THE THOUSAND DOLLAR HUNT: Colt Ryder is Back in Action! Read Online Free PDF

Badrock has the credentials.’
    ‘He’s hired expert help though, surely?’
    ‘You’d think, wouldn’t you? And yet your young friend was offered work, wasn’t he? And no matter his passion for animals, he would hardly qualify as an ‘expert’ at any proper establishment. There are lots of rumors about the general employing many of his workers from across the border too.’
    ‘Illegals?’ I asked, and Ortiz gave another of his casual shrugs.
    ‘It seems that way,’ he said noncommittally, ‘although nothing official ever gets said about it. He has plenty of security there too, employs a lot of ex-military personnel.’
    ‘You think it’s not well managed?’
    ‘Let’s just say that our director turned down the requests of Badrock’s representative the other week – we will never supply animals to that park, at least under its current ownership.’
    ‘Can you give me some more details?’ I asked, my interest aroused.
    ‘Details?’ he said as he toyed with his glass of water. ‘Hell, okay, why not?’ He looked back up at me, his eyes meeting mine. ‘That crazy general has gone and put the predators and prey animals in the same compounds, “let nature take its course”, he says – you know, lions and crocodiles alongside buffalo and gazelle.’
    I shrugged. ‘You don’t approve of that?’
    ‘ Nobody approves of it!’ he said in amazement. ‘I’ll tell you what he wants, he wants the park to be part of some sick blood sport, get people to pay to watch the animals kill one another.’
    ‘But isn’t that what happens in nature?’ I asked innocently. ‘What shouldn’t a park, or a nature reserve, replicate that?’
    ‘Let me give you two good reasons,’ Ortiz said immediately, holding up his index finger. ‘One, the animals going there are supposed to be looked after, as part of the park’s commitment to the environment it’s supposed to be protecting these animals. Are you going to donate a zebra to Badrock Park if you know that it might get dragged underwater and ripped to pieces by a Nile crocodile a day later?’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so.’ He held up a second finger. ‘Two, Badrock is making a spectacle of nature, bringing out the worst in people and therefore bringing everything we do, everything we’ve struggled for and campaigned for over the years, into disrepute. It’s like the damned Roman circus up there.’
    ‘But it’s legal?’
    ‘He’s greased the right palms alright,’ Ortiz said dismissively, ‘he’s got all the right licenses, yeah. Amazing what you can do if you have enough money. But we’re appealing to the state government about it, and we’ll go higher if we have to, believe me.’
    ‘Okay,’ I said, standing up and bringing our little meeting to a close. ‘You’ve been very helpful. My interest has been well and truly piqued.’
    ‘You’ll keep the police and the press out of this then?’ Ortiz asked as we shook hands.
    ‘I will,’ I assured him.
    ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘And I hope you manage to find that young man. If he’s up at Badrock Park, who knows what might have happened to him.’
    ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I hope I find him too.’
    Then I turned on my heel and left the office, knowing where I would have to head next.
    Badrock Park.

Chapter Three
     
     
    The lion roared, only feet away from me, and I could count the huge teeth in its wide open mouth as the sound passed right through me, chilling me to the bone.
    It was the closest I’d ever been to such a magnificent animal – according to the tour guide, a fully-grown adult male which weighed in the region of five hundred pounds – and I wasn’t sure that the open-top jeep we were in was the most sensible platform for viewing him. On balance, I’d have preferred something with armored glass.
    There were six of us in the jeep – the driver and guide up front, and myself and three other tourists in the back. I was sandwiched in between a young couple and