Page 22

Steph and Daniel sat in relative silence waiting for the others to arrive. After Daniel opened up a little and Steph reflected on her own life, both were not in the best place for conversation. There was little in terms of animal sightings as a distraction either, as Steph had yet to see any moose. There were birds. There were squirrels. Relative to what Steph knew she could potentially see, they seemed hardly noteworthy.

Davey and Roger pulled their buggy up alongside Daniel and Steph’s. Davey looked serious. Roger was smiling sadly.

“I wish we were meeting again under better circumstances,”

Roger said to both Steph and Daniel, his eyes flicking between the two.

“Poor old Fergus.”

Steph couldn’t help but smile. She was not even sure why. Perhaps it was the way in which Fergus’s death was almost made out as a mildly unfortunate accident rather than his life being ripped violently from him. Maybe it was the pained look on Roger’s face. Pained on the surface but with a definite giggle lying underneath. It reminded Steph of being at school and how the other boys would laugh at each other if one fell over. They knew it hurt. They knew the shouts of ‘stack’ would draw attention and embarrassment with it. Perhaps there was a part of Roger that wanted to laugh. What was the other option? Despair?

“From what I remember, you’re in the right vicinity,”

Davey said looking around, ignoring Roger’s greetings to the others.

“I take it you haven’t seen anything?”

“Not yet,”

Daniel replied.

“Well, that’s because, if I remember rightly, it was slightly off the track – in that direction.”

The others turned their heads in the direction of Davey’s extended finger. He started to clamber out of the buggy, a tranquillizer rifle in hand. Steph noticed for the first time (as his shirt lifted away from his trousers slightly) that he had a handgun holstered to his side as well.

“Careful!”

Daniel said, standing in his seat and looking around.

“The wolf pack is nearby and there was a bear not far from them.”

Davey continued to clamber down. Steph looked at the expression he gave Daniel. She could see where Daniel had been coming from earlier. The look was somehow pitying and patronising all at once even though Daniel’s point was legitimate. If he had directed it at her, she might have rammed her fist down his throat.

“I think I’ll be all right,”

Davey said.

“Besides, we have little option if we are going to see whether Fergus is there or not – some of him at least.”

“Well, we aren’t staying here either!”

Steph snapped.

Davey turned to look at her. He kept his face impassive, but Steph was pretty sure she heard a low growl.

“You will need extra eyes anyway!”

Steph finished, starting to clamber out with her own tranquillizer rifle.

“I suspect he probably has enough eyes,”

Roger said, leaning back in his chair.

“I had best come too,”

Daniel piped up, having watched Steph get out.

“What? Why?”

“Because I have a theory I want to test – a hypothesis on the cave lion’s behaviour,”

Daniel replied, his eyes flicking constantly past Davey’s face to wherever they felt safe.

Davey sighed.

“Fine!”

“Well, hold on a minute!”

Roger said, standing up.

“I’m not going to stay here if he is going!”

“But you were happy enough to stay before?”

“Yes, but that was before I realised everyone else was going. We all know what happens to those who are left alone when things go wrong.”

“What?”

Davey asked, checking his rifle.

“They die! Just look at Fergus!”

Davey rolled his eyes as Roger leapt out of the buggy, punctuating his point.

Steph frowned. ‘When things go wrong.’ She had never really thought of it like that. Or had she? She considered the whole enterprise that Kelvin was trying to execute to be a complete mess. It was skewing natural behaviour. She couldn’t see how it could work. But was it going wrong? It was designed – albeit unintentionally – to go wrong. Could something already failing, go wrong again? Her stomach churned slightly.

They set off into the trees, Davey leading from the front with Daniel not far behind and Steph bringing up the rear with Roger. To Steph’s eye, Davey seemed far more nervous than his earlier bravado had suggested. He flinched at insignificant noises and constantly wanted to stop and cock his ear. Roger, on the other hand, seemed surprisingly untroubled for someone who hadn’t wanted to come in the first place.

“You seem quite calm,”

Steph whispered.

“Well, I must admit I am somewhat concerned but I have spent a long time practising focusing my mind.”

Steph frowned.

“I mean I am scared, obviously, but I can quickly add layers of context which make things easier to handle. For example, I have done enough in life already – more than most anyway – I am getting paid well for this, and, most comforting, I suspect I could probably outrun poor Daniel.”

Daniel must have heard the whisper as he turned around and shot Roger a pitying look.

“I might be older than you, Daniel, but I used to represent my county in athletics before I went to university,”

Roger said with a wink.

Daniel turned back around, shaking his head. Steph couldn’t help but laugh which gained her a reproachful look from Davey. They continued in silence. There was little evidence of any large animals. Nothing larger than a squirrel at least. Not even the common sight of churned mud that denoted the movements of wild boar was to be seen. Then Davey began to slow down.

“It was around here somewhere,”

he whispered, looking in all directions.

“You do realise the cave lion could be here if this is where it hides food,”

Steph replied. She regretted stating the obvious as soon as it left her mouth. It made her feel stupid. Panicky. Of course, they had known that. Davey didn’t even bother looking at her.

They continued moving slowly, examining branches. They were further off the path than she expected to be. It was a quiet, secluded little area. No wonder the lion had thought this a place worth hiding kills in. However, it was quite far from Fergus’s cabin. Too far, surely. They were wasting their time. She knew it then. She should have known it before. Why had she not realised it before? Why would the cave lion drag a kill so far? It wouldn’t, surely?

Birds sang in the trees. This put Steph a little more at ease. Squirrels then jumped overhead, chasing each other down trees. Steph’s finger moved slightly further away from the trigger of her rifle.

With the fear subsiding, in herself at least, Steph noted that the area was quite beautiful in a way. The seclusion gave it a feeling of separateness from what was going on around it. A haven in the chaos. Then a thought crossed Steph’s mind. She opened her mouth. However, the same thought must have simultaneously crossed Daniel’s mind.

“Why were you here, exactly?”

Daniel asked Davey.

Davey, who had been turning his head this way and that, stood up a little straighter but did not turn around.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean when you were with Michael when you saw the kill up the tree. Why would you have needed to come here to this point exactly?”

Davey turned around. He didn’t look annoyed, as Steph had expected. Instead, his brow was a little furrowed. Still, he kept his eyes scanning the surroundings.

“Michael wanted to come here,”

Davey replied.

“Said he had seen the cave lion slink off in this direction before and wanted to know why. He didn’t want to do it when he was by himself and waited until we were both out together.”

Daniel was frowning. Steph could see that Davey, for the first time she had seen in Daniel’s presence, looked uneasy.

“Doesn’t that seem a little odd to you?”

Daniel asked, folding his arms.

“In what way?”

Davey replied, his voice a pitch too high.

“Surely, you have seen animals go off in all sorts of directions and never thought to follow them before?”

Daniel said.

Davey licked his lips but said nothing. Instead, he turned and continued his search. Daniel unfolded his arms and strode after him.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Well, is it not odd that you went off in this direction?”

Davey sighed and turned around.

“In all honesty? Yes. It was odd we went off this way.”

This had clearly not been the answer Daniel was expecting. He’d been assuming a disagreement to the point or Davey being defensive. He was lost about what his next move should be having received an admission so easily. Or was it a confirmation rather than an admission? Steph decided now might be the time to voice her own concerns.

“There’s no point us being here anyway,” she said.

The others turned to look at her.

“No?”

asked Roger.

“No,”

agreed Davey.

Steph turned to look at him. He was looking at her.

“Sorry?”

“That’s the tree; empty!”

Davey replied, pointing to a tree to their left with a couple of lower-hanging branches.

“It was never going to be there,”

Steph said.

“There is no way the cave lion would have dragged a kill so far from where the hunt took place.”

“Maybe not,”

Davey conceded.

“Maybe?”

“You’d be surprised by some of what you see here; you must remember that you have only just arrived, relatively speaking. You are just scratching the surface of the place.”

“Maybe, but I think I have a better idea of what lies underneath the surface than you do.”

“Oh, I doubt that,”

Davey snorted.

“I believe Daniel and I probably know the goings on behind the scenes a little better than you.”

The expression on Daniel’s face softened a little at this inclusion onto Davey’s platform.

“I meant with the animals,”

Steph replied.

“I couldn’t give a crap about what’s going on in the house or how deep into Martina Kelvin has gone.”

Roger barked with loud laughter. Daniel and Davey simply looked at one another.

Steph then opened her mouth to explain what she was going on about in her professional opinion when something interrupted her.

A large squealing hog shot from the undergrowth. It seemed startled to be met by the four of them but had set its path and was not stopping. The only issue was that Daniel seemed to be standing on that set path. He tried to step sideways, but the move was clearly not enough for the ninety-kilogram pig who flicked its head sideways, knocking Daniel to the ground whilst simultaneously goring its tusk down his thigh.

Daniel screamed. The pig ignored him and carried on into the trees.

Steph ran towards Daniel whose leg was bleeding badly below his hands clutching at the wound. She put the rifle down, whipped off her bag and began rummaging for her first aid kit. A sudden sound, like an explosion of air, made her whip around.

Standing where the boar had just emerged from was a bear rearing on two feet, a dart protruding from its neck. It groaned slightly and fell back down on all fours. It made to move forwards again but something about its movements suggested it was uncertain. The head began to lull, its steps seemed laboured.

Already, Davey was loading up another dart.

He needn’t have bothered. The bear sank to the ground with a defeated moan.

“Christ!”

said Roger.

“What’s in those things that they work so fast?”

“Martina came up with the concoction so that it could deal with the cave bear; just means the other animals get a somewhat heavier hit. It’ll be fine though.”

“Will it?”

Roger asked, walking up to the animal and prodding the thing with his foot.

“We need to get Daniel back,”

Steph said. The other two turned to look at Daniel. It was as if they had forgotten anything had happened to him.

“It’s quite nasty. He’s going to need stitches and for the wound to be properly cleaned.”

Davey nodded. He handed a somewhat surprised Roger the tranquillizer rifle as he walked past, and then helped Steph pick Daniel up from the ground.

“We’d best get back then,”

he said.

“We’ll just have to tell Kelvin that whatever is left of Fergus is likely to soon be in the digestive tract of… well, could be anything depending on how careless the lion was.”