Madigan Amos Zoo Mysteries : Books 1 - 5 (Madigan Amos Zoo Mysteries Boxset)

by Ruby Loren

  My hand had migrated to the car door handle without my noticing. I looked down at it and then back out at the lion. His posture had changed and his ears were flicked forwards. The raised paw dropped and he lowered his body, slinking forwards. It didn’t take a genius to realise he was stalking the child. Unfortunately, his parents were apparently as far from geniuses as you could possibly get. The father was snapping photos on his phone of the approaching lion, while the child continued to shout and wave his arms - or lion tooth picks, as they were about to become.

  I swore under my breath and pushed down on the door handle. Despite it definitely not being my fault that the parents had so foolishly decided to leave the track and then let their kids run wild, I couldn't help but feel a little responsible for them deciding to drive off the road in the first place. Perhaps riding around in a stripy jeep was a better idea after all.

  The lion didn’t even look round when I opened the car door and stood up on the grass. I kept a close eye on the rest of the pride (who were mostly asleep) and banged as loudly as I could on the metal of the door. The stalking lion jumped and looked my way, his eyes meeting mine over the top of the car door I was currently shielding myself with.

  He shook his burgeoning mane and turned back to the easier target of the child.

  “Shut your window, or you’ll die!” I shouted as loudly as I could.

  Perhaps it wasn’t the best choice of words. Instead of closing the window, the child looked at me and froze, his elbows and upper body still hanging out of the car. The lion sensed his distraction and launched forwards.

  I prayed for a miracle.

  There was a ‘phht’ sound, and the lion jerked away from his killing run. He jogged to the side, lashing his tail and trying to bite his shoulder. A few seconds later, he fell to the ground with the feathered tranquilliser dart still sticking out of his side.

  I looked towards the track at the black and white stripy vehicle and breathed a sigh of relief. Kerry, one of Snidely’s big cat staff, looked pretty relieved, too. She’d evidently been driving along with the regular tourists, on her way to investigate the horn blast. I couldn't blame her for the less than urgent response. People accidentally hit their horns daily, but on this occasion it had been an emergency. I was just grateful that she had arrived in the nick of time.

  The parents had finally realised what had almost happened. The child had been dragged back in and the window wound tightly shut. The people carrier started to move back towards the track, but the big cat keeper wasn’t finished. The zebra jeep swung off the track and revved its way across the grass before neatly swinging round in front of the people carrier, forcing the driver to slam on the brakes. The angry father opened his window (apparently forgetting everything that had just happened) and waved his fist, shouting obscenities.

  Kerry remained in the jeep and turned on the loudspeaker system. I couldn’t help but smirk when she drowned out the man’s yelling with her reprimand. She informed the parents of the very real danger their child had been in and when the man dared to gesture towards my own car, Kerry jumped on that, too. She told the irresponsible pair that I was a member of staff, and even if I weren’t, one person breaking the rules does not mean you should do it, too. Honestly, it sounded like the sort of speech you'd expect to be giving to children - not their parents.

  After she’d finished up and let the driver get back to the track, she drove the jeep over to my car and parked close next to me. I scooted over to the passenger side and we both opened our adjacent windows, close enough together that no lion could get in between.

  “Can you believe I just had to do that?” Kerry said, her bleached blonde hair escaping from her plait. She looked across at the dozing pride of lions and shook her head. “Unbelievable. It’s made me come over all strange. When Orlando made his move back there, my heart, it just…” She mimed a rapidly beating heart with her hand.

  “Sorry I caused you trouble,” I said, knowing I'd done nothing wrong but still feeling responsible. "Will Orlando be okay?” I asked, nodding my head in the direction of the knocked-out lion.

  “Yeah, he’ll be fine. As soon as we’re out of here, I’ll get a team in to make sure he’s okay and that the needle comes out. They’ll be able to do it safely.” She blew air out of her mouth and shook her head. Her eyes widened and she lifted a hand to her temple. I suddenly noticed it was slick with sweat.

  “Wow, I guess the stress of the situation really did get to me.” She giggled and then looked horrified for a second before giggling again.

  This time she didn’t stop.

  “Kerry, are you oka-“

  Before I could answer the question, she threw open the driver’s side door. It hit my car door with force and I knew there’d be a big dent. “Hey!” I started to say, but she carried on giggling and stepped out of the jeep. As soon as I saw what she was doing I tried to get out myself, before realising her door was blocking mine from opening. I beeped my horn again, desperately hoping she wasn’t the only keeper in the vicinity, but it was more than likely.

  “Stop, Kerry! What are you doing? You can’t just walk out there!” I shouted out of my open window when she passed beyond the relative safety of our parked vehicles.

  I watched, frozen in horror, as she walked around the side of my car and continued towards the pride of lions.

  They didn’t look so sleepy now.

  One of the lionesses saw her approach and grunted.

  Kerry was still 15 metres away from the pride when she collapsed.

  I kept staring at the spot where she’d gone down before I finally comprehended what had happened. The big cat keeper had just passed out in front of a group of curious lions. I swore and looked around in vain for the second stripy jeep I was hoping was already on the way.

  Nothing appeared on the horizon.

  The lioness pushed up onto her paws and stretched - just the way a regular cat does when it wakes up. Her ears flicked forwards and she looked over at the spot where Kerry lay still in the grass.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered, realising that the cavalry weren’t coming this time. I was the only person who could do anything to avert disaster.

  2

  Mr Limey

  It only took me a couple of seconds to slide back into the driver’s seat. I was about to act on instinct and jump out and run towards where Kerry lay, but fortunately cold logic gripped my brain at the last moment.

  Block their view, my brain supplied and instead of getting out of the car, I turned the key in the ignition.

  I drove towards the pride of lions, knowing I was going to get closer than I would ever have done normally. One of the best things about safari parks was that it was the animals’ choice to interact and get close to visitors. This was one of the few times it was necessary to take that choice away.

  I gunned my plucky Fiesta forwards until I was a mere ten metres away from the lions. I parked with my door facing the keeper with my car now between the curious lioness and Kerry’s prone form. Casting one more wary glance towards the pride, I opened the car door and ran across the grass towards Kerry.

  “Kerry! Kerry, can you hear me?” I said, shaking her shoulders. I moved around her to make sure I was facing back towards my car… and beyond it… the lions. On the ground in front of me, Kerry remained unresponsive. I checked her pulse and found that it was slow but regular and I could see she was still breathing. It looked like she’d just fainted. She had said that she’d felt strange and had heart palpitations. Then she’d started laughing and had nearly walked into the middle of the pride of lions. Any big cat keeper worth his or her salt would never do a thing like that! After the way she’d spoken to the foolish parents, I knew she took the threat that these lions - these wild animals - posed, very seriously.

  So what had made her act so strangely, and why had she passed out?

  I shook my head, realising I’d already wasted a couple of valuable seconds. There was no telling when the lions mi
ght get curious as to what was going on on the other side of the car. If they got between me and the car… well, I didn’t want to think about it.

  “All right, let’s get moving,” I said, hoping to inspire some previously hidden reserve of strength within myself. Although working as a zookeeper had made me pretty strong, I was only five feet tall which meant I wouldn't have been anyone’s first choice for dragging a limp body through the grass at a decent speed. As well as Kerry's superior height and weight posing a problem for me, dragging her also meant I had to turn my back on my car… and what lay beyond it.

  I focused on my breathing and started to pull, hoping that if a lion did try to sneak up on me, one of the many horrified visitors watching from the safety of their car would think to warn me with a timely horn blast. I hoped against hope that some of them had driven to get help, but even if they had, I knew I was in a race against time. I could have left Kerry on the ground, but what’s more inviting to a lion than prey that can't defend itself?

  And these lions were used to dead meat.

  Sweat poured freely down my back and my glasses slid so far down my nose I knew they were only seconds from falling off. I hoped they'd stay on. The idea of only being able to see a blur of tawny, as death streaked towards me, was somehow more terrifying than witnessing your own doom in HD.

  I risked a glance behind me and found I only had a couple of metres more to go. It was only now that I realised I should have parked as close as possible to Kerry. Instead, I’d managed to leave the car somewhere in the middle, between the lions and where she’d fallen. I’d been thinking more about blocking their vision than dragging her to safety. Stupid, my brain chided. It will get you killed.

  I sagged with relief when my bum bumped into the car door and I could stop dragging Kerry. My slick hand fumbled the door handle.

  There was a bang as a large weight landed on the roof of my car.

  My hand froze on the door handle. I’d been looking through the window at the pride beyond, who had appeared to still be sleeping. The lioness must have been too close to the car to see through the window.

  I slowly lifted my chin and looked up at the large cat sitting on the car roof. Her golden eyes blinked as she surveyed me. Both of us seemed to be considering our next move.

  My brain went into overdrive. It felt like it was throwing forwards every single piece of information I knew about lions and cats in general.

  The first thing I knew was not to make any sudden movements. I was still making eye contact with the lioness and I tried to narrow my eyes, hoping that there may be some cat language cross over. The lioness blinked again, but didn’t return my attempt at lion-speak. She stretched out a paw and swiped. I ducked, grateful for my short stature. Something told me the lioness was just curious, maybe she even only wanted to play, but I knew humans didn’t, on the whole, hold up well to being played with by big cats.

  A treacherous voice inside me whispered that if I backed off, she’d probably go for Kerry. I’d have the chance to get away and live another day.

  I quashed it. Now was not the time to turn back.

  Keeping my eyes on the lioness and her paws, I gently lifted up the door handle and opened the rear passenger door. She watched me, but although she was still, she wasn’t tensed. I didn’t think the big cat was about to pounce.

  Now came the tricky bit.

  I considered the best way to get Kerry into the car. Bending over her and exposing my neck and back to the crouching lioness wasn’t very appealing. I decided the best way to do it would be to get in the car myself and drag Kerry after me. It wasn’t ideal - especially for Kerry’s safety - but I just hoped I’d get brownie points for even trying to rescue her and hey, maybe we’d be lucky and both get out alive.

  I swallowed and smoothly ducked inside the car. Once inside, I stopped holding my breath. Sure, I wasn't out of danger yet, but there was something comforting about having a roof between me and the deadly big cat. Of course, this whole mess had come about because a kid had nearly got himself dragged through a window by one of the pride. Having a door wide open meant I was actually in a far more perilous situation.

  I gritted my teeth and stuck my hands out of the door, knowing full well that the lioness could easily rip my briefly exposed head open with a swipe of her paw. I seized Kerry’s limp wrists and pulled, not caring if I dislocated anything. If we both got through this, we could worry about it later. Her head bumped the bottom ledge of the car door when it flopped back on her neck, but it was another thing I had to ignore. I wrenched her upper body into the car with me and took a lengthy breath. The lioness still hadn’t pounced. Was I really about to get away with this crazy rescue attempt?

  A horn blared and a voice shouted over a loud speaker. I heard the roof of my little car compress and then saw the lioness leap from the roof and tear away across the grass towards the striped jeep that had just arrived. Chunks of meat were flung from the windows and the pride awakened and moved after the lioness, eager to get their early dinner. Only the lion with the dart in its side slept on.

  With one last effort, I hauled Kerry fully into the car, shut the door, and then scrambled back into the driver’s seat. I gave the thumbs up to the worried looking driver of the other staff vehicle and they returned the sign before we drove in convoy towards the enclosure’s exit.

  I realised my blank worksheet was lying screwed up on the floor of the footwell. Something told me it wasn’t going to get completed today.

  “What the hell happened?” Ryan, a keeper who looked after the elephants jumped out of his jeep the moment we were in a safe area.

  “It’s Kerry. She’d just saved a kid from being dragged through a car window by darting one of the lions. She drove over to my car and then said she felt strange. She started giggling and got out of the jeep. Then she walked towards the lions. A second later, she just collapsed,” I finished, trying to keep the story as short and to the point as possible. “We need to get her medical help, right now!” I added, remembering that Kerry was still mysteriously unconscious and probably had all kinds of secondary injuries from me dragging her into the back of my car.

  “I’ll call for an ambulance,” Ryan said, his light brown skin going pale when he realised we weren’t out of the woods yet.

  “I'm a first aider, I’ll do what I can,” I told him, while he got his phone out.

  It was only after Kerry had been airlifted to hospital that I finally got the chance to thank Ryan for quite possibly saving my life.

  I spent the rest of the day keeping a low profile. Lady Snidely herself had been down to my small office to question me about the incident. While it was good to be able to tell the whole story and not have to worry about keeping Kerry alive, it did bring home just how much danger I’d been in. I knew the lions were far from tame. And I knew my rescue mission could have been fatal.

  I’d asked after Kerry and Lady Snidely - Joan - had said that she was in hospital but was conscious. The doctors thought the strange episode was the result of a drug. I’d been shocked to hear their diagnosis. I hadn’t known her long, but Kerry had struck me as responsible. I would have been very surprised indeed to discover she’d been taking drugs at all, never mind at work! But then, I had misjudged people before.

  I stroked Lucky, who rolled over and showed me his belly. He was camped out on my desk, watching while I typed up all of the worksheets I’d done so far. I had been planning to do all of this in one big lump, before handing my report in, but I thought it would fill the rest of the day pretty nicely. I needed some time to calm my nerves.

  “Hmm,” I said aloud, late that afternoon. I’d been looking over my report on the meerkat enclosure in the small walk-through area of the safari and wildlife park. I’d made a note that the meerkats had recently had some babies who were orphaned and currently being raised by hand. I wanted my review to be thorough, so I thought I’d better check on their progress. As luck would have it, my office was in the same block of buildings as
the place I needed to check.

  The critical care unit was a lot bigger than the equivalent at Avery Zoo. But then, the animals here were generally quite a lot bigger, too. I walked into the building and was surprised to find no one was currently working here. All of the larger, caged enclosures were empty, which must mean that there were either no new arrivals, or just that the parent animals were all doing great jobs. Keeping track of the last time (if ever) that a group of animals had given birth, was something I would need to get on top of. I sighed at the thought of all of the maths and stats I would need to figure out the animals who needed my help the most.

  A loud hiss made me jump. I spun to face a massive vivarium and found myself face to face with a cobra. A splash of translucent venom on the glass let me know it had tried to strike when I’d walked by. “Charming,” I muttered, regarding it warily. My self-directed crash course in snakes suggested that this was an Indian spectacled cobra. The label on the bottom of the tank might have helped a bit, too. I watched the swaying cobra for a second, suddenly more doubtful than ever that I would have the first clue on how to make their habitats more successful.

  Now where the heck were those baby meerkats? I thought and turned around.

  “Oh!” I jumped when I came face to face with a person I hadn’t heard enter the room. I tried to calm my hammering heart, which was summoning up memories of that morning. It took me a second or two to realise who was standing in front of me.

  “Lowell! What are you doing here?” I asked the tall, well-built man.

  I’d met Lowell back at Avery Zoo. He had been working undercover as a private detective, trying to get to the bottom of the same mystery I’d found myself caught up in. Although Lowell and I had definitely seen our fair share of fireworks when we were together (both good and bad) we hadn’t left on the best terms. Lowell had advised me to stay out of a dangerous situation that he’d thought he could figure out all on his own. I’d disobeyed him and it was only because of this that Lowell was able to stand in front of me right now. And not be dead.