“I can’t say.”

  “I don’t care. If you don’t tell me, I’m coming down there to find out. What is going on?”

  “Some of the research animals have gotten loose and are being rounded up is all I know. They are turning back even regular deliveries, and they certainly won’t let visitors in.”

  “Shit!” was Colin’s final comment before breaking the call. Shit to you, too, she thought. The last thing I need right now is for you to show up. Bad enough on the phone. What the hell does he want to know for anyway? They’re lions, not livestock—who cares? They eat livestock. Six months here for this? God, I just want to be rid of him and whatever crazies are behind him. Never followed through on one promise or one threat. He’s just bullshit.

  Once she calmed down she called Dillon and invited him over to raid the office fridge for lunch. There was always something left over from the last social or waiting for the next one. After lunch she tried to settle down and focus on work, but the media calls were coming in three or four times an hour.

  The sheriff called and wanted to talk to Tom or Steve. Shel had met him a few times and he seemed to be a friend of Steve’s. He showed up periodically to socialize, and he was a cheerful, friendly, politician type, but today he was angry and impatient. When she couldn’t get one of the managers, the sheriff gave his personal number and said if he didn’t hear from Steve quickly there would be trouble.

  Shel had a ranch radio in the office, and all day, instead of the usual calls about lost cows and broken equipment, she’d been hearing the guys stationed at the boundary gates of the ranch. She was surprised when there began to be reports of sheriff’s deputies at the entry points asking about dangerous animals on the ranch. Then there were media trucks showing up at the gates. The number of calls Shel was taking grew to a flood. They all wanted to know about dangerous genetically engineered wild animals loose on the ranch, If Shel hadn’t known what was happening, their questions would have made her think there were dinosaurs or fire-breathing dragons at large.

  At five she put the main line on voicemail, and she was done for the day. Heather Wilson, Steve’s wife, called Shel on her tab and invited her to dinner—they were having anyone alone on the ranch to dinner at the manager’s house and probably to stay the night. No one was leaving, and no one would be permitted to stay alone.

  “I can go to Matt’s and stay with him if that’s less trouble for you,” she told Heather and received the disquieting reply that Matt was out with a search party and likely wouldn’t be back tonight. Someone will come by the office to pick you up and bring you over,” Heather said.

  “I have a sleeping bag in my car, should I bring it?”

  Heather laughed, breaking both their tension if only for a moment. “That would be great.”

  At about six twenty a man Shel did not recognize entered the office while Shel was trying to relax by reading a spy novel on her viewer. He was medium height, solid looking, and wearing an outfit that was a cross between a safari suit and a police uniform. His name tag read “Sgt. Dodd” and the logo on his uniform had the initials “TLR,” but what really caught her attention was the assault-style rifle with long magazine strapped across his chest in an elaborate holster-like arrangement. She noticed that he had a large automatic pistol in a second holster on his belt.

  “Good evenin, ma’am,” he said in a slow Texas drawl. “Are you Michelle? My name’s Dodd, and I’m here to escort you to the manager’s house for dinner.”

  “Thank you, sergeant. Can we stop at my car to get something? It’s just across the road.”

  “Of course. You tell me where and I’ll lead the way,” he replied. Shel got up, collected her things, and followed him out, locking the office behind her.

  She directed him toward her car and asked, “What is that rifle? I haven’t seen one like it.”

  He smiled with professional pride as he answered, “This is the finest in short-range assault gear. High velocity, rapid fire, with hollow points. We have these down on the ranch in case any of the big cats get to be out of control. If I can draw, they’re dead.”

  “You’re from the lion ranch, in Texas?”

  “Yeah. Mr. Bell sent twenty of us up here in his plane today t’ help out. We’re trained to deal with lions and protect the staff and community down there.” Shel was surprised but made various grateful and complimentary comments about Sergeant Dodd and his large guns. He told her that a number of his coworkers were out on the roadblocks and a couple of specialists would be helping with tracking the escaped lions.

  Dinner at the manager’s house was subdued. People were anxious about their family members, about not knowing what was going on. There were twenty people, mainly wives and children of ranch workers who were out on the search or just not back from the ant farm yet. They were told that all the lions but four had been located, and these were expected to be caught by sundown, after which, everyone could go home and look forward to a normal day tomorrow. It was crowded in the house, so Heather and some of the other women organized activities for the half a dozen children present. The adults socialized, even finding a few games for themselves. Shel wondered what the kids who had made it to school that morning were doing and where they were staying.

  At eight thirty Steve announced that unfortunately one lion was still on the loose and within three or four miles of the ranch headquarters area when last seen, so most of the group would have to stay in the manager’s house. The rest were matched up with neighbors so they would be in groups of at least four in the larger prefabs. Sergeant Dodd and his two subordinates began to escort these groups to their designated overnight places. Shel asked Steve where Matt was and was told he was with a group tracking the last of the lions and they were in a secure camp for the night. Finally around ten the house calmed down enough for Shel to fall asleep.

  In the morning they were up with the sun. Someone turned on the big video screen in the living room to watch the news. All the adults were curious whether the outside world had noticed them, but for the moment they were either disappointed or relieved that there was no coverage. During breakfast a man came in and spoke quietly to Steve. Steve called for everyone’s attention and said that the newcomer had some announcements and updates for them.

  “Hello everybody, I’m Bob Carey, head of security at AstroGene.” Shel was surprised—what’s he doing here? “Mr. Bell has asked us to help out while the current situation is dealt with so the ranch can return to normal. You may have seen or heard yesterday that we have attracted some media attention. Our main job is to keep intruders off the ranch. The TLR people, like Sergeant Dodd, whom you all met last night, are in charge of recapturing the research animals. And I might add that your family members and fellow employees here on the ranch have done a fabulous job so far of tracking down the animals and keeping the ranch safe and secure. You can be proud.” He smiled like a politician at the small group, who seemed very pleased to hear this. Shel, who had attended numerous political and environmental activist meetings, smiled politely but took it all with a grain of salt. This man’s presence suggested there were some real problems.

  Just as Carey was about to continue, everybody’s attention was diverted to the large video screen. It was a live feed from the ant farm access gate on the southeast edge of the ranch. Someone said, “There’s Will!” and pointed to the screen. It showed some of the ranch hands, several uniformed sheriff’s deputies, and several TLR men holding back a crowd of thirty or forty demonstrators in front of the big gate. The demonstrators were carrying signs with anti-genetic-engineering slogans. A reporter described the scene and attributed the demonstration to rumors that unlicensed genetic experiments were being performed on dangerous predatory animals at the ranch.

  Shel watched the video carefully. Somebody put this together really fast—that’s hard. Demonstrations I was in always took days, preferably weeks, to organize. And out here, too. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Nobody from the High Plains Alliance I can see. Oh my god: that’s Jerry from Friends of the Natural Order! How did he get here? Less than twenty-four hours! The guy waving a sign and shouting at the sheriffs? Is that Colin? How can that be? It is! What is going on?

  Before she could even register the depth of her own amazement, Bob Carey pointed to Colin on the screen and said loudly, “What’s that little shit doing here?”

  “Who?” asked Steve.

  “The short guy. That’s Richard Lowther, head of research security at HelixNova!”

  “You know him?”

  “Yeah, nothing but trouble. He must think he can fuck AstroGene by messing up Mr. Bell’s project.” He pulled out his tab and said, “Excuse my language, ladies.” Then he left the room.

  Shel sat slack-jawed at the back of the room. She knew that HelixNova was AstroGene’s biggest competitor. Colin worked for them? She was stunned. Fear and shock filled her. Nausea flooded through her. She struggled to her feet, staggered to the bathroom, and slammed the door. She vomited her breakfast into the toilet, almost missing because it came so fast, and when she was done and the dry heaves had abated she sat on the toilet with her head in her hands and sobbed.

  Chapter 14

  On Sunday Matt finally got a day off. Actually, it was part of a day—they let him go at noon, and he returned to his prefab in the neighborhood. The aftermath of the lions’ escape had required that all outstanding work at the ant farm be completed at once. He had been at work in one capacity or another since early Monday, as a tracker, a hunter, a construction worker, or a manager. When he was told to take the rest of the day off, he called Shel and invited her to spend it with him. She said she had been waiting for word her bags were packed and dinner was on ice. Breakfast too.

  Shel arrived half an hour after he had returned and poured himself a bath. A feeling of warmth and calm flowed through him when she arrived. It pushed all thoughts of the ranch and the ant farm out of his mind. He imagined a time when she wouldn’t arrive because she would be there already, always.

  She was effusive, expressing her happiness at being able to be with him again after the long, stressful week, but somehow remote, he thought. She rushed about organizing the food she had brought and finding him a beer to replace the empty by the bath, but she kept her distance other than to bend over him in the bath and kiss him sincerely.

  Once Matt was out of the bath and dressed, he and Shel sat in his living room almost, he thought, getting reacquainted. He hadn’t seen her for a week, and that time had been difficult for him, as he guessed it had for her.

  He told her about his lion-tracking adventures. “Lucky for us it wasn’t too cold that night ’cause we were nervous and not sure the perimeter system would work. I mean, none of us had seen it or used it so how would we know? The only clue t’ failure would be the lion leapin into our camp. So we stayed up in pairs, two hours on and two off till the helicopter came back about six in the mornin. It was still dark. The horses were spooked by the helicopter, but we calmed ’em down, fed and watered ’em, so when dawn came the TLR guys were ready t’ go. Our horses don’t hunt with dogs so that had ’em nervous too.”

  “The TLR guys just galloped off at dawn?” Shel asked.

  “Pretty much. They walked the dogs round the lion’s tracks t’ pick up the scent at first light, then let ’em go. The guys on horseback followed. I think the dogs were all chipped so they could track ’em, but all I saw on my screen was the horses. We packed up camp, put as much as we could into the chopper, and came back t’ the farm. I guess they went out again later on t’ get the rest of the equipment and supplies. I never went back. I went t’ sleep.”

  “At the ant farm?”

  “Yeah. They gave us a couple rooms in the housing there, and let us sleep till noon. When we came out it was like the army had arrived. Seemed like hundreds of people, but probably wasn’t nearly that. It was all confusion. I saw Jimmy Bell once, but mainly I was dealing with Tom. Most of the guys were sent t’ finish the outer fence line. I went with Tom and Arlen and some guy from AstroGene or PAS t’ review the access-control specs since they wanted those all done pronto. In the meantime the guys who are better in the back country got drafted into huntin parties that went out t’ help look for the loose lion or sent into the thousand-acre enclosure t’ round up those lions.”

  “When did they get the lion you saw?” Shel asked. “We heard rumors up here that it took days and days, that the lion ate one of the horses or maybe one of the trackers, and that one of the TLR guys had a sonic beamer that knocked it out. Sounded hokey, but at that point everything and nothing was believable.”

  “Sorry, nothin that sexy,” Matt replied with amusement. “They cornered him in a canyon and shot him with tranquilizer darts. He’d managed t’ kill a couple deer but was messy and left a trail like an interstate for the dogs t’ follow. I saw he was fast, but lions aren’t long-distance runners, so the dogs kept at it and caught up right before sunset Tuesday.”

  “Is he OK?” Shel seemed genuinely concerned.

  “Mainly tired and scared from what I heard. He’s just a cub, or barely an adult. Nobody’s sure ’cause these guys age and grow different than regular lions.”

  “What are they? I heard more rumors about that. Are they sabertooths? There was lots of talk in the media.” Shel was leaning toward him.

  “I’ve been lookin at ’em since August. When I went t’ Billings for Labor Day with Charlie we went t’ the wildlife park there, I studied the lions and cubs they had, took pictures and looked on the data net.” Her eyes went wide. “I knew you didn’t want t’ talk about the ant farm so I was waiting until I thought I understood what was happening before sayin anythin. I think Mr. Bell has resurrected or re-created American lions, Panthera atrox, from—”

  “The ice age?” Shel interrupted. “I read about those when I was studying up on the ants. They’re pretty fearsome.”

  “Definitely. And big,” replied Matt. “He went up that cliff in a hurry, like a house cat goin up stairs—quick and light and almost like he was levitatin himself, he moved so easy. He’s bigger than his mother, a lot bigger. No, I didn’t want t’ argue with him.”

  “So it’s like the ants, another Jimmy Bell hobby project?”

  “Think so. Too much money meets lifelong obsession. Nothin else I can think of makes sense.” Shel stared into space for a few moments, saying nothing. Matt let his mind wander, too. “Then there were the government people that showed up Wednesday, a dozen at least. USDA, FDA, and who knows who else. Apparently Jimmy Bell hadn’t bothered t’ get the right genetic research and breedin licenses so the lion cubs were illegal. The other talk I heard was that the cell samples he had were so good he could say they weren’t genetically altered and didn’t need t’ be permitted or licensed. Same as any other lions at the ranch in Texas.”

  “Sounds like years of work for squads of lawyers,” Shel commented. “But it’s an interesting question. If he used modern lions as surrogate mothers, would the cubs be true to the ice age stock?”

  “Too complicated for me,” replied Matt with a yawn. “My problem is we all have gone t’ a lot of trouble and taken risks. I mean, Manuel got hurt bad on Monday in the first pursuit, for what? Jimmy Bell’s personal hobby? If it was about the ranch and improving animal stock that’d be one thing. Even the ants can qualify as potentially improvin agricultural technology, but lions? What’s the benefit?”

  “It’s his money that’s paying us,” Shel said, “and that gives him some privilege.”

  “I suppose, but I signed up t’ work on a cattle and bison ranch. Granted, two kinds of bison. If he wants somethin different, he should tell us.”

  “Maybe he wants the ranch to become a big-game hunting business,” Shel replied. “Lots of places do it, and I’d guess crazy hunting buffs would pay more to bag an ice age lion than an antelope.” Matt smiled at her idea. Nothing he had ever seen on the ranch suggested management was even slightly interested in that line. The B.a. was a ranch, not a game farm. “But what I want to know more about,” Shel continued after a pause, “is what you said to me on the phone Monday.” He didn’t know what she was referring to, and it must have shown. “The I love you on the phone when you told me to stay inside.”

  Matt’s mind raced as he tried to find the right words. He had to get this right, to tell her in a way that she would believe. Looking at her now he knew all he wanted was to be with her in every way he could think of and for as long a time as he could imagine. But he couldn’t read her expression—not happy, maybe worried, scared even.

  He drew a breath and started, “I do, Shel, I do love you.” She smiled and her eyes softened. “It’s come t’ me in the last couple of weeks and I don’t know what t’ do about it ’cause it scares me. I want t’ be with you, and I want t’ stay independent. I want t’ be closer t’ Charlie and share my life with his, but I think about you all the time and miss you when we’re not together. It’s been so long since I felt this way about a woman it confuses me.” He paused. “No, that’s not right,” he went on, looking directly into her eyes, “I never felt this way about any woman.”

  There was silence, and then she spoke, “Thank you Matt. I am very flattered. You are quite the man, in my opinion, and any woman you would feel that way about and say that about would be a lucky one. It took me by surprise, and I’ve spent the days since trying to understand my feelings for you, which are strong.” She was sounding very matter of fact, and Matt’s stomach sank. “I really do like you a lot, and I’m always excited to be with you or just talk to you. Even your texts get me going.” He felt some relief that she was smiling at him as she talked.

  “But the L word scares me too. I’m not ready for that, as much as I like you and want to be with you. I came here on the rebound.” He nodded. “And I have issues I need to resolve that I can’t talk about yet.” He had felt at times that there were walls inside her he couldn’t pass through, but she had never opened up about them. Was she now? Would she? “Until I can get some things straight in my head I can’t commit. I’m sorry, really I am. A big part of me wants to, but another part needs to wait.” She looked sadly into his eyes, and he could see tears forming. “It’s not about you, Matt, not at all. Can you give me some time?”