A man. A tiger. A tornado. Jared Montaine owns a big cat rescue in Florida and faces financial pressures, getting over his ex-wife, and the challenge of suburbia creeping ever closer to his enclave for the animals. But when a tornado wrecks part of the refuge, Jared's worst fear comes to life: his Siberian tiger, Sultan, escapes. It's a big cat handler’s nightmare: a tiger on the loose, confused, lost -- and hungry. Jared races against the police, the media, and the hysterical public, all of whom are clamoring for the tiger's hide. He must re-capture Sultan before the cat is killed -- by traffic, by SWAT, or by a civilian who just wants to shoot a tiger. With fellow wildlife handlers at his side, Jared fights desperately to find and capture Sultan before the tiger injures or kills a human. Because that would lead to his worst nightmare -- having to kill the tiger he hand-raised from a cub. Jared’s commitment is tested -- to his animals, his refuge, and his belief that saving the life of even one tiger is worth losing everything.

The Tiger Whisperer

Maybe I should call them and ask if they’re missing any animals.


Major Bowman’s office put him through promptly. Bowman sounded a little wired. “You read the report?”


“Yes, and talked to Clinton. Sounds—odd.”


“There’s more. Some local yokel named…” Lawton heard the sound of papers shuffling through the line. “…Bartow called in a 911 last night. Fired shots at what he claimed was a tiger. Said it killed his two dogs. The report number is 2628501, look at it now.”


“Let me pull over.” Lawton veered into a Burger King and parked. He punched up the report and skimmed it. “Well, somethingkilled his dogs. And here the responding officers say there were definite paw prints on his truck. Did they get pictures?”


“One of them did. It’s something big, bigger than a dog. Whatever it was, it scared him enough for him to shoot out his own windshield.”


Chapter 52