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

He moved back to the picnic table, bent and picked up the crumpled card. Who was Paul Blanchfield and how did he know so much about Jared’s personal business? The land lease was something only Mrs. Clifton’s attorneys had known about; Jared hadn’t even told Peter about that legality. As a nonprofit corporation, the refuge could never sell the property. He’d been able to buy Mrs. Clifton’s land lease for one hundred dollars as she directed in her will.


Scary that Blanchfield knew all that. Jared tugged out his cell phone and grabbed David Evans’s business card from his wallet. Two rings, then the reporter was on the line, sounding excited. “Did you catch him?”


Jared smiled. “No, not yet. Listen, I just got a strange visit from a Paul Blanchfield. Can you find out about him for me?”


“Everything you can finagle. You’ve got ways, don’t you?”


Chapter 74