Page 68 of Tiger Queen

I moaned and pushed my tongue into his mouth, ready to give him everything.

As if awakening from a dream, Jake jerked and pulled back. He blinked and his nostrils flared as he caught his breath.

“This is…” he said. “I can’t.”

He pushed me off him and scrambled out of the car. Then he hurried inside the house. David was standing inside the foyer when I entered a few seconds later.

“What was that all about?”

“He had too much whiskey. I think he’s going to throw up.” I pointed behind me. “You know, if we need money you ought to sell that eyesore of a monster truck.”

“We have bigger problems than that,” he said ominously. “The Animal Freedom Foundation posted something new. And it’s bad.”

30

Rachel

David, Anthony, and I stood around the laptop in the kitchen. Facebook was up, and an individual post was maximized to take up the full screen. Anthony clicked the mouse, but the video remained black.

Before I could ask why, my voice drifted out of the speakers.

“You need to find a way to get rid of them. Once we dump more tigers, we won’t have groups like the AFF bothering us.”

“I said I’m working on it,” David’s voice replied angrily. “I’m trying to find creative solutions, but it’s not easy.”

“That’s the conversation we had earlier today!” I exclaimed.

“That’s about it,” Anthony said, stopping the playback. “After that there’s a bunch of voiceover.”

David crossed his arms and sighed. “They’re claiming this is evidence that we are euthanizing tigers. They are especially focusing on the phrase creative solutions.”

“But you’re clearly talking about finding ways to get zoos and animal preserves to accept them,” I insisted. “Of course it sounds bad out of context.”

David shook his head. “Rachel, that’s the point. They’re trying to make us look bad.”

I frowned. “Wait. How did they get that audio? Was the office bugged? Are they listening in on our conversations?” My skin crawled as I looked around the kitchen. I didn’t feel safe anymore.

“The audio was muffled, like it was recorded from a cell phone in someone’s pocket and then cleaned up a little,” Anthony said.

“But which one of us would…” I trailed off. There was only one explanation.

“Yep,” David said with a nod. “Either Brandon or Mary Beth is working against us.”

I leaned my elbows on the counter and held my face in my hands. “It’s Mary Beth.”

“You think so?”

“I’ve caught her on her cell phone several times between tours,” I explained. “She was on it tonight, too.”

“Being on her cell phone doesn’t mean anything,” Anthony said. “Everyone’s on their phones these days, you know?”

“She looked like she was having an argument tonight. She was gesturing angrily. Oh! And yesterday, when I came to work, she was lingering outside the food prep building. She seemed surprised to see me, but then covered it quickly by asking if she could accompany me on the feeding schedule.”

When I looked up, David had a thoughtful expression on his face. “Earlier tonight, when we discussed the first Facebook video, I did notice something off about Mary Beth. At the time I thought it was nothing, but after what you’ve said…”

“Was there anything suspicious in her history?” Anthony asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing related to animal rights activism. She worked in a dog kennel. That was about it.”