Siegfried rolled his eyes. He didn’t want Raymond around, either. “Send him in,” Siegfried said reluctantly.

Raymond came into the room, looking as tanned and healthy as ever. Siegfried envied the man’s aristocratic appearance, and the fact that he had two good arms.

“Have you located Kevin Marshall yet?” Raymond demanded.

“No, we haven’t,” Siegfried said. He took immediate offense at Raymond’s tone.

“I understand it’s been forty-eight hours since he’s been seen,” Raymond said. “I want him found!”

“Sit down, Doctor!” Siegfried said sharply.

Raymond hesitated. He didn’t know whether to get angry or be intimidated by the manager’s sudden aggressiveness.

“I said sit!” Siegfried said.

Raymond sat. The white hunter with his horrid scar and limp arm could be imposing, particularly surrounded by evidence of his extensive kills.

“Let us clear up a point involving the chain of command,” Siegfried said. “I do not take orders from you. In fact, when you are here as a guest, you take orders from me. Is that understood?”

Raymond opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it. He knew Siegfried was technically correct.

“And while we are talking so directly,” Siegfried added, “where is my retrieval bonus? In the past, I’ve always gotten it when the patient left the Zone on his way back to the States.”

“That’s true,” Raymond said tautly. “But there have been major expenses. Money is coming in shortly from new clients. You’ll be paid as soon as it comes in.”

“I don’t want you to think you can give me the run-around,” Siegfried warned.

“Of course not,” Raymond blurted out.

“And one other thing,” Siegfried said. “Isn’t there some way you can hasten the CEO’s departure? His presence here in Cogo is disrupting. Can’t you use the patient’s needs in some way?”

“I don’t see how,” Raymond said. “He’s been informed the patient is capable of traveling. What more can I say?”

“Think of something,” Siegfried said.

“I’ll try,” Raymond said. “Meanwhile, please locate Kevin Marshall. His disappearance concerns me. I’m afraid he might do something rash.”

“We believe he went to Cocobeach in Gabon,” Siegfried said. He was gratified with the appropriate subservience in Raymond’s voice.

“You’re sure he didn’t go to the island?” Raymond asked.

“We can’t be totally sure,” Siegfried admitted. “But we don’t think so. Even if he did, he wouldn’t be apt to stay there. He would have been back by now. It’s been forty-eight hours.”

Raymond stood up and sighed. “I wish he would turn up. Worrying about him is driving me up the wall, especially with Taylor Cabot here. It’s just something else in a long string of problems going on in New York that have threatened the program and made my life miserable.”

“We’ll continue to search,” Siegfried assured him. He tried to sound sympathetic, but in actuality, he was wondering how Raymond was going to respond when he heard the bonobos were being rounded up to be brought into the animal center. All other problems paled in the face of the animals killing each other.