“It’s okay. You did good. I would have given that guy a ’bow to the dome,’” Emmet said.
Dr. Geaux and Calvin looked confused.
“Sorry. Snowboarder slang. An elbow to the face,” Emmet said.
She smiled and sat down at the table, rubbing her eyes and trying to stifle a yawn.
“Emmet,” she said. “I’m sorry, but it’s dark, and we’re going to have to recall the boats until first light. Even with spotlights, it’s too dangerous to have watercraft zipping around in the dark. There are stumps, floating logs, any number of ways for accidents to happen. We’re going to keep choppers up with infrared, and my rangers and local police will keep watching the roadways, although I don’t expect the road patrols to find anything. The choppers might, though.”
Emmet’s heart sank, unable to bear the thought of his father being out there even a second longer. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of an argument to counter what Dr. Geaux said. The last thing his dad would want would be for someone to get hurt while they were looking for him. He tried telling himself that his dad was a strong guy who’d spent a lot of time in the wilderness. And if he was being held hostage, he was probably someplace at least temporarily safe. None of these thoughts made him feel any better.
He looked at Dr. Geaux, his face in anguish. There was something he wanted to say, but he couldn’t get it out. Surprisingly, Calvin came to his rescue again. He was turning into a regular public speaker, that Calvin.
“Mom, Emmet has something else to ask,” Calvin blurted out. Emmet was glad he’d said it, but not sure if Dr. Geaux was in a mood to hear any more of their theories.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“I just wondered if you thought there might be any way Dr. Newton could be involved,” Emmet said.
Dr. Geaux’s exhaustion was showing clearly on her face, and Emmet thought she might find his idea ludicrous. But this time she surprised him. Instead of discounting what he said, she sat back in her chair for a moment and steepled her hands in front of her, eyebrows knitted, and stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds. The silence made it nearly unbearable for Emmet.
Finally she said, “You know, I hadn’t thought about him. What I mean is, I know he’s out there protesting, but I didn’t think about it from the angle that he might be involved.” She was quiet a minute longer.
“Calvin told me he comes from money and he’s always harping about everyone ruining the Everglades,” Emmet said. “My dad said whoever was creating these creatures would have to have a lot of financing just for the equipment. They’d also have to know a lot about biology, and he’s a doctor. So …” Emmet let the thought hang there.
“Hmm,” Dr. Geaux said. “I have to tell you, I’ve had a long and often tempestuous association with Dr. Newton. I think his heart is in the right place, but sometimes his … personality … gets in the way. And he does have money. He’s always donating it to causes and groups here. But I have to be honest with you, I don’t see him going this far.”
“But …” Emmet started to protest, but Dr. Geaux held up her hand to stop him.
“Still, the Everglades is a federal facility, so I’m going to get an FBI agent I’ve dealt with before to interview him. Steve has a sixth sense about these things. If Dr. Newton is involved, my money is on Steve worming it out of him. Does that sound fair?”
Emmet agreed that it did.
“All right,” Dr. Geaux said. “It’s time to go home. Emmet, we can swing by your house and get what you need for a few days, and some food for Apollo. Then I want you both in school tomorrow. There really isn’t anything you can do here. And I promise if we find your dad, we’ll bring him straight to you.”
At the mention of “food” and “Apollo,” the little black mutt sat up on his hind legs and vocalized his opinion. It was immediately understood by all of them that both words shouldn’t be used in the same sentence unless the food was readily available.
Emmet didn’t like feeling so helpless. He wanted to go grab Dr. Newton himself and throw him in a room and find out what he knew. But he couldn’t do that. He had to go home with Dr. Geaux. Go to school and pretend nothing happened.
And he did a pretty good job of it. Right up until he couldn’t take it anymore.
AFTER THEY’D PICKED UP HIS CLOTHES AND APOLLO’S food and returned to the Geauxs’ home, Emmet switched on his laptop. The video of his dad was everywhere. He nearly lost it. He realized Dr. Geaux was trying to protect him, but he was still mad. With the laptop in his hand, he stormed into the kitchen and interrupted Dr. Geaux and Calvin, who were talking at the counter.
“I don’t blame you, Emmet,” she said, when he confronted her. Her voice sounded full of remorse. “I was trying to spare you and I was wrong. I should have let you know. There are several websites running the feed continuously, but Dr. Catalyst clearly knows his way around a computer. We can’t trace the transmission back to the source.”
Emmet tried not to let his disappointment show. Dr. Geaux was exhausted, and he knew she had been working nonstop since his dad had been taken earlier that day. “I know you’re worried, Emmet.”
“I wish you’d stop saying that,” Emmet muttered. He looked at the suitcase in the hallway.
“Emmet, come with me, please,” she said. They left Calvin in the kitchen, cleaning. He was rubbing the same spot on the counter with a damp rag and trying to look useful. They stepped through the French doors into the backyard. It was cooler now, and completely dark out.
There was a redwood bench underneath one of the cypress trees and she motioned for Emmet to sit next to her. She leaned back against the tree, still in uniform; her boots and pants were splattered with mud. Her sidearm was attached to her belt. Before his dad disappeared that morning, he’d never seen her wear it.
“Emmet, I like you. And I like and respect your father. He’s really quite a brilliant man. And I feel responsible that he … that you both were caught up in this. But when I asked every agency in the government for the best avian biologist out there, his was the only name that came back. When we found that first hybrid, and the test results came back …” She stopped and massaged her shoulders with her hands.
“Then you and Calvin met up with those creatures on the island that day. When we went back there and found the partially eaten python … it all sort of slipped into place. I didn’t know everything, but I had an idea then what someone was trying to do. That what we’d found wasn’t some new mutated or transplanted species. Someone was playing with nature. And it had the potential to be very bad. Now it is. I can’t change that. The only thing I can do is find your dad. And I will. I swear to you,” she said.
“But I do know how you’re feeling, Emmet. When Calvin’s dad … my husband … disappeared … I —”
Emmet interrupted her, “What do you mean ‘disappeared’? I thought you said he died in an accident?”
She looked up at the dark sky. Emmet realized it was painful for her to talk about. But he was also angry, no matter how bad he felt about it. Once, his dad took him fly-fishing on the Yellowstone River. After his first couple of casts, his line was hopelessly tangled into an orange-sized knot. He’d thought his dad would be angry, but he just laughed until they were both laughing.
He felt like that knot. Like if his dad didn’t come back he’d never get untied. And it felt even worse because he couldn’t do anything about it.
“No, officially he was declared dead. His airboat crashed on a night hunt. It caught fire and spun into a hillock and collided with a mangrove tree. Knowing Lucas, he tried to save the stupid boat, and may have been burned or overcome by heat and smoke. They dragged the area around the crash site but couldn’t find his body.
“We waited weeks for news,” she went on. “It was worse not knowing. It’s changed Calvin. But the thing is, Lucas loved the Everglades. I think Calvin probably told you his father was a Seminole. If he was going to die, he would have wanted to be returned to his beloved swamp. Th
at made finally accepting it a little easier.”
Emmet was quiet, his head down. He felt Dr. Geaux’s hand fall gently on the back of his neck. It was comforting, in a way.
“But like I said, Lucas’s death was an accident. Your father is still alive and we are going to find him, Emmet. I know I keep swearing to you, but it doesn’t make it less true. And when I say I know a little about how you feel, I do. And so does Calvin. Even if he doesn’t always know how to show it.”
Emmet felt like there was nothing else to say. He was worn out. And he believed Dr. Geaux was telling the truth. They were doing everything they could to find his dad.
But he needed to do something. If he didn’t, he was never going to untangle the knot inside him.
DR. CATALYST WAS SO EXCITED HE COULD BARELY CHOOSE which monitor to watch. His video updates were being replayed constantly on local and even national networks. Websites sprang up declaring him both a hero and a villain. He paid no attention to the latter. Most agents of change, most “catalysts” that brought forth new ideas and challenges to the accepted order, were considered both heroic and villainous.
He kept careful watch over Dr. Doyle. There were a few close calls with patrols nearly discovering where he’d hidden the good doctor, but so far he’d avoided detection. The helicopters worried him at first, but he so carefully guarded his compounds against infrared detection that a few passes by the choppers without discovery left him unworried.
He constantly monitored his captive, making sure the water cooler was still full of the mildly drugged water, just enough to keep Dr. Doyle in a state of constant slumber. Soon he would need to return to the compound to feed his Pterogators, but he felt Dr. Geaux would cancel the search for the night. Unable to find Dr. Doyle, she would have to give in to his demand to close the park permanently. Then his Pterogators could go to work restoring the balance of nature.
If Dr. Doyle were somehow rescued, Dr. Catalyst would almost certainly lose Hammer and Nails. He needed them in place as de facto sentries in case Dr. Doyle did wake up. Losing his first hybrid was painful, but Hammer and Nails were his first successful pair, and they were special. They had proven to be exactly what he envisioned. And now their “offspring” were nearly ready to follow their lead.
He called them offspring, even though this new batch of hatchlings were technically clones. Given how rapidly the snakes destroyed the ecosystem, he made certain his hybrids could not reproduce. They would not overrun the swamp this way. It was why he was so desperate to get his hands on the corpse in Dr. Geaux’s lab. To run his own tests, and find out what happened to the creature. It was most certainly an accidental death, but even a brilliant scientist such as himself could not assume anything. But getting the corpse back would have to wait.
On another monitor, the image showed half a dozen hybrids in the final stages of devouring a python inside the main tank in his lab. If anything, they were proving more voracious than Hammer and Nails. Given the choice between snake and other prey, they chose snake every time. His gene sequencing and hormone therapy worked perfectly. He’d created the ultimate apex predator the Everglades so sorely needed. One that would not threaten the native crocodilians, but would eventually destroy the invasive snakes.
The enormity of what he accomplished washed over him like a wave. No other scientist had ever accomplished this. The creation of an entirely new species. One whose birth would save his beloved River of Grass.
Dr. Geaux finally gave in. She closed the park. Now all he needed to do was wait for her to agree to his demand to keep the park closed permanently and end the search. No matter how she persisted, soon the time and resources of the local agencies would wane. Dr. Geaux would always keep looking, but the police and FBI would have to turn to other duties. He would only release Dr. Doyle when he was given assurances that the park would remain closed forever to the outside world.
There was still much work to do. Another group of hatchlings was needed to make certain his creations survived the rigors of the swamp. All in good time. Right now, he was going to take a moment and revel in his unparalleled success.
IN A STRANGE WAY, DR. NEWTON HAD A LOT TO DO WITH Emmet’s plan to find his father. Emmet started yelling at Dr. Newton the minute he walked into the school the next morning. Yelling so loud that Calvin felt the need to get between him and the teacher. Given Emmet’s feelings and the tension of the situation, Dr. Newton felt it would be best that Emmet be moved to another science class. Ms. Susskind became his science teacher.
She was teaching a unit on the circulatory system of the human body. They looked at slides and studies comparing cold-blooded and warm-blooded species. His schedule was rearranged when he was moved from Dr. Newton’s class, and science was his first class of the day. The lesson gave him an idea. He thought about it all through the day.
At lunch, he sat at the table with everyone as usual. While they carried on their normal conversations, Emmet stared off into space. His brain felt like a giant jigsaw puzzle that was missing the one final piece. It was like the idea he needed, the one thing that might help find his dad, was yet to slip into its proper place.
“Emmet, I know you’ve been asked this enough times you probably want to scream but … are you all right?” Raeburn asked.
“Huh … what?” Emmet snapped out of his reverie.
“She wanted to know if you are feeling okay,” Riley said.
“Yes, I feel fine. Why?”
“You just seem a little distracted, is all,” Raeburn said.
“Distracted? No. I don’t think so,” Emmet said.
“Really? Because you just ate Stuke’s sandwich,” Calvin said.
“I did no —” He looked down to see his sandwich still on his tray while Stuke’s tray was sandwich-free. Stuke was sitting there, too polite to mention anything, but looking hungry all the same.
“Oh. Dude, I am so sorry, I … Here, take mine,” Emmet offered.
“It’s really okay,” Stuke said.
“Please, Stuke. I guess I just wasn’t paying attention. Seriously, take it.”
Stuke gratefully took the sandwich. “I don’t suppose there’s any news,” he asked Emmet.
“No.”
“Well, my dad says they’re turning the swamp upside down,” Stuke said.
“I know,” Emmet said quietly. “Everybody is doing their best. Listen, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go.”
“Where?” Calvin asked.
“Just the library,” Emmet said. He excused himself from the table, and as he was leaving, heard Riley and Raeburn chastising Stuke. Stuke kept saying “What’d I do?” repeatedly. Emmet knew the poor guy didn’t mean any harm, but he still didn’t want to talk about it. He needed to do something about it. If he went another minute without somehow helping to find his dad, he might just go crazy.
He had told a white lie to his friends. Emmet didn’t go to the library but instead headed to the school office. At lunchtime he knew it would be mostly empty, except for Mrs. Connors, the office manager; and probably Double J, who had been sent for another visit with the principal, Mr. Wallace.
“Hi there, Emmet!” she said when he walked in. Mrs. Connors was always cheerful.
“Hey, Mrs. Connors,” Emmet said. He held up his phone. “It’s almost time for me to call Dr. Geaux. Is it okay if I use the conference room?”
“Of course,” she said. “You go right ahead and just holler if you need anything.”
He went inside the conference room and shut the door. The phones he and Calvin were given had web browsers. The media had finally stopped running Dr. Catalyst’s constant feed showing Dr. Doyle in the metal cage. A few rogue sites out there were showing it, but the authorities were making them take down the feeds whenever they popped up. Emmet didn’t understand why people would want to show something so horrible, and he resisted the urge to look for one. He didn’t want to see his dad like that. Once was enough.
Emmet was looking for information. The science cla
ss had gotten him thinking. About heat and cold and alligators and the swamp and the infrared detectors Dr. Geaux had said were being used to search for his dad. And how all the animals were migrating out of the park, so there should be no residual heat signatures from them. And how there might be one small chance that Dr. Catalyst overlooked something in his little plan.
One small chance.
All Emmet needed was a certain piece of information, but he wasn’t sure how he was going to get it. If he started asking strange questions, Dr. Geaux or Calvin were almost certain to pick up on it. In the end, he knew he was going to have to be sneaky. The thought of deceiving Dr. Geaux made him feel uncomfortable, but he couldn’t see any other way around it. It was his theory, and he wasn’t going to tell anyone who might not take it seriously. His dad was now missing for over twenty-four hours.
The previous night, Dr. Geaux had walked in with a briefcase full of reports and printouts. After she and Emmet talked in the yard, she’d sent them on to bed and went to her den to work. She was gone before they woke for school. The neighbor, Mrs. Clawson, came by to check on them and make sure they got on the bus. Mrs. Clawson was also going to check in on Apollo during the day.
After school, Emmet and Calvin came home and played with the pooch in the yard and took him for a walk before doing homework in the tree house. Emmet admitted he was growing very fond of Calvin’s tree house. It was a small thing, only a few feet up in a tree, but somehow the world looked different from up here. And with each step up the side of the tree, it was like his problems stayed below on the ground.
When Dr. Geaux came home that night, she was near complete exhaustion. The park remained closed to visitors, so it allowed her to deploy all of her personnel toward the search. But it was taking a toll on her, too.
“Good evening, boys,” she said. Apollo rushed to greet her, just like he did to anyone who came to the door. Any visitor was an explosion of barking and tail wagging. Dr. Geaux knelt down and let Apollo clean the worry off her face. It never failed to get a laugh out of her. Emmet’s feelings were all mixed up, and part of him was still mad at Dr. Geaux for getting his dad involved in this in the first place. But he had to admit she was a nice person.
Menace From the Deep Page 11
