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

On the other side of the wall, the Thousand Oaks Lil’ Tots daycare center’s after-lunch recess ended. The children were herded back indoors. 22


Peter had been working the phones in Jared’s office for two hours straight and by one-thirty, his voice was hoarse. He managed to procure another three hundred dollars’ worth of lumber from a local lumber company over in St. Petersburg. Not much, but enough to rebuild two lynx cages. He buzzed Little Steve on his walkie-talkie.


“Hey, can we spare someone to do a pick up over in St. Pete?” He twirled in the over-sized desk chair, squashed soft in places by Jared’s frame, feeling like a kid playing in dad’s office. Katherine was on her way with lunch, a nice break to look forward to.


Chapter 54