Leopard 05 - Savage Nature

nice little ball of opium right in the center of the soap.”
    Saria shook her head. “They have drug-sniffin’ d—” She broke off, her heart jumping suddenly. If a leopard couldn’t find the scent of another leopard, then maybe whoever was creating scents could find a way to mask a scent.
    Her breath hitched in her lungs. She shook her head, her eyes suddenly burning with tears. The world was shifting out from under her. Of course all the evidence would point directly to Charisse. She was the genius behind the scents. But Saria knew Charisse. She was very childlike in some ways. Saria could almost believe that Armande might be that greedy, his mother had certainly indulged him, but Charisse . . . Saria shook her head.
    Although, Armande didn’t have the talent Charisse had with scents. Nor did he have ambition or drive. Yet he was devoted to Charisse. He protected her from the bullies at school. She’d been the smart one, advancing to higher grades too fast to catch up emotionally. She just wasn’t capable of running drugs on an international level. It wasn’t in her makeup and Saria didn’t care how much proof Drake and his team gathered against her.
    On the other hand, if someone was harvesting opium from Charisse’s poppies, how could she not know? Saria stared straight ahead, aware of the silence in the boat. They’d all come to the same conclusion as she had. If a leopard couldn’t be scented, then someone had developed a way to prevent dogs from sniffing out drugs—and that someone had to be Charisse.
    “You’re wrong, Drake,” she said in a low voice. “I know everythin’ points to her, but she isn’t capable of what you suspect. You’re way off base.”
    “I hope you’re right, honey,” he said gently.
    She hated the compassion in his voice. She glanced over her shoulder at his set face. “Charisse is incapable of drug runnin’.”
    Drake slipped his arm around her waist. “And her brother?”
    Armande. He was a spoiled sulky boy who had grown into a spoiled sulky man. The only one he seemed to love was his sister. He could look past himself long enough to see her and for a few minutes get out of his very self-centered world. Saria honestly doubted if he was intelligent enough to pull off such an operation. Charisse had the brains, but she was too childlike in a lot of ways. Armande . . . She sighed. Armande was a selfish brat, but everyone liked him. He had charm when he wanted.
    “How do you plan on findin’ out?”
    “We’re going to follow them through the swamp to see where our drug smugglers go. Whoever is supplying is supplying to a local,” Elijah said.
    “The swamp?” Saria echoed faintly. “Are you crazy? The swamp isn’t like your rain forest. Scent isn’t goin’ to do you much good if you sink into a marsh. Snakes, alligators, you name it, the hazards are everywhere.” She brought the boat around to the edge of the reeds. “Even gettin’ onto land at night is extremely dangerous.”
    “That’s why we have a secret weapon,” Drake said.
    She jumped onto the land, splashing a little in the reeds to tie up her boat. “What’s that?” She poured sarcasm into her voice.
    “You. You’re going to guide us.”
    “Now I know you’re crazy.”
    “They’ll hear a boat, but you know how to move from one strip of land to the next and you probably know shortcuts.”
    “You want to run through the swamps at night?” Saria looked around for a place to sit down. She was feeling a little faint. They had no idea what it was like to travel in the swamp. “The land is a bog. There are pockets of quicksand. There’s actually water under us with a thin layer of dirt and growth. You just don’ understand.” In agitation she ran her fingers through her hair, making it spiky and disheveled, but she didn’t care. She felt like yanking it out by the roots. They were all crazy.
    “We’re well aware of that.”
    “You can step through in places and just sink down. And have you ever heard of water moccasins? Because we have those too.”
    “You hunt and trap and fish all through here. And you take photographs. You’ve been running wild in the swamp since you were a little girl, Saria,” Drake pointed out. “You can do this and you know it.”
    “ I can do it, but not guidin’ all of you. Drake, you can’t ask me to be responsible for six people. There are at least three places we’ll have to wade in reed-choked water where alligators are