Hunted (13 page)

13
TROPHY HUNTERS

Li stood at the foot of the tree. The struts led up to the watch tower at the top. She took a breath. Her heart was pounding. Her palms were sweating. She hadn't even started climbing yet, and the very thought of the ordeal to come was making her freak out.

Get a grip, she said to herself. It's barely eight metres off the ground.

Telling herself not to be so stupid, she stepped forward, seized the rungs and climbed up to the top. 'OK, Li,' she said aloud. 'Now all we're going to do is come down again. No need to worry; just going for a little climb.'

But her nerve was wavering. It wasn't fear at being up there; it was fear of how she would feel once she started to climb down. It was the fear that she could no longer trust her body.

Li went into the hide and sat down on the wooden bench. She wouldn't rush it. She'd relax, look at the view, watch some animals for a while. She gazed out over the golden plain and the purple mountains beyond.

She had come out as soon as they arrived back at the lodge. Amber had been keen to do some exercise before supper, afraid that her injury was severely damaging her fitness. She suggested a swim and the others had accepted with enthusiasm. But Li couldn't face it. The others all seemed so carefree and confident, while she felt as if she was carrying around this terrible secret. The words she'd said to Paulo came back to her. What use was she to them if she no longer had her special skills?

She gave the excuse that she felt tired and was going for a lie down. Then she went to the map in reception and looked for a spotting hide within walking distance.

Giraffes made their stately way across the plain, their heads nodding. A herd of migrating wildebeest formed a dense clump of grey-brown against the golden bush. All of them had their own way of avoiding danger and solving life-threatening problems; she'd find a way too. But how?

For now, the ground seemed a long way away.

'Come on in, the water's lovely.' One of Patrick's group looked up at Amber as she came out in her dark-red bikini. It was the boy with the floppy dark hair. 'I'm Toby, by the way.'

Amber looked at him. He was just the kind of creep she didn't like. Too sure of himself, too sure she'd like him. His friends grinned at him, like lesser wolves in the pack congratulating their leader.

Hex came up behind her and poked her in the buttock. Amber whirled round, then her face split in an astonished gasp as she saw him. He was wearing the most ridiculous pair of shorts. They were orange and black, with jagged lines, as though someone had drawn all over them with several coloured pens held in a fist.

'Hex,' she drawled, 'what do you think you look like?'

'We're all the same when we're wet,' he said briskly. Before Amber had a chance to react he scooped her up in both arms. Then he let out a Hiawatha whoop, ran to the edge, pulling her after him, and leaped in.

They bobbed up to the surface at the same time, spluttering and gasping. Hex glimpsed Amber's face, lit with a clear desire for revenge, and powered off down the pool in a smooth crawl. Amber gave chase but Hex had already reached the end. He touched the wall, did a slick tumble turn and shot back past her.

Alex was sitting on the side. He'd got into the pool and swum ten fast lengths, but he couldn't shake the thoughts that kept whirling around his head after the encounter with the poachers.

Paulo came up to him. 'Penny for your thoughts.'

'That poacher was watching us and we didn't know he was there. We should have noticed. What's the point if we don't notice something like that?' Alex's blue eyes were steely. 'What do we do all this training for?'

'These guys are like terrorists,' said Paulo. 'I think the war's getting dirtier.'

The other boys in the pool watched Amber for a while, shouting encouragement and hoping she would notice and let them join in the game. But she was intent on racing Hex until he ran out of puff. In the water, her ankle didn't hurt much and she was enjoying every moment of the race. Hex accepted the challenge gleefully and showed no signs of flagging. The two of them powered up and down the pool like torpedoes.

Finally the three boys got out of the pool and walked over to Alex and Paulo. The blond one held out his hand. 'I'm Ralph, this is my cousin Toby' - he indicated the black-haired youth who had been trying to chat up Amber. 'And this is his brother Ben.'

Paulo thought Alex looked as though he wished they'd go away again, but he felt there was no harm in being friendly. He introduced himself.

'So, what are you doing here?' said Ben, sitting down on the sun lounger. 'You here for the game?'

'You could say that,' said Alex, a little curtly.

'We've been on loads of holidays together,' said Ben. 'Our dads shoot together and we've been shooting since we were small. Last summer we went to the Rockies. We were hunting deer and we took a pop at a bear.'

'That was me,' grinned Toby.

Paulo was shocked. 'You shot at a bear? Why? Was it going to hurt you?'

Toby shrugged. 'If it's there, you've gotta shoot it. Law of the jungle and all that.'

Alex looked at their eager faces as they boasted about their brush with danger in the wild. He was perfectly willing to shoot an animal if it was a question of his survival, but to kill it for fun was simply offensive.

Ralph didn't notice Alex's expression. 'I shot a stag in the Black Forest,' he said. 'It was huge.'

'That must have been difficult,' said Paulo, though like Alex he wasn't impressed. 'It's almost impossible to creep up on deer.'

'We had a telescopic sight, of course. Leupold Vari-X Three tactical scope. That's on my dad's gun. He's got a Blaser Lapua tactical rifle. Have you seen them? They're cool. They look really futuristic, all points and curves like my mum's Philippe Starck chairs.'

Alex's mind boggled at the whole idea of designer rifles. 'Er, no, I don't know them,' he said.

'Does your dad shoot, Alex?' asked Toby.

Alex caught Paulo's eye. A smile played across his lips. 'From time to time,' he replied.

'Oh, cool,' said Ralph. He obviously thought he had found even more evidence that Alex was a kindred spirit. 'What's his favourite gun?'

Alex savoured the moment. 'Nine-millimetre Heckler and Koch MP Five.' It was the submachine gun used by all the world's anti-terrorist units, famous for its reliability and precision engineering. Now he'd see whether these boys really knew their guns. Paulo was hiding his face in his hands, digging his nails into his cheeks to stop himself laughing out loud. Alex sat straight-faced, waiting to see if Ralph twigged what it meant if that was your favourite gun.

Ralph didn't. Instead he stood up. 'Hey, guys,' he said to Ben and Toby, 'let's show them something.' He looked at Alex and Paulo. 'Come with us.'

Alex stood up, bemused. Paulo followed.

Ralph led the group into the lodge, through the hall and out to the armoury. It was a large, window-less room lined with tall, locked glass cabinets. Paulo peered into the first cabinet. It held tranquillizer guns, standing upright on their stocks, each secured with fine chain and small padlock. The outside of each cabinet was secured with a more sturdy padlock.

Patrick came in carrying an AK-47, which he took to a long wooden bench in the centre of the room. 'Hi, Patrick,' said Paulo.

Patrick nodded in acknowledgement.

Alex watched, fascinated, as he began to strip it down and clean it. The AK-47 was a gun for serious battles, light years away from the luxury toys used by trophy hunters. Alex noticed that Ralph, Ben and Toby did not acknowledge Patrick at all.

Paulo was peering into a cabinet that held two hunting rifles. 'Look at the dust on those,' he said. 'They haven't been touched for a while.'

'That one's even got rust on it,' said Alex. 'Probably wasn't cleaned last time it was used.'

'They're relics inherited from the previous owners, when the place was a shooting lodge,' Patrick explained. 'We don't use the armoury very much for clients now; only when someone brings something they shouldn't have.' He looked pointedly at the three boys, but they weren't listening.

'Hey, Alex, Paulo, come and look at this,' said Ralph. He had opened one of the cabinets.

Patrick winked at Alex and Paulo and continued to clean his weapon.

Alex and Paulo went over to Ralph. He was holding a long, elegant hunting rifle with a telescopic sight. The woodwork had a dark-brown lustre like antique furniture. It looked expensive - very expensive.

'Isn't it lovely?' said Ralph. 'My dad bought it for me. It's a Dakota Seventy-six Classic, Safari Grade.'

'It's a professional hunter's gun,' said Ben. 'Lovely to use.'

Alex thought for a moment that Ralph was going to offer it to him to hold, like a proud mother with a child, but the boy put it carefully back in its case, resting on its antique walnut stock, and wrapped the security chain around it. Then he closed the case and the outer padlock.

As they left the room Paulo and Alex said, 'Bye, Patrick,' but the others once again ignored him. Was that because he was black or because he was a member of staff? Alex wondered. These kids certainly could learn a thing or two about manners.

'So,' said Paulo as they headed through the lobby towards the pool terrace. 'You don't use that with tranquillizer darts.'