Sovereign Sheriff

RUNNING HARD, JAKE CHARGED across the basketball court and rushed into the thicket of pine trees opposite his house. Low branches on the bushes snapped against his legs as he dodged through the tree trunks. Anger surged through him. They’d been ambushed. In spite of his precautions, someone had gotten close enough to shoot. The weapon had been a camera not a gun. But the intent was the same.

The moonlight was enough for him to see the back of his quarry. A man in a black windbreaker and a black knit cap, he moved though the trees with a clumsy halting gait. His arms thrashed at low hanging branches. This was a man unfamiliar with forests and uneven terrain.

Jake was gaining on him. These mountains were his home. Since childhood, he’d been running through these forests. He knew how to place his feet, when to dodge and when to leap.

The man in black broke out of the trees into the open. Directly ahead of him was the barbed-wire fence that separated Jake’s property from his neighbor’s. As he swerved to avoid crashing headlong into the fence, he stumbled and fell to his hands and knees.

Jake shouted a warning. “Stop. Police.”

The man staggered upright. He was breathing hard. “Don’t shoot.”

“Show me your hands.”

“I’m a photographer.” He pointed to the camera hanging on a strap around his neck. In his left hand, he held some kind of flash device. “I’m not going to hurt anybody. I just wanted a picture of the princess.”

Jake didn’t have a set of handcuffs with him, but he didn’t think he’d need them. His rage was enough to ensure this guy wouldn’t resist. “Come with me.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

Jake tore the flash from his hand. “Give me the camera.”

“I got a great photo of you and Saida. And I mean great.” He sucked down a breath. “You look good together. You might not know this, but you’re developing a fan base. The women in my office are watching your daily briefings and they want more pictures of the sexy sheriff of Wind River County.”

Oh, swell. “Your camera. Now.”

“Awright, awright.” He took the camera from his neck and handed it over. “Be careful with the equipment. It’s top-of-the-line, expensive.”

Jake glared at this unshaven little ferret with the long, greasy, blond ponytail. “I’ve seen you hanging around at the resort.”

“Danny Harold,” he introduced himself. “Saida knows me. I’ve taken about a million photos of the princess.”

And she must have known that the paparazzo would be lurking outside the house. When she lured Jake onto the porch and touched his cheek so sweetly, she’d been setting him up for a photo op. She’d conned him. His anger at her translated into a growl at the man in his custody. “Danny Harold, you’re under arrest.”

“For what?” he yelped.

“Consider yourself lucky, it wasn’t so long ago that we shot trespassers.”

Jake marched him through the trees and back to the house. The walk gave him time to cool down, and that was good. He was outraged. The way she’d manipulated him with this stunt went too far. The last thing he needed was some high-maintenance princess flouncing around and making ridiculous demands. What the hell had she been thinking? What did she hope to gain from Danny Harold?

Kent Wheeler stood on the porch, gun in hand. Though the brim of his hat shielded his eyes, his frustration was evident. “Sorry, Sheriff. I don’t know how this creep got so close.”

“Not your fault.” Jake shoved Danny toward him. “Cuff him and put him in your car.”

While Danny squawked about freedom of the press and how he didn’t mean any harm, Jake mounted the steps to the porch and entered the house. Maggie and Saida were sitting at the dining room table with coffee mugs in front of them. The princess rose to her feet and adjusted the fur collar of the vest she’d put on over her naked shirt. Her posture was perfect, and her attitude was so imperial that she could have been wearing a crown.

He wanted to tear away that composure and get to the truth. He placed the camera equipment on the table and said to his sister, “Give us some privacy.”

“Sure thing.”

When Maggie stepped up beside him and touched his arm, he almost flinched. Holding his anger in check was taking all his willpower. Her touch morphed into a sisterly hug that felt like a straitjacket. He assured her, “I’m fine.”

She looked up at him with worried eyes. “Can I get anything for you? Coffee? A sandwich? Linguini?”

“Get out of here, sis.”

He waited until Maggie had disappeared up the stairs and he heard the door to her room close. Then he confronted Saida.

“I want an explanation, Princess.”

“I’M HAPPY TO EXPLAIN.” Saida remained standing at the table. “Danny Harold is the bane of my existence. He’s after me all the time, stalking me with his camera. I suspected that he’d find a way to get close. If I gave him a photo opportunity that he couldn’t resist, he’d reveal himself.”

Finally, Jake had gotten a direct answer from her. Not that it made any sense. She hated Danny, but she wanted to see him. What? He homed in on the important fact. “You were trying to lure him into the open.”

“Yes.”

“And you used me to do it.”

“You gave me no choice,” she said. “You refused to listen to me. I have a plan.”

A headache throbbed behind his eyes. All her fancy foot-work was making him dizzy. “I’m listening now. What’s this big plan of yours?”

“The time of my arrival was leaked to the men who chased me. If someone who works at the resort or the airport was responsible, that person must have passed their information to the paparazzi, as well.”

“How do you figure?”

“People like Danny pay well for tips.” With an elegant gesture, she tucked her shiny, black hair behind her ear. “If we ask him the right questions, he’ll identify his source.”

Either Jake was losing his mind or she was making sense. “Talking to Danny Harold is actually a decent plan.”

“So I’m right.”

“Don’t push it.” He went to the door and called to Deputy Wheeler. “Bring Danny in here.”

“Can I interrogate him?” she asked. “This is my plan, after all.”

“What do you know about interrogation?”

“I just finished my first year at UCLA law school. All A’s except for a B in torts. I hate torts.”

Law school? “Why are you studying law?”

“I hope to reform the legal system in my country and in the other COIN nations. I want to do something useful.”

He stalked past her and went into the kitchen, hoping to put distance between them. He didn’t want to be sucked into her life story.

“Right now, all that’s expected of me is to appear on red carpets and attend charity and political events,” she said as she trailed behind him.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”