Philip Kerr - Esau

Holding baby Esau, Jameson squatted in the open doorway of the cage and waited until he judged it safe to hand him over to his mother. Too soon and Jameson risked a still stupefied Rebecca rolling on top of her baby and perhaps crushing him to death. Byron Cody said that with wild mountain gorillas, this happened all the time. But too late and Jameson risked her rejecting Esau altogether. Rebecca solved the problem for him when she made a sharp teeth-clacking sound and, leaning forward, politely held out her hands to receive her baby.

‘Watch her now,’ Cody advised. ‘These animals can be real smart. It could be a trick to persuade you that she’s more interested in getting her baby than in killing you.’

Carefully Jameson handed Esau over and then retreated from the cage, closing the steel-barred door gently behind him. Immediately Rebecca drew Esau to her breast and started to feed him.

‘Well, that’s a relief,’ he said.

Cody caught the look of implied criticism in Swift’s eyes.

‘Okay, okay. I’m being overcautious,’ he admitted. ‘But hey, it happens. It doesn’t do to underestimate a creature like this.’

They watched Rebecca and Esau as feeding gave way to a period of intense grooming.

‘Who knows?’ said Cody. ‘He might actually be better off with us for a few days than with his own group.’

‘How’s that?’ said Jameson.

‘Among large primates, infanticide is quite common. With some adults, it’s virtually a reproduction strategy. Killing an infant sired by a competitive male makes the mother become fertile again. Means the killer now has a chance of siring offspring himself.’

‘Macho males,’ snorted Swift. ‘It’s the same the world over.’

‘You know, it beats me how the human species ever got itself going,’ said Boyd. ‘I’m surprised we’re not as rare as the giant panda. I’d eat any kid of mine in seconds. Anyone mind if we have those cigarettes now? Doc? What do you say?’

‘No, go right ahead. I’m sorry I shouted at you.’

‘You were quite right to.’ Boyd lit one for himself and for Jack, but Jack was asleep, so he gave it to Cody instead.

Rebecca started to vocalize a series of low moans.

‘What’s the matter with her?’ said Boyd.

‘I imagine she’s hungry,’ said Jameson. ‘It’s been a while since she ate anything.’

‘That’s a point,’ said Swift. ‘What are we going to feed her? What exactly do yetis eat?’

‘I always fed the primates who were in my care on muesli,’ said Cody. ‘I brought several large bags of the stuff in case we got lucky.’

He went outside the clamshell for a couple of minutes, and when he came back he was carrying a five-pound bag of unsweetened whole wheat, dried fruit, and nuts. He pushed the bag through the bars of the squeeze cage, tore open the top, and then threw a handful of muesli at Rebecca’s stomach.

Rebecca barked back, almost as if she had been questioning Jameson. She picked one of the seeds off her stomach, scrutinized it like a bum checking a coin, and then put it into her mouth.

A minute passed before Rebecca drew the bag of muesli toward her, gouged out a large handful, and then slowly allowed it to pour onto the scoop of her extended lower lip. After chewing for several minutes, she began to emit a soft, purring sound that resembled the rumbling of a large stomach.

Jameson grinned happily. ‘I think she likes it, don’t you?’

‘Now I’ve really seen everything,’ Boyd grumbled on his way to the clamshell door. ‘Someone who actually enjoys eating that stuff.’

CASTORP. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR YETI. DOn’t THINK We’rE BEING SCEPTICAL, BUT We’d APPRECIATE A LITTLE FURTHER ELUCIDATION ON HOW YOU THINK AN ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN CAN HELP WITH YOUR MISSION. ALSO, YOu’d BETTER CHECK THE REUTERS ONLINE. THE NEWS IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD JUST GOT WORSE. HUSTLER.

Lying on the camp bed, covered in sweat. Jack awoke with a start. He seemed to have been asleep forever. His body ached from head to toe, but he reminded himself that this was a good sign. At least he could feel his toes again. At least he had been spared frostbite. And there was something else they all seemed to have been spared.

The guy from the CIA had never shown his hand. Had whoever it was ever really posed a threat to them? It seemed unlikely. Now he wondered why he had ever been so bothered by it. Having survived his experience in the yeti forest, it hardly seemed important.

Jack lifted his wrist up to his face, wondering what time it was, and then remembered that Jutta had removed his Rolex to take his pulse and blood pressure. Was it light or dark? Inside the clamshell it was hard to know if it was day or night until someone came through the airlock door. But no one did. They were all sitting in one corner, huddled around the radio. Like something from a Norman Rockwell painting. The family listening together. It seemed odd that they were paving no attention to Rebecca and her baby, Esau. For a moment he listened quietly as they all talked above the sound of the crackling receiver.

‘Are you getting anything?’ Cody asked Boyd. ‘Anything at all?’

Jack thought Cody sounded anxious about something.

‘Nothing but interference,’ Boyd said dully, and let out a loud sigh. ‘No, it’s gone now. I’ll check the e-mail. See if there’s anything coming through there.’

‘It couldn’t have been a mistake,’ said Jutta. ‘Could it?’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Swift. ‘Not on Voice of America.’

‘Shit,’ said Warner. ‘When it was the Punjab, that didn’t seem quite so bad. I mean, it’s hundreds of miles away, right? But this? This puts us right smack in the middle of things.’

‘Selfish, but none the less an accurate assessment of our current situation,’ observed Byron Cody, pulling his long full beard nervously through his hands like a length of rope. ‘Let’s just hope that common sense will prevail.’

There followed a long silence.

Jack coughed. ‘Could I have a glass of water, please?’

Swift collected a bottle and a paper cup and went over to the camp bed. She drew up a chair, poured some water, and helped him to drink.

‘Thanks.’

‘Some more?’

‘Yes.’

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Better. How long have I been asleep?’

‘Quite a while. Almost twenty-four hours.’ This time she handed him the cup of water and he drank it himself. ‘Jutta gave you something.’

‘I figured as much. Is it morning or night?’

Swift glanced at her own watch. ‘Seven o’clock at night.’

He noticed the grim look on her face.

‘What’s the matter? Has something happened? Has something happened to the yeti?’

‘There was just some bad news on the radio.’

‘Bad news? What kind of bad news?’

‘To do with the Indians and the Pakistanis.’

‘They haven’t—’

‘Not yet,’ she said grimly. ‘If things weren’t bad enough already, we just heard that China and Russia have lined up behind the two protagonists. Apparently China has declared that it will intervene militarily on Pakistan’s behalf should they be attacked by India. In response the Russians have said that if China attacks India, then they will attack China. What’s more, it seems as if there may have been some kind of missile launch by one side or the other. Nothing is confirmed yet, but we could be right at the centre of a nuclear war that’s about to go off.’

‘That’s awkward,’ said Jack. ‘It would appear that our expedition’s window just got broken.’

Swift nodded unhappily.

‘I don’t understand,’ said Jutta. ‘Why should China decide to support Pakistan? Or Russia decide to support India?’