by Anna Martin
“Sit down,” Kit said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. He’d already set up his laptop with Skype running, so as soon as his mama got home he could call her.
Logan stopped dead, then gave a short, wry laugh. “Sorry.”
Kit leaned up to cup Logan’s face in his hands and kissed him firmly. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
“We’re in so much trouble,” Logan murmured, resting his forehead against Kit’s.
“I know.”
The computer pinged, and they both rushed to the sofa. A moment later, Kit’s mama came into fuzzy view on the screen.
“Kit?” she asked.
“We’re here.”
“Hi, Logan.”
“Thank you so much for calling,” Logan said in a rush.
“That’s okay.” Kit watched as she settled into her desk chair and tucked her feet up underneath her legs, as she often did. “Helena is here too.”
“Hi,” she called from somewhere offscreen.
“What can I do to help?”
Logan rubbed his hand over his eyes and sighed. “I wish I knew.”
“Kit filled me in on his text,” she said. “I’ve been talking to Helena about it, and we think the chances are, someone has taken her either as a bargaining chip or because they want to study her.”
“My mind keeps going to animal testing,” Logan said. He rubbed his hands over his face. “Vivisection.”
“Too risky,” Marie said briskly. “Someone broke into your apartment and took her. They had to know that first, you had her, and secondly, that she’s important to you. I don’t mean to overstep boundaries here, Logan, but you’re not exactly a delicate flower.”
“You’re not me is what she’s trying to say,” Kit said drily.
“Oh, shut up, Kit,” Marie said with a laugh. “Logan, no one’s going to want to pick a fight with you, because I can’t see many winning.”
“I hate fighting,” he said petulantly.
“No one needs to know that. Your job right now is to try and track down where Dizzy is. I’m going to work out how we mitigate any trouble you might be in.”
“What are you thinking?” Kit asked.
“I have some ideas already. I’ve read everything I can find about laws and rules on the Archipelago, and there’s definitely a few things that are going to work in our favor.”
“There are?” Logan said, sounding heartbreakingly hopeful.
“Yes. I spoke with some colleagues already who have a better understanding of this than I do. In terms of laws, the Archipelago has pretty much adopted British law for most things.”
“Why?” Kit asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said simply. “It might be a hangover from British colonization in Australasia. But it’s put us in a good position. According to British law, pets are considered property. We’re going to argue that Dizzy is a domesticated animal and therefore legally your property as a pet.”
“But she wasn’t mine to take in the first place.”
“I know,” Marie said, leaning back as Helena passed her a glass of wine. “But I can’t find anything anywhere that asserts who owns the dinosaurs here. In fact, they’re specifically not owned by anyone, and neither is the land they live on. That’s how scientists from all over the world can study them together.”
“If no one owns them and I’ve taken one….” Logan frowned.
“Right. There are rules about interrupting the food chain. There are rules about taking an animal off the island for study. But nowhere, in any of the laws and rules that govern the island and the people who work and live there, is there anything that says you can’t take a dinosaur and domesticate it.”
“Probably because no one thought anyone would be stupid enough to try and do that,” Kit said.
“Thanks,” Logan murmured and knocked his shoulder against Kit’s.
“Exactly,” Marie said. “And no one would want to with pretty much any of the dinosaurs.”
“Except the dissimosaurs,” Logan finished for her.
Marie held up her mug in a toast. “Cheers to that. So we argue that it wasn’t against the rules for you to take Dizzy in the first place, and now she’s a domesticated animal and therefore your property.”
“Do you really think this is going to work?” Kit asked.
“I really don’t know. There’s a lot going on here. It really depends on who’s leading your hearing and what their views are. They might buy it—they might not. But things are definitely going to change as a result of it. If you want to domesticate any more dissimosaurs, I strongly recommend you go and get them now, because after this is over, they are definitely going to make it against the rules.”
“I think I’ll stick with the one I have,” Logan said. Then his expression dropped. “Had. If I can get her back.”
“We’ll get her back,” Kit said with a confidence he didn’t feel.
Logan leaned forward again, toward the laptop screen. “Are we screwing ourselves over if we want to argue that Johansson is illegally poaching? You can’t poach on land that isn’t owned by anyone, and that’s basically my main defense.”
Marie nodded slowly. “Possibly. The difference is going to be intent. You took Dizzy in good faith, in the animal’s best interests, whereas Johansson is killing dinosaurs for profit.”
“Do you really think this is going to work?” Logan asked.
Marie looked at him with a stern expression Kit recognized from his childhood. It meant his mama wasn’t about to take any shit from anyone.
“I wouldn’t have booked a flight out there if I didn’t think it was going to work.”
“Ms. Sterling,” Logan said, shaking his head, “you don’t have to do that.”
“Like hell I don’t.” She laughed. “Are you kidding? I haven’t taken on a case this interesting in years. I’m also looking into whether I can prosecute Johansson. Just for fun.”
“Just for fun,” Logan echoed.
“Isn’t she wonderful?” Helena called out.
“When will you get here?” Kit asked.
“I’m leaving for the airport in a few hours,” Marie said. “Your mom can’t come this time—she has to work—but I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay,” Kit said. “I’ll try and keep us out of trouble until you arrive.”
“Do that,” Marie said with a grin. “Love you.”
“Love you more,” Kit said and blew her a kiss before they ended the call.
When Kit closed the lid of the laptop, Logan dropped his head to Kit’s shoulder.
“I can’t leave her for two more days,” he said quietly. “I can’t, Kit.”
“You’re going to do something stupid, aren’t you?”
Logan kissed his shoulder. “If I don’t tell you, then you have a reasonable defense.”
“That means yes.” Kit sighed.
Chapter Twenty Three
When he got to his office, Logan scheduled a meeting with his whole team. They had regular updates every other week, so he rarely summoned them all outside those times unless it was absolutely necessary. When Tony called, Logan wasn’t particularly surprised.
“Everything all right, boss?”
Logan tried hard not to sigh. “I’ll go over everything later. Are you all clear to come in? Sorry to disturb your weekend.”
“It’s not like I had a lot planned. You want Jenna too?”
Sometimes when the information was classified, he didn’t brief the interns. This time he thought it might be a good idea.
“Yeah. If she’s free.”
“I’ll bring her in.”
It went against every instinct Logan had not to storm through the building and scream at every person he encountered until he found out who the hell stole his dissimosaur. Stole Dizzy. But that wasn’t going to help her, and there was something to be said for keeping his cards close to his chest while they figured the whole mess out.
Logan fumbled through his morni
ng, not really paying attention to the emails he answered, instead losing time doodling on the corner of his notepad, trying to piece together what had happened.
As much as he wanted to pin everything on Simon Johansson, Logan knew even his and Kit’s testimony combined wouldn’t be enough to topple someone in such a high position. Johansson was literally in charge of everything that happened on these islands. All Logan had was some sketchy evidence of poaching, and his account that he’d seen Johansson on a speedboat. He was sure that if it came down to it, Johansson would be able to explain away all of Logan’s accusations. What he needed was cold, hard evidence… and he didn’t have it.
But underpinning all his logic was an intense guilt. After all, Dizzy had been taken when Logan had locked her out of the bedroom so he could have sex with Kit. He knew it was stupid to blame himself, but those were the facts. If he’d maybe just left the door open, or hadn’t been so quick to kick her out, she’d still be around.
He also couldn’t ignore the idea that maybe someone had broken in while they were having sex, and however much he didn’t want to be ashamed by that, it was hard to undo some of the embarrassment about it.
Guilt, shame, fear…. They were a potent combination, all making him sick to the stomach.
He headed to the lab’s canteen to grab some lunch just before midday, knowing this was when it would be quietest. Logan half wanted to sit at a table right in the middle of the room and listen for any strand of gossip, because if anyone knew that there was an infant dissimosaur on the South Island, there would be plenty of chatter about it. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to contain himself if he overheard anything like that, though, so instead he grabbed a sandwich and a soda and scuttled back to his office as soon as possible.
If someone from management was behind Dizzy’s disappearance, they’d surely be watching him now.
His team assembled in one of the meeting rooms at midday and sat in silence, waiting, while Logan tried to tell them what had happened.
“Last night,” Logan said, his voice cracking. “Last night, someone broke into my apartment and stole Dizzy.”
“Oh no,” Jenna gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
“Shit, boss,” Darren drawled. “You got any idea who?”
Logan shook his head. “I’m trying to figure that out.”
“How can we help?” Tony asked.
Logan felt the knot in his chest tighten, then release. His team were good people. They stuck together.
“Thanks,” he murmured. “I don’t know right now.”
“You think it was the poachers?” Darren asked.
“Potentially. Or someone here found out about her and decided to take her. I mean, she wasn’t mine to take in the first place.”
“It’s not like you can put posters up.”
“Right,” Logan said. “I guess… all I can ask is for you guys to keep your ears open. If you hear anything that sounds interesting, let me know. Someone on this island knows where my dissimosaur is, and I want her back.”
Logan worked late that night, compiling everything he had into one folder. His videos, notes, the interviews he’d done with Tony, Darren, and Jenna after they’d found the dead poacher, his own reports plus some aerial photographs of the islands with locations marked out.
Logan wasn’t always good at keeping his emotions out of his reports, so it took a while to edit out his thoughts and feelings and leave just bare facts on the page. When he was done, he saved everything to an external USB drive and emailed everything to Kit, just to cover his back.
While he was working, it had gotten dark. Logan leaned back in his chair and stretched, then instinctively reached down for Dizzy to butt her head against his hand. Except, of course she wasn’t there.
Still feeling sick, Logan packed up his things and left his office, locking it carefully. Just as he was done, Leilani stepped around the corner.
She didn’t look great.
“Dr. Beck,” she said.
Logan took in her pallid skin and red eyes and opened his office back up.
“Come in,” he said, holding the door for her.
She did as he instructed, wringing her hands quietly. Logan shut the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Leilani just chewed her lip in response, her eyes filling with tears again.
“Leilani,” Logan said in his most soothing voice, “I promise I can help, whatever it is.”
“It’s… it’s Dizzy.”
Something leapt in Logan’s chest.
“Do you know something about what happened to her?”
A tear escaped Leilani’s eye and rolled down her cheek. “I overheard one of the women in my running group talking about a dinosaur in the labs. Dr. Beck, I’m so scared. I’ve worked so hard for this job, and I don’t want to lose it. I’m really sorry, I am, but I don’t know…. I don’t—”
“Shh, it’s okay.” Logan reached out to pat her arm, resisting the urge to demand she tell him what she knew. “What’s with all the ‘Dr. Beck,’ huh? You call me Logan.”
“I want to help you. I really do. But I know I’m expendable here. There’s twenty people lining up to take my job if I mess up. It’s not like you and Kit, who have important jobs. I’m just a lab tech.”
Logan shook his head. “I won’t ask you to do anything that puts your job at risk,” he said. “I mean it. People speak highly of you here, Leilani. You’re not ‘just’ anything.”
“Thank you,” she sniffed.
“I kind of get the impression you wouldn’t have come all the way here if you didn’t want to tell me something, though.”
“I want to help. But I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.”
He could sense Leilani was starting to crumble. She looked like she was going to start bawling at any second. Logan had never made a girl cry before—he figured now wasn’t a good time to start.
“Leilani,” he said. “Please. She’s only a baby. She’s alone and likely scared. She’s a pack animal, and I’m her pack. We have no idea what stress can do to infant dissimosaurs. She could die.”
“Dr. Beck….”
“I don’t want to take her anywhere,” Logan insisted. “I want to go wherever she is to be with her.”
Leilani silently unclipped her key card from her belt.
“Go all the way to the back of the labs,” she said, her voice a barely audible hushed whisper. “You’ll see a black door with Storage stenciled on in white. Go downstairs, into the basement, and she’s down there somewhere. I don’t know where.”
“I’ll find her,” Logan said. He lifted the card. “And if anyone asks, I stole this.”
“I hope she’s okay,” Leilani said.
Logan leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. Then he took off for the labs in a run.
He guessed Dizzy had been on her own for maybe twenty hours, in isolation. The longest he’d ever left her for was two hours, and that was when she was in a familiar place with her blanket or his hoodie. He had visions of tiny cages and freezing cold, dark rooms.
His poor girl.
He was half expecting the guards on the door to the lab, but it was still a shock when he spotted them from a way back. Thankfully, they hadn’t seen him. It was still a problem. The labs were huge, and apart from the fire exits, there was only one main entrance and exit to the building.
Logan backed away, his heart pounding, wondering if he was really doing the right thing.
It was getting dark, he was already in a lot of trouble, and he was skulking around so he could break into a building to comfort a baby dinosaur.
He took a circular route around the back of the building. There were docks back here, mostly used by the labs for deliveries. The three speedboats kept by his team were here too. Once he was safely out of sight, Logan pulled his phone from his pocket.
Kit answered Logan’s call on the first ring.
“Where are you?” he demanded.
“Trying to break into your lab.”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Kit said, but he didn’t sound mad.
“I found out where Dizzy is.”
“You’re going to get fired. Please, Logan, I’m trying to get this done properly, legally….”
“No.” Logan tried not to snap. “I need to make sure she’s okay. I was the one who took her, Kit. She’s my responsibility.”
“We took her. Me and you.”
Logan nodded. “Okay. So she’s our responsibility. I’ll let you do what you need to do, Kit. Please help me do what I need to do.”
Kit sighed heavily. “What do you need?”
“There’s armed security on the front entrance to the lab.”
“You have to be kidding me.”
“I wish I was.”
“Okay.”
“So how do I get in? Dizzy’s in the basement, some kind of storage area?”
“Yeah, I know where that is.” Kit sighed again. “The skylights all have bars on, so don’t bother getting up onto the roof. They’d spot you too easily. Where are you now?”
“At the back of the building, by the docks.”
“Hang on.”
Logan waited, working his breathing into something more calm and slow. He heard Kit rustling around and leaned against a tree, propping his foot against it as he waited.
“I don’t hardly ever use the storage areas myself,” Kit said. “That’s mainly for the technicians. But I think there’s an exit back there that has a different kind of door.”
“Not a fire door? Those will set the alarms off, right?”
“Yeah, don’t try and get in that way. Because it’s underground, they had to put in a different type of entrance/egress point.”
“Where are you getting this from?”
“I hacked into the servers,” Kit said easily. “I’m looking at the plans now. How were you planning on getting in?”
“I have Leilani’s card. I figured they would have blocked mine from working at the labs.”
He heard the clicking of Kit’s keyboard. “Yeah, they did. Mine has been restricted too. Leilani’s is fine, though.”