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There was an open space in the fencing which was where Davey headed. He stopped in the gap. Two wire doors were pulled all the way back to the fence, a padlock lay on the floor.

“A padlock?” Steph asked, pulling up alongside Davey.

Kelvin looked around. “One that requires card recognition. The type that breaks bolt cutters. Only to be opened by my employees or scabby little shitbags.”

Steph raised her eyebrows. Kelvin had already turned away from her.

Davey had ignored the brief interaction. Instead, he spent a few fleeting moments studying the ground around him and then stared out towards the trees beyond.

“What’s wrong?” Kelvin asked. “We need to get going!”

Davey held up a hand to quieten him. At first, Steph thought Kelvin would explode, his whole body going rigid at the instruction. However, a small noise in the brief silence that followed the hand was enough to make him alter his focus. He turned his head in the same direction as Davey’s.

Steph was not exactly sure what she was hearing. Nor could she work out whether it was coming from quite a distance away or close by. It was a pitiful sound. A moan more than anything.

She watched Davey unsling his rifle and instinctively she did the same. Davey swung his leg from the quadbike. So did she. Kelvin hesitated for a moment but then followed suit.

Steph pulled up alongside Davey who pointed to an area on the floor. She looked down. There were tyre tracks intermingled with footprints. It almost didn’t make sense. Everything Stephexpected to see was there, but not in the right order exactly. Or the right creature. There were tyre marks going out, but there were also some going in the opposite direction. It was these that were the most interesting as they had run over the tracks left by a large animal. Then it clicked.

“Where are the lion tracks?” Steph whispered. Davey gave her a concerned look but didn’t answer. Instead, he began edging in the direction of the mournful noise. Although Steph’s head seemed to think it a good idea to stay where she was, her legs had already begun following with Kelvin close behind.

Each step forward through the trees brought with it a heightened feeling of dread. Her heart was raging against the quiet of the still day, the sun the only resident of a crisp blue sky above the branches. Then they saw where the noise was coming from and they lowered their rifles.

Lying slumped against the side of one of the buggies with the trailer still attached was Michael. He had his hand clamped to his stomach, blood oozing between his fingers, staining his trousers. At first, he didn’t look up. Then, with what appeared a monumental effort, he turned his bleary eyes towards them.

“You’ve been shot!” Kelvin said quite matter-of-factly.

Michael smiled slightly, blood starting to fill the gaps between his teeth.

“Very observant.”

“No more than you deserve.”

Steph winced. Michael, on the other hand, started to laugh but regretted it instantly as he began to cough up more blood. Kelvin turned away in disgust.

“Find out where my animals are!” he snapped at Davey as he wandered off to lean against a tree with his arms folded.

Steph could see that Davey was hesitant about what to do next. Steph could understand why. Kelvin was a man who was used to getting whatever he demanded, no matter who he had to flattento get it. It was not clear quite how Kelvin expected Davey to ‘find out’ where the lion had got to; Steph hoped it didn’t involve unnecessary violence. Michael was clearly dying as it was, and not peacefully. There was no need to add to his suffering.

Davey shuffled up to Michael and bent down. He pulled out a small hipflask from his pocket and offered it to Michael. Michael nodded almost imperceptibly but didn’t take his hand from the bullet wound. Davey unscrewed the cap and poured a little of the golden liquid into Michael’s mouth. Most of it dribbled down the dying man’s chin but his expression softened a little at the taste.

“What happened?” Davey asked.

At first, Michael’s eyes rolled to look past Davey. For a moment Steph thought he might even ignore the question. Or die before he could answer.

Then he sighed and said, “They took the lion and then paid me with this.” He looked down.

Davey frowned. “So why are there tyre tracks going the other way through the gate?”

“Ah,” Michael said, his voice weakening slightly at the effort of sustained talking. “Well, that was an interesting occurrence. The bear came out to investigate whilst they were packing up the lion into their truck.”

“Into?”

“Into their truck,” Michael nodded, ignoring Davey’s confusion. “They fired some shots near it which sent it back through the gates. Then they went after it. Don’t think they had their tranqs handy at the time.”

“They went in there with a truck?” Davey asked, looking back at the trees.

Michael pulled a face in reply that suggested he was as confused as Davey.