Predator Island

by Douglas Cameron

  “Well, you hardly had anything for breakfast.”

  “Excitement. When I get excited for some reason, I have a nervous stomach and chunder if I have too much to eat.”

  “Chunder. Interesting term,” Gloria said. “Better than puke.”

  “Any interesting story behind his acquisition?” Waldo asked.

  “You know the story of the Tsavo man-eaters?”

  “Yeah. The two lions who killed those construction workers on the Kenya-Uganda Railway. I think there was a movie made about them.”

  “Actually, there were several movies based on the incident. Bwana Devil is my favorite although The Ghost and the Darkness has Val Kilmer in it and my wife likes him. But we’re digressing. There was a report of a man-eating panther in the area. They sent out search parties and came back with this one. Your organization had a request out for a leopard and he suited the bill.”

  “Was he the man-eater?”

  “Don’t know. Just that there have been no further reports.”

  Monica and Gloria had been listening to the conversation and looked at each other and nodded.

  “His name is Val Killer, but we’ll call him Val for short,” Gloria said.

  “You’ve got one more and then we have to get busy,” David Brimley said and led the party to the last cage.

  “This is the jaguar or El Tigre in Mexico where he is from,” he said, pointing at the placard.

  Female

  Jaguar

  Panthera onca

  4 years

  Mexico

  “You are fortunate to have this one because international trade in jaguars or their parts is prohibited.”

  “Well, then how did we get it?” Issaack asked.

  “There was a freighter docked in Rio Grande, Brazil. It had docked because there was illness rampant on the ship and the captain ordered the ship to dock in the nearest port. You’ve heard about last orders from a death bed. Well, this was one. When the contagion team came onboard, they found ten illicit animals in cages. This was one of them. Since there was no convenient way to return this cat to Mexico which was the ship’s last docking point, your organization assumed responsibility and since the temporary zoo was in Brazil and there were ample veterinarians … and I guess a lot of political influence …” he rubbed his right thumb on his right index and middle fingers in the universal sign of payoffs “… we got it.”

  “‘Sortudo’ means lucky in Portuguese,” Issaack said. “Not a very good name for a jaguar but apt under the circumstances.”

  “Let’s keep it simple and call her ‘Lucky’,” Gloria said.

  “Then we’re done,” Issaack said. And to David Brimley, “Thanks for the tour and good luck on your job this afternoon.”

  “You’re welcome and thank you all for joining us. A pleasure to meet you all.”

  They shook hands and started off.

  “Mr. Kinkaid, may I have a few moments of your time. Maybe ten minutes at the most,” David Brimley said.

  “Of course,” Issaack said. And to the others, “You go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

  David Brimley led Issaack back down the line of cages and held open the black curtain at the end. On the other side of the curtain set back about ten feet was another cage and Issaack couldn’t believe what he saw.

  Chapter 26

  Lying on his side facing the front of the cage was a naked man.

  “Who the hell is he and what is he doing here?” Issaack said although he already suspected that he knew the answer to the second question.

  “I am unable to answer either part of that question,” David Brimley said. “When the animals were brought aboard, this cage came also. We were told that we were to make certain that the man stayed sedated throughout the voyage and the cage placements today. We each were promised an extra $25,000.00 if we did as we were told and kept our mouths shut until the project was completed.”

  “You mean until you placed the cages and left São Rochelle?”

  “No. Until the king of predators is determined.”

  “Why would you agree to such a thing?” Issaack was incredulous.

  “Honestly, we didn’t have a choice. It was obvious from the manner in which this ultimatum was delivered that if we didn’t agree and comply, death was the alternative.”

  Ramiro Esteves, Issaack thought. He had to get his way. That’s one of the reasons he took over the island.

  “I understand,” Issaack said. “We are in a similar situation. You’ll have to do as instructed. All of you. I – we, all of us who can – will make it right. That is not your worry. We are the ones who let this mess happen and we will make it right as soon as we can. Now, where does this cage go?”

  “At the south end of the island. The instructions were ‘At the south end of island as far away from the tunnel entrance to the volcano as possible.’”

  “Give me your map.”

  David Brimley handed Issaack the map of the island showing the placements of the cages. Issaack studied it for a moment and then showed David Brimley a spot on the map.

  “Put it here and face the door so that it points just past the western edge of Colina da Rocha. Does one of you go with each cage?”

  “Yes, to be certain that the animal is comfortable. You know, breathing properly.”

  “You go with this one.”

  “That’s what I was planning.”

  “Do you have a knife?”

  “What kind?” Brimley asked.

  “Well, a hunting knife would be best,” was Issaack’s answer.

  “I do. I always have one when working with the animals.”

  “Here’s what I want you to do.”

  Issaack outlined his plan.

  “I’d do it if I could, but I know I won’t be permitted,” he explained to Brimley

  “Issaack,” Siegfried called from the other side of the curtain. “Ramiro wants us back.”

  “Got to go,” Issaack said. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks and same to you.”

  Issaack pushed through the curtain and as they walked through B.B. Queen’s cargo bay he told Siegfried what had transpired

  Every ship like the B.B. Queen has a shop to make repairs. David Brimley gave directions to his team to prepare the first delivery of animals and then went to his cabin and got his hunting knife and returned to the cargo hold and went to the shop. Using the drill press, he drilled the rivets holding the handle slabs to the tang. Thankful for the big pockets in his cargo shorts, he put the small rivet pieces, guard and the slabs in his pocket with the scabbard. Then he took a machine hammer and beat the blade and tang to make is look like a beat-up knife. He did the best he could with sandpaper and steel wool and used a cloth with some battery acid he found in a jar to try to remove the shine. He heard his name being called by the team and went out. His first delivery was the grizzly (named Adam) at the base of the volcano in the middle of the island. There were four trucks that could be used, each of which had a crane installed to lift the cage off the bed and set it on the ground. While the two military types were readying the cage for lowering, David Brimley inspected the location and surreptitiously dropped the sheath of the knife in the approximate middle of the cage and kicked some dirt over it while pretending to level an area. He had passed the handle slabs to Garret to discard at his drop – no questions had been asked. The grizzly’s cage was lifted off the truck by the crane, boom extended until the cage was over the site. Then Brimley and the driver oriented the cage so that the door faced north toward the interior of the island and the cage was lowered and the scabbard’s location was covered. The other animals in this first delivery were the snow leopard, the jaguar and the black panther.

  The second delivery consisted of the lion, tiger, black bear and caracal and Brimley did not go out on this delivery. The third which was the cheetah, gray wolf and the two coyotes and he didn’t go. The cougar, spotted hyena and the man comprised the fourth delivery. As asked by Issaack, David Brimley was on
the truck with the man. As the truck passed across the bridge over the River Styx (Rio da Fonte or Fountain River on his map), he surreptitiously tossed the pieces of metal he had put in the plastic bag and then replaced the plastic bag in his pocket. No littering even on this remote island. The cage with the human in it was taken to the far southwest side of the island, as close as the truck could get to the shoreline. David Brimley lined the cage up so that the door was pointing north just past the westernmost point of Colina da Rocha or Prometheus’s Aerie. This was the best Issaack could do to point the man at the tree containing the dead parachutist although there was no way to tell the man about it. David had no way of knowing this because he couldn’t see it and, in reality other than being right under the tree, you had to be on top of Colina da Rocha (Prometheus’s Aerie) or high on the volcano or in an airplane to see it. While the driver was stowing the crane and its cable, David Brimley was “inspecting” the door – in reality, he had taken the knife blade from his pocket and dropped it in front of the door and kicked some loose earth over it. He was sweating like crazy and it wasn’t from the heat. As soon as the driver was ready, David Brimley was in the truck and they were on the way back to the B.B. Queen. With the delivery of the animals and supplies for the military off loaded, the B.B. Queen weighed anchor and left São Rochelle. All the veterinarians were standing on the highest deck with a drink in hand and when they cleared the shallow water surrounding the island, they raised their glasses in a silent prayer.

  Chapter 27

  The “third Bundle meeting” was scheduled in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two weeks before the animals were to be delivered to the island. Although the first two meetings had been in Cartagena, Columbia, at the same boutique hotel, it didn’t seem odd to change the location. After all, Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, cleaner than either Cartagena or Rio de Janeiro, definitely safer than both, and on a par for night life. But then the members of the Bundle didn’t tour the city, didn’t walk the streets, didn’t go to nightclubs. So it did not seem strange to the members of the Bundle who received the invitation – and there was only one: Ramiro Esteves. And, to be truthful, he didn’t receive an invitation because no invitations were ever sent much less written. So the only people who knew about Ramiro being invited was the same person who had known about the other two meetings. And she didn’t know what was happening only that Señor Esteves was leaving his ranch on his private jet for two or three days, one to travel, one to attend … what? … a meeting was the pilot’s guess and that’s what he relayed to her in return for one of the best lays he’d ever had. For security reasons, Ramiro Esteves had his plane headquartered in Bueno Aries. For that information obtained four days before the “meeting,” she received the Venezuelan equivalent of $500. That was a lot for her because the average monthly salary was 250,531 bolivars, or $32.19 a month. Venezuela was a country in which inflation had run rampant. $1000.00 bought in local currency in April 2013 when Nicolas Maduro was elected president was worth just $3.00 in July 2017.

  The location chosen for the meeting was a small boutique hotel which had been completely rented for fifteen days starting on a Wednesday with the “meeting” scheduled for the Wednesday in the middle. Gerallt didn’t learn of this until one day after the pilot had which was four days before the meeting. Gerallt dropped what he was doing, contacted another source in Buenos Aires and flew standby getting there two days before the meeting. Not a lot of time but with the source working an extra two days, Gerallt had several locations to choose from and a weapon of his specifications which collapsed into a case made into a backpack to keep it from being too obvious and the backpack had been aged.

  Of course, what neither Gerallt or his sources knew was that this was an ingenious trap set up by Ramiro Esteves to catch the man who was trying to kill him. There was no meeting of the Bundle and his people had been set up in the area around the hotel since a week before it was empty to keep watch for him. They had a picture of him taken during the first meeting when the fake bombing run was made and Gerallt was visible shooting the fake bomber, only Gerallt didn’t know it was a fake and that it was only of test of the Bundle’s defensive capability. They had watched Gerallt before and during the Second Bundle meeting prepared to stop him if necessary, but it hadn’t been. And now, with a bait that Gerallt was certain to accept, they would spring the trap and Ramiro would have his own much wanted, qualified but unapproved entry into the predator trial.

  Gerallt had picked three spots out of seven possible. They weren’t the best, but they were what were available. And they were available because Ramiro had made them – left them – available. Each one was carefully and closely watched by his people and, when they felt it necessary – either after a “kill” or when he let his guard down – they would make their hit. Not to kill – not to injure – but to capture in pristine condition so that his death in the “arena” would not be premature.

  Although Gerallt had felt their presence, he had been unable to identify them or their hidey-holes. He knew – or felt, it was all the same – that some of them for certain were in the hotel. They had to be, but they would not expect him to assault that building directly. He was one man – only working with a “partner” in getting things set up. He had tested the rifle – he knew that it was zeroed in at all the ranges from which he would be shooting. None of them were too far. He was as ready as he could be.

  At 5:01 a.m. on the morning of the “meeting,” his alarm went off. It was a minute late. But that was not a problem. It was a mental alarm and it went off one to two minutes early or late. Not a problem. He lay on the bed listening for ten minutes before he sat up on the bed fully clothed. He hadn’t been asleep – at least not in deep sleep – the entire night. He could afford to be because he knew they were watching. It could be a trap – he knew that – had known that from the beginning. But his chances at Ramiro Esteves had been few and far between. The man was a hermit and his rancho was too well protected. There were no roads leading to his hacienda. Everyone, everything went in and out via plane. Except for the beef and that was driven to a remote region of the rancho and loaded into trucks. His men went everywhere by horse or jeeps. His only chance to get a shot at Ramiro Esteves was when he made one of his extremely rare trips out of his sanctuary of solitude and he hadn’t been out for three years – or not that he knew of.

  He moved to the window sat down in the prepositioned chair and put his right cheek on the stock and looked into the sight with its infrared light. It was still dark at 5:00 a.m. and wouldn’t be light until almost 7:00 a.m. He had no idea when Ramiro Esteves would arrive, but he had to be ready. It had been much later the other two times, but this was a different city.

  And so he sat in the chair for three and a half hours scarcely moving and more comfortable then he had been when on a kill watch in Afghanistan. It mattered not because he was trained for this. Lights had been visible in the hotel for only half an hour when the first person arrived but there had been light auto and foot traffic since 5:26 a.m. It was 7:54 a.m. when the Uber pulled up. That wouldn’t be him, but Gerallt watched anyway. A woman, older, dressed in a business suit – medium grey – got out carrying only a handbag. She walked to the door and held out a card to a sensor and the door opened and she went in. He thought he recognized her from the earlier meetings and she was an almost perfect match for Gloria except the eyes but Gerallt never saw her eyes.

  It was 8:16 a.m. when the limousine pulled up and sat there. The hair on Gerallt’s neck tingled. This was the kind of vehicle that Ramiro Esteves would arrive in. At 8:19 a.m., the front passenger door opened and one of Ramiro Esteves bodyguards got out. Gerallt centered the crosshairs on the man’s face as he looked around and recognized him from prior times. This was Ramiro Esteves’s limousine! Then the rear door on the passenger side opened and the other guard got out and was also identified by Gerallt. The Second Guard walked around the rear of the limousine to the driver’s side while the First Guard walked around the front
to the rear door. The Second Guard stood looking around while the First Guard opened the door. Gerallt’s finger tightened on the trigger. A man with black hair – greasy black hair – got out and quickly stepped in front of the Second Guard. The look was brief, but the man was short, black hair and wearing a white suit or at least a white shirt and suit coat. The First Guard shut the limousine’s door and stepped next to the Second Guard blocking any sight of Ramiro Esteves but Gerallt was resolute and kept the crosshairs on the place where the two guards’ elbows met – they were basically walking shoulder to shoulder. They had taken only three steps toward the door when the Second Guard stopped and turned his right side back, looking over his shoulder toward the front of the limousine as though the driver had called to him. At the distance, Gerallt couldn’t hear anything and the movement was quick but not too quick. The crosshairs aligned on the back of Ramiro Esteves’s head and Gerallt’s finger tightened the trigger the fraction that was needed. The distance wasn’t far, and he saw the jerk of Ramiro Esteves’s head as the bullet struck and the splatter of red. That was enough. He dropped the rifle, stood up, and had turned toward the door before Ramiro Esteves’s body hit the pavement, his guards already spinning, the Second Guard left and the First Guard right as they pulled their pistols out of shoulder holsters, the Second Guard from the right shoulder and the First Guard from the left. Gerallt had the door to the hallway open before their spins were complete and his weapon was already out. He never got to use it, never saw what happened, just felt the electrical charge before his world went black. Later he’d realize that he’d screwed up. He’d opened the door before checking. He didn’t know it then, might have picked it up sometime in the future during many rehashes of the event, but he was outnumbered, outgunned, outmanned, outmaneuvered. Two men to the left of the door; two men to the right; and four across the hall. Half of each group armed with Tasers and the other half with guns shooting rubber bullets. All had body armor vests. He had no chance of escape because he couldn’t kill them all.