“It’s not going to be a tour,” Melanie said as she alighted from the car. “Come on, Candace. I’m sure I can use your help. Kevin, you can wait here if you’d like.”

“Fine by me,” Kevin said. But it only took him a few moments of watching the women trudge toward the entrance before he, too, climbed out of the car. He decided that the anxiety of waiting would be worse than the stress of going.

“Wait up,” Kevin called out. He had to run a few steps until he’d caught up with the others.

“I don’t want to hear any complaining,” Melanie told Kevin.

“Don’t worry,” Kevin said. He felt like a teenager being chastised by his mother.

“I don’t anticipate any problems,” Melanie said. “Bertram Edwards’s office is in the administration part of the building, which at this time will be deserted. But just to be sure we don’t arouse any suspicion, once we’re inside, we’ll head down to the locker room. I want you guys in animal center coveralls. Okay? I mean it’s not really the time anyone would expect to encounter visitors.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Candace said.

“All right,” Bertram said into the phone. His eye caught the luminous dial of his bedside clock. It was quarter past midnight. “I’ll meet you at your office in five minutes.”

Bertram swung his legs over the edge of the bed and parted the mosquito netting.

“Trouble?” Trish, his wife, asked. She’d pushed herself up on one elbow.

“Just a nuisance,” Bertram said. “Go back to sleep! I’ll be back in a half hour or so.”

Bertram closed the door to the bedroom before turning on the dressing-room light. He dressed quickly. Although he’d downplayed the situation to Trish, Bertram was anxious. He had no idea what was going on, but it had to be trouble. Siegfried had never called him in the middle of the night with a request to come to his office.

Outside, it was as bright as daytime with a nearly full moon having risen in the east. The sky was filled with silvery-purple cumulus clouds. The night air was heavy and humid and perfectly still. The sounds of the jungle were an almost constant cacophony of buzzes, chirps, and squawks interrupted with occasional short screams. It was a noise Bertram had grown accustomed to over the years, and it didn’t even register in his mind.

Despite the distance to the town hall being only a few hundred yards, Bertram drove. He knew it would be faster, and every minute that passed raised his curiosity. As he pulled into the parking lot, he could see that the usually lethargic soldiers were strangely agitated, moving around the army post, clutching their rifles. They eyed him nervously as he turned off his headlights and alighted from the car.

Approaching the building on foot, Bertram could see meager light flickering through the slats of the shutters covering Siegfried’s second-floor office windows. He went up the stairs, passed through the dark reception area normally occupied by Aurielo, and entered Siegfried’s office.

Siegfried was sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on the corner. In the hand of his good arm he held and was gently swirling a brandy snifter. Cameron McIvers, head of security, was sitting in a rattan chair with a similar glass. The only illumination in the room was coming from the candle in the skull. The low level of shimmering light cast dark shadows and gave a lifelike quality to the menagerie of stuffed animals.

“Thanks for coming out at such an ungodly hour,” Siegfried said with his usual German accent. “How about a splash of brandy?”

“Do I need it?” Bertram asked, as he pulled a rattan chair over to the desk.

Siegfried laughed. “It can never hurt.”

Cameron got the drink from a sideboard. He was a hefty, full-bearded Scotsman with a bulbous, red nose and a strong bias toward alcohol of any sort, although scotch was understandably his favorite. He handed the snifter to Bertram and reclaimed his seat and his own drink.

“Usually when I’m called out in the middle of the night it is a medical emergency with an animal,” Bertram said. He took a sip of the brandy and breathed in deeply. “Tonight I have the sense it is something else entirely.”

“Indeed,” Siegfried said. “First I have to commend you. Your warning this afternoon about Kevin Marshall was well-founded and timely. I asked Cameron to have him watched by the Moroccans, and sure enough this evening he, Melanie Becket, and one of the surgical nurses drove all the way out to the landing area for Isla Francesca.”

“Damnation!” Bertram exclaimed. “Did they go on the island?”

“No,” Siegfried said. “They merely played with the food float. They’d also stopped to talk with Alphonse Kimba.”

“This irritates me to death!” Bertram exclaimed. “I don’t like anyone going near that island, and I don’t like anyone talking to that pygmy.”

“Nor do I,” Siegfried agreed.

“Where are they now?” Bertram questioned.

“We let them go home,” Siegfried said. “But not before putting the fear of God into them. I don’t think they will be doing it again, at least not for a while.”

“This is not what I need!” Bertram complained. “I hate to have to worry about this on top of the bonobos splitting into two groups.”

“This is worse than the animals living in two groups,” Siegfried said.

“They’re both bad,” Bertram said. “Both have the potential of interrupting the smooth operation of the program and possibly putting an end to it. I think my idea of caging them all and bringing them into the animal center should be reconsidered. I’ve got the cages out there. It wouldn’t be difficult, and it will make retrievals a hell of a lot easier.”

From the moment Bertram had determined the bonobos were living in two social groups, he’d thought it best to round up the animals and keep them in separate cages where they could be watched. But he’d been thwarted by Siegfried. Bertram had considered going over Siegfried’s head by appealing to his boss in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but had decided against it. Doing so would have alerted the GenSys hierarchy that there was potential trouble with the bonobo program.

“We’re not opening that discussion!” Siegfried said emphatically. “We’re not giving up on the idea of keeping them isolated on the island. We all decided back when this started that was the best idea. I still think it is. But with this episode with Kevin Marshall, the bridge has me worried.”

“Why?” Bertram asked. “It’s locked.”

“Where are the keys?” Siegfried asked.

“In my office,” Bertram said.

“I think they should be here in the main safe,” Siegfried said. “Most of your staff has access to your office, including Melanie Becket.”

“Perhaps you have a point,” Bertram said.

“I’m glad you agree,” Siegfried said. “So I’d like you to get them. How many are there?”

“I don’t recall exactly,” Bertram said. “Four or five. Something like that.”

“I want them here,” Siegfried said.

“Fine,” Bertram said agreeably. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

“Good,” Siegfried said. He let his legs drop from the desk and stood up. “Let’s go. I’ll come with you.”

“You want to go now?” Bertram asked with disbelief.

“Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?” Siegfried said. “Isn’t that an expression you Americans espouse? With the keys in the safe, I know I’ll sleep a lot better tonight.”

“Would you want me to come along as well?” Cameron asked.

“It’s not necessary,” Siegfried said. “I’m sure Bertram and I can handle it.”

Kevin looked at himself in the full-length mirror at the end of the banks of lockers in the men’s room. The trouble with the coveralls was that the small was too small and the medium was a little too big. He had to roll up the sleeves and the pant legs.

“What the hell are you doing in there?” Melanie’s voice called out. She’d pushed open the door from the hall.