interest would not be piqued as long as nothing emerged from the vehicle. To Danger Woman and her pack, the larger thing represented an entity too big to attack, something akin to a noisy and smelly elephant. However, in her experience, occasionally smaller, and more easily attacked things sometimes emerged from within and could be targeted if they strayed too far from the big one. That would be at night. Daylight was not the hunting time for hyenas. She blinked as the small thing emerged, gathered bones, and then disappeared back into the big creature again.Kotsi Mosadihad no interest in those bones. She knew they were dried out and contained few nutrients.
It would be dark soon enough and then she would lead the pack in hunting. Even though sheâd fed the night before on the lionessâ gazelle, she would need to eat again and soon. The pups in her womb were growing and their demands on her body for sustenance grew with them. She longed for a dead elephant to scavenge. The pack could eat for weeks on a moderately large elephant.
***
âBe careful, Sanderson,â Charles Tlalelo said and glanced toward the bush. â Dipheri are lurking over there. I think it must be Kotsi Mosadiand her pack . She would quickly separate you from your life if you give her the chance.â
âCharles, that hyena is not interested in this middle-aged woman, for sure. I am too tough even for her terrible jaws.â
âYou are tough, I know, but I am thinking she is tougher and you are not middle aged. My mother is middle aged. She looks it. You are seeming to be much younger.â
âAre you flattering me, Charles?â
âNo, I amâ¦never mind. Just be careful.â
Sanderson grinned. The bones had been picked clean and sometime in the past, which explained why the hyenas dozed a few meters away instead of protecting a possible meal. She brushed aside the twigs and bits of grit and placed them into a plastic bag which she then tossed into the back of the Land Rover.
âNext stop, the office and lunch, Charles. We have made progress. I wonder who this poor soul was before he or she became someoneâs dinner.â
Charles put the SUV into gear and they headed for the main gate to the park. Two safari trucks with rows of tourists perched in tiers, cameras at the ready, waited while their driver/guides cleared the vehicles with the attendant.
âLet us hope none of these eager people decides to hop out of the truck to retrieve a hat or camera and become a lionâs midday meal.â
Charles looked worried. âHas that ever happened, Sanderson?â
âAlmost. People see the lions lolling in the grass like big pussies and they forget that they can weigh hundreds of kilos and are always hungry. They would probably love a belly rub from some plump tourist, but I am sure they would prefer fresh meat more. Elephants, too. These visitors think they are visiting Babar and then some great bull in musk, or for no reason at all, decides their truck is too close, the horn beeping too loud, it is a threat to the calves, or who knows why, and topples their car and possibly crushes them. Over in the Okavango Delta they have bigger problems because the people camp in the park and will sometimes think they want an evening stroll out into the wild for a closer look at nature. We will lose a visitor over there now and again.â
âThat woman in South Africa who wanted to get a close-up of the lioness and left her window downââ
âThat was a rarity, Charles, a once in a million, but yes, if the sign says, âKeep your windows closed,â it is best to do so.â
âThe park is not a petting zoo.â
âOr a playground. Except for the animals, of course.â
Chapter Five
As he feared, the discovery of a human skull and other remains, which Sanderson had deposited with the forensics people had attracted the notice of the authorities in Gaborone. An e-mail