Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
A hyena laughed at him somewhere in the distance, but Boar counted to five and crawled through the hole behind Clover.
He stilled when the wire caught hold of his hoodie. The opening was clearly Drake-sized, and Boar wondered whether Drake hadn’t made it so small on purpose, but he chose not to engage in a verbal fight while they were already in danger.
“I can’t believe you pulled Clover into this. We all know he’s not experienced enough, and that’s the second job you’re taking him on?” Boar growled, managing to drag himself through the hole once he rolled on his back and pushed with his legs.
The rich scent of regularly-watered grass filled his lungs once he took a few steps away from the fence, but the fact that no one was shooting at them yet was no more reassuring than Drake’s erratic behavior.
If the plants were well-maintained, then this couldn’t be a backstage area. They were in an animal enclosure, and Boar hoped it didn’t belong to a tiger. But when he accidentally kicked a stone, sending it across the grass, something moved, and Boar grabbed his gun, ready to save all their lives.
His brain short-circuited when black figures leaped in the dark, but it was only when one passed on the background of the sky that he recognized them as antelopes and let his hand drop while his heart still worked overtime.
Clover turned around to Boar with a weak smile. “On the bright side, at least we can be sure there’s no predators in this pen,” he whispered.
“Let’s stop this fuckery and follow them once they leave the zoo. Jesus Christ…” Boar was losing his patience, but when he grabbed Clover’s hand, the boy shook his head, pulling away so abruptly it made Boar freeze.
“No,” Drake said. “We get them here. I will destroy the motherfucker. Stop being such a coward.”
Boar would have fought Drake to make him spit out those humiliating words, but this wasn’t the time and place. They couldn’t have a screaming match when whatever guard kept watch here might hear them. Was this what Drake thought of him? That his tendency to err on the side of caution was cowardice, not rationality? What the fuck?
“Shhh,” Clover urged them both, sinking to his knees and pulling on both their hands. Boar went low, but he only saw the weak glow of a flashlight in the distance when Clover pointed at it. A lone man was patrolling the grounds, and they all flattened in the grass seconds before the light turned toward them, swiping the antelope enclosure.
Boar sucked in the scent of dirt when he saw the ray of light play in Drake’s hair. Just a few inches south, and they could be spotted, and for the blink of an eye, Boar wanted to purposefully make some noise, alarm the guard, have the security people call in cops. So maybe sitting at the police station wouldn’t be his choice of nighttime activity, but it sure beat getting killed.
The ray of light was gone before he could have made up his mind, and the guard got on with his rounds, unaware of the three intruders.
“He’s gone. Let’s go,” Clover whispered, scrambling to his feet. He dashed across the lawn without waiting for their answer. Drake followed, jogging toward the path as if he were a gazelle himself, and by the time Boar stood, they were both way ahead of him.
But as annoying as their dismissive behavior was, at least no one was shooting at him yet, so he trudged on. The eerie sense that danger might appear out of nowhere never left Boar, but as he climbed the fence and followed the others under the roofing of a rather large building, his worries subsided somewhat. Beyond lush vines, he found Clover riding a giant turtle.
It took him a couple of seconds to realize it was just a life-sized sculpture meant for children, but the image was still jarring with the serious nature of their situation. “Do you guys have anything resembling a plan? Because I haven’t heard one yet. We don’t know where to look for Apollo,” he said, keeping his tone low for the sake of real turtles patiently resting on the other side of a glass wall.
The faint light inside the cage lit up the tense lines of Drake’s face. “Where would he be, I wonder? Why do you think he’s meeting someone in a zoo after he lost a lion?”
Boar’s stomach twisted, but he crossed his arms on his chest, taking in the assessment. This was a possibility. “How would the zoo explain that one of their lions is missing without compromising its reputation?”
Drake shrugged. “I don’t know. Depends on the money involved. Why do you care? It just makes sense.”
Clover shushed them with a gesture and slid off the fake turtle, approaching the cage with the mini-map unfolded. He looked like a tourist lost after opening hours. What the hell were they doing here?