Hominid (4 page)

CHAPTER 7

T
ess keyed open her hotel room and shuffled through the door. It had been a good day, but she was exhausted. After the talk, she’d stayed to speak with members of the audience who hadn’t had a chance to get their questions addressed. It had been a long but interesting two hours.

She’d been surprised that Jeff had waited. The two of them had gone for coffee. He was working on geospatial distribution of
Homo denisova
in comparison with
Homo sapiens
and Neanderthals. Tess could tell he wanted her help, and to be honest, part of her wanted to—the possible interaction of ancient humans fascinated her. But her passion was with her current line of research. Until she answered the question of what bigfoot was, she wasn’t going to be able to focus on anything else.

Kicking off her heels, she dropped her bag on the desk across from the bed and pulled off her suit jacket. The worst part of these trips was always the wardrobe. The person who invented heels must have hated women.

She grabbed the remote off the top of the TV, flopped onto the bed, and closed her eyes.
Just ten minutes. I’ll relax for ten minutes, and then I’ll go back down for the meet-and-greet.

She knew that if she was to have any chance of getting funded, the meet-and-greet was where connections would be made. The presentation was just the audition; now she needed a sit down with a director.

She turned on the TV, flipping through channels without really focusing on them. Finally she shut it off and closed her eyes.
A quick nap and I’ll be ready to go.

The hotel phone rang right next to her. She groaned.
Oh, come on.

But she slapped on her “I was not just trying to sleep” voice and answered. “Hello?”

“Dr. Brannick?”

“Yes?”

“My name is Thaddeus Regan. I am the assistant to Carter Hayes.”

Tess’s mouth fell open. Carter Hayes was a world-renowned businessman who had a habit of turning small ideas into million-dollar ones. “Um, yes, Mr. Regan, what can I do for you?”

“Mr. Hayes was able to view your presentation today, and he would like to speak with you.”

“He was there?”

Thaddeus gave a small laugh. “No, no, of course not. But we recorded it for him. He was very impressed and would like to meet with you. Are you available now?”

Tess sat up, her eyes scanning the room for her shoes. “Sure. Where would he like to meet?”

“We’ve set up a video conference in the business center. Fifteen minutes?”

“Great. See you then.”

Tess hung up the phone and jumped off the bed, grabbing one shoe from in front of the TV. She got on her hands and knees and retrieved the other one from under the bed. Then she pulled out her makeup case and did a quick refresher. Throwing on her jacket and grabbing her messenger bag, she pocketed the room key and made her way out the door.

Ten minutes later, she was sitting in a conference room. A monitor sat on the table in front of her with a camera aimed right at her face. Tess squirmed. She was not a fan of seeing herself on camera. It’s why she wrote a blog instead of doing podcasts.

The attendant who ran the business center had left her a bottle of water. She took a sip and then tapped her pen on the legal pad she’d brought with her.

The screen in front of her beeped. Taking a breath, Tess pushed the button to connect the call.

A man in his forties with pale blue eyes and light brown hair beginning to thin at the peak appeared. He smiled, but it was not overly warm, more perfunctory. “Ah, Dr. Brannick. It’s nice to meet you in person. I am Thaddeus Regan.”

“Mr. Regan. It’s a pleasure.”

He gave her another perfunctory smile. “Please hold for Mr. Hayes.”

Tess’s heart gave a little leap. Carter Hayes. He’d been on the cover of
Time
magazine at least four times that she could remember, and every time they had debated whether he was a sinner or a saint. His standard mode of operation was to take over a floundering company, restructure it, and then turn it into a financially solvent corporation. But there was always a cost—pensions were lost, people were fired. His methods had gotten him likened to barbarians of old—nothing and no one was left standing when he was done.

The camera shifted as it was placed on a desk, and Mr. Hayes came into view. Tess had read that he was Scandinavian, but she would have known that anyway from one look. He had a narrow face, blond hair turning to white, and piercing blue eyes. He was a little thinner than the last picture she’d seen of him.
I wonder if he’s ill or just cutting out carbs?

“Dr. Brannick, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice.”

“The pleasure is all mine. It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Hayes.”

He waved his hand. “Please. Call me Carter. I’ve read your recent papers and your blog.”

The idea of Carter Hayes hunched over a computer reading her blog brought a smile to Tess’s face. She hastily hid it with a cough.

“Tell me,” Carter said. “Why do you think you’ve been able to continually find evidence where others have failed?”

Tess had prepared for just this question. “Usually, researchers go to a place when they hear there has been a bigfoot sighting. They stay for a few days, sometimes weeks, and then they move on to the next reported sighting. I believe that approach is misguided.”

“How so?”

“Well, bigfoot know their surroundings well—they know what’s supposed to be in their environment and what’s not. And they tend to stay away from the things that are not supposed to be there—say, for instance, a visiting scientist. As a result, I’ve set up my base in an area that has had bigfoot sightings on and off for years, and I have been out there almost every day for over a year. So I’m not new to the environment—I’m now viewed as part of it. I think that’s what has enabled me to get the casts I have.”

“And you seem to think you’re repeatedly finding prints from one bigfoot in particular.”

“Yes. I noticed a consistent feature on many of the casts—a scar that tells me that they all belong to the same individual.”

“Have you actually seen a bigfoot yet?”

Tess hesitated, contemplating her answer. But she knew lying would only come back to haunt her. “No. But I know one has been nearby.”

“How?”

“They have a rather strong scent—if you smelled it, you would understand. It’s a mix of woods, decay, and feces. It’s really remarkable. I’ve smelled it twice, and both times I found footprints shortly thereafter.”

Carter sat back in his chair. “People often refer to sasquatch or bigfoot as an animal. Is that what you believe him to be?”

Tess shook her head. “Belief has nothing to do with it. This is science.”

“And what does science tell you?”

“Science tells me we need to do more research.”

Carter gave a laugh, the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkling. “Good answer. So tell me, Dr. Brannick, do you think you will ever see one?”

Tess thought over all the prints she had found. She thought of the times she had felt eyes on her in the woods. But the memories of the night in the forest with her father and brother pushed to the forefront.

“It’s only a matter of time,” she said.

CHAPTER 8

C
arter closed the laptop in front of him and sat back.
Impressive
. He had queried Dr. Brannick for almost forty minutes about her research. She had a strong science background, and she was straightforward, edging to blunt. He liked that.

Plus, she was good-looking. The picture in the file hadn’t done her justice. It hadn’t captured her energy. Even through the monitor, he could sense her passion, her intelligence, her dedication. If anyone was going to succeed in this quest, it was Dr. Tess Brannick. And her attractiveness would be a boon when she succeeded. The media would love her.

Thaddeus quietly stood up from the couch. “Sir?”

“What is your impression?” Carter asked.

“Her pedigree is impressive. She received high marks in all her coursework, and her professors were highly impressed with her, although many expressed concern about her chosen field of study.”

Carter snorted.
Academics
—
a bunch of smarty-pants writing articles for each other
. But Brannick was different. She was going out on her own, away from the mainstream. He respected that. He knew that while the greatest risk was in ventures like these, so were the rewards.

“But I think it is her own personal experience that gives her the edge,” Thaddeus continued. “She knows she will be successful, because she has already met bigfoot.”

A childhood obsession—just like me.
They were both focused on finding the beast. And together, they would succeed.

The financial windfall from the find would be astronomical. From a pure marketing standpoint, the potential profit was incalculable. And for a man known for being able to break everything down to dollars and cents, that was truly saying something. Who wouldn’t pay an arm and a leg to see a bigfoot—live and in person?

But even the financial windfall paled in comparison to what else could be gained. If the hominid existed, it had a strength and build that far eclipsed that of any human. If they could harness that for the military, or figure out a way to genetically modify humans to achieve that same physique… why, that military would be unstoppable.

Of course, Carter knew he wasn’t the first to have thought of the military applications of genetically modifying humans. Back during the Cold War, the USSR had attempted to merge animals and humans in an effort to increase the physical capabilities of their soldiers. It all began with a Soviet biologist named Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, the first person to figure out how to artificially inseminate animals. The USSR contracted him to create super soldiers using a mixture of apes and humans, so he went to Congo to inseminate chimps with human sperm. But he failed. Attempts at using monkey sperm on human volunteers also failed.

Yet other attempts had demonstrated that cross-species breeding
was
possible. There was the liger, for instance: part tiger, part lion. And the zebroid: a cross between a zebra and either a horse or donkey. Grolars: a cross between a grizzly and a polar bear. And wholphins: a whale/dolphin hybrid. The list went on.

The biggest problem with the Soviet research, Carter thought, had been the use of gorillas. They simply weren’t genetically compatible enough with humans. But if Carter was right, bigfoot was even more closely related to humans than apes were.

Which meant there was a stronger possibility of success.

Carter twirled his chair and grabbed the cane next to his desk. He stood and swayed. Thaddeus did not move to help him—he knew better.

The moment of weakness annoyed Carter, but it also reinforced why he needed Tess Brannick to succeed. Besides the lucrative marketing and military angles, there was a much more personal angle that Carter was counting on. Bigfoot was strength personified; perhaps the creature might provide a cure, or at least a treatment, for muscular degenerative diseases.

But even if that failed, the discovery of bigfoot would define Carter’s legacy. When he passed, his name and image would live on as one of the twenty-first century’s greatest discoverers. He would be forever known as the man who found bigfoot. He would not live forever, but his discovery and his name would.

“How much would help her succeed?” Carter asked.

“Five hundred thousand dollars.”

Carter did a quick calculation in his mind. “Make it a million. And make sure she signs the contract and that we get twice-monthly updates.”

Thaddeus back out of the room. “Very well, sir.”

He turned to the wall of windows, his thigh muscles protesting even this small exercise.
Dr. Brannick, you have just become my greatest hope.

CHAPTER 9

A
fter the video conference call, Tess walked back to the banquet hall in a daze.
Carter Hayes is interested in my work
. She couldn’t believe it. She hit the button for the lobby as if she were sleepwalking. She crossed her fingers.
Oh, please let him fund me.

The doors popped open, and she resolved to force the meeting with Carter Hayes from her mind. He would be a wonderful benefactor, but he was not a lock. She had to focus on other possibilities. Composing herself, she stepped out of the elevator and headed for the main ballroom.

But despite her best intentions, she couldn’t stop thinking about the meeting. As a result, she spent the next hour and a half speaking with people about her work without any real idea of what she was saying. She just hoped she was making sense. The time passed in a blur, and when she finally returned to her room, it was with great relief that she slipped back into her normal clothes: jeans and boots. Her feet thanked her profusely.

But there was no time to lie down. She had another appointment—a much more enjoyable one. And sure enough, the minute she’d gotten changed, her phone chimed. She pulled it out.

We’re outside
.

With a huge smile, Tess hurried down to the lobby and stepped outside.

“There she is!” Pax jogged over, a giant grin on his face. He threw his arms around her.

Tess hugged him back. “It’s so good to see you.”

Pax pulled away, looking her over from head to toe. “You need to leave the forest more, but you still look great.”

She grinned. He looked good, too—trim, tan, and his dark hair was lighter. But he also seemed a little fitter and stronger as well. “You too. It looks like married life agrees with you.”

He looped his arm through hers. “That it does.”

Pax’s husband Shawn walked over.
And here’s the reason why Pax looks so good.
Shawn was six foot six, with dark skin, dark eyes, a ridiculous amount of muscle, and a smile that lit up a room. A Navy SEAL for fifteen years, he’d given up going on active missions when he married Pax, but he still kept in phenomenal shape by putting new recruits through their paces at the Naval Special Warfare Center at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado.

Shawn pulled her into a hug, lifting her off the ground. “Ah, my little sister.”

She laughed, whacking him on the shoulder. “Put me down.”

Shawn did with a smile. “We don’t like you being so far away. When are you moving here?”

“Never. But you two are always welcome to move back home.”

It was their running argument. Pax and Tess were as close as brother and sister could be. And when Shawn and Pax had started to get serious, that closeness had extended to him as well. They all wished they could move closer to each other, but jobs kept them in different spaces. Pax was the marketing director for a genetic lab based in San Diego. He used to run one of the labs, but he was happier after the move to the PR position. “Fewer test tubes and more people,” as he explained.

And seeing as Bigfoot didn’t often hang around in downtown San Diego, moving was not really an option for any of them.

“But we are all still agreed that we’re retiring together at Catalina Island, right?” Tess asked.

“We’re in,” Pax said. “Now let’s eat.”

Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at a quiet Italian restaurant. Tess grabbed a roll from the bread basket. “So, what’s going on at work?”

“Oh, same old—except there was a big hubbub about a paternity test that was done at the lab involving an unnamed celebrity,” Pax said. “The media has been camped out trying to get the name. I’ve been fielding calls all week. It’s been a zoo.”

“And he’s loving every minute of it,” Shawn said.

Pax grinned. “That I am.”

Tess smiled as she watched the easy camaraderie between the two. She’d had that with her fiancée, David, too. It had been as if they could read each other’s minds. The thought of David still hurt. Three years after his death, though, she was finally able to think about him without debilitating sadness. Now it was merely an ache, one that, she knew, would never completely go away. He had been young, and kind, and hers. And a drunk driver had taken him away.

Her phone rang, jarring her back to the present.

Shawn frowned. “I thought the no-phone rule was in place.”

“Sorry. But I’m waiting to hear on a grant.” She read the name on her screen and stood up. “Holy crap. It’s them.”

“Go get ’em,” Pax called after her as she made for the quieter balcony.

Steeling herself, Tess answered. “Hello?”

“Dr. Brannick, Thaddeus Regan here.”

“Mr. Regan. Nice to hear from you again.”

“Yes, you as well. Mr. Hayes has decided to fund your research for two years. At the end of two years, depending on how the research is progressing, he will have an option to extend. Five hundred thousand dollars annually is the amount we have reached. Would that be acceptable to you?”

Tess’s head spun.
Five hundred thousand dollars
. She could get new cameras, maybe hire an assistant, afford electricity and food.
Holy cow
. “Um, yes, yes. That is acceptable.”

“Excellent. I’ve emailed you a copy of the contract. Please review it, have it notarized, and send it back to the address listed within the week. Mr. Hayes looks forward to sharing your research successes.”

Thaddeus disconnected the call without waiting for a reply. But that was fine with Tess, because she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to form one. She walked back to the table in a daze.

Pax took her hand as she resumed her seat. “Tess?”

She looked over at him and saw the concern on his face. Shaking herself from her shock, she said, “I’ve been funded for two years by Carter Hayes.”

Both Shawn and Pax went quiet, then both got up and hugged her.

“I am so proud of you,” Pax said.

“I knew you could do it,” Shawn said.

The waiter appeared. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

Pax grinned. “Margaritas all around. We’re celebrating.”