Still he wanted to run, but couldn’t, and that same stubborn part of his brain was telling him that he shouldn’t turn his back on it, that his only hope was to remain face-to-face. And he couldn’t believe how big it was, how intimidating.

He took a half-step backward, thinking it might put him in a position to grab a branch from the pile he’d collected. But even that slight movement brought a response from the jaguar, a visible coiling of its muscles that Tom sensed was dangerous, a readiness to pounce.

He wasn’t sure what use a branch would be anyway. This thing was too large, too powerful, and Tom knew his only chance now was to charge toward it, to scream, to confuse the cat enough that it might run. He knew that was what he had to do, but he couldn’t commit himself, fearing it wouldn’t work, that death would only come quicker.

And he wanted to live, he understood that sharply for perhaps the first time, that he wasn’t ready to die. But he would only have one chance, and the sweat was cold on his back, his body telling him the brutal truth, that it wasn’t much of a chance at all.

He thought of his phone, how bright and loud and brash it was. He slid his hand into his pocket and pressed the button to switch it on. A second passed, seeming too long, and he could hear the deep growling purr of the jaguar above him, a tension that seemed in danger of snapping at any moment.

He kept staring, and his eyes were still watering and he wanted to blink away the tears that were filling up there but he was afraid to blink, afraid to break the contact between them.

At last, the phone buzzed against his palm and his heart lurched again, an overload of adrenaline. He pulled it free and held it out, afraid of dropping it, no longer fully in control of his own hand.

The phone lit up, dazzlingly bright here in the jungle deep. The familiar jingle sounded, loud and jarring against the stillness surrounding him. And in that moment he saw his one slim opportunity. Whether it was the light or the noise, the jaguar’s head twitched, the tiniest movement, but it seemed like uncertainty or even fear, and another pulse of adrenaline burst into Tom’s body in response.

He didn’t hesitate. He threw the phone as hard as he could now at the jaguar’s head. The cat sprang from the fallen tree, and Tom jumped back involuntarily. But it had leapt away from him, not toward him, a graceful flight of such speed, it only reinforced that he wouldn’t have stood a chance. The cat was gone, tearing through the undergrowth. The phone, never coming close to its target, clattered somewhere beyond the tree.