“You contacted him?”
“I had Li contact him.”
“How can I possibly trust you after what I just learned?”
“Think about what just happened,” Sam interjected. “Dr. Xing is after the National Nightingale Society—they’re a top-secret anti-wildlife-crime organization being framed as a terrorist organization. Li’s father was a member.”
“And so was Jin Jin,” Ling-Ru added.
“If you two know this, then surely Nigel must as well?”
Ling-Ru shook her head. “No, we just found out about it from Li,” Ling-Ru explained. “It’s the reason Yuan killed Li’s father.”
“So, those Kong tracks were his?”
“Yes. He resented Jin Jin’s involvement in the NNS. He didn’t believe they could succeed and he didn’t want his father put in danger for what he felt wasn’t worth the risk.”
“What can we do?”
“Nigel’s group has been transporting ivory from Myanmar along the Mong La route. Everyone knows it’s happening, but no one ever knows when, and those who know are too afraid to stop it. Our border control is a little better than theirs, but not by much. That’s why they keep getting away with it.”
“Jet is willing to help us?”
“He is working on moving the elephants closer to the border right now. We need to catch them on the Chinese side, after everything’s been loaded, so that we know they will actually be carrying ivory on them. And if we wait until they get to Mengla or somewhere else inside China, their party is likely to split up. We need to make this a huge bust. Otherwise it will be too easy for Nigel to escape.”
“And as you just heard from Dr. Xing, the HIN photo you obtained will probably be inadmissible as evidence, and the tugboat might not get linked to Nigel,” Sam explained. “We need him at the scene.”
“You really think we can do this?”
“Nigel told us when this next transfer will happen. With Jet’s help, we can nail him with the shipment right there in the mountains.”
“I’m still struggling with all this. What’s going to happen to you? I mean, assuming all this works as planned. What’s to stop the SHU from coming after you?”
“Li is helping. He has a relative who is a member of the NNS, Mrs. Feng, that works in the Chinese consulate in Washington, D.C. She has agreed to get us political asylum within the U.S.”
“That’s fantastic! And in the meantime?”
“Do you remember the old Trappist monastery that we passed on Lantau?”
“Yes.”
“The monastery is going to protect Sam and me until the paperwork goes through.”
“Why couldn’t you have told me all this that day, when we were walking in the forest?”
“I didn’t know about it then.”
I studied her expression, still trying to determine if she was telling the truth.
“I am sorry things got out so of hand,” Ling-Ru replied. “You have to trust that I was trying to protect you but couldn’t let on to them that I was doing so. It worked for a while, but Nigel figured it out after I took out his hitmen, and then the Hainan incident reflected poorly on him. The SHU don’t trust him now, and he needs the next shipment to work out.”
I tried to piece together all the inconsistencies. “Okay, but what was that sob story you told me about all of your failed relationships?”
“I had to distract you, and the only way I could think of to do it was to make you mad.”
“You made all that up?”
“There was a kernel of truth to it.”
“And the bit about the chef shouting my name in ecstasy?”
She smiled. “You’re not that good!”
I slapped at her arm, teasingly. “You bitch!”
“I knew you’d be mad, so, as a peace offering, I sent a secure telegram to Jon to explain everything—especially what he saw at the hotel.”
“And?”
“He wrote immediately to say that Vera would be very pleased to hear it.” She pulled out a small piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. “He is waiting for you in Hong Kong.”
I smiled.
“Who’s Vera?”
“His houseboat.”
Ling-Ru scrunched up her face. “You guys are too cute.”
Elephant-Back Safari
Jet and his guides were waiting with the elephants on the Chinese side of the mountains near the border town of Mong La. It took them three days of trekking to get into position. In the meantime, Ling-Ru, Sam, and I had flown into Myanmar, made it to the border town, and walked across the border.
Jet picked us up and took us to their camp where we prepared ourselves for a surprise bust. We had to trek twenty miles into the mountainous Chinese jungle in order to position ourselves in a way that Nigel’s party couldn’t escape our trap. We wanted to be able to catch them as they entered their rest camp without detecting us. And if detected, we needed to be close enough to catch them with ivory in case they had vehicles or airplanes and could easily get rid of the evidence, as they had done on previous raids.
Lily carried our gear and was paired with the most experienced trainer, who was able to ride and navigate the jungle paths with the extra load. Once all of our gear was loaded into Lily’s saddlebags and prepared for our journey, Jet called Lu Lu over.
Lu Lu and I enjoyed a brief reunion, where she seemed genuinely pleased to see me. She was kitted out with a bridle, but there was no howdah, and not even a saddle—we were going bareback. This was apparently the safest for the elephant, which made me very happy.
On Jet’s command, Lu Lu crouched down and lay next to me with her front foot sticking out. Jet showed me how to climb up Lu Lu’s extended leg.
Walking up an elephant’s leg was an awkward affair. I had seen mahouts do this, but I had never done it myself, nor had I ever thought about how it might feel. When I reached Lu Lu’s neck and gently grabbed hold of her pink-spotted ear to get myself level, I wasn’t sure how best to straddle her.
Stiff, spiky hairs brushed against my cotton-nylon-blend pants as I tried to settle my weight behind Lu Lu’s neck. She reached up and playfully sniffed around my legs and hands with her hairy, pink-spotted trunk, tickling as she explored. She smelled of musty leather with a floral undertone.
This was going to be a lot different than horseback riding. When I was off duty as a ranger in Yellowstone, one of my favorite things to do was to go over to the Grand Tetons and ride the trails bareback. The scenery in the late fall just after the parks closed for the winter was spectacular. Bright orange and yellow aspen leaves reflected on the glassy deep-amber lakes and streams along the trail.
This was going to be a very different and tough safari over mountainous, rugged terrain with thick, lush vegetation. Fortunately, the elephant has better footing than a horse, which is why they were used for this purpose. They also did much better in the heat. But positioning on an elephant’s neck was not nearly as comfortable as on a horse’s back.
Jet handed me a card with the Mandarin characters and pronunciations of the words I would need to know, in case we got separated. As he went through the pronunciations, I was stuck on his previous statement. “In case we get separated?” I asked.
“I assure you, that is not the plan. This is purely in an emergency where I might not be able to help you.”
I looked at each of the commands on the card:
“CHU” means “GO”
“LUNDA” means “TURN”
“TING-JU” means “STOP”
“HIJAH” means “REVERSE”
“LAY” means “COME”
After practicing the words a few times, I put the card in my pocket.
As we got going, riding Lu Lu bareback felt more similar to riding a horse bareback than I expected, except that my legs bowed uncomfortably. And an elephant’s gait is very different than that of a horse. It felt more like cross-country skiing than riding on a four-legged animal, each side moving forward toge
ther as a unit, right legs, then left, right, then left, with shoulder blades sticking up on the opposite side as each front foot moved forward. And given such an enormous animal, her shoulder blades were surprisingly pokey. I ended up bending my knees and riding jockey style, which was less painful.
The trail was tough going. Even though the elephant is better than a horse in this environment, elephants can’t articulate well when faced with sudden declines and inclines. Because their knees fall closer to the ankle than the middle of the leg, it was very difficult for them to navigate the plethora of trenches that appeared along the way.
I talked Lu Lu through some of the more difficult sections of trail, whispering words of encouragement and telling her how much I appreciated her efforts. Every so often she rumbled, as if in response to my encouragement. Our communications seemed to buoy both of us.
We came up behind Nigel’s elephant-back safari a little sooner than expected and kept about a kilometer behind them. It was tricky to stay hidden on the switchbacks, so we had to wait until they were far enough ahead that they couldn’t turn around and see or hear us making our way down the steep descent behind them.
The mosquitoes were merciless, particularly as we passed trickling streams with stagnant pools of water, and I was regretting my choice of pants. It was easier for mosquitoes to penetrate the nylon blend with their proboscis than pure cotton. I had anticipated that the persistent damp of cotton on the insides of my legs while riding would be worse, but I was wrong.
When the trainers stopped to let the elephants drink from a fresh fast-flowing stream, I got off so I could change my pants. I had one of the trainers access my pack in Lily’s saddlebag and found some privacy behind a small fan palm.
Just as I removed my pants, Jet called out to me. “Catherine, we need to get you off the ground.”
“What do you mean?”
“Leeches.”
“I’m not near the stream.”
“Do you hear that sound in the leaf litter?”
I listened as the rustling sound in the leaf litter got louder. “Leeches on the ground?” I had heard of terrestrial leeches but didn’t know they could move so quickly.
“They are coming!” Jet exclaimed as he pulled me, one leg still not in its pant leg yet.
“Okay, okay, I’m right here.” I listened to the noise again. “Can they really move that fast?”
“You wouldn’t believe it.”
Just as he said this, I could feel leeches biting my ankles and looked down to see them crawling up my new pant leg with disturbing speed. “You weren’t kidding!”
“We need to get you back on Lu Lu and head out.”
I climbed back on Lu Lu, picked off all the leeches I could find before they could get too far into their blood meal, and gave my body a second coating of mosquito repellent.
For the next few hours, I was tortured by both mosquitoes and leeches. As the canopy thickened above us, leeches seemed to be dropping down from the trees, as there were many more than could have gotten onto my body when I was on the ground. A few had escaped my vigilance and ended up attaching to my stomach along my waistline. I felt the sting as I tore them off, wishing I had salt for this purpose.
A trickle of blood ran from the leech attachment sites around my waist and down my pants. Between the insect bites, leeches, and humidity, it was an extremely uncomfortable mission.
We had lost sight of Nigel’s party as the turns in the switchbacks were getting even sharper and it would have been too easy for them to spot us. We had no choice but to slow down and stay out of sight.
Not being able to see our target made the trek all the more difficult, as I kept wondering whether Nigel might have taken a different route than planned. I was plaguing myself with doubt, including second-guessing whether I would have been more helpful in an aircraft above our team, guiding them and informing them of Nigel’s progress. But Ling-Ru insisted I’d be putting the mission in jeopardy, not to mention how easy it would have been for them to shoot me out of the sky.
I think Lu Lu could tell I was anxious. Every once in a while, she’d raise her trunk up over her head and search for my hands. She gently blew into my palms as if to reassure me.
It was hard to imagine that Lu Lu was considered a dangerous elephant. But perhaps somehow she recognized a kindred spirit in me. Nigel was her enemy, too, and we were in this together.
The night seemed endless, and the pain in my crotch from riding Lu Lu had become unbearable. I shifted my weight on her shoulders to soften the blow as one shoulder moved forward and jutted up into my saddle sore on the one side, and then the other shoulder, rubbing against the other saddle sore. I had never ridden a horse bareback for this long, but on a horse, one doesn’t ride on the shoulders, so the ride is a lot smoother. I now appreciated how the Indian howdah came into existence. It would have been much easier to ride on a platform above Lu Lu’s body than sitting on her back, where the only possible place to straddle her was at the neck and shoulders. But that wasn’t a practical option in this landscape. I couldn’t help wishing I had a saddle.
It felt as if Lu Lu could sense my struggle and was trying to be lighter on her feet so that her shoulders wouldn’t poke up so much, but I wasn’t sure that was possible. Her soft rumblings were the only consolation as we pressed on through the still jungle, one painful shoulder and then the other, one painful shoulder and then the other.
Surprise Attack
Shots were fired from the thick bush behind us, spooking the chained elephants in camp and causing our party to scatter. We had come upon Nigel’s makeshift camp at daybreak just as they were settling in for a break. We hadn’t expected them to stop moving, so we hadn’t planned our approach as stealthily as was needed.
Nigel’s sentries had detected our presence, and, without us realizing it, had a small party circle back to attack us from behind. Everything we planned had backfired and in the confusion, I lost track of where Ling-Ru and Sam had gone.
Lu Lu and I found ourselves at the edge of the camp, approaching from the opposite direction than the commotion. That’s when I spotted Nigel. He was tending to a large rack of cages that were strapped to an elephant on both sides with long poles mounted on the top and bottom of the cages.
I tapped Lu Lu’s left shoulder so she would crouch down to let me dismount. “Shhh,” I whispered to Lu Lu. “You stay right here. I’ll be back soon.” I pulled out my list of commands to see if there was a command for the word “stay.” The command for “stop” was the closest thing so I used it. “Lu Lu, TING-JU!”
I walked slowly toward the elephant to see what Nigel was doing. I could now see that the cages strapped to the elephant’s side were birdcages, packed in to fit as many as possible. Each cage contained a single nightingale. And behind the cages, strapped against the elephant’s flank, were large elephant tusks wrapped in burlap.
I approached Nigel from behind, watching his hand reach into a cage. He carefully inspected the bird, squeezing it around the middle. As I got closer, I could hear him talking to himself, oblivious to the shootout that now surrounded the camp.
“Darkling I listen; and, for many a time I have been half in love with easeful death,” he said as he massaged the bird’s chest, pulling it out of its cage and releasing it into the air. He watched it fly away with such wonder, as if it were the first time he had ever seen a bird in flight.
Then he walked on to the next cage and stuck his hand in to inspect another bird. “Called him soft names in many a mused rhyme. To take into the air my quiet breath,” he recited as he pulled the bird out and looked it in the face while stroking its belly. “Now more than ever seems it rich to die.”
With a quick motion, Nigel snapped the bird’s neck.
I gasped, taken aback by this unexpected act.
Nigel turned around and looked at me as he placed the dead bird in a soft shoulder bag along with what appeared to be quite a few others, given the tennis-ball-sized lumps protruding in all di
rections. “Thou wast not born for death, immortal bird!” he said to me as plainly as if he were just hanging laundry or feeding his fish. “I didn’t see you there. I thought it was just me and Keats. ‘Ode to a Nightingale’—best poem in the English language, according to Jon. But you must know that already. He quoted it so often that I decided I needed to commit it to memory. Comes in handy at a time like this.”
“What are you doing with those birds?” I asked in disgust.
“Looks like my penchant for our feathered friends has paid off. Ah, the nightingale—beauty doesn’t have to be tragic to the touch, you know.”
“Depends on whose hands are doing the touching.”
“You think you’re a very clever girl, don’t you, Catherine Sohon? You Americans are all alike.” Nigel came closer and looked right through me. “Jon had a way with penetration, didn’t he?” he continued. “He wriggled into the psyche and wouldn’t let go.” He stopped and looked up at the sky.
“Why are you talking about Jon in the past tense?”
“To think he almost bloody converted me with his stubborn passion,” he said wistfully as his eyes met mine. “Shame you didn’t know you were pregnant.”
“How did you know about that?”
“I wouldn’t have thought you’d need to ask. The more important question is, did he know?”
He grabbed another bird from another cage, massaged its chest, and set it free.
It took me a second to realize what he meant. Ling-Ru was working for him at the time, so, of course, she would have told him.
“We’ve all lost something in this game, haven’t we, Catherine?” He looked at my searching expression. “I get it, being greeted by an Adonis at your lover’s hotel door is not the best entrée for tragic reveals, is it? He must have had some bloody dark thoughts after that moment.”
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