“What is he holding?” Candace asked apprehensively. “It looks like a hammer.”

“It is,” Kevin managed. “It’s a regular carpenter’s clawhammer. It must be one of the tools the bonobos stole when the bridge was being built.”

“Look at the way he is grasping it. Just the way you or I would,” Melanie said. “There’s no question he has an opposable thumb.”

“We got to get away from here!” Candace half cried. “You two promised me these creatures were timid. This guy is anything but!”

“Don’t run!” Kevin said, keeping his eyes glued to the bonobo’s.

“You can stay if you want, but I’m going back to the boat,” Candace said desperately.

“We’ll all go, but slowly,” Kevin said.

Despite warnings not to do so, Candace turned on her heels and started to run. But she only went a few steps before she froze and let out a scream.

Kevin and Melanie turned in her direction. Both of them caught their breaths when they saw what had shocked her: Twenty more bonobos had silently emerged from the surrounding forest and had arrayed themselves in an arc, effectively blocking the exit from the cul de sac.

Candace slowly backed up until she bumped against Melanie.

For a full minute no one spoke or moved, not even any of the bonobos. Then bonobo number one repeated his cry: “Atah!” Instantly, the animals began to circle around the humans.

Candace moaned as she, Kevin, and Melanie backed into each other, forming a tight triangle. The ring the animals formed around them began to close like a noose. The bonobos came closer a step at a time. The humans could now distinctly smell them. Their odor was strong and feral. The animals’ faces were expressionless but intent. Their eyes flashed.

The animals stopped advancing when they were an arm’s length from the three friends. Their eyes ran up and down the humans’ bodies. Some of them were holding stone wedges similar to the one that had killed bonobo number sixty.

Kevin, Melanie, and Candace did not move. They were paralyzed with fear. All the animals looked as powerful as bonobo number one.

Bonobo number one remained outside the tight ring. He was still clutching the clawhammer but no longer had it raised over his head. He advanced and made a full circuit of the group, staring at the humans between the heads of his compatriots. Then he let out a string of sounds accompanied by hand gestures.

Several of the other animals answered him. Then one of them reached out his hand toward Candace. Candace moaned.

“Don’t move,” Kevin managed to say. “I think the fact that they haven’t harmed us is a good sign.”

Candace swallowed with difficulty as the bonobo’s hand caressed her hair. He seemed enthralled by its blond color. It took all the resolve she could muster not to scream or duck away.

Another animal began to speak and gesture. He then pointed to his side. Kevin saw a long healing surgical scar. “It’s the animal whose kidney went to the Dallas businessman,” Kevin said fearfully. “See how he’s pointing at us. I think he’s connecting us to the retrieval process.”