Prehistoric: (A Prehistoric Thriller) (Bick Downs Book 1)

by Michael Esola

  “Holy crap,” Downs blurted out. “They told me you weren’t coming,” he said with a big high five to the man.

  Standing before Downs was what he had considered for the better part of his life to be his best friend, Josiah Young. At thirty two years of age, Josiah was slightly older than Downs, but the two had grown up together and spent many a day enjoying the San Francisco Bay Area and all that it had to offer. At six feet tall and mixed with African and Irish heritages, Josiah possessed the most striking of good looks. He had a light beard and sported shoulder length dread locks.

  “You know me,” Josiah said, “I always like to make that great big entrance.”

  Downs smiled and turned to see the entire group staring their way, the reunion of the two good friends on display for all to see. Quickly though both of them made their way towards the circle.

  “Where was I then?” Nat asked. “Right, introductions.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “I’ll go first,” Nat said. “My name is Nat Kingsworth, and I’ll be your interpretive guide for the duration of this weekend trip. Previously I worked at O’Reilly Rainforest reserve in Queensland, Australia as an interpretive guide, where I spent my days hiking up and down the jungle hillside situated next to the resort giving beautiful little rainforest tours. Quite an exquisite place if you ever happen to find yourself in that part of the world.”

  Nat turned to her left, looking at a white male, late forties who stood about six feet in height and was slightly overweight.

  “Ridley Bells here,” the man said with a low yet surprisingly sophisticated tone. “Previously the Founder of two television channels with a third in the works.” That’s all he said, keeping it sweet and to the point with a slight smile.

  “Great, I like the brevity,” Nat said. “Continuing on.”

  “Hi, everyone, I’m Frederick Douglass,” the overweight average height Caucasian man said in a deep and booming voice. “I founded what is currently the largest online magazine dedicated to raising capital on the internet. And no direct relation to the famous historical figure Frederick Douglass, and yes I’ve had to answer that question my entire life.”

  William Jamison spoke up next. “Maybe we oughta get you to do a feature of Corstine’s little pet project here in your magazine.”

  “We’ll get to you in a second, William,” Nat said. “Okay, Frederick, anything else you’d like to add?”

  He paused for a moment looking up at the sky. “Avid reader and each year make the annual pilgrimage to Comic-Con where I’m usually reduced to a giddy school boy waiting in line for autographs with the rest of the hordes of fans.”

  “Might want to leave that last Comic-Con part off the old online dating profile there, Big Guy. It might scare the chicks away,” Jamison cracked. “Chicks dig athlete’s, man.”

  Downs looked over at Nat as the interpretive guide simply rolled her eyes. “Okay, William. Give your brief, and I do want to emphasize brief background.”

  Jamison chuckled and stepped forward a few paces. “Where do I begin? After a stellar three sport career in high school, I made my way to Ohio State where I headlined the basketball team there. We woulda cut down the nets my senior year but the lure of the NBA eventually drew me in.”

  Guess you didn’t headline four years then, Downs sarcastically thought to himself.

  Jamison continued on. “Woulda, coulda, shoulda turned into a sixteen year career in the NBA. Following that I formed my own consulting company working with young NBA players helping them transition into multi-millionaire status. And just last year I penned my first novel which recently hit the bestseller list and is currently under option by New Line Cinema for big screen movie status. I divide my time between Los Angeles and Martha’s Vineyard.”

  “Well,” Nat began, her voice not seeming impressed in the least bit. “Thank you, William, that’s quite a bio. Moving on, next.”

  “Um hello everyone, Max Caldwell here,” the young looking man in his mid-twenties said, straightening out his glasses. “Zoologist by degree, adventurer in my heart. Um, looking to possibly get into crocodile relocation work, and I’ll be your resident zoologist for the next two days or forty-eight hours pointing out anything that catches your eye as well as mine.”

  “Cute,” Jamison muttered quietly. “Real cute. Would you like fries with that happy meal?”

  “Josiah Young, everyone. Personal guest of Bick over here.”

  Jamison snickered to the others. “You’re a poet and you don’t even know it.”

  “William, please,” Nat said. “I must insist you let everyone finish so we can get on with it. Our precious time on this tour has already begun to tick.”

  Jamison did not reply and hardly said anything, not even acknowledging Nat’s comment.

  “As I was saying, Josiah Young here. Wished I could have played sixteen years in the NBA. Big fan of yours over the years by the way. Instead, currently have taken my passion for dinosaurs as an adolescent and trying to turn it into my career. Working in the education department at my local museum and in year one of earning my doctorate in vertebrae paleontology. Trying to follow my dreams, but most importantly not allowing anyone to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

  “Nice,” Nat said. “Very nice indeed. Especially love the motivational part at the end.”

  “A brotha, diggin’ up dinosaurs bones,” Jamison said with a shake of the head. “I just don’t get it. I simply just don’t get it. Out of all the fields out there, you want to do that.”

  Downs was baffled by what he was hearing, and by the sound of it, so was everyone else. Not a word was said regarding Jamison’s comment.

  Nat looked over at Downs, smiled once again and nodded for him to proceed.

  “Bick Downs here,” Downs said, looking at everyone except William Jamison. “Here on behalf of my father’s estate and currently looking to invest in this project. A lover of all things extreme as well as outdoors. Currently own and run a small action sports store in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. Ecstatic to be here in what is my favorite habitat on earth, the rainforest.”

  Nat gave Downs one last look and then nodded, signaling all was done. And with that she applauded. “Well, very nice to meet all of you, and without further adieu, let’s head out and begin our experience.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Collin Fairbanks dialed the first contact that came up on his smart phone and waited several seconds as the phone continued to ring on the other end.

  “Corstine,” the voice said.

  “All done, sir, and as you call it, the twenty-first century consumer of time, aka the cell phone, has been removed from each individual. And without using excessive force, I might add. All complied without a struggle. Nice, neat, and orderly,” Collin said proudly.

  “Excellent,” Corstine replied. The real-estate tycoon had within the last hour left the boardwalk and retreated to his small rainforest bungalow only a short distance from the ground entrance to the boardwalk. “Make sure you stay in constant radio contact with her and keep me updated should a problem arise.”

  Corstine hung up before Collin even had a chance to reply.

  John Corstine reclined in his outdoor lawn chair on the small and somewhat confined patio in the back of his bungalow. From his chair he had a very up close and personal view of the rainforest as the thick and dense impenetrable jungle budded right up to the small slab of cement. The patio served as nothing more than possibly an area to relax with a drink and entertain a guest or two while taking in the sights and sounds of the rainforest.

  Corstine sipped gingerly at the beer he had been nursing for quite some time. He was tired and needed the rest. Corstine was already feeling the lingering effects that the boardwalk was having upon him. For the past forty days and forty nights, Corstine had been acting as a scavenger, sleeping sometimes only an hour or two and being up at all hours of the day searching for capital, the very capital that the boardwalk not only needed to survive bu
t to get completed and up and running in a timely manner.

  Corstine took another sip and savored the flavors blending together in his mouth as he continued to stare at the dense vegetation that pinched tightly around his small patio on all sides. He breathed in the warm and humid air, and although it provided little relief from the humidity, simply being out in the open and away from the eight hundred pound gorilla that was raising capital felt good, only if it was for an hour or so.

  Corstine decided to take the rest of the evening off, to sit back and wait, and to see if there were any takers in the form of investors responding to all the feelers he had sent out. He wondered hard about that, because if not, it would be back to the drawing board for him, and that was not a route he wanted to traverse down again. Corstine pondered about the idea of putting up the remaining amount of capital himself, but he as well as his financial advisors knew that an overwhelming amount of his money was tied up in various investments around the world. It would not be an ideal situation for him to front the last amount of money that the boardwalk needed. For now his Kindle e-reader was quietly and politely calling his name.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Downs had rather unassumingly slid into the dead last position of the group, not that he had to, but for some reason or other that was the way it worked out. Josiah was in front of him with Max positioned more towards the front next to Nat. Downs figured that if he had any pressing scientific questions lingering at the tip of his tongue, he would pass them Josiah’s way for the time being.

  The entire group was wired to Nat Kingsworth at the front via wireless headsets as well as wired to one another. If he or she had something to chime in with, they could simply do so over the radio. The same went for Max Caldwell, who would be pointing out various interesting biological flora and fauna as the team made its way across John Corstine’s boardwalk.

  “Not much up this high in terms of ancient life,” Downs said, tapping Josiah on the shoulder from behind.

  “Wrong,” Josiah replied back as he slowed his pace, giving the others room to go ahead while ensuring some privacy for an exchange of words.

  “There is and was prehistoric life in these rainforests,” Josiah continued. “Dinosaur fossils have been found in certain rainforest ecosystems around the world. Despite this, the prospect of a fossil is still a rare thing.”

  “Why?” Downs asked.

  “Plant cover, man,” Josiah said.

  Downs felt he knew where Josiah was headed, but decided to let his friend speak.

  Josiah continued. “In these rainforests that we’re talking about, plants cover the majority of the outcrops that could house fossils. The outcrops that are exposed often suffer from being too weathered or they are buried deep underneath the soil of the rainforest.”

  Downs smiled. “Fascinating.”

  “Yeah it is,” Josiah said. “No dinosaur fossils come to mind that have been found in Indonesia per se, but I know for a fact that there was a spinosaurid tooth located in Malaysia, but the thing could indeed turn out to be crocodilian instead. Anyway, I could go on for days about this stuff man. Point is these rainforests could harbor spectacular fossils waiting to be unearthed.”

  Downs was about to speak but Josiah cut him off.

  “Remember, dinosaurs inhabited every continent on Earth. The possibilities are out there. One just has to keep an open mind.”

  Downs nodded his head in agreement.

  “Never gave much thought to that idea,” Downs said. “One always pictures a dusty windswept desert as the place to find fossils.”

  “That’s the branded traditional image,” Josiah replied. “Paleontologists as well as television channels have made the wind out to be the best friend of the paleontologist, stating that with the passing of each year, the wind brings and exposes more fossils to the surface. And while that is true, I also like to keep an open mind and think about the possibility of what a place like this might hold.”

  Ever since a very young age, Downs had held an interest in prehistory and all the wonders that it entailed. The idea that there were worlds long since gone and buried by the sands of time, waiting to be discovered by some fledgling scientist, was enough to keep him turning the pages of books deep into the wee hours of the night. He always had the desire to want to keep learning more, and he never wanted to stop. Only when sheer exhaustion would take over would he meander off to the world of sleep.

  As as a youngster, Downs was most intrigued by the idea that in the age of disease, war, and famine, there were places that existed in the geological timeline of life on Earth that knew none of the above. Life at its purest and rawest form, he would always think to himself, and as a child there would have been nothing greater than being given the ability to be transported back to see a sauropod dinosaur as big as a blue whale moving about on land or watch one of the massive carnivores stalk a primeval jungle. Downs would have given his left arm or the last few years off the tail end of his life, but poor grades in high school chemistry coupled with his weak understanding of math prohibited him from moving forward in the field of paleontology.

  “You two slow pokes need to hurry up,” Nat’s voice pinged in over the headset, bringing them back to the tour.

  “Will do,” Josiah replied. “We’re on it.”

  The two of them looked at one another and then towards the intended path where the rest of the group had gone.

  “Guess we’ve been moving at a snail’s pace,” Downs casually joked.

  Josiah nodded, “But look at the view. Just look at it.”

  The sea of green that they saw was amazing, absolutely breathtaking and stunning in ways that neither of them had ever seen before. It extended out and away in all directions from where they stood and was all encompassing. It offered up a sense of a surreal green enchantment.

  There must be an ungodly number of undocumented species up in those treetops, Downs thought.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Josiah said. “Just like when we were kids, I know exactly what you’re thinking. Just reach out, find a branch, and pluck whatever it is that’s crawling around out there and introduce it to the world as a brand new species.”

  Downs smiled and folded his arms. “That’d be nice. Man, that’d be nice to name a new species and get to publish an article on that topic. Won’t ever happen for me, man, but there’s hope for you.”

  “Yeah,” Josiah replied, continuing to hold his gaze on the rainforest. “I can see it in the magazine Scientific American already. Well, we probably should get goin’.”

  And with that the two of them took off at a light jog back towards the rest of the group. Both Downs and Josiah were good athletes and kept a good pace for a while. Not good enough to win the New York Marathon anytime soon, but good enough to hopefully get back to the rest of the group in a timely and efficient manner.

  The conditions were still suffocating as they continued to move across and snake their way through Corstine’s highway in the sky. Josiah had pulled away from Downs a bit and the thirty year old high tailed it even faster in an attempt to catch him when suddenly he saw Josiah slowing down, and his pace slowed until finally it turned into walking and then a complete stop. Downs could see that Josiah had made his way towards the side of the boardwalk and appeared to be examining some of the foliage as it hung over the boardwalk in no particular order.

  “What’s up?” Downs asked, fighting to catch his breath.

  Josiah didn’t reply, rather he reached out and pulled one of the branches closer to him. Downs moved in until he was right next to his good friend.

  It became apparent that the answer to Downs’ very question had been answered the minute his eyes began to take in and register the green surroundings.

  “Is that-“

  Josiah cut him off mid-sentence before he could even finish. “It is.”

  Josiah had what looked like blood on the tips of his fingers. Once again as Downs’ eyes began to take it all in, he could see the smattering of
blood that covered the leaves of the vegetation.

  Josiah’s brain was working things out. Despite his background in the paleontological field, he had spent several summers aiding and helping many of his professors with their research expeditions to the Amazon and other tropical places of the world.

  “Any idea what happened here?” Downs asked as he leaned in further.

  Josiah bent over the railing as far as he could. “It’s possible some type of bird was severely injured and flew through here, blooding the foliage in the process. My guess is just your everyday bird of paradise homicide.”

  Downs managed a laugh as both of them continued to stare at the bloody foliage.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “We don’t leave anyone behind,” Nat Kingsworth said as her voice once again pinged over the radio to the others. “And where are they? I’ve been calling them over the radio for several minutes now.”

  She had wanted to give the investors space to make their own decisions about the place, but this was downright ridiculous. But worst of all, it was her fault the two were missing.

  Jamison was right behind her, his strong and muscular NBA legs still doing the trick despite his half a century in age. He had sprinted until he had caught up with Nat, who was jogging back towards Downs and Josiah.

  “Television guy is painfully behind,” Jamison said.

  “Television guy?” Nat asked, with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah television guy. Mr. I’m-on-to-my-third-network-launch right now,” Jamison replied. “Just look at him. His body is the reason he’s behind.”

  From the minute that Jamison had opened his mouth, Nat Kingsworth had formed the opinion that she did not like him. She did not like his arrogance, his tone of voice, or the downright belief he portrayed that he was better than everyone else. She simply did not care for him, but she could tolerate his supreme fitness level looking over at his massive neck and arms, hardly having even broken a sweat.