"Hunter Jacob Trace is peacefully trapping mountain lions in the Big Bend when violent turbulence rocks a DC-10 on a cross-Atlantic flight. Just as Trace is unaware of the strange turns his life is about to take, the crew is unaware that three rare Siberian tigers in the hold, being sent to US zoos in Houston, San Diego, and Seattle as part of a breeding program, have been jolted out of their cages. When one tiger makes its way to the cabin, the excitement and terror begin. The plane, unable to land in Houston because of bad weather, crashes in Corpus Christi Bay, its pilots killed by the tiger, its passengers terrified. Although many passengers survive the crash, including Arina Yeroskin, the Russian woman veterinarian accompanying the animals, the tigers are presumed dead. But are they?". "First a tiger is sighted near Padre Island, then a man is killed on river bottom near Aransas Pass. When a prize bull is slaughtered in Jim Wells County to the southeast, it's apparent the tiger is traveling far and fast - or is it a second tiger? The North American Zoological Association hires Trace to stalk the tigers and capture them alive, but he's not the only one on the feline trail. Only Arina Yeroskin - and the reader - knows why the post-communist Russian government wants their prize animals dead, not alive."--BOOK JACKET.