Free Hunted by Chris Ryan Page B

hospital, and she insisted on naming her. She's called Moya.' As he spoke he fitted a large teat to a bottle of formula milk.
Still watching them, the baby elephant curled the end of her trunk into her mouth and sucked it.
Unlike Amber, Paulo had no inhibitions about responding to the creature. He leaned over the fence and caught Moya's eye, giving her a great, welcoming grin.
Moya knew a friendly face when she saw one. She trotted up to him eagerly, her ears forward, framing her face like butterfly wings.
Paulo put his hand down and stroked Moya's head. The baby elephant twisted her head round and tried to get his fingers in her mouth.
Hex flinched backwards on Paulo's behalf. 'Careful, Paulo. Patrick, does she bite?'
It was Paulo who answered. 'She just wants some milk.' He offered Moya his thumb, just as he used to with the calves on his ranch. The elephant pulled it into her mouth, making sucking noises. Paulo looked round at the others, enchanted. 'Her tongue's really soft.'
'Ladies and gentlemen,' said Li, 'I give you Paulo, the man who suckles elephants.'
Patrick was ready with the milk bottle. Moya saw it and tried to reach for it with her trunk, but missed and clouted Paulo on the side of the head.
Paulo reeled backwards, his head ringing. Even though the elephant was only small, it was like being lashed with a thick cable. 'Ouch, I just saw stars then.' He shook his head.
'Careful, Paulo,' said Patrick. 'That's happened to me and it really hurts. She doesn't have much co-ordination yet; she has to learn how to use her trunk. But a fully grown elephant could cave your skull in with a blow like that.'
Moya had leaped backwards as Paulo yelped and now stood eyeing him nervously, her trunk looped into her mouth again. Patrick leaned over the fence and tried to coax her over to him.
'Patrick,' said Paulo, 'may I feed her? I want to be friends with her.'
Patrick handed him the bottle. 'Be my guest. It may take you a while, though.'
Paulo followed his gaze to a crate on the ground. It held another seven bottles. He smiled. 'No problem.' He held out the teat to Moya. 'Come on, querida, time for breakfast.'
Li looked at Patrick. 'Did the poachers hurt her?'
'No, not physically; but they took away her mother. She didn't get enough antibodies from her mother's milk and now she's got an intestinal infection. Do you see how she's bloated around the tummy but thin everywhere else? She's not absorbing any food. We're giving her massive doses of antibiotics in the milk, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. She's always ravenous and she's getting thinner. I suggested that we shouldn't tell Tessa about her - we could have farmed her out to one of the other reserves - but Joe wanted to give her an incentive to get better. Anyway, now Tessa is probably too ill to remember she's here.'
Amber was aghast. 'You're not going to give up on Moya, are you?'
'Just tell us what to do and we'll nurse her,' said Li. 'Twenty-four/seven.'
Patrick shook his head slowly. 'It's not a question of that; we're doing all that can be done. We just have to hope that it works.'
Amber again voiced what they were all thinking. 'How bad is Tessa?'
Patrick took a deep breath. 'I've known people die of septic shock. It's bad.'
The baby elephant took a cautious step towards Paulo. Her lips opened and she let go of her trunk, which tumbled to the ground like a heavy rope. With the next step she took she trod on it and let out a shriek of surprised pain.
As one, Alpha Force dissolved in helpless laughter. After the shocking events of the past few hours it felt good to have something to laugh about.
Paulo leaned over the fence, coaxing her to come near. Hunger eventually overcame Moya's distrust. She sidled up to him, holding her trunk out of the way of her feet like a dowager lifting her skirts, and clamped her mouth onto the offered bottle. Once she had the teat she sucked ferociously. The milk bubbled and sloshed as she pulled on it. But now Patrick had pointed