When they nodded, he walked away without a second glance at me.
“That boy so wants you,” chanted Diya, and I glared at her.
“That was all make-believe,” I snarled, my heart still racing from the encounter.
She blew a disbelieving raspberry, and I hurried away to talk to the staff.
Later that afternoon, I took the kids around the sanctuary and showed them the big cats we had rescued. And in the evening, we had a big celebration for Majnu, the leopard we’d found with his foot stuck in a poacher’s trap. He was finally strong enough to be released into the wild.
Our guests watched from the viewing gallery facing the leopard reserve as Baba Sa and I opened the door to Majnu’s cage and let him out into the forest at sunset, and when he disappeared into the bushes, a soft cheer went up in the gallery. Suddenly, I saw Samrat leap off the edge of the gallery and combat roll down the side of the building, climb over the fence, and run towards me.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I demanded, furious that he would interfere with such an important ritual. There was a chance Majnu could be chased out of the jungle by another leopard, and we had to be ready to take him back. I needed my wits about me to do that…
I lost my chain of thought at that point because two things happened at once.
One - Samrat tackled me like a football, and we both went flying to the ground.
Second - Just when we hit the ground, I heard a shot, and Samrat hissed in pain.
CHAPTER 15
SAMRAT
The viewing gallery erupted in pandemonium.
“Stay down,” I growled in Meher’s ear, and leapt off her, running towards the jungle.
“Stop, it’s not safe in there,” she yelled, but I ignored her and kept going.
I had the sniper in sight, and I wasn’t going to give up that advantage. I heard the roar of jeeps behind me, and Meher’s father slowed down next to me and yelled at me to hop in.
I climbed into his jeep without taking my eyes off the sniper. He threw his gun down and tried to escape into the bushes, but I did not lose track of him. At one point, the bushes were too thick for the jeeps to pass, and I jumped out of the vehicle and chased him on foot, running him down just as he was about to crawl out under a wire fence.
I knocked him out with an uppercut to the jaw and dragged his ass back to the jeep.
“Tie his hands to the rail with a rope,” I instructed one of the staff members who came to help me. “He’s not getting away so easily.”
“Don’t worry, Hukum. He dared to shoot at our Baisa. There is no way we’re letting him go,” he replied squarely.
Meher’s father looked like he had aged ten years in these ten minutes. His hands shook as he reversed the jeep, and we made our way to the sanctuary.
“Is this the first time you guys have been attacked?” I asked.
“Well, we’ve had a few threats recently, because we rescue injured animals before the poachers can get to them. But this is the first time they actually attacked us. Meher could have died today,” he said, coming to an abrupt halt in the middle of the jungle, and resting his head on the steering wheel.
“Not while I’m alive,” I swore softly.
“Of course, she will die. You will all die one by one,” mumbled the sniper, coming around slowly.
I grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head back.
“What the fuck do you mean? Bol,” I roared, and he didn’t so much as flinch.
This was no ordinary poacher. This was a trained assassin. One who did not give any fucks about whom he killed. He laughed in my face, and I let go of his hair.
It was better to let the police have him because if I made him talk my way, they’d call it a crime, now that I was a civilian.
“You’re bleeding,” exclaimed Meher’s father, as he restarted the jeep.
