A Delicious Mistake Read Online Free Page B

time he would ever see Luke Hutton alive.
    * * *
                   
Benjamin paced the ranger camp. Something was not right. He always had that
uncanny sense of intuition, the infamous “sixth sense.” He hoped, for once, he
was wrong and there was actually nothing to worry about. It turned out,
however, that he was horribly, painfully right.
    He
had returned to the Lodge a little earlier than expected, his hands empty and
his heart heavy. Luke had been right. No one seemed to really know anything. If
they did, they weren’t willing to expose themselves. Dusk came and nightfall
followed…and Luke hadn’t returned. Benjamin did his best not to worry, but
eventually, after hours had passed, he could no longer ignore the foreboding
that had taken residence in the pit of his stomach. He waited for his best
friend to show up for as long as it was reasonable and then he snapped into
action.
    Unable
to shake the awful feeling that his brother must be in some kind of terrible
danger, Benjamin quickly rounded up a search posse. The team consisted of a few
rangers and other staff of the Game Lodge. They had all offered to help. Soon
enough, they were heading off on their search, holding torches to fend off the
overwhelming darkness of the African night. Normally, Benjamin welcomed that
darkness, but not tonight. He needed to see clearly, and the light of the
almost-full moon simply wasn’t enough.
    Dread
sunk heavier and heavier in Benjamin’s chest as the hours went by and they
found no sign of Luke. Benjamin had taken young Thomas and four more men with
him, instructing the youngest ranger to guide him to the area where Luke and
Thomas had found the pitfall trap the previous day. Benjamin’s stomach cramped
when he caught sight of Luke’s Jeep. Luke, however, was nowhere to be found.
    Getting
out of his own Jeep, Benjamin ordered, “Let’s scout the area.”
    Splitting
up was probably not the smartest idea, but it would allow them to cover more
terrain more quickly. God forbid if Luke was hurt, they had no time to waste.
As Benjamin headed off into the night he thought that, for the first time, the
darkness seemed so unmerciful. He forced himself not to think the worst. He
simply could not go down that road—the possibility was just too horrible
to contemplate.
    He
and Luke had faced adversity every day, and had come out of it with no harm.
Going into dangerous places was a requirement of the job, a way of life that
they had both accepted and settled into. They had experienced some awfully
close calls, too. One time, they had gotten involved in a shoot out with a far
too daring group of poachers. Benjamin would never forget the overwhelming
relief he had felt when he had finally come down from the high of adrenaline
and he realized just how close they had come to death. He had counted his
blessings that day that they had both made it out alive. They had also managed
to wound and capture several of the poachers. Others had escaped, however, and
that made their feat just not enough.
    As
Benjamin trudged through the grass of the savannah he thought back to that day.
He prayed with all his heart that this time Luke would somehow make it out of
whatever trouble he had gotten himself into. He thought that at times the man
seemed to attract mishaps like honey attracted flies, but he had always manage
to somehow escape unscathed. He thought back to the day that a very young Luke
had found a lion wandering too near the Game Lodge. Benjamin had gone out to
see Luke facing a lion with nothing more than a stick in his hands. Now he
wondered if a lion had found Luke—a hungry one. Or had Luke fallen and hurt
himself? A broken leg out here could prove deadly. Ah, but Luke had a radio on
him—he must have remembered to keep an extra battery with him, too. So what had
gone wrong? Why had he not called for help if he needed it? It had to be that
Luke was just following a trail and clues and had lost track of