Hominid

by R. D. Brady

  CHAPTER 130

  After the incident with Kong, Tess had made her way slowly back to the group, feeling numb. She’d looked for the toddler on the way back, but she had no doubt Kong had found him and brought him back. And when she’d reappeared at the rendezvous point, it seemed that no one had even noticed she’d been gone. She’d grabbed a blanket and sat on the tailgate of Eric’s pickup.

  Now the sun was dipping below the horizon. All the private military individuals had been arrested and taken away, but the tribe and Eric’s ranger friends stayed on. Someone had made a fire, and dinner soon followed. But Tess knew it wasn’t the food that kept everyone here. It had been a once-in-a-lifetime event, and no one was ready to let it end.

  The last few rays of sun hit her face. It was going to be a gorgeous sunset.

  There had been no sign of the bigfoot since Tess had last spoken with Frank and Mary. Or since I saw Kong. Tess knew they wouldn’t come back while all these people were here. But she hoped they’d come back one day. She wanted to see them again. She just hoped they wanted to see her again, too.

  Dev came and sat next to her, pulling her into her arms. “You all right?”

  “I think so.” She lapsed into silence. “It all seems unreal, now, doesn’t it? Like it was a dream.”

  “Yeah. But it was a shared dream.”

  Tess nodded to the group around the fire. “Do you think they’ll all keep this a secret?”

  “You have nothing to fear from the Hoopa and Klamath,” he said. “My people have respected bigfoot long before you folks were around. They’ll keep the secret. As for everyone else… I don’t know. What do you think?”

  Tess looked around. Eric had called in many of his ranger friends, and Shawn had brought in so many SEAL buddies, too. It was amazing. It was a tribe. The bigfoot had needed help, and Tess’s friends, and friends of friends, had jumped in to pitch in. Humans might be violent, but they also could be amazing.

  “Well, Shawn trusts his guys, so I do too. As for the rangers, I think they’ll stay quiet. I mean, no one really believes bigfoot exists anyway. That hasn’t changed. And there’s still no proof. And these guys… they respect nature. They know what would happen to these parks if the bigfoot were exposed. So yeah, I think they’re safe for now.”

  “Did Shawn make it back to the valley where the chopper crashed?” Dev asked.

  “Yeah. He retrieved the camera that was on the chopper and he doesn’t think it was linked. So that should be the only copy. He’s going to oversee the cleanup, and then he’ll head back to the cabin.”

  “How many soldiers were killed?”

  “Believe it or not, none."

  "Not even the pilot?" Tess asked remembering the crash.

  Shawn shook his head. "Nope. Oh, he's in bad shape but he'll make it. As for the rest, there’s a bunch of broken bones and some concussions, but everybody’s breathing.”

  “Well, that’s good news.” Tess shuddered, though, as she remembered Abe’s death. She should probably tell someone, but right now, she was a little too raw for that.

  “Hey, you all right?” Dev said. “Do you want to head back?”

  Tess looked over her shoulder at the trees. She did, but she needed to check and make sure the bigfoot were really gone. “In a little bit. I think I need to go for a walk, clear my head.”

  Dev kissed her on the forehead. “Just be careful.”

  Tess gave a rueful laugh. “I’m pretty sure the firefight scared off any predators in the area.”

  “True, but be careful anyway.”

  Tess hopped off the back of the truck. “I will.”

  Dev headed over to the group by the fire, where Eric poured him a cup of coffee. Tess watched the camaraderie for a little bit before slipping into the trees.

  It felt good to stretch her legs. As she walked, the forest noises returned, and Tess breathed in deep. This is what she needed—a reminder of the peace of the forest, not the violence of today.

  She made her way to a little brook and took a seat on a downed tree at its bank. She sat and just watched the water rippling over the rocks. Small fish surfaced and disappeared. The sun pierced through the trees. Tess sat there for a good long while, letting the peacefulness flow over her.

  Goodbye, my friends. I hope to see you again.

  Tess stood and dusted off her pants. With one last look at the peaceful scene, she turned for the camp.

  And went still.

  Standing twenty feet away from her was Kong. He had a few scratches but no major wounds. She squinted but couldn’t make out where Abe’s bullet had hit him. She was surprised at the relief she felt. She realized she viewed him like a grumpy uncle: he never had a good word for you, but he was still family.

  Kong seemed to be inspecting her as well.

  “Hi,” Tess said.

  Kong grunted at her, and Tess couldn’t help but smile.

  Kong covered the distance between them in three strides. He stared down at her, and a vision of the juvenile in the cage popped into her mind. Tess gasped. “He’s your son.”

  Kong didn’t say anything, but he held out his hand to her. An apple lay on his palm.

  Tess looked at it in surprise. They only feed you if they think you’re worthy. She reached out and took the fruit with a shaky hand. “Thank—”

  Kong was already striding away. But then he stopped, paused, and walked back. Tess looked up at him. He patted her twice on the head. Then he turned again, and disappeared into the woods.

  A laugh burst from Tess, and she hugged the apple to her, tears springing to her eyes. I like you too, Kong.

  CHAPTER 131

  Two Days Later

  Queens, New York

  Deloris Cameron sat in the small cramped office of Abe Cascione and Associates. There had never been any “associates,” but Abe had liked the sound of it. The office contained only two rooms: a small reception area and Abe’s office. There was a shared bathroom down the hall that Deloris tried to avoid using at all costs. The whole building reeked of cigarette smoke thanks to the pool hall on the first floor.

  She’d been watching TV all morning. The governor of California was in lots of hot water over his decision to let a private army loose in a state park. The Feds were thinking about bringing charges against everyone involved, including the governor.

  A few of the soldiers claimed they’d found and even killed bigfoot. They said there’d been a whole group of them. But they didn’t have any proof. The bodies, if there had been any, had disappeared. The public seemed divided over whether or not they were telling the truth.

  Carter Hayes had even jumped into the fray, releasing a statement claiming he had a hair sample that was conclusive proof that bigfoot did in fact exist.

  Deloris hobbled over to the TV. Her arthritis had been acting up this last month, and she’d forgotten to take her meds this morning. She switched the TV off. The ensuing silence was startling. She realized she’d been playing the footage of “The Assault in Rogue River,” as the media had dubbed it, nonstop for the last day and a half.

  She looked at the clock. 10:59. The second hand seemed to echo through the room with each tick. 10:59 and 30 seconds. Then 45. Deloris’s heart began to pound.

  11:00.

  She closed her eyes and pushed away from her desk with a sigh. She had known this day would come. You didn’t work for a man like Abe Cascione for the job security.

  She went to his office and took down the picture of dogs playing poker that hung behind his desk, revealing the office safe. She turned the dial with a shaky hand: 37-23-35. Marilyn Monroe’s measurements. It popped open. Abe had made sure she knew the combination, although she’d never before been allowed to open it.

  And she had hoped she would never have to.

  Abe wasn’t a nice man. He wasn’t a decent man, or a good man. But he’d taken on an old woman as his receptionist when most people hadn’t even allowed her to interview, and she was grateful for that.

 
Deloris pulled open the door. In the safe were a few file folders and several stacks of money. But what she was looking for was right on top: three manila envelopes. Deloris wasn’t sure what was in them, but she had been told that if she didn’t hear from Abe in forty-eight hours, she was required to mail them. That had been a running requirement whenever he went out in the field.

  She closed up the safe, stopped back at her desk, and picked up the three flash drives she had updated this morning from Abe’s drop box. She dropped one in each envelope, noticing there was already a hefty stack of papers in each.

  The first envelope was addressed to the local FBI field office. The other envelopes were addressed to the New York Times and CNN.

  Deloris sealed the packages, hefted them into her arms, and headed for the door. If she hurried, she’d make it in time for the noon mailing. Then she’d come back and clean out her desk. It would be her last day. And right before she locked the office for the last time, she’d be sure to grab all that money from the safe.

  She didn’t think Mr. Cascione would mind. In fact, he’d be disappointed if she didn’t.

  CHAPTER 132

  “Tess? Tess, wake up.”

  Tess pushed away the hand that shook her shoulder. “Go away.”

  Dev laughed. “You’re not getting rid of me that easy.”

  Dev? Tess pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked up into his laughing face. “What’s going on?”

  He leaned down and kissed her. “Happy to see you too.”

  Tess smiled. “Sorry. It’s always good to see you. But what’s going on? Where’s Missy?”

  “She’s fine. She’s outside with Pax and Shelby.”

  “Okay. Good.” Tess was still half asleep.

  Dev stood up and offered her his hand. “There’s something you need to see.”

  Tess took his hand. “What is it?”

  “It’s about Hayes.”

  Dread settled in a pit in her stomach. After the whole thing with the private army, Hayes had been quiet, but they all knew it was only a matter of time before he tried something new. “What happened?”

  Dev didn’t say anything; he just tugged her out into the living room, where Shawn sat with the TV remote in hand. The clock read 12:30. She’d slept through the morning. Of course, seeing as she’d slept only an hour or two a night for the whole last week, that was understandable. Her insomnia was all due to Carter Hayes. She kept worrying about what he was going to do next, and how they were going to keep him away from the bigfoot.

  As soon as Tess and Dev settled on the couch, Shawn hit play.

  “The business world is stunned today at the arrest of Carter Hayes,” a newscaster’s voiceover said. Tess’s eyes grew large as she watched a group of FBI agents escorting Carter from his headquarters in cuffs. “Hayes is being charged with crimes ranging from racketeering, to unlawful restraint of trade, to half a dozen counts of murder. All Hayes’s accounts have been frozen while the FBI discerns just how far Hayes’s alleged illegal business practices extend. Sources inside the agency report that Hayes will be just one among many big names that will be arrested as part of this operation.”

  Shawn muted the TV. Tess stared between him and Dev. “What on earth happened?”

  “It seems that Hayes had a man in his employ who kept very detailed notes,” Shawn said.

  Tess looked up at him, her eyes going large. “Abe?”

  Shawn nodded. She had told them all about Abe’s death, but seeing as his body had never been found and they had no proof besides Tess’s testimony, they decided to keep it to themselves. Nothing good would come from that revelation.

  “He kept all his emails and even recorded his phone conversations,” Dev said.

  “But why would he release that information?” Tess asked.

  “Apparently to protect himself against any harm from his employers, he arranged that in the event of his disappearance, information would be released on all his illegal dealings with Hayes, among others,” Shawn said.

  “And what was that about murder charges?”

  “It seems that Hayes used Abe Cascione as his hit man,” Shawn said. “Those recordings went to the FBI as well.”

  “And one of the murders was Tyler Haven and his cameraman,” Dev added.

  Tess felt disbelief followed by joy. “Hayes is incapacitated. He can’t go after them now.”

  Shawn smiled. “He’s going to be battling legal attacks for years, if he can scrape together enough for a defense.”

  “And with Hayes out of the picture, the bigfoot are a lot safer now,” Dev said.

  Tess’s good feelings began to fade as she thought of the hunters who had descended on Beauford ever since the governor’s announcement. It seemed like more and more popped up each day. None of them had found anything, but with the number of them out there, Tess worried it was only a matter of time. “They’re safer but not safe. We still have all those bigfoot hunters out there.”

  “Well, they know about Hayes’s test results. They know there’s a bigfoot in the woods.”

  “And I’ve been blogging about them for a year, further fanning the flames,” Tess said. She had taken down her website, but nothing could ever be truly erased on the internet. Many of her blog entries had already reappeared on other sites.

  “I don’t know if there’s any way to completely put that fire out,” Shawn said.

  Tess looked between the two of them. The reason she had finally been able to sleep last night was because she had thought of a way to throw some cold water on the blazing bigfoot fire raging across the country. She knew that if she took this route, though, her life would never be the same.

  Her eyes drifted to the picture Missy had drawn of her bigfoot family. Tess remembered Charlie’s kind brown eyes and all that he’d risked to protect Missy. Could she risk any less to protect them all?

  She took a deep breath and released it. “Actually, I think I know how to get them all to go home.”

  CHAPTER 133

  The next morning, Tess stood in the little room next to the city hall conference room. She had arranged for a press conference that would begin in about five minutes. She had fixed her hair, carefully applied her makeup, and even wore her conference suit. She ran her hands down the navy blue jacket, knowing this might be the last time she ever had occasion to wear it.

  Pax linked his arm through hers. “You’re sure you want to do this? We could still beat a hasty retreat.”

  Tess patted his hand as butterflies danced through her stomach. “If you have an idea that would achieve the same result, I’m all ears.”

  Pax frowned and shook his head. “I hate this. You’ve worked so hard.”

  She kissed his cheek. “It’ll be okay. I have you guys, Missy, Dev. The rest doesn’t matter.”

  “You sure you’ll be able to live with this decision?”

  Tess thought about everything she had been through. The thrill at every discovery, her absolute shock, joy, and fear at meeting Charlie—and everything that had resulted from his trust in her.

  He had taken a leap of faith. He had trusted her with the people most important to him—and all to save the life of a child from a different species. A child Tess now loved with all her heart.

  “I can live with it,” she said.

  The door opened, sending Tess’s heart racing. Dev and Shawn stepped in.

  Dev’s hazel eyes searched hers before he nodded. “They’re ready.”

  “You’re sure you don’t want us up there with you?” Shawn asked.

  Tess shook her head. “No. This is on me.”

  Shawn leaned over and kissed her cheek. “We’ll be in the front row. Madge saved us seats.”

  Tess nearly cried at those words. Even Madge had left the farm to come support her. “Okay.”

  Pax wrapped her in a hug. “I am so proud of you.”

  Tess clung to him, then pushed him away. “Go. I need to not be an emotional mess when I do this.”

  Shawn too
k Pax by the shoulders and steered him out of the room. Now it was only her and Dev.

  “So… you want to grab some lunch after this?” Dev asked.

  Tess laughed. “Sure, but you’ll have to buy. I’m kind of out of a job.”

  “I suppose I can manage that.” He paused. “You ready?”

  Tess straightened her shoulders. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

  Dev led her to the door to the conference room and opened it. Immediately the noise level ratcheted up tremendously. Flashbulbs exploded. Tess ignored all of it, her focus only on the podium with the microphone attached to it. Dev escorted her there. With his back to the room, he smiled. You’ve got this, he mouthed.

  Tess nodded. Reporters were already shouting questions at her, but she stood silently until everyone quieted down. Feeling shaky, she looked at her support group in the front row: Shawn, Pax, Madge, and Abby. And she knew Sasha was supporting her at home while she kept an eye on Missy.

  She took a deep breath and expelled it. Showtime. “I am here today to rectify a grievous hoax perpetuated on my part. Due to the injuries sustained in the last few weeks, and…” She swallowed, her mouth felt dry. “I can no longer in good conscience stay silent.”

  She paused. “All of the evidence I have gathered on the bigfoot has been falsified. None of it was real.”

  The reporters stirred. Tess continued on. “I did it because while I have been searching for bigfoot, there have been absolutely no signs of the creature. Therefore, in order to continue my search, I manufactured evidence to support myself. And while I continue to believe and hope that the creature exists, I have not personally seen any verifiable proof of the existence of a bipedal hominid living in North America.”

  A reporter in the second row called out, “Dr. Brannick, what about the report on the hair sample you provided to Carter Hayes?”

  Tess knew she was on tricky ground here. So far all she’d done was implicate herself. “I can’t speak to that directly. But I will tell you that the hair I provided came from a black bear. I don’t know how the results turned up the way they did. You’ll have to speak with Mr. Hayes about that.”