She paused for a moment, moving her mouse and clicking on several items. “Here, remember when you said no one’s ever seen one? Look at this.”
Jake leaned in and listened.
“In July of 1734, a Norwegian missionary on a voyage to Gothaab, off the western coast of Greenland, reported that his ship encountered what he referred to as “a very terrible sea-animal which raised itself so high above the water that its head reached above our maintop. It had a long sharp snout and blew like a whale, had broad large flippers, and the body was, as it were, covered with hard skin, and it was very wrinkled and uneven on its skin.”
Clicking her mouse again and again, Amara continued.
“During World War I, the German submarine U28, under the command of Captain Georg von Forstner, torpedoed the British steamer Iberian in the North Atlantic. His report read: “On July 30, 1915, our U28 torpedoed the British steamer Iberian carrying a rich cargo in the North Atlantic. The steamer sank quickly, the bow sticking almost vertically into the air. When it had gone for about twenty-five seconds there was a violent explosion. A little later pieces of wreckage, and among them a gigantic sea animal (writhing and struggling wildly), was shot out of the water to a height of 60 to 100 feet. At that moment I had with me in the conning tower my officers of the watch, the chief engineer, the navigator, and the helmsman. Simultaneously we all drew one another’s attention to this wonder of the seas . . . we were unable to identify it. We did not have time to take a photograph, for the animal sank out of sight after ten or fifteen seconds. It was about 60 feet long, was like a crocodile in shape, and had four limbs with powerful webbed feet . . .”
Amara turned around to face him. “So you see, this animal’s existence is not as inconceivable as you think. Perhaps they’ve survived all along in isolated populations. That would explain why they’re not seen very often.”
“But why now? Why would it show up here and now? Where’s it been all this time?”
“I can’t answer that. But, there is circumstantial evidence to support it being here.” She printed a two-page document, snatching it off the printer. “I got this off the wire.” She held the pages up and began reading aloud. “A new species of monster squid has appeared off the coasts of Cuba and the Bahamas.”
Jake smirked and shook his head. “I know. My demented deputy told me. He’s hoping we run into one. Hey, come to think of it, maybe you two should hang out sometime.”
“What? Why?”
“When it comes to sea monsters, he’s much easier to convince than I am.”
Amara’s eyebrows lowered and her pearly teeth began to show. “Omigod, Jake Braddock. Sometimes you can be so infuriating.”
“It’s part of my charm.”
“Oh, yeah?” She stood up and took a mock step toward him, her fists balled and eyes igniting. “Let me tell you something. Your muscles don’t scare me, mister. How’d you like it if I come over there and kick your so-called charming butt?”
“Oh, goodness gracious, no.” Jake smiled disarmingly, his hands extended palms outward. “Listen, girl. You can’t threaten me with a good time.”
“So, you’re telling me you like pain? Because that’s what I’m about to give you.”
“It depends. Is it like marriage pain?”
Amara rolled her eyes and uttered a growl of frustration.
“Take it easy, doc,” he chuckled. “I’m joking. Seriously though, the squid’s appearance means nothing. I watch a lot of cable. They find new species like that all the time.”
Amara took a slow, calming breath. “That’s not the point. The report says the squid is similar to today’s giant squid, except it doesn’t have the two long tentacles that Architeuthis possesses. Its tentacle structure is reminiscent of a species of squid that died out tens of millions of years ago.”
“So, you’ve got a previously undocumented species of squid.” Jake said. “And yes, wonder of wonders, it’s a survivor from eons ago, just like the Coelacanth is. Sorry doc, I don’t see your point.”
Amara’s eyes began hardening again. “Here, mister sarcasm. Why don’t you read it yourself?”
Jake perused the article. “Okay, so some scientists think this new squid is linked to a recent volcanic eruption. Maybe it was driven up from the depths because of it. I could see that being possible. But what makes it related to our dinosaur?”
“Marine reptile,” she emphasized. “And the thing’s gotta eat, right? So, maybe these squid, and other species that have popped up, are from the same place and are part of its staple diet?”
Jake looked at her. “What other species?”
Amara blinked. “Uh, never mind.”
Hands resting on his lap, Jake sank back in his chair, contemplating her outlandish theory. He stared at the tooth, his thoughts drifting back to Phil Starling and his nephew. Certainly that hunk of ivory hadn’t materialized out of thin air. It came from something. Maybe she was right . . .
“All right,” he said flatly. “I’m not saying you’ve convinced me. But assuming you have, how dangerous would a creature like this be?”
“Incredibly,” Amara said without hesitation. “It’s undoubtedly used to being the greatest predator around. It fears nothing except others of its own kind, and as we’ve already seen, it’s an opportunistic feeder. Anything that comes within range will be considered prey, from whales to people and everything in between.”
“Wonderful. And the best way to kill it?”
“From a safe distance.” Amara swiveled in her chair. “I looked at the skin fragment your friend retrieved from the Sayonara. It’s only a partial layer, but it’s still over an inch thick and tougher than a truck tire tread. Small arms would be useless against it. You’d need something bigger, probably military ordnance.”
“I see. And speaking of bigger, how big do you think this thing is?” Jake’s eyes intensified as he leaned forward.
“Well, keeping in mind the extremely limited amount of fossil material available on the larger marine reptiles . . .” Amara turned and began tapping furiously. “And that whatever fragments unearthed represent only the most microscopic cross-section of any given genus or species . . .”
“Get to the point please, doc.”
“Sorry,” she said. “A few years ago, Norwegian scientists exploring the archipelago of Svalbard discovered the remains of a previously unknown sub-species of Pliosaurus. One specimen was fifty feet long, with a skull ten feet in length and teeth the size of bowie knives.”
Jake nodded. “I remember the documentary . . . I think they called it ‘Predator X.’ Very impressive. But even a creature that size doesn’t seem big enough to kill a healthy sperm whale as big as the one we saw yesterday.”
“You’re right. But we’re not dealing with a fifty-foot animal,” Amara said. She pointed at some data. “I’ve compared our tooth’s mandible placement to a similar one in the forty-foot specimen of Kronosaurus displayed in the Harvard Museum. Assuming they’re from the same species, ours is substantially larger.”
“How much larger?”
“Double the size.”
“Holy shit.”
Amara chuckled. “Precisely.” Clicking her mouse on the screen in front of her, she enlarged a series of photos. “A few years back, scientists in Mexico found a skeleton of a pliosaur believed to be Liopleurodon, the ancestor of our animal.” She pointed to some of the photos. “That specimen measured sixty feet in length and was estimated to have weighed at least fifty tons when it was alive.”
“Now, that’s a pretty big lizard.”
Amara grinned. “Yes, but what was more interesting was that, based on bone structure and damage, this particular ‘lizard’ was a confirmed juvenile that was killed by a skull bite from an even bigger pliosaur. Based on the bite marks, researchers extrapolated that the larger animal may have measured eighty feet.”
“Jesus Christ!” Jake sputtered. “Is our pliosaur that big?”
She pursed her lips. “Based on
our tooth’s mass and curvature, it could be.”
“I don’t know. That seems hard to believe.”
“Why? In the water an animal’s weight is fully supported, allowing it to grow far larger than gravity-prone, terrestrial creatures. Look at the blue whale, the largest animal that ever lived. And don’t forget, reptiles grow their entire lives. There have been recent findings of pliosaur teeth nearly twice the size of Liopleurodon. And, they’ve found vertebrae at least forty percent larger than those of the largest Kronosaurus specimen.”
“Sounds pretty scary.”
“The prehistoric seas were a scary place, filled with terrifying creatures, most of which we’ve never even heard of, and probably never will.”
Jake looked up at the ceiling and sniggered. “Okay, back to the here and now. So, basically, we’re dealing with a man-eating reptile with teeth the size of my forearm, which measures at least sixty feet in length. Is that correct?”
“That’s what it looks like.” Amara’s hair cascaded down as she leaned her head back to look at him.
“Wow.” Jake exhaled. He stared at the papers in his hand. “How much would something like that weigh?”
“Depends on girth. On a guess, fifty to seventy-five tons.”
His exhale was a whistle as he resumed reading. “Hmm . . . Kronosaurus queenslandicus, eh? I’m assuming from the ‘queen’ part that this animal is female?”
“No, Jake,” Amara said amusedly. “The queenslandicus part refers to Queensland, where the first fossils were found. In terms of gender, I couldn’t say. Based on its attack on Elvis though, which I interpret as a territorially-motivated one, I’d say it’s probably an adult male. That’s assuming, of course, that pliosaurs function like crocodiles, with the males fighting over territory, especially when there’s a limited amount of it.”
“So, we’ve got an aggressive bull on our hands, eh?”
“Probably, but we won’t know for sure until we examine it.”
“Come again?” Jake gaped at her. “You plan on getting close to this thing?”
“Not if it’s dangerous. As much as I like a unique opportunity, I’m not stupid.”
“Good. The last thing I need is to be filling out a missing doctor’s report.” He looked up for a moment. “Wow, seventy-five tons . . . well, at least it’ll be easy to track. At that weight, it must be a slow swimmer.”
Amara shook her head. “It’s not. When it passed underneath my ship it was doing forty-five knots and accelerating.”
“Jesus. Okay . . . just to make sure I have all of this in perspective . . .”
He took a deep breath. “We’re facing a prehistoric, armor-plated, super-predator the size of a whale. One that’s as fast as a speed boat and tears to pieces any living thing it encounters. Does that about sum it up?”
“Almost.” Amara hesitated. “Since we may have to go after this creature, there’s something else you should know.”
Jake braced himself. “And what’s that?”
“I believe this creature possesses advanced echolocation abilities. It was emitting active sonar when we detected it. That’s how it found Elvis. If we hunt it, it’s going to know we’re coming.”
Jake rubbed his temples. Before he could formulate his next course of action, there was a faint knock.
“Come in.”
Molly walked in. Her face was ashen.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But I’ve got bad news.”
“What is it?” Jake looked up, his mind still reeling from the enormity of their problem.
“The coroner called.” She wrung her hands. “He said to tell you the remains he collected have been positively identified as Brad Harcourt’s.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“He also said that Brad’s death wasn’t from a Jet-Ski related accident. The wound was consistent with some kind of large animal bite. There’s some kind of bacteria present along the wound edges. He hasn’t been able to identify it yet, but it’ll be detailed in his report.”
“Thank you, Molly.”
As she turned to go, Jake sprang to his feet. “Wait a second, please.” He reached into his shirt pocket. “This is Senator Harcourt’s private number. Do me a favor and inform him of the coroner’s findings and express our condolences for his loss.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Molly nodded solemnly, taking the business card and gently closing the door.
In the wake of her departure, Jake and Amara said nothing. They sat where they were, lost in thought and staring at the giant tooth. Around them, the sheriff’s station remained as silent as the inside of a tomb.
“Hey, doc?”
Amara swallowed to clear her throat. “Yes?”
“I have one last question . . .”
“What is it?”
“I’ve watched documentaries on the Cretaceous extinction, including several on the Yucatan impact. There were global wildfires, tidal waves, a nuclear winter – basically hell on earth. How could these things survive that, let alone make it all the way to the present?”
Amara gave him an amused look as she tucked her hair back behind her ears. “Well, my little Discovery Channel nerd, I’ve got a theory on that.”
CRETACEOUS OCEAN
65 MILLION YEARS AGO
The predator rested.
Well fed and content, the plesiosaur male floated tranquilly atop the swells, its pale belly bulging from the fish and squid that were its prey. Its name was Cryptoclidus eurymerus, and from the four flippers that propelled it through the depths, to its long neck culminating in jaws bristling with sharp teeth, the twelve-foot marine reptile was a superbly designed hunter.
The plesiosaur yawned ivory needles. Its glittering eyes closed and it drifted along the water’s surface, allowing the sun’s rays to warm its smooth hide. A true reptile, the solar radiation it absorbed helped speed its digestion, as did the small stones it ingested days earlier, now stored in its gizzard. Lulled into a relaxed state by the clear skies and the motion of the waves, the carnivore dozed, oblivious to its surroundings.
A moment later, the Cryptoclidus’s peaceful isolation was disrupted. The ocean all around it began to boil over an area a hundred feet across. Its green orbs snapped wide in alarm as it realized the gravity of its situation. The pressure wave it felt was unmistakable. Something was hurtling up from the depths, displacing thousands of gallons of seawater.
Something huge.
Millions of years of instinct took over. The startled plesiosaur uttered a frightful hiss and sounded in a splash of foam, its wedge-shaped flippers propelling it forward and downward in a spiraling roll. It was a perfectly executed maneuver, used innumerable times to out-speed and outmaneuver larger and more dangerous predators.
And it was a split-second too late.
With a geyser-like explosion that sent a wall of seawater and flotsam flying in every direction, the pliosaur breached the surface. Like a volcano, its mottled sixty-foot body rose toward the heavens. It moved in slow motion, its thick hide streaming torrents of water as it settled back down, until only its scar-covered muzzle remained above the swells. Writhing within its toothy maw was the ruined body of the hapless Cryptoclidus. Rivers of saltwater mixed with blood ran down the larger monster’s jaws, staining the surrounding seas a bright crimson. High overhead, a flock of shrieking pterosaurs gathered in anticipation of an easy meal.
Shifting its kill with a shake of its head, the pliosaur let out a deafening roar before crunching down on its victim. Conical teeth a foot in length pulverized the plesiosaur’s flesh and bones and sent fresh gouts of blood and bits of tissue spraying. Repeatedly jerking its head back in crocodile-like fashion, the sea monster adjusted the position of the Cryptoclidus until it was satisfied. With a titanic gulp, it swallowed the smaller carnivore whole.
Oblivious to the winged scavengers that swooped down to gather up floating scraps of skin and flesh, the giant snorted loudly, then plunged headfirst back into the depths and vani
shed.
Its hunger satiated, the monster cruised soundlessly through the tropical seas it called home. Tiny bubbles danced along its scaly flanks as it descended. When it reached the two-hundred foot mark it leveled off. At sixty-two feet in length and weighing over fifty tons, the bull pliosaur and his ilk were the top marine predators, having ruled the planet’s oceans for a hundred million years. A sub-group of plesiosaurs, they were characterized by short necks and long, powerful jaws lined with sharp-ribbed teeth. In the case of the big male, these jaws measured twelve feet in length and were armed with row after row of replaceable fangs.
The marine reptile glided through the depths, powered by barnacle-studded flippers as long as his cavernous jaws. The teeming oceans before him emptied of life. Other sea reptiles, giant proto-squid, and primeval sharks fled as the lord of the deep drew near. Only schools of small fish – too insignificant to make a meal – were undisturbed by the titan’s presence. Nothing dared to challenge him. In his deadly, prehistoric world, the pliosaur was wary only of his own kind.
As he cruised along the continental shelf off the coast of what would one day be known as South America, the pliosaur’s advanced olfactory system once again picked up the scent. Like his ancestor Liopleurodon, he possessed a stereoscopic sense of smell. Scoop-shaped openings inside the roof of his mouth funneled seawater through specially designed channels that linked to his olfactory receptors. Each worked separately, tasting and testing the water for stimuli. When something of interest was detected the nostrils acted like direction finders, infallibly guiding him to his target.
It was another pliosaur, a sexually mature female. Drawing even more water into his nostril receptacles, the male tasted the scent once more. The female was nearby – and in estrus.
From 500 yards out, he spotted his potential mate. The bull immediately slowed his approach, assuming a non-aggressive posture. The apex predators of their world, pliosaurs were territorial animals that rarely tolerated each other’s presence. Chance encounters between adults usually ended in violence, often resulting in the death of one or both combatants. The only exception was during the brief mating season, when the impulse to breed took precedent over territorial disputes.
KRONOS RISING: After 65 million years, the world's greatest predator is back. Page 28