Page 37

A quick sweep of Martina’s lab showed that Davey’s hunch was probably correct as a large amount of sedative was missing from the store cupboard. Davey took what was left before marching down the corridor with Steph trotting behind him, then opened a door she had not really noticed before. The door opened to a small, well-lit room with rows of tranquillizer rifles on one side (with gaps where some were missing) and real rifles on the other. There was one real rifle missing. Steph saw Davey momentarily frown at the gap before taking a rifle and handing it to Steph. He paused. Steph saw his eyebrows furrow and was then surprised to feel him wrench it from her grip and place it back on the rack. He filled the gap in her arms with a tranquillizer rifle whilst pouring a couple of darts into her pocket.

“Two darts?”

“Well, I need more as I’m going to do any shooting, and Michael has taken the rest!”

Steph had her retort ready, but Davey was seemingly in no mood to listen to it. She had not really seen this side of him before. There was a cold efficiency about what he was doing. It was as if he was bothered by something for reasons he had not explained to Steph. Yes, it seemed that Michael was up to something, but it was still not apparent what exactly – not to her anyway. Also, even if he was causing mischief, there was nothing in the way Davey had behaved in the short time she had known him that suggested he should care quite so deeply about how Michael chose to act. He wasn’t responsible for the man, Kelvin was.

At some level, Davey must have felt the same as his next act was to lead Steph back to the tracking room. There he took control of a radio and proceeded to contact Kelvin; previous plans out the window.

“He’s doing what?”

“Heading north.”

“In the same buggy he’d used originally?”

“Yes.”

“But the thing won’t be fully charged unless he managed to charge it last night and move damned quickly about his business. Even then it won’t get all the way to…”

Steph saw Davey raise his eyebrows in the silence. The type of look you give someone when they realise something slower than they should. Steph was embarrassed to admit she still had no idea what that was.

“Oh! Oh, Michael you fucking idiot!”

“Yeah,”

Davey replied, tapping his foot and looking at the screen. The dot that represented Michael and his quarry was almost at the fence.

“Come and get me!”

Kelvin snapped.

“But that makes no sense!”

“You won’t get to him in time anyway! Come and get me. I will sort out a car to meet us there. We can still cut him off somewhere else.”

“But…”

“Do it!”

Davey growled as he flicked the switch on the radio.

“Fuck!”

he barked. Then he turned to Steph. For a moment she assumed he was going to tell her to stay where she was, but to her surprise, he said.

“Let’s go!”

They took a quad bike each, with their tranq rifles hung diagonally across their backs. If it wasn’t for the seriousness of the situation, Steph would have labelled that moment one of the coolest in her life. How she actually looked was irrelevant; for once, she was acting purely in the moment, without concern for how her actions reflected on her.

“He’s clearly going to meet someone!”

Davey called to Steph as they weaved over the mildly undulating terrain, avoiding trees and scattered ferns.

“What do you mean?”

Steph called.

“He’s been paid off!”

Michael had said that money talked. He’d also made Steph aware that there was a black market willing to pay a pretty penny for things. Now, she supposed she better understood why he said so much.

The two of them carried on to the cabin where Kelvin waited behind a closed door. He didn’t open the door until both bikes had been stationary for a few seconds. Steph assumed this was a reasonable precaution in the circumstances. When he did leave the cabin, there was a cold fury etched across his face.

He marched up to Davey’s quad bike, swung a leg over and said.

“Let’s get going.”

They went. Steph had half assumed that she would be forced to give up her quad bike, but either from a need for haste or simply an unconscious expectation to be served, Kelvin chose to be driven.

They headed northwards, passing the small ben. At one point, they ploughed right through the middle of one of the herds of deer, scattering them. Movement in her peripheral vision made Steph look around to see the pack of wolves careering over the heathland towards the panicked deer. She looked long enough to see the first set of jaws clamp onto the rump of one of the animals unlucky enough to have run directly towards them. Then she swung her head back around. To not look and thus crash, could be a death sentence. Besides, she got the idea that Kelvin would not be the most willing to stop if she did tumble.

Their going was quick despite Davey’s speed being hampered by his quad bike having to take double the weight. They were soon in trees once more. Davey began to slow.

“What’s the issue?”

Kelvin asked as Davey brought his bike to an almost walking pace.

“I’m trying to remember which way to go.”

“What?”

Kelvin hissed.

“How the hell can you not know where to go? I literally pay you to know these things!”

Steph saw Davey let the anger wash over his head, ignoring Kelvin’s spite as he replied.

“I know, but usually we take the track. I’ve gone a more direct route so… it’s this way.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I recognise that tree by the fencing.”

Steph had managed to miss the fact that they were at the fence already. Now that she looked, she couldn’t help but notice bits of mesh in the near distance between the trees. They sped off again.

Steph was not exactly sure what she expected to find when she reached the gate, but she supposed it would just be open. Michael must be long gone by now and, she assumed, so would the lion and its new owner.

They reached a tunnel in the forest floor, the entrance of which had been left wide open. Davey took a sharp right to enter it, popping up on the other side of the inner fence. Steph followed. From there they made the short journey to the next fence. Steph wondered whether Kelvin would have people waiting for them like he suggested he could. Would they have to reach a main road first? How much would these people know, or would they simply provide a car? Steph supposed that having enough money paid for whatever service you needed. You didn’t look for a service provider, you created it.

The quad bikes trundled forward, weaving between trees. Caution descended. Davey and Kelvin went ahead of Steph, and it was clear from the way Davey was half stood up on straightened legs that he was uneasy. That was understandable; it was quiet.

As they rounded a large oak, the outer fencing came into sight. Steph felt odd being on the current side of it. Seeing the world outside it – despite it looking just like the trees and heath inside the fence – made her acutely aware of what a strange little universe Kelvin had managed to create in this relatively remote part of Britain.

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 Steph expected 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 flatten to 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.

“I mean,”

Davey continued.

“I suppose they could get through, but they’d hardly be able to chase it. And even if they caught up with it, they wouldn’t be able to keep both the lion and the bear in the back of the truck.”

“Who said anything about the back?”

Michael wheezed.

Davey looked at him.

“Where’s my lion?”

Kelvin called from his tree.

“Back inside,”

Davey called over his shoulder.

“In a truck.”

“Well, let’s go and take it out of the truck,”

Kelvin replied, pushing himself away from the tree and heading back in the direction of the quad bikes.

For a moment, Davey just looked at Michael. Then he bent down and gave him another swig from the hipflask and turned to follow Kelvin. It was then that Michael’s eyes settled on Steph. She hadn’t moved.

Michael was clearly weak and lacked the will to initiate any talk. Steph came closer.

“Why did they shoot you?”

Michael smiled.

“Black market. Didn’t trust me after the last time. Not that they let me know until after I’d delivered the animal.”

“What do you mean by ‘last time’?”

Michael’s smile vanished and, with a groan, turned his head slightly so he didn’t have to look at Steph.

“I tried to give them the lion before. Went wrong. Gave it too much sedative and looked like it was dying. Gave it something to wake it up. It woke up. Killed one of their men and ran off. Killed a boy.”

Silence descended save for the singing of a few territorial birds in the trees. Steph watched as a tear rolled down Michael’s cheek.

“Maybe this is what I deserve,”

he whispered.

“Steph!”

Steph turned her head in the direction of where her name had been called from. Then she turned back to Michael.

“But how did you get it out? It’s chipped!”

“Cut it out. The lion is so cut up from scrapes with the bear, no one noticed. Then it was put it back in after.”

“Steph!”

So there it was. She had the answer she had been seeking for the book she wanted to write. Now that she had it, what use was it?

Michael coughed. Somehow even more blood trickled from his mouth that was set sunken between his pale cheeks. A pang of shame shot through Steph, and she bent down meaning to inspect the wound. Michael growled pathetically, and she looked up.

“It’s too late,”

he whispered.

“Besides, there are worse places to be right now.”

Steph looked around. Laying slumped against a tree beside an abandoned buggy with a bullet wound in your stomach, was not high up on her own list of ways to die. Then again, she supposed he was talking about the weather and being surrounded by nature.

“Steph! Hurry up!”

Michael moved his head slightly in the direction of the voices. Reluctantly, Steph turned and left. She tried to ignore the fact she was walking away from a dying man – let the disgust die within her. She’d never seen a person dying before. She looked up at the trees and noticed a wood pigeon sitting peacefully on a branch.

What was she doing? Why was she walking towards the quad bikes to head back into danger? She had what she came to Scotland for. What more was there? Another interesting story? Was that why she found herself heading back? Yes. And no. Yes, what was unfolding was fascinating, but no, she was not there for that. It was more than that. It was that sense of doing something worthwhile. Something that would satisfy her subconscious desire for self-credibility. What would help her gain credit more than the delusion of acting to save lives and doing what was right?

She reached her quad bike. Kelvin looked like he wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in her gut and have her slouch against a tree like Michael. Davey just looked troubled.

Without a word, Davey began driving off. Steph straddled her quad bike and followed. Then stopped. Davey had pulled up as soon as they went through the outer fence gate. He leapt off his quad bike, shut the gate and replaced the padlock. Then, again without acknowledging Steph, he got back on his quad bike and headed off. Steph followed, after chancing one last look over her shoulder at the closed fence.