‘Oh, Boris,’ wailed Amazon. It was all too much for her, and now she could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks.
They all went to the side of the fallen giant.
‘Is he …?’ Frazer began.
Miranda gave a quick shake of her head. ‘It’s too late for him. We’ve got to get out of here. We can still make it to the rendezvous. Bob Doolins should be there. We’ve got to keep the leopards safe. They’re what really matters now. The cubs …?’
Amazon felt in the old sack and took out one of the cubs. It was the male, and it seemed to recognize her, and growled affectionately. Frazer took out ‘his’ cub.
‘They’re still hungry,’ he said.
He was interrupted by a voice that, although weak, nevertheless somehow managed to resound like a wave crashing on a rocky shore.
‘Boris also hungry. Getting shot is good for appetite, ha ha.’
The children leapt back in surprise, and then pressed forward again, delightedly.
‘You’re … you’re …’ stammered Amazon.
‘Impossible,’ said Miranda. ‘I saw Kirov shoot you.’
Bluey popped a button on Boris’s shirt, revealing a black layer of fabric.
‘Bullet-proof vest!’
Boris heaved himself up on his elbows. He was clearly in considerable pain.
‘Of course. Boris is professional. But swine Kirov used armour-piercing shells. Vest did not stop all bullet. Broken ribs and small hole of bullet. But takes more than one bullet hole to kill Boris!’
He broke off into a torrent of coughing. Finally he spat. He looked at the spit. It was red.
‘Maybe Boris not so good.’
Miranda attended to him, using a field dressing from Frazer’s pack.
‘Hate to rush you guys,’ said Bluey, ‘but we’ve got to get out of here. That fire’s going to catch up with us any moment now.’
And for the first time Frazer could see the red glow of the approaching flames.
And then something even more fearsome caught his sharp eye: the snarl of white teeth.
For a second he thought it was the returning tiger, and dread filled his soul. But then he realized that it was something smaller than the tiger, if no less fierce.
It was the mother leopard.
And Frazer was holding one of her precious babies.
Frazer was filled with two totally opposite emotions: joy at the fact that, against all the odds and all the evidence, the leopard was still alive; and terror about what she would do.
Frazer could see that the leopard’s muscles were tensed and ready to spring – but perhaps she was also in two minds. Would the humans hurt her babies before she reached them?
No one else had seen the leopard yet, and Frazer realized he had only seconds in which to act.
He thrust the cub he was holding into Amazon’s arms, where it joined its sibling. He knew that he was putting her in danger, but he had to do it if he were to save them all.
Then he hurled himself towards the cast-aside X-Ark. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the leopard had made the decision that a leopard will always make: to attack!
He swept up the X-Ark and went into a roll. There was no time to aim properly – in fact he was still rolling when he fired.
Amazon had seen all this with amazement. She thought briefly that Frazer had gone mad. And now the X-Ark dart was flying straight at her face. Except that it zipped just past her ear, with the sound of an angry hornet.
The leopard, caught in the moment before it made its spring, halted, staggered and fell.
Bluey, Miranda and Amazon all stared in astonished silence at Frazer and at the sleeping cat. And then they all burst out laughing: partly in relief that no one had been hurt and, in Amazon and Frazer’s case, amazement at the fact that the leopard was still alive.
‘We thought that the tiger had killed her,’ Frazer explained to the others. ‘The radio collar – look it’s been torn off. The tiger must have attacked her and swallowed it. The collar probably saved her life.’
It was Dersu who brought them all back down to ground. ‘Maybe saved her life, then, but now unless you hurry, all will die.’
He was right. The fire was now pressing on three sides against the clearing. ‘But how can we …’ Amazon stammered. ‘The leopard … Boris …’
‘Boris, you leave,’ gasped the Russian giant. ‘Cannot carry. Even if you could, would slow down. All burn. Go, but give Boris his gun.’
‘I hate to say it, Amazon,’ said Miranda, in her usual cool and collected way, ‘but he’s right. Unless we run for it now, we will all die here.’
‘No!’ Amazon yelled, hurriedly putting the cubs back in the sack. ‘There must be a way.’
She looked from face to face. No one met her eye. They all knew the truth of what Miranda had said. The flames were everywhere now, and she could feel the fire’s hot breath on her face.
The silence was broken by Boris. ‘Go! Go! Go! I will not have death of children on conscience. Already is much.’
And then Frazer spoke up. ‘Amazon’s right. We’ve got to try.’
He put his arm round the Russian. Amazon did the same on the other side. Boris still smelled of garlic sausage, but now there was blood also on his breath. Together they heaved. Dersu joined them, while Bluey and Miranda went for the leopard.
‘We must hurry,’ said Dersu. ‘Only reaching the river can save us now.’
And then the Udege paused. His incredibly sharp senses had picked something up. Amazon heard it too. And then Frazer. They looked up into the sky.
‘What is it?’ asked Miranda. ‘Wait, no, I hear it … an aeroplane.’
‘Not a plane,’ said Bluey. ‘Helicopter. More than one, I think.’
And then they saw it: a huge, fat-bellied, Russian Mi-26 helicopter – the largest in the world – circling two hundred metres above them. And now the thundering scream of its eight-bladed rotor was deafening. There was a huge bucket-like thing dangling beneath it, suspended by two thick cables.
And the Mi-26 was not alone. Two more. No, three were circling along with it.
‘What’s going on?’ Amazon screamed into Frazer’s ear.
‘I don’t know,’ he yelled back. ‘Oh, hang on, I think I’ve got it. We should –’
He never finished. One of the two cables holding the enormous bucket was shortened, which had the effect of tipping it up and emptying out fifteen thousand litres of water on to the forest below. Had it landed directly on the clearing, it would have pounded the group to death, and if any had survived, it would have drowned them. But the water was aimed at the fire raging outside the clearing.
As it was, muddy waters coursed around them in a brown torrent. Frazer and Amazon had to lift Boris’s torso up out of the flow to save him, while Bluey and Miranda struggled with the awkward weight of the leopard.
Boris the Dog, however, required no help – at the first splash, he shook his head, climbed groggily to his feet, and then doggy-paddled until the water drained away.
The other helicopters delivered their own thunderous loads in the surrounding forest, and soon billows of steamy water vapour had replaced the choking smoke of the fire.
It was hellish and fun at the same time – although the fun part only began when they realized they weren’t about to be drowned.
Twice the helicopters chugged away, only to reappear minutes later – Frazer guessed that they had gone to replenish their cargo of water by dipping the gigantic buckets in the nearby river.
‘Who do you think it is?’ said Amazon, to no one and everyone at the same time.
‘Doolins, maybe,’ said Bluey. ‘He could have got a sniff of the trouble that was brewing here and called in some help.’
‘I don’t think Bob had the authority to call in the big guns like this,’ said Miranda. ‘Those are Russian government helicopters.’
‘That one’s getting closer,’ said Frazer, raising his voice again to be heard over the roaring eng
ine. They all felt the powerful downdraught from the huge rotor blades, and ducked, even though the helicopter was still a hundred metres above them.
‘It’s landing,’ said Bluey. ‘Get back, everyone.’
He was right. The big yellow chopper eased down in the clearing. There was just enough room, and Frazer couldn’t help but admire the skill of the pilot.
Nevertheless they were all on their guard. Too many bad things had happened for them to glibly assume that these were the cavalry come to save them.
A door on the side of the Mi-26 screeched back, and a figure, muscular but well past the first flush of youth, jumped out, ignoring the ladder that had been lowered before him. His hair was shaved close to his skull, military style. His eyes were grey, and troubled.
‘Dad!’
Frazer ran over to Hal Hunt and they hugged a little awkwardly, as if neither of them were overly familiar with such intimacy.
‘You got the leopards?’ said Hal, looking anxiously around.
‘We sure did, Dad. A mother and two cubs. But we’ve taken some casualties. We need to get Boris – the big guy over there on the ground – to hospital as soon as possible. He’s taken a bullet or two.’
‘What?’
‘Long story. I’ll fill you in when we get going. But how did you know …? I mean … and where did you get these helicopters from?’
The others had come up to join them, and more figures were climbing out of the helicopter.
‘As soon as I found out what was going on,’ his father said, ‘I got in touch with Bob Doolins. He gave me a briefing, and said that the fire was moving more quickly than they expected. We pulled some strings at the Russian Interior Ministry. Strings with a couple of million roubles attached …’
He was interrupted by Amazon, her eyes full of yearning. And fear.
‘Uncle Hal?’
‘Oh, gee, Dad,’ said Frazer. ‘I forgot, you haven’t even met Amazon yet, have you?’
‘Amazon,’ said Hal Hunt, in a voice somehow equally conveying sadness and joy. ‘You’ve grown … when I last saw you, you were still in diapers.’
‘My mum and dad …? Did you …?’
Hal Hunt held her shoulders. His face was deadly serious.
‘I’m sorry, Amazon. The news isn’t great. Your parents never showed up in Vancouver. There’s no record of their flight path, or whether they landed anywhere else. There’s no need to panic yet, but …’
Amazon tried to keep her voice calm. ‘You think there was an accident?’
‘It’s probably just that they changed their plans. That brother of mine was never very predictable. Either way, we’ll find them, Amazon. I swear it.’ Hal paused and surveyed the devastation around. He shook his head and continued: ‘But look, let’s get you all to safety. That’s the important thing now. And you can tell me what’s been going on here.’
Frazer was the last one to climb into the helicopter, urging Dersu up the ladder in front of him. The young Udege had been putting on a brave face, but Frazer could see that he was devastated by the loss of his grandfather.
As he pulled the door shut, he looked for the last time around the clearing. And he saw something: a shambling figure, emerging from the burnt and steaming forest. At first Frazer thought it must be Kirov or one of the other Russian killers, and he called out to his father. But then he realized that this stooped and aged man could only be one person.
‘Dersu!’ he shouted above the din of the helicopter motor. ‘It’s your grandfather!’
In the helicopter, Dersu tried to explain what his grandfather told him.
‘He said he led Amba on towards where you were, as we planned. But his legs were too old, and his breathing was bad because of the smoke from the fire. He could not reach the clearing, and he fell down before Amba and expected to die. And Amba gloried over him in his victory. And my grandfather’s grief was not for his own life, but for those of the young people. But then a vision came to him. It was of his son, my father, who had been lost. And Amba followed my father’s spirit, and he led him to you.’
And when the others looked sceptical he said, ‘This is what my grandfather believes, and he has lived for more than seventy years and never told a lie.’
And, looking at the old man, they all knew that he was not lying, whatever the truth might be.
The parting with the leopards was very emotional for Amazon and Frazer. The helicopter flew them to a safe place in the forest, and Hal and Miranda carried the mother to the tangled roots of an ancient oak, while Amazon and Frazer carried the cubs.
Bluey attached a new radio collar to the sleeping leopardess.
‘One of these saved your neck before,’ he said, ‘and it might do again.’
Amazon and Frazer gave the cubs a final cuddle, and then nestled them in close to their mother’s body. They didn’t have long, as the leopardess was showing the first signs of coming round, and she was unlikely to be grateful if she found them still there when she awoke.
‘Job well done, guys,’ said Hal.
‘They will be safe here, won’t they?’ Amazon asked.
‘I reckon so,’ Hal replied, putting his hand reassuringly on her arm. ‘I’ll make sure the reintroduction programme gets more funding from TRACKS and, now that the central government knows what’s been going on here, there shouldn’t be any more trouble from the loggers and poachers.’
‘When my dad says something, he means it,’ Frazer added.
And then they all jumped as the leopardess twitched.
‘Time to scram,’ said Bluey, and they hurried back to the helicopter. Amazon was the last to climb through the door, and she looked back to see the leopardess sleepily licking at her mewling babies.
Next they took Dersu and Makha back to their house. The old man seemed much frailer than he had done just two days before. His wife – whose name they had finally discovered was Ludmilla – came out and scolded him, and then led him back towards the house.
Hal Hunt shook Dersu’s hand and said, ‘Young man, I’ve a lot to thank you and your grandfather for. You saved the lives of my son and my niece, as well as the leopards. I’d like to ask you formally to join our organization. TRACKS badly needs people like you.’
‘That’s exactly what I was going to suggest!’ said Frazer.
Dersu looked excited for a moment, but then his face fell.
‘I must stay here to care for my grandparents …’
‘But this is precisely where we want you, for now,’ said Hal. ‘Bob Doolins needs a right-hand man. There’ll be money to help your people, and later, when you’re … well, when you’re freer, you can come out and join us properly. I can guarantee you an interesting life.’
Dersu smiled broadly. ‘This is a good plan,’ he said.
Amazon and Frazer hugged him, and then he went to stand beside his grandparents. The three of them waved as the helicopter heaved itself heavily into the sky.
Finally, they flew back to the Russian military base in Vladivostok.
Boris was rushed to hospital, yelling out a final, ‘Boris will be back, ha ha,’ as he was wheeled away.
On the plane from Seoul to Vancouver, Hal Hunt got them to tell the story all over again from the beginning.
‘The name,’ he said, his lean face hard to read. ‘The employer of this man Kirov. Did he mention it?’
‘I think he did,’ said Frazer. ‘Crags, maybe. Something like that.’
‘Not Crags,’ said Amazon. ‘It was Kaggs.’
Hal nodded, as if it were something he was expecting.
In fact, it was a name he hadn’t heard for more than forty years, and it filled him with dread. But he did not speak of this to the others. It was not the time. Now was the time to sleep.
And Frazer drifted off in the comfortable first-class seat, reliving that brilliant shot with the X-Ark, the one that saved Amazon from the leopard.
Amazon thought only of her parents.
She knew that they were alive, somewh
ere out there. And she knew that she was going to help find them.
Top 10 Facts: The Amur Leopard
There are nine living subspecies of leopard, of which the AMUR LEOPARD is the most endangered.
There are only about 30 AMUR LEOPARDS left in the wild, and about 200 AMUR LEOPARDS in zoos.
Although it used to range over a much larger territory, the AMUR LEOPARD is now confined to a small area on the borders of North Korea, China and Russia.
The AMUR LEOPARD has a much thicker coat than other leopards, and a longer tail. The thick coat makes it look larger than it is – it is actually quite small for a leopard.
Although the most rapacious man-eater in history was a leopard, which killed more than 400 people in India, there are no records of the AMUR LEOPARD ever having killed a human being.
The AMUR LEOPARD can leap six metres horizontally and three metres vertically.
In the wild the AMUR LEOPARD mainly eats deer and wild pigs, but it will also hunt smaller prey, such as hares and badgers.
A mother AMUR LEOPARD will usually have two or three cubs in the spring. The cubs will stay with her for up to two years.
The main threats to the AMUR LEOPARD are loss of habitat, as its forests are cut down, or burned; the scarcity of prey as a result of human hunting; and illegal poaching for its skin and body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Preparations are underway for the reintroduction of the AMUR LEOPARD to the Sikhote-Alin region of the Russian Far East, where the action of LEOPARD ADVENTURE takes place.
If you want to help save the species, you can adopt an AMUR LEOPARD here: support.wwf.org.uk
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