Chapter 6 - THE SHADOW SYNDICATE"Run back!" Emily screamed to the pride, but it was too late. Falling debris had already blocked the entrance behind them. They were trapped inside a collapsing stone coffin.
Sultan looked up at the tumbling rocks. With instinct born of pure wild survival, he let out a short, sharp bark to his pride. The lionesses immediately ushered the younger lions beneath a heavy, overhanging granite ledge that formed a natural cave-like shelter along the canyon wall.
Emily scrambled under the ledge just as a massive fifty-ton boulder crashed down right where she had been standing seconds before, sealing off the canyon in blinding dust and darkness.
For several minutes, the world was nothing but roaring thunder and shaking earth.
When the dust finally settled, absolute silence filled the tight cave space. Sunlight filtered through small gaps in the fallen rocks. Everyone was alive. Sultan licked Emily’s face, checking on her.
"We're trapped... but we're alive," Emily whispered, holding Sultan's neck.
Through a small gap in the rocks near the canyon floor, Emily peered out. What she saw shocked her to her core.
The helicopter hadn't taken off yet. It was sitting on a flat plateau just beyond the fallen rocks. Victor was standing outside the chopper, talking animatedly to a man dressed in an expensive, tailor-made three-piece suit.
Emily squinted through the dust.
The man in the suit turned around to look at the smoke rising from the reserve.
Emily’s breath caught in her throat. She felt like she had been hit by a freight train.
The man funding the poaching ring, the man giving Victor his orders... was Arthur Vance, the Chief Director of the Wildlife Protection Fund and Emily’s personal mentor—the very man who had hired her three years ago!
"No... it can't be," Emily murmured, horror choking her voice.
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Arthur Vance wasn't protecting the wildlife. He was using his position at the head of the global conservation charity to create a massive, protected front for the world's largest illegal animal trade operation. He created the reserve to farm rare species for elite private collectors across the globe!
Arthur was laughing, handing Victor a thick briefcase full of cash. "Good work, Victor. The ranger is dead, the evidence is destroyed, and the public will blame the fire on natural drought. The insurance payout on the reserve will net us fifty million dollars."
