Davis had his secretary book him a one-way flight to Palembang, Indonesia.

CHAPTER 15
THIEVES

kruger park, south africa

The dark silhouette flew through the night. On the Honda motorcycle were two figures, their faces blacked out by their helmets. The headlight was off, but the riders could easily navigate the pale-blue strip of asphalt lit up by a poacher’s moon that had just reached its apex. The man on the rear seat had a large hunting rifle strapped to his back.

The motorcycle throttled down to a purr as it passed the sign for Kruger Ranger Headquarters. Tonight, dozens of rangers would be staking out the most vulnerable regions of the park, without a thought for the security of their own command post.

The motorcycle pulled up at an angle to the front door, and the pillion rider fired his suppressed .303. The massive slug obliterated the front door lock with a dull thud.

The motorcycle burst through the door, and the two men rode down the narrow hallway, setting off motion sensors as they passed. They knew there was no beating the sensors, meaning their only option was to outrun the rangers’ response and keep their helmets on so the cameras wouldn’t capture their faces.

Skidding around a corner, the Honda pulled up at one of the offices. The riders dismounted and shined their small red flashlights along the walls, illuminating various maps of the park. The beams ultimately fell on the mission’s objective: a giant safe.

The driver opened a duffel bag and took out an angle grinder. Holding the zirconia-infused aluminum-oxide disk to the safe, he began cutting.

As the burning steel splinters flew in a bright fan, the other rider tuned a radio to the rangers’ channel and listened to the chatter of the guards responding to reports of the break-in at Ranger Headquarters. “Three minutes,” he told the breacher, whose work was slow going but progressing on schedule.

The little blizzard of sparks subsided. The breacher stepped back, and the door of the safe yawned open. Inside, their flashlights found dozens of horns confiscated from slain rhinos. The men filled their bags with the gray gold.

By the time the raiders mounted up to depart, the first responders to the incident were already running down the hallways, with guns out and flashlights on.

The rangers spotted the Honda as it pulled out of the office and screeched off down the concrete floor in the opposite direction. They aimed their guns at the infiltrators but couldn’t get a shot off before the motorcycle zoomed out the back door.

The Honda veered off the edge of the parking lot and headed down into the forest, its off-road tires and heavy-duty shocks eating up the rocky terrain. The men knew this land well, having stalked poachers here on many occasions before. They made their way to the main road outside the park, where a black pickup truck was parked on the side of the road.