He shook his head as if she was crazy. “In case you forgot, there was a very unhappy rhino back there that I, for one, would prefer to avoid running into again.”
“And in case you forgot, an assistant is supposed to assist. Are you going to drive or do I need to?”
Alex hesitated briefly, then spun the vehicle around and headed back toward the clearing.
Meghan leaned into the seat, battling nerves that had settled in the pit of her stomach. If the mystery smoker wasn’t Mr. Cowboy, then who was he? And what had he been doing in the middle of nowhere with no one but Meghan’s crew, an angry rhino and a litter of lion cubs in range?
* * *
Alex knew he’d blown their introduction the moment Meghan jumped into the Jeep. The scowl on her face communicated clearly that he’d failed the first test miserably. He strummed his fingers against the steering wheel, then swerved to avoid a reddish termite mound sticking out of the uneven terrain.
He glanced at her again. Khaki shorts, army-green T-shirt and hiking boots were topped off with a straw sun hat and sunglasses to block the South African sun. She looked tough and capable, not at all like someone in need of protection. But protecting her was exactly why he was there.
His father’s pleas reverberated in his mind. It’s a favor for an old army buddy of mine, Ambassador Jordan. He’s received threats on his life in connection with upcoming local elections in the country where he serves. In the last threat, they mentioned his daughter. Said that they know where she is. She won’t accept a security detail, so you’d have to be discreet. It would just be until the elections are over....
Sending threats to an American ambassador was a risky move from someone within the opposing party—and so far the threat hadn’t been backed up by anything credible—but Alex understood Ambassador Jordan’s determination to not take any chances when it came to his daughter’s life. Alex knew all too well the way it could crush a man when he failed to protect the ones he loved. The ambassador was wise to take precautions—wiser than Alex had been.
In the end, though, it wasn’t just his past griefs or his decade in law enforcement, dedicated to the pursuit of justice, that made him take this assignment. No, his coming had little to do with Meghan. It was the chance to revisit his mother’s homeland—something that had been gnawing at the back of his mind—that had eventually clinched the deal.
A flood of memories, untapped for years, rushed over him. As an eleven-year-old, he’d watched the kids walk by in their school uniforms in front of his grandparents’ house. He remembered his ouma feeding him milk tarts and hunting with his oupa. They’d passed away years ago, but he still missed them. Just like he missed his mother.
He shoved the unwanted memories aside. He needed to find out what was going on.
“What are you after?”
“I’m not sure.” She stared straight ahead at the narrow, open path through the bush leading back toward where he’d first noticed the rhino. “Something isn’t right. We’ve had issues with poachers, and I need to ensure that they’re not back.”
Poachers?
Alex wove through the uneven terrain. Just what they needed—another complication. Nothing like throwing a firecracker into the mix of an already explosive situation.
He slowed down as the bush opened up around them. A giraffe lumbered in the distance before stopping to graze. Alex didn’t let the peaceful scene distract him. He was used to the occasional cattle rustlers back on his father’s ranch, but even he knew enough to realize that rhino poaching was a serious and often deadly business.
“Stop here.”
Alex pushed on the brakes, not sure whether or not he wanted to get out from the relative safety of the Jeep. He’d had enough wildlife encounters for one day.
The only other animal he could see was a harmless-looking zebra grazing in the distance. “Are you sure it’s safe to walk around here?”
“You don’t need to worry. The rhino we encountered is probably at least a half a mile from here by now. She was as nervous as we were.”
“But does she have friends? That’s what I want to know.”
Meghan laughed for the first time. “It’s possible, but most of them will keep their distance if they hear us, unless you have another bright idea about getting between a mother and her babies. Don’t forget, there is the lion you scared away in this area, too. We were filming Kibibi and her cubs this morning right over there.” She pointed to a clump of grass covering up a small inlet.
“They’re the subject of the documentary, right?”
“That’s right.”
“You think poachers have been out here looking for them?”
“Maybe. More likely, the rhino was their target. Just look for anything that might confirm someone else was out here.”
Besides their own footsteps through the dry brush and a few birds chirping, the afternoon was still.
Alex started walking parallel to her, hoping he didn’t come across as knowing what he was doing. After ten years as a Texas Ranger, investigative tactics had become like second nature. “You knew I was coming, right?”
“Yes. I was just expecting someone a bit more academic and less...”
“Like a cowboy?” He tugged on the edge of his silver belt buckle. Maybe he should have opted for the safari look.
“That’s one way to say it.”
She pressed her hand against the top of her head to secure the hat covering her dark blond hair as a breeze blew it back slightly, revealing the handful of freckles sprinkled across her tanned face. She wasn’t the only one surprised by appearances. He’d expected more of a bookish-looking grad student from the snapshot her father had sent him. Instead, she was surprisingly pretty. Not his type, maybe, but very pretty. Not that it mattered. Between the time he needed to deal with his father’s failing health and his ambition of being captain for the Texas Rangers one day, a relationship at the moment didn’t exactly fit into the equation.
Especially since Shannon.
Losing her had convinced him that service to God and country were all he needed in his life.
Shoving aside his thoughts, he continued searching while trying to avoid the spindly thorns covering half the vegetation. The terrain reminded him of going out into the bush with his grandfather, a memory he’d carried with him from childhood, making the landscape feel surprisingly familiar.
Something caught his eye. He took out an empty gum wrapper from his back pocket and picked up a cigarette butt, wishing he had his equipment. “This must be what you were smelling. Looks like someone was stupid enough to almost burn down half this reserve.”
“It’s still smoldering.” Meghan took the gum wrapper and cigarette from him. “This isn’t the first time they’ve been here. The authorities found the same brand of cigarette where some poachers killed a male rhino six weeks ago.”
“Could be a coincidence.”
“Could be.”
“What would they want with a small reserve like this one?”
“Forty-thousand-plus dollars a rhino horn is enough motivation for them to strike wherever they want.”
Alex let out a low whistle. “Pretty impressive. But for someone making that kind of money, standing around and smoking while they wait for the rhino to show up seems a little low-tech. I seem to remember reading that poachers have been known to sweep in using helicopters like some high-tech black-ops scenario.”
“You make it sound like a scene from some action movie. There are basically two kinds of poachers,” Meghan said as she headed