Thunder boomed and lightning streaked the sky. A crackling pop erupted when a bolt connected with a tree, close enough to make the hair stand up on the back of Mattie’s neck.
She rode as fast as she dared, keeping Robo beside her and her ears tuned for either the tiger’s roar or other riders in the forest. They rode along the top of a shallow ravine, where a stream trickled below. Soon a deep, resounding bay echoed down the ravine, and Mattie turned in the saddle to look at Cole. “Moose.”
“He must have spotted the tiger.”
Robo darted off, running down the side of the ravine toward the sound, making Mattie’s heart jump into her throat. “Robo, wait! Come here to me.”
She could tell he didn’t want to, but her dog backtracked and waited at the top of the gulley until she caught up. Mattie nudged Mountaineer faster along the barely discernible game trail, dodging tree branches and crashing through foliage.
The bays created an auditory beacon to home in on. She called Brody to inform him they were coming, and his terse reply confirmed that they had sighted the tiger from a distance but had lost sight of Moose. “We can’t hear him. Where are you?”
“Down in a gulley on the east side of the canyon.” Mattie raised her face to the elements and felt the chill wind on her cheeks. “We’re downwind from him, and the sound must carry down this ravine.”
“We’ve got him on the GPS, and we’re getting close.”
“We’ll try to meet you.”
Despite the chilly temperature, adrenaline made her sweat. Mist hung in the air and raindrops splashed down from the lowering clouds. Mattie bent over the saddle horn, pushing Mountaineer upslope while the downpour thickened and saturated her shirt. Heavy drops diminished the sound of Moose barking, forcing her to depend on Robo’s sharper hearing. She allowed him to take the lead.
Rain blew into her face, blurring her vision. She pushed Mountaineer hard to keep up with Robo. The terrain flattened and trees whipped past as the gelding picked up speed. Mattie hoped the rain would slow down the hunters and someone in her party could reach the tiger before Tyler and his group found it. Hoofbeats from Cole’s horse kept pace behind her.
Mattie followed close enough to see Robo travel upslope and break from the forest into a clearing. She called for him to wait, and he hovered at the edge of the trees. The rain lessened, and she spotted Brody and Glenna streaking into the small clearing off to her left. She reined Mountaineer in their direction and pressed him into a gallop.
They’d entered another stand of pine when a low-pitched, snarling growl rumbled through the forest, making the horses slow. Mattie pulled Mountaineer to a halt, slipped off, and dropped the reins to leave him while she hit the ground running. Robo had outdistanced her, and she shouted at him to wait while she closed the gap.
Up ahead, Brody and Glenna dismounted—Brody with his AR-15 slung across his back and the dart projector in his hands. Her boots thudded on the rocky soil as she ran.
The rain ceased as suddenly as it had begun, affording Mattie a view of a promontory that rose above the trees—a view that rattled her bones. Poised on top of a chimneylike rock, the tiger crouched, snarling and growling, the fur at its neck bristled around a brown collar. Its sharp teeth gleamed as it opened its mouth wide to roar at Moose, who continued to bay while he traversed the base of the rocky column. The sight of the majestic tiger stirred Mattie’s heart even as it roused a primal fear in her gut.
Breathing hard, Glenna and Brody joined her. Mattie glanced behind to check on Cole. He’d stayed back about fifty feet, still holding on to Flint’s horse and tussling with both their mounts as they became more and more spooked by the tiger.
“If I dart it, it’ll probably fall,” Brody said, squinting into the mist.
“What is that, maybe thirty feet?” Glenna asked.
“Around that,” Brody said. “Maybe fifteen to where it widens at the base.”
Concern creased Glenna’s face. “He’s most likely to roll once he hits the wider part, which will soften his landing. We don’t have much choice. Let’s do it.”
Brody arched a brow. “Once we get it sedated, we’ll have to keep it that way.”
“I know! I’ve got the supplies we need. We’ll build a travois and haul it out of here. We’ll do whatever it takes to get it to safety. Go ahead, shoot it.”
Brody raised the projector and was drawing a bead on the tiger when a gunshot echoed off the side of the mountain. The big cat roared and leaped from its perch, a bright scarlet patch blossoming on its shoulder. It lit on its feet where the base widened, covered by rocky shale. As soon as its paws hit the ground, it stumbled and its front quarters crumpled. The tiger slid to a halt, grinding its chin into the shale.
Barking, Robo charged toward the tiger, and Mattie screamed for him to come back. She ran after him, grabbing his collar when he hesitated. She clung to it and dragged him with her as she scooted backward away from the rocks.
Moose scrambled out of the tiger’s path as it slid, snarling and hissing, down the shale to the base. Brody fired the projector, landing a hit. The dart embedded in the tiger’s haunch.
The whooshing sound the dart gun made when its carbon dioxide cartridge released gave Mattie a chill. The last time she’d heard that noise, the dart that was fired had embedded in her back. It had been only a month ago—not enough time to dull the memory of the pain from when that dart hit.
Its hind leg and right foreleg dragging, the tiger tried to run. It gradually slowed, and its haunches sank to the ground. It pulled itself forward with the claws of one front paw, snarling as it dragged itself, its head wobbling back and forth. Finally its head bobbed and then flopped forward, and the tiger lay still and limp. Still holding on to Robo, Mattie didn’t know if the tiger was dead from the gunshot wound or sedated by the dart.
Moose edged forward, nose outstretched as if to sniff the tiger, but Glenna called him off and told him to stay. She and Brody eased up close to examine the big cat.
“It’s breathing,” Glenna called over her shoulder.
Mattie turned toward Cole. He’d dismounted but was still holding the reins of Flint’s horse. Telling Robo to heel, she sprinted back to him and took charge of the prisoner. Cole grabbed a pack from the back of his saddle and rushed over to the tiger.
As Mattie watched Cole bend over the beautiful, exotic creature that had been transported to this unfamiliar mountain wilderness to be chased down, stalked, and killed, a fury like no other filled her belly.
Since Brody and Glenna had been unable to hear Moose barking, maybe the hunters had been in the same boat. Furthermore, the tiger had been perched up high while she and the others had been at the bottom of the promontory. Maybe Tyler hadn’t received her phone message and the hunters hadn’t seen them.
There was a killer in that hunting party—and she didn’t believe it to be Flint. But one thing she knew for certain. If the person who’d shot that tiger didn’t show up soon to claim his prize, she planned go after them all and hunt him down.
* * *
Cole placed his hand on the tiger’s chest, and its body felt warm and lax beneath his fingers. Its heartbeat thumped slow and steady, telling him the cat had been sedated, not killed. “Let’s roll him so that I can see that shoulder,” he murmured to Brody. “Be ready to jump back if he starts to come out of the sedative. Stay clear of those claws.”
Glenna dumped her backpack behind the tiger and helped roll the heavy beast. “This tiger was so worked up before it went down, the sedation might not last as long.”