CHAPTER 10
Kit shifted her head on Chase’s shoulder. It made him think how nice it would be if she rested her head there under other circumstances. It was pretty nice even now.
Despite the pleasant thought, he kept his eyes on the entrance to the fissure. The utahraptors waited outside, barely visible in the dim purple twilight. Six of them, including the dead one. The others squatted on their haunches or lay on their sides like a pack of wolves settled down to wait out their prey. From time to time one or another of them would glance in his direction, cocking its head in that peculiar, bird-like fashion that reminded him he was up against something he’d best not judge by wolf standards. The nearest utahraptor yawned, gaping its toothy jaws wide and then fixed its eyes on him with an intense, hawk-like stare.
Just this morning Chase had delighted in watching the return of wolves to this land. Now he’d been forced to meet another freshly reintroduced species whether he liked it or not. He got an inkling of the dismay ranchers like Will Daniels felt, seeing wolves returning. Worse, he got a sickening sense of how a cornered lamb might feel, watching its killers awaiting its next move. But he was no lamb. He’d figure a way out of this.
Kit stirred. “It’s getting dark,” she whispered. “Do you think they’ll go away at night?”
He looked at her sidelong. “Don’t bet on it.”
Kit leaned across him to look outside, her hair brushing his cheek. He inhaled a faint, pleasant scent.
“Look at the moon,” she murmured, pointing to the bright crescent hovering over the black silhouette of Sandstone Mountain. “It’ll set soon. I’ll be glad. That beam keeps flickering and it looks so eerie.”
Feeling her shudder, he said, “At least we’ve got body warmth to keep the chill off us.”
She sighed and nestled against him. Then she raised her head and looked him in the face.
“Why did you come back?”
“To warn you.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“I thought… well, look at all the trouble you turned out to be in.”
“It was a brave thing for you to do.”
“It’s nothing. I’d have done it for anybody.” He immediately wished he hadn’t said that.
“Oh,” she said, turning away from him.
“I didn’t mean that like it sounded.” He was getting tongue-tied.
“You didn’t?” She looked at him again, her eyes brightening in the moon-glow. “How did you mean it?” Before he could answer she leaned across him again, looking out the opening with her jaw dropped. “Look!”
He spun his head, ready for trouble, but what he saw outside was unexpected. The utahraptors were gone.
He started to sit up, bumping his head against the opposite wall of the crevice. He put his cap straight and looked around the dark landscape in astonishment. With the exception of the dead utahraptor there was no trace of the pack.
“They’ve moved on.” He edged closer to the opening.
“Don’t get too close,” Kit cautioned.
“Why not?” he resisted. “Maybe we can make a run for it.”
She didn’t budge. “Don’t rush into anything.”
He stuck his head out and peered into the darkness, listening intently to the sounds of the night. Crickets chirped and wind sighed gently in the sagebrush. Nothing suggested the presence of dinosaurs. He leaned his head farther out.
Suddenly there was a rush of footfalls. He looked to his right in time to see the silhouette of a utahraptor bolting straight at him. It had hidden beside the opening and was already in mid-spring.
He pulled his head back and the creature’s jaws snapped shut just in front of his face. With desperate energy he heaved himself backward into the crevice but collided with Kit, who had moved forward to look over his shoulder.
“Oh!” she cried, scrambling backward out of his way, but it was too late for Chase. He was too near the opening. The animal threw its body into the crack, uttering a fierce eagle-shriek, and aimed a savage bite at his mid-section. Chase brought the rifle up between himself and the beast and the barrel got there just in time to intercept a bite that would have torn him in half. The sharp fangs clanked against steel and Chase pushed with all his might to force the slavering jaws away from him. For a split second the beast withdrew but Chase guessed it was preparing for another strike. He pushed backward, quickly getting his body far enough into the crack to be out of range of the creature’s fangs. But the beast surprised him, thrusting a long hind leg into the crevice. The big sickle-claw came down across his boot, pinning his foot to the ground.
Chase flailed at the claw with the butt of his rifle. Each time he struck at the creature’s foot, its head lunged in and its jaws snapped at his face. He felt himself being drawn outward by the claw, which was hooked solidly around his ankle. Sliding over the rubble of the crevice floor, he called, “Kit! I’m going to need some help here!” He held out a hand and she grabbed it and pulled back with all her might. But the powerful foot drew them both toward the opening.
Chase slid down onto his back on the fissure’s floor, fending off the utahraptor’s jaws with the butt of his rifle. The animal’s fangs dripped saliva on his midsection. He fought like a downed swashbuckler, knowing one false parry would be the end. The creature agilely dodged every blow and it seemed only a matter of time before those fangs would sink into his belly.
“No!” Kit growled like an animal as she strained to keep him from being pulled away from her. “I won’t let you have him!”
Her shout was answered by excited howls from the other members of the pack, which had gathered for the kill. Chase looked at Kit in desperation. “This isn’t working!”
“I know.” She tugged harder.
Suddenly a new sound blasted through the air, as loud as a train whistle. It emanated from somewhere behind the utahraptors. Chase’s attacker snapped its head around to look behind it, but kept its hold on his foot. The blast of noise came again and this time the animal shrieked a challenge back, still refusing to let Chase go. Then a bluish-white electric bolt illuminated the front of the crack, arcing like lightning over the utahraptor, dancing across its head, jumping from its teeth to its eyes to the crevice wall and back again. The beast shrilled in pain, released Chase’s ankle and sprang away from the opening. Hissing fiercely, it charged away and crashed through the sagebrush along with its pack-mates.
Chase scrambled back and huddled with Kit as deep in the fissure as they could squeeze.
“What the heck was that?” he asked, but he got his answer before the question was out of his mouth. The lightning bolt vanished and another light appeared outside: a green searchlight.
“It’s one of those machines!” Kit moaned. “What’s it doing here?”
“I don’t know,” Chase said. “And I’d rather not find out.”
They had little choice. The searchlight hove straight to their hiding place, accompanied by the metallic clanking sounds they had heard in the catacombs. The terrifyingly familiar silhouette of a walking machine loomed against the dusky sky. It shined its spotlight into the crack, fully illuminating and blinding them with glaring green light. The machine hesitated a moment as if its occupant were studying them carefully.
It seemed things couldn’t get worse, but then a chorus of howls erupted. The utahraptors were back.
The machine spun away from the crevice, leaving Kit and Chase dazzled but relieved. The alarm whistle blasted again, but the angry pack leapt forward as a group, slashing their foot-claws at the metallic hide of the machine, gnashing teeth at its canopy glass, and sending it reeling backward under their combined weight. Nevertheless, the machine withstood their onslaught and unleashed its electrical bolt from a pointed probe on its right arm, raising a chorus of painful howls from the pack.
A brief one-sided battle ensued in which the utahraptors repeatedly tried to rush the newcomer but were scattered by the electric arc. Methodically, the machine drove the pack backward step by step with its arc la
shing out until the utahraptors disappeared behind a rock outcrop. As the machine vanished in pursuit of them, Chase quickly grabbed Kit’s hand and clambered out of the fissure, pulling her with him.
“What are you doing?” she resisted.
“Come on,” he urged her. “It’s now or never.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “Let’s go!” They scrambled through the sagebrush that skirted the face of the rock outcrop, quickly putting a hundred feet of brush between them and the crevice while the machine and the utahraptors fought on unaware of their prey’s escape. Chase spotted a deep, willow-filled gully and they ducked down under the overhanging branches just as the sounds of the fight ceased behind them. Huddling together, scarcely daring to breathe, they let the silence of the night close around them.
It wasn’t long before the machine reappeared at the crevice, shining its light inside.
“Aren’t you glad we didn’t stay there?” Chase asked.
“Shhh!” was Kit’s reply. The machine turned and swept its light around the area, across the wreckage of the pickup and along the fenceline road. It moved in their direction, passing just yards from them. The occupant must have assumed they had continued on foot in the direction they were going because it walked off along the fence road toward the highway with its beam flashing one way and another.
When they were alone and the crickets started singing, Kit and Chase crawled out of their hiding place and stood up. The moon had set, the sky was dark and the air was still. Chase slung his rifle over his shoulder and took her hand.
“Let’s go.”
“Where?” she asked. “The machine is ahead of us and the utahraptors are behind.”
“I’ll take my chances with the machine.” He started walking in the direction of the highway. “At least we can see it by its own light.”
“There’s something about that machine,” Kit remarked. “I got a good look as it went by. Did you see the emblem on its side? A pair of crossed palm leaves in green enamel. That’s the same design that was on the armor of the pteronychus that almost discovered us in the temple.”
“Maybe it trailed us here.”
“But why? And why alone? Why didn’t they all come after us?”
“I don’t know.”
The gravel crunched behind them. Chase wheeled and leveled his empty rifle at an oncoming dark mass, but when Kit saw what was coming she let out a cry of relief. “Oh, Dr. O!”
The professor, driving his Land Rover without headlights, stopped alongside them and rolled his window down.
“Going my way?” he quipped.
“You bet we are,” cried Kit.
“I was delayed by an encounter with a pachyrhinosaur herd,” Ogilvey explained. “I see you didn’t fare any better.”
“Just a bit worse,” said Chase.
“Come on,” Ogilvey urged. “You’d better hop in quickly. No telling what will come along next.”
Kit took the front seat and Chase jumped into the back, laying his rifle across his lap. Ogilvey started forward again cautiously, leaving his headlights off. When he reached the county road he hesitated before turning onto the pavement.
“What are you waiting for?” said Chase. “Head for Red Lodge.”
“I’m waiting for that.” Ogilvey pointed off to the right, in the direction of Red Lodge. The green light was sweeping over the hillsides and among the trees lining the road.
“The machine’s gone that way,” Kit murmured. “Now what?” In response, Ogilvey pulled onto the road heading left toward the ranch house.
“Now, wait a minute,” Chase protested. “There’s a tyrannosaurus that way.”
“The better of two bad choices,” Ogilvey mumbled, tapping a pistol holstered on his hip and pressing the accelerator down.
“Okay,” Chase acquiesced. “But I sure wish I had some ammo.”
Ogilvey said, “Your single-shot breach loader may be fine for darting wolves but I hardly think it’s up to fighting dinosaurs.”
“It’ll have to do,” said Kit. “It was enough before.”
“Yeah.” Chase sounded a little smug. “It was, wasn’t it?”
PART THREE: MARSHALLING FORCES