Chapter 3 - KITTY
Brookfield’s public entrance was busy.
Families.
Strollers.
School groups.
Leo crawled through a gap beside a family taking photographs.
Nobody immediately understood that he was alone.
A woman smiled.
“Somebody’s fast.”
Leo stood for two shaky steps.
Fell.
Crawled again.
He knew colors more than directions.
Blue sign.
Tiger graphic.
Orange stripe.
He followed the tiger.
Mason and Kyle entered thirty seconds later.
They moved quickly but tried not to run.
Too many cameras.
“Where is he?”
“There!”
Leo disappeared around the tiger viewing building.
Inside, visitors stood before a massive reinforced-glass wall.
Atlas was lying near the far side of the habitat.
Leo saw him.
Everything else disappeared.
“Kitty!”
Atlas’s head rose.
The tiger looked toward the sound.
Leo slapped both palms against the glass.
“Kitty!”
Atlas stood.
Walked directly toward him.
Adults stepped back instinctively.
Leo laughed.
“Hee-hee!”
Atlas stopped on the other side.
Then placed one giant paw against the glass.
Exactly where Leo’s hands rested.
A zoo volunteer stared.
“That’s strange.”
Then Mason and Kyle rushed into the viewing area.
Atlas turned.
His posture changed.
The tiger roared.
The entire room went silent.
Mason stopped so abruptly Kyle hit him from behind.
Leo burst into laughter.
“Hee-hee! Kitty!”
Atlas sat beside the glass.
Between Leo and the men.
Not physically protecting him.
The glass separated them.
But visually, unmistakably, the tiger had placed himself beside the toddler.
Then one visitor recognized something.
A missing-child alert had appeared on her phone.
She looked from the screen to Leo.
Same overalls.
Same face.
She shouted:
“That’s the missing boy!”
Mason and Kyle ran.
Zoo security moved instantly.
One guard blocked the front exit.
The kidnappers turned toward a staff corridor.
Leo remained at the glass.
Atlas watched the fleeing men.
Then looked back at Leo.
“Kitty,” Leo whispered.
The tiger chuffed.
And somewhere behind the building, Emma Carter heard the emergency radio call.
May you like
“Missing toddler located at tiger viewing.”
She dropped everything.
