Rizzoli & Isles.

Die Again.

by Tess Gerritsen.

OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA.

IN THE SLANTING LIGHT OF DAWN I SPOT IT, SUBTLE AS A WATERMARK, pressed into the bare patch of dirt. Were it midday, when the African sun glares down hot and bright, I might have missed it entirely, but in early morning, even the faintest dips and depressions cast shadows, and as I emerge from our tent that lone footprint catches my eye. I crouch down beside it and feel a sudden chill when I realize that only a thin layer of canvas shielded us while we slept.

Richard emerges through the tent flap and gives a happy grunt as he stands and stretches, inhaling the scents of dew-laden gra.s.s and wood smoke and breakfast cooking on the campfire. The smells of Africa. This adventure is Richard's dream; it has always been Richard's, not mine. I'm the good-sport girlfriend whose default mode is Of course I'll do it, darling. Even when it means twenty-eight hours and three different planes, from London to Johannesburg to Maun and then into the bush, the last plane a rickety crate flown by a hung-over pilot. Even when it means two weeks in a tent, swatting mosquitoes and peeing behind bushes.

Even if it means I could die, which is what I'm thinking as I stare down at that footprint, pressed into the dirt barely three feet from where Richard and I were sleeping last night.

"Smell the air, Millie!" Richard crows. "Nowhere else does it smell like this!"

"There was a lion here," I say.

"I wish I could bottle it and bring it home. What a souvenir that would be. The smell of the bush!"

He isn't listening to me. He's too high on Africa, too wrapped up in his great-white-adventurer fantasy where everything is brilliant and fantastic, even last night's meal of tinned pork and beans, which he declared the "splendid-est supper ever!"

I repeat, louder: "There was a lion here, Richard. It was right next to our tent. It could have clawed its way in." I want to alarm him, want him to say, Oh my G.o.d, Millie, this is serious.

Instead he blithely calls out to the nearest members of our group: "Hey, come take a look! We had a lion here last night!"

First to join us are the two girls from Cape Town, whose tent is pitched beside ours. Sylvia and Vivian have Dutch last names that I can neither spell nor p.r.o.nounce. They're both in their twenties, tan and long-legged and blond, and at first I had trouble telling them apart, until Sylvia finally snapped at me in exasperation: "It's not like we're twins, Millie! Can't you see that Vivian has blue eyes and I have green?" As the girls kneel on either side of me to examine the paw print, I notice that they smell different, too. Vivian-with-the-blue-eyes smells like sweet gra.s.s, the fresh, unsoured scent of youth. Sylvia smells like the citronella lotion she's always slathering on to repel the mosquitoes, because DEET is a poison. You do know that, don't you? They flank me like blond-G.o.ddess bookends, and I can't help but see that Richard is once again eyeing Sylvia's cleavage, which is so blatantly displayed in her low-cut tank top. For a girl so conscientious about coating herself in mosquito repellent, she exposes an alarming amount of bitable skin.

Naturally Elliot is quick to join us, too. He's never far from the blondes, whom he met only a few weeks ago in Cape Town. He's since attached himself to them like a loyal puppy, hoping for a sc.r.a.p of attention.

"Is that a fresh print?" Elliot asks, sounding worried. At least someone else shares my sense of alarm.

"I didn't see it here yesterday," says Richard. "The lion must have come through last night. Imagine stepping out to answer the call of nature and running into that." He yowls and swipes a clawed hand at Elliot, who flinches away. This makes Richard and the blondes laugh, because Elliot is everyone's comic relief, the anxious American whose pockets bulge with tissues and bug spray, sunscreen and sanitizer, allergy pills, iodine tablets, and every other possible necessity for staying alive.

I don't join in their laughter. "Someone could have been killed out here," I point out.

"But this is what happens on a real safari, hey?" says Sylvia brightly. "You're out in the bush with lions."

"Doesn't look like a very big lion," says Vivian, leaning in to study the print. "Maybe a female, do you think?"

"Male or female, they can both kill you," says Elliot.

Sylvia gives him a playful slap. "Ooh. Are you scared?"

"No. No, I just a.s.sumed that Johnny was exaggerating when he gave us that talk the first day. Stay in the jeep. Stay in the tent. Or you die."

"If you want to play it perfectly safe, Elliot, maybe you should have gone to the zoo instead," Richard says, and the blondes laugh at his cutting remark. All hail Richard, the alpha male. Just like the heroes he writes about in his novels, he's the man who takes charge and saves the day. Or thinks he is. Out here in the wild, he's really just another clueless Londoner, yet he manages to sound like an expert at staying alive. It's yet another thing that irritates me this morning, on top of the fact I'm hungry, I didn't sleep well, and now the mosquitoes have found me. Mosquitoes always find me. Whenever I step outside, it's as if they can hear their dinner bell ring, and already I'm slapping at my neck and face.

Richard calls out to the African tracker, "Clarence, come here! Look what came through camp last night."

Clarence has been sipping coffee by the campfire with Mr. and Mrs. Matsunaga. Now he ambles toward us, carrying his tin coffee cup, and crouches down to look at the footprint.

"It's fresh," says Richard, the new bush expert. "The lion must have come through just last night."

"Not a lion," says Clarence. He squints up at us, his ebony face agleam in the morning sun. "Leopard."

"How can you be so sure? It's just one paw print."

Clarence sketches the air above the print. "You see, this is the front paw. The shape is round, like a leopard's." He rises and scans the area. "And it is only one animal, so this one hunts alone. Yes, this is a leopard."

Mr. Matsunaga snaps photos of the print with his giant Nikon, which has a telephoto lens that looks like something you'd launch into s.p.a.ce. He and his wife wear identical safari jackets and khaki pants and cotton scarves with wide-brimmed hats. Down to the last detail, they are sartorially matched. In holiday spots around the world you find couples just like them, dressed in the same outlandish prints. It makes you wonder: Do they wake up one morning and think, Let's give the world a laugh today?

As the sun lifts higher, washing out the shadows that so clearly defined the paw print, the others snap photos, racing against the brightening glare. Even Elliot pulls out his pocket camera, but I think it's simply because everyone else is doing it, and he doesn't like to be the odd man out.

I'm the only one who doesn't bother to fetch my camera. Richard is taking enough photos for both of us, and he's using his Canon, the same camera National Geographic photographers use! I move into the shade, but even here, out of the sun, I feel sweat trickle from my armpits. Already the heat is building. Every day in the bush is hot.

"Now you see why I tell you to stay in your tents at night," Johnny Posthumus says.

Our bush guide has approached so quietly that I didn't realize he'd returned from the river. I turn to see Johnny standing right behind me. Such a grim-sounding name, Posthumus, but he told us it's a common enough surname among Afrikaans settlers, from which he's descended. In his features I see the bloodline of his st.u.r.dy Dutch ancestors. He has sun-streaked blond hair, blue eyes, and tree-trunk legs that are deeply tanned in khaki shorts. Mosquitoes don't seem to bother him, nor does the heat, and he wears no hat, slathers on no repellent. Growing up in Africa has toughened his hide, immunized him against its discomforts.

"She came through here just before dawn," Johnny says, and points to a thicket on the periphery of our camp. "Stepped out of those bushes, strolled toward the fire, and looked me over. Gorgeous girl, big and healthy."

I'm astonished by how calm he is. "You actually saw her?"

"I was out here building the fire for breakfast when she showed up."

"What did you do?"

"I did what I've told all of you to do in that situation. I stood tall. Gave her a good view of my face. Prey animals such as zebras and antelope have eyes at the sides of their heads, but a predator's eyes face forward. Always show the cat your face. Let her see where your eyes are, and she'll know you're a predator, too. She'll think twice before attacking." Johnny looks around at the seven clients who are paying him to keep them alive in this remote place. "Remember that, hey? We'll see more big cats as we go deeper into the bush. If you encounter one, stand tall and make yourself look as large as you can. Face them straight-on. And whatever you do, don't run. You'll have a better chance of surviving."

"You were out here, face-to-face with a leopard," says Elliot. "Why didn't you use that?" He points to the rifle that's always slung over Johnny's shoulder.

Johnny shakes his head. "I won't shoot a leopard. I won't kill any big cat."

"But isn't that what the gun's for? To protect yourself?"

"There aren't enough of them left in the world. They own this land, and we're the intruders here. If a leopard charged me, I don't think I could kill it. Not even to save my own life."

"But that doesn't apply to us, right?" Elliot gives a nervous laugh and looks around at our traveling party. "You'd shoot a leopard to protect us, wouldn't you?"

Johnny answers with an ironic smile. "We'll see."

BY NOON WE'RE PACKED up and ready to push deeper into the wild. Johnny drives the truck while Clarence rides in the tracker's seat, which juts out in front of the b.u.mper. It seems a precarious perch to me, out there with his legs swinging in the open, easy meat for any lion who can snag him. But Johnny a.s.sures us that as long as we stay attached to the vehicle, we're safe, because predators think we're all part of one huge animal. But step out of the truck and you're dinner. Got that, everyone?

Yes sir. Message received.

There are no roads at all out here, only a faint flattening of the gra.s.s where the pa.s.sage of earlier tires has compacted the poor soil. The damage caused by a single truck can scar the landscape for months, Johnny says, but I cannot imagine many of them make it this far into the Delta. We're three days' drive from the bush landing strip where we were dropped off, and we've spotted no other vehicles in this wilderness.

Wilderness was not something I actually believed in four months ago, sitting in our London flat, the rain spitting against the windows. When Richard called me over to his computer and showed me the Botswana safari he wanted to book for our holiday, I saw photos of lions and hippos, rhinos and leopards, the same familiar animals you can find in zoos and game parks. That's what I imagined, a giant game park with comfortable lodges and roads. At a minimum, roads. According to the website, there'd be "bush camping" involved, but I pictured lovely big tents with showers and flush toilets. I didn't think I'd be paying for the privilege of squatting in the bushes.

Richard doesn't mind roughing it in the least. He's high on Africa, higher than Mount Kilimanjaro, his camera constantly clicking away as we drive. In the seat behind us, Mr. Matsunaga's camera matches Richard's, click for click, but with a longer lens. Richard won't admit it, but he has lens envy, and when we get back to London he'll probably go straight online to price Mr. Matsunaga's gear. This is the way modern men do battle, not with spear and sword, but with credit cards. My platinum beats your gold. Poor Elliot with his unis.e.x Minolta is left in the dust, but I don't think he minds, because once again he's snuggled in the last row with Vivian and Sylvia. I glance back at the three of them and catch a glimpse of Mrs. Matsunaga's resolute face. She's another good sport. I'm sure that s.h.i.tting in the bushes wasn't her idea of a great holiday, either.

"Lions! Lions!" shouts Richard. "Over there!"

Cameras click faster as we pull so close I can see black flies clinging to the flank of the male lion. Nearby are three females, lolling in the shade of a leadwood tree. Suddenly there's an outburst of j.a.panese behind me, and I turn to see that Mr. Matsunaga has leaped to his feet. His wife hangs on to the back of his safari jacket, desperate to stop him from leaping out of the truck for a better photo.

"Sit. Down!" Johnny booms out in a voice that no one, man or beast, could possibly ignore. "Now!"

Instantly Mr. Matsunaga drops back into his seat. Even the lions seem startled, and they all stare at the mechanical monster with eighteen pairs of arms.

"Remember what I told you, Isao?" scolds Johnny. "If you step out of this truck, you're dead."

"I get excited. I forget," murmurs Mr. Matsunaga, apologetically bowing his head.

"Look, I'm only trying to keep you safe." Johnny releases a deep breath and says quietly: "I'm sorry for shouting. But last year, a colleague was on a game drive with two clients. Before he could stop them, they both jumped out of the truck to take photos. The lions had them in a flash."

"You mean-they were killed?" says Elliot.

"That's what lions are programmed to do, Elliot. So please, enjoy the view, but from inside the truck, hey?" Johnny gives a laugh to defuse the tension, but we're all still cowed, a group of misbehaving children who've just been disciplined. The camera clicks are halfhearted now, photos taken to cover our discomfort. We're all shocked by how hard Johnny came down on Mr. Matsunaga. I stare at Johnny's back, which looms right in front of me, and the muscles of his neck stick out like thick vines. He starts the engine again. We leave the lions and drive on, to our next campsite.

AT SUNSET, THE LIQUOR comes out. After the five tents are pitched and the campfire is lit, Clarence the tracker opens the aluminum c.o.c.ktail case that has bounced in the back of the truck all day, and sets out the bottles of gin and whiskey, vodka and Amarula. The last I've grown particularly fond of, a sweet cream liqueur made from the African marula tree. It tastes like a thousand boozy calories of coffee and chocolate, like something a child would sneak a sip of when his mother's back is turned. Clarence winks at me as he hands me my gla.s.s, as if I'm the naughty child of the bunch because everyone else sips grown-up drinks like warm gin and tonic or whiskey, neat. This is the part of the day when I think, Yes, it's good to be in Africa. When the day's discomforts and the bugs and the tension between me and Richard all dissolve in a pleasant, tipsy haze and I can settle into a camp chair and watch the sun go down. As Clarence prepares a simple evening meal of meat stew and bread and fruit, Johnny strings up the perimeter wire, hung with little bells to alert us should anything wander into camp. I notice Johnny's silhouette suddenly go still against the sunset's glow, and he raises his head as if he's sniffing the air, taking in a thousand scents that I'm not even aware of. He's like another bush creature, so at home in this wild place that I almost expect him to open his mouth and roar like a lion.

I turn to Clarence, who's stirring the pot of bubbling stew. "How long have you worked with Johnny?" I ask.

"With Johnny? First time."

"You've never been his tracker before?"

Clarence briskly shakes pepper into the stew. "My cousin is Johnny's tracker. But this week Abraham is in his village for a funeral. He asked me to take his place."

"And what did Abraham say about Johnny?"

Clarence grins, his white teeth gleaming in the twilight. "Oh, my cousin tells many stories about him. Many stories. He thinks Johnny should have been born Shangaan, because he's just like us. But with a white face."

"Shangaan? Is that your tribe?"

He nods. "We come from Limpopo Province. In South Africa."

"Is that the language I hear you two speaking sometimes?"

He gives a guilty laugh. "When we don't want you to know what we say."

I imagine that none of it is flattering. I look at the others seated around the campfire. Mr. and Mrs. Matsunaga are diligently reviewing the day's photos on his camera. Vivian and Sylvia lounge in their low-cut tank tops, oozing pheromones that make poor, awkward Elliot grovel for attention as usual. Are you gals chilly? Can I get your sweaters? How about another gin and tonic?

Richard emerges from our tent with a fresh shirt. There's an empty chair waiting for him beside me, but he walks right past it. He sits down next to Vivian instead, and proceeds to dial up the charm. How are you enjoying our safari? Do you ever make it to London? I'd be happy to send you and Sylvia autographed copies of Blackjack when it's published.

Of course they all now know who he is. Within the first hour of meeting everyone, Richard subtly slipped in the fact that he is thriller writer Richard Renwick, creator of MI5 hero Jackman Tripp. Unfortunately none of them had ever heard of Richard or his hero, which led to a p.r.i.c.kly first day on safari. But now he's back in form, doing what he does best: charming his audience. Laying it on too thick, I think. Far too thick. But if I complain about it later, I know exactly what he'll say. It's what writers have to do, Millie. We have to be sociable and bring in new readers. Funny how Richard never wastes his time being sociable with grandmotherly types, only with young, preferably pretty girls. I remember how he'd turned that same charm on me four years ago, when he'd signed copies of Kill Option at the bookshop where I work. When Richard's on his game, he's impossible to resist, and now I see him looking at Vivian in a way he hasn't looked at me in years. He slips a Gauloise between his lips and tilts forward to cup the flame from his sterling-silver lighter, the way his hero Jackman Tripp would, with masculine panache.

The empty chair next to me feels like a black hole, sucking all the joy out of my mood. I'm ready to get up and go back to my tent when suddenly Johnny settles into that chair beside me. He doesn't say anything, just scans the group as if taking our measure. I think he is always taking our measure, and I wonder what he sees when he looks at me. Am I like all the other resigned wives and girlfriends who've been dragged into the bush to humor the safari fantasies of their men?

His gaze rattles me, and I'm compelled to fill the silence. "Do those bells on the perimeter wire actually work?" I ask. "Or are they just there to make us feel safer?"

"They serve as a first alert."

"I didn't hear them last night, when the leopard came into camp."

"I did." He leans forward, tosses more wood on the fire. "We'll probably hear those bells again tonight."

"You think there are more leopards lurking about?"

"Hyenas this time." He points at the darkness looming beyond our firelit circle. "There's about half a dozen of them watching us right now."

"What?" I peer into the night. Only then do I spot the reflected gleam of eyes staring back.

"They're patient. Waiting to see if there's a meal to be scavenged. Walk out there alone, and they'll make you their meal." He shrugs. "Which is why you hired me."

"To keep us from ending up as dinner."

"I wouldn't get paid if I lost too many clients."

"How many is too many?"

"You'd only be the third."

"That's a joke, right?"

He smiles. Though he's about the same age as Richard, a lifetime in the African sun has etched lines around Johnny's eyes. He lays a rea.s.suring hand on my arm, which startles me because he's not a man who offers unnecessary touches. "Yes, it's a joke. I've never lost a client."

"I find it hard to tell when you're serious."

"When I'm serious, you'll know it." He turns to Clarence, who's just said something to him in Shangaan. "Supper's ready."

I glance at Richard, to see if he's noticed Johnny talking to me, Johnny's hand on my arm. But Richard's so focused on Vivian that I might as well be invisible.

"IT'S WHAT WRITERS HAVE to do," Richard predictably says as we lie in our tents that night. "I'm only bringing in new readers." We speak in whispers, because the canvas is thin, the tents close together. "Besides, I feel a little protective. They're on their own, just two girls out in the bush. Rather adventurous when they're only twenty-something, don't you think? You have to admire them for that."

"Elliot obviously admires them," I observe.

"Elliot would admire anything with two X chromosomes."

"So they're not exactly on their own. He signed on to the trip to keep them company."

"And G.o.d, that must get tiresome for them. Having him hanging around all the time, making cow eyes."