Dinosaur Lake (18 page)

“We do,” Henry agreed. “We have to get out of these woods and alert everyone to what’s happened. I need to call Ann. We have to get to the lodge.”

He had a terrifying image of the monster approaching the lodge or his cabin and tearing the roof off the buildings to get to the people huddled inside. He could barely dwell on it because it sickened him beyond words.

“Feels like we’ve been running for hours,” Justin moaned. “To me everything looks the same out here. I sure hope you know where we are, Mr. Ranger, cause I’m lost.”

The moon, higher in the sky, was brighter now as Henry peered around. “I think I do. Follow me.”

“Okay. Lead on. I’m behind you.”

They began walking, looking for a pathway or the road, each apprehensive the monster would show up again, hot on their trail.

It didn’t. The night remained empty.

It was Justin who first spotted the headlights in the distance on their left. They ran, yelling and waving their hands like madmen, forgetting their fear.

In minutes they’d flagged down a park service jeep with one of Henry’s rangers in it and he drove them to headquarters. The ranger, Peter Thompson, said he’d heard screams on the night air from below while on normal rounds and came up to investigate. Taking a chance, he checked the paleontological
dig, knowing people were there; had driven through the shambles, finding no one. He was on his way to report what he’d found when they’d flagged him down.

After Henry explained what had happened, the ranger stared strangely at him, but kept his mouth shut. Henry was his boss, and the man knew he wasn’t a liar or a storyteller. Thompson had been briefed about the creature in the lake as all the rangers had been. Evidently, like a lot of others, he hadn’t put much stock in the story, couldn’t swallow the whole thing yet.

Boy, is he going to be surprised, Henry thought.

Thompson drove them to headquarters. Henry was amazed to discover it was only ten o’clock. It felt as if they’d been running in the woods half the night.

He didn’t have to worry about being believed any longer, either, because the surviving dig scientists had trickled in with their accounts. Dr. Alonso and Tony Bracco were missing, presumed dead as well as many others. Dr. Harris was among the survivors and sat in a corner, mumbling and talking to himself, his head bowed. Henry walked over. The man gaped up at him when he was spoken to, answered questions, but was clearly in shock. That insane glint in his eyes was stronger than ever though.
Oops, that’s got to mean trouble, somehow, sometime.
Henry finished talking to the man, offered his sympathy for his lost colleagues, and walked away.

He borrowed a car so he and Justin could drive to the cabin.

Against Ann and Laura’s protests, he and Justin bundled the women out of the park immediately, taking them to Zeke’s. They were given orders this time to stay away until it was safe again, whenever that’d be. Henry refused to listen to Ann’s pleas about her duty to get the story for the newspaper. He told her about the woman reporter and her fate, sparing no details. She shut up after that and went along quietly.

Afterwards he and Justin returned to headquarters so he could fill out reports from what was left of Dr. Harris’ people.

He put in a call to Sorrelson, who’d finally returned from vacation, brought him up to speed on what had been happening, and laid down the law.

“I’m evacuating all the remaining scientists,” he firmly informed him, “people left at the lodge and anywhere else in the park. No one but me, my rangers and Justin are to remain in the park. No exceptions. Somehow we’ll find a place in town for the homeless. Relocate them as well. It’s too dangerous for any of them to stay here. Not now.

“And I’m establishing an ICS at Headquarters. We’re going to assemble a team of specialists who’ll help us track down this monster. We need professional help. I’m requesting the Forest Service send us the right people to deal with the situation.” And he left no doubt in his boss’s mind what he’d meant by the
right people
. People who could rid the park of the creature.

Sorrelson was angry, still disbelieving, but Henry didn’t give him a choice to object.

“If this thing really exists…and if it’s actually a living, breathing dinosaur…you can’t hurt it,” Sorrelson tried to dictate. “Dr. Harris has already put in calls to his influential political friends guaranteeing protection of the creature. He says it’s a national monument. The eighth wonder of the world. Hell, he wants the park sectioned off as an off-limits protected game preserve to house the beast. Shut it down to the public. String eighty-foot electrical fences or something to keep it in–like that movie
Jurassic Park
, I suppose. As long as that thing’s alive.”

“That’s not feasible,” Henry snarled back. “The creature has already killed at least eleven people that we know of. That changes everything. It’s proven it not only can come out of the lake to hunt, but can navigate the land as easily as water. Worst of all, it’s highly
intelligent
. It can
think
.
Scheme
. It’s diabolical. It’ll never stay in the park if we take away its favorite food source, which is human, no matter how high you string a fence. It’ll go hunting for them wherever it has to. I’m not even sure it wouldn’t find a way to get through the barriers and run amok into the nearby towns if it gets hungry enough.

“Sorrelson, I’ve seen it in action. Believe me, as much as I hate to say it, it needs to be disposed of–put down–for the safety of humanity. It’s too damn clever.” Henry didn’t utter a word about his other fear: If there was one creature living in the caldera, were there more?

“We could capture it and let someone else worry about it,” his boss stated.

He would have loved to see Sorrelson on
that
expedition. But the Superintendent was not only his superior the man had no sense of humor whatsoever, so it was a thought not spoken.

“You mean like King Kong?” Henry scoffed. “And you recall what happened in that little tale, don’t you?”

“That was a movie, Henry. Fiction.”

“Well, this monster, whatever it is, isn’t fiction. Good luck to any fool who tries to catch it. You haven’t seen it. I wouldn’t like to be the one lowering the net on its head, not with all those teeth, let me tell you. I think we just need to find a way to kill it.”

“We don’t want it hurt,” Sorrelson reiterated sternly, “remember that.”

“Sorry, sir, but too many people have died. I’ll do what I have to do. Whichever way that falls. People’s safety is more important than that creature.”

Then he hung up and put in the call that would begin the creation of his ICS Team.

Ex-FBI agent Dylan Greer sat straight in his chair, his eyes flint colored like his bushy eyebrows and thin mustache, and in striking contrast to his snow-white hair. Even though he’d been retired for two years, he still wore the dark suit and conservative tie and scribbled everything down in a small notebook. Yet he was nothing like any FBI agent Henry had ever met. He had an air of authority about him, a detached coolness that in the situation, struck Henry as unnatural. There was also something in the set of his jaw, his sardonic manner, which labeled him, more than anything, a rebel and a strong-minded man. A hint perhaps to why he left the agency to strike out on his own.

He’d been recommended, with high praise by someone Henry trusted, to be his second-in-command on the ICS Team. A man who could get things done, they’d said. A man with connections and old friends in the Bureau. A man with hidden talents. Only later would Henry recall that phrase and understand what they’d truly meant.

Unlike other federal agents Henry had known, Greer had long hair, even if it was combed straight back on his head. Must hairspray it like crazy to keep it so perfect, Henry mused as he ran his hand through his own shaggy mop before he could stop himself. The obsessive neatness of the retired FBI agent made him painfully aware of how he must appear, with his unruly hair, unshaven face and tattered, dirty clothes. He’d been awake all night bringing his team together, planning strategies, brooding over what he had to do, and hadn’t taken time to change or clean up after his flight through the night woods.

Agent Greer’s associate, who he insisted be included on the team because of his experience, couldn’t have been more of an opposite. Scott Patterson, who’d served with Greer, was a pudgy man in an ill-fitting brown suit; taller than his friend, and the most fidgety, nervous-acting man Henry had ever met. His large hands couldn’t seem to hold on to a pen for the life of him, nor could they stop tapping across things on the desk. Patterson had a broad, eager-to-please face, a crew-cut, and brown puppy-dog eyes that reminded Henry of an Irish Setter he’d had as a boy. That dog, lovable as he’d been, had been stupid. Henry hoped Patterson would turn out to be smarter. He needed good people on his team. People’s lives could depend on it.

Henry lounged in his chair, across a table covered with Styrofoam cups and overflowing ashtrays, half-asleep, and observed the odd pair in action. He’d marveled at how quickly they’d arrived, barely hours after the phone calls. The Forest Service had made contact and flown them in. Since then he’d been briefing them on the situation.

Not that Greer or Patterson believed the story of a real live dinosaur, hungry and on the prowl in the park. They didn’t, of course. Henry could tell by the incredulous glances between them as they asked their questions and wrote down the bizarre answers, shaking their heads all the while.

So far it was a joke to them. Henry couldn’t wait until the first time they bumped into the park’s giant predator. Wouldn’t that leave them laughing.

More of his team were on their way. The Forest Service had called in an aquatic biologist, Jim Francis, and his partner, Mark Lassen, an oceanographer; both retired Navy, who were bringing a one-man sub to search the lake’s depths for the creature if they needed to. Francis and Lassen would arrive sometime the following day.

Henry chose Justin as the team’s paleontologist, though he suspected Harris would kill to get on it so he could try to protect the monster. Wouldn’t do him any good. Henry wanted Justin.

So far Greer and Patterson were the first arrivals. Justin was having the ribs he was afraid he’d broken in their car crash checked out. One of the other rangers had taken him to the hospital in town for x-rays. And Henry had never left.

Outside the window the sun was rising. Another day. The world was still there. He was still there. But there were some who no longer were and it made him feel blessed, guilty and frightened.

Henry spotted his friend George chatting to another ranger by the door. He’d also picked him for his team, the best outdoorsman and tracker he knew. George caught Henry’s eye and tipped his hat. Henry saluted back. As suited the occasion, George’s expression was solemn.

Henry now had six men on his team. Those six plus his other four rangers could probably handle anything, including this monster predicament. Besides, ten men were all he was going to get and he was lucky to have them.

In the meantime, the creature had apparently crept back to its lair and the birds were singing in the blue skies. As had happened that night on the lake when Justin and he had first come into contact with the monster, the horror of the night before seemed an unreal nightmare. But Henry knew it wasn’t and his mind kept replaying bits and pieces of it, a DVR stuck in reverse-replay, reverse-replay, over and over. Usually the same two worn spots to catch on: that woman reporter and her last seconds on earth when he’d been so desperate to save her, but couldn’t, or when the creature surprised them in the middle of the road before their daring jeep flight into the velvet black woods. How had it gotten ahead of them so quickly?

He focused on the jeep, to keep from thinking about the monster’s unexpected cunning. The vehicle was most likely totaled. It’d been in excellent shape for its age and paid for. He’d kept it immaculate. The insurance would never cover what it’d been worth to him. He consoled himself that they’d walked away from the crash without serious injuries; were both lucky to be alive and not in the creature’s stomach. He was grateful for that.

Soon he’d take the others to the scenes of the crimes, the dig and the reporters’ camp, to glean any clues from what was left. Henry didn’t really want to go, but he was in charge and it was his job.

Dr. Harris would accompany them to the dig. It’d been his encampment and his people, after all. He’d been there when his comrades and friends had been mauled and eaten alive. Had seen their nemesis face to face and experienced its vicious destructiveness. According to him he’d escaped by the skin of his teeth.
More like the skin of his backside as he was running away.

So how could Harris promote ensnaring and sheltering that monster? Anger boiled beneath Henry’s skin. Harris had no idea what he was asking for. If Henry was any other sort of man, he’d step aside and let Harris and his sycophants have their way. But he couldn’t. It was his park, his job, his very way of life at stake. And as sure as men and women had already died by the jaws of that flesh-eating carnivore, Henry knew attempting to capture the thing would only result in more carnage. No beast, no matter how rare, was worth the loss of so many human lives.

He shifted in his chair, grousing under his breath, as he answered Greer’s endless questions. His body ached from the crash landing and his eyes burned from cigarette smoke and no sleep. Yet he didn’t feel as bad as he should have. He was coasting on the adrenaline surge. It’d catch up to him sooner or later.

Greer was thorough and had a no-nonsense interrogation manner. Henry had to give him that. It was easy to see he was used to being in command. That could be a problem. Everyone on the team would be equals, with the power of the final decision resting with Henry.

Gazing over at Greer’s stone face or Patterson’s mocking eyes Henry wished he was home with Ann sleeping peacefully in their bed and none of this was happening.

But Ann and Laura were at Zeke’s and he was here. So was the monster.

This was no time for daydreaming. He needed his wits about him, and the help of these men before him, to find and exterminate the park’s little problem.

“You have any idea where your friend Godzilla might be now?” Patterson’s question seemed amiable but Henry caught a whiff of thinly veiled contempt.

Henry smiled. Hadn’t he called the beast that once himself, as if it was a joke? Patterson was a non-believer, not that he blamed him. In the beginning he hadn’t believed, either.

“Not really. The Paleontologist on our team, Dr. Justin Maltin, speculates it might live somewhere down in the subterranean caves and tunnels below the lake. But that’s only a theory.”

“That it lives in the caves and tunnels below a long dead volcano? In a lake that has no other channels to another body of water, that you know of, anyway?”

“Caves and tunnels created thousands of years ago by lava flows. And, yes, no other outlets…that we know of.”

“Oh, I see.” Yet it didn’t seem as if the man did. There was an annoying ridicule in his expression. Henry had known a lot of law enforcement types in his career. They were good at procedures, details, investigations, and crime, but not much else. Most of them weren’t open to the unnatural or the fantastic. Cardboard people with Mister Potato Head brains. Henry hoped Patterson and Greer wouldn’t turn out to be of that breed. He needed men with open minds.

Or the creature would defeat them.

George Redcrow moseyed over and reported the park had been effectively emptied, except for them. Some of the park workers were still in the dormitories packing, and a few older residents who had nowhere else to go were still refusing to go. In the meantime, George had ordered the park’s perimeters patrolled and guarded to keep reporters and other people out.

Once more Henry wished he had more help. The park was vast.

“Why do you think Godzilla is attacking and killing humans now?” Patterson questioned, watching Henry as if he were an outpatient from a psychiatric ward. “Why has it left the water?”

“I closed down the lake area when the first boats and their captains came up missing. Took away its food supply. It’s hungry, so it comes out of the lake looking for more food. Maybe it’s depleted the fish supply in its hunting ground, or the warming water has killed them off. I don’t know. Now that we’ve evacuated the park, I’m afraid it’s going to increase its hunting perimeters.”

“Sounds as if there’s no way to contain it, other than to seek it out and destroy it,” Greer spoke up. “Especially if it’s developed a taste for human flesh.”

Well, I’ll be,
Henry thought with mild surprise,
a man who gets right to the heart of the matter. Hmm, we’re going to get along just fine, after all.

“How long has this creature been giving you problems?” Greer asked.

“It began killing animals a few weeks ago and people soon after. But there were unofficial sightings of it going back to last year. In the water.”

“And you didn’t alert the authorities until just recently?” Greer’s dark eyebrows rose, as he leaned towards Henry and gave him an intent stare.

“It never bothered anyone at first. Just swam around and minded its own business. Then a boat and its captain disappears one day, body never recovered, then another boat and another. Suddenly all hell breaks loose, and Godzilla, as your partner there has christened it, is chasing and taking bites of people all over the place. Obviously we’re the tastiest thing on its food list right now and, for its growing size, the most filling. Easy to catch, too.” Henry’s smile was weary.

Greer didn’t return the smile. Henry couldn’t figure him out. In some ways, Greer reminded him of his friend, George. Unreadable.

Henry shut his eyes. Starving and exhausted, he craved a hot meal, a gallon of coffee and about twelve hours of sleep in a warm bed. It’d be easier to cope with everything if he’d gotten those things first. His mind was wrapped in cotton candy.

“I’ve talked to Professor Harris over there,” Greer’s voice was hypnotically soft. “He maintains the creature isn’t all that smart and it was acting out of pure animal instinct, but you believe it’s extremely clever, don’t you? That it can actually think ahead and plan?”

Henry stared at Greer. “Before last night I might have agreed with the good Doctor Harris that the creature was merely a dumb, hungry beast…but not now. Not after the way it behaved. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes. It out-thought us and was always one step ahead. Unbelievable how smart it was. Now,” Henry slid a sideways glance towards where Harris was holding court across the room, “that’s
my
opinion, and I’m no dinosaur authority. I’m just an ex-cop and a forest ranger.”

Henry stood up to his full six-four and bent over, bringing his hands to rest on the edges of the table as he looked down at Greer and Patterson. “All I know is that monstrous anachronism refused to be sidetracked by our bullets or distracted by the noise my friend, Justin, and I made, and ate that woman reporter right in front of us. To get at us it took a short-cut and got somewhere on the road in front of us. Was waiting for us. Trapped us. Now, I don’t care what anyone else says, that’s
smart.
”

Greer lifted his head, lowered his eyes, as if he were thinking something over, but didn’t respond.

Henry had had enough of talk. They could sit and talk until the cows came home and it wouldn’t change what had to be done.

“I’ve had a hell of a night. So before I fall asleep on my feet, Mr. Greer and Mr. Patterson, let’s get a move on. I’ll show you where the damage was done so you can see for yourself. Then I’m going to steal a break, get some food and some much needed rest before we do anything else. By then, the remainder of our team should be here.”

“Okay.” Greer shut his notebook, slid it into his suit coat’s inside vest pocket next to the antique watch on a chain, and stood up, too. He came to Henry’s shoulder. “I have a quick phone call to make first and I’ll be with you. Then we’ll do it.”

Henry tipped his head and Greer marched away.