The snake’s head turreted in slow assessment. Swept past me. Paused. Turreted back. Paused once again, tongue probing for specifics. Head lifted another few inches, dusty eyes vague above zombie-stitched lips.
A mammalian heart was beating.
Mine.
Behind me, near the top of the quarry, I heard a sudden thrashing among leaves; heard the gunshot crack of a tree limb breaking, then a shriek. I looked up in time to see a dark shape falling toward me. I thought it was a man, at first, because of the flailing arms.
The Russian?
I jumped and ducked, covering my head. Jumped again when it landed face-first a few yards away. The sound of a primate’s body impacting on earth is distinctive. A cavity containing lungs is percussive.
A gorilla?
The animal was the size of a teenager, big-shouldered, covered with hair. It groaned, stirred. Struggled to get to its knees. Collapsed and rolled, eyes open. It had a black elongated faced, and golden, human eyes.
A chimpanzee.
Its left arm, I noted, was grotesquely swollen. I looked up and saw a gray snake in the tree canopy. A black mamba. Not large.
The chimp groaned once again, head turning as glazed eyes found me. Seemed to focus in recognition-a great sadness to be shared. Lifted its right arm, muscles beginning to spasm, and reached its hand out to me, index finger pointing.
I’ve never felt such a combination of shock and fear. Unconsciously, I leaned toward the chimp, hand extended. Our fingers touched for a moment. Its skin was leathery, warm as my own. The hand fell as the chimpanzee shuddered, grunted, made a rattling sound of exhaustion. I watched its eyes dim, then close.
Dead.
I forced myself to step away, aware that a few more seconds of inattention could be fatal.
The cobra had disappeared among ferns. Where?
The head of the giant mamba was still visible. The rest of its body had arrived at ground level. The snake was moving in my direction.
I pivoted, sprinted, lunged into the doorway.
The woman was sitting, watching as I hurried to the window. She didn’t seem surprised that I’d returned.
Ox-man was life-sized now; he would be opening the door within the next minute. He still held the weapon at combat ready-not an AK-47 but similar. The man was spooked; I could see that, too.
Someone had let the animals out. He was aware.
The woman kept her voice low. “Take the tape off my ankles and we’ll overpower him. Together.”
I’d put the carton of eggs on the floor, was leaning over her. I began to rip away duct tape. Her lean calves were fuzzed with hair; thighs muscled. She didn’t flinch.
When the tape was gone, the woman flexed her legs, stretched. “Help me up.”
I shook my head. “Roll on your side and step through those handcuffs.”
“What?” As if she had no idea what I meant.
“Drop the act, lady. I don’t think you want to go out there with your hands behind your back.” I was pushing her legs into a fetal position, trying to position the cuffs. “You never jumped rope? Same concept, only the rope’s shorter.”
She contracted into a ball and extended her arms. I helped her work one foot through, then the other. Lifted her by the elbow and she came to her feet, hands cuffed in front now. Tall woman, dark tan, body of an athlete.
“My name’s Dasha. Not ‘lady.’”
I said, “Then you’ll understand why I don’t shake hands,” as I took her by the shoulders and spun her body away.
“Idiot. What are you doing? Aleski will kill-”
I clamped my hand over her mouth, pulled her close. Held her in a bear hug until she stopped struggling. Took my hand away, and said into her ear. “I think you and your partner are setting me up. I’ll find out soon enough.”
She turned, pale eyes searching for something. “No. I swear it. You can trust me.”
I’d saved a section of tape. Turned her again, saying, “No, I can’t,” as I pressed the tape over her mouth and did a quick wrap. Put my lips close to her ear again. “If you don’t do what I tell you, we’re all going to die.”
Outside, there was the scuff of footsteps on gravel.
I picked up the carton of reptile eggs and steered the woman toward the quarry door. Took a deep breath, then stepped out, pulling her along behind.
The giant mamba had found the chimp. Even though it was too big for a meal, the snake was preoccupied with inspection. Its tongue stabbed the air, its head flattening cobralike, as it raised six feet of its body off the ground.
The tape didn’t stop the woman from talking, only muffled her voice. She said something that sounded like, “Jesus Christ, are you crazy? Don’t make me do this.”
She wasn’t acting now. She was hyperventilating, her eyes locked on the mamba only a few dozen yards away. I’d backed her against the bank of snake cages, which was to the left as you exited the door. She was the first thing Ox-man would see if he peeked out.
I was tempted to say that I’d be crazier to let her, and her partner, go to work on me. Instead, I whispered, “Stick with the plan and you’ll be fine.” Then I hurried to the other side of the doorway. Flattened my back against the coral wall.
The instructions I’d given her weren’t complicated, but I didn’t expect her to follow them. If she did, we both had a good chance of surviving this hell hole. If she didn’t, I had a plan for that, too.
I could hear Ox-man inside the room. He was kicking rat cages, making sure we weren’t hidden among them. Yelling words in Russian that had the rhythm of profanity.
Then silence.
I’d stationed the woman at an angle a few yards from the door so that I had an unobstructed view of her. Hands cuffed, mouth taped, ankles crossed as if bound, she looked convincing-a comrade in distress. Her terrified fixation on the snake added to the effect.
I pressed harder against the wall when I saw the door handle move. I watched the door open an inch… another inch. Could see the wire stock of the man’s weapon through the hinges. He saw the woman. I heard him speak-an exclamation of surprise, but also anger. I got the impression that he had a reason to be surprised-something in her expression, not only his tone.
For an instant, Dasha looked at me, then looked away.
I had the carton of reptile eggs palmed in my right hand. Had my left hand up and ready as the door opened wider. I expected the woman to pull the tape away and yell a warning to her partner. Nod in my direction, or at least use her eyes to tell the man that he was walking into a trap.
Instead, the woman surprised me. Again.
“PANILA?”
Ox-man’s voice grew louder. He was shouting questions. Hopefully, an obvious question: Where’s the American? In response, I watched the woman motion to the incubator, and gesture vigorously with her head: He’s behind that box, hiding.
Exactly what I’d told her to do.
The door pressed against me as Ox-man took a careful step into the quarry. The barrel of his weapon preceded him. I waited a beat, then grabbed the barrel with my left hand; jerked it skyward, expecting him to fire.
BOOM.
A shotgun’s discharge.
In the same motion, I mustered all the torque my legs could produce as I lunged around the door and knocked his head backward with the heel of my open palm. A potentially lethal blow not softened by the plastic carton I held.
“Govnosos! ”
He roared the word. Nearly went down but caught himself. Then he used his left hand to paw at the mess of yolk and shell that was blinding him, used the other to wrestle for control of the gun.
I had a good grip on his right wrist, my thumb buried deep in the soft flesh beneath tendon. To move him away from the open door, I kneed him hard in the thigh. Moved him a few more steps from safety, then clamped my arm over his right elbow. I adjusted to get effective leverage, then let my legs collapse beneath me.