by Jan Burchett
Ben narrowed his eyes and ducked down. “The BUG says that sound means it feels threatened,” he said.
“Stay still, then,” said Zoe. “It has to be Kawan — he’s responded to the call.”
Ben clicked the ZOOM button his goggles. Zoe did the same. “Wow,” whispered Zoe, pointing upward. “He’s right above our heads.”
A dark shape was soaring through the high branches. Ben wriggled around and held his BUG above the leaves, activating its camera function. “Got a photo,” he whispered.
They peered down at the screen. The face of a familiar young orangutan stared back at them. He had a distinctive tuft of hair sticking up on one side of his head, just like they’d seen in the film.
“Awesome!” said Ben. “It’s Kawan!”
The young orangutan sat in the branches above their heads. He gazed at Ben and Zoe, his eyes flickering nervously.
“I have a biscuit in my backpack,” Zoe said quietly. “Let’s see if we can tempt him down and make him feel safe.”
“Mat’s going to be so happy,” said Ben.
Moving in slow motion, Zoe stood and held the biscuit above her head.
Kawan began to swing gracefully down from branch to branch. When he stopped, he was just out of reach, hanging from one long, shaggy arm. He looked tense and ready to escape at the slightest threat.
“Do you think he’s wondering where Mat is?” asked Ben. “I hope he doesn’t leave when he realizes that Mat’s not here.”
“Come on, Kawan,” Zoe said gently. “Here, boy.” She waved the biscuit.
Kawan hesitated. Then he extended one leathery hand and took the biscuit. Eyes firmly fixed on them, he solemnly nibbled at the treat, dropping the crumbs around their feet.
“He still looks very nervous,” said Ben. “Those loggers must have really scared him.”
“He wouldn’t come so close if he didn’t trust us,” said Zoe, pulling out another rusk to hand to the young ape. “Something must be telling him we’re not a threat. Maybe it was Mat’s call.”
Kawan held out a crumb-covered finger and touched Zoe’s cheek. She sighed with delight. “I can see why Mat’s so fond of him,” she said. “He’s adorable.”
Kawan dropped down on to the platform and reached out for the second rusk.
“Good boy, Kawan,” Ben whispered.
At that moment, the sound of an explosion filled the air. Without thinking, the children threw themselves down onto the wooden slats.
With a terrified shriek, Kawan leaped into the trees, swinging away into the darkness. Soon he was out of sight.
“Was that a gunshot?” Zoe asked, horrified.
“I don’t think so,” said Ben, gripping Zoe’s arm. “But I’ve heard that sort of sound before somewhere. Someone’s down there, heading through the undergrowth.”
They looked down over the side of the slats. A shadowy figure was hurrying along the ground.
“It’s a man,” whispered Ben. “What’s he doing here at this time of night?”
“Let’s follow him,” Zoe said.
Moving swiftly along the swaying walkway, they followed the sound until they reached the next platform. “This is where we saw Lola and Kiki,” whispered Zoe. “The walkway after this is much higher. There’s a ladder somewhere here.”
Zoe found the top of the ladder and climbed up to the next platform, feeling for each rung in the dark.
“Hurry,” Ben said. “He’s getting away.”
Zoe didn’t need to be told twice. She raced ahead of her brother along the wobbly wooden slats of the walkway.
CRACK! There was a loud splitting sound under her feet. She heard Ben’s cry of alarm as she felt herself falling.
Zoe flung out her arms and grabbed desperately at the broken walkway. Her hands closed around a wooden slat. She felt her arms being almost jerked out of their sockets as she came to a sudden stop. She held on with all her strength, not daring to look at the ground.
“Hold on,” Ben called, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. She could just see Ben crouched on the walkway, one hand reaching out to pull her to safety.
Then something else caught her eye. The ropes that supported the slatted walkway were worn down to a single strand!
“Get back, Ben!” she shouted. “The whole thing’s about to fall!”
There was a ripping sound as the last strand of rope split. Zoe felt herself jolting downward, falling away from the platform.
Ben had a split second to react. He slammed the button on his belt and felt a cord shoot out from his boots toward the trees. He dived off the platform. As he fell, he grabbed onto Zoe by the straps of her backpack. Together they tumbled through the air.
For a second, a whirl of dark undergrowth flashed in front of their eyes. The ground came toward them dizzyingly fast.
Then, suddenly, they were jerked upward again. “Good ol’ Uncle Stephen!” Ben yelled. “That certainly tested out his EEL device.”
They finally came to a stop, dangling above the ground and twisting slowly.
Ben checked the terrain below. “Not a crocodile in sight,” he said. “Prepare for landing.” He put his thumb over one of the buttons on the gadget at his waist and gradually lowered them both to the ground.
“For once, you were listening when Erika told us about our new gadget!” said Zoe, dropping safely to the ground. “I’m glad I had my backpack strapped on securely.”
Ben flipped the far end of the EEL line off its branch and retracted it. Then he looked up at the broken walkway dangling high above their heads.
“We’ve lost our prey,” said Ben. “He’s probably far away now.”
“But at least we know what he was up to,” Zoe said.
Ben had a puzzled look on his face.
“There’s no way that was an accident,” Zoe explained grimly. “When the wood cracked, I could see it had been sawed most of the way through — just enough to break under the weight of a person.”
Ben gasped. “He must have cut through the ropes, too,” he said.
“Those walkways were fine when we were here this afternoon,” said Zoe. “And I bet he had something to do with those banging sounds, as well. Whatever they were.”
“Our mission’s not going to be as straightforward as we thought.” Ben said.
“You’re right,” said Zoe. “Someone’s targeting the reservation.”
Zoe had a sudden thought. “Maybe the booking cancellations weren’t just a mistake,” she said. “Do you think those loggers who scared off Kawan are behind it all?”
“Whoever it is,” Ben said, “I bet it’s someone who knows Mat.”
“How can you be sure?” asked Zoe.
“Mat said he takes the same route every day to call Kawan,” Ben said. “Only Mat’s friends and people who work with him would know that. He would have stepped on the sabotaged walkway and fallen — and he wouldn’t have had an EEL to save him.”
“Do you think Mat realizes someone’s out to get him?” asked Zoe.
“If he does, he’s not going to tell us,” said Ben. “He thinks we’re just visitors.”
Zoe nodded. “We have to talk to Mat about the walkway right away,” she said.
“How’s that going to look?” said Ben. “We can’t just tell him we were out looking for Kawan at four a.m.”
“You’re right,” agreed Ben. “He’ll see it in the morning, anyway.”
Zoe bent down and picked up a silver strip of paper from the ground. She held it out toward Ben.
“It looks like a chewing gum wrapper,” Ben said with a shrug.
“It could be a clue,” replied Zoe. “Whoever sabotaged the walkway must have dropped it just now.”
“How did you figure that out, detective?” Ben said, teasing his sister. “It could have been here for days!”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Zoe grinned. “This wrapper’s perfectly dry. It rained before we came out, so it must have been dropped after that. And who else wou
ld be out here in the middle of the night?”
“Good thinking!” said Ben. “You’re smarter than you look.”
Zoe rolled her eyes and slipped the chewing gum wrapper into her pocket. Then she rubbed her shoulders under the backpack straps and stretched. “I thought you were going to pull my arms out of their sockets when we fell,” she said.
“Sorry,” said Ben. He grinned. “I’ll remember not to save your life next time!”
Zoe took her BUG and pressed some buttons to bring up the satellite map of the area. “Let’s get back before the sun rises,” she said.
They hurried away, pushing through the undergrowth. They hadn’t gone far when Zoe suddenly went sprawling.
“Ow!” she groaned, rubbing her shin.
She looked around. “There’s some sort of rock or something in those ferns,” Zoe said.
When they looked closer, they saw that it was a metallic object. Ben held his BUG over the strange device. “The BUG says it’s a bird scarer,” he said. “They make loud noises to scare away birds.”
“We saw how terrified Kawan was just now,” Zoe said, “and no wonder Lola and Kiki were looking so nervous earlier.”
“Someone is deliberately trying to frighten the orangutans,” Ben said. “Kawan might have come back before but been scared away each time.”
Zoe gritted her teeth. “I’m going to put a stop to it,” she said, giving the box a hard kick. “Ow!”
“That won’t do it,” said Ben. He put his fingers under the edge of the metal cover and pried it open. Inside was a battery and a timer. It was set to go off early each morning. He wrenched the wires off the battery and put the cover back in place. He grinned at his sister. “Now nobody but us knows that it doesn’t work.”
* * *
The birds’ morning chorus filled their ears as the children crept back through the courtyard. The air had become hot and still.
The minute they closed their door, a sudden flash of lightning lit the bedroom. Thunder crashed overhead as a torrent of rain began hammering down like a waterfall outside their window.
“Glad we didn’t get caught in that!” said Ben.
“I hope that evil man did,” said Zoe, pacing back and forth. “We have to find out who he is.”
Ben let out a big yawn. “Not now,” he said, lifting the mosquito net. He flopped onto his bed. “We have to wait for Mat to discover the broken boards. Let’s get some sleep.”
Ben dozed off almost immediately. Zoe, however, lay awake for a long time. She kept imagining how terrified poor Kawan must be right now. After a while, she fell into a restless sleep.
“Daud, Talib!” A distant voice speaking in Malay broke through Zoe’s dreams. She groggily slipped her translator into her ear. “Come quickly,” she heard, “and bring your tools!”
Zoe shook Ben awake, then pulled on some long pants and a T-shirt. She put her BUG into her pocket and crept out. Ben followed behind her, blinking sleepily in the daylight. They watched from the shadows of the doorway that opened to the compound.
Yasmin was standing barefoot among the steaming puddles. She looked nervous as she watched her husband run up to her. Biza clung to her shoulders.
“It’s okay,” Mat said. He put his hand on her shoulder. “One of the walkways broke.”
“He’s found it already!” Ben whispered to his sister. “Maybe now he’ll realize there’s something strange going on.”
“It was probably the storm earlier,” Mat went on. “I am so thankful it didn’t happen when anyone was on the walkway.”
“Are you sure it was just the storm?” said Yasmin. “We’ve had such bad luck lately. Do you think it could be the loggers from before?”
“They wouldn’t dare,” said Mat calmly. “Try not to worry.”
Just then, Daud appeared with the tools. Mat spotted Ben and Zoe standing in the doorway and walked over to them. “I’m sorry, Ben and Zoe,” he said with a regretful smile. “I have to make some emergency repairs to one of the walkways this morning. But I’ll be back this afternoon with a surprise for you. In the meantime, Yasmin will look after you.”
He turned to Daud and told him what had happened in Malay. “Where’s Talib?” Ben and Zoe heard him ask.
“He was chopping wood just now,” said Daud. “I don’t think he heard you call.”
As he spoke, Talib came around the corner behind him. He was carrying a pile of logs. A strange expression flashed across his face when he saw Mat standing in front of him.
“That’s odd,” muttered Zoe, as the two workers followed Mat into the forest. “Did you see how Talib reacted?”
“He’s probably annoyed that he’s got some extra work to do,” said Ben.
Mat’s wife turned toward the door where Ben and Zoe were. “Is everything all right?” Ben asked holding the door open for her to go through. “You look worried.”
“Just a broken walkway,” said Yasmin. She gave a weak smile. Ben and Zoe realized Yasmin didn’t share her husband’s optimistic perspective of the recent events.
“Would you like some breakfast?” Yasmin asked. She showed them into the kitchen. “We have nasi lemak, which is rice boiled in coconut milk.”
“Sounds delicious,” Ben said.
Yasmin smiled. “It is quite delicious,” she said. Her smile faded. “But I must ask for a favor — could one of you hold Biza for me while I make breakfast? He is a naughty boy. He always tries to steal my food.”
“That’s Zoe’s territory,” Ben said, chuckling. Yasmin unwrapped the baby orangutan’s arms and held him out.
Zoe grinned and took Biza. The little ape looked doubtful for a moment, but climbed slowly onto her shoulder. Zoe could feel his breath on her neck — and then his hand pulling her BUG out of her pocket! Zoe gave a cry and quickly grabbed hold of it before Biza could put it in his mouth.
As she tussled with his surprisingly strong hands, she heard the sound of deep laughter from the doorway. Mr. Ostriander came in.
“You’ll never get Biza to behave,” he said. “He runs the show here. Isn’t that right, Yasmin?”
Yasmin looked up from the cooker. “Morning, Peter,” she said with a smile. “And yes, he may be the smallest of our apes, but he’s definitely in charge.” She waved him to a seat. “You remember Ben and Zoe, right?”
“Good to see you again,” said Mr. Ostriander. He turned to Zoe, who was still struggling to put her BUG back in her pocket. “Be careful, or that little fellow will make off with your portable video game.”
Zoe grinned. Thankfully, Mr. Ostriander didn’t look very closely at the BUG or he would’ve known it was far more than a gaming device.
“I’m afraid you’ve missed Mat,” Yasmin told Mr. Ostriander. “He left to make some repairs to one of the walkways.”
“Storm damage?” Mr. Ostriander asked. “We had some violent weather last night.”
“Probably,” said Yasmin. She put the nasi lemak on plates for the children.
Biza finally gave up the struggle for Zoe’s BUG. He dropped to the floor and went straight for Mr. Ostriander’s boot lace.
Yasmin scooped Biza up. “Come on, you little troublemaker,” she said. “It’s time for your nap.”
“What have you two got planned today?” asked Mr. Ostriander.
“We’re not sure yet,” Ben said. “But Mat planned a surprise for us later this afternoon.”
“How big is your plantation, Mr. Ostriander?” Zoe asked suddenly. “Do you know how many trees you have?”
“That’s a difficult one,” Peter Ostriander replied, smiling. “There are so many, you see.”
“And what kind of tractors do you use?” Zoe asked. “I bet they’re awesome!”
Ben stared at Zoe wondering, why his sister was suddenly interested in the details of oil palm farming.
“Tell you what,” said Mr. Ostriander, “since you’re so interested, why don’t you come and take a look for yourselves?”
Ben saw Zoe grinning at hi
m. So that’s what her plan is! he thought. She’d gotten them an invitation to the plantation. Zoe was hoping they’d get a glimpse of Kawan or find some clues about last night’s events.
Zoe and Ben stood at the prow of Mr. Ostriander’s speedboat. They watched it cut through the water of the Munia River.
Peter had already showed them the processing plant. He had given them tons of food in a very posh dining room afterward. Now they were off to see the plantation fields of oil palms up close.
On the right bank of the river were the rows of oil palm trees Mat had pointed out from the walkway.
The rainforest trees of the reservation spread to the left. They could hear the sound of distant hammering coming from somewhere among them.
“That must be Mat and his men seeing to the repairs,” Zoe whispered to Ben. “They’ll have to go and check the whole thing after that. It’ll take ages.”
“Here’s that bend in the river we saw yesterday,” whispered Ben. “We must be coming to Kawan’s old territory.”
“That means beyond it is the reservation boundary,” Zoe said, “and the new palm oil plants.”
“Yep, that’s near where Mat said Kawan was spotted,” said Ben. “We have to get a look among those trees somehow. But of course, we can’t just ask.”
“Why not?” said Zoe. “We don’t have to say anything about WILD.”
Holding on to the safety rail, Zoe made her way back to the cabin where Mr. Ostriander was at the wheel. “Has Mat told you about the missing orangutan?” Zoe asked.
A serious look spread across Mr. Ostriander’s face. “Ah yes, Kawan,” he said. “Mat was very upset about his disappearance.”
Mr. Ostriander shrugged. “I’ve heard the little fella has been spotted among my trees,” he said, “although I haven’t seen him myself.”
Zoe pointed ahead to where the land had been cleared. “Could we go look for him?” she asked. Then she added quickly, “I’d just love to be able to say I’ve seen him so we can tell Mat that he’s still all right.”