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“I’ve been searching everywhere for you,” Jessa chided, directing a worried frown at Seyla. “Where’d you go?”
“Travis Yoder paid me a visit,” Seyla answered. She didn’t break her stride, forcing them to match hers to keep up.
Jessa gasped. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. He threatened Baron, Jessa. He said he’d get him back, dead or alive.”
“He threatened Seyla, too,” Jax added.
Before Jessa could respond, Matt hobbled around the corner, his eyes on Seyla. “Are you okay?”
Jax had never seen the guy move so fast on those crutches. Impressive.
“Did someone hurt you?” Matt’s voice rose with each word.
“I’m fine,” Seyla said. “I need some fresh air, that’s all. I wanted to check the perimeter of the fence line a few times, anyway, to assure myself it’s okay.”
Jax heard his name yelled out and spun around. Uncle Sam waved at him. “Come on,” Jax said, motioning for him to catch up. His uncle quickly closed the distance between them. They hurried to catch up with the others while Jax explained the situation.
His focus lingered on Seyla, still striding in the direction of the shared fence line between his uncle’s property and the sanctuary. Until a commotion erupted to his right.
It centered on a young woman. Jax’s gaze darted to Seyla, flanked by her cousin and friend.
“Why don’t you go check it out? I’ll go with them, and you can meet us there,” his uncle suggested.
Jax nodded. His eyes caught on Seyla one last time before he jogged to the crowd gathering around the woman. “What’s going on?” he asked an older lady when he got close.
The flushed woman panted for a few seconds, her hand on her chest. “Her five-year-old boy is missing!”
/////
Seyla hustled to the sanctuary fence line, sure she’d feel better once she reached it.
The wind whipped her hair across her face. She shoved it aside, only to have it whip in front of her again.
The sky rumbled above, the sun’s light now shut out by a curtain of thick, dark clouds. Passing a trio of giggling preteen girls sitting on the ground taking selfies, Seyla veered around the supply trailers lining the perimeter of the fair and running parallel to the sanctuary fence line. A flash of metal in the distance caught her eye, bringing her to a halt.
A figure dressed in black knelt between a quad and the fencing.
What were they holding? A tube of some kind?
Cairo, a cheetah rescued from a roadside zoo, resided in the same area. She stood behind two layers of fencing, licking a dark object on the ground.
The trio of girls rounded the trailer, laughing and holding out their phones for the others to see the filters they’d added.
Jessa bumped into her. Seyla reached back to steady her friend while staring at the cat.
Something was wrong with Cairo. Her movements were choppy and agitated.
Seyla scanned the area. She gasped when she spotted a break in the inner fence of the sanctuary. When she looked at the figure in black again, she could tell they held not a tube, but a canister next to the fence. A small blue flame shot out from the end of the canister, and the fence glowed as red as molten lava.
Jessa cried out, coming to the same conclusion Seyla had. The driver intended to make an opening in the fence through which the animal could escape. At a fair filled with kids and families. The trio of girls had no idea what was going on behind them, caught up in their impromptu photo shoot.
Seyla froze, unable to comprehend what she saw.
The big cat paced back and forth, pawing at her face. One swipe of those same paws could maim or kill the unsuspecting girls. The cat’s erratic actions made it even more dangerous to whoever it came across next.
Matt and Sam must have rounded the side of the trailer also, because their conversation came to an abrupt halt.
