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

Jared slowly let the shotgun and the tranquilizer gun ease to the ground. The metal clatter seemed loud in the standoff’s quiet. Jared turned his head just enough to make eye contact with Lawton.


“Don’t shoot my cat.” Jared’s voice, steely in the morning’s cool breeze.


To lose Sultan now, after all this? No. Jared’s back went rigid.


Lawton’s eyes were cold. The cameras whirred around them. “You have one chance to show me he’s under your custody and control. Do it or I put you under arrest and kill him.”


“I will. Have your team stand down.” Jared kept his face toward his tiger.


Lawton made one quick motion, right palm down, and the ERT guys pointed their weapons at the ground.


More of the store’s customers and employees had returned, their faces peering through the fence and from among the garden center’s displays. A breeze sprang up, stirring the plants and a few errant leaves whispered to the ground. Sultan moaned, weak but chesty. The crowd sighed.


Chapter 97