Chapter Twelve
Josh and his two agents had come around to the side bushes to see the TV camera aimed at the lobby. The microphone cable snaked on the sidewalk in through the door, so he figured one of the bad guys was making a demand or pontificating his views for his fifteen minutes of fame around the world.
He noted the satellite equipment on the truck wasn’t up and running, so they weren’t on live television. Apparently, their Russian guest didn’t know how a satellite broadcast should look. Josh had seen plenty of those in his days working high-profile security cases.
The last enemy guard stood at the building’s corner, watching over the crew and scanning the area for trouble. The man had frisked the camera guy when the two newscasters had approached the doors, then he’d edged back into the shadows. During that interlude, Josh and his men had taken care of the third guard. Frank had stayed behind to drag the body to a hidden location.
The problem with this guy was that he was too close to the front of the building for any of them to sneak up on. Too much open grassy space didn’t provide any of cover needed to get close. So the plan morphed into a let’s-play-it-by-the-panther’s-ear.
Parish was a black jaguar that people constantly misidentified as a panther. As humor between the coworkers, they called him a panther and bought him pink prank items for his birthday. But when it came to stealth and surprise attack, no one was better than Parish, the jag.
Josh, along with Bryon, made their way to the rear of the building, staying out of sight behind bushes. The jaguar had slinked its way to the bushes along the middle of the building wall where the enemy had dumped the NIA security guard’s body before taking over. The only evidence Josh could see was the hint of green eyes when Parish looked directly at him. Even Josh’s animal’s night vision couldn’t pick out the jag from the shadows.
With Parish set, the agents threw rocks at the wall to draw the guard’s attention to the back. When the guard didn’t see his other man, hopefully he’d go to investigate. And that was the case. The enemy hurried back, passed the bushes, then put his back against the wall, sliding toward the corner.
At that moment, the metal door to the security room opened and Candy came out, draped in guns. Josh drooled. The only way she could be any sexier was to be naked with the guns strapped to her. He didn’t start to freak until she headed in the same direction as the gunman ready to turn the corner.
Where the fuck was Parish? Why hadn’t he taken down the guy yet? He watched as both his mate and the bad guy rushed to an intersection. Josh was ready to spring over the bushes and tackle the man in a frontal assault, probably getting shot in the process. But he’d do that to save his mate. She was now his reason for living.
The man inched closer to the corner as well as Candy. Josh’s human form tensed. He wanted to shift, but didn’t have time for that. Bryon put a hand on his arm, then hollered out words that sounded guttural. The man stopped and faced the bushes where he and his agent hid, his face full of confusion.
Candy came around the side, almost slamming into the guy. Guns swung into motion. Josh jumped to his feet and froze while Parish’s cat body slammed into the guy’s backside, taking them down to tumble to the edge of the bushes. Parish ended up under the guard, sharp teeth deeply sunk into the man’s neck.
Josh had thought he would shit his pants, if he’d had any on. Then he would kick Parish’s ass for waiting so goddamn long.
“Josh,” Candy yelled, “don’t move. There’s a wild jaguar on the . . .” she paused and looked more closely at the heap that was the dead man next to the bushes. Parish, in jaguar form, moved from under the body, and she snapped the gun into position faster than Josh thought possible. Bryon jumped up, distracting Candy for a second, Josh following suit.
“Don’t shoot,” Josh and Bryon said at the same time.
She looked at the agent next to him and frowned. “Day? What are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be in my office. How did you get out?” She then eyed both of them. She noted the bushes came to just below his waist.
Her brows rose and then lowered in confusion. “Do I want to know why the two of you are hiding behind the bushes, buck naked?”
Josh felt his face ready to melt off from hot embarrassment. “No, it’s not how it looks.” He started to push through the prickly bushes, but quickly discovered that wasn’t a good idea for his man parts. “Just hold on a second.” He jogged toward a narrow path cutting through bushes between the park and the NIA building.
Candy kept her shotgun aimed at Parish on the ground, but her eyes followed him. How was he going to explain this to her? He couldn’t possibly make up a scenario that would begin to make sense. He dashed for his clothes on the ground outside the security door where he’d dropped them before shifting.
When he bent over to pick up his pants, Frank came around the far corner and smacked Josh’s butt sticking up in the air. “Great job, guys. Need to do that more often. Whoa.” He saw Candy and stopped. “Boss, did you know your mate’s standing out here with a gun pointed at Parish?”
“Yes,” Josh huffed, “I am quite aware of that.” He slipped his pants on, foregoing the boxers. “Turn around.” A growl came from him. “My mate sees no one else naked.”
Frank spun on his heel. “No problem. I’ll just go back to where no guns were pointed at my nuts.”
Josh glanced at his mate. Her face was as red as his had to be. She aimlessly pointed the gun in his direction. She probably didn’t even know she’d moved when seeing Frank. She glanced at Bryon, back to him, then dropped her eyes to the cat hiding under the dead person best he could.
Her voice was strong but unsure when she said, “That’s not Hamel’s body.”
Josh hurried toward her, pants done up, but no belt. “No, you’re right. That’s not what Frank meant.” He stretched for the gun in her hands and she jerked it out of his reach.
“This is mine,” she said and stiffened her stance. “Will somebody explain why we’re not worried about the man-eating animal, and why you’re all naked, and how the hell you guys got outside, anyway?”
Josh put an arm around her shoulder and directed her back toward the security door. “We’ll discuss this inside.”
She looked up at the building toward her second-floor office. “What the fuck?” She stopped and turned back to Bryon. “You jumped out the—”
The jaguar had climbed out from under the guard and was following them. Candy twisted around and pulled the trigger. If not for Josh’s shifter speed, Parish would’ve been toast. The bushes to the side of the cat’s body had a new entrance to the park. Smelling feline blood, Josh snatched the gun from her hold.
At the same time, Parish shifted, feeling around his ribs. “Son of a bitch, man. Your mate freaking shot me.” He rubbed his hand over his chest and abs.
“You were barely touched,” Joshed huffed. “The pellets mostly went over your back.”
“Yeah, mostly,” Parish complained. “I was still bleeding to death.”
Josh looked down at Candy’s face and sighed. She was white as a sheet. “Shit.” He turned them toward the security office, away from Parish’s full monty. “You guys hang out somewhere close, but stay out of sight.”
“Wait,” Candy said, “are you all ”—she flipped her hand in the air—“animals or whatever?”
Josh continued walking with his arm around her shoulders. “We’ll talk inside, love.” Well, he hoped they would talk and she didn’t just decide to shoot them all.