#Chapter49

The Congo rain forest is alive with the sounds of the night creatures, the moon hangs in the sky, and the humidity settles on the world like a wet blanket. Piet tosses and turns in his bed, looking for refuge from the heat and the persistent mosquitoes that insist on dive bombing him; so far the score is Piet 12, mosquitoes 1.

His mind goes over the evidence collected, the spoor at the kill sites, the nights spent in different blinds without even a hint of the big cat, the mauling of the latest victim, no bite marks on the body, wounds that look like defensive wounds on the...