Hunted (26 page)

The poachers were following her. They were waiting to see where she came down and they were going to ambush her.

She couldn't keep going for much longer. She was losing height all the time. She would have to land very soon. Where would give her the best chance of escape?

She searched the ground. There was only scrubby land and trees - they would have her in no time. Her only chance was a tree. She could at least hide.

She should try to double back a little, too. If she made them go in a circle it would give her time to hide. She would worry about how to get down later.

She spied a group of tall trees. The tops were just metres away from the soles of her boots. She didn't have any choice now. This would have to do.

Her feet grazed the leaves, then sank through the top canopy. Li realized she was going to crash through the branches, pulled her elbows in and hid her face. In moments the tree was crashing and splintering all around her; leaves and branches whipped at her. How far would she fall? She didn't seem to be stopping. Would she go all the way through to the ground?

With a jerk she came to a halt. The harness had caught on something. The blue canopy of the chute floated down like a cloud and turned the twilight into sapphire darkness.

She was dangling nine metres above the ground. She had been wrong to choose a tree. The parachute canopy made her even easier to spot. She had to get moving, now.

She felt over her shoulder for the quick-release catches on the harness. There were none. She undid the waist buckle. When it was released she fell until the shoulder straps caught her. The old panic came back. There was nothing beneath her feet but thin air. No branches to support her weight. The dream came back. The fall. There was the ground. She knew the next thing she had to do was get her shoulders out of the harness, but she couldn't. She would fall.

She heard shouts and the sound of a vehicle reversing. Lights swung through the trees. The poachers were coming. She swung one leg out and caught a branch with it. She hooked the other one over. Now she was suspended between the harness and the branch she had her legs around. She eased one arm out of the harness, then the other. The harness dropped away. Now there was nothing holding her onto the tree but her own raw strength.

She heard the rattle of bullets. The poachers were shooting at the parachute canopy.

She had to get clear of it. She clasped the branch with her hands, pulled herself up to a sitting position and began to climb. The branches were grey and gnarled, as though the trunks of narrower trees had been twisted together. Up and up she went, past all those branches she had broken on her way down. It took seconds for her to get clear of the parachute canopy, but she went on climbing.

Sparks flew off the tree as the poachers peppered the parachute with bullets. How long before they looked across and saw her?

An electronic bleeping pierced through the sound of shooting. Suddenly there was silence.

Li froze. She could just about see them. One of them took something that looked like a mobile phone from his belt. He said a few words in his brutal-sounding dialect while the other poacher gave the parachute a final blast of bullets. Then he sat down and floored the accelerator. The Land Rover turned in a wide arc and left in a cloud of dust.

The moon was taking shape in the dark sky like an image on a developing photograph. Li rested where she was and caught her breath. She was alive.

26
A GOOD NIGHT

Amber saw the headlights coming through the grass. She was sitting on the edge of the river, just far enough away to be out of range of crocodiles or hippos. Her chute was bundled beside her and she couldn't get up.

The headlights gleamed ahead of her. Was it the poachers, come to get her? Could she run from them? The nerves in her ankle were screaming every time she tried to put weight on it. It was worse than last time - possibly even broken. She felt sick, but she would have to force herself to move.

She got onto all fours. She could crawl slowly until she was under cover, leaving the chute where it was.

Then she heard a voice. 'This is where it says she is. But I can't see anything.' It was Alex's peculiar flattened accent.

'Alex?' called Amber. She kneeled up.

Alex was standing up in the Jeep. He saw Amber rise from the reeds by the river bed.

Hex was behind him, Paulo at the wheel. Hex was holding the elephant-tracing device. 'Told you she'd be here,' he said.

'How did you find me?' Amber's face relaxed in a wide, relieved smile. Her eyes gleamed in the headlights.

Paulo answered: 'While you were sleeping, Hex tranquillized you and Li and put tags in you.'

The gleam in Amber's eyes changed to a different sort of look; a steely glint.

It was enough to make Hex's blood run cold. 'No I didn't,' he said quickly. 'I put tags in your parachutes. Just in case.'

'Did you get the shots of the poachers?' said Alex.

Amber's eyes were round and horrified. 'Oh my God, I left the camcorder in the balloon.'

The three boys all chorused, 'What?!'

Amber grinned at them. 'No, it's here.' She held up the camcorder, safe and sound. 'But one of you will have to come and carry me.'

Amber aboard, Paulo drove slowly off, following Hex's directions. 'This,' said Hex, looking at the bleeping detector, 'should be Li.'

Paulo braked and looked around. 'Where?' The Jeep's headlights picked out the base of a strangler fig tree.

Alex squinted into the darkness. There was a shape, greyish looking, clinging to the side of the tree. 'There . . . I think.' He got out a torch and flashed the beam over it. It showed up royal blue. 'That looks like a parachute.'

Paulo looked at the tree. If Li was up there, she'd need help getting down. Should he try to conceal it from the others? And how would they get her down anyway? He didn't think he could get up something like that.

From the tree came a crackle as branches snapped and twigs broke. A shape was coming down through the branches - possibly a baboon.

But it wasn't. A slim, female shape dropped confidently out of the foliage and landed like a trapeze artist.

'What took you so long?' Li grinned.

Paulo, Alex and Hex got out to help her pull the parachute out of the tree. They got the canopy down but the harness was caught about two metres up. 'Li,' said Alex, 'you'll have to go back up for it.'

Li put her hand on the tree, ready to climb up again. Then she felt a prickle at the back of her neck, as though someone was standing right behind her. She turned and found Paulo looking at her, his face a question. Her upturned eyes met his for a moment in the light from the headlamps, reassuring him.

He understood, and smiled. 'I told you you'd work it out,' he said quietly.

'I did,' she agreed in a whisper, 'but I was wrong. I was struggling to do it on my own. I should have known when to accept help; that's part of teamwork. You kept trying to help me and I wouldn't let you. Instead I struggled on my own and wouldn't let anyone in. In the end, you did save me; you and Amber. If you hadn't made me tell her, I wouldn't be here now.'

'Stop smooching, you two,' called Alex. 'We've got to get this chute down.'

Li flashed Paulo a smile, then turned, grasped some branches and levered herself up. She caught the harness and gave it a hard tug. It came down in a shower of branches and Li jumped nimbly back down.

'I'm afraid it's full of holes,' she said. 'The poachers took pot shots at me. Then they got a call on their bleeper thing and decided they'd shot me enough.' Her tone changed.

'That'll be their detector. They must be out getting another elephant,' said Hex.

'I think they'll find it's something else . . .' said Alex.

The poacher with the scarred cheek drove the Land Rover. His partner with the hyena tooth had the detector. He watched its winking light greedily.

'We just got paid and already there's more ivory out there, calling to us,' said Hyena-tooth. 'It's going to be a good night. Stop here.'

Scarface braked and cut the engine. He reached over the seat for his gun. With the heel of his hand he slammed another magazine in.

The poachers climbed out. Hyena-tooth consulted his tracer again and nodded in the direction it indicated. Scarface checked which way the wind was blowing. Then the two poachers went forwards cautiously. Until they fired their shots they would work in silence. The elephants were so easily startled away.

Scarface stopped and listened. Hyena-tooth, attuned to his movements, did the same; then his companion walked on.

Scarface stopped again. The moon was up so he could see quite well, but he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. It seemed to be a lion, a big shape with a strong musky smell. His tail twitched like a long, lazy skipping rope.

Scarface glanced at Hyena-tooth. The other poacher was looking at the detector. 'It must have scared away the elephant.' He raised his gun.

Suddenly both poachers were knocked to the ground as powerful feline bodies cannoned into them. Then it started: a frenzy of roaring as the lions went in for the kill. Two screams rang out briefly but the howls drowned them and echoed across the night sky.

Driving back, Alpha Force heard the screams. Paulo slowed; when the drone of the engine faded the five heard the unmistakable sounds of lions squabbling over a kill. That lasted just moments and gave way to loud purring, eerie and savage.

Alpha Force listened, awestruck.

Alex was the first to speak. His voice was grim. 'That's the first time the mice went looking for the cats.'