Excerpt: Night Safari

They flew for a while, every once in a while Jason pointing out a herd of gazelle or giraffe. Sarah got especially excited when they spotted a line of elephants, marching down towards a watering hole. Jason circled low around the watering hole a couple of times. Strangely, none of the clients had taken out any of their camera equipment, so no one was taking photos. Oh well, his job was just to fly the plane.

“What about the rhinos?” one of the Chinese men asked.

“I’m doing my best, sir, but they don’t seem to be out today. They’re pretty shy, sometimes.”

“We must see rhino,” the man repeated. “This is what we have paid you for, to take us to them.”

“Sir, as I explained, these are wild animals so I can’t guarantee anything.”

“Well, then take us deeper into the park. We will pay whatever overtime is required. Money is no object for us.”

Jason glanced suspiciously at the African men, who were sitting impassively in the very back of the plane, barely registering that this exchange was taking place through the headphones. To these men, dressed somewhat shabbily in jeans and ragged polo shirts, it looked like money was an object. A warning bell started ringing faintly in the back of Jason’s mind. Something was weird about the Chinese man’s insistence and the African men’s placidity. Something was even weirder about their fixation on rhinos, no matter the cost.

Something was up, here. Maybe it was time to turn around and go back.

Jason made a show of checking the fuel gauges, which unfortunately both registered almost full—he had fueled up earlier today in preparation for this flight. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” he said to the group. My instruments here are acting a little strangely and it’s not safe for us to continue. I’m afraid we’re going to have to turn back.”

Four pairs of eyes regarded him hostilely, while Sarah looked at him with a worried frown. “We have paid you for a two-hour scenic flight,” the Chinese man, who seemed to be the spokesman for the group, said coolly. “We have only been flying for forty-five minutes.”

“I’ll refund you half of the money, since by the time we get back to the landing strip it will have been a little over an hour,” Jason said placatingly. “But sometimes things happen with planes, and safety always comes first. I’m afraid I can’t continue this flight in good faith.”

The other Chinese man, who up until now had been silent, leaned forward. “I have had some limited flight training,” he said. “Why don’t you explain to me what you are concerned about with your instruments, so I can explain to the others.” He began scanning the instruments with a keen eye.

Jason was stumped. He was going to have to make something up, but whatever lies he came up with, it seemed like this second Chinese man was going to call him on it. He opened his mouth to speak, his mind racing. He was starting to feel very real fear of this unusual bunch. That vague alarm bell that had started in the back of his mind was now clanging front and center.

Just then, Sarah saved him from having to answer, by calling into the mic of her headset, “Oh—look everyone! Those are rhino… aren’t they?”

The building tension in the plane suddenly shifted focus from the cockpit instruments to the watering hole below them. Sure enough, a sole rhino was picking his way down from the tree line to the edge of the watering hole. Thank goodness—now Jason could at least deliver a rhino sighting before he took this group home and washed his hands of them for good.

The four men were frantically shuffling in their camera bags—apparently, the rhino was the only animal worth photographing. Focusing on getting as close to the animal as possible without scaring it away, Jason banked carefully to make a low pass to give everyone the best shot.

Suddenly, there was a crackle of gunfire, and the plane lurched sickeningly in its bank. Sarah screamed into the microphone, piercing his ears and shattering Jason’s concentration to a dangerous degree. Not having time to explain, he simply reached over to her and yanked the headset off her head. Now she was still screaming, but at least not into his ears, and he was somewhat protected by still wearing the headphones.

With that crisis dealt with, Jason could focus entirely on stabilizing the plane. He slammed on the rudder and eased the plane out of its bank. It straightened out, but they had lost a lot of altitude, and the plane was dangerously close to the tops of the trees, so he thrust in the throttle and gave the engine all the power it had. Air was whistling into the plane from new holes—presumably, bullet holes—but the plane was designed for stability no matter what, and they would probably be able to make it back. Jason breathed a silent prayer of thanks that none of the bullets had pierced the gas tank—or they would have been nothing but a ball of flame at this point.

Okay: straightened out, and climbing—slowly. Now what the hell had been shooting at them?! Jason turned around to check on the passengers, praying to god that none of them had been hurt.

But he realized when he looked into the back of the plane that no one had been shooting at them—his passengers had all pulled out machine guns from their camera bags, and were shooting them down through the plane at the ground below.

Jason exclaimed a loud curse into his microphone, and the ringleader Chinese man swiveled calmly to face him. He raised a small pistol and pointed it at Jason’s face. Acting braver than he felt, Jason said, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You could blow us out of the air if one of those bullets goes into the gas tank.”

“Fortunately for us, we know that the gas tanks in a high-wing Cessna like this one are in the wings above us,” the Chinese man responded, “and it just so happens that the things we want to shoot at are below us. Now, please turn the plane around and land by the watering hole. We have just shot a rhino and we intend to collect it.”

Poachers. Jason should have known. He felt like an idiot—but it was too late to beat himself up now. He had to get himself and Sarah out of this situation safely somehow.