professor pointed to the left front shoulder of the carcass where, as Bulatt could easily see, the left front leg had been ripped away.
“I assume this one didn’t run into a cobra,” Bulatt commented.
The professor smiled. “No, a creature far more dangerous: a tiger. We were able to confirm the species of the attacker by the saliva saturating the wound area; but the size of the teeth marks and the massive hemorrhaging to the surrounding tissues would have been indicative in any case.”
“And I take it you rarely see Clouded Leopards killed by Tigers?” Bulatt said.
“Almost never. Clouded Leopards are taught by their parents to be very wary of Tigers and other large predators from the time they are cubs. Also, Clouded Leopards are excellent climbers, extremely agile, and see very well at night,” the professor explained. “Given the deteriorated condition of the body, it’s difficult to make a conclusive finding; but if I were to guess, I would say that this leopard was taken by surprise… by a Tiger… and on the ground — a very unusual situation, indeed.
“So,” the professor went on when Bulatt and Kulawnit remained silent, “what we have here are two extremely unlikely deaths of two magnificent specimens of Thai wildlife that should not have been so big — or so hungry — occurring within days of each other at roughly the same location. Which brings us to these interesting items,” he said, turning to the technician who handed him a pair of stainless steel trays. “We found these attached to the necks of both leopards.”
Bulatt walked up to the professor, stared down into the trays, and blinked in confusion.
“Fire-flies™?”
“You recognize them?” Colonel Kulawnit asked.
“I think so. These look like a variation of the tracking devices we use to follow suspect vehicles or shipments at night with night-vision goggles,” Bulatt said. “They kick out a burst of infra-red light every few seconds that you can easily spot miles away. The ones I used worked on small lithium batteries, and usually burned out pretty quickly, especially in cold weather; but these seem to be more sophisticated.”
“The batteries are built into the device and recharged through small strips of solar cells attached to the collar,” Kulawnit said.
“Interesting,” Bulatt said. “So who makes them?”
“We don’t know.” Kulawnit shrugged. “We are making inquiries with our military experts now. The professor is familiar with electronic equipment used to track animals for biological research, but he has never seen anything like these devices; and he’s certain that no Thai research biologists are using them in the southern peninsula. Among many other reasons, the cost would be prohibitive.”
“So why were these cats wearing them?” Bulatt asked.
“Exactly.” Kulawnit nodded. “We think the devices were attached to the necks of these creatures in order to make them easy to find, and to kill.”
“But that would be a pretty expensive proposition, to capture an animal like this, tag it with a fire-fly™, release it, and then what — hope you run across it again? That’s an insane way to run a canned hunt, unless you’ve got money to burn.”
“It doesn’t make much sense,” Kulawnit agreed. “But we are constantly trying to deal with wealthy foreign hunters who bribe their way into Thailand to kill our wildlife as trophies, and we don’t like it when mysterious events like this start occurring in our National Preserves. That’s why, when the second leopard was found, I called your office. When they said you were already in Tokyo for our Interpol meeting, I asked them to divert you to Bangkok, but not to tell you why. I wanted to surprise you, and give you the opportunity to enjoy an evening of Thai hospitality too, of course, before we fly back to Tokyo; but my hope also is that you can encourage some of your scientific experts to help us resolve this — ”
At that moment, the cell phone on Colonel Kulawnit’s belt beeped plaintively.
“Excuse me a moment,” he said as he stepped away and brought the phone up to his ear. “Colonel Kulawnit.” He listened for a few moments. “What?!”
As Bulatt and the professor watched in confusion, Kulawnit’s face turned ashen. “I’m on my way there now,” he snapped, and closed the cell phone.
“Khun Prathun, what — ?”
“Four of our Forestry Rangers have been found dead, shot, in the southern peninsula,” he whispered. “One of them is my son.”
CHAPTER 10
Charter Flights Section of the Bangkok International Airport
The cab dropped Wallis off in front of a medium-sized hanger with the name ‘RIGLEY CHARTERS’ painted in big blue letters on the side. As he walked inside the attached office, a slender, clean-cut man in his mid-thirties looked up from a computer. The tabs on his uniform shirt identified him as a pilot.
“Help you, sir?”
“I understand your company charters fast and slow flights from varying locations on short notice?”
“Fast and slow flights?” The pilot cocked his head, looking puzzled.
“Private jets and seaplanes,” Wallis translated.
“Well, yes, as a matter of fact, we do. There’s a sweet little G-Four out on the tarmac right now that can get you just about anywhere you want to go very quickly, and with a great deal of comfort and privacy,” the pilot said. “And we do operate out of several other major airports in Southeast Asia. We’re not cheap, by any means; but we do pride ourselves on being adaptive to our customer’s needs. What destination did you have in mind?”
“Singapore; and then, ideally, connecting right away to a seaplane for a flight to the Malacca Strait — somewhere near Langkawi — to pick up a couple of passengers.”
“A Seaplane? Hummm.” The pilot consulted his computer for a few moments and then shrugged. “We do have a converted twin-engine Grumman Super Widgeon based in Singapore that we use mostly for search and rescue operations these days. She’s a little old in the tooth, and bounces around a bit in rough weather, but she’ll get you up the Strait and back, no problem. The pilot’s ex-military, RAF. Bit of an odd duck, but — ”
“He’ll do just fine,” Wallis said.
The pilot shrugged agreeable. “So, how many passengers are we talking about for the flight to Singapore, and when did you want to go? We can configure the G-Four for as many as six, and — ”
“One passenger, right now,” Wallis said.
“You mean — ?”
“Right now,” Wallis repeated as he reached inside his raincoat and pulled out a band-wrapped stack of hundred dollar bills.
The Medical Clinic at the Draganov Research Center
Sergei Draganov and Aleksei Tsarovich stood side by side in the small veterinary medical exam room located in a small building near the research center’s Minimal Containment (MIN) facilities, shivering and still covered with snow from the raging snowstorm outside. They were staring at a set of skull x-rays on a wall-mounted, backlit viewer.
“See how the brow and eye-sockets are thickened?” Tsarovich pointed out with the tip of the pen he held in his thick muscular hand. “Now compare that to the x-ray from three weeks ago.”
Draganov nodded his head slowly. “Yes, I agree, it does look like gamma-five bone-growth. But her eyes — ”
“- are clear, yes. No dye infusion that would indicate a transition infection. But the growth pattern is unmistakable.”
“But how could she be infected?” Draganov demanded, the frustration evident in his strained voice. “She cleans cages and feeds the animals at MIN, never here. Only you and I handle the newly exposed animals.”
“I don’t know. Right now, I’m more interested in reducing her fever.”
Draganov suddenly blinked in awareness. “Wait a minute. What about Borya? Could he be infected also?”
