See part 1 for disclaimer…
Part 6
By the time that Emilie returned, Harm and Mac had finished their preliminary report and had struck up a conversation with a Russian soldier who knew a bit of English.
"How did it go?" Mac asked her.
"We did manage to arrest them on possession of weapons within a protected area. However, I don't think that that we'll be able to prosecute them, since they weren't in possession of any endangered species. They'll be escorted out of the park and be taken into custody by the local authorities."
Catriona returned to the compound at sunset with the entire elephant herd in tow. Harm and Mac noticed that many of them sported old battle scars, no doubt courtesy of such poachers. The others they reasoned had probably been orphaned by the actions of poachers. But Harm and Mac both knew that these were the lucky few, they had escaped. Catriona jumped down from Alexei's back, leaving him and the rest of the herd to scatter over the land around the compound. That night, dinner was eaten in relaxed silence, as each one of them contemplated the impending events of the next day.
OOOO
At 0600 the next day, Harm and Mac were up, dressed and packed, then walked out onto the front porch to find Emilie already up and sitting on a large black trunk, which they assumed held Catriona's belongings.
"She's just saying goodbye to Alexei," Emilie informed them, pointing to the driveway, where the elephant was lying on his side, Catriona lying on his up-facing side, both enjoying a last cuddle.
Catriona had her eyes closed savoring the moment and Alexei's trunk was caressing the side of her face. Catriona was singing softly to the elephant, in a language that Harm guessed was Swahili.
The Russian troops had already packed up their camp and they helped Harm load his and Mac's belongings and Catriona's trunk into one of the jeeps.
A Russian soldier approached Mac and told her, "I believe we should be going now, Major."
She replied, "Just give her a few more minutes to say goodbye."
After a minute or two, Catriona rose, patted the great elephant then walked over to Emilie, who gave her a long hug and a few words of encouragement in French. Catriona then walked unsurely over to Harm and Mac, who each placed a reassuring hand on each of her shoulders and she climbed into the waiting jeep. Harm and Mac then went over to Emilie and thanked her for her hospitality,
"Don't worry, Ma'am," they both told her, "We'll take good care of her until we get her to the Carters."
With her thanks, they both climbed into the jeep, which pulled away behind the rest of the convoy of Russian jeeps.
OOOO