Her Perilous Wolf by Julie Steimle (best e book reader TXT) 📕

Someone hissed up, “She’s going to Africa to hunt poachers.” Apparently it was someone near her in the line.

Audry peeked back. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“This plane goes to Europe,” one of the college punks said.

“One leg of the journey,” Audry replied, feeling the airplane rumble as it pulled out to taxi to the runway.

The pair next to her stiffened. They were uptight the entire liftoff—silent as kids who were wetting themselves. When the plane had finally levelled off at altitude and the seatbelt sign was off, both of them bolted, seeking other seats.

Audry chuckled to herself.

Yet, within that hour, an elderly man happily shuffled in to take one of the empty seats. He took the aisle. Clearly there had been a trade.

While flying across the Atlantic Ocean, between movies shown on her little seat-back screen and naps, Audry thought she had seen out the window an obnoxious looking, yet oddly squat humanoid being crawling along the aircraft wing outside, tearing up parts of an engine… which consequently made it go out during the flight. Audry shuddered as the plane rocked some from turbulence. The seatbelt sign popped on. The word gremlins once more flickered through her brain. And though they remained aloft, as the rest of the airline engines worked fine and kept them going safely, she heard the elderly man in the seat next to her peer out the same window and murmur, “Trick of the light”.

She wished it were. But light just did not move like that. Not with arms and legs and a wicked grin.

They landed safely in the Paris airport, despite the damage to the engine. The groups staggered off the aircraft with their carryon luggage, each one separating his or her own way. Audry noticed the group of safari-goers heading in her direction within the airport as they transferred airlines. It was one more hop, yet not to Tanzania yet.

While getting in line once more to head to Africa next, Audry noticed this coppery skinned fellow on their flight who, for some reason, stared at her the entire time while in line. He was dressed as anyone, yet his eyes seemed unusually larger than most folk and made her skin crawl. She mentally chalked his peculiar eyes down to a birth defect, or something of that sort, trying to shake off the creepy crawly sensation going down her skin. Yet her gut told her this peculiar man was not unlike Selena or Tom who were more than what they seemed. Happily, his seat was not near hers on the airplane, though she felt like he was still watching her.

This time Audry sat next to the safari-goers. They were groggy, yet happily chatting about their chance to go on a real Safari to see Kilimanjaro—which mean they would be going to Tanzania with her. Yet almost all of them konked out as they flew over the Mediterranean to Nigeria. When they landed to take and lose passengers, the copper-skinned guy got off. They stayed on the plane. Their next location would be the airport in Kilimanjaro.

When they finally came in toward the Kilimanjaro International Airport near the city of Arusha, Audry’s head was spinning from jetlag and a degree of paranoia. What had Rick said? Once you were aware of the supernatural, it does not leave you alone? Something like that at least. Either way, she was sure she had seen three supernatural beings on that one trip alone. Did that mean she would keep seeing them? Or was it just a fluke?

Audry looked out the window to clear her head. The airport was small, with one landing strip in the middle of a desert-tan stretch of land, probably grassland, though she could not tell for sure. It did not service many airlines, despite being an important tourist destination. As they got closer, she could pick out clusters of plants and trees below. The landing came with hardly a bump.

As they rolled in and taxied toward the one building, everyone prepared to depart, yawning, stretching, and unbuckling their seatbelts even though the sign was still on. Audry stretched her arms long. Juma was going to meet her at the airport and take her where she could cope with jet lag before she started up work. She just hoped her equipment made it safely. Those gremlins were still on her mind.

The airplane parked on the tarmac.

When the seatbelt light switched off, Audry allowed others to rush ahead while she stretched once more. Eventually she slid out her seat to take her backpack from the upper luggage rack. Lugging her thin laptop case over the aisle seat, she yawned.

Someone cleared her throat.

Audry turned, thinking she was in someone’s way. However, an older Asian-looking woman was standing on her other side, smiling. “I’m sorry, but did we hear right that you are here to work with anti-poachers?”

Coloring a shade, still groggy, Audry nodded. “Yeah. I have a friend who works with the African Wildlife Foundation in Tanzania.”

“Really?” The Asian woman seemed pleased if not amazed. She sounded American by her accent. “Would you then be coming on safari?”

Audry shook her head. “It’s a not a safari. I’m not here for a vacation. I’m here to work.”

 The woman stared at her. “Oh. Well… I thought you were going along on the safari with us. We heard there would be armed people after poachers on the trip, so…”

Audry laughed, shaking her head. “Maybe you’ll have armed escorts, but my group is independent. We’re also going into Kenya, and we’re not part of a safari. Trust me.”

She heaved her backpack on her back.

“But maybe we’ll see you around,” the Asian woman said.

Shrugging, Audry replied, “They’re big countries. But have a good trip.”

She hauled her things onto her back and walked as best as she could on her groggy feet, traveling down the aisle and out of the airplane. Grabbing the railing to the rolling stairs the moment she was outside, she went down. The luggage was already being unloaded and taken to the airport structure. Audry noticed the Asian woman and a few others coming down behind her.

They were escorted immediately, and rather politely, to the arrival halls where people from their flight were going through the immigration desks. Audry pulled out her passport and other paperwork, groggily waiting her turn. Her documents were handled thoroughly and meticulously, yet stamped in just a few minutes. From there they sent her directly to baggage claim.

Audry grabbed a luggage trolley.

Her checked baggage came out whole and still locked, despite the gremlins she had seen. Shoulders relaxing, Audry breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed their handles so she could heave them onto the trolley which had one wobbly wheel that made the trolley lean left when she pushed it.

Maneuvering to the exit where she would most likely find Juma, Audry’s heart thumped with pure joy. The smells and sounds were so familiar. She had finally made it back.

She spotted Juma Ajanlekoko among a number of tall men behind the barrier—him most recognizable as he was wearing his favorite green shirt and that necklace charm against the evil eye. He was half between smiling and worried as he stood there. But when his eyes set on her, he became entirely smiles—especially with those gorgeous white teeth.

“Ah, my lovely Jabari! Welcome back to Tanzania!” Juma beckoned her forward, marching up with a big long arm hug for her. Yet he pulled back as her hug was not as tight or as long as he liked—at least not as she had done before. His dark eyes took her in, holding her at distance while pulling on her trolley to help her with her luggage. “Come Ife. You must be exhausted. I will take you to lunch.”

“Lunch?” Audry felt dizzy.

He grinned, laughing at her. “Yes! It is nearer to lunch than breakfast. Come. It will be my treat!”

Audry hugged him once more, walking at his side. It was nice to be back.

As they heaved all her luggage into his car trunk, Juma then opening the door for her like a gentleman, his eyes examined her carefully. He went around to the driver’s side, climbing in as a busy bustling man. Yet as he buckled his seat belt, he said, “Though you look happy to see me, I don’t think you look happy. I did not ask on the internet, but I feel I must ask it now. What motivated you to come back, really?”

She blushed. “Oh, come on, Juma. I’m here because I want to be here.”

“Is it another man?” Juma asked, teasing, worried, and yet also jealously wary. Audry knew he liked her. There was no getting around it. But Juma was also a good man, unlike her last two exes, and would never cross the line and hurt her. And he knew all about Hogan, her ex.

She shook her head. “I haven’t had a boyfriend since my last one.”

He stepped back and waggled a knowing finger at her. “Ah… that is not answering the question. Good deflection, though.” He paused, sighing with his hands on the steering wheel, surveying the road ahead of them before starting the car. “Ok, so you don’t want to talk about it. Fine. Let’s get to lunch then. I will then introduce you to some new friends and we’ll meet some old ones. Ok?”

Audry nodded, grinning. This was why she liked Juma so much. He was simply good and left things alone.

Chapter Five

Vicky stopped by Vincent’s apartment unexpectedly, looking half-likely to swat her brother. “What’s this I hear about Audry skipping the country again?”

Vincent leaned up from his computer, wondering at how she got in while she marched across the room in her yoga pants and tee shirt, her yoga mat tucked under her arm. She was all sweaty with her blonde hair up. He then wondered more if he had locked his front door that night after getting in. “I’m sorry, what?”

“She emailed you, Doug, and our aunt and uncle. But I had to hear it from Jean that Audry hopped on a plane to Africa again. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Vincent shrugged, going back to his work. He was in the middle of research about the SRA itself. Though he understood why Stewart did not trust them, something made him believe the organization could not be all bad. They were (according to the website heading) there to protect human beings from dangerous creatures—and Rick himself had warned them to not delve into the supernatural, so there had to be truth to that. He figured they were just overzealous.

“Hello?” Vicky bopped Vincent on the head to get his attention. “You didn’t answer.”

He shrugged again. “Audry said she was stumped in her research, and her friend Juma in Tanzania needed help with whatever they were doing. I’ve communicated with Juma a couple times before. He’s an ok guy, so I didn’t see the reason to worry.”

Huffing, Vicky squatted down next to him. She peered over his shoulder at the computer screen. “What are you doing anyway?”

His first instinct was to close that tab, yet he hesitated. With another shrug, he scooted to the side so she could see better.

“What’s this?” She sounded incredulous.

Sighing once more, Vincent