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

by Robert Udulutch

  So I’m hearing we’re good then, Smudge said as she jumped down and put her paw on the door handle.

  Yeah, Spot said, joining his sister at the door and looking back at Ben, You just want us to be really careful, got it.

  Chapter 79

  “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea,” Dan said, “Your mom might kill me.”

  “Your Mimi would certainly kill both of you, and then me, slowly,” Hamish said, “I thought we all agreed your days of putting yourself in front of wild animals were over?”

  “It can’t hurt to try,” Kelcy said, “You said the guy was close to spilling everything. He may respond better to a softer touch.”

  Hamish and Dan looked at Musa, and the big ranger shrugged his enormous shoulders.

  Christa and Nikki did the same.

  Tian said, “I’ll stay by her side. It may be better if Dan and Musa were not present, he seems to be a little skittish when you two are in the room.”

  Musa laughed and clapped Dan hard on the shoulder. “Eish, if you call shitting yourself being skittish, yebo Dan?” he said, “Go ahead, have a chat with him. We’re going to check out the areas he’s given us so far, but we need the chopper landing site. He says he doesn’t remember where it is but I can tell when a tsotsi is lying, and this one’s squirting guano.”

  Hamish nodded and said, “Aye, he’s full of beans. He’s protecting someone, or his bosses. He’s Kaonde, they have GPS in their ball sacks. Probably better than the pups.” The big Scot put a hand on Kelcy and Tian’s shoulders and said, “No pissing about with this guy. I mean it. He’s scared, and he thinks poachers are just taken out and shot. Which is usually true around here.”

  Kelcy nodded, and Hamish gave her shoulder one last pat before the team left. The newly formed anti-poaching unit climbed into their Range Rovers with their impatiently wagging police dogs and left the rehab center’s parking lot. Trails of dust spread out behind them as they sped off through the gates and disappeared into the bush.

  Kelcy and Tian walked to the guard’s station. The building sat next to the clinic on a steep hill overlooking the watering hole. Both buildings were the same white stucco, and both had the same deep porches and low hanging thatched roofs. A set of steps led to the lower level at the back of the guard’s station, ending at the solid metal holding cell door.

  Tian opened the door and flicked on the light, and then waited outside as Kelcy stepped into the small windowless room. As it was partially underground the dim room was cool, but the still air felt stagnant and close. A floor-to-ceiling chain link fence cut the room in half. The outer office was just large enough to hold a desk and chair, with two smaller metal chairs in front of it. There were rings set into the concrete floor in front of each metal chair. The cell behind the fence had only a small metal bunk and a toilet. There was a thin man sitting on the bunk and he was staring at the floor.

  Kelcy was initially surprised by the room’s pristine white walls and spotless floor, but she remembered this may be the first captured poacher Musa had ever actually detained.

  She removed something from the top desk drawer and stepped to the chain link wall.

  “Hello, my name is Kelcy,” she said.

  The man didn’t respond, he didn’t appear to have heard her. She could see he had a cut over his eye and an angry looking bruise on his temple. She also thought he couldn’t be much older than twenty.

  “I am sure your mother would not be pleased to see that you have been addressed by a woman and are treating her so rudely,” Kelcy said.

  The young man looked up and said weakly “I am sorry. I don’t mean to be rude.”

  “Apology accepted,” Kelcy said, “What’s your name?”

  “I am called Fulfort, ma’am,” he said.

  “Come closer so I can have a look at you, please,” Kelcy said, “I am a nurse.”

  Fulfort remained seated.

  “It’s okay, come here Fulfort. I believe this belongs to you,” Kelcy said, holding out a loop of leather with a copper coin tied to it.

  Fulfort rose from the bed and walked to the chain link wall. She pushed the necklace through the fence and he took it without looking up.

  As he slipped it over his head he raised his eyes to meet hers. She motioned for him to turn slowly, and raise his arms. He did so, and then moved closer when Kelcy asked to get a look at his eye. He also showed her some of the places where the thorns had gouged him.

  “I know it is not customary for a woman to address a man in this way, but under the circumstances we’re going to have to forgo formalities. Would you appreciate me speaking very honestly to you, Fulfort?” Kelcy said.

  “Yes, please ma’am.” he said.

  “Alright, here’s the situation,” Kelcy said, “I can take you to the clinic and tend to your wounds if you wish. I don’t know what will happen to you so don’t bother asking. However, I’m sure you’ve noticed there is a new team assisting with the anti-poaching, and I doubt they are interested in killing you. If they were, they would have just beat what they wanted to know out of you, shot you, and left you for the hyenas.”

  Fulfort looked at the pretty, kind, oddly frank white girl for a long moment. “I understand,” he said, “Yes, I would like to have my wound’s tended to ma’am.”

  “Very well, Fulfort,” Kelcy said, “but there are a few things you should know before I open this door. My father is the one who kicked your ass in the bush. If he hears you so much as looked at me the wrong way he’ll rip off your arms and beat you to death with them, do you understand?”

  Fulfort nodded.

  “Also, my bodyguard is outside and will be accompanying us. He’s the most lethal man I’ve ever met and has protected me from men twice as big and far more dangerous than you are. He also makes my dad look like a kitten. I would suggest you do nothing to anger him, agreed?”

  Fulfort looked up at her with wide eyes, and nodded.

  Kelcy unlocked the chain link door and held it open for Fulfort. He waited for her to leave the outer room and he followed a few steps behind. When they passed Tian the poacher raised his eyes for a brief second, noticed the man’s muscles and hard stare, and quickly looked down again as they walked up the steps.

  Kelcy brought Fulfort to the exam room and cleaned his wounds. She whistled as she worked, and smiled at Fulfort as she wiped his skin and applied antibiotic ointment.

  Fulfort had never been this close to a white woman before as an adult, and certainly not a young pretty one. He had learned English in the mission school and the teacher was a very large old white woman who smelled like sweat and smoke. She tended to spank the quiet children more for some reason so Fulfort had been over her knee more than a few times.

  Kelcy didn’t look at him the way the white tourists typically did, either. She reminded Fulfort of Jewel, she even hummed while she worked just as his wife did.

  “Okay,” Kelcy said as she winked at him, “you won’t die from these wounds, anyways.”

  Fulfort buttoned his shirt up and slid off the exam table. As they turned to leave he said, “Ma’am?”

  “Yes Fulfort, what is it?” Kelcy said as she dumped her gloves into a waste basket.

  “Thank you for tending to me,” Fulfort said, “You are very kind. My mother is no longer walking with us, but my wife would be very happy you have taken care of me, and she’d toss me for being rude to you earlier.”

  Fulfort held out his hand.

  Kelcy shook it, and said, “I’m sorry to hear about your mother, Fulfort, but you are very welcome. Would you be interested in repaying me?”

  Fulfort looked at her, scratched his head, and said, “If it is something I can do, yes.”

  “Come with me, Fulfort,” Kelcy said as she gave him a big, bright smile. As they left the exam room she said, “Fulfort. That’s an interesting name and not one I’ve heard before, what does it mean?”

  Fulfort said, “My mother was Lunda tribe, from the north of Zambia. She had a buck
goat in her village that was very well known. He was kind and very smart. He welcomed visitors, and lived to be very old. He had his own table at feasts. His name was Fulfort.”

  Kelcy laughed and said, “I have such a goat back home as well, his name is Mister Watt.”

  Fulfort was not sure if the laughing girl was telling the truth, but he laughed anyway.

  She nodded to Tian as they left the clinic and he followed a few steps behind the teen and the poacher.

  Kelcy took Fulfort to the rehab paddocks. She unlatched a heavy gate and hurried Fulfort through it. From the far side of the pen a baby rhino came bounding over to her. The animal only came up to her waist but shoved her around like a toy.

  “This is Bahati,” Kelcy said, swatting the animal’s snout away from her crotch, “I need you to feed her while I give her medicine.”

  Kelcy reached over the back wall of the paddock and prepared a bottle as the animal sniffed Fulfort, and then started to shove him playfully around the pen.

  She handed the poacher the large bottle and he stared at it.

  “Just hold the business end out to her,” Kelcy said, “She knows what to do with it. Hold it steady, she’s pretty strong.”

  Kelcy watched Fulfort struggle to hold the bottle as the rhino calf jabbed at it. She saw a smile creep over his face as the little gray animal closed its eyes, raised a front hoof. and sucked down the formula.

  A few minutes later Fulfort looked at Kelcy and smiled with all of his teeth.

  Tian stood just outside the paddock gate with one foot on the lower rail. He dropped his bodyguard stone face long enough to smile and nod at Kelcy.

  “You’re good with animals,” Kelcy said.

  “Where I grew up,” Fulfort said as he tugged playfully on the rhino calf’s ear, “We had a cow, goats, and many chickens.”

  “Yebo, me too,” Kelcy said. She stood next to Fulfort and snuck the tip of a long plastic baster into the baby’s mouth next to the bottle’s nipple. She squeezed the bulb and the pink medicine went into the rhino’s mouth. The calf stopped slurping, opened her eyes, and sneezed out a pink cloud.

  Kelcy and Fulfort both laughed as they wiped off their faces and the slurping started again.

  “You know what her name means?” Fulfort asked.

  “Bahati?” Kelcy said, “No I don’t.”

  “Lucky,” Fulfort said as he rubbed the baby’s nub of a horn, “It means she’s lucky.”

  They stood together for a long while, watching the little orphan as she continued to slurp away happily.

  Kelcy asked, “Do you have children, Fulfort?”

  “My wife and I have three,” Fulfort said proudly, “They are well behaved children, and she is the best mother. Her name is Jewel. She’s the most beautiful woman in all of Africa.” He looked at Kelcy and said, “I mean the most beautiful woman born in Africa.”

  “Okay, Fulfort. Thank you,” Kelcy said as she punched him on the shoulder.

  Ben and the pups came trotting around the side of the pen and Tian held the gate open for them while the baby rhino was finishing her bottle. The little calf looked up at Fulfort as the nipple popped out of her mouth and she belched heartily at him. After the poacher gave the animal’s lumpy snout a rub she head butted him and bounded off to play with the pups.

  Ben held up a small paper bag and shook it. He also held up a thermos, and with a big smile said, “Faith sent rusks and Mimi sent tea.” He walked up to the black man holding the empty bottle and said, “I’m Ben,” as he stuck out his hand.

  Fulfort shook the boy’s hand, and followed the kids to a low wall overlooking a row of paddocks that contained elephants of every size. Next to the paddocks were high chain link pens with pacing cheetahs and caracals. The smaller brown wild cats had huge curved black hairs at the tips of their ears that made them look like Egyptian queens. Ben tossed half of a biscuit over the high pen to his favorite caracal. It snatched it out of the air and began to bat it around playfully. He had named that one Colleen.

  The two kids and Fulfort passed the thermos back and forth as they sat on the wall and munched on the dense baked biscuits. Fulfort raised an eyebrow as the two black dogs trotted between the elephants’ tree-sized legs and got a trumpeting head shake or a playful trunk swat from each of them.

  “What is this place?” Fulfort asked.

  “This is a rehabilitation center,” Kelcy said, “We take care of the animals here. Some of them are wild animals from the reserve that are sick or injured, but most are here because they were raised in captivity and became a nuisance for their owners, or were rescued from them.”

  “Or some,” Ben said as he bit off a corner of biscuit, “Were an attempted poaching but the butt heads were incompetent and just wounded the poor animal.”

  “What happens to these animals?” Fulfort asked as he looked away from the boy.

  “The main goal is to reintroduce them into the reserve,” Kelcy said, “But we can’t do that with most of the animals that were raised around humans. They’ll just end up going into town or getting too close to the resort and causing trouble.”

  “Yeah,” Ben said, “We use them for education. When people get close to the animals they see how amazing they are, and why they need to be protected. Have you ever held a baby rhino’s snout in your hand before, Fully?”

  “No,” Fulfort said.

  “Kinda changes your perspective. Well,” Ben said, wiping his hands on his jeans, “I gotta take the pups to help train the next batch of killer anti-poaching dogs. It was good to meet you, Fully.” He clapped the man hard on the back and jumped down from the wall. He whistled for the pups and they came running.

  Kelcy winked at her brother as he ran off with the dogs trotting in perfect sync behind him. Fulfort stared until they disappeared behind the clinic.

  “Well, I suppose I should put you back in the cage,” Kelcy said, “Sorry about that.”

  Fulfort nodded.

  They took the long way back to the holding cell with Tian following a few paces behind. They walked past the elephant paddocks and Jock came over to push Kelcy with his trunk and eyeball her guest.

  Kelcy pointed out that there were no fences or gates around the elly paddocks.

  As she hung on the huge animal’s tusk she said, “Fulfort, these elephants have been rescued from zoos and circuses, and even some private owners that weren’t able to care for them. They grew up around humans and most would not fare well in the wild, but as you can see they are free to roam the reserve as they wish.”

  Fulfort nodded as Jock sniffed him, and he reached out a tentative hand and touched the massive bull elephant’s trunk.

  Kelcy said, “The interesting thing is when they first arrive they stay around the paddock for a few days, even though they can hear the wild ellys calling from the bush. Once they get comfortable with their new digs they venture off to meet their wild neighbors. Sometimes they stay in the bush with the wild ellys for several weeks, but then they always return to their paddock. They’ll still go out to play with the ellys that come to the watering hole, but they always come home at night. You see, they prefer the company of humans, once they know they’ll be well treated. They also enjoy being put to work. Every morning these smart, sensitive ellys come down to the stable to see if we are taking them out for a riding safari. Sometimes we just let them move that truck around so they feel useful.” She pointed to a dented, stripped-down Range Rover carcass on the edge of the parking area.

  “That is amazing,” Fulfort said, “I guess I don’t know much about elephants.”

  “You know enough to kill them and cut them to pieces,” Kelcy said.

  Fulfort turned, he looked like she had just slapped him.

  Tian took one step closer, and Jock huffed.

  “Fulfort you need to help me stop this insane killing. I know you were not alone out in the bush, and those men are out there right now hunting these amazing creatures. Look at the animals around you. The baby rhino you fed i
s an orphan and will likely never be able to return to the wild because you assholes killed its mother.”

  Fulfort’s lower lip started to move, but he didn’t say anything.

  Kelcy continued, “You know this is wrong, and I don’t think you’re happy about killing, Fulfort. I’m guessing you didn’t have much of a choice, but that doesn’t wash the blood from your hands. If you ever want to see Jewel and your children again I can help you but I need to know about your men in our reserve. My dad’s losing patience with you, and I don’t want to see you hurt.” Kelcy reached out and took his hand, and with her huge eyes turned up to him said, “Please Fulfort, tell me where that chopper lands.”

  Fulfort looked at her for a moment and then said, “I will tell you, but I need to ask you for a promise.”

  Chapter 80

  The sharply dressed intern took the writer the long way through the West Wing. First time visitors never seemed to mind the few extra minutes it took to walk past the Roosevelt Room and the Oval Office before turning the corner and passing the Chiefs’ and Vice’s offices. They received nods from the president’s press secretary and a deputy chief of staff who were practicing a policy speech in the hallway. Eventually they arrived at the National Security Advisor’s Office.

  The woman knocked on the office door and waited for Gloria to invite them in.

  “Ah, Miss Clayton,” Gloria said, rising from her large desk and gliding across the office with her firm handshake ready, “It’s wonderful to finally meet you. So glad we could get this arranged.” Gloria nodded to the intern and said, “Thanks Rach, I’ll give you a shout when we’re done.”

  As the thick door clicked closed behind them Gloria waved to the classically decorated sitting area in the center of the office. The writer took a seat in the plush early American chair as Gloria offered her a drink. “It’s late enough in the day, don’t you think?” Gloria said, “Would you fancy a sherry?”