Wild Suspicions (Romantic Suspense) (18 page)

Liddie tried to
reload, but dropped the syringes. The sight of the tiger on top of Garrett was provoking a panic that rendered her useless. She looked toward Parker for help, but he wasn’t even turned their way.

She blinked away tears and kneeled down to pick up a dart. She
snapped it in the gun for a second try. Blood covered Garrett’s shirt, arms and neck, but Liddie tried to ignore it and concentrate on the shot.

She walked up to stand two feet from
Garrett and the cat.

Garrett couldn
’t speak. The muscles in his arms popped as his face contorted with effort. He held the tiger back by pushing the broomstick horizontally into its mouth every time it tried to bite him.

Liddie
squeezed the trigger.

The pain of the shot had the tiger reeling
back off Garrett, and then toward her. Garrett rolled up off the floor and put himself between Liddie and the beast again. Using the stick, he pushed and hollered, and this time, when he pushed back on a raised paw, the cat stumbled easily.

Garrett kept pushing at the tiger until finally, it
backed up and showed signs of confusion. As it became unbalanced, the tiger’s back legs gave out and finally, the big cat collapsed.

Liddie, soaking wet and muddy from the rain, stood shaking with the gun in one hand and another dart in the other.

“Stay here,” whispered Garrett. Breathless and bloody, he could barely talk. Garrett walked up to the tiger and nudged it with the stick. It growled. Liddie quickly reloaded the tranquilizer gun and used both hands to point it at the tiger.

Garrett
held a hand up to stop her from shooting. He waited a moment, until the animal’s head came to rest on the floor. He poked at it again. Nothing.

Garrett dropped the stick and
turned toward Liddie. He opened his arms and she ran into them.

“
Oh, Garrett!”

His arms locked around her
and Liddie dropped the gun and dart into the dirt. All she wanted to do was hold onto him. His chest heaved with exhaustion, but she felt his hands come up into her hair. She buried her face into his shirt, wet with the sweat and blood of battle.

“
You’re hurt!” she cried and pulled at his shredded shirt to see how badly.

Garrett didn
’t let go of her. “Scratches, Liddie. Just scratches.” He pulled the shirt up and wiped his face. “We have to put that tiger away before he wakes up.” He looked past her to Parker who had passed out by the door.

“
Do you think you can help me?”

“
Whatever you want,” replied Liddie. “Just tell me what to do.”

He placed
a hand on her cheek and smiled. “Don’t ever leave me.”

The tiger was a beautiful animal. For as ferocious as it was, Liddie knew it had acted instinctually. Garrett had properly gauged its actions to save it – all at great risk to his own life.

Unlike Parker, who
se only thought was to kill it.

Liddie took a moment to run her hand up and down
the fur of its striped back. The hair was thick, soft and gorgeous, but it belonged on the animal – the living, breathing and majestic beauty of a beast.

“
How much do you think he weighs?” she asked, admiring the paws that were three times the size of her hands.

Garrett
’s breathing had steadied. He took off the shirt that hung with sweat and blood. The sight of his body, slashed and swollen with every muscle pumped up from the fight, had Liddie incredulous with respect and desire.

“
They’re not the largest tigers, but he’s a big male. He’s probably dropped twenty pounds since trapped. Maybe 240 right now.” He laughed and took a deep breath. “Piece of cake.” Garrett put his hands on his hips. “You ready?”

Liddie
nodded. “You better be sure about this.” It was terrifying to move an animal of that size with those teeth. “I guess I’m ready.”

Garrett
moved to the tiger’s head, bent down and reached under its front legs, lifting it like a drunken companion. Its mouth hung open giving Liddie a whiff of its wild breath, along with a good view of the long teeth that could have easily killed them all.

She
tried to pick up the back legs of the animal, but couldn’t. It was dead weight and too heavy. There was no way she’d be able to do it.

“
That’s okay,” laughed Garrett. “I can drag him. Can you turn the cage this way?”

She ran ahead and
pushed the heavy cage toward him, opening the door wide. Garrett slowly backed into it, dragging the tiger with him. He climbed over it to get out.

Liddie closed the cage
, and Garrett secured the lock.

It was then, and only then, that Liddie saw the man she loved
fall to the floor. He lay on his back, brought his hands to his head and stretched out across the bloody mud.

“
Garrett!”

“
I’ll be all right, Liddie,” he said quickly. “Just give me a minute.” A moment later, he slowly sat up and pushed himself back against a crate. Liddie watched as he closed his eyes, relaxed his body, and breathed deep.

The animals, she noticed,
were calming down as well.

Liddie dropped to sit beside Garrett.
His face, arms and torso were full of deep scratches, but he didn’t seem to care. She closed her eyes and listened to his steadying breath, her head relaxed against his shoulder. They sat in silence.

“
I must be getting old,” said Garrett finally. “That tiger kicked the crap out of me.”

Liddie
smiled. “I’ll say. He had you on the ropes.”

“
Good thing you were around to save me.” He grabbed her hand, squeezing and rubbing it with great affection.

A
line of blood traveled down Liddie’s neck to her chest. Garrett lifted his hand to look at her cut.

“
It’s all right,” she assured him and pulled his hand down. “You’re the one who needs patching up.”

He smiled.
“You know. You’re pretty damn tough.”

“
Yes, I am,” she agreed, letting her fingers play with his. “But the next time you fight a tiger, I’m sleeping in.”

Garrett
raised his eyebrows and tilted his head in her direction.

“
The next time?”

The steady rain
had,
once again, turned the camp into a muddy mess. Liddie now ignored it, walking across the grounds without giving it much thought.

She and her clothes had long passed dirty. Mud, she mused, was the new black.

With Parker and his men apprehended, the camp belonged to her and Garrett.

She
grabbed an armful of water bottles from the fridge in the office cabin. The sounds of the forest were no longer scary. It was as if all had become peaceful, beautiful, and right.

Walking back
toward the barn, she began to think about Parker, and how he’d wanted to possess her here, and how, just a few days ago that would have sounded wonderful.

E
verything had changed. The jungle dirt squished around inside the new sneakers she’d bought for the trip. Parker had left some cuts on her neck, and she had scratches up and down her arms and legs – probably from squeezing out of the hole in the wood wall and running down that path in back of the barns. Her makeup had melted away with the sweat. Her hair? A mop of tangled tresses.

Yet
, Liddie couldn’t be happier. The bubble she’d been in the past three years had burst with the end of her schoolgirl infatuation with Parker. She felt grounded again. Out of the clouds and back to the real world. What the future held, she couldn’t be sure. But it would be real.

The door to the second barn was open
, and Liddie knew Garrett had been in there looking for tools. She was determined to never go in there again. The authorities would take it all as evidence. Liddie wished it could be destroyed.

None of
the money was worth the loss. Why couldn’t people like Parker understand that?

She returned to the first barn and
was surprised to see that Garrett had put Jerry, Paco and Parker into cages.

“
That was a good idea,” she said as she watched him, bare-chested and cool, working to secure the locks.

“
Just giving them a dose of their own medicine,” he noted.

“
I’m going to bleed to death, Liddie,” shouted Parker, slumped against the cage bars bloody and in obvious distress. “You’ve got to help me.”

Liddie
threw a bottle of water at Jerry, and then to Paco. Garrett reached into the cage with a machete and cut their ropes. Neither man dared to say anything. They simply grabbed for the water and stayed quiet.

“
Did you?” asked Garrett.

Liddie nodded.
She’d found Parker’s pills in the office and spiked the water bottles. Soon they’d be asleep.

Garrett
turned his attention to Parker, who was ashen with pain. He pulled off his boss’s bloody shirt and threw a bucket of water over the injury. Parker screamed and Liddie looked away. It was bad, but the arm was intact. No artery had been severed. Both men, she realized, had been lucky that the tiger’s strength had been sapped from lack of food. Garrett was doing what he could to wrap it up, using materials he’d found in a first-aid kit. The fact that it was painful for Parker meant nothing to her.

“
Liddie,” he begged, after Garrett left the barn for more water. “I love you. I’ve loved you since the very beginning.” He tried to assume the authoritative stance he’d had with her before. “You’re part of the company, Liddie. I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted.” He scooted to the edge of the cage, cringing from the pain of the tiger bites. “It’s always been you, Liddie. I’ll release the animals, and we’ll get over this.” He grabbed at a bar on the cage. “Call my father, Liddie. He’ll fix it for both of us.”

“
I’m sure he would, Parker.”

He pressed his f
ace through the gap in the bars, the shiny blonde hair now dirty and sticking up in odd directions. “Talk to Wade. Tell him to name his price. The two of you would be set for life.”

Liddie
tossed him a bottle of water, hitting his shoulder. “I don’t want your blood money, Parker.” The anger rose up into her face. “I hope you and your father go to prison for a long time. First to jail, then to hell.”

Parker kicked
the cage with his foot. “You’re an idiot, Liddie. It’s going to happen anyway. If not by us, by somebody else.”

The truth in his statement stung.

“Not if I have anything to do with it, Parker.” She looked around the room. The sadness of it gripped her heart. The wild of the outside world had been brought inside a rickety old barn and trapped in cages. It was more than criminal. It was against the laws of nature.

“
Not if I have anything to do with it,” she repeated.

“
But, Liddie.” His voice screeched in desperation.

“
Drink the water, Parker.” She said flatly and turned to look him directly in the eyes. “Drink the water.”

Parker looked at Jerry and P
aco, who were already yawning. Then, as Liddie knew he would, he opened the bottle and took a swig. In quick succession, he took three more.

Parker liked his pills.

Liddie walked away, picking up the broomstick Garrett used to fight off the tiger. The animal was awake, but calm and laying on its side. It’s eyes looked up into hers. Caged and vulnerable, the animal’s only sin was its strength and beauty.

For fulfilling its natural duty to the world, this
is how it was rewarded.

“
I reached my guys on the radio,” said Garrett, coming up to stand behind her. “The Malay authorities should be here within a few hours. We’ll have to get the camera and laptop.” He handed her a small ax. “Here, don’t ask me where I found it.”

She wouldn
’t. The tools would now be used for their rightful purpose.

“
What do you want to do first?”

“
Let’s get these doors down and let some air in.” He looked around the room. “Then we’ll take some of the lighter cages outside and let the rain cool them off.”

Liddie hacked away at the hinges of one of the wood doors while Garrett axed the other. When
the one door dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, he turned to help her.

As
the trapped, stagnant air of the barn was being released, Garrett started pointing out the animals that could easily be moved outside.

“
Let me handle the primates. I’ve got gloves,” he explained. “They’re going to bite and slap a bit.” He pointed to the tree squirrels, a few caged reptiles and some of the larger birds. “You should be okay with those, but they’re going to try and nip you, so be careful.”

Liddie
grabbed the first cage. It held a big black bird with a colorful beak that did indeed peck at her fingers. She dropped the cage and took a deep breath.

“
Pick at me all you want,” she warned the wide-eyed foul, “but you’re being saved whether you appreciate it or not.”

She
picked up the cage and tipped it back, the bird fell away from the sides long enough to move it outdoors. “You’ll love me when this is over,” she promised. The feathered beauty quickly forgot her presence and lifted its face toward the falling rain.

All of the animal
s were reacting in similar ways – grasping for the familiar relief of the jungle air and water.

Liddie
felt like a new woman. It had been years and years since she’d gotten this dirty and done so much hard work. When she was fifteen she’d had a part-time job on a dairy farm, feeding the cows and cleaning up after them. It was unglamorous and dirty, but she did it well. Back then she didn’t care so much about money, and at this moment, she could care even less.

“
You know,” began Garrett, “I think you’re letting your Wisconsin show.”

“
It’s been a long time.” Liddie smiled and pushed her hair back. “Feels kind of good.”

Garrett nodded
and ran his eyes up and down her body. “Looks good, too.” He motioned toward the barn. “Let’s see if we can open a window.”

The barn was already a more pleasant place due to the ventilation. Most of the animals were covered with their own filth
, and the toxic air was now clearing out.

Garrett started hacking away at
one of the walls, and Liddie joined him. They had to be careful not to compromise the structure. When they’d managed to create a hole large enough to create a breeze, Garrett set down his ax.

“
There’s a better tool for this.”

He left the barn and came back with a gas
-powered saw. Pulling the starter cord, Garrett got it going and quickly cut another huge rectangle on the other the side of the barn. He did it as fast as possible, realizing the noise disturbed the animals.

When he finished, they looked around. Half of the animals were
now outside being refreshed by the rain, while the others, many too huge to move, were getting fresh air through the new holes in the barn.

“
You know what we got to do now?” asked Garrett.

Liddie nodded.
“They need more water. And maybe I can find stuff to feed them.”

“
Fruit. Lettuce. Bread. Get whatever you can find and bring it here.”

Liddie cleared out the two compact refrigerators that were in the camp.
Then she found burlap bags filled with fruit in the corner of the office cabin. There were bananas, melons, mangos, papaya, and a few other fruits she’d never seen before. It wouldn’t be enough to satisfy many of the animals, but it would help diminish their hunger. She found a knife and started chopping.

When the table was covered with sliced and diced food, she emptied out a cooler and started pushing
the fruit off the table and into the bin.

“
Look at the honey bear,” said Garrett when she returned.

Liddie looked at the
small bear sitting in one of the cages across from the tigers. The animal had big, long claws, but was curiously pushing around a ball Garrett had found and tossed in. It looked like a happy toddler.

“
It’s so adorable,” smiled Liddie. “What kind of fruit do you think?”

Garrett shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter. Just grab some and throw it in.”

She did as he directed and watched the bear suck it up, licking its claw
s and fur for a more complete taste.

Liddie went around the whole room,
aware that Garrett had been busy washing down the cages to get the filth out from under the animals’ feet, hooves, and paws.

The whole plac
e was looking a lot more humane, and it was having a profound affect on the wildlife. Calm and curious now, they were settling down and resting more comfortably.

When Liddie was sure that every animal had gotten at least some fruit, she tried to give the larger
ones more.

The tiger that Garrett had fought was up and alert
. He lapped up the fruit without any aggression, as if he knew he was being helped. The tigers also got whatever meat she could find in the fridges, though Liddie knew it was nowhere near what they needed.

“
Can I have something to eat?” asked Parker, watching from his cage. He was crumpled against the bars, looking miserable.

He sounded tired
, and Liddie knew it wouldn’t be long before he was asleep as well.

“
Sorry, Parker, but I think we’re all out of granola bars.”

Garrett played with the fingers of one of the caged monkeys. The primate tried to grab and pick at him playfully. Most of the animals were bouncing back. There were a few that he was concerned about, but he hoped they just needed to stay calm for a while and replenish. Once the rangers and animal welfare group arrived, they’d get whatever medicines might be needed as well.

As for the tigers, he knew they needed fresh prey. He and a ranger ought to be able to hunt down a wild boar or two to sustain them.

Garrett watched Liddie distribute the fruit like she was serving beer at an Oktoberfest. It made him laugh. She talked to the animals and tossed the food into the cages like a waitress for Mother Nature.

As hard as he tried, Garrett couldn
’t suppress a desire for her. The summer top and shorts she wore were covered with filth; her hair was soggy from the rain, with bits of mud and leaves trapped into it. Yet, she had an attractive confidence about her now. Not like before, when she first stepped on the plane, acting like Parker’s little woman.

No. Liddie had found herself again.
He wondered if she knew it.

Garrett
sighed. He hadn’t planned to fill his future with a woman. Not with the life he’d chosen for himself. How, he wondered, could it work?

He watched Liddie move about, tired but determined. Did she truly have the strength, he wondered, to live a life so far removed from fairytales?

Liddie stood outside the barn, looking over the animals. Garrett approached, wrapped his arms around her waist, and rocked her back and forth.