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

Leonard Walker, a lanky youngster with a jarhead-haircut spoke up. Like Lawton, he was a former marine who kept the hairstyle. “I shot a bobcat once.” The room tittered.


“What do we need to know about this animal?” Snyder spoke up. “Is it rabid?”


“That’s why I’ve got Dr. Silverman online. He’s a professor of zoology at the university. You there, Doctor?” Lawton had called the head zookeepers at Busch Gardens and Lowry Park, but they were all out of town at a zoologists’ conference in San Diego. Great timing. Silverman was the best he could do.


The speakerphone squealed and a man’s voice came over the line. The sound of children in the background was distracting, but Lawton let it go. He’d asked the professor to take the call at home, imposition enough. “Yes, I’m here.”


“Tell us a little about these animals, what they’re capable of.”


Chapter 65