“I need to get the rest of the team here,” she whispered. “Something’s wrong, really wrong.” She didn’t know what. She didn’t know why. But she knew one thing: The elephants had already decided they weren’t waiting to find out.
Maria didn’t leave the enclosure until the rest of the senior staff arrived, some half-awake and disheveled, others already pale from what they’d heard over the radio. They gathered in the cramped operations room overlooking the elephant habitat, the table cluttered with paperwork, radios, and half-drunk cups of coffee.