“So you went with him.”
DeeAnn nodded. “By the time I left, I was as angry as he was. And you know what?” she asked.
Alison shrugged.
“We saved a lot.” She breathed in deeply. “From places all over the world. And then we learned about the facility in Mexico. All funded, built, and run by pharmaceutical money. And they didn’t care who knew about it. It’s like they were flaunting it. So with help from others, we found the place and watched, planning. And then late one night, we raided it.”
Alison frowned. “That sounds dangerous.”
“It was. They even had a few armed guards, but we caught them with their pants down and disarmed them.” A smile spread across DeeAnn’s face. “It was glorious!”
“And that’s where you found Dulce?”
“Yes. We saved hundreds of animals that night. Many were able to survive in the local ecosystem so we set them free. The rest we took out of there. By morning, we’d made it to the border where we had a team from San Diego waiting, along with some government officials who supported us. It was a major blow to those drug companies, both economically and politically. We’d also taken video of the factory. One of the companies got so much negative press and came under so much scrutiny that they abandoned their animal testing completely. We broke their back. And it was all thanks to Luke.”
“So what happened to him?”
“After we rescued the animals, I discovered that Dulce was far more intelligent than I expected. So I started working with her, trying to provide whatever possible therapy I could. I was hoping we could return her to the wild someday, but she never wanted to leave. At the same time, I was making progress communicating with her even faster than we had with Koko. I just fell in love with her. But Luke wasn’t done. He said he wouldn’t stop until he’d broken the back of every drug company. I didn’t think it was practical and tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen. We parted ways, and I’m afraid not under the best of terms. Something I’ve always regretted.”
“When did that happen?”
“About a year and a half ago. The last I’d heard, he was working with someone in South America. On a preserve.”
Alison opened her eyes wide. “I had no idea.”
“How could you?” DeeAnn shrugged, then thought about something. “Unfortunately there’s one more thing. Dulce calls me mommy for obvious reasons. But if she considers me her mother, then Luke would undoubtedly be considered her father.”
“I’m terribly sorry, Ms. Draper. My intention was not to cause distress. I should have been more delicate about the news over Mr. Greenwood. Please accept my apology.”
DeeAnn forced a polite smile. “It’s all right. I’ve never been one for tip-toeing.” Her eyes were dry but still red. She and Alison had returned to the office and now sat facing Alves and his assistant. “I assume there is more to your visit.”
Alves nodded gratefully. “Indeed. Perhaps it might help if you could tell me the last time you saw Luke.”
“About a year and a half ago.”
Alves thought for a moment. “Right. I met him shortly after that. Shortly after he arrived in South America. He approached my organization in an effort to raise funds. I almost dismissed him at first, but then I realized exactly why he was there; to rescue animals which had been captured and were being sold for medical testing.”
DeeAnn smirked. “Medical testing is too kind a term.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Alves nodded. “I’m afraid South America has a dark side to our beautiful jungle landscape. It’s very easy to hide things you don’t want seen. And like other economically strapped countries, ours is also subject to a great many humanitarian abuses. Which is why Luke wanted to go straight to the source.”
DeeAnn turned to Alison, “Poaching.”
“Correct. The animals trapped in test labs first need to be captured. Luke called them ‘torture labs,' and while South America does not have many of these facilities, we do have a large number of poachers who are happy to provide the supply, unfortunately. Men travel deep into our jungles and capture a variety of different animals to sell cheaply on the black market. And with Brazil being the largest country in this region, we have the disgrace of carrying out more of these crimes than anyone else.” He turned to his assistant who shamefully dropped her head. She obviously understood enough English to know what Alves was referring to.
“So, Luke went after the poachers.”
“More or less, yes. But he didn’t go alone. You see, when Luke came to us and explained what he needed the money for, it became obvious that we had a rather symbiotic relationship. He wanted to save wild animals, and I wanted to keep them within the safety of my preserve. It seemed an ideal solution.” Alves shrugged subtly. “So he joined my employ.”
“And you funded his raids?”
“Well, the word ‘raid’ may be a tad extreme, but yes, I funded him. I also provided him with protection: a team from my own security service accompanied him and helped plan the rescues. And I dare say we were rather successful. Over the course of ten months, we freed hundreds of captured animals that were being prepared for shipment. Many of those animals joined my preserve, where they currently live a safe and happy life in the wild.”
DeeAnn frowned. “So, what happened?”
Alves leaned back in his chair. “Dexter happened.”
DeeAnn and Alison raised their eyebrows and spoke almost in unison. “Dexter?”
Alves’ lips broke into a smile. “Dexter was one of our rescues. He’s a capuchin monkey, rescued in our last mission.” His face became serious again. “That mission was the deepest into the Amazon rainforest to date. What they found was a big operation and a rescue that was, well, quite surprising.”
Both women were listening intently as he leaned forward, obviously getting more excited. “Luke and his team always went in at night. It was much easier. Normally, they would observe the camp for several days first to assess the situation.”
“However, on this trip, they saw something rather extraordinary. These particular poachers had rounded up hundreds of capuchin monkeys and were preparing to truck them back down to the coast, where they would meet a cargo ship and make the transfer. The capuchins would not be caged until loaded onto the ship since the space requirements were far too prohibitive for using individual cages in the mountains. Instead, they were gathered and kept in giant nets.
“You can imagine some of the problems involved in keeping them in these large nets. And it was while Luke was observing the camp that he spotted Dexter.”
“Spotted him in a net?” Alison asked.
“Not exactly.” Alves now smiled, almost humorously. “Dexter hadn’t been captured. At least not yet. He was outside the net, which was bound by a strong rope.” Alves paused for effect. “You see, Dexter was trying to free the other monkeys. More specifically, he was trying to untie the knot in the rope.”
Both women’s eyes suddenly shot open. “What?” DeeAnn gasped. “He was trying to untie the knot?!”
Alves was smiling wider now and nodded. “That’s right. But that’s not the best part.” He leaned forward even more. “Dexter was not only trying to untie the knot, but he almost did it! One of the poachers spotted him and netted him, but he didn’t realize what Dexter was trying to do. When Luke told me the story, he said that when he examined the net himself, Dexter had managed to get most of it undone!”
DeeAnn was speechless. The story had not been wasted on Alison either. She was no expert on primates, but even she knew how incredible that was. The look on DeeAnn’s face confirmed it.