Something burst through the ferns and screeched so loudly that Ben literally felt himself blanch from shock. He threw himself down into the mud.
The thing stood about seven feet in height and seemed all box-like head, serrated teeth, and a green and brown camouflage tiger stripe that would have rendered it invisible in the twilight jungle.
It was some sort of theropod and its jaws clamped down on one of the turkey things with a wet, bone-breaking crunch. It then shook it quickly from side to side, much like a dog that had caught a rabbit.
The other plant-eaters fled, one straight at Ben, and he only had to flick an arm out to grab its neck and twist sharply.
With the hunter occupied and the sounds of ripping flesh loud enough to mask him, Ben began to back into the brush. He made sure to drag his dead prize through the mud, coating the creature to also conceal its scent. One of the many things he had learned in his long years here: to stay alive, you needed to be able to vanish — no scent, no sound, and no movement.
He began to squirm into one of the tunnels he had carved out through the roots, stems, and branches of the ground bracken, straining his body to fit inside.
He couldn’t help farting, and he froze, grimacing. He waited to hear if there was any sound of pursuit. After a few minutes, he exhaled.
Idiot; can’t take you anywhere, Cartwright, he thought, and pushed on. In another few minutes, Ben was well away.
The largest theropod, the leader, was joined by several others of its pack, and after it had its share of the small animal, he allowed them to tear at the remains to finish off even the skin and bones. The small creature was barely enough to take the edge off the pack’s appetite — they needed more, always more.
The leader sniffed the air, catching the scent of the methane. Its sensitive snout was able to analyze the tiny airborne particles in the gas and understand everything about the animal it came from; the food it had eaten, that it was warm-blooded, its health, its sex, and finally, the direction it went.
It grunted once, calling the pack in, and they began to follow the scent.
CHAPTER 08
Emma was on a mission, and she headed for the Smithsonian’s special exhibits gallery. She was rapidly ticking off her list of things she’d need. Her plans were coming together, and she tried to think of everything that caused their downfall last time — sure, there was the gross underestimation of everything they’d all walked into. But there were resources they could have made use of to improve their chances.
Her jaws clenched when she thought of how naïve they all were when they sat around in Ricky’s Rib Bar and high-fived at the launch of a grand adventure — they were all dumb kids who thought that money, enthusiasm, youth, and a spirit of adventure was enough. It wasn’t, and it killed nearly all of them.
Her teeth were grinding so hard they ached as she entered the special exhibits hall and slowed as she came to the display she was looking for.
At the sight of it, her brain yelled a warning and her heart began racing in her chest. But her legs kept moving her closer.
The Titanoboa exhibit showed a reconstruction of the massive snake. It was as wide as a car and muddy brown. It was frozen in the act of devouring some sort of antelope. The back end of the animal was disappearing down the huge fang-toothed maw — it made Emma feel a sudden wave of nausea.
In the exhibit with the model were two people, a young man and woman, who crawled over the snake’s body, touched-up paintwork, and cleaned the display site as they chatted to each other. Emma just stared, and eventually, the young man noticed her, smiled, and wandered closer.
“Pretty awesome, huh?” He turned back to the snake and stuck his hands in his pockets. “It was around at the time of the dinosaurs and probably ate them for dinner.” He turned to her and grinned. “Wanna know why we think that?”
Emma shrugged. “Sure.”
“Regurgitation debris.” His eyebrows went up.
“Vomit?” She tilted her head.
“Exactly. We found crushed dino bones that were pulverized before they were fossilized. The fragmentation size led us to believe that a snake crushed them, ate them, and then regurgitated them.” He chuckled. “The big guys do that sometimes.”
“Don’t we all?” Emma returned the smile.
“Yep.” Andy laughed. “Weird thing is though, the Titanoboa outlived the dinosaurs by millions of years. We still don’t know how.”
Emma’s eyes slid to the model. “It’s too small,” she said, her gaze trance-like.
“What is?” he asked, frowning.
“It’s too small, and the body was striped, like a tiger, except green and brown.” She licked lips suddenly gone dry. “And it was far more muscular, sinuous, and powerful-looking.” She shrugged and nodded. “But it’s close, given I understand you only had a few vertebrae to work with.”
He turned to stare and his female colleague had stopped what she was doing to listen. Her eyes narrowed. She wiped her hands on a rag and wandered over.
“You’re Emma Wilson, aren’t you?”
Emma nodded and blinked, her name snapping her out of her trance. “Yes, I am.”
The woman shook her head and turned to her colleague. “This is the woman who said her friends were attacked by a giant snake in the Amazon ten years ago.” Her lip curled a little.
Emma folded her arms. “And you two must be Andy and Helen Martin, brother and sister paleontologists who are also specialists in herpetology.” She smiled at the young man. “You did good work on the Borealopelta markmitchelli fossil find.”
Andy grinned. “Thank you. It was a relative of the Ankylosaurus, and undoubtedly the best-preserved specimen in the world. You can actually see all the plating. Fantastic to—”
Helen nudged him and turned back to Emma. “What can we do for you, Ms. Wilson? We’re a little busy right now.”
“I understand,” Emma replied. She tilted her head. “But I see your eyes light up when you talk about your fieldwork and making such magnificent discoveries. And I know funding is hard to come by. After all, it’s not every day you get to find something truly magnificent.”
Helen’s jaw tightened, but Andy nodded.
“I don’t know what you’ve read about me, but I can guess.” Emma looked from one to the other. “The fact is, my friends and I mounted an expedition to the Amazon, and we discovered something there that was as magnificent as it was deadly. We failed because we underestimated everything about the place, the animals there, and the jungle.”
Emma looked from one scientist’s eyes to the other. “We’re going back, and this expedition, I’ll be taking everything I need. This time, we won’t be underestimating anything.”
The pair looked at Emma for a moment before their eyes slid to each other. Helen lifted her chin. “I’m guessing you want us to go, as part of that taking everything you need speech.”
Emma hiked her shoulders. “You’re the first specialists I’ve asked. This is a great opportunity. And consider this: I’ll fully fund your research for a year, and any discoveries we make there are yours.”
Andy’s eyebrows rose, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help twitching up. Helen’s face remained implacable.