by Matt James
She was lucky for most of it, though. Her father traveled with her a lot, giving her someone to bounce things off of. His experience during his early years working for the magazine had been even worse than what she’d gone through. Technological improvements made his job easier as the years went by, as did the advancements in medicine. He’d gotten sick more times than he could count.
Mack knew she shouldn’t be complaining about anything.
Having the use of a satellite phone was a big deal back in the day. Now, Mack took it for granted, as did everyone else in the modern world. She had one in her backpack but rarely had to use it unless something awful happened.
Nothing like having some first-world problems.
6
Early the next morning, Ian, Mack, and Babo loaded their gear into the back of Ian’s truck. The only thing that wasn’t entirely beat to hell was the hard-top cover concealing their tools. It looked relatively new. The tools within mostly consisted of weapons, but they’d also packed a bevy of hiking and camping gear and enough food and water for over a weeks’ worth of travel. Ian couldn’t wait to get back out into nature and away from the world’s problems.
Away from his problems…
Being used to hoofing it for long periods of time, Mack wasn’t the least bit put off when he told her that they’d have to sleep under the stars for a few nights. Like him, Mack seemed to prefer the company of Mother Earth anyway. People, like the assholes that Ian was forced to take down the day before, were usually much more dangerous than any animal he’d ever come across.
Unless this pack of Rahonavis really does exist.
Ian knew something carnivorous was alive within the mountain range, maybe even beneath it, but unfortunately, even after the years and the amount of money he’d spent researching everything, he had very little to go on. It was all speculation at best.
He tried to picture what the animals looked like in his mind’s eye, but as with a lot of ancient creatures, specifically dinosaurs, Ian couldn’t come up with anything he liked. Yes, there were feathered dinosaurs, like their friend in the photo. But no, Ian didn’t believe that a species like the Tyrannosaurs Rex had them. Over the years, some scientists had hypothesized, that “Rex” was nothing more than a forty-foot-long, wingless canary with a hankering for meat.
He shook his head at the notion. Big Bird with teeth.
Ian had seen countless depictions of dinosaurs with feathers, and he had to side with the traditionalists on that one. Something about it looked off to him. Monstrous lizards with vibrant plumes didn’t seem right. That’s where Abigail and her like-minded colleagues’ theory came into play, specifically within the Saurischia order.
I could teach a course on this crap, he thought, happy to be using his sponge-like brain for something other than military related stuff. Ian could retain just about anything he learned if it interested him enough to warrant it. Abigail called it “Selective Memorization.” Ian just figured that most of what people said was bullshit and wasn’t worth his time.
But not Abby…
He remembered everything she told him.
Coming from the Greek words meaning “hip joint lizard,” skeletons belonging to the Saurischia order of dinosaurs did look remarkably like birds. He again thought about the Velociraptor, how it was built and how it was depicted to move, bipedal like an Ostrich.
Like a bird…
“Archaeopteryx,” he mumbled to himself, slamming the bed lid closed, locking it.
He remembered reading about the genus of bird-like dinosaurs, the first ever recorded. At the time, Archaeopteryx, the “first wing,” was believed to be the oldest known dino-bird ever found, a member of the Avialae family of flightless, winged dinosaurs. Some have said that the creature is believed to be the transitional species between the non-avian reptiles and modern-day birds.
Like traditional upright-walking carnivorous dinosaurs, Archaeopteryx had a mouthful of teeth. It also sported a long, boney tail, and grasping claws on the second joint of its wings. The creature was basically a beakless, toothed bird with feathered, bat wings. Their animal, Rahonavis, was similar to Archaeopteryx, just bigger.
All three of Rahonavis, Archaeopteryx, and Velociraptor were a part of the same “hip joint lizard” order too. All different sizes, but the same nonetheless. They were cousins along the evolutionary ladder.
This is a lot to take in, but the similarities are uncanny.
He blew out a long breath and climbed into his truck, an older model Ford Sport Trac. The four-door truck/SUV combo was outfitted with dense off-road tires, a push bar, and a thick-gauged cable attached to a winch system on the front fender. Its squeaking shocks reminded him that it was in dire need of a tune-up.
Surprisingly, Babo climbed into the back seat, giving Mack the ability to sit up front with Ian. He wasn’t sure whether Babo was just trying to be nice or if there was another reason. Either way, Ian knew it would be a relief for her not to have to sit in back with the last of their party, the eccentric Thomas Nash.
“So,” Mack said as they continued further and further out of town, “what’s with your friend?”
“Nash?” Ian asked. He shook his head. “We aren’t friends. We’re just two guys in the same line of work that sort of trust one another.”
“Why do you trust him? Seems like trust isn’t common around here.”
He nodded in agreement. Trust was a rarity, for sure.
“Nash is ex-military, like me,” he explained. “He was in the British SAS a decade ago, but unlike me, he went straight into the mercenary business and never looked back.” Ian glanced at Mack for a second. “He doesn’t mind taking lives if it meets his, or his employers, endgame. Personally, I prefer harmless smuggling and security jobs to killing people. I try to prevent attacks, for the most part, not start them.”
Babo leaned forward, poking his head in between their seats. “Nash only care about money. Not you. Not me.” He sat back. “He care about no man but himself.”
Mack glanced at Babo and then back to Ian. “Sounds like a charmer.”
Ian smirked. “You have no idea.”
* * *
Mack sat quietly and watched the world zip by. Once they were outside of Ambalavao, all she saw was nothing. Flat grassland surrounded them for as far as the eye could see. The next time they saw a man-made building was thirty minutes later. The only other blemish that she noted was the enormous Andringitra Massif off on the horizon.
Leaning forward, she peered through the dust-covered windshield. “Is that a trailer?”
Ian nodded and guided them towards the grimy structure. Rather, they pulled up to a barbed wire fence encompassing it. Still a good fifty feet from the home itself, Ian parked the trucked and climbed out. Babo was next, but Mack stayed put, feeling nervous.
Ten feet in front of the truck, Ian stopped, turned, and eyed her, standing as still as a statue. He wasn’t going any further until she—the money—followed. Sighing, Mack popped open her door, cringing as the heat assaulted her. It wasn’t as hot it could’ve been given that it was early in the day and a little overcast, nonetheless, the temperature was still sweltering.
Rounding the front of the vehicle, she paused her march forward when she saw that both Ian and Babo were armed. Ian had a pretty serious looking thigh holster on his right leg and a large combat knife attached to the left side of his belt. Unlike Ian, Babo’s handgun was nonchalantly tucked into the back of his pants.
The man they sought was supposed to be a comrade.
Is he really ‘that’ crazy?
She asked them as much. “What’s with the guns?”
Ian waited for her to join them before answering. Once she did, they all moved off, speaking in low murmurs.
“Just because Nash was an ally in the past,” Ian explained, “doesn’t make him one today.”
She looked at Babo who just lifted his hand and rubbed his fingers together. It was the international sign for money—for cash. On any
other day, Mack would’ve felt safe with two professionals guiding her forward—but this wasn’t a typical day. Neither was the day before, and the day after that wouldn't be either. She doubted she’d see another normal day until her time in Madagascar was up.
A hot, yet, chilling breeze blew by her just then, giving her goosebumps. The air wasn’t cold at all, not even close. Mack knew it was just her nerves standing on end that caused the sensation to arise. Cautiously, she fell in line behind them, not wanting to be the first one to arrive at Nash’s front door.
With twenty feet to go, Ian and Babo stopped, causing her to run into them. She’d taken her eyes off their destination to have a look around. Junked vehicles littered the front yard. Something about them looked out of place. They didn’t look like they’d just broken down in their individual spots. They seemed to have strategically been placed there like some sort of blockade or even a training ground.
Mack played paintball quite a bit in her high school days and even again later in college. It reminded her of the way the battlegrounds were set up. Plenty of places to hide and ambush the enemy.
Wonderful…
Neither of the bigger men budged an inch when she hit them, but they did glance at her, looking very annoyed. As Ian turned back toward the trailer, Mack did the same and froze. There was a lone figure standing on the porch who wasn’t there a second ago.
Mack wasn’t sure what she expected Nash to look like but she kind of figured he’d take after Ian a little. She pictured all private security-types to be rugged, full of scars, and have a scowl permanently plastered on their faces. The depth of said scowl would be the only way to tell them apart.
She couldn’t have been more wrong.
Thomas Nash looked like he was in his early forties and was clean cut and…very handsome. If Julia asked her how to describe the man, she’d tell her that Nash reminded her of Chris Pine’s character from Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor. What bothered her the most about Nash was that he knew he was good-looking and presented himself as such.
But Mack never remembered seeing Chris Pine level an assault rifle at Gal Gadot’s chest…
She was surprised to see Ian and Babo not return the gesture, instead, they left their pistols alone. They just stood there, relaxed and unfazed. Mack couldn’t say the same for herself, though. She was about to pee her pants.
Nash’s eyes darted back and forth between the two men, eventually settling on her. She tried to hide behind the guys, but her above-average height made her feel ridiculous for trying. She was basically eye level with Ian. She would have to physically crouch in order to hide.
Making eye contact with the merc, his posture instantly changed from menacing to…flirtatious?
“I see you’re hangin’ around better-lookin’ company, Ghost.” His eyes passed over Babo and locked onto Mack again. “And who might you be?”
Mack saw Ian again tense at the nickname.
Why do they insist on poking this bear?
Ian stepped in. “She’s the money, Tommy. Now, are you going to talk business, or are you just going to gun us down before you hear what she has to say?”
The boyish nickname seemed to piss off Nash just like the name “Ghost” enraged Ian. At the very least, Mack knew what not to call the two men. She nervously watched Nash’s gun barrel sway back and forth as he thought, keeping Ian and Babo in his sights at all times.
Nash gripped his weapon harder and looked at Babo. “What the bloody hell is he talkin’ about? Is he for real, or is he just yankin’ my crank?”
From behind, Mack saw the gigantic man nod his head in the affirmative. Biting his lip, Nash’s nostrils flared as he contemplated his next move. Finally, he relented his aggressive stance and lowered the rifle.
“Fine but make it quick.” He winked at Mack and stepped aside. “I ain’t got much goin’ on and got no time to waste.”
She didn’t think Nash was crazy per se. What he was, was annoyingly arrogant, and from the configuration of the vehicles in his yard, and the barbed wire fence surrounding it, maybe a little paranoid. Personally, he believed himself to be hot shit and probably hadn’t heard many arguments against it in his life. Mack knew that his cockiness was actually a good thing when fighting in the military. In a way, it was like most sports athletes carried themselves. You needed to think of yourself as the best to succeed to the fullest.
Mack considered herself the best spiker in all of college volleyball. The difference between her and Nash was that she really was the best, or, at least, she was rated that way during her senior year. Never, not once, did she need to go out of her way to tell someone she was.
She earned it, and everyone in her corner of the world knew it.
Ian and Babo climbed the short staircase up to his front porch and made their way past Nash, entering his home. When Mack attempted to follow, Nash leaned in and gave her a broad smile.
“Just lovely,” he said, smiling wide. Then, he playfully sniffed the air. “Like a summer rose.”
What the hell?
Not wanting to openly confront the man, she skirted past him and found Ian, quickly sliding behind him. He seemed to get the hint and turned to face the Brit, blocking him from her even more.
Besides his apparent lust for women, Nash was a gun nut too.
Every square inch of his modest-sized home was lined with weapons. He showed them off like a display at the Louvre. They were perfectly aligned and dust-free. The presentation unnerved her as much as his affinity for the opposite sex.
Well, she thought, this one is definitely a loon.
7
The car ride to the park was uneventful, which was precisely what Mack wanted. Without having to look back, she knew that Nash was ogling her. The man’s behavior had become borderline predatory towards her since they were first introduced. Whether he was actually a predator in a sexual way or not was something Mack didn’t want to find out.
Is that the real reason he was tossed from the service?
She shook her head. “If’s” rarely meant anything except causing, or furthering, a headache. Worrying about something that might never come to be was a waste of time and energy. Time, she had. But the energy…that was something that was about to be put to the test.
The conversation with Nash was short and sweet. She expected the man to outright laugh at them once she revealed the reason she was sent to Madagascar.
“Dinosaurs?” Nash asked. “You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ me, right?”
Both Mack and Ian shook their heads in unison.
“There’s a thousand bucks with your name on it,” Mack said, crossing her arms. “If you don’t want to come along, I’ll be more than happy to split it up between Ian and Babo.”
Nash grinned. “Now, now, love…I didn’t say, no.” He scratched his head. “So, Barnie is beneath the massif, huh?” Mack didn’t answer, waiting for Nash’s dramatic display to be over with. Finally, he shrugged. “Well, shit, why the fuck not? Like I said before, I ain’t got much goin’ on.”
Mack raised an eyebrow. “But I thought you had ‘no time to waste?’”
He flashed another shit-eating grin. “For you, I’ll make an exception.”
Mack was the first to hop out of the truck, needing to escape the uncomfortable memory. Nash’s gaze had gotten to her. Ian quickly followed, ordering Babo and the Brit to stay put.
Before them was the Andringitra National Park Reception and Information Center. In actuality, it was a just a two-story, brick building. From what Mack could tell, it looked to have been recently renovated. The paint looked fresh and the property around it well maintained.
Not that it matters.
Ian stopped, grabbing her arm. “Okay, this is how it’s going to go… You flash your credentials and tell them that you’re writing a story on the tremors. Say that it’s focusing on their effects on the park’s ecosystem. Do not bring up the deaths. They don’t want the park’s name smeared because of something that’s out of their control
.”
Mack nodded. “Got it. Anything else?”
“Yes,” Ian replied. “As far as I am concerned, I’m just your guide. Babo and Nash are my assistants. Nothing more. You have to declare who’s traveling with you and what we’re all bringing.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Just in case the park gets trashed. They want to know who to blame and prosecute them according. Obviously, we aren’t telling them that we have a truck full of weapons.”
“No,” Mack said, rolling her eyes, “that would be dumb.”
Ian smirked.
“What about the truck anyway?”
“What about it? There are marked roads that allow vehicle usage. If we stay on them, we won’t find any trouble. Park rangers are pretty lenient around here if we behave.” He snapped his head to the right, Mack following his hard stare, turning to her left. Another group of tourists were making their way to them, guided by someone in a uniform.
Mack was on edge as it was, and when Ian visibly relaxed, so did she. The group was still a ways off. Whether he admitted it or not, Ian was still a soldier on the inside.
They faced one another. “When we get to the end of the line,” Ian continued, “we’ll wait until nightfall and unload everything we’ll need up top and…” He looked past Mack. She looked over her shoulder and saw the massif, “…we won’t come down until we find them.”
Them, Mack thought. We’re here to find dinosaurs… She still had a hard time accepting the fact that they were out there. But then she recalled everything she had learned. They’re out there.
Mack nodded and followed Ian to the front door. He opened it, standing aside to let her enter first. She smiled her thanks and stepped through.