Chapter 48

“Smart boy. Of course the lions. The kings of the jungle.”

Then Nika turned to look at Hans and put her hand on his forearm:

“Father, the message, on the wall of the sawmill,” she told him, in English. “‘The king is watching you.’”

“Like Mrs. Greyson said, too,” Christian commented, with a growl.

“So, it’s a lion? Do they all work under the command of a lion?” replied their father.

“It sounds logical.” That time, Ivan spoke above all his companions. “I suppose a lion would inspire enough respect for them to listen to him. I thought the lions were in the Middle East and had not moved from there; they are very sensitive to changes in climate or temperature…”

“A damn lion,” Richie spat, very annoyed.

“A lion that, I fear, is the workmate of that creeping panther,” the sheriff added, with the same calmness as at the beginning. “And the two of them, together, are complete psychopaths, from what I could decipher about them. Such for that.”