Free Through the Tiger's Eye by Kerrie O'Connor Page B

the others, lying on their bellies at the edge of the clearing. Below, two figures huddled near the blazing fire. One was sitting, the other lay curled on the ground. Neither wore a brown uniform.
    The air suddenly grew brighter as the moon sailed out from a blanket of cloud. Rahel signalled to Toro. He moved like a silent shadow, sideways, away from the path. Ricardo didn’t have to be told to follow. Lucy was amazed. He didn’t look scared. He looked as though he was having a great time.
    Lucy had seen him look like that before, playing with his friend Dario. Dad used to give them tea-towels for capes and called them the Caped Crusaders. Lucy called them the Crappy Crusaders: Derango and Retardo. They could play soldiers and pretend wars and super-heroes for hours but they were always incredibly noisy. Lucy could hear them miles away, even when they were supposed to be stalking each other. Now, as Ricardo melted into the jungle after Toro, Lucy wondered where elephant-feet little brother had learned to walk like a cat.
    The Tiger-cat had vanished. Rahel stood cautiously and Lucy, not knowing what else to do, crept after her around the edge of the clearing, and circled the house, keeping well under cover. T-Tongue walked obediently on his lead, apparently understanding the gravity of their mission. He was behaving like a very grown-up puppy. No growling, no jumping around like a canine lunatic.
    Rahel moved excruciatingly slowly, making hardly a sound. Lucy was trying desperately to copy her. She imagined she had padded paws, instead of feet, which did exactly what she wanted and landed softly in the right places. Was this how the Tiger-cat did it? In a moment of clarity she recognised what the Tiger-cat had felt earlier. She had thought it was hunger and it was – the hungry anticipation of a skilled hunter. Suddenly, Lucy was having fun. Fear melted. Hunting stirred in her bones.
    Rahel halted abruptly. Ahead Lucy could just see the wire of the fence and a darker shadow looming up behind it. They were right beside the rickety old house. The boys were already at the fence and Toro slipped through the narrow opening, Ricardo on his heels. T-Tongue wanted to go after them but Lucy held him back.
    Rahel gestured to Lucy. Time to go. On a sudden impulse Lucy tied T-Tongue’s lead to a tree and in a low voice told him to stay. He sat quivering but made no sound. Lucy followed as Rahel pushed further into the jungle, creeping right around the back of the building and along the other side. Then Lucy saw a blaze of light through the trees and realised they had reached the far side of the clearing, where the tiger had prowled earlier. Rahel, dropping low to the ground, inched relentlessly forward. Lucy was drawn after her, despite the rock of fear that had dropped into her guts.
    They crawled as close as they dared to the edge of the clearing and lay in the grass and shrubs, watching the roaring fire. Massive trunks blazed, sending out a blast of heat that even they could feel. The guard lying down was snoring.
    The one sitting up took swigs from a bottle, in between gazing into the fire, eyes narrowed. Lucy was close enough to see his expression: morose. Now and again he would mutter something to the guard asleep next to him, or perhaps to himself. He reminded Lucy of Uncle Fred, when he’d had too much of Grandma’s fruity Christmas punch and couldn’t get out of his armchair. He would watch TV, even if it wasn’t turned on , but he would think he was watching the cricket and start swearing at the umpire.
    The guard was watching the fire as if it were TV. He kept muttering to himself as though he were swearing at an umpire too. Lucy could see something next to him, glinting in the firelight.
    A gun.
    Suddenly the guard lurched upright and staggered towards Lucy, then tripped and spun back to face the fire. He was swaying drunkenly, only a few steps from the girls. He had a long ponytail. He began muttering to himself in a