The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian

Author:Chris Bohjalian [Bohjalian, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2022-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

The sky was a deep purple to the east and pink to the west, the kind of great stripes of color you never saw in L.A. They’d taken his watch, but he supposed it was nearly seven p.m. The Russian walking behind him was the smug fellow who’d been guarding them from the very last row of the Land Rover. He’d seemed taller to Terrance when he’d been sitting behind him, and Terrance realized only now that he himself had the height advantage. He made a mental calculation as he was walked behind the acacia to pee. He could probably move fast enough to overpower his guard before getting shot, but he doubted that he could do it quietly enough not to draw attention to the two of them. And if he attacked, he had to win—and he had to win silently. Because only then, in the dim light of dusk, did he have a prayer in hell of sneaking into the huts with David and Billy, untying them, and giving them all a fighting chance against these pricks. There would be three of them, and they’d have a rifle.

And he was feeling a particular urgency now. It wasn’t simply that he had spent most of the afternoon tied up in the dark; it was that something had happened to Margie Stepanov. He didn’t know what, but he’d heard her sobbing. Then he’d heard chaos, and at least a couple of the men who’d arrived in the jeep that afternoon running in and out of her hut. There was someone new in charge, a Russian with ice-blue eyes and a nose that a casting director would kill for if he ever needed a boxer, barking commands. Finally, one of the vehicles was leaving the boma, and if Terrance were a betting man, he would bet it was leaving with Margie.

He was taking small comfort from the fact that he was pretty sure Billy had heard the Russian yelling and the jeep or the Land Rover driving away, but nothing else. Margie’s hut was beside his, but Billy’s hut, thank God, was farthest away. It wasn’t likely that the woman’s husband had heard her sobbing; he hadn’t made the connection between her cries and the commotion. He probably thought she was still in her hut too.

With some of the Russians having left—including that new guy, their leader—Terrance supposed the odds were even better if he could take down the one now waiting for him to unzip his fly. How many guards remained, including this character? Two? No more.

So, this might be his best shot. His one shot. And he’d heard Charlie Patton say often enough their first days here in Africa that when you had your one shot in the Serengeti, you damn well better take it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.