Lions and Tigers and Snares

Mid-afternoon is usually quiet at a big cat refuge,but the lion’s roar drowned out Captain Russo’s voice on my cell phone.

“Hold on a sec,let me get past Walter Martin.”I strode past the lion cage.Flies buzzed over a beef leg at the cat’s feeding station;Walter had popped off the ends of the bones to lick at its yellow marrow.The rank odor of rotting meat and lion crap made me wrinkle my nose.The bucket of chicken parts stuffed with Imodion I carried had its own stench.What a job.

“Who the hell is Walter Martin,and what is that frigging noise?”Captain Russo’s nasal tone wavered a bit.The signal was never strong at the Patacoochee Wildlife Refuge in north Florida.Eighty miles northwest of Gainesville,and fifty miles south of Tallahassee made it pretty inaccessible—for cell phones and visitors.I had the headset on so that if anyone were watching—not that it was likely,but I had to be careful—it would just look like I was talking to the cats.This time of day,the cats slept,and the humans got out of the heat as much as possible.

“He’s a lion that Kendall bought in a Wal-Mart parking lot,believe it or not.He’sjust sounding off,letting everyone know this is his territory.”The lion’s guttural roars actually moved in my chest.The whump of air displaced by the animal was eerie and affecting.I stepped around a jaguar cage that held a stand of pine trees to help buffer Walter’s roars.I kept moving towards the cougar habitat.“Better?”

“Yeah,that’s better.Update me,Officer Reese.”

“They’re buying my cover.I must look like a typical dumbass pre-veterinarian summer intern.”Russo snorted but let me keep talking.“There’s two main guys here:Ricardo Lopez and Kendall Knight.Ricardo is the money man;he definitely runs the show that way.Kendall is the animal handler;he’s licensed,very experienced with Class One carnivores,and he manages all the scutwork in the refuge.”

“What do you know so far?”Captain Russo asked.The cell phone buzzed a little and Ichecked the signal—only two bars.

“Ricardo’s an asshole:loud-mouthed,aggressive,chain-smoker.He’s always showing up unannounced with strangers.Buyers probably.He teases the cats from outside the cages,gets them all riled.They hate him.Kendall,though…“

I hadn’t quite figured out Kendall.With his muscular frame,soft brown eyes,and dark hair,he looked like a tough guy,but he was a real softie when it came to the cats.He clearly loved them.The week before I’d seen him stay up all night with a poisoned cougar somebody had brought in.He changed the cat’s IV,kept the cat calm,ran his sturdy hands over its shoulders and back when the heaves came on.

Kendall’s hands.I ran a palm down my belly.

“Kendall seems really dedicated to the refuge.He and his assistant keeper,Randy Duboy,are the only paid staff.Everyone else out here is volunteer.Kendall and Ricardo are pretty tense with each other.I’m not sure why.I did the night cage check earlier this week and saw them outside Kendall’s office,arguing.”

“What were they saying?”

“I don’t know,I was too far away.But I could tell by their body language they weren’t having a friendly discussion.Kendall was pissed.”I had stood in the shadows of a tiger cage and watched Ricardo drive away in his shiny Escalade.Kendall went into his office,left the lights off.I moved closer and saw him smoking in the dark.The acrid whiff of marijuana drifted outside on the breeze.I’d been tempted to go in and see what I could find out.Something made me wait.

He’s not ready yet.And neither am I.

“How fast can you get solid intel and evidence out of there?”

When we first planned this detail,I was supposed to have the whole summer to infiltrate the operation and figure out if Ricardo’s and Kendall’s big cat refuge was a front for moving endangered and prohibited animals in and out of the country.Collectors paid enormous sums for an endangered species in their private zoos.Big game farms needed a steady supply of animals to kill and mount for“trophies”.And both markets paid animal dealers and wholesalers big bucks to produce the inventory to do it.The department had investigated for over a year,and we had narrowed it downto a supplier working in the Southeast.Right now,Ricardo and Kendall looked like our perps.

Living animals as inventory.It made my teeth grind.

“I don’t know.It’s not like I can just go pawing through the office to look for it.”

“Find a way!”

“Captain,I—“

“Byron,that’s the whole point of undercover.You’re in there so you can go pawing through the office or get into the house or a computer.Get closer to Kendall and Ricardo,talk to that other kid.See what you can find out.”

Get closer?To Ricardo—not a chance.To Kendall?Chance.And a pleasant one.

“I’ll do my best.It’s kinda nice to be with the animals again.”

I’d actually been a licensed handler until a few years ago.My uncle had a roadside zoo when I was a kid:tigers,a couple of cougars,and bears.Later,I’d volunteered at the Midwest Tiger Refuge.I’m fine with the animals.It’s the people that are hard to handle.

“You okay?You keeping your cover?”Russo sounded on edge.He was always hyper about maintaining cover.

“Sure.”

“No calling your friends,no checking email,right?”

“Nope.I’m isolated,just like you taught me.”That was a key to good cover,immersing yourself in the new world and leaving your real one behind.Not all cops could do it,but I’d managed it.My last lover,Miguel,didn’t much like my job.He’d put up with it for three years until having a partner who disappeared for monthsat a time finally wore him down.

Through the bars of the cougar cage,I saw a bare-chested Kendall come out of his house,a log cabin onsite.Strange.He usually disappeared after lunch.He looked around,spotted me,and waved.He headed towards me.

Shit.What the hell did he want?

“I’ve got to get off the phone,Captain.I’ve got company on the way.”

“All right.Check back when you have something solid or a week if you don’t,”Russoinstructed.

“Yes,sir.”I bent down to the food slot and slopped out the chicken for the cougar.He ambled over,sick enough to be not-all-that-interested in food just yet.In a couple of seconds I had the headset off,and the phone tucked into a pocket.I heard Kendall approach but stayed down,talking to the cougar.I needed the time to get centered again,to just be Byron Smith,refuge intern,wanna-be veterinarian,just a harmless college kid.

Well,maybe a college kid with a crush.

“Hey.”Kendall’s voice was deep enough to make you have to really listen to him.Heput a hand on my shoulder and I looked up.He wore only cargo shorts,and goddammit if he didn’t have great legs to match his solid torso.It wasn’t a body you got at the gym,it was a working man’s body—balanced,tanned,and he looked fucking delicious.

“Hey yourself.”When I stood,I noticed his face had crease marks on one cheek;he must have been sleeping.I wondered who he’d been sleeping with and what it would be like to take a nap in the afternoon,and wake up next to him.

Stop it.Concentrate on doing your job.

“I need your help tonight.Can you work some overtime?”

“Sure.What’s up?’

“We’ve got a big shipment of cats coming in;it’ll be late.Probably after midnight.Randy’s got food poisoning,we think.He’s been throwing up all day.Can you help?”

“Sure.Just let me know what time.”

“I’ll call you at your trailer.”

“Why so late?”

His face closed off a little.“The truck’s just running behind schedule.”

“What’s coming in?”

“Leopards and jaguars,a couple of lions.”

“Yeesh,leps and jags.Not my favorite.”

“Not mine,either,but that’s the gig.”