Bestiary

was up; Del emerged from the brush, holding a handy little club he must have just made.

“That’s my friend Del,” Carter announced to the two men as he took the boy over to the shaken girl. “He bats a thousand — want to try him?”

The two men exchanged a long look, and Carter dropped his backpack onto the ground. “Didn’t I hear you were leaving — Stan?”

“Nah, I like it here.” He squared off, ready to fight, when his friend grabbed his elbow and said, “What the fuck are you doing? We’re done here — let’s go.”

Del moved around behind them and took a casual, but hard, whack at some branches.

Stan stared at Carter, then pulled a pair of Ray-Bans out of his breast pocket and put them on. “Does kind of smell like shit around here.”

That was when Carter knew he’d won the standoff. He said nothing more as Stan and his pal moved back toward the trail and headed down the mountain. Carter knelt down next to the girl and said, “You okay?”

She looked up at him with watery eyes and murmured, “I guess.”

“You have a cell phone?”

She shook her head.

“They threw it in the water,” the boy said. Del was dabbing at the blood on his cut lip with a couple of leaves.

“You’re going to be fine, both of you,” Carter said. “Can you stand up?” he said to the girl. As he held her arm, she got up. “You feel able to walk down?”

She didn’t say anything, but walked over toward her boyfriend. “You okay, Luis?”

But he wouldn’t look at her.

“You okay?” she repeated, reaching out to touch him on the arm, but he pulled away.

“Just don’t touch me, okay? Just let me alone.”

Carter knew what was going on — he’d just been beaten up in front of his girl and he was in no mood to face her.

Del knew, too. “What’s your name?” he said to the girl as he drew her away and toward the trail. “I’m Del Garrison.”

“Lilly.”

“Nice to meet you, Lilly.” He guided her back to the trail, with his club still in one hand. “It’ll be a lot easier going down.”

Carter picked up his pack and led Luis in the same direction. He was slight and not very tall, and his Nike shirt was spattered with blood in front.

They walked in silence, all their eyes on the loose rocks and dirt of the trail. There was no sign of the two men who’d attacked them, and Carter had heard enough that he didn’t have to ask any questions.

Del, just to distract them, kept calling out over his shoulder what they were seeing or passing by. “That’s called a popcorn flower over on your right. And deer weed all around it. Buckwheat brush on the ground up ahead, and twining snapdragon hanging down. Golden yarrow. Purple nightshade. Silver puffs.” The list went on and on, and before long they were passing the abandoned shack. In the sky above it, a lone hawk circled slowly on the updraft.

Who had lived there? Carter wondered as they marched slowly past its boarded-up windows and padlocked door.

Only one other hiker passed them, going up the trail as they went down — a young woman in a big straw hat who gave them a very curious look — and when they got to the parking area, Carter said, “Which one is your car?”

Luis gestured at a red Trans Am with wire wheels. And four flat tires.

“Fuck!” Luis said.

“How’d they know it was yours?” Del asked.

“They didn’t,” Carter said, looking around at the other three or four cars — including his own — in the lot. All of their tires had been punctured.

“At least they’re thorough,” Del said.

“We can walk to Gelson’s,” Lilly said to Luis, who still wouldn’t even acknowledge her. “I can call my mom.”

“Maybe you should call the police first,” Carter said, “and file a report. I’ve got a cell phone in my car.”

“No!” Luis blurted out. “No fuckin’ police report.” He wheeled around and glared at Lilly. “Nothing happened — okay?”

“If you don’t call, I will,” Carter said.

Luis glared at Carter, too. “You do what you got to do. I’m out of here.”

And he marched off toward Sunset in his bloody T-shirt and his jeans… with Lilly, who turned and held up her hand in a wave to Carter and Del, in slow pursuit.

“No good deed,” Del said, “goes unpunished.”

Carter nodded.

“But let’s call Triple A first,” Del added. “I know from experience; it could take them awhile to get here.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“What do you mean, it won’t eat?” al-Kalli said in a cold fury.

Rashid, the keeper of the animals, visibly shook in his boots.

“I saw the man killed myself,” al-Kalli said, rising from his chair behind the ornate desk in his library. “I saw him pulled down from the tree. I saw his body dragged into the lair.”

Rashid, in a spotless white lab coat, nodded vigorously in agreement. “Yes, I am sure that is true. I am sure that is what happened.” Rashid, who had been barred from the bestiary that night, had no exact knowledge of what had transpired. But knowing his master, he had a fairly good idea. And he had seen the remains inside the cave.

The largely uneaten remains.

“But the beast has not changed his habits… not since…” He did not know how to complete the sentence, nor did he have to. Not since the beast lost its mate. Rashid did not like even to advert to that sad fact, for fear it would rekindle al-Kalli’s anger. He knew perfectly well who was considered at fault for that.

“And the other animals?”

Rashid swallowed hard and lied. “Admirable. They are all doing admirable,” he said, using one of the favorite English words he had learned during his training at the American school in Cairo. In reality, several of the beasts were showing strange signs and behaviors. The bird was shedding long feathers with brittle quills, the larger beasts were exhibiting signs of labored breathing and had a lackluster look in their eyes. The sudden expulsion from the compound in Iraq, the long journey to America, the new and unfamiliar quarters — in Rashid’s view the creatures had never fully recovered. No matter what he did, no matter what new and innovative measures he tried — from changing their diets to altering the air temperature and composition inside the facility — he could not find the means to restore them to their former health and glory.

On many a dark night, he anticipated becoming a meal for the beasts himself. Al-Kalli, he knew, was not above it.

“I will be down to see the situation for myself later this afternoon. Go and tell Jakob to bring the car around.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.” Rashid backed out of the room all but bowing, and before he pulled the double doors closed, he could hear al-Kalli shout, “Admirably! Admirably!”

* * *

Al-Kalli would have liked to throw him to the beasts, but it wasn’t that simple — Rashid and his ancestors