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“Well, it’s not funny really, just that I caught myself thinking that things would come under control soon because that’s what we are setting out to accomplish.”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“Well, why should they?”

“Because everything finds balance in the end.”

Steph raised an eyebrow. Michael smiled slightly avoiding her eyes despite the dark.

“I don’t mean in any sort of hippy-trippy sort of way. I just mean that things always find a new status quo, even if it is not the balance that we wanted. In this case, I assume that if left unattended, some of the predators will die, the others will settle territories or at least behaviour patterns and the prey will growand shrink in numbers accordingly. Or everything dies because the predators eat all the prey and have nothing left to eat… except for the bears I suppose. Being an omnivore has its perks.”

In fairness, Steph assumed a similar thing.

“However,” Michael continued, “in this case, that won’t happen as I will take the lion out of the equation. Control of the house will be regained, and we will likely force the balance before it occursnaturally– although I use that term loosely.”

He looked at Steph, holding his torch to illuminate them both. His facial expression held a look of self-satisfaction. Steph lowered the corners of her mouth and nodded in mild recognition of the logic. Even so, deep down despite seeing the reasoning, she held the unease that much was built on assumption and hopeful prediction. If there was one thing that she had learnt over her time looking into strange goings on – indeed, even in her studies at university – it was that people were generally poor at foreseeing anything. People assumed some individuals were great at guessing because their notable successes had such a large spotlight shone on them while ignoring the numerous errors hidden in the background.

They carried on. Every so often a sound would penetrate the wall of noise caused by the rain and Michael would crouch low, signalling for Steph to do the same. Sheet lightning illuminated the landscape every so often, but eventually that passed too. The first hour passed and Kelvin was informed of their progress. The exchange was short and to the point.

As the rain began to seep through the coat she had taken from Thomas’s closet, she began to wonder why she had chosen to come. Her gut had definitely told her it was the right decision, although it was not clear why yet. Or was it the right decision? Maybe she’d just been hungry still.

“When you get the lion – if you get the lion – will you drive the lion to… to wherever this other place is? The breeding facility orwhatever Kelvin calls it?”

“Yep,” Michael replied.

“And do you think we should do the same with the cave bear?”

There was a moment’s hesitation before Michael answered – it was short but it was there.

“It could be the thing to do. I haven’t really thought about it but maybe one animal at a time. The bear hasn’t been the one killing people.”

“Yet.”

“I don’t think it will.”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t have to! It can take the kill of any animal it wants. It doesn’t even have to ambush its own prey!”

“Yet.”

“What?”

“As you said, things will find a way ofbalancing out, whether that’s through changing of territories or the death of other animals. At the end of it, the bear might find it needs to change its behaviour to survive.”

“I suppose,” Michael allowed.

There was a lull in conversation until Steph asked, surprising even herself with the topic, “How exactly does one navigate the black market?”

“What do you mean?” Michael asked, stopping momentarily before deciding that it was too wet to stand still.

“I mean, did Kelvin acquire what he needed to start breeding what he has from sources he shouldn’t have touched… in a legal sense? To an outsider, it just seems that the whole thing is a bit niche if you get what I mean. A black market is underground, right? So how the hell would you find it? How would Kelvin know anyone?”

She could see that Michael was not wholly comfortable and was clearly choosing his words carefully before he spoke.

“I suppose, that money talks in all areas,” he replied thoughtfully.

“Meaning?”