Leander wanted nothing more than to stay in Base Four, but he grabbed the bag and went into the corridor, barely getting a few steps before hearing a cold voice that chilled him deeper than the snowstorm.
“I said, don’t move!”
“All right, all right,” said Eryx. “I was just putting up my hands.”
Leander edged forward cautiously as the poacher paused.
“Yeah, you do that.” Another pause. “Good. Now get up. Slowly.”
Cursing internally, Leander eased himself around the bend enough to catch a glimpse of what was happening. There were more than four poachers. They should have—no, he should have—realized there was something wrong when they’d come across only one leopard after having seen the poachers definitely going after two. But he’d been distracted with planning how he would enjoy the tim
