Several trees to the right of the house, Rio caught sight of a pair of eyes glowing through the foliage. He knew immediately that Franz had been drawn back to the area by the gunfire. The small clouded leopard was making his way home along the upper highway made of a network of branches. The leaves swayed. Rio swore eloquently, lifting the rifle to his shoulder and squeezing off several rounds into the heavy shrubbery where he was certain the intruder had settled in for his next chance at a shot. Rio coughed loudly, a grunting cough of warning, pinning the intruder down with a multitude of bullets to keep him from getting off a shot at Franz.

The small cat leapt back, disappeared completely, fading away as their kind could so easily into the thick fauna. Rio shouldered his rifle and took off through the trees, changing directions quickly, going up and into higher foliage, careful to keep from shaking the brush.

He’d given away the fact that he was outside the house, taking away any advantage he would have had. It was a game of cat and mouse now, unless he had scored a hit on a target he couldn’t see and he very much doubted if that had happened. Rio stayed absolutely still, lying prone in the tree, his eyes sweeping the area continually. The intruder had to have moved. No one could have stayed in the spot without taking a hit, but he was a professional and he hadn’t given away his direction.

Rio worried about Rachael, all alone in the house with the injured clouded leopard. He had no idea if she had the patience it took for the kind of waiting a sniper often had to contend with. It could take hours to flush out their intruder. He should have checked her leg before he left her. He had visions of her bleeding to death there on the floor waiting for him to return.

His eyes never stopped moving restlessly, sweeping the forest in a continual pattern. Nothing moved. Even the wind seemed to die down. The rain began, a soft patter falling on the dense canopy overhead. Minutes went by. A half an hour. A snake crawled lazily along a branch several feet from him, drawing his attention. Several leaves fell from the nest of an orangutan as it shifted its weight to nestle deeper into the branches of a tree. The movement, several yards from him, drew his attention.