When the two agents arrived at the morgue, they were facing an armed Addie, Chase, Dan, and Bridget.

“That’s how we do business here in town,” Kate said, asking to see their ID while the others held their weapons on them. Twenty minutes later, Calvin joined the party with the fingerprint kit and Chase took the fingerprints of the dead men.

“I’m calling Briggs and if he’s not your boss, you’re dead men. Just saying.” Dan got on his phone and talked to Briggs. “Okay, tell me something you know about each of the men that imposters won’t know.”

“Having some trouble?” Briggs asked.

“You’re damn right we have. The body count went up from two to four.”

“Iverson has a chipped front right tooth from playing a game of baseball with some of the guys. He still needs to get it capped. And Rogers has a new baby girl and he carries a picture of her in his wallet. All the guys give him a time about it because he doesn’t have one of his wife.”

“Okay, thanks.” To the one man, Dan said, “Open wide.” Once he saw the chipped front tooth, he figured the men were the right ones this time, but he asked to see Rogers’s pictures in his wallet.

He looked a little red-faced and showed a picture of an infant all dressed in pink.

“No picture of your wife?” Dan asked.

“She hates having her picture taken. But I’ve got one of her with the baby on my phone.”

Dan didn’t need to see it, but he decided it wouldn’t hurt. When he saw the picture, he nodded. “They’re both beautiful. Tell her so. Okay, the bodies are…” Forgetting about Bridget, he glanced at her.

She nodded, letting Dan know the men were the real deal, after she’d read their thoughts.

“They’re all yours. All four of them.”

“You guys mean business,” Iverson said.

“Yeah, and so did they,” Dan said, showing them the arsenal the men were carrying.

“All we’ve got to say is we want to get whoever’s behind this as much as you do,” Rogers said. “We take care of one of our own.” He glanced at Addie as if to say he meant her.

“No longer an agent,” she said. “Not until this is all over and cleared up.”

Dan sure as hell hoped she didn’t want to get back into the business once they knew who was behind this and stopped them. He was happy serving as the sheriff of Yuma Town and he had no intention of trying to become an agent with the FBI to join Addie.

Addie came to take his hand and smiled up at him. “I’m not leaving, no matter what happens with this business.”

He let out his breath, relieved.

“We’ll give you a hand with the bodies,” Chase said, and then he and the rest of the men hauled the bodies in bags to a refrigerated unit to take them back to their headquarters.

“Thanks,” Iverson said, shaking Dan’s hand.

Rogers did the same thing.

“Good luck,” they said to Addie.

“Hope we catch these people,” Rogers said. “Or you do.”

Then they were off and Dan was glad they were able to take care of all the bodies. So was Kate. She didn’t have dead bodies in her morgue very often. The ones they had to eliminate in the past—they’d buried.

“Don’t anyone tell Leyton what happened here today,” Kate said, looking sternly at everyone gathered there. “He’s got to concentrate on his mission, and he and Travis need to remain focused. No one was hurt, other than the bad guys, and I’ll tell Leyton what happened when he and Travis have taken down the bad guy. All right?”

Her cat, Sheba, wound around her legs, and she leaned down to pick her up. “Glad you weren’t in the morgue with us.”

That was the thing about having a cougar-shifter clinic. Sheba was loved by all the shifter patients and the hospital staff and welcome there.

“We need to head out to Cheyenne to investigate that storage facility,” Dan said. He called Stryker and gave him his orders. He deputized Calvin and another couple of men to help out with sheriff duties. It was late afternoon when Dan and the others picked up Carl. Then Dan, Addie, Carl, and Bridget got on the road, while Chase and Hal came to ride shotgun in a second vehicle.

“I heard there was another ‘incident’ involving the taking down of more men posing as federal agents,” Carl said.

“Yeah, just once, I’d like to have someone who was still alive to question at the end of all the shooting.” Dan glanced at Bridget to learn what she knew about the men from listening into their thoughts. He wasn’t sure she wanted to discuss it in front of Carl, but she could say she’d tell him later if she didn’t.

“All I know is they were trying to figure out how to come up with a story that would fit, then they assumed the only way they could get out of there with the bodies they’d come after was to shoot their way out,” Bridget said.

“They wanted to get rid of the evidence,” Dan guessed.

“Yes, and that someone higher up is really furious already over the botched-up job. They were worried they’d fail too.”

“Which they did and earned their just rewards,” Addie said.

“They weren’t worried about us as much as about a boss who would eliminate them if they made a mistake?” Dan really thought they were nervous about them learning they were frauds before they could leave with the bodies. Leipheimer, or whatever his real name was, had to have been shocked to see Dan arrive at the morgue.

“Yeah, imagine that? They must take us for pussy cats, not wild cougars,” Bridget said.

“Their fatal mistake,” Addie said.

“Okay, so just how did you come by all of this?” Carl asked Bridget.

She smiled sweetly at him. “I can read minds.”

Carl stared at her. Then he smiled. “Sure, you can.”

“Earlier, when you and I were doing research on the computer at the sheriff’s office, you were thinking how hot I was. Don’t let my mate know you think that, by the way. You might think you’re a real lady’s man in Denver, but in our part of the world, we were born cougars. You’re newly turned, and trouble.”

Carl’s ears turned red.

Everyone was quiet for a long while.

Then Addie let her breath out and asked Carl, “Which newspaper do you plan to send the information to if we do find evidence of wrongdoing within the Bureau?”

“The Washington Post. I have a friend there who’s an investigative reporter. She’d gladly take the case on and present it to her editor.”

“An old girlfriend,” Bridget said, as if trying to prove to Carl she really could read his mind.

Dan was glad she was with them on this trip.

Carl frowned at her. “Yes, an old girlfriend, but if I have a story, I’ll send it to her. She investigates it and writes up the story. And then she pays me as her source.”

“We can’t have anyone see you, Carl, just in case you can’t stop the inevitable and have to shift. Which is why we brought the cage for you in the hatchback. Not to confine you because we’re afraid you’ll hurt us, but because others will wonder why we’ve got a cougar riding as a pet in an SUV,” Dan said. “That means trying to get in touch with your old friends isn’t going to work.”

“Even if I contact her by text or email? That’s usually the way we got in touch. If I turn into a cougar, you can text on my phone as me. You can send her the information. Whatever works. Just use me as your contact.”

Addie was really shocked that Carl was working with them on this. She still worried he had a hidden agenda. Though in his current situation, she supposed he finally realized he needed their help to get through this all right.

“I can’t believe I can hear so well, or smell scents I couldn’t before. Will I have better night vision?” Carl asked.

“Yes. When those men were wearing night vision goggles,” Dan said, “we didn’t need them.”

“Even when you’re human?” Carl asked, in awe.

“Yes. Just like you have an enhanced sense of smell and of hearing now while you’re human.”

“Okay, that makes sense. What if I get injured? I can’t go to a human hospital. I can’t believe I’m calling anything human-run as if I were an alien. I guess I really am.”

“As a cat, your DNA only shows cougar DNA. As a human, you only have human DNA. If you end up in a hospital, or in a zoo, no one could tell you were a shifter,” Addie said.

“A zoo? Oh, great.”

“Or a big cat refuge,” Addie warned.

“The problem comes if you shift in front of humans,” Dan said. “Now, we do have someone who has volunteered to take you in. And you’re fortunate for that.”

“Oh? You said no one likes me. Why would anyone agree then?”

“Mrs. Florence Fitzgerald. She owns the bakery shop and she’s willing, no reason really given,” Dan said.

“You’re kidding,” Addie said, not believing the retired CIA agent would take in a new cougar as disagreeable as Carl had been. Then again, he seemed to be trying to fit in, to help out.

“Okay, so what do I do? Live at her house? Serve up desserts?” Carl sounded like this had to be a joke.

“Bake.”

“Hell, I can’t cook. Even making microwave dinners can prove to be a mistake. Why do you think I have so many girlfriends?”

“You know, Carl, the more I hear you talk, the less likeable you are, and you were at the bottom of the barrel already,” Addie said.

“Hey, I have to eat, don’t I? I guess someone else will have to offer to take me in. I suppose the paper wouldn’t be so bad to work for,” Carl said, sounding like he was changing his tune about working for a small, local paper.

“Mrs. Fitz is it for now,” Dan said. “You’re lucky anyone offered. She’ll teach you to bake and you’ll stay in the kitchen. Hopefully, you won’t turn while you’re there, but if you do, she has an office off the kitchen and you can sit it out in there. Also, that way none of her human patrons will see you. I can imagine a whole lot of human patrons dashing out of there in the face of a cougar racing through the dining area. If you even pulled a stunt like that, one of us would come over and tranquilize you and stick you in a cage, for the safety of the patrons, even if the cougars knew you were safe to be around.”

Carl was quiet for some time. Then he suddenly asked. “Do you think the people who hired me will be coming after me too?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it,” Addie said. “If they hired you and their men are all dead, they might feel if you’re alive, you could compromise the situation. They wouldn’t want to risk a loose end like that. I’m certain they planned to eliminate you at Dan’s house after you video recorded the situation. Even though you hadn’t known the woman’s name, see how you were able to point out the woman from a photograph? If you think you’re safer on your own out there, think again.”

“I wasn’t thinking of leaving and hiding out somewhere else. This business with the shifting means I’m not going anywhere. I’m sorry about nosing into your business before,” Carl said to Dan. “About all of it. I was just hell-bent on a story, and yours looked like it had so much promise. Now I know it did, only it isn’t one I could ever tell.”

“You need to apologize to Chase and Shannon.”

“I will.”

“I’ve talked to Chet Kensington, one of Bridget’s friends, who is an agent like her, Travis, and Leyton. He has a safe house in Cheyenne. He’s on an assignment right now, but by the time we reach his place around noon tomorrow, he should be through with the job and join us. He’s eager to help us with the search,” Dan said.

“Are we driving through the night?” Addie asked, hoping they would. She kept worrying if something was in the storage facility, someone would learn about it and remove it, if they could find anything.

“Yeah. We’ll take turns driving in shifts. Except for Carl. He could turn into a cougar and we can’t have that. And not you either, unless you feel up to it.”

“I’ll take a shift,” Addie said. “I feel fine now. Did you tell him we’re bringing a brand-new cougar?”

“Yeah. Since he’s never met Carl, I filled him in on who he is and what’s happened. Which is why he’s eager to help. Though it’s usually not their job and he had to ask Chuck, his boss, if it was okay to work with us on this.”

“Chuck okayed it?” Addie asked. She hadn’t met the man either and she was glad they’d have a local cougar agent who could aid them.

“Yeah. He’s a good guy.”

The road was quiet the whole time, no issues. She almost felt as though this was wasted manpower, but she knew better. Even if nothing happened, it was better to have more manpower than not enough. Not only did they have to protect each other, if they should get into a firefight, they had to protect Carl. He wasn’t allowed to have a gun, not after shooting Ricky, though he hadn’t known the cougar was a boy. Still, he wasn’t one of them. He’d have to prove he could be there for them, as they were for each other. He had to prove to them he could be trusted, and he was one of the good guys.

“Is Mrs. Fitz single?” Carl suddenly asked.

“Yes,” Addie said, smiling. And about twenty-five years older than Carl. At least Flo knew how to use a gun too, so if Carl did anything threatening, she knew how to handle him. As much as Addie would like to believe he was completely committed to them, she couldn’t. Not yet.

“Do you mind if I sleep back here?” Carl asked.

“Go ahead,” Addie said. “We’ll all be taking turns.”

They’d driven about five hours, when they stopped again for gas and this time grabbed some burgers. Carl suddenly said, “I’ve got to return to the car. In a hurry.”

Addie headed out with him. “Are you going to shift?”

“Yeah, and I’m fighting just stripping out here in the parking lot.” He finally managed to get into the car. They had parked it next to a grassy area. Everyone parked on top of the building like it would kill them to walk, so the parking spaces out there were empty.

He was suddenly shifting and lying down on the very last seat.

Addie opened the windows. “Don’t get up and don’t look out the windows. Everyone’s bringing their food, and yours, to the car. We’ll be on our way again. Just stay down.”

He made a grumbly, growly noise, and remained hidden.

“How’s he doing?” Dan asked, as he climbed into the passenger seat, and Addie took over the driving.

“Growly. Can you blame him? We can completely control our shifting. It makes all the difference in the world. He’s a slave to it when he’s probably used to nothing or nobody dictating to him. Total life changer.”

Bridget said, “Here’s your dinner, Carl. I got one of those Styrofoam containers so you can use it as a dish. Though I guess Hal brought you a food dish too for when you turned all cat on us.” She poured water in a water dish and set it on the floor for him. “You should be all set. Sorry you weren’t able to eat your meal before you had to shift.”

Carl gobbled up his burger, drank some of his water, and settled down on the seat.

They drove for hours before they heard Carl moving about in the backseat, dressing.

“How are you feeling, Carl?” Addie had been sleeping in the center seat, Bridget driving, and Dan keeping an eye on things as a passenger in the front seat.

“Well rested. Having weird dreams of fighting with another cougar.”

“Just don’t get into a real one. You haven’t had all the lifetime experiences with being one and learning to playfight.” Addie unbuckled her seatbelt, leaned forward, and kissed Dan’s cheek. “Want to lie down for a while? I’ll take over guard watch.”

“We’ll pull in and get gas up ahead.” Bridget called to Hal and told him the plans. Then they pulled into the next travel center, a couple of cars gassing up, a couple of more parked next to the travel center.

Everyone took bathroom breaks, gassed up the car, and Addie switched with Dan so he could get some rest. She was looking forward to sleeping in a bed with him tonight, hoping they didn’t have squeaky beds at Chet’s place.

Then they returned to the cars. It was six in the morning, and they still had six hours to drive. No sign of anyone following them so far. Addie and everyone else was grateful for that.

Dan woke after about four hours and asked if Addie wanted him to take over the driving, but she said no. She could make it and they’d already made another gas stop an hour ago when they’d switched drivers. They should make it to the storage facility without having to stop again.

Bridget said to Carl, “Quit thinking about how you’re going to get yourself out of this mess. You’re stuck with us.”

Addie smiled. She loved how Bridget could read minds.

“Yeah, well if you were suddenly thrown into a situation like this, you’d be thinking the same thing.”

Addie figured he assumed Bridget had guessed how he was feeling, but she knew Bridget had to have read his mind and was warning him he had to change how he viewed the situation or get himself into further trouble.

“I’m not going rogue,” Carl grumbled.

“Not a morning person?” Bridget asked, cheerfully.

She seemed to be and so was Addie. She liked her and was glad to have found so many cougar friends here.

“Not a cat person.”

Everyone laughed.

“Okay, I don’t get something. Well, a lot of somethings, but how can Hal and Tracey Haverton own a horse ranch when they’re cougars?” Carl asked.

“They bred and raised them,” Dan said. “If a human raises an animal, feeds him, and takes care of him, the animal learns to trust him. He smells both the cougar and human side of Hal and Tracey and the others. Well, and us. The problem would be if the horse wasn’t afraid of a wild cougar. Cougars are territorial. They smell enough male cougar shifters to know to stay out of the areas where we live.”

“Do you have sex as cougars?” Carl asked.

“Lots more fun as humans,” Addie said.

“Though having kits can be easier for a mother than as a human,” Bridget said.

“A woman can bear cougar kits?” Carl asked, sounding shocked.

“No. She shifts into a cougar first! Jeesh. Okay, so it’s really, really rare, if doable at all that a cougar shifter gets a human pregnant. I’ve never heard of it happening with a cougar,” Bridget said, “but I’ve heard of a wolf shifter that happened to.”

“Wait, wolf?”

“Caracal cat, coyote, jaguar. We’ve heard rumors of polar bear shifters in Alaska, but that might not be true. We’ve only ever met a caracal cat shifter, but the family we had seen said they’d run across a wolf shifter pack. They call themselves lupus garous. And one mated a part coyote, part wolf.”

“Anything’s possible then.”

“Yeah, just be careful of having sex with a human and not being protected. The offspring doesn’t have all our abilities, but some. You’d have to turn the mother, possibly. And if you turn one person, it could prove disastrous. They might have a whole family that would then need to be turned.”

“And it snowballs. Gotcha. Good thing I don’t have any family.”

“Or friends,” Bridget said.

“I have friends. Not close friends. Associates. What if I have a girlfriend? Cat girlfriend?”

“Then you need to take precautions not to have kids.”

“Or else, you’d take care of me, right?”

“Right,” Dan said.

“What about divorce?”

“Marriage, divorce, it all can happen. We hope that if you find someone, it’s for life,” Addie said.

“But you don’t think it’s likely.” Carl sounded a little blue that no cougar female would want to have anything to do with him.

“Just remember, Carl, you’re prickly. You’ve lived off other’s woes. You did everything for gain at others’ expenses. You created all kinds of trouble for us in the past, and more recently. And you’re a brand-new shifter. That means trouble in and of itself. It also means you’ll have to work extra hard to change your way of thinking if you want to make any inroads with the she-cats,” Dan said. “You’ll have to prove you’ve become a new man.”

“I can’t cause trouble for you any longer. Not without outing myself.”

“Correct, but your attitude has to change. Maybe the right she-cat will come along and voila, you have a total change of heart. It can happen. I had no intention of finding a male cat to mate. I just rescued Travis and that was it. We were so perfect for each other, I was just glad he was one of the good guys,” Bridget said.

“I’ll have to meet a cat from out of town,” Carl grumbled.

“You’d be better off sticking around here,” Dan said. “There are more of us to help you out. Though we don’t advertise who we are, I haven’t heard of another town run specifically by cougars. You’ll be safe here. Happy? If you want to be.”

“Why were you running around with a gun on Dan’s property?” Addie suddenly asked.

“Hell, I recorded cougars killing people. I worried they’d still be hanging around the property. They’re territorial, you know. Did you think I’d just shoot pictures of them if any of them attacked?”

“See where that got you?” Addie asked, and smiled.