“Fool me once, shame on you,” Emma said as she took slow, calculated steps toward me, her flowing gown trailing behind her.
“Fool you twice,” I responded. “Shame on…well, you again.”
“You probably think you’re so clever,” Emma said, walking up to the closest cat cage and unlocking it grandly. As she walked away, she swung the door open.
“Well, I don’t suck, if that’s what you mean,” I said, the words coming out more bravely than I felt.
Inside I was panicking.
Without taking my eye off of Emma, I could feel the anaconda start to move at my feet. Its thick skin brushed up against my leg as it slithered around.
If it wrapped itself around my leg, I was a goner. I knew Emma wouldn’t help me get out of here—not at this point—and anacondas were known for squeezing the life out of their prey. Not to mention the possibility of being bit by her.
I was trying to ignore that part completely.
I had to get out of here.
Moving at a pace that would practically pass as slow motion, I grabbed my backpack and the ledger I had dropped. Then I picked up my leg, trying not to jostle the snake too much before stepping down on the other side of it.
This time, the crunching sound my shoes made against the debris was enough to cause the snake to turn and look right at me.
Emma clapped her hands together gleefully. “I knew we were having dinner tonight. I didn’t know we were getting a show, too!”
She walked up to a second cat cage and unlocked it, too, leaving the baby tiger to escape on its own.
“Glad I could oblige,” I said through clenched teeth as I took another slow step toward the open cage door.
The anaconda swayed from side to side with every movement I made. We were both equal distance from the opening, and if the snake got there before me, I’d be cornered inside.
“In the left corner, we have Brigeet, weighing in at roughly, what? Practically nothing?” Emma said, making her voice sound like an announcer’s as she let a third tiger out of its cage. “And on the right, we have Julia, the yellow anaconda, who weighs three times as much as her opponent.”
Taking another careful step, I watched as the snake moved closer, too.
“You named a snake Julia?” I asked, snorting.
“It’s my grandmother’s name,” she answered, annoyed as she freed the last tiger. They were all roaming around the room now, a fact that didn’t seem to bother Emma at all, but worried me greatly.
She’d been wrong when she’d called me brave before. She was the brave one.
Or stupid.
At this point, an argument could be made for both.
“If I were your grandma, I’d be pissed,” I said.
“Oh, she is,” Emma said, flippantly. “Or was. She’s dead now.”
“Die of disappointment, did she?” I asked. I knew it was cruel, but I had to keep her off-balance until I could get out of here.
“No,” Emma said bluntly. “Snake bite.”
My head snapped up and I stopped midstride.
“Wait, seriously?” I asked.
Emma paused. Then she started to laugh. It was beyond creepy. Her face had gone from its usual laid-back zen to looking almost maniacal. Her eyes were wide, the pupils dilated, and parts of her hair had broken free of her chic updo.
“No,” she admitted. “But you’re about to experience it yourself.”
I glanced over at Julia. She was full-on agitated now. I wasn’t sure if it was because the medicine was on its way out of her system and she was fully waking up or if she was bothered by the fact that I was invading her space.
As I watched, she slithered back and forth, a predator pacing before striking its prey.
I had to move. And fast.
I figured my best option was to make a run for it. I might not make it out of the tank without being attacked, but it was the only thing that offered me even a chance of staying alive.
“Don’t count me out just yet,” I said, and took a running leap toward the tank door.
As I soared through the air, arms fully outstretched in front of me, I caught a flash of yellow out of the corner of my eye.
I didn’t even have time to yell out as it sunk its fangs into my leg.
“Awww, so close,” Emma said, snapping her fingers like she actually cared.
I landed with the top half of my body leaning out of the tank and hanging down toward the floor. Before I could assess how hurt I was, I dragged myself the rest of the way out and crumbled into a heap below
“How you doin’ over there?” Emma called out, absolutely zero concern in her voice.
I couldn’t see her from where I’d landed, the foliage was just too thick. But that worked out in my favor.
I didn’t want her to see me struggle if this was the end.
But she’d asked a good question.
How was I?
I rolled over onto my back and slowly lifted my leg into the air so I could assess the damage. It certainly hurt. Felt like I’d been stabbed in the calf.
With a hundred forks.
But as I inspected my lower half, I saw that the snake’s many teeth—anacondas had four rows of backward-facing fangs up top, two on the bottom—had failed to break through my jumpsuit and puncture my skin.
I ran my hand along the material and let out a shaky breath.
Thank gosh I’d spent the extra money to have my outfit made out of Kevlar. The special material was supposed to stop a bullet, so my theory had been that maybe it’d give me some protection from fangs.
Cat or snake.
So far, so good.
“Are you alive?” Emma called out. “If you aren’t, it’d save me a lot of time and hassle. Groan if you’re still conscious.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You’re out of luck,” I called.
“Poo!” Emma said back. “Oh, well. Destroying you myself will be fun, too.”
My adrenaline started up again as her threat sunk in. Before I’d seen that ledger, I wouldn’t have thought she was capable of murder. Sure, she’d done some awful things, but killing someone seemed like something on a whole other level.
But now…
I knew that wasn’t true. And I needed to get out of here alive so I could make it back to Ollie.
Ollie.
He was still out there, waiting for my go-ahead. That is, if Cap’n Bob hadn’t shut him down already.
“Ollie,” I whispered into my ear piece.
Come on, come on, come on.
The line crackled to life. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“You good?” I asked quietly.
I heard a loud roar in the background and my heart seized.
“As good as I can be surrounded by enormous beasts who look at me like I’m a giant hot dog,” he said.
“Good,” I whispered, not having the energy to laugh at his joke. “Go ahead and get going.”
“Will do,” he said. “And you’ll be along soon?”
“I’ll leave here as soon as I can,” I promised. “But if I’m not there in fifteen, go without me. I’ll catch up with you later.”
The truth was, I had no idea when I’d be out of here.
If I’d get out of here.
“Oh, Brigeeeeeet!” Emma called out breezily. “I have a party to get back to. Be a doll and come out here so I can feed you to my kitties.”
I began to sweat as I thought about the not-exactly-small cats roaming around just feet away from me. Running my hands along my legs, I felt the toughness of the material. The fang-proof catsuit had worked once, but I had no idea how much it could ultimately withstand.
I had to come to terms with the idea that I might not get out of here. Not as planned at least. And if that was the case, I needed to make sure all of this wasn’t for nothing. I had to get proof to the rest of the world that Emma and Sam were bad guys.
But how?
Suddenly I remembered I had something else in my bag of tricks that would ensure none of this would go unknown.
I pulled the tiny microphone out of my backpack and turned the battery pack to the On position. I’d found the body mic on a table earlier that night—Emma or Sam must have discarded it there after forgetting to take it off again—and I had snatched it up on a whim.
Now I was so glad I had.
I lay the rest of my gear down on the ground and then stood up with my backpack on, brushing myself off, and shaking the fear away.
Then I stepped out from the cover of trees and plants and into Emma’s view.
“Ahhh, there you are,” she said, standing between me and the only way out of the room. Her arms were folded across her chest like she was annoyed that I’d kept her waiting. “I was hoping Julia had gobbled you up after all.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” I answered. Then I thought about it. “Well, actually—sorry, not sorry.”
“Watch your mouth,” Emma warned me dangerously. She leaned down to pet one of the cats that was weaving in and out of her legs. There were a few cats to the right of me, too, getting closer than I would prefer. “Or this little guy might just rip that tongue out.”
She said this like she was talking to a baby, which made the sentence doubly creepy. I acted like it didn’t bother me, even though inside it made me shudder.
“But then I won’t be able to answer all the questions you have for me,” I said instead, placing my hands under the straps of my backpack casually. “You do have questions, don’t you?”
I was counting on her curiosity to get the best of her, and after a few moments of silence, she finally shrugged and gave in.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Emma said. “You’re clearly not a magazine editor—or from France, since your accent has mysteriously disappeared—so who are you really?”
I raised my eyebrow. It hadn’t been a conscious decision to let my real voice come out. More like, I had more important things occupying my mind than continuing the ruse.
Oh, well. It’s not like it would really give me away or anything.
“I’m just a girl,” I said easily. “Just a normal girl who’s really good at bringing down people like you.”
“People like us?” Emma asked, confused.
“You know, bad guys,” I said simply.
Emma snorted.
“And what makes us so bad?” she asked me seriously.
I blinked at her in response.
Was she really that clueless?
“Um, you’re rich, powerful, heartless, cruel, callous, conniving, despicable,” I said, ticking off each point with my fingers. “Did I leave anything out? Oh, yeah, you’re murderers.”
Emma waved this off like I was overexaggerating.
“It’s not murder if they were gonna die anyway,” Emma argued. “Besides, considering who the animals might’ve gone to live with, I was probably doing them a favor. Did you hear what Ford wants to do with his tigers? People can be so sick.”
“Hello, pot, meet kettle,” I said, amazed by the depth of her denial. Then I shook my head. “You supply your friends with endangered, exotic animals, knowing full well that they’re going to live painful, sad, miserable lives. That’s if they live at all. How do you sleep at night?”
Emma laughed at this and gestured around the room.
“I sleep on thousand-dollar sheets. I’m doing just fine,” she retorted. “And I’m bored of you now. Time to give these little ones a treat.”
Emma walked over to a mini-fridge in the corner and pulled out a Tupperware container filled with something dark. As she walked closer to me, I could see that it was full of something red and juicy.
“They don’t always get filet mignon, but tonight’s special,” she said. Then she put her finger up to her mouth and whispered. “Don’t tell them, but it’s sort of their last meal. Thanks to a lucrative deal I just made during the salad course, these babies just got a new home.”
“You’re disgusting,” I spat, unable to believe someone as vile as her existed.
She opened up the container and threw several hunks of meat at me.
“Who’s disgusting now?” she answered.
I would’ve rolled my eyes at the lame comeback but the tigers had already smelled the steak and were heading right for me.
I glanced back to try to find any way I could escape the oncoming slaughter. But I wasn’t about to climb back into the snake cage. That was almost worse than taking my chance with the baby tigers.
“You’re really going to feed me to your tigers?” I asked her, remembering that the microphone was recording our conversation.
I looked down and saw that one of the cats was actually going for a piece of meat that had landed on my shoe. I kicked it off and the cat ran after it. The others were still chowing down right in front of me and I knew it was just a matter of time before they decided they wanted me as their main course.
“Sorry, not sorry,” Emma said back to me, making a face. “God, that phrase is just so annoy—”
Penelope leaped onto Emma from behind, knocking the words right out of her mouth, and her to the ground. As she fell, her head bounced off the floor and then she went still.
I was too startled to even scream.
The tiger walked right over her owner’s body and began to lick the empty Tupperware container that had flown out of Emma’s hands when she’d been tackled.
“Emma,” I said tentatively.
Another cat lunged at my foot, and before I could give it much thought, I kicked the remaining meat as far away from me as possible. The cats ran after it instinctually and I walked slowly over to Emma, who still hadn’t moved.
I kicked the Tupperware away and watched as Penelope followed it too, and then joined her brothers in the opposite corner where the meat was quickly being devoured. Leaning down, I felt Emma’s neck for a pulse.
And breathed a sigh of relief.
It was still there.
I stood back up and looked over at the exit, and then back down at Emma. As awful as she was, I couldn’t leave her to the tigers.
I wasn’t a bad guy.
But I wasn’t about to give her another chance to stop me either.
I glanced around and when my eyes fell onto one of the empty cages, it was like fate had intervened.
I grabbed underneath Emma’s arms and dragged her over to the closest cage and locked her inside.
There. She was safe and locked up.
Just like she should be.
Next, I turned to the baby tigers. I couldn’t leave them roaming around here either. Not when the people at the dinner party probably wanted to make them into stuffed animals or something.
I’d decided to get all the exotics out, and that’s what I was going to do.
Hopefully I’d be able to do it without losing any limbs in the process.
Thinking quickly, I scanned the room for something I could use as a lure. There was a stuffed animal, torn and frayed, lying on top of the ottoman that would work perfectly. I retrieved it and took some rope from my bag and tied it around the doll. Finally, I reached back inside for a bottle of amber liquid.
Calvin Klein’s Obsession.
I made a face before popping off the top and dumping it all over the stuffed toy. Then I tossed the empty bottle across the room.
“Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” I said, swinging the rope with the perfume-soaked toy attached over to the tigers.
I hadn’t totally believed it when I’d read about it online, but seeing their reaction was unreal. As soon as the cats caught a whiff of the popular perfume, they went nuts. Rolling over it, licking it, nuzzling the doll. Apparently, the musky scent was like catnip for them.
I pulled the rope cautiously and watched as the baby tigers began to follow it.
“Okay cubbies, time to escape this place,” I said, leading them out of the Jungle Room and into the main house.