The Last Tiger Read online

  ‘I said what the fuck are you going to do now? Tell me or so help me God I will punch your fucking lights out!’

  ‘What I do is none of your business, my boy,’ Giles said, sweating profusely as he attempted to restore the bones of the precious fire. Much of the ready wood from the beach had been used. What was left half burnt was needed.

  ‘Answer the question.’

  Momentarily, Giles rocked back and sat on his heels. ‘Felix, you have done nothing but strut around as if you own the place since we all got here. Quite frankly I was hoping we’d seen the last of you.’ He returned to sorting the mess. ‘You can’t imagine the disappointment I feel at your return.’

  ‘Answer the question.’

  Giles refused, little shakes of the head wobbling his cheeks. ‘I have nothing to say to you. What is happening here is my business, not yours.’

  ‘You think?’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Jesus. You really are a foul little man.’

  ‘Felix. I am not the one acting like an animal. If anyone is foul, Sir, it is you. Your language for one is an absolute disgrace. We have a lady and child present.’

  ‘You attacked me, you fucking shit.’ Felix carefully touched the back of his head, fingers seeking blood.

  ‘I was forced to act. I had to stop you opening the door. Nothing personal. Anyone would have done the same. You would have done the same.’

  Felix kicked a blackened stump of wood away just as Giles reached for it. ‘I want you to tell me why there is a boy locked inside your hut,’ he roared, ‘And if you don’t tell me now I am going to beat it from you. And if you don’t tell me after that, then we will never know! Do you understand? I want you to think about that. We will never know because you won’t be able to breathe, let alone speak!’ Bee, gasped aloud as her grandfather angrily reached down and grabbed the scientist by his throat, pulling him up before shoving him back down, hard. A tight choke issued from Giles. ‘I’d rather be an animal than be like you,’ hissed Felix. ‘Filthy bastard.’

  Taking a moment to recover, Giles brushed the sand from his shirt. ‘Very civilised behaviour indeed, and a fine example for your granddaughter. Well done.’

  ‘Leave Bee out of this. Is it civilised to lock a boy in a wooden hut on a beach in thirty-five degree heat? Which part of that is civilised, Giles? Jesus, how long has he been in there?’

  ‘The hut is in the shade. He has food and water.’

  ‘You fucking idiot. Bloody hell, Giles! I am warning you…’

  Standing now, Giles’s fat face remained fearless, ‘Since when did I answer to you, old boy?’

  ‘Good point, old boy. So to whom do you answer? Huh? Who?’

  Giles did not reply, but sighed disdainfully.

  ‘Listen,’ said Felix, more quietly now as if composing himself, ‘I just want you to tell me what the hell is going on. You can do that, can’t you?’

  Giles shrugged. ‘If you must know, I found him trying to steal from me, from my hut, and so I locked him in. Quite simple. Anyone else would have done the same.’

  ‘No they wouldn’t. Steal? Are you fucking mad?’

  ‘Caught the little fellow red handed.’

  ‘Fine. So you caught him stealing. So what. What on earth do you plan to do? Call the local police with smoke signals and have him arrested? What’s the fine for theft on Tua? A monkey?’

  ‘Don’t be facetious.’

  Moving towards the hut, Felix snapped a threatening look as if daring Giles to follow, ‘Stay where you are or I will knock your fucking head off. Do you understand?’

  Giles raised open palms in surrender and watched anxiously as Felix again looked in at the boy, who remained coiled tightly in the cooler sand below the surface. He then strode back across the beach and punched Giles square in the face.

  For a moment, Bee felt she did not know Pappy at all.

  ‘Your grandfather is a delinquent,’ Giles hollered, as he scrambled to his feet, addressing Bee directly for the very first time since they’d met. ‘I shall be reporting him for assault when I get back to England. I may also contact social services. It’s an abuse to bring a child on a trip like this, and… and… well… who knows what other violations you have suffered at his hands while we all slept!’

  Bee was utterly confused, no less so as her grandfather again launched himself at Giles. But this time there were no punches, only Giles pinned to the ground and Felix gripping his throat tightly until the fat man began to suffocate beneath him. Terrified, Bee begged him to stop and Felix stood up, but not before spitting.

  ‘You dug the sides in. You dug the fucking sides in, Giles. That means you intended the hut to be secure. You expected the need. You planned it. The poor bugger has tried to dig a way out and hit wood!’

  ‘Rubbish. It’s a ridiculous fantasy. How could I know that the boy was going to rob me?’ Giles’s voice was hoarse. He rubbed his sore neck.

  ‘Exactly. How could you? So why the bar on the outside?’

  ‘It’s a standard build, man.’

  Felix turned and inspected the hut, ‘For Christ’s sake, I can see where the door has been cut to fit the space,’ he pushed the bar clear of the door, ‘this hut was customised. It’s not even the same height as the one next to it. It’s lower because you buried it.’ He began digging beneath the door itself. He soon hit wood. ‘Jeez. You really did think of everything.’

  ‘It’s your imagination, Felix.’

  ‘Really? This hut is a figment of my imagination, is it?’

  ‘For goodness sake, man, pull yourself together.’

  ‘Giles, you and I both know that you can’t just buy huts in some remote Malaysian village in the way you can buy sheds back home.’ He stared at Giles steadily, ‘You had someone make them, but they weren’t quite right so you buried this one deeper Look. There is hardly any head room,’ Felix measure himself against it. ‘Ah. And what have we here?’

  Where the bar had been a padlock was revealed.

  ‘Were you expecting fucking Houdini himself?’

  Giles did not answer.

  ‘Give me the key.’

  ‘Certainly not.’

  ‘Fine.’ Felix began booting the door.

  The sound of an outboard motor drew Bee’s attention away from the commotion. At first she thought it was the old boatman scurrying off again, but she saw a second craft rounding the headland and in it several official looking men standing and staring toward the island. Bee excitedly called to her grandfather that help had arrived, and as the heavy door began to splinter, he stopped to look.

  ‘Not long now, and Tigger and I will be off your hands,’ said Giles, smiling.

  ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

  ‘Your granddaughter is quite correct. Help has indeed arrived. But for me. Not for you. Little Tarzan and I are going on a journey.’

  ‘Tigger or Tarzan? Nice one Giles.’ Felix scowled.

  Giles shook his head, smirking ‘No need to be so defensive, Felix. He can’t understand what I am saying and who knows, maybe he doesn’t even think like you or I. Cognitive thought born into such primitive circumstances may vary greatly from that in other humans, well, any human other than you, I suppose,’ he chortled. ‘I am not sure an aversion to insult will be much of a feature in this lad, old boy. So in answer to your question, I pick Tigger.’

  ‘Thought you were a professor? You sound like the village idiot after a few pints. Then again, perhaps you’ve had too much sun. The world is full of tribes-people, you prick, full of all sorts of different people, in fact. And we’re all the same under the skin, although when I think of you the truth of that statement galls me. God forbid that I should ever be like you.’

  ‘Indeed. But this boy is entirely different from us all, and I shall prove…’

  ‘You think? You disgust me, you know that? Are you suggesting… what?’ Giles attempted to reply but Felix talked over the top of him, ‘Huh? What? That this boy is a lesser b
eing. That you are… are what?’

  ‘He is perhaps an entirely different species from us. That is what I am suggesting. This is what I want to…’

  ‘A different species?’ Felix roared again, ‘You are suggesting he is a different species?’

  ‘I am merely suggesting that this boy…’

  Felix raised a hand, ‘Just stop there. My God, it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind about him no matter what the truth of it. You’re a maniac. And it’s not a very scientific approach I have to say, more like a piece of crap that might get you your fifteen minutes of fame but will eventually make you look like the idiot you are.’

  Giles drew himself up, and looked levelly at Felix, ‘I do not desire celebrity, my friend; my motives are as far removed from that demon as today’s youth are bewitched by it. I do, however, have a sense of duty. This is both humanitarian rescue and groundbreaking discovery, all in one.’

  ‘Well let’s not allow the truth to get in the way of a good story. It’s bollocks Giles, you know it, I know it, and everyone else will know it soon enough. And I will tell you this much, I’ll be the first to rejoice at your professional suicide. You cannot just take a human being because you want to. There are laws, Giles. Professional standards. Ethics. The boy has rights. You won’t get away with it.’

  Giles shook his head, expression not oafish and dismissive, but weighted with something deeper.

  The boat came close to the shore and the men hopped out, wading through the shallows.

  Mark found the courage to speak, ‘You’re going? What about the survey? We’ve barely begun. There’s so much left to do here, people are relying on us, you can’t just walk away, we’ve a job to do.’

  Felix threw him accusing look.

  ‘Now hang on a minute,’ Mark burst, ‘I had no idea he planned to do this.’ His eyes drifted to Lydia who was shaking her head almost as if something were stuck to it.

  ‘You didn’t wonder why an anthropologist wanted to come to an uninhabited island?’

  ‘Listen, Felix, he said he thought… he wanted to see… I mean he said he thought there must be something.’

  ‘And there was nothing. Nothing here at all,’ stated Giles, the shadow of unspoken emotion gone. ‘It was I commissioned to research it and it will be my report that is read. I see nothing to warrant special protection, nothing unusual. It’s all too late.’

  ‘Giles,’ interrupted Lydia, sharply, ‘this place has a significant number of endemics, you can’t just ignore that fact. And most of it is still pristine. Don’t you care? What the hell is wrong with you? You know I could just report back independently, don’t you? That Mark and I could… could… well, we could report you.’

  ‘The place is doomed, my dear girl, and there is nothing to be done to prevent it, people more powerful than either you or I can imagine will certainly have their way on Tua. I’m merely saving our young cub from a slow and lonely death. And with regard to sidelining my authority… I can only strongly advise that you don’t.’

  ‘This is immoral and illegal. This is not what we’re about. Surely you are a better man than this? I know you are. Yes, all fields of science can be tough – testing morally. Bloody hell, you only have to think of animal testing. But this?’

  Again Giles’ face became unreadable.

  ‘You’ve had a tough time in the past, I know, with your health and…’

  Giles interrupted, ‘This boy is the greatest find of all time, Lydia my dear. Don’t you see? I am pursuing something of immense proportions, of vital interest to the world, and I will not allow sentimentality to cloud my judgment. I thought as a scientist you would understand. We do whatever we can… whatever it takes… to reveal the truth. This may be living proof of true divergence in modern man, or more incredible still a living example of parallel evolution,’ he squawked with pleasure at the thought of it. ‘Imagine that, an entirely separate species, in there, in that wooden box, alive. And you want what? What on earth is it you expect me to do, having seen what I have seen? Walk away? Let him go because I might be breaking the law? I am about to make a huge leap in our understanding of hominid evolution. This is it, Lydia. This is it!’

  ‘Whilst lining your own pockets at the same time?’ added Felix. ‘And never mind the life of the boy, the loss of his home.’

  ‘Good God, don’t be so wet! It’s merely an unfortunate by-product of what will prove to be phenomenally important research. The greater good is what matters, Felix, surely you understand that in your line of work? How many villagers’ incomes have you been instrumental in crushing in order to save a few trees? This is just one boy, one child that could answer so many questions. A necessary sacrifice, one might say.’

  ‘It won’t rescue the world from oblivion though, will it? Don’t compare me to you. Here am I trying to save something, there you are helping others destroy it.’

  ‘Oh dear, so it is all about you is it, Felix? Ever the egotist.’

  ‘People like me look forward, Giles, and I am proud of it. People like me are trying to make a difference, attempting to preserve the future for all our children, including that poor boy in there. And you? What? You’re looking back, wanting answers to questions that don’t even matter, willing to destroy this island and ruin a young life to satisfy the curiosity of the only people you can relate to, other obnoxious self-righteous bigots like yourself.

  ‘You don’t know if he is even from Tua, he could be from any of the islands around here, even from the mainland for that matter.’

  Giles sighed wearily, ‘Did you even look at him? Do you ever see anything beyond yourself? Marching in here like you own the place, treating me like dirt, blithely talking to goodness knows who trying to stop goodness knows what, as if all you have to do is show up and they’ll surrender. It’s been embarrassing watching you, quite frankly, and if there was not a lady present I might say that you don’t know your ass from your elbow.

  ‘But perhaps you are trying to fool me into doubting what my own eyes have seen, doubt what I know the boy to be; more likely it is still just all about you, you saving the day, the big hero. But where’s your resolve, eh, old thing, where’s the passion gone? You’re just an old man fooling himself. It’s easier to deny some things, isn’t it?’

  As the men came up the beach, Bee looked to her own boat anchored nearby, relieved to see the old man had not lost his nerve.

  Giles greeted the newcomers and produced the key to the padlock. After a short discussion they approached Felix. One man held his arms behind his back as Giles took a shot, punching Felix in the stomach hard, and then in the mouth.

  Sick with terror, Bee tearfully ran to her grandfather’s side as Giles stalked away.

  ‘Pappy’s fine, I’m a tough old thing,’ Felix gasped, voice hushed. ‘Listen to me. I need you to go and look at the boy, be very quick, and do something, anything to show we want to help him. He must be scared stiff. You’re such a smart girl, Bee. Off you go and do it now, quickly. Then sit with Lydia. Go, go on, fast as you can.’

  Bee ran swiftly to the hut where a large man wearing surgical gloves fiddled with the lock. He took no notice of the little white girl who had raced to his side, straining and peering to see what lay within.

  *

  What the trembling boy inside saw was a pair of tear filled eyes peeking at him, blue and glittery, a colour he had not know it was possible for eyes to be. For a moment black locked with blue in a concentrated gaze, and then the door opened and a strong arm scooped him up and carried him out of the too hot box. Placed on the sand he stood for a moment, brightness blinding but relieved to be outside.

  Within seconds the girl had slipped her warm hand in his and gripping it tightly she pulled and ran. His legs ran too, and for a moment the boy felt as if he were flying to freedom. But after no more than a few paces enormous gloved hands grabbed the back of his neck. The struggle between man and boy was so ferocious that Bee was forced to release her hold. The chance was lost
. He was lost. A rice sack pulled down over his head; hands tied behind his back.

  In the blur of the battle the boy heard her shouted words. He heard them again now, followed by the sound of her body landing somewhere nearby. From where she had been thrown, the girl continued to scream. But the boy was now silent, mutely dragged across the sand until eventually the big man stopped and allowed him his feet. Then they pressed on, until the boy felt water lapping over his toes. Terrified, all he could think of was execution, of weighted feet and swirling faces; it wasn’t even the right beach. Why would they do it? What had he done? Did they know he had thought to murder them all?

  *

  Bee scrambled across the beach, desperate to reach her grandfather, still on the ground peppered with sandy sweat. Huddled against him she studied the boy with amazement. His arms and legs, the colour of chestnuts scattered beneath the tree in her garden at home, were clearly patterned with black markings, something like the stripes of a tiger. And he was beautiful. Soon the boy was in the boat and gone from sight.

  Giles loaded some of the black bags. ‘You see,’ he said, looking to Bee and Felix, ‘it’s like this. I am rather used to getting my own way, obnoxious self-righteous bigot that I am. Posh too, hmm?’ he smiled. ‘I do hope you understand. Oh, and best of luck with this place. You don’t stand a chance of course. The whole island is a gold mine, so to speak. But never mind, it’s been a jolly jaunt for that one, eh?’ he nodded towards Bee, ‘Just what her parents always dreamed of for their little girl, I am sure.’

  Neither Bee nor Felix spoke. A faint breeze wandered by, rippling the surface of the sea.

  Giles continued, ‘You must understand that I am not sorry for any of this. I do apologise for one thing, however: for what I said about Bee… about abuse. It was not a very nice thing to say. It was wrong of me.’

  ‘Well you’re not a very nice man, are you?’ said Bee, surprising herself more than anyone.

  True to form Giles ignored her. Once everything he wanted was stowed aboard he left without saying goodbye, the fading hum of the outboard motor dragging the atmosphere into despondent gloom. Soon there was nothing left to look at.