Secret Safari by Susannah McFarlane Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t say goodbye before you left.’
    â€˜Very funny, EJ,’ snapped Adriana. ‘But I can’t say I completely regret my time at SHINE . If I hadn’t been kept there I wouldn’t have heard about the cream and SWR.’
    â€˜The cream?’ asked EJ.
    â€˜Yes, the silly cream that makes animals feel better faster. It made me think that if other people were hunting the animals, particularly all those lovely black animals, perhaps I should too. You know how I like black, EJ, don’t you? I never realised there was so much money to be made from smelly, mangy animals. So I planned my own SWR. Why should A1 have all the fun?’
    â€˜What have you done to the gorillas?’ said EJ. ‘Have you killed them?’ The butterflies were like jet planes in her stomach but now she was also getting angry. What makes Adriana think she can do what she wants with these beautiful animals?
    â€˜No, just shot them with sleeping darts,’ replied Adriana. ‘They were irritating me. It seems they didn’t want me to take their baby.’
    â€˜And you can’t take it!’ cried EJ, stepping towards Adriana.
    â€˜That’s far enough! Of course I can,’ snapped Adriana. ‘There are people who will pay an awful lot of money for a baby gorilla. So there are awful people like me who will supply them. Ha ha! That’s what SWR does.’
    â€˜What do the initials stand for?’
    â€˜Goodness, you are getting slower and slower, EJ. It seems anyone can win Shining Star of the Year these days. It’s obvious, really. SWR stands for SHADOW Wildlife Retail. But I haven’t got time for this, I have a lot more on my list and you’re starting to bore me. Sending me to sleep nearly …There’s an idea …’
    Adriana looked straight at EJ and smiled a thin, mean smile. EJ gulped as she watched Adriana raise her dart gun and aim it at her.
    â€˜You’ll never get away with this,’ cried EJ.
    â€˜Really? Oh, dear, when will my sister learn not to send a girl to do a woman’s job. Nighty-night, EJ zero.’ And with that, Adriana shot a dart that hit EJ in the leg.
    â€˜Adriana, you can’t …’ began EJ. But then she felt incredibly drowsy and her legs went from underneath her. The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was Adriana’s mean cackle of a laugh.

EJ felt cold metal against her cheek and heard the roar of an engine. Where was she? Still a little groggy from the sleeping dart, she felt a pain in her hands and realised they were tied behind her back with the rope burning into her wrists. She lifted her head and looked around and saw she was lying on the floor of a small cargo plane stacked with rows of empty crates, all marked SWR. On top of one of the crates was a pile of parachutes. Above the noise of the engine, EJ could hear Adriana. She wriggled around and saw her at the controls of the plane, head-set on, talking loudly and quickly.
    â€˜Yes, I have the gorilla,’ shouted Adriana into the microphone. ‘Yes, well worth the detour, thank you, or should I say merci, Madame ! But now I am back on the path. Tell SHADOW to get more crates ready, or should that be trunks? Get it? Elephants? Trunks! I’m hilarious; I could be in show business. Oh, but I guess I’m more into monkey business! I crack myself up!’
    She’s mad, thought EJ, completely mad. But also dangerous.
    â€˜I have to drop something off,’ continued Adriana. ‘It has been irritating me for quite some time but now I think it will just drop away. Ha, ha, ha!’
    EJ had the uncomfortable feeling that she was the thing Adriana was going to drop off. She needed a plan. Quickly.
    â€˜Yes, yes, I know, you told me, spots and stripes are the new black. Don’t worry, you’ll get your skins,’ continued Adriana. ‘It’s all on the list. You just let me know where to meet for the pick