Let Slip the Pups of War: Spot and Smudge - Book Three

by Robert Udulutch

  Theo’s two clusters of buildings, with the watering hole between them, were isolated in a private corner of the king’s game reserve, and Hamish had been right about the remote ranch being a good place for the Walkers and Hogans to lay low. Aside from a select few VIPs who stayed in the tented camp down river, or those Theo allowed to visit the rehab clinic, the compound received very few visitors. The rest of the king’s constant stream of guests stayed at his resort lodge on the opposite side of the reserve. The king’s lodge was a fully equipped five-star hotel where pampered guests were taken on safaris in open top Range Rovers. Three hundred kilometers of dirt roads crisscrossed the reserve’s hundred thousand hectares, and visitors of the lodge were treated to up-close encounters with Africa’s unique species, including the big five. Lion, rhino, elephant, Cape buffalo, and even the elusive leopard were all under the king’s protection, along with thousands of other amazing animals.

  As Dan stole a fork of meat from Mimi’s plate Aila noticed a fresh nick on one of her husband’s knuckles. She held his hand up and looked across the table at Tian and Nikki.

  Neither fessed up.

  “It wasn’t them,” Dan said, taking his hand back.

  Theo waved as he finished a drink of water and said, “You should have seen him, Aila. Your man jumped on this tsotsi bastard—”

  Hamish cleared his throat and Theo looked around the table, and went silent.

  “Eish,” Aila said, waving her hand like the local woman do when chastising their children, “That’s not our agreement. You boys, and ladies,” she nodded to Christa and Nikki, “agreed to choon about business right here at this very table. No secrets. If you had a hang of a day it gets spilled right here, whether its befok or swat.”

  “Yeah Unc,” Ben said, “Last night Kelcy had to tell us about sticking her arm up an elly’s bum, and how she almost fell in.”

  “Right,” Hamish said, “Well, we caught a poacher today and he and Daniel exchanged words.”

  Mimi and Aila both raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Shame on you, Hamish,” Theo said, “I’ve never known you to shy away from a good story, and this is a great one.” Theo licked his fingers and wiped his hands on his napkin.

  Ben smiled, he recognized the finger-lick-and-wipe as a favorite tactic Hamish often used as well when preparing his audience for a tasty story.

  “The winds of change are blowing, finally,” Theo said, “As I’ve told you all, I had become far too accustomed to just flying in after the tragedy had occurred. We were resigned to impotently cursing at the brush where we knew the poachers were laughing at us, and we had been left to lament the loss of one of our poor animals. But no longer, my chommies. Not after today. This afternoon we saw the fruits of our labor, the justification of our leap of faith…the first sign of hope.” Theo smiled around the table.

  Aila watched Theo’s beaming face as he spun his tale, and she was reminded of their first dinner at the ranch.

  While they ate that first meal together, and Theo passionately explained their role in the reserve, it became immediately evident Theo’s family had a deep commitment to the animals under their care. His ranch, and the lands surrounding it, were a paradise. The zebra and nyala grazing steps away in the gardens gave the place an almost cartoonish quality, but they quickly realized how much work went into keeping the reserve running, and the animals safe. All of the staff at the ranch and the clinic were Theo’s blood relations, and were also related to their Zulu king. They took the business of protecting the king’s animals very seriously, and saw it as a sacred duty. Faith described the poaching epidemic as a constant, terrible lightning storm that hung over everything they did, striking anywhere and anytime.

  “Just after daybreak tower six and one of the lodge safaris both reported hearing a shot,” Theo said as he pointed over his shoulder, “Their best guess was it came from the ridge behind the cell towers, not far from the vervet valley where I had joined Hamish and his team. They were showing me some of their amazing training, and that, my friends, is when things happened a little faster than we’re used to around here.”

  Theo thumbed at Nikki and said, “Before our truck even stopped this one and her dog were out and heading into the bush to the left while Hamish and Sholto disappeared down the ridge to the right. The Chinese assassin there and your husband got out and took up stations at the head of both trails. Keep in mind these weissers had never been in this part of the bush before.”

  Dan laughed at Theo’s Yiddish bastardization used to describe white people. He had noticed Afrikaans slang was truly a melting pot of pieces taken from several European languages mixed together with Dutch and their own aboriginal roots.

  Tian had also found it funny that many of the same colonialist slang words used in Hong Kong could be heard on the ranch.

  When Theo mentioned Sholto’s name the dogs all raised their heads. Spot and Smudge had been following the story, and as it was getting interesting they walked over to the table and sat next to Ben. They looked up at Theo, and rotated their ears forward to listen.

  “Christa’s next to me in the truck,” Theo said, “And she’s already got the rifle out and was covering her team before I could get out of my seat. For a girl with missing parts she’s a blessed cheetah.”

  Theo stood up from the bench seat and said, “I know I’ve beaten this buffalo many times at this table but it’s important you understand what would normally happen at this point. We’d call for the chopper, and given the distances we police it could take more than an hour to arrive. We’d pound through the bush trying to find any sign of a wounded animal or the poachers, and almost always we only find the carcass a few hours later, if at all. I’ve been doing this for more than twenty years with my family, and our frustration cannot be easily expressed. The loss of a precious, elegant, majestic animal is a horrible thing…” Theo looked at his mother, and then he looked around the table and said, “I apologize, I know you understand.”

  “What I saw next can only be described as miraculous. My friend Hamish appears on the ridge and a moment later Miss Nikki on the opposite draw. Between them was a hectare of the nastiest thickets and brambles on the planet. I never saw the dogs, but I could see the hand signs from these two and I could hear the dogs coordinating with barks and yaps. I’ve been around hunting and security dogs my entire life and have never seen such precision.”

  Theo walked around the table and stood behind Dan. He put his hands on the former accountant’s broad shoulders and said, “A few minutes later we heard a rustling, and a bark, and then yelling from the dense tangle of acacia and lion’s claw directly in front of us. The man who emerged was already bleeding when he ran at this man right here.”

  Theo looked at Kelcy and Ben as he shook their father’s shoulders.

  He said, “The ragged poacher had a gore dripping knife and he shot forward with it pointed at your father. Impressive as Hamish, and Nikki, and Sholto, and Seamus are, it was our bru here who took the day. He wrapped around this man like a boa and dropped him like the bag of dung he is. The knife went one way and the man went the other. Before I could blink the poacher was crying for his dada and pounding the ground.”

  “Way to go Dad!” Ben said as he climbed up on the table and reached over to high-five his father.

  Chapter 74

  “Your son’s dead, Dada, get used to that idea on the ticky tick,” Ayo said as he stripped the extra bits of hanging meat from a severed elephant ear.

  Through glassy eyes Fisho stared at the knife stuck into the log in front of him. It’s chipped and dented blade shimmered in the low firelight. He hadn’t touched the cooked meat Ayo had tossed onto a plate and pushed in front of him.

  “Just keep this in mind,” Ayo said as he watched the old man rock back and forth as he stared into the fire, “Our good luck charm would still be alive if he’d listened to me. Your boy had no business going back down there. You’d better chow, we’re heading south for that leopard and probab
ly won’t stop until tomorrow arvie.”

  “He went back for the knife you left behind,” Fisho said, not looking up. “He assumed you’d just blame him and toss him again for it.”

  “And I told him to leave it,” Ayo said, “We could have gone back for it, or done without. We had been in that thicket for too long. You two still can’t carve for shit.”

  Ayo quickly finished cleaning the elephant parts. He then tossed his empty tin plate at Fisho’s feet and said, “Clean that and hit the dirt, we’re moving at first light.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Fisho said, kicking the plate away, “I’m going to get my son and then we’re going home. We’ve been out here for a month longer than we signed up for.”

  Ayo crossed the distance between them in a flash, pulling a knife from somewhere behind him and pressing it under Fisho’s chin. The tall Angolan leaned over the older man and brought his face close enough for their noses to touch.

  “I don’t teach lesson’s twice, farmer, so hear me well,” Ayo said, “We own you, do you understand? We own you, and that pretty little wife your dead boy was so proud of. Do you want to see her working in the brothers’ brothel, Dada? You’re going to stay out here for as long as you’re told, and do exactly what I tell you to do.”

  Fisho met the man’s stare and said, “You don’t know he’s dead, and are you stupid? You saw those dogs, and I saw the look on your face. They weren’t sniffing around aimlessly and soiling themselves when the vultures dropped in. You were wrong about Theo’s dogs, and the men with them were clearly not rangers. I’ve never seen a man move that fast. If we stay out here it’s only a matter of time before we’re both killed.”

  Ayo slid off Fisho, and as the knife disappeared he said, “Finally you understand the job, Fisho. Nothing’s changed.”

  As Ayo returned to his bedroll Fisho saw the man’s arrogance had been replaced by fear. It was obvious he was just as trapped as Fisho.

  Chapter 75

  “Okay, you were right. They’re freaking amazing,” Ben said as he hopped up on the low wall next to his sister, “There’s nothing we can do for them?”

  “No,” Kelcy said.

  Ben saw the grave look on his sister’s face and said, “I’m sorry Kels, that really sucks.”

  “Yeah,” she said quietly.

  The sun had just dropped behind the low blue mountains, filling the western sky above the paddock with bright oranges and purples. The kids were watching the clinic’s two newest patients, and the big animals were staring right back at them and huffing loudly. The rhinos were huddled at the back of the paddock with the large male sheltering the female. As sick as the pair were, Dr. Lewis still guessed her to be over two tons, and he probably tipped the scales north of three. Even with his immense bulk the meter-long primary horn looked freakishly big on him, and the female’s wasn’t any less impressive.

  The big male shifted his weight and scratched at the ground with his hoof as a foamy beard dripped from his chin.

  Spot and Smudge appeared with Dr. Lewis at the top of the path behind the clinic. “There they are,” she said to the pups. She raised her voice and called down to the paddocks, “I’m away for the evening, you two okay?”

  As the pups trotted down the path towards the kids Ben said, “We’re fine Dr. Lewis, good night.”

  The doctor looked at her student’s slumped shoulders and said, “Don’t worry Kels, it’ll be alright.”

  Kelcy gave her a little wave, and the doctor walked back into the clinic.

  The pups hopped up onto the wall next to the kids. They watched the rhinos for a while before Smudge signed.

  “Yeah,” Ben said, “Amazing is just what I said, too. I don’t understand why you can’t just knock them out?”

  “We could, once, or maybe twice,” Kelcy said impatiently, “but the treatments they need would have to be administered a dozen times over several days, maybe more. We can’t put them under that often. They had to be knocked out to bring them here, and we’re lucky they woke up from that. Besides, we need to see how they react without being all doped up.”

  Ben said, “Why not just shoot medicine into them using the tranq gun, or feed it to them?”

  “Brother,” Kelcy said, turning to face him, “You’re a friggin’ genius. How is it we didn’t think of that? Spot, go grab Dr. Lewis, quick! She’s been doing this for about forty years, boy is she going to be embarrassed when she hears how you’ve solved this in just under thirty seconds. Are you sure you’re not accelerated?”

  “Okay, you don’t have to be a jerk about it. I’m just asking,” Ben said.

  The boy looked down at his feet and Smudge shot Kelcy a look, and signed at her.

  Kelcy nodded as she set down the tablet she’d been using to research her new patients. She knocked into Ben with her shoulder, “Hey. I’m sorry. I’m just a little fucking cheezed off about the whole thing.”

  Smudge dropped down into Kelcy’s lap.

  Kelcy started to stroke her ears.

  “I know,” Ben said, “but why can’t you, really?”

  “Lots of reasons,” Kelcy said as Spot turned to look at her, “They came to us pretty late and need an aggressive therapy. The drugs have to be delivered right into the blood stream, preferably into a major artery. It won’t work subcutaneously, not with their hides. Even if we could hit a vein with a dart we’d never be sure the right dosage got delivered. The medicines are expensive, and they have to be given in the right progressive amounts based on how they react to it. Dr. Lewis says we still know surprisingly little about rhino pathology so we can’t just pump them full of drugs.”

  “I don’t mean to be a dummy,” Ben said, raising his eyebrows, “but why can’t you just corral them into one of the chutes and stick them?”

  Kelcy put her arm around her brother and said, “You’re only a little bit of a dummy, my bru. Normally we could, but those two poor animals are really pissed off. They’re not only hurting from the effects of the disease, but see how they’ve also got cracked skin and split hooves?” Ben nodded against her shoulder, “well the dirt and rocks stuck in there must be horribly painful.”

  Smudge lifted her paw out of Kelcy’s lap and signed.

  Kelcy smiled and said, “I’m afraid they need more than Christa’s miracle sled dog foot wax, girl.”

  She pulled on Smudge’s ear and added, “They’re agitated, and Dr. Lewis says wild rhinos aren’t the best patients even when they’re healthy. These two behemoths wouldn’t let us get close to them, and we’d have to get pretty far up under their neck or armpit.” Kelcy kicked at the wall of the paddock with her heel and said, “Musa won’t even let us try.”

  Spot signed, Ironic, if they weren’t a massive, well-armed wild animal we could help them. Also ironic that nothing in the forest can mess with them, and yet they’re taken out by a pathogen less than five micrometers long.

  The kids and Smudge stared at him.

  I’m just saying, Spot signed, It’s ironic, don’t you think?

  “So that’s it then?” Ben said, ignoring him.

  “Yeah, so that’s it,” Kelcy said, “Dr. Lewis decided to just let them be together until...”

  As she trailed off Smudge signed, and it included a rude gesture.

  Kelcy rubbed her silky black ears and said, “Yeah, it really does fucking suck.”

  For a long while the siblings sat next to each other on the low paddock wall, watching the sick rhinos and patting their dogs as the sun set.

  Chapter 76

  “Yebo,” Musa said, “I’ve got the boys bringing the lorry around, but are you sure you’d rather not wait for Kels to get here?”

  “I think it best we take care of this one without her,” Dr. Lewis said, “She doesn’t act like a typical bakvissie so we sometimes forget she’s still a young girl, and this one’s been tough enough on her already. Plenty more years ahead for her to see such nasty business.”

  As Dr. Lewis and Musa walked down to
the rhino paddock the big head ranger slid the bolt closed on his large hunting rifle. The sun hadn’t yet breached the hills and the baboons and warthogs were up early, chattering and grunting down at the watering hole.

  “Did you hear from Theo?” Dr. Lewis asked as she set her necropsy kit and electric saw on the wall of the pen and started to put on her gloves.

  “Yebo,” Musa said, “We have his blessing, but he sure didn’t need any more bad news. He thinks that damn ghost of a poacher from Angola may be—”

  Musa almost dropped his rifle when he looked into the rhino paddock.

  “Oh my God, no,” Dr. Lewis said as she followed his stare.

  Kelcy was lying on the ground in front of the huge male rhino. She was on her side, not moving.

  “Hush, don’t move,” Musa said, quietly for him.

  He raised the rifle and clicked off the safety.

  The bull rhino was staring at the head ranger and the doctor, but it wasn’t making any aggressive moves.

  They noticed the female rhino wasn’t standing behind the male. In fact she wasn’t in the pen anywhere.

  The baboons in the nearby trees started to complain louder as the bush below the path rustled. A moment later the snapping and crunching grew louder, and closer. Musa stepped in front of the doctor as he swung his rifle around.

  Ben and Smudge walked out of the thicket, followed a few steps behind by Spot, and then the female rhino. She ambled slowly out from the spiny brush, widening the narrow trail from the watering hole with her bulk as the branches snapped and scraped along her thick sides.

  The doctor leaned out from behind the big head ranger and stared while the strange single-file line of pedestrians crossed the gravel path.