Saving the White Lions by Linda Tucker

Author:Linda Tucker [Tucker, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58394-620-6
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2013-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

MIREILLE, JASON, AND I stand on the runway of Lanseria private airport, under the tilted metal hull of a DC3 troop carrier. Mireille is hanging tightly onto my hand. The tarmac shimmers; despite the heat, she is still wearing her favorite red bomber jacket. Our plan is that the plane will first transport us ten hours into the Karoo mountain land, and from there, collect the sleeping lions and transport them another nine hours to Timbavati, and freedom!

The pilot of the solid old World War II aircraft, Henry Delport, stands beside us: short, dark, and hardy-handsome, with what seems a slightly maniacal streak of heroism in his eyes. Magnanimously, he’s offered his historic plane and his services free-of-charge, for which I’m deeply grateful, as a flight of this nature would have cost a small fortune. With funds particularly thin on the ground, his generous lift-off swept Mireille and me off our feet. However, I recently learned from Harold that this feisty personality was known as Highway Hennie in aviation circles after famously landing his aircraft on the N4 triple highway, due to engine failure. The reputation that precedes him may be unnerving, but I have more serious things to worry about.

Everything is on track, for better or for worse.

A film crew, who flew in from a great distance last night, are due to join us on the tarmac at any moment. I fortify myself, knowing I am going to have to break the news to them on arrival, and reveal that the entire expedition is in jeopardy.

It is 10:00 a.m., our scheduled departure time. Highway Hennie buckles up his leather jacket and pilot’s helmet and clambers into the cockpit, unusually through a door in the hull itself. He’d spotted the film crew’s panel van speeding down the entrance road, then swinging onto the tarmac and honking on arrival.

What lies ahead is a life-and-death action-step for Marah’s future, more utterly agonizing than any I’ve taken before. But I no longer feel afraid. I have my team beside me. And I feel the full weight of the responsibility that Maria Khosa handed me in passing on the ancient title: Keeper of the White Lions.

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