Sofia's message stayed open on the screen as I looked up.
"How close?"
"Maybe two kilometers from the lodge access point. Unusual pattern."
Animals didn't change behavior for drama. Pressure had been applied somewhere out of sight. "Keep eyes on them," I said. "And make sure no one uses the word 'poacher' around guests until I give the clear."
"Copy."
I slid the phone back into my pocket without answering Sofia.
Later. I’d call her later. After the road opened. After the guests cleared. After I knew no one was moving through the scrub toward a lodge full of civilians.
The thought of Juliette came anyway, sharp and badly timed.
The lodge appeared through the trees.
Juliette was on the veranda.
She stood near the railing, one hand wrapped around a coffee cup that had probably gone cold an hour ago. Her hair was stillloose. Her clothes were still yesterday's. Her grip on the cup suggested the coffee had failed her personally.
She also looked like she'd already figured out half of what I hadn't told anyone.
Christ. Predators for a living, and Juliette Wilder still made me check my footing.
I crossed the gravel and stopped at the edge of the veranda. She didn't move toward me. She just waited, her eyes tracking my approach with the same focus she'd used to track the elephant.
"Road?" she asked.
"Twenty minutes. Maybe less."
"And the fence?"
I paused. Most guests would have asked about the road.
"Intact," I said.
"That was too fast."
I didn't answer.
"Was it tested?"
I should have deflected. I answered anyway.
"Yes."
Her expression didn't change. "How long did it take Daniel to get to me?"
"Fourteen minutes."
"Then that was the point."
She wasn't asking. She was confirming.
I took off my sunglasses and folded them into my shirt pocket. The sun was getting higher, and the heat on the veranda was starting to press against my skin. She stood there undercaffeinated and improperly dressed, asking the exact questions I didn't want answered out loud.
"You're not supposed to know that," I said.
