The calves, still swaddled in their patchwork blankets, ambled uncertainly into the night, their enormous feet surprisingly soft against the earth but not silent. Snorts, muffled squeaks, and the occasional thump of trunk on flank filled the air in a quiet cacophony of life that was impossible to mask.

And beyond the fence line, from their vantage point behind the slope, Chang and his men paused.

Movement. Unmistakable. Silhouettes in the darkness, some too large to be human. Shapes guided by smaller shadows.

Chang leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing as he spotted the line of orphans being herded into the brush. One of the men, crouched beside him, whispered, “They’re moving the animals.”

“Why now?” another hissed.

“Because they know, we’re here.” Chang said bitterly. His gaze flicked to the jerrycans, then to the perimeter where they had so carefully avoided the pressure plates. This hadn’t been part of the plan, this kind of scramble. It meant they hadn’t been as stealth as they had thought.

He swore under his breath. “Idiots,” he muttered, not sure if he meant his own men or those within the compound. “We move now, they scatter. We wait, they’ll be gone.”

One of the men shifted uneasily. “If they’re waking the camp, we’ll lose the element of surprise.”

Chang growled his disappointment before standing to his full height, the moonless sky behind him making his silhouette seem larger, more menacing. “Then we take it back,” he said coldly.

He stepped boldly into the compound clearing, no longer content to hide in the shadows. The darkness of the new moon cloaked the edges of the night, but he made sure she would see him clearly, he wanted this moment to be indelible.

His boots crunched across the gravel, slow and deliberate, until he stood squarely beneath the faint wash of a single security light mounted high above the staff quarters. He raised his voice into the stillness with a cold, deliberate calm.

“Bette Porter,” he called at the top of his voice, the name slicing through the air like a serrated blade. “Come out. I know you’re here.”

No answer. But he knew she would come.

Not far off, near the outer edge of the compound, Bette and Nyah froze mid-step. They had just left the dormitories after issuing orders to evacuate the baby elephants. The low thrum of tension shifted as Chang’s voice rose again.