guessed reminded the animals of the dart gun.
‘They are so quiet,’ Laurie said. ‘It’s spooky.’
‘They’re depressed,’ Kevin said. ‘It could be from the tranquilizer or
from having been imprisoned. But don’t go too close. They might be
quiet, but they are very strong.’
‘What can we do to help?’ Candace asked.
‘Just open the cage doors,’ Kevin said.
With seven people working, it took only a few minutes to get all the
cages open. As soon as the last animal had emerged into the night, Kevin
motioned for everyone to start toward the bridge.
Bonobo number one, who’d been shadowing Kevin, clapped his hands loudly
just as he’d done when Kevin and the women had first come upon him in
the cul-de-sac of the marshy field. Then he vocalized raucously before
starting after the humans. Immediately the rest of the bonobos quietly
followed.
The seven humans led the seventy-one transgenic bonobos in a procession
across the clearing to the bridge of their freedom. Arriving at the
span, the humans stepped aside. Bonobo number one stopped at the cement
stanchion.
‘Sta zit arak,’ Kevin repeated as he spread his fingers and swept his
hand away from his chest for the final time. Then he pointed toward the
unexplored African interior.
Bonobo number one bowed his head momentarily before leaping up on top of
the stanchion. Looking out over his people, he vocalized for a final
time before turning his back on Isla Francesca and crossing the bridge
to the mainland. The mass of the bonobos silently followed.
‘It’s like watching the Exodus,’ Jack quipped.
‘Don’t be blasphemous,’ Laurie teased. But, as with all teasing, there
was an element of truth. She was truly awed by the spectacle.
As if by magic the animals melted into the dark jungle without a sound.
One minute they were a restive crowd milling about the base of the
bridge; the next minute they were gone like water soaking into a sponge.
The humans didn’t move or talk for a moment. Finally, Kevin broke the
silence. ‘They did it, and I’m pleased,’ he said. ‘Thank you all for
helping. Maybe now I can come to terms with what I did in creating
them.’ He stepped up to the bridge and pressed the red button. With a
whine, the bridge retracted.
The group turned away from the stanchion and began to trudge back to the
pirogue.
‘That was one of the strangest pageants I’ve ever seen,’ Jack said.
Halfway to the canoe, Melanie suddenly stopped and cried: ‘Oh, no!
Look!’
Everyone’s eyes darted across the river in the direction she was
pointing. Headlight beams from several vehicles could be intermittently
seen through the foliage. The vehicles were descending the track leading
to the bridge mechanism.
‘We can’t get to the boat!’ Warren blurted. ‘They’ll see us.’
‘We can’t stay here, either,’ Jack said.
‘Back to the cages!’ Kevin cried.
They all turned and ran toward the bulwark of the jungle. The moment
they ducked behind the cages, the headlight beams swept across the
clearing as the vehicles turned to the west. The vehicles stopped, but
the headlights stayed on and the engines kept running.
‘It’s a group of Equatoguinean soldiers,’ Kevin said.
‘And Siegfried,’ Melanie said. ‘I can recognize him anywhere. And that’s
Cameron McIvers’s patrol car.’
A searchlight snapped on. Its high-intensity light played along the row
of cages then swept the bank of the river. It quickly found the canoe.
Even fifty yards away, they could hear excited voices responding to the
discovery of the boat.
‘This is not good,’ Jack said. ‘They know we’re here.’
A sudden and sustained burst of heavy gunfire shattered the tranquility
of the night.
‘What on earth are they shooting at?’ Laurie asked.
‘I’m afraid they’re destroying our boat,’ Jack said. ‘I suppose that’s
bad news for my deposit.’
‘This is no time for humor,’ Laurie complained.
An explosion rocked the night air, and a fireball briefly illuminated
the soldiers. ‘That must have been the gas tank,’ Kevin said. ‘So much
for our transportation.’
A few minutes later, the searchlight went out. Then the first vehicle
made a U-turn and disappeared back up the track leading to Cogo.