Morning came early for all of us. Trevor and Nicola left around 6:30 a.m. to meet the CDC and go to the lab facility. We are meeting Monti at 12:00 noon at his place. Dane tells us that Monti’s place is only about 30 miles away, but it will take us an hour or so to get there because the roads are treacherous. It is a slow, rough drive requiring a four-wheel-drive vehicle to navigate the colossal boulders that are in the middle of the road.
Finally, we arrive and see Monti sitting on the front porch rocking back and forth in his rocking chair. He is smoking what appears to be a homemade pipe with some tobacco in it. The house is a very simple house with a porch all around it. On the side of the house there is an overhang with a sizable workshop. As we approach the front porch, Monti stands up and extends his hand to meet Dane’s. Dane introduces us and we go inside for a cup of tea. Monti has a very dark, dull black complexion with long, curly hair. The curls are like spirals. He is probably six feet tall and 185 pounds. His hypnotic eyes are a smoky grey color with a tint of brown in them.
Monti is a descendant of the Pitjantjatjara people and refers to himself as Anangu. There are only about 3500 Anangu people left in Australia and they are very connected to the land. They consider themselves to be direct descendants of the creators and regularly take walkabouts to remain in tune with the land and their ancestors.
It is obvious to Derrick and me that Dane and Monti have been friends for a very long time. Monti is more than willing to help track down the dingoes and destroy them. We all hate the fact that they must be destroyed, but we don’t have a choice unless a cure is found. Dane tells Monti the entire story, and he just listens. Monti is surprised to learn that Derrick and I are going to help with tracking the dingoes.
I pull the map out, and Dane has the tracking device. All of the tracking chip signals have been input into the GPS. If we isolate those signals only, the red dots on the screen will be the dingoes. Here we go. Dane pushes a few buttons and BAM! There they are just as plain as day. He moves the curser over the first red dot and the Latitude/Longitude coordinates appear. There is our first target. Oddly enough, the dingoes are all within 20 miles of each other. I wonder if this is their territory. We decide to call Trevor and Nicola and brief them on the situation.
“Hello,” Trevor says.
“Hi Trevor. It’s Kobi. What’s going on?”
“Oh, hi Kobi. Everything is going great here. The CDC found more of the parasites in the vault. It appears as though Dr. Elliot was keeping the parasites alive in some sort of chemical that we haven’t identified yet. I also found Dr. Elliot’s laptop in the vault so we are trying our best to get into his files and snoop around. The kitchen was contaminated, so they are proceeding with their decontamination procedures. I think we got everything out of the lab that will be of any use to us, so they are ready to burn it to the ground. Kobi, can I call you back?”
“No problem, Trevor.”
“What did Trevor say, Kobi?” Derrick asks. So I told him about the conversation. Just about the time I finish, the phone rings.
“Trevor, it that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me. We had to get a safe distance from the lab because they are setting it ablaze as we speak. That’s a shame to see all my hard work go up in flames. I know it needs to be destroyed because of the parasite, but deep inside, I’m crushed...you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do. I’m so sorry, Trevor. Thought you might want to know that we have located the dingoes on your GPS. The chips you implanted into the dingoes and the tracking device work perfectly. There are all within about 20 kilometers of each other. We are plotting them on the map right now. I can’t wait to show it to you later. Are you guys headed back to the Darwin lab?”
“Yes, I think so. We will probably wait here 30 more minutes and then head into the city. The CDC is going to leave a team behind to supervise.”
“Okay, we are headed that way ourselves. We want to report our findings to Geoff and make sure he approves our plan. We will be there around 5:00 p.m.”
“OK. I’ll see you then.”
Dane and Monti have the dingoes plotted on the map. They will check the
coordinates again first thing in the morning and track their movement. Whichever dingo is the closest will be the first hunted. Monti gathers up a few things, and we start the drive back to Darwin. When we arrive at the lab, Trevor is waiting outside to meet us. We all go into the conference room and start discussing the course of action.
Trevor and Nicola are going to stay in the lab with the CDC and see if they can further isolate the chemical they found at the lab--the one the parasite was soaking in. The CDC is pushing hard to find a cure for the disease because they suspect there are humans walking around who are infected and may be infecting other humans.
“Trevor, please give me a list of names of the people in the lab who were infected.” Geoff requests.
“Dr. Evan Rudlinsky, Dr. Stolz Johanssen, Sevi Ballento, and Dr. Marci Whitmyre. Stolz is Swedish, Marci is probably back in New Zealand, and Evan and Sevi live here in Darwin. I don’t know their addresses, but I know where to find them,” Trevor says with a smile.
“Great! Call your government contact and get that information please,” Geoff says. “While Trevor is doing that, Dane, what is your plan?”
Dane begins to explain the plan to Geoff and shows him the map with the location of the dingoes. Of course the positions will be different in the morning, but Geoff gets the idea. He nods his head in agreement with the plan and tells Dane and Monti to proceed. Cole, the CDC man, will accompany us on the hunt. Geoff tells Cole to report in every four hours with a position and status report.
By the time we finish strategizing, it’s around 11:00 p.m. Trevor is going to stay in town with Nicola, so Dane, Monti, Derrick, and I head back to Dane’s place and go straight to bed. We are planning to get up early and plot the first dingo so the hunt can commence. Derrick and I talk in bed for about ten minutes before going to sleep wondering if this is the right thing for us to do. We are not trained professionals like Dane and Monti. I hope we don’t get in the way. Dane seems to like the idea of our accompanying him. Derrick really wants to go, and so do I; so we are going.