Tiger Trap (9 page)

As silently as possible, I closed the kitchen door behind us. It made a slight noise, but there was no way that Mom, upstairs in her bedroom sound asleep, could have heard it. Nick and I started off, keeping the sound of our footfalls quiet. We moved quickly, finally stopping and glancing back as we reached the row of trees and bushes that formed a windbreak to the north of our house.

“It’s awfully bright out here,” Nick said.

Now that he’d mentioned it I realized he was right. It was a cloudless evening, and a big, bright, full moon dominated a sky filled with thousands and thousands of stars. It was all so beautiful. I wished I could sit and watch the heavens. That would definitely be safer than what we were going to do.

“I guess we won’t be needing the flashlights,” Nick said.

“That’s not good.”

“How can that not be good?”

“Maybe we can see where we’re walking,” I said, “but other people can see us walking more easily.”

“What other people? It’s the middle of the night and everybody — even the few people there are — is asleep.”

“We hope they are, but what about all those cameras?” I reminded him. “They’ll be able to see us.”

“That’s not a problem. Just because the cameras pick us up and we’re shown on the monitors doesn’t mean anybody’s there to see the monitors.”

“I guess that makes sense, but it still creeps me out to think that people could be watching us and we wouldn’t even know it.”

“Sarah, believe me, if somebody’s watching us sneak around in the middle of the night when we’re not supposed to be there to begin with, then we’ll know they’re watching us real quick.”

That was logical, but it didn’t exactly give me the reassurance I was looking for. “I still don’t know why Anthony had all those cameras installed.”

“To watch the animals,” Nick said.

“Then how come most of the cameras seem to be aimed at the paths between the cages rather than at the animals?”

“They look at both, because the danger to the animals would probably be coming along the paths. Besides, why else would the cameras have been installed?”

It was a good question, but I didn’t have a good answer. All I had was that uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach and the back of my head. It was as if those cameras were just like Anthony himself — always watching everybody and everything. But why?

I had the same feeling about those cameras that I had about anything to do with Anthony. There were too many questions, too many things that didn’t make sense about him, but what I did know was that he hadn’t been telling us the truth about lots of things. Maybe I wasn’t a fantastic liar, but he didn’t seem to be that great at it, either.

Nick climbed onto the rock-pile fence that marked the property line. He dropped down the other side, and I heard a couple of loose rocks shift underneath him. I followed, stopping at the very top, the spot dividing the two properties, the place that separated where I
should
be from where I
shouldn’t
be. Actually, I shouldn’t be standing right here in the middle of the night, either. I should have been in my bed asleep. I guess I was already wrong; it was just a question of how wrong I was going to become. It wasn’t too late. We could still return home, get back into bed, and nobody would know any different.

“Sarah!” Nick called out. “You should get down. You can probably be seen in the next town!”

I scrambled off the rocks and onto Mr. McCurdy’s property. Somehow that meant the decision was made. Standing at the top of the fence, I could have gone either way. Now there was only one direction.

Without us exchanging a word, Nick took the lead. We’d talked about him taking us in the same way he’d gone in yesterday. Now we cut into a stand of trees that ran between two fields. Instantly, it became darker as the branches overhead blocked out the moonlight. We had to slow down, but that was fine because I felt more protected, safer from prying eyes or cameras, thinking that maybe there weren’t any cameras in the trees.

I tried to recall the one time I’d been in the control room, looking at all the monitors. There were lots of cameras, dozens and dozens, but they were all hidden in the lights that stood on the paths. That meant there were none in the trees, none in the fields and none down behind the barn — places where visitors to the farm weren’t allowed to go. At least that made some sense.

The small stand of trees ended. Up ahead I could clearly make out the barn, dark and towering, and the pond, the moon reflecting brightly off the water. Just beyond the barn were the pens — rows upon rows of them. There were more pens now than there had been three weeks ago. Why hadn’t Nick mentioned that? Maybe that was why some of the pens were empty. Perhaps that was why Kango and Roo weren’t in their pen, because they now had a different one. If that was the case, we didn’t even need to be here and we could just return home.

Then I realized that wasn’t the only reason we were here. Fear for the safety of my kangaroos had been the final straw, but there was a whole haystack full of reasons we needed to be here.

“We have to avoid the paths,” I whispered to Nick.

“Why?”

I stared at him as if he were crazy. “The cameras, remember?”

He shot back a look that said I was crazy, too. “Nobody’s watching them, remember?”

“I don’t care. We should still stay out of the light as much as we can.”

The lights that held the hidden cameras stretched out along the paths. Each one cast a little halo of illumination.

“There are no lights on in the house,” Nick said.

I gazed past the pens to the darkened farmhouse. Somehow I’d forgotten about it being right there — about them being right there. Thank goodness it was dark. Nobody was awake.

“First thing I want to do is see Peanuts,” Nick said.

“The
last
thing we’ll do is see Peanuts, and only if we have time. We’re not here for a visit. We’re here to investigate. We’ll start with the pens — and speaking of pens, why didn’t you tell me there were new ones?”

“Didn’t I mention that?”

I shook my head. “I think I would’ve remembered.”

“I guess I just forgot because so much is happening.”

“I want to see the new pens first. I want to see what new animals are in them. There might be a clue.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Nick agreed.

Thank goodness Nick didn’t ask what sort of clue, because I didn’t have any idea. Part of wanting to go to the new cages was to see if Kanga and Roo were there. I wanted to see them as much as Nick wanted to see Peanuts. Actually, I needed to see my roos. At least Nick knew Peanuts was still here, though I hadn’t seen him in the outside part of his enclosure. But that just meant he was inside the barn.

Nick took a route between two of the cages. On one side there was a jaguar and on the other a leopard. At least that’s what those pens had held three weeks ago. I caught a glint of glowing golden eyes — jaguar eyes. They disappeared and then reappeared as the big cat blinked. As I watched the eyes watching me, they started to move forward, gliding on silent feline feet until the cat itself materialized — powerful, beautiful, deadly. I knew what the cat was doing. It was stalking me. It was hoping that somehow the fence it knew was there would suddenly vanish.

Even though I could see the fence and knew I was safe, I didn’t feel secure. I angled slightly away, making sure I didn’t get too close to the fence on the other side and the cat it held.

Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the roar of a lion. I froze on the spot, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. He roared again. Then from another direction a leopard snarled, the wolves began howling and —

“Lights!” Nick hissed. “A light just came on at the house.”

My head spun around. There was a light on in one of the lower windows. The noise had woken somebody up. Then a second light flicked on. More than one person was awake now. Of course, just because they were awake didn’t mean they’d come out to investigate. The animals made noises all the time. The light outside the back door was switched on, and the door popped open — it was Anthony!

I dropped flat to the ground, and Nick did the same.

“We have to get out of here,” I whispered, starting to crawl back the way we’d come. As long as we stayed low and didn’t make any noise, we could get to those trees and from there we could sprint home. Slithering forward, I kept peeking up at Anthony. He was standing there, still as a statue, staring out into the night, trying to see what had disturbed the animals. Not that he cared about them. He was just worried that if something happened it could cost him some money.

If he continued to stand there, maybe he’d eventually go back inside. If he did that, we could continue looking around. I hardly believed I was brave enough even to think that thought, but I didn’t want to leave unless the truth left with me. I stopped in my tracks. We’d just wait him out and — Nick bumped into my butt, knocking me forward onto my face.

“Why did you stop?” Nick whispered.

“If we stay, maybe Anthony will go back into —” I broke off as Anthony began walking toward the enclosures. Then he started jogging. He was coming in our direction. Had he seen us? I had to fight the urge to jump up and run. We had to stay still. If he hadn’t seen us, we were safe. If we ran, he’d see us for sure. Even if we did outrun him, it wasn’t as if he didn’t know who we were or where we lived.

Anthony kept moving in our direction, closer and closer, until he sped right by the opening.

“Where’s he going?” I questioned.

“Only one place I can think of,” Nick said. “The control room.”

“Oh, my goodness!” I gasped.

“And in about thirty seconds he’s going to be able to see all of the cameras, everywhere.”

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

“We’re going to run. We have thirty seconds to get away!”

Nick jumped to his feet, and I stumbled to mine. He raced full speed across the open area leading to the barn. There were no lights in that area so there were no cameras down the side of the barn. So if we could get that far before Anthony reached the control room we could make it to the fields that led to the trees that bordered our property. I put my head down and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Nick got to the side of the barn and disappeared down the incline. I was only seconds behind him … seconds away from safety. I hit the top of the hill, then lost my footing and toppled over, tumbling down the slope and coming to a stop in a heap at the bottom.

“Sarah, are you all right?” Nick reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet.

“I’m okay,” I said, not even checking to see what I might have hurt. I knew my knees ached. “Do you think he saw us?”

“We moved pretty fast. I don’t think he had time to get there, unlock the door, check the monitors and —”

He stopped. We both heard the same thing. Footsteps were coming rapidly along the path.

“In here!” Nick said.

I hesitated, but he seized my hand and led me through the small side door opening into the stable of the barn. We staggered into the darkness, the only thing allowing us to move at all being our knowledge of the floor plan.

“Let’s hide in the hay,” Nick whispered.

“The hay? Where Brent lives?” Brent was Mr. McCurdy’s three-metre-long Burmese python.

“Do you have a better idea?”

Any idea had to be better than that. Maybe we could go upstairs, cut around Peanuts’ enclosure and then shoot out the other way.

I heard voices — male voices — coming from outside the door we had just entered!

“Up here!” I hissed, and gestured to Nick to follow me.

Shuffling along the straw-covered floor, I spied something moving off to the side and stopped, frozen in place as I peered into the darkness, trying to see. In a cage I made out two figures. Then one of the shapes
bounded
! Both figures hopped toward the bars — it was Kanga and Roo! They were here, they were safe! I felt like yelling or laughing or … Then I heard the voice again, this time louder.

“Come on!” I said to Nick, and we started up the steep stairs that led out of the stable to the barn’s main floor. I bent over and used my hands to scale the steps. Trying to move fast, I realized I wasn’t doing so quietly as my feet thumped against the wooden stairs.

“In here!” I heard a voice call out. “In the barn!”

I scrambled up the remaining stairs and halted, too stunned to know which way to go or where to hide or what to do!

“Don’t move!” a voice yelled. “Don’t take another step! Put your hands up! Now!”

Slowly, I lifted my hands above my head. We were caught. It was over. Strangely, I was filled with a sense of relief, and that was better than the fear that had been filling my gut. I opened my mouth to say something when the whole room became filled with brilliant light. I put up my hands to shield myself from the blinding glare.

“Sarah, Nick …”

I moved my hand and saw Doug, one of the new employees Anthony had hired. Doug looked as confused as I felt frightened. He was standing by the light switch. Right behind him, in his pen, stood Peanuts.

“What are you two doing here?” he demanded.

I blinked. “We were just —”

“You really shouldn’t be here. You’re going to have to explain all this to Anthony.” Doug had a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt. He pulled it up to his mouth. “This is Doug … I’m in the barn and I’ve got them … It’s Sarah and Nick.”

There was static and then a reply.

“Hold on to them … I’ll be right there!” Anthony barked so loud I could hear him over the radio. He didn’t sound happy.

“Peanuts!” Nick called out. “Are you okay, boy?” Nick began walking toward the pen.

Unbelievably, despite everything, all he wanted to do was visit his elephant. Didn’t he know how much trouble we were in, what could happen to us? Actually, I didn’t even know the answers to those questions.

Without warning, Nick broke for the door. For a split second it looked as if he might make it when Doug jumped forward and grabbed him!

“You’re not going anywhere!” Doug shouted.