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spoke in that hushed, barely-able-to-contain-my-shocked-excitement tone newscasters must learn in college.
    “Thanks, Annetra. As always, the veterinary students and university police evacuated Mike the Tiger before the full evacuation of students, faculty, and university employees began. The plan was for Mike to be moved to a secure facility just outside of town, which the university built for just these kinds of emergencies. But things didn’t go according to the careful plans made for just such an occurrence.”
    Brandon Hardy started walking along the road, the camera following him. “When the truck towing Mike in his trailer reached this point in the road, they were cut off by a white panel van. Once the truck stopped, masked armed men jumped out of the van, tied up the veterinary students and campus security, and knocked them unconscious. They apparently unhooked the coupling and took Mike and his trailer. When the students and security regained consciousness, the trailer and the van were gone. One of them was able to call for help on his cell phone. The state police have put out an APB on the van and are asking anyone who may have seen the van—or Mike’s trailer—to call.” Brandon Hardy stopped walking and looked back at the camera. “Apparently, there have been some threats made about Mike in the past few weeks.”
    The camera cut to a young woman’s face. There was a bandage on her forehead, and she looked distraught. A caption appeared under her face, reading H OPE P ORTERIE , LSU V ETERINARY S CIENCE M AJOR . Mom gasped as Hope started speaking.
    “We’ve been getting some threatening letters and calls,” Hope Porterie was saying to Brandon Hardy. “But we get that sort of thing from time to time, you know, cranks and pranks—drunk frat boys from Ole Miss or Arkansas or Alabama, saying they’re going to kidnap Mike, but you know, who’s going to kidnap a Bengal tiger?” She shook her head, and her eyes filled with tears.
    “We’ve also been getting some threats from an animal rights group, saying it was inhumane to keep a tiger on a college campus and drag him out for football games, but you know, we get that kind of stuff all the time and it never means anything, you know, it’s just people trying to make a point.” Her voice broke. “Mike is very well cared for, and we keep him healthy and fed and happy. Who would do such a thing? Why? I hope the people who did this are aware of how dangerous he is. He’s used to people, but he is still a wild animal and can do a lot of damage.” She wiped at her eyes. “Please, whoever did this, if you’re watching, please let us bring Mike back home.”
    The camera zoomed in on Brandon Hardy’s face as he solemnly said, “Who would kidnap a tiger? That’s the question on everyone’s lips tonight, Annetra. Back to you in the studio, Aaron.”
    “Do the police think that maybe the bomb threat was a decoy, to get Mike moved off campus so he could be taken?” the news anchor asked, a concerned look on his face.
    “The state police are looking at every possibility, Aaron.”
    “Thanks, Brandon.” The camera went back to Aaron in the studio, and he smiled at the camera. “After the break, a ruckus at the state capitol today brought legislative business to a standstill.”
    We all just stared at the television as a Subway sandwich commercial started. Storm picked up the remote and muted the sound. He whistled. “I can’t believe someone kidnapped a two-thousand-pound tiger in broad daylight and got away with the tiger !”
    “This is just terrible, absolutely terrible.” Mom moaned, rubbing her eyes. She looked at me and then Storm. “Poor Hope. Storm, you have to do something.”
    “You know her, Mom?” I asked, starting to get that wretched feeling in my stomach. Of course Mom knows her.
    Mom nodded. “She’s Veronica Porterie’s daughter.”
    “Oh, good God.” Storm buried his face in his hands, and the knot in my stomach