The Defender

He was impressed how quickly she put things together. But then, in Joe’s experience with falconers, they were highly intelligent and, like the raptors they saved, had extraordinary observation and alertness skills. “Yes, there’s a smaller home near the ranch house and I’m living there.”

Katie sighed. “You’re so lucky to have a mom and dad....”

As he heard the yearning in her whisper, Joe felt his heart suddenly wrench in his chest. He drilled her with a look, trying to ferret out whether she was telling the truth. But he was flummoxed. “We get along well with one another” was all he said. Yes, there was real pain in her eyes. For a second, he thought he saw tears building but Katie dipped her head.

Clearing her throat, Katie studied his résumé some more. “So you want a full-time job, five days a week with me, and you’re working with your dad on weekends?”

“That’s right.”

Katie asked in a concerned tone, “How long before you move into ranching as a full-time job?”

Joe knew she worried that if she hired him, he’d leave. “Not for ten years,” and he added a half smile to his answer. Instantly, he saw relief in her face. The stress fled the corners of her delicious mouth. If Katie was this easy to read, he’d have no problem figuring out the connection between her and Janet Bergstrom. “My father isn’t ready to retire. My coming home rather unexpectedly because of the wound I received in Afghanistan got him thinking about offering me the ranch.” Joe opened his hands. “I can’t go back into the military. This IED concussion ended my career. I hadn’t really figured out what I was going to do after the hospital released me and I got my walking papers from the Marine Corps. When I was sent to Eddie for rehab, I fell in love with falconry. My dad called me and asked me to come home and offered to teach me the business, and I accepted.”

“I know about your dad’s landscaping business because Iris hired him to come out here with his construction equipment to level the land where the facility would be built. I remember him. He was a very nice person.”

“My dad is an easygoing type and he’s built up an eco-friendly landscaping business here in the valley over the years.”

“Did you want to become a rancher?”

“I loved the military. I was an officer and I was a good leader. I wanted to put in my twenty years and retire.” Shrugging, Joe said, “You know how life can twist and turn? I knew my two tours in Afghanistan would be dangerous. I lost some of my people to IEDs. And then my turn came.” Joe told her the truth. He purposely left out that during his recovery the FBI had asked him to work for them. He’d spent a year in training after the six months of rehab. The FBI had wanted to put him as an undercover operative in Katie’s life. They wanted actual proof the daughter was working with the Los Lobos cartel.

“I think it’s great your dad has offered you a new career.” Katie smiled a little. “This way, you can be home to enjoy your parents and this beautiful area.”

The wistfulness in her tone told Joe she was wishing she had the same life as he did. After all, being abandoned at birth would be a huge emotional hole in anyone’s life. Gently, he said, “Yes, I count myself lucky.”

The glass doors slid open. Iris Mason stepped in wearing her gardening gloves, a bunch of weeds dangling from her left hand. “Hey, am I disturbing you, Katie? Hi, Joe, nice to see you again.”

Katie lifted her hand. “Hi, Iris. I see you’re weeding again.” In the morning, Iris could usually be found out in her flower beds. “Do you know Joe Gannon?”

“Yes, I do. Glad you could make it out.” Iris dropped the weeds in a nearby barrel and pulled off her muddy gloves.

Joe nodded deferentially to Iris. “Good to see you again, Miss Iris. Looks like the weeds are losing.”

“Oh, they are. Amazing how weeds spring up overnight.” The woman smiled up at him before turning her attention to Katie. “What do you think? Is Joe a good choice to work with you out here?”

Katie handed her the résumé. “What do you think? You’re the one paying his salary.”

Chuckling, Iris took the résumé and quickly perused it. “Well, darling girl, if you like his abilities and you think he’s the ticket, I’m all for it.” She handed the paper back to Katie. Her eyes sparkled as she met Joe’s gaze.

Joe flicked a glance toward Katie. He saw the love mirrored in her face for the silver-haired elder in the floppy straw hat. Something told him Katie was like a long-lost daughter to Iris. The woman’s family had recently expanded. Kamaria Trayhern, the daughter of Rudd Mason, her own adopted son, had returned to the Elk Horn Ranch a few years ago. Kam had proven that she was Rudd’s daughter through a DNA test. Iris had been beside herself with joy. Now, Kam was married to Wes, a wrangler who worked on the ranch. Joe knew from his study of Iris and her family that Kam was expecting a baby girl shortly. Iris was well-known for finding strays, embracing and helping them. It was her nature to help underdogs and she had helped many in the valley.

Iris removed her straw hat and ran her fingers through her mussed hair. “Joe is a known factor,” she told Katie. “You’ve met his father already. As you know, not much isn’t known about those who live in this valley.” She chuckled and settled the hat back on her head. “If you want to hire him, I’m all for it.”

Katie nodded. She looked up at Joe. “I’d like to test you with a few of the raptors. I want to see how you handle them.”

Iris smiled. “Good. Well, I just wanted to drop in and say hello.” She picked up her muddy gloves. “Katie, you put him through his paces. Nice seeing you, Joe.” She waved to them and disappeared through the glass doors.

Internally, Joe went on guard. Would the raptors give him away? God, he hoped not. Would Katie ask him to work with Sam? Eagles were more persnickety than the hot-blooded falcons.

“Your choice. Would you like to work with Harlequin?”

“Sure,” Joe lied. Great, a falcon. They were well-known to be flighty, nervous and to pick up quickly on a person’s energy.

“Do you have your own falconry equipment with you?”

“Yes, it’s in my car. I’ll bring it in....”

Katie watched him leave. There was nothing to dislike about Joe Gannon. He was respectful. He seemed to listen. His handling of a raptor would tell her a lot more than any résumé. He soon returned with a black canvas bag across his shoulder. He took the bag over to the desk and opened it. Curious, Katie watched him draw out a dark brown gauntlet. She saw all the scratches across the well-used kangaroo-leather glove. It was a good sign he had been working regularly with Eddie.

“Why don’t you go down and get Harlequin? I’ll stand to one side and just watch. If you need anything, I’ll be there to coach you.”

Joe pulled on the glove. “Do you want me to feed Harlequin?”

“Actually,” Katie said, “he needs to be weighed. Every morning each raptor is weighed on those scales over there.” She pointed to a long desk on the other side of the aisle. There were two scales on the table. One was for the eagle and the smaller one was for the rest of her raptors.

“Okay,” he said, heading down the aisle. His heart was pounding. He had to get this job. It didn’t matter what Iris Mason wanted and Joe knew that. It would all come down to this: how he handled a raptor. Swallowing hard, Joe forced himself to take a deep, calming breath. As he approached the mew and unlocked it, Harlequin warily eyed him from his perch. Joe knew better than to look any raptor in the eye as this was a sign of threat. Averting his eyes, he focused on quietly entering the clean cage and closing the door behind him. One never left a door open. Ever.

Katie stood back, attentive. She watched Harlequin, who was a red-hot pistol to deal with. If Joe could handle this testy tundra peregrine, he could handle any raptor under her care. She liked the way Joe moved. He slowly brought his glove up to the perch. Harlequin looked at it and then at Joe. A slight smile pulled at Katie’s mouth. Harlequin was all male. And she knew he was sizing up this male stranger in his mew. Raptors remembered faces and they literally memorized everything they saw. Would Harlequin suddenly fly away from Joe because this was the first time he’d ever seen him?

Joe tapped the glove with his index finger. It was an unspoken command every raptor in captivity understood. The falcon looked disdainfully at the index finger on the glove. And then he looked away, toward the other mew where Quest was perched. “I think Harlequin’s focus is elsewhere,” he joked to her in a quiet tone.

Chuckling softly, Katie said, “Gotcha. Yes, he’s wanting to be in her mew. It’s time they mated. Keep tapping your glove. He’ll eventually climb on it.”

Liking her quiet direction, Joe did as he was told.

Harlequin really didn’t want to leave his mew or his mate-to-be. He flapped his wings but remained where he was, ignoring the signal.

“This guy has attitude,” Joe said.

“Yeah, he does. Keep at it. You have to be more stubborn and persistent than he is.”

Smiling a little, Joe again tapped his glove.

Harlequin hopped onto it.

With quiet, smooth motions, Joe attached the jesses to the soft kangaroo leggings around each of Harlequin’s yellow legs. So far, so good. After placing the jesses between the thick fingers of his glove, he slowly lifted the falcon up and headed for the door. If Harlequin tried to bolt and fly back to his perch near the lady falcon, Joe would now have control over him.

Katie nodded her approval. Harlequin seemed all right being on the man’s glove, but he kept looking back with concern toward Quest. “I think once you get done weighing and feeding Harlequin, we’ll transfer him over to the other mew after we weigh and feed Quest.”

Joe walked the falcon up the aisle. Harlequin was looking around, suddenly caught up in viewing all the other raptors on either side of him. “Do I need to put a hood on him? He looks like he’s getting ready to fly.”

“No, he’ll be okay.” Katie knew that most falcons, when brought out of a mew, were always hooded. That kept them from being overstimulated by the changing environment, making them stressed and flighty. “Harlequin is pretty laid-back for a boy falcon,” she said with a laugh. “The only time I’ll hood him is when I take him out for flying time.”

Joe caught her gaze. Her smile melted his heart. She was happy. And so was he, despite the worry the falcon might take flight. Walking to the counter, he placed his glove next to the perch wrapped with outdoor carpeting and securely taped to the top of the scale. Joe tapped the perch with his index finger. Harlequin quickly leaped from his glove, fluffed his feathers, preened a bit on the perch and looked around as lord of all he surveyed.

Katie walked up and picked up a nearby clipboard. “Every morning you’ll weigh each raptor. Depending upon his or her weight, you’ll feed them a certain amount of meat.” She flipped the pages to Harlequin’s file and read the scale numbers. “What amount should he be fed based upon this weight?”

Joe knew the test and glanced at the numbers. Every raptor had a normal weight for their age and size. “I think he’d like about two ounces of meat.”