“Wait a second,” Kevin said suddenly. “I have a request. Something I have no right to ask of you people, but it is important.”

Jack straightened up from bending over the gas tank. “What’s on your mind, sport?” he asked.

“See that island, the last one in the chain?” Kevin said while pointing toward Isla Francesca. “That’s where all the bonobos are. They’re in cages at the foot of a bridge to the mainland. I’d like nothing better than to go over there and release them.”

“What would that accomplish?” Laurie asked.

“A lot if I could get them to cross the bridge,” Kevin said.

“Wouldn’t your Cogo friends just round them up again?” Jack asked.

“They’d never find them,” Kevin said, warming to his idea. “They’d vanish. From this part of Equatorial Guinea and stretching for a thousand miles inland is mostly virginal rain forest. It encompasses not only this country but vast regions of Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, and Central African Republic. It’s got to be a million square miles, parts of which are still literally unexplored.”

“Just let them go by themselves?” Candace asked.

“That’s exactly the point,” Kevin said. “They’d have a chance, and I think they’d make it! They’re resourceful. Look at our ancestors. They had to live through the Pleistocene ice age. That was more of a challenge than living in a rain forest.”

Laurie looked at Jack. “I like the idea.”

Jack glanced at the island, then asked which direction was Cocobeach.

“We’d be going out of our way,” Kevin admitted, “but it’s not far. Twenty minutes tops.”

“What if you let them out and they stay on the island?” Warren said.

“At least I could tell myself I tried,” Kevin said. “I feel that I have to do something.”

“Hey, why not?” Jack said. “I think I like the idea too. What does everybody else say?”

“To tell you the truth, I’d like to see one of these animals,” Warren said.

“Let’s go,” Candace said enthusiastically.

“Okay by me,” Natalie said.

“I couldn’t think of a better idea,” Melanie said. “Let’s do it!”

Jack gave the engine cord a few pulls. The outboard roared to life. Pushing over the helm, Jack steered toward Isla Francesca.

CHAPTER 23

March 10, 1997

1:45 A.M.

Cogo, Equatorial Guinea

Siegfried had dreamed the dream a hundred times, and each time it had gotten a little worse. In it, he was approaching a female elephant with a young calf. He didn’t like doing it, but a client couple demanded it. It was the wife who wanted to see the baby up close.

Siegfried had sent trackers out laterally to protect the flank while he and the couple neared the mother. But the trackers to the north became terrified when a huge bull elephant appeared. They ran, and to compound their cowardice, they failed to warn Siegfried of the danger.

The sound of the enormous elephant charging through the underbrush was like the thunder of an oncoming train. Its shrieks built to a crescendo, and just before impact Siegfried woke up bathed in sweat.