Despite his immediate task, Rick had to resist being distracted by his surroundings. After all, this was the Cre- taceous. Everything, from the smallest insects and plants, constituted a new discovery. Objectively, he recognized that he came from a time where human development, in-troduced species, and global warming had impoverished the biosphere. The landscapes Rick was familiar with were depleted and weedy. In comparison, even this tiny island seemed overflowing with abundance. He wondered if a twentieth-century visitor, someone from a world that still contained wild tigers and rain forests, would find this island equally astonishing.
The tracks approached a low cliff overlooking the sea, then ended. Rick walked to the edge and looked down on the beach for signs of the girl. About thirty yards to his left, he spotted her footprints in the sand. They disap-peared at the edge of the surf, then reappeared sporadi-cally farther down the beach. They led to a pile of shells and a wad of clothing before vanishing into the sea. Rick's speculations about biology were instantly for-gotten. He wildly scrambled down the cliff. As soon as he reached the beach, he began to run.
CON DRIFTED, ALMOST in a trance. The sea rocked her and washed her thoughts clean. Last night was forgotten. Daddy and Sara were forgotten. Only calm remained. Then, as she raised her head to breathe, a jarring sound shattered her tranquillity.
'Constance!'
Con turned and saw the guide running down the beach. Embarrassment surged through her.
'Get out of the water!'
There was something in his tone that stopped her cold—a note of fear, even panic. She saw that he was not looking at her, but farther out to sea.
Con was gripped by Rick's fear and began to swim as fast as she could toward the shore. When she reached the shallows, she rose to her feet and began to run. The water slowed her movements like in a nightmare where every-thing is slow motion. Rick dashed into the waves, ex-tending an arm. Where the water was as high as Con's knees, they met. Rick grabbed Con's arm and wrenched her toward him. She almost fell. As she staggered to re- gain her balance, something caught the corner of her eye—a huge dark shape moving in the water.
The mosasaur snapped its jaws on the empty water where, just an instant before, Con's legs had been. The momentum of its final burst of speed carried it toward the beach. Its underside scraped against sand and, as the wave receded, the reptile was momentarily exposed. It peered around in confusion and saw its prey standing out of reach on the shore, staring back.
Con gazed in horror at the cold green eye that watched her. There was no question that she was staring at death itself. Beneath the eye was over two feet of triangular teeth. The reptile was an ambush hunter that expended its energy in a single savage burst. Foiled, it displayed no more emotion than a sprung trap. A wave washed over the three-foot head. The water churned as the creature bent like a serpent and twisted back into deeper water. A final thrust of the mosasaur''s powerful tail splashed both Con and Rick as it disappeared.
Con swung around and glared wildly at Rick. Terror, shock, and embarrassment transformed into hysterical rage.
'Don't look at me!' she screamed.
Rick stood transfixed, his expression unreadable.
Con struck him, scraping his face with her nails. 'Go away!' she cried, as she hit him again. 'Leave me alone!'
Rick passively submitted to her blows. Frozen by awk-ward confusion, he had no idea how to react. As suddenly as it arose, Con's anger dissolved. She ran sobbing to her wet, sandy clothes and quickly dressed.
When she dared to look at Rick, he stood a short way down the beach, touching a cut on his face.
'Just go,' yelled Con. 'I'll be all right.'
Rick seemed struggling to say something, but remained speechless.
'Go!' screamed Con.
Hesitantly, Rick turned and walked away.
