Chapter 6 On the Run

Amba and Moriko ran straight for the trees and kept going. Moriko's tan pants and light brown t-shirt helped her blend in with the African bush. Amba on the other hand, with his pale blond hair and light blue shirt, was a little more noticeable. Keeping a hand on Moriko, Amba went into stealth mode, to cover their tracks. He called on his tiger instincts to lead them away from danger and to find safety. But this was Africa, not his homeland. He' would still have to be on the lookout for danger from animals he wasn't used to.

After an hour of running, Amba stopped to get his bearings. He knew he was headed north and slightly east. They stayed away from dirt roads and trails, keeping to the brush. The terrain was rough, making the going slower than normal, so they had covered about six miles in that hour.

"Where are we going?" Moriko pulled her hand out of Amba's and checked herself over. Neither of them had taken the time to check for injuries in their initial escape. Now Moriko took the time. Apart from some bruises and small scrapes that would heal quickly, she was fine.

"I have no idea other than north and east." Amba checked himself as well. He found nothing more alarming than a scratch on the head, which was already healing. He looked around the area, noting dense brush, trees, and grass. The land took a dip about a hundred yards ahead, most likely a gully. Amba thought that would be a good place to travel. There was plenty of brush and most important, they would be below the horizon, not as easy to spot.

"Come on, we'll go this way," Amba said as he took Moriko's hand once more. Moriko didn't move and pulled her hand away. Amba looked at Moriko, confused by her refusal to move. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just want to know why you keep hold of me. I am quite capable of keeping up with you and I don't exactly need a babysitter."

Amba smiled, understanding her reluctance to have him pull her around by the hand. "Sorry, I want to keep us as invisible as possible."

"And how is holding my hand going to help?" Moriko was a bit skeptical about Amba's intentions.

"It's easier to show you." He first looked around then chose a direction off to the north, away from the gully, and walked a little ways away. He concentrated a bit and went into stalker mode.

Moriko watched him walk away, somewhat confused. She guessed he was going to show her some skill he had. In a blink, he faded out for a second. As he came back toward her, he made barely a sound and she noted he seemed to blend into the background. He was difficult to see and hear, even for her.

Amba smiled as he reached her. "It's called stalker mode by my clan. It's similar to what the tiger does when it goes hunting."

Moriko nodded, understanding. "You have the ability of being basically invisible."

"Yes. My holding your hand helps to keep you invisible as well." He pointed to where he had walked. "Those tracks lead in that direction. Our captors will follow in that direction until the tracks disappear. It will confuse them, at least for a while." He turned and pointed at the gully. "We'll go this way." Taking Moriko's hand once again, they headed in the indicated direction.

The gully was actually an old riverbed, dried out for hundreds of years. Brush grew along the sides and into the gully, leaving a game trail right down the middle. The sandy trail had plenty of animal tracks criss-crossing it.

Amba stopped a moment to show Moriko that their tracks faded into the dirt, undistinguishable from the other tracks. He studied the tracks other animals left in the sand to get an idea what they may encounter. There were cat tracks, not large enough for a lion, so probably belonged to a leopard. Amba was able to identify tracks by basic types, such as the cat tracks or hoofed animals. Amba identified at least five different types of hoofed animals. The horse like hoof tracks most likely belonged to a zebra. It was the big round tracks that caught his attention. He had never seen anything like them, but the only animal big enough to make such tracks was an elephant. That was an animal he didn't really want to have a confrontation with.

Lenka sat up with a start when his phone rang. His drink had relaxed him enough that he had taken a cat nap. He grabbed the phone, not really expecting it to be Takashi.

"Hello?"

"You have my daughter. I want her back."

Lenka was taken slightly by surprise at the tone of voice. The tone was flat, no emotion to it, at least not that Lenka could detect. What bothered Lenka most was that Takashi knew who had taken his daughter. This made him pause momentarily. How did Takashi know?

Following Takashi's lead, Lenka got right to the point. "Yes, I have her. You can get her back by selling me your company." Lenka thought he heard a soft growl, then the phone went silent. Takashi had hung up. This was not the reaction he expected. What was Takashi up to? What was he planning? Most importantly, how had he known who had taken his daughter? Lenka was slightly unsettled by this turn of events. He had a glimmer of doubt that things would turn out in his favor. Shaking off the doubt, he had to think how to make sure everything went his way. He considered his options. Most likely, Takashi would fly in a private jet and show up in Port Elizabeth, at the shipping company. Lenka decided to have a few men waiting to "escort" Takashi to the estate. The unknown factor was how much Takashi knew. This was a major problem. If Takashi knew enough, he could head straight for the estate, possibly with back up, such as the authorities or his own henchmen if he had any.

The cell phone rang and Lenka picked it up. "What!" he snapped.

"I have bad news." It was the doctor. "Warin didn't make it. Mac is recovering but will need several weeks to completely recover."

Losing two of his best men and a third out of commission for several weeks, was a blow. Finding such good men was hard, and could take weeks. He'd have to accept whoever Killian got.

Lenka decided on a shower and change of clothes as his suit was rumpled. He knew he had at least 17 hours before Takashi arrived. And he was sure Takashi would come. After a quick shower and change into a tan silk shirt, a brown tie, tan slacks, white shoes and white suit coat, he went back out to see what progress his people had made.

The biggest pieces of the debris were still in evidence, pulled into a pile on one side of the air strip. The rest had been carted off in trucks and dumped somewhere in the bush. Two men started loading a big piece of the plane onto a flatbed truck. Where they would take the junk Lenka didn't know and didn't care. As Lenka watched, Killian came back with his men as well as a few more. Lenka wasn't pleased to see Killian without prisoners.

"Where are they?"

"Sorry Sir, no sign of them. No tracks; nothing." Waving an arm at the four new recruits, he introduced them as military soldiers willing to earn extra money. "I have a few more men arriving shortly.

Frustrated with how things were going, Lenka took it upon himself to organize a search party, as his men seemed too unfocused to do anything. He was still upset that his plans weren't going as expected and worried about Takashi. His men took the brunt of his frustrations. He yelled, threatened and bullied until he was satisfied that he had everyone's attention. His first action was to call in a helicopter to do sweeps. His plan was to go with the helicopter and control the ground search. Next he picked four men to guard the estate. As he gave them their orders, three more arrived in a jeep. These men were scruffy looking. They were mainly poachers, making money killing or capturing endangered animals. They weren't too concerned about what the job was as long as they got paid. They quietly joined the group.

"Form two search parties," Lenka told Killian. "Start from here; one group sweep east, the other west." He waited impatiently for Killian to form two groups. Killian gave one of the military men a radio, making sure they were all on the same frequency. "I'm going in the helicopter and will direct your movements. You will stay out until it's too dark to see. We'll come back here and go out again at first light." He stared hard at everyone until he got affirmative responses. "Get going."

They followed the meandering gully trail for about an hour, Amba keeping an eye on the tracks. He had dropped the stalker mode and he was no longer holding Moriko's hand. Moriko had been observing Amba's alert and searching gaze. She wondered what his tracking skills were and asked what he was looking for.

"A lead to a water source." He looked at Moriko. "It's hot and even demons need water sometimes." As he checked the tracks, he continues his explanation. "My people are hunter-gatherers. We learn at an early age how to track, how to find water." Amba paused and pointed to some tracks. "That is a cat. Given the size, probably a leopard."

"How fresh are they? I mean, could the leopard still be around?"

"Not more than an hour old." The tracks led up out of the gully. Amba didn't follow, but if he had, he would have seen that the tracks doubled back along the gully.

"So what are your people like?" Moriko was curious about this easy going youkai.

"Like I said, we are hunter-gatherers. We hunt for our food, keep away from humans and prefer to be left alone."

"Sounds kind of lonely."

"Not really. As Tiger Folk, by our very nature we tend to be loners."

"How many Tiger Folk are there?"

"Only my clan is left. There are only 23 left in the village, not counting me."

"That's not many at all. There are no other Tiger Folk?"

"Not in Siberia that we know of. We don't get around much though."

"What's your family like?"

"I have two siblings, a brother and sister." Amba was pleased that Moriko was interested in learning about his family. He really liked her and hoped she felt the same. He knew there was something special about Moriko. "My Father is our leader. He's very adept at keeping us hidden from humans."

"So how did you end up here?"

"I have the 'wanderer's soul', as my father calls it."

Moriko smiled. She could hear the amusement in his voice.

She was about to ask about that wandering soul when she thought she heard a sound.

"Did you hear that?" she whispered just as Amba paused a moment, listening carefully. He was sure he heard a very soft growl. He put his finger to his lips in shushing sign to keep Moriko from saying or doing anything. Tuning into the natural world, he picked up the heartbeat of a cat. He was able to get a direction, behind them and off to the left.

"It's a leopard" he told Moriko. Turning slowly, Amba scanned the brush off to the left. It was thick and hard to see into. He caught a brief flash of golden yellow and a black spot; then nothing. As he looked for the leopard, a low rumbling sound coupled with breaking brush came from the direction they were heading.

"Elephant" Moriko observed as she moved to stand closer to Amba.

The elephant, a big bull, around 50 years old, pushed its way through the brush, in search of food. His tusks were fairly long, weighing around 70 pounds each. Those tusks could help him get food or fend off any threat. He had smelled the leopard but was unconcerned. The leopard posed no threat to an elephant. It was the scent of the other creatures that stopped him. He raised his trunk and smelled the air. The scent was similar to human but not the same. It bothered him and he went on the defensive; he flared his ears, trumpeted and charged.

The 16 hour flight to Africa was spent going over information and making plans. Sesshoumaru, dressed in his customary white, shirt and jeans rather than a suit, was seated at the head of the conference table the executive jet was equipped with. InuYasha and Kagome sat on one side, both dressed similar to Sesshoumaru. Sherrin and Hikaru sat on the other side. They too were dressed in comfortable shirts and jeans. Moose was asleep under the table.

Sesshoumaru would have preferred that Sherrin stay home, but rather than argue, he decided to have Sherrin closer at hand. Together with Hikaru and Kagome, they would search the estate for any incriminating evidence. Sesshoumaru was sure there would be guards and most likely staff in and around the estate. Dealing with the guards and staff to make sure the estate was safe for Sherrin and Kagome to search was priority. Moose would go along with Sherrin as extra help and guard. Newfoundlands are known for being very friendly and great nannies for kids, but they are also capable guard dogs.

InuYasha went over the info Kouga had sent, getting a mental image of Lenka's personality. And he didn't like the image he got. It reminded him of Naraku. Lenka was a heartless, soulless monster. He didn't care how he made his money, who he killed or had killed, to get that money. All Lenka cared about was power. He liked being able to control those around him, whether it be with money or force. Those that worked for him either had the same heartless attitude or were afraid of him.

"Most likely Lenka will have an 'escort' waiting for us," InuYasha related what he had learned about Lenka. "He's power hungry and likes to be in control. My guess is the authorities are on his pay roll or bribed."

"What do we do with any evidence we might find?" Sherrin asked, wondering that if they couldn't trust the authorities, who could they call for help.

"Keep any evidence you find and we'll worry about it later."

They discussed the general plan of action, making sure they all knew what was expected of them. How the plan worked depended on everyone being able to adjust as the situation arose. As far as Sesshoumaru was concerned, there was no room for failure.

Notes:

Thanks to Africam, I have some idea of what the land looks like and what animals will likely show up.

Sorry it has taken so long to get the next chapter up. I've been busy and just haven't been in the mood to write. I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas for what happens next. Please let me know how my writing is. Pointers and suggestions on better writing are always welcome.