7 The trap is set

Chapter Seven THE TRAP IS SET Clinging tightly to her perch up in the tree, Leah watched through the warehouse window. The poachers were hard at work. Four of them were packing the stolen flytraps up into crates. The other two—the man and woman she'd seen the night before—were wheeling the crates out on a trolley and loading them into the cars and trucks.

Leah noticed the window was slightly open. Maybe if she shuffled closer, she'd be able to hear the poachers talking. She made up her mind and edged farther along the branch. It gave a sinister creak… but it held. "What do you think you're doing?" came the woman's angry voice. "Having a party? These all need to be boxed up by tonight! Do you want to be the one who has to tell my buyer that half their plants are missing?"

"We're working as fast as we can," complained a sweaty poacher. "And it's hot in here!" The woman grabbed a plant spray bottle and squirted the poacher in the face with it. "There! Better? Now quit your whining and get back to work."

As the miserable poacher hurried to pack more plants, Leah turned to Gustavo in horror. "Did you hear that? They're planning to sell the plants tonight!" "That doesn't leave us with much time," Gustavo said. "What are we going to do?" Leah thought hard. Whenever the Secret Explorers went on a mission, the Beagle always made sure they had all the equipment they needed, even if they didn't always know it at first. So what did they have that she could use? Leah went down the list in her mind. They had the camping gear, which they'd put back inside the Beagle. Food—but they'd eaten that. Then there was the tablet. She'd tried to video the poachers with it, but without any luck. All she'd been able to record with it were some blurry images and bear noises…

Just like that, an idea began to take shape in her mind. She thought of the Venus flytrap closing its spiky leaves shut over the bug. Maybe they needed to set a trap of their own! "Gustavo, I've got a plan," she said. "It's risky, but it might work! Listen. Here's what we do…" Leah and Gustavo sneaked back to the Beagle. They put a video call through to Luisa at the conservation center.

"We found the poachers," Leah said. "Sending you the location now. Can you notify the rangers and get here as quickly as you can? They're leaving any minute!" "Of course," Luisa said. Her eyes were wide with surprise. "But how are you going to keep the poachers there? They could drive off at any moment, and they're not going to sit and wait for us to arrive!" "Leave it to us," Leah said, and gave her a salute. Gustavo grabbed the tent ropes from the Beagle's cargo pod, while Leah took the tablet. Together they crept back to the warehouse. While Leah kept a wary eye out for the poachers, Gustavo hid the ropes under a bush. So far, so good. Now for the tricky part.