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Kingdom Keepers II(66)

By:Ridley Pearson


“I was…mad,” Finn said.

“I didn’t know you cared,” Amanda teased him, just as they opened an emergency door and sprinted outside.

“Who says I do?” he said to her, his voice breaking.

“Boys…” she muttered.





50


THE KINGDOM KEEPERS and Amanda stood watching the AnimalCam, with Philby at the controls. All but Charlene, who kept vigil at the bat enclosure, her DS in hand. Philby, being Philby, had quickly located two cameras that served the tiger yards and a third that looked back toward the arched bridge that separated the two enclosures. It was this bridge that caused the C on the satellite photo.

“They keep tigers on either side of the bridge,” he explained. “Both sides have water and some trees for shade. From the bridge you have a good view of either yard.”

“But if she’s under the C, she’s under the bridge,” Finn said.

“I don’t know that that’s possible,” Philby said, switching camera views.

“Zoom back!” Willa said in an excited voice.

Philby did as she asked.

Amanda stepped forward, her finger pointing to the screen. “The window! That’s from the diary.”

“Yes,” Finn said. “You showed us that before, when Maybeck and I were over there.”

“She dreamed about this place,” Amanda said. “No question about it.”

Willa pushed her way to a closer view of the screen.

Maybeck said, “Are we just going to watch TV all day? Let’s do something.”

Willa pointed. “Zoom in on this.”

“On what?” Philby said.

“Just do it,” Willa persisted.

Philby used the AnimalCam’s joystick to aim the camera where she pointed: a section where the wall met the dirt.

“Zoom in,” she directed.

It wasn’t dirt, as it turned out. Slowly a geometric shape became apparent: a wooden hatch with grass growing around its edges.

“That couldn’t be what I think it is,” Maybeck said.

“It’s a trapdoor!” Amanda declared.

“A trapdoor in a tiger yard,” Maybeck said. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“She’s in there,” Amanda said. She looked to Finn for support. “Don’t ask me how I know, but she’s in there.”

“Philby?” Finn asked. “What’s a trapdoor doing there?”

“You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Try me,” Finn said.

“Let’s say you’re the person running the tigers. How are you going to get any tigers into this lower yard?” He switched camera views. It showed a slowly rising hill of grass.

“How ‘bout trying the gate?” Maybeck asked.

“There is no gate. Not in the lower yard, only in the upper yard. We know from what Wayne told us that all the animals are accounted for each evening. They’re kept in barns and pens backstage. I’m thinking they probably move a couple tigers into this upper yard in the morning—then they open the hatch. It leads to a short tunnel that connects to the lower yard. Tigers are cats, so they’re smart. They learn fast.” He zoomed the camera to where a second hatch could be seen, this time in the lower yard. “Once the first tigers are in the lower yard, they close the hatches and put two more tigers into the upper yard. Tigers are territorial, so this system keeps them apart.”

“Brilliant,” said Willa.

“I don’t mean to play devil’s advocate,” said Maybeck, who thrived on playing devil’s advocate, “but if they let them in in the morning, then don’t they let them out in the evening? So if Jez is down there, which personally I don’t believe, doesn’t that mean…?” He didn’t finish his thought.

“That if she’s still down there at closing, then the tiger gets her for dinner,” Philby said.

Willa gasped.

“How could she have gotten down there in the first place?” Maybeck questioned.

“She could have crossed the savannah,” Willa proposed, “after escaping the tree trunk. Jumped a wall, or entered an open gate, only to find herself facing tigers. Maybe the hatch was already open; maybe she opened it herself. We won’t know until we find her.”

“One thing,” Philby said, “supporting this theory…if I were rigging the sound for the Park, the wires would follow the path. It might make sense to have a junction box down in the tunnel connecting the yards. Workers would have a place to check the wires that’s out of the view of the guests and safely away from the tigers.”

“No matter what,” Finn said, “I think we talked ourselves into checking out that tunnel.”