Predator Island

by Douglas Cameron

  “That finishes the Panthera group,” Horus continued unmindful of the horseplay. “To remind you, they are the lion, the tiger…”

  “Not the bear,” said Gloria and an “Oh my,” came from Monica. Then they both laughed.

  “… jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. Should we keep them all?” Horus asked.

  “Can you get one of each?” Waldo asked. “Some of them are endangered to some degree.”

  “That is true. But there are cats who go astray, and people would like to get rid of them for the sake of population safety. We will do our best which is all we can hope for,” was Horus’s response. “And that is the case with any of the animals. The list has already been shortened quite a bit. Of course, there are no reptiles, no aquatic predators.

  “Next on the list … let me see … ah, yes, the cougar.”

  “You made that sound almost as though you were human, Horus,” Waldo said.

  There was a pregnant silence, but no pin dropped.

  “I don’t understand,” Horus said.

  “Well, you paused, as though you were searching for something. But it’s all on the computer – right at your fingertips, like they say … whoever they are – and you don’t have fingertips. Do you?”

  “I don’t think that a discussion of who or what I am is appropriate at this time. Can we just proceed?”

  Monica noticed a wisp of a smile flicker on Issaack’s face and then was gone. I wonder what he thought was funny?

  “Certainly. That comment was not meant to insult. Rather it was … oh, forget it.”

  “Forgotten. Earlier we mentioned the cougar but did not talk about it. This well-known cat has a range from the Yukon in Canada to the Andes in South America. It is a secretive, solitary creature. Like many of the cats, it attacks from ambush. They are the fourth largest cat, with the adult male standing twenty-four to thirty-five inches at the shoulder and are 7.9 feet from nose to tail tip, of which twenty-five to thirty-seven inches is the tail. Better said is that of the 7.9 feet, two to three feet is tail. Males weigh between one hundred fifteen and two hundred twenty pounds. This said, it is not the apex predator throughout its habitat. It gives way to the jaguar, gray wolf, American black bear and grizzly bear. I personally think that it would like the chance to prove it is the apex predator where it lives.”

  “I agree,” Phil said. “Count that critter in. Now what’s this about the gray wolf? We haven’t talked about that, have we?”

  “No, that’s next on my list,” Horus said, “but does everyone agree that the cougar deserves to be in.”

  There was a chorus of “yesses” from all, even Ramiro.

  “Nice to hear from you, Mr. Esteves,” Horus said. “Do you have a special affinity for the cougar.”

  “Ef-fine-ate-tee? I do not understand this word. I hate thiz cougar. It killz too much liveztock no meu fazenda (on my ranch) and I want zem killed.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “‘Affinity’ means ‘afinidade,’” Horus said.

  “Ah, sim. Hookay. I have not affinity for diz cougar.”

  There was a chuckle from Horus. Monica and Gloria looked at each other and shrugged. Always expect the unexpected, Gloria thought.

  Chapter 15

  “I believe we are done with cats,” Horus said.

  “Then let’s go to the dogs,” Waldo said with a big smile on his face.

  Several of the Bundle cracked smiles, but there was nothing from Horus.

  “First, on the list – again we are going alphabetically – is the coyote. One of my favorites,” Horus remarked.

  Monica noticed that Gloria raised an eyebrow at this.

  “The coyote fills the ecological place that the jackal does in Eurasia. It is smaller than the gray wolf – we haven’t talked about that yet – and actually is a close relative. A male averages eighteen to forty-four pounds with the female just slightly smaller. It eats small animals and the occasional deer. Interestingly, man is the coyote’s greatest threat and, of course, man means civilization. In the animal world, cougars and gray wolves are tops on the coyote’s threat list. It hunts in pairs or in groups and approaches the prey from the front trying to bite the prey’s head and throat.”

  “You said that they don’t hunt alone,” Phil said.

  “Not typically,” Horus answered.

  “Does this mean that we get a pair?”

  “I think that it makes sense in this case, because of what we are doing, to get a couple.”

  “Right, we get two.”

  “Well, two or three, maybe four. When I say a couple, I am using the word as an idiom and that means two or more.”

  “Okay, I think I can agree that since this is a pack animal, getting just one would put it out of sorts. Therefore, I move – makes this sound more businesslike – that we get two or three coyotes. Four would be too many.” Phil smiled when he was finished.

  “I agree,” Issaack said.

  “As do I,” chirped Gloria.

  “Sim,” Ramiro said.

  “Right on,” Monica said.

  “Then we’re agreed,” Horus said, sounding a bit pleased. “Now to the coyote’s cousin, the gray wolf, which – interestingly enough – is native to Eurasia and North America. It is also known as the timber wolf or western wolf. Males weigh ninety-five to one hundred pounds with females about fifteen pounds less. It is a social animal and, interestingly, an apex predator throughout its range. The biggest threats to it are tigers – where they exist – and man. We’ve already talked about its attack method, coming from behind an animal. It tries get the prey to run so they can chase it and try to trip it or cut its hamstring, I think. If the prey stands its ground as elk or moose do, the wolves don’t like it. It seems to be the chase they like.”

  “You said it is a social animal. Does this mean it hunts in a team, like coyotes?” Harvey Gladstone asked.

  “They seem to be most successful when they hunt singly or in pairs,” was Horus’s answer.

  “Then I move we go with one. We can make the coyote an exception to the rule,” Harvey Gladstone said.

  “All those who agree…”

  A chorus of “yesses” rang out before Horus could finish.

  “Then we are down to the last predator that we offer for consideration…”

  “You keep saying ‘we’,” Gloria said. “Who’s ‘we’?”

  Horus almost looked pensive.

  “I think that Monica can explain,” Horus said.

  Everyone looked at Monica, who laughed.

  “You want me to explain why he says, ‘we offer’ or ‘we have.’ Is that it?”

  There was a murmured affirmative.

  “It’s easy. It’s the royal ‘we.’ The way the queen talks.”

  Several people laughed.

  “Ha,” Phil said. “Horus thinks he’s royalty. Well, it’s not worth a long debate. We think we should move on to consideration of …”

  “The spotted hyena,” Horus finished. “Or more popularly, the laughing hyena. Since we have been considering whether the animals hunt in groups, the spotted hyena hunts alone, in small groups or large groups. An adult is between twenty-eight and thirty-six inches at the shoulder, is between thirty-seven and sixty-five inches in length, and weighs between eighty-nine and one hundred-twenty pounds. They have extremely strong front quarters and much more underdeveloped rear quarters. Their heart is about 1% of their body weight which makes them able to run long distances in the chase. And they basically run their prey into the ground and when it tires, it’s dead.”

  “I don’t want to ever face one of those,” Monica said. “They’re ugly and nasty. But I think it stands a chance. Let ‘em in.”

  “Agreed,” said the others.

  “Well, that’s it then. We have …”

  “No, zat’z not it,” Ramiro said. “You left out the mozt important one.”

  “I don’t understand,” Horus said. “I offered everyone on the list. No one was left out.”r />
  “Sim, zere waz,” Ramiro said. “Zhe mozt dangerouz predator in ze world. It livez on every continent. It livez in every environment. It haz conquered everyzing on ziz world and beyond.”

  “You don’t mean…”

  “Sim, I do. Man. You have to include man.”

  “No. That is unacceptable,” Horus sounded perturbed. “We will not put man in the contest. It would be …”

  “What? What would it be?” Phil chimed in. “Man is a predator. Man is the apex predator. Isn’t that what we are really looking for. The one predator that is at the top of all the food chains. In a way, it’s almost ridiculous to even have this contest when we know who the winner will be.”

  “I don’t agree,” Gloria said. “We are talking about predators in the natural world. Man doesn’t count in that world. Man is above all the animals because …”

  “You’re wrong,” Harvey Gladstone said. “And you are right. Man has shown himself to be better than all the animals in each of the places in the world. But this is different. We are taking the best from North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia. We’re leaving out Australia because nothing there is big enough to fight lions and tigers and bears …”

  “And wolves, and cougars, and hyenas,” put in Phil. “And there aren’t any land predators in Antarctica and the climate on São Rochelle is not amenable to host anything from Antarctica or the Arctic. That’s why we are leaving out the polar bear. São Rochelle is outside the polar bear’s environment. That’s why we’re leaving out sharks and whales and aquatic predators. But other than that, man is not out of his environment in São Rochelle. I second Ramiro’s nomination. We need to include man in this.”

  “That’s crazy,” Monica said. “A man wouldn’t stand a chance against a tiger or a lion.”

  “Certainly he would,” Gladstone said. “One shot from a thirty aught six and a tiger is history.”

  “There’ll be no guns,” Horus said. “That’s not natural.”

  “Well, there’s been a nomination,” Phil said. “We’ve discussed it. Now let’s vote.”

  “Show of hands,” Gloria said.

  “No,” Issaack said. “We ask – Horus asks – each person in the order they arrived. That’s the way to do it.”

  Everyone seemed to agree so, Horus started.

  He appeared on the table in front of Harvey Gladstone.

  “How say you, Mr. Gladstone?” Horus intoned.

  “Guilty,” Harvey said and laughed. “I am in favor of including man in the mix.”

  “How say you, Ms. Bartlett?” Horus said as he appeared in front of Monica.

  “No. Man is not to be included.” Monica answered.

  “How say you, Mr. Kinkaid,” Horus said.

  “I vote to exclude man from consideration,” Issaack said.

  “What say you, Señor Esteves.”

  “Sim,” Ramiro said, “Man is always in the discussion.”

  “What say you, Mr. Parmalee?”

  “I vote yes. I would volunteer.”

  “What say you, Mrs. Mitchell?”

  “No, I object. It would be cruel and unusual punishment.”

  “It’s tied,” Gladstone said.

  Everyone looked at Waldo.

  “What say you, Mr. Emerson?” Horus asked.

  Waldo looked around.

  “I vote the way my mind says is right, I vote …”

  Chapter 16

  He’d been in place since the mid-morning and was growing weary. He hadn’t had a shot when Esteves got out of the limousine, there were two bodyguards in front and two behind. Although they weren’t tall, they had blocked him. He could have taken one or both of them out but that was all, and he wouldn’t have gotten away. He had followed Esteves from the airport where he had flown in two hours before his arrival at the meeting hotel. He had known there was a meeting; that’s why Esteves had left his Brazilian Ranch and flown to Cartagena. It had to be important to get him out. All the contact had known was that he was going to Cartagena and that he would arrive early that morning. An informant in the airport’s ground crew had told him via a text message that Esteves’s plane had landed and had described the limousine, including a picture showing the license plate clearly.

  The stop at the restaurant had been a surprise and Esteves was out and inside before he had a chance to do anything. The limo sat there idling with two of the bodyguards around keeping an eye on the outside of the restaurant and the limousine. When Esteves came out and got in the limousine, a shot, if he had wanted to take one, would have been impossible. So he waited and followed him to the meeting place. It was a small building with a patio on one side and an alley on the other. The walls on both sides of the alley were free of windows on the first floor. There were doors leading into the building, but he couldn’t get to them because both ends of the alley were gated with security cameras and there were security cameras on the hotel. After a quick walk-by during which he had discovered the security devices in place (and there were probably many more) he had found a place from which he could watch three other people arrive. One came in a limousine, one in a cab and one in an UberSelect. Being a meticulous person, he noted that there seemed to be an almost precise twenty-minute period between arrivals. The vehicle would drive up and sit idling until the passenger got out and entered the building after showing a card to an electric eye. Two were men, one woman and most were dressed for business except the first who was wearing a T-shirt and Dockers.

  The attack that had occurred after the woman arrived took him by surprise. A car had driven down the street past him and he had noticed that the windows were down on his side but up on the other side. Two men sitting on his side were wearing dark glasses and peering out the windows looking ahead – when they started shooting he realized they were waiting for the target to appear. Almost immediately, there was an explosion and then more automatic fire from the far side of the small hotel where he realized there was a small yard and probably a veranda for the hotel’s dining room if it had such. Simultaneously when the men in the car opened fire at the hotel, return fire came from the second-floor windows. It came with such ferocity that the driver of the car picked up speed and the car disappeared. The same thing happened after the explosion and the violence was over quickly. He was surprised when the Cartagena police didn’t show up but from he what had heard, the police were more interested in payoffs than law enforcement. Undoubtedly one of the two sides in the dispute – which certainly was a rival cartel hunting Esteves just as he was – had paid the cops off. The tit for tat that he had witnessed convinced him that he did not want to complete his hunt here. Good planners never show all their cards at once, so he was certain that there were other defensive pockets around that he hadn’t seen yet. He had been surprised when the first fusillade had come from the front of the hotel. The windows had opened so quickly he hadn’t seen them. In fact, he was wondering if they were there at all. He would have to check his camera. But he had really been looking at the car not the building and by the time his vision shifted from the car when it started pulling away, he was certain that all the windows were closed.

  An hour after the third person had shown up, he realized the meeting was small. He had no idea when it was going to let out. Never knowing what was going to happen on a job like this, he was prepared with food and drink and was using a catheter with a catch bag on his thigh. He had moved the car twice and had only driven by the building once. His surveillance tour had been on foot. At 5:30 p.m., he was beginning to wonder what was going to happen when a van pulled up in front. Four young people – two men and two women, got out. The men were dressed in tuxedos with aqua blue ruffled tuxedo shirts and dark blue bow ties and cummerbunds. The women were wearing black dresses with what looked like a string of aqua pearls around their necks. They went around to the back of the van and opened the door. They reappeared carrying black cases. He identified the instruments immediately and realized that the four were a string quartet: two violins,
a viola, and a cello. That signified one thing to him. There was a banquet that evening and, more than likely, everyone was staying the night even though none of the people who he had seen entering the building were carrying luggage of any type – not even phones or computers of any form. Strange, he thought.

  Chapter 17

  Monica and Gloria were the first out of the meeting room and headed straight for the elevator.

  “What’s your room number?” Gloria asked.

  “207. It is in a back corner. What’s yours?”

  “206. It’s across the hall.”

  “I just hope we are not close to Juan.”

  The two ladies laughed as they reached the elevator, the doors opening. Entering, they turned around and saw the doors closing and then the elevator started ascending.

  “I’ve never been in a lift without buttons,” Monica said.

  “I’ll bet it’s the card. You don’t have one, the door won’t open. And it won’t let us go to any floor but our own unless someone on it has a room on that floor.”

  “I like it.”

  The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. In front of them was a pale pink door with white molding with a nameplate shaped like an orchid Cattleya trianae, the national flower of Columbia, and mauve lettering reading “Housekeeping.” The carpet on the floor was a mauve plush, the walls were a pale pink, the ceiling a brilliant white. That was the only way to describe it because it seemed to glow. When they stepped out of the elevator, lights turned on somewhere because the hallway brightened yet there were no lights to be seen. The only way to go was to the right. Just past the elevator on the right was a landing and stairs going up. As they continued a few steps, they could see another doorway on the left with an orchid nameplate reading “Laundry” and in front of them, a doorway with an orchid nameplate and mauve number 201.

  “I like the color scheme,” Gloria said. “The pink on the walls looks like the pink of the orchid.”

  “Yes, it’s really relaxing. And the door handles are all mauve matching the carpeting,” agreed Monica. “They may call this the Orchid Floor. That would be in keeping with the boutique idea.”