6 Code Red!

6 CODE RED! "Speedy!" Annie whispered loudly. Speedy looked up at the tree where Jack and Annie were hiding. He jumped off the rhino calf and leapt to the tree. He scuttled up to them. "You're safe!" Annie whispered, hugging the bush baby. Speedy jabbered excitedly. "I know, a baby rhino! It's so sweet!" Annie said to him. "Not so loud," whispered Jack. "That big rhino must be Rosie. The little one is her calf." "I know!" said Annie. The baby rhino was only about two feet tall. She hadn't grown a horn yet. But she looked just like her mother. She had wrinkled dark-gray skin, a large head, and upright ears. "She's a miniature Rosie. A Rosita!" said Annie. "A what?" whispered Jack.

"Rosita—it means little Rose in Spanish," said Annie. "Shh! Rosie's coming back," whispered Jack. "Remember a mother rhino can be dangerous!" The mother rhino walked over to her calf and nuzzled her. Then she lay down in the grass on her side. "Oh, yeah… she's sooo dangerous," Annie said, grinning. "Seriously," Jack said. "We have to stay in the tree." While Rosie rested, her calf climbed halfway onto her back. The baby pawed her mother, as if trying to get her to play. Annie giggled softly, and Jack couldn't help grinning. A baby rhino might be the cutest animal in the world, he thought.

Rosie finally grunted and heaved herself up. She ate some grass. Then she began moving away from the trees. The calf followed on her stumpy little legs. The two rhinos rounded the cluster of bushes. Jack and Annie couldn't see them anymore. "Now we have to climb down," said Annie. "So we can track them and tell the rangers where they are." "Okay," said Jack. "But we have to stay far away from them. Remember rhinos can move fast. Don't let her see you. And, Speedy"—he spoke sternly to the bush baby—"don't talk!" Speedy swiveled his head and looked at Annie. "Just whisper," she said. "Come on!" Speedy hopped onto Annie's back. He put his little arms around her neck. Annie carefully climbed down from the tree. Jack followed. They crept over the grass and rounded the thorny thicket. They stood at a safe distance and watched the two rhinos. Rosie and her calf had ambled down to the creek. They both sank into the muddy water. Jack and Annie watched the rhinos wallow in the mud. Wildebeests grazed in the distance. Zebras

roamed the tall grass. Overhead, birds with long, slender wings swooped through the blue sky. It was a perfect scene, Jack thought. Beautiful and peaceful. All the creatures were doing what they were born to do. "Look at that," said Annie, pointing at the sky. "Is that a bird?" Jack squinted in the sunlight. He saw something in the distance flying toward them. Speedy started jabbering wildly. "That's not a bird," said Jack. "A small plane?" said Annie. As the thing in the sky drew closer, they could hear whapping and chopping sounds. Jack felt sick. "It's not a plane," he said. "What, then?" said Annie. "A helicopter," said Jack. "A chopper." "Oh, no! Poachers!" cried Annie. "Code red!!" "Yes!" said Jack. "This must be the chopper that Jomo and Shani were after." Speedy whistled and shrieked. "Rosie! We have to save her!" said Annie. "I know!" said Jack. "How? How?" Annie said.

"Get her to a hiding place!" said Jack. "In the thornbushes?" said Annie. "Better if we get them under that tree we were in!" said Jack. "The leaves might keep them from being seen from the sky!" "How do we do that?" cried Annie. "I don't know!" said Jack. "Wait," said Annie. "What if we yell at Rosie's baby? We make Rosie mad at us. She chases us. We run. Her baby follows." "We can't outrun a rhino," said Jack. "You said they can run thirty miles an hour!" "We'll get a head start!" said Annie. "And we'll lead Rosie and her baby back to our tree! Let's do it!" The terrible chopper noise was growing louder. "Jack, it's the only plan we've got," said Annie. Jack looked from the tree to the helicopter to the rhino. "Right. Okay," he said. "Let's go!"