seemed to go up ten degrees as sultry thoughts flooded his mind.
Sydney couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Gage's face.
"I thought you wanted to maintain some form of professionalism at work?" He said.
She looked at him peculiarly. "I do."
He suddenly pulled her to him. "Then you shouldn't have whispered all that naughty stuff in my ear." He growled as he kissed her.
The world, and its pressing matters at hand melted away for both of them as Gage's tongue boldly entered Sydney's mouth to entangle with her own and she didn't care anymore about professionalism, or about getting caught, the only thing on her mind was this man and how good kissing him felt.
"HEY! You guys taking a siesta or what! Michaels tossed all of her load, and Buck's on the move! Stay with him, we'll get this stuff back to the lab and analyze it." Trivette's voice crackled over their radio, causing them both to jump back in surprise.
Annoyed, Gage grabbed the radio.
"Whatever you say, Trivette." He said, not bothering to keep the dismissive irritation out of his voice.
From his car, Trivette gave the radio a peculiar look as he started his engine and headed back to headquarters.
Gage haphazardly shoved the radio back where it belonged as he pulled Sydney close before she could react and kissed her again.
"Gage! We're … supposed to be following … Buck!" She said between his hungry kisses. Before the situation got out of hand, she pulled away.
"Follow, now ." She ordered.
Gage blew out a ragged sigh as he put the car in gear and pulled out several cars behind Buck. One thing was for sure, they had better close this case soon, because being this close to Sydney without being able to be close to her was killing him, and he didn't know how much restraint in the name of professionalism he had left in him.
Boy, oh boy! sorry about the delay and thanks for being so patient!
