by Rula Sinara
“I need to secure things down here,” he said. “Give me a day, then I’ll come up and take you and Nick somewhere safe. I can send a bodyguard if you want.”
“No, that’s not necessary. Mac is here.” There was a brief pause on the other end.
“Promise me you won’t trust anyone. Not even Mac. What I’ve told you stays between us. We don’t want to endanger Nick...or his uncle. Promise.”
Nick had already lost his parents. Now he stood to lose more.
“I promise.”
She disconnected the call and kneeled on the floor.
What have I done?
Her breaths came in rapid-fire. She gasped, then gasped again. The room spun. Hold your breath. She tried twice before she managed to hold it in. She counted to ten and let it out. One more gasp and she held her breath again. Get in control. Her breathing finally slowed down and she laid on her back on the thin woven throw rugs that covered the hard ground, waiting for her vision to clear and her head to stop spinning.
Her mind raced. She needed to handle this. She needed to make everything right. Family. Her parents. She needed to make sure they were okay.
Tessa sat up and took a deep breath before making the call. Every second she waited for them to answer tore at her like the talons of a vulture gorging on its prey. Static crackled, alternating with a distant buzz.
“Hello?” More static. “Hello?” The sound of her mom’s voice brought a tidal wave of tears. Tessa hung her head in her free hand and swallowed hard to compose herself. She hadn’t seen them since the funeral, though calls were a routine. The last thing she wanted to do was to worry them.
“Mom? How are you? How’s Dad?”
“Tessa! Sweetheart, it’s so good to hear from you. We’re fine. The weather is phenomenal today. We’ve had great luck with sightings.”
Tessa released a pent-up breath. She couldn’t hear any undercurrents of fear or worry. They were okay. Thank God.
“That’s wonderful. Are you coming ashore anytime soon?”
“Not for a few weeks. Why? Do you need something? Is anything wrong?”
Tessa closed her eyes as she spoke.
“No, no. Just checking your schedule.” Her voice cracked and she cursed herself for being weak.
“Tessa, I’m your mother. Something’s off with your voice.”
“It’s the static.”
“Oh, my. You and Brice are pregnant, aren’t you? Oh, honey! We’ve been dying for more grandchildren.”
“No way!” If she had tears brewing, they were gone. She didn’t even want to imagine how much worse things would be right now if she were pregnant or had other children to care for. She bit back a bitter remark about grandchildren. As if her parents would ever see them more than once in a blue moon. They’d be enthralled at first, then it would be like when she was a kid: work would come first. They’d go off and she and their grandkids would be left to wonder if they’d ever see them again. Why would parents risk their lives, knowing their kids were counting on them to be around? She swallowed. She was about to risk hers for the sake of Nick. “I’m not pregnant. I’m simply away from the internet, so I couldn’t check the schedule you’d emailed me. I brought Nick up to see his uncle Mac.”
She always insisted that her parents send her a copy of their boating plans and travel course. Sure, they left official memos for the people they worked with, but Tessa felt better having it herself.
“Oh, well, that’s nice of you to do. Maybe it’ll help him cope. In fact, if he ever wants to take a trip out with us, we’d love to have him. We could keep it to a week or so. We’d actually discussed it with Maria and Allan before—”
“Yeah. Um, now isn’t a great time.” Like she’d ever send Nick out to sea. “So Dad’s okay, too?”
“He’s suiting up for a dive. I need to go check his tank.”
“I’ll let you go. Just...be careful. Okay? Both of you.”
“We always are. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Bye.”
Tessa set the phone down. They were fine. She kept repeating that fact in her head, but the pit of her stomach still twisted. Telling them the truth would have only endangered them more. She had no way of knowing if anyone was listening to the call, and she didn’t trust her parents not to act on the information and draw attention to themselves. Maybe they did take reasonable precautions, but there were forces of nature too powerful for people out there at sea...and there were men who were simply too powerful. Like Brice said, it would be so easy for an accident to happen and for the evidence to wash away.
The sound of Nick’s laughter and the Johnson twins squealing penetrated her tent walls. Kesi would be needing her help. She had to get the phone back to the cottage before anyone started asking questions. She wiped her face with cool water and a washcloth, then went outside.
“There you are. I wanted to see if you were interested in stringing bead necklaces with me and Mrs. Johnson. Our female guests usually love taking home a necklace souvenir.” Kesi eyed the phone in Tessa’s hand.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I wanted to call my parents to check on them. Their boat’s satellite phone is more reliable than their radio.” Tessa gave a small smile, hoping that Kesi wouldn’t pick up on her worry. “I should have asked first.”
“It’s fine.” Kesi shook her head and took the phone Tessa held out. “They’re lucky to have a daughter like you checking on them. Use it anytime.”
“Thanks.” Tessa bit her lip to keep it from quivering.
“Did you want to string beads?”
“Sure. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She trekked back to her tent and pulled the door flaps down. She needed a plan. A daughter like you. Kesi didn’t realize how deep her words cut. Maria had been the daughter her parents deserved. The one who’d inherited their gene for adventure. The one who’d followed in their footsteps when it came to loving nature and research and saving the environment. She’d been a fearless risk taker, just like them. And look where it got her. She and Allan had been described as generous, giving spirits whose aerial observations had made a difference in South Africa’s wildlife management. A positive spin on living dangerously. And if that made them generous, then didn’t that make Tessa the selfish one? The one who, as a teen, complained that her parents weren’t around more? The one who didn’t care if their aquatic research would save whales because she wanted—needed—them at home? She remembered the stormy nights when she stayed up watching weather reports and listening to radio transmissions, petrified that her parents would be shipwrecked or tossed overboard. She wasn’t the daughter they were lucky to have. But she was the only one they had left. And now, for all that worrying growing up, she was the one who was putting them in danger.
And for the first time, she was seeing herself without all the places, people and things that had cluttered her life. They were all crutches. Ways to avoid or circumvent her fears. But a person could only pretend for so long. She was beginning to see that now. All she’d done with her life was procrastinate. She had to take risks in order to really live.
There was no reason to hide anymore.
CHAPTER TEN
“I TAKE IT you’re not a morning person.”
Mac shoulder-bumped a heavy-lidded Nick, who was literally dragging his feet on their way to the clearing where Mac’s chopper sat. He’d had no luck finding Bakhari yesterday and eventually the search was called off for the night. Kamau, over at Busara, hadn’t had any more success on the ground, but the search was resuming this morning.
“In my book, it’s not morning until the entire sun has cleared the horizon. It’s barely light out,” Nick said, slapping on the AWS cap Mac had told him to keep since the one he’d given him months ago had been left behind.
“You should rewrite your book, then, or y
ou’ll miss out on the absolute best time of day. There’s nothing like waking before the sun and watching it rise from up there while everyone else is asleep.” Mac pointed toward Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance, then slapped Nick on the back. “Trust me. You’ll wake up in no time. You’re not too young for coffee, are you?”
“Aunt Tessa says I am. The stuff tastes like cow urine, anyway.”
“I see. So you’ve tasted cow urine?”
“You know what I mean,” Nick said.
“No, really. ’Cause if you haven’t, it can be arranged. There are some people who believe it has medicinal benefits,” Mac said.
“Gross. Who? The Masai?”
“No. They’ll drink ox or cow’s blood, though. Didn’t I mention that was part of their coming of age ceremony? A mix of ox blood, beer and milk? You are too young for beer. But if you want to try the blood...”
“You’re sick, Uncle Mac. I’d rather drink three-day-old burned coffee.”
“Now that’s sick.” Mac shuddered dramatically and got a smile out of him.
They climbed into the helicopter and Mac explained his preflight checklist and what all the buttons were for. It was nice showing Nick the ropes. Taking his nephew under his wing felt good.
The horizon transformed into blended layers of carmine red and orchid that bled into a fading lapis blue. Mac changed his course toward the savanna just east of Busara to restart his search. Nick didn’t speak. He simply adjusted his headset and took in the vast expanse of woodlands and grasslands beneath them. An awe-inspiring energy surged through Mac every time he took flight at dawn. He wanted Nick to feel it, too, and from the look on his face, he did. Mac adjusted his direction again, putting the sunrise behind them. The peak of Mount Kilimanjaro to the southwest glistened with the light of dawn.
“Wow.” Nick craned his neck for a better view of the mountain and the land surrounding it. Even the dark buff of barren areas and dried grasses took on the golden hues of sunrise. This was real gold. No amount of money could come close to the value of the land and life that passed beneath them. Anyone who didn’t appreciate that was a lost soul as far as Mac was concerned.
“Start keeping an eye out. Let me know if you see anything, even if it’s just movement or you’re not sure,” Mac said.
Nick nodded and leaned closer to his window. The sprawling tops of acacia trees grew bigger as Mac descended enough for them to have a better view of wildlife. A flock of white cranes startled as they passed over a bend in the Mara River and a couple of crocodiles splashed into hiding.
No Bakhari.
“There’s another helicopter over there, Uncle Mac.” Nick pointed at a dark green and beige chopper off to their right.
“That’s KWS. The Kenyan Wildlife Service,” Mac said, not sure if Nick knew the abbreviation or not. He radioed out and was told a group of poachers had been arrested overnight, a few kilometers away. Sure enough, ahead of them, just beyond a line of umbrella trees, dark smoke billowed into the air. Mac’s heart sank.
“Is that a brush fire?” Nick asked.
Mac curled his lips in. That was no brush fire. Bringing Nick with him had been a mistake. He took guests on tour all the time without incident, and when they did happen to see the grim aftermath of poaching, he used it as a lesson. An opportunity to spread the fact that if they purchased ivory products, they were supporting the atrocities they were witnessing. But Nick wasn’t just anyone. He was still learning to cope with death. He was just coming out of his shell. Mac had thought that the extra pair of eyes would indeed help him find Bakhari and that the baby’s return to Busara might make Nick feel empowered...the way finding the boy himself had made Tessa feel when he’d run off. Now, he wasn’t so sure that had been a good call. Not with the scene unfolding ahead of them. Mac wasn’t sure they’d be finding Bakhari alive.
“Hey, Uncle Mac,” Nick repeated, thinking he hadn’t heard him the first time. “What’s burning over there?”
There was no turning back now. He had to see what was going on. He needed to find out if Bakhari was down there. If he was, Mac would have to break the news to Anna. Being honest with Nick was the only choice he had.
“Tusks. They’re burning tusks. After they apprehend poachers and take inventory of the stash, they burn the ivory so that it can’t feed into the black market. If so much as one person gets greedy enough to sneak the ivory to the buyer—even after the poachers are arrested—then that would be as good as rewarding their actions. They can’t be allowed to get away with the killings on any level. The supply and demand cycle has to be broken. Hence, the burning. Destroy it so it can’t reach the market. Make sure whoever is investing their money and time to promote poaching suffers the loss, too.”
Brice’s name came to mind. Ben hadn’t answered Mac’s email yet.
A stream of curses came through his headset, but he didn’t cut Nick off. He couldn’t blame him this time.
“Tell me that’s not what it looks like,” Nick said.
Mac took a deep breath. A pile of bloody elephant carcasses...bodies without faces...lay not far from the ivory bonfire. Fury burned in Mac. Every time he witnessed a sight like this, it fueled his anger and frustration to indescribable levels. He’d learned to keep his cool because he had to. There was power in keeping one’s wits about them and thinking clearly. Criminals always made mistakes. Deploying well-thought-out plans and strategies with deliberation and cooperation was the only way to fight them and put them behind bars. Mac had learned that early on.
“It’s what it looks like,” he confirmed.
Nick’s face turned red and his eyes appeared wet and distraught.
“How could anyone do that? How can people like that exist? I don’t get it. Why do evil people have to exist? Why do bad things have to happen?”
Mac reached over and squeezed his shoulder. Tessa was going to kill him when she heard about this. Mac would deserve it, too. This was a disaster, not just down there, but for Nick. More trauma for a kid who’d had enough.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. We just have to stick together and do what we can.”
“Do you think Bakhari...? You said he was still little. They wouldn’t go after a young one, would they?”
Not necessarily on purpose, but poachers didn’t much care about side casualties or how little tusks were. Older elephants yielded more ivory, but that didn’t mean poachers wouldn’t kill for a few inches. Some would poison entire watering holes, then harvest the ivory from the dead. Indiscriminate murder. The wildlife equivalent of terrorists opening fire in a crowded mall. Bakhari had been injured once, when his mother was killed. It could happen again—or worse.
“I don’t think he’s there, Nick. From what I can tell based on size, the ones down there were older than Bakhari.” Mac really wished he could be more certain that the young elephant wasn’t buried under the heap. How would he be able to tell Anna? Or, heaven help him, Pippa. That girl loved Bakhari like other children loved their puppy or kitten. He wanted so badly for Bakhari to come walking out of the brush this very moment.
Parents dying. Their children being out there alone and in danger. Mac had a feeling that Nick was identifying with the elephants on a much deeper level. He needed to give the kid hope, but false optimism would only hurt him more.
Mac circled as he radioed the crew in the KWS helicopter that had just landed. He really didn’t want to take Nick down there. The sulfurous smell of burning bone would add another traumatic memory to the mix, but Mac wanted to know if any of the crew had come across a tagged elephant of Bakhari’s description. He circled one more time before the answer came through.
No. They hadn’t. He exchanged looks with Nick, whose eyes widened. He sat straighter and frowned with determination.
“We need to find him, Uncle Mac. There’s still a chance he’s okay.”
Mac nodded in agreement and flew just west of the poaching aftermath and along the river valley, leaving the bloody scene behind them.
“Keep looking.”
He brought the helicopter to the far side of a tree and brush covered hill that he knew Kamau hadn’t made it to, based on their communications.
“There! Over there, Uncle Mac. I saw an elephant. I don’t know if it’s him, but I definitely saw one by that rock. But...there’s a lion right there.” He pointed and, sure enough, there was a lioness stalking through the grass in the elephant’s direction.
Mac circled back. That was him, all right. The sight of Bakhari’s ears flapping as he stood between a granite outcropping and an acacia tree made his nose sting and the pressure between his ears released. Nick was practically hyperventilating with excitement. Mac made a pass between Bakhari and the lioness. She noticed, but it wasn’t enough. She was a determined one. Probably had cubs to feed. He came in closer and this time she finally scared off. Mac grabbed his radio.
“This is Raptor King to Mama Tembo. We have your baby. I repeat. We—I mean, Nick—found him and he’s okay. Over.”
Mac caught a fleeting smile. Nick pulled his shoulders back with pride.
You’re going to be all right, kid.
Mac landed his chopper far away enough not to spook Bakhari, while still keeping him in view until Kamau and his team arrived for transport. Nick wiped his nose against his sleeve and took off his headset.
“Just for future reference, we shouldn’t interfere with the call of the wild. Every being out there has a rightful place in the food chain and babies to feed. Their mothers are meant to protect them,” Mac said.
“Then why did you interfere with that lion?” Nick asked.
“Because I couldn’t fly away. Bakhari’s not really part of the wild yet. He was too young when he was first rescued and he hasn’t been transitioned to a reserve where he can learn to cope on his own. Plus, the bigger they get, the less likely they are to have to deal with predators like lions. Their only predator becomes man. The way I see it, I was asked by his mother to find and protect him.”