Read Chapter 1

What if post-Soviet Union Russia sent biological warfare 
missiles to the United States, only this time the missiles 
were animals infected with a virulent form of rickettsia? 
That's the premise behind this suspense-filled novel from 
one of Texas' best-known authors.


Hunter Jacob Trace is peacefully trapping mountain lions 
miles away in the Big Bend when violent turbulence rocks a 
DC-10 on a cross-Atlantic flight. Just as Trace is unaware 
of the strange turns his life is about to take, the crew is 
unaware that three rare Siberian tigers in the hold, being 
sent to U.S. zoos in Houston, San Diego, and Seattle as part 
of a breeding program, have been jolted out of their cages. 
When one tiger makes its way to the cabin, the excitement 
and terror begin. The plane, unable to land in Houston because 
of bad weather, crashes in Corpus Christi Bay, its pilots killed 
by the tiger, its passengers terrified. Although many passengers
survive the crash, including Arina Yeroskin, the Russian woman
veterinarian accompanying the animals, the tigers are presumed 
dead. But are they?


First a tiger is sighted near Padre Island, then a man is 
killed on a river bottom near Aransas Pass. When a prize bull 
is slaughtered in Jim Wells County to the southeast, it's apparent 
the tiger is traveling far and fast-or is it a second tiger? 
Other incidents-a woman attacked in her home, a tiger invading 
a cantina-lead to widespread hysteria and a real concern about 
how many tigers are loose in South Texas and how many died in 
the plane crash. The North American Zoological Association 
hires Trace to stalk the tigers and capture them alive, but he's 
not the only one on the feline trail. Right-wing militia, 
convinced the tigers are part of a UN plot and spurred on by 
an anonymous benefactor, want to find and kill the tigers. 
Evelyn Price and Rand Morgan, representing NAZA, have their 
own agendas Rand wants to capture the tigers to advance his 
career; Evelyn, passionate about animal rights, plots to free 
the cats. Eventually officials of the Mexican government are 
also in on the chase, hoping to kill the tigers and return 
their ashes to Russia for a reward. Only Arina Yeroskin and 
the reader know why the post-communist Russian government wants 
their prize animals dead, not alive. Even when survivors of 
tiger attacks die of "complications," one after the other, 
only Arina suspects that the tigers were infected to serve as
biological weapons by right-wing scientists hoping to restore 
communism in Russia. The suspense of the tiger hunt is surpassed 
only by the spine-tingling terror of a tiger stalking its victim 
be it human or the tracking dogs that fall prey.

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ROBERT FLYNN is the author of five novels, including the award-
winning Wanderer Springs and North to Yesterday, 
two short-story collections, a memoir about the war in Vietnam, 
and a book for children. Retired as writer-in-residence at Trinity
University, he makes his home in San Antonio. The late DAN KLEPPER 
was a well-known outdoor writer for the San Antonio
Express-News. In addition to writing five columns a week, 
Klepper contributed stories to several national outdoor magazines 
and was the author of The 13th Month and Pocketguide to 
Deer Hunting, from Kill to Kitchen.