Everyone looked around the room to see who the paleontologist was. Marcy leaned in and whispered to Tracey, “This is so exciting. My little nephew would freak if he knew I was going to see dinosaurs, if it wasn’t for the NDA.”
Tracey noticed a man dressed in camouflage enter the room and stand off to the side. She knew who this was going to be.
When the room settled down, Nielsen cleared his throat and continued. “There appears to be the presence of an indigenous tribe on the island. Data gathered from the last expedition indicates that they are not a significant threat. In fact, the last expedition had established a relationship with them, and several of our staff are still on the island, presumably with them. Our main objective is to locate and rescue our stranded employees. Our secondary objective is data collection for off-site processing.”
“What about security?” blurted Tracey.
Nielsen nodded. “I’ll leave that up to our security detail leader, Rudy Collins.” He nodded, and the man in camouflage stepped to the front of the room and cleared his throat.
“Thank you, Mr. Nielsen. Hi, my name is Rudy, and my job is to keep the expedition safe.”
“Funny,” shouted Tracey, “that’s what the last security team leader said, and none of his detail made it back.”
Marcy nudged Tracey. “Come on. What are you doing?”
Collins scowled. “Yes, that was…unfortunate. I knew Mario. He was a good man. But he was unprepared. His detail was too small and underequipped. I assure you, we’re larger and better equipped. Plus, we have learned from his mistakes.”
Tracey stood up, indignant, forgetting where she was. “Mistakes? Mistakes?” Marcy grabbed her arm, but Tracey shook her off. “People died. People like you, Collins, who thought their training and weaponry would protect them, died. When the T. rexes came swooping in, they destroyed our helicopters and devoured Mario’s men one-by-one.”
She walked towards the front of the room as she accosted Collins until she was practically nose-to-nose with him. “How do you plan on dealing with a fifteen-foot tall eating machine with legs like tree trunks and teeth like hunting knives? What marvel of modern technology will you use then?”
Collins didn’t budge an inch. “We’re going to clear the Landing Zone with a cargo plane using ‘Daisy Cutters.’ We have two light squads of nine each and two weapons squads of twelve each. One weapons squad will remain near the staging base, serving as security and a reserve. They’ll be equipped with AT4s and guided anti-tank missiles. We have Humvee-mounted anti-tank rifles and MK19 belt-fed automatic grenade launchers. This time we certainly won’t leave our birds parked on the ground to be destroyed. In fact, they’ll be mobile, Hueys with gunship configurations, able to track and take down a T. rex on the move.”
“Hueys? Aren’t they a bit old school?” asked Tracey.
“This is the private sector,” reminded Collins. “We use what’s available and whatever Poseidon Tech will pay for. They’ll do the trick.”
Tracey met his gaze with hers, her eyes burning with intensity. “How do you know this is all going to work?”
Collins didn’t blink. “We are also equipping members of the team, including you, with the latest in camouflage, fabric that actually bends light.” He nodded to a man standing at the back of the room, also clad in camo. The man stepped forward and handed Collins what looked like a folded tablecloth. Collins turned it in his hands, pinched an edge, and unfurled it. Suddenly, his legs appeared to vanish before everyone in the room. There were gasps and murmurs from the crowd.
Collins looked at Tracey. “May I?”
Tracey, stunned, nodded.
Collins addressed the group. “If a dinosaur penetrates our screen, you can find a spot to hide…” he draped the sheet of cloth over Tracey, “…and blend into the environment as a last resort.”
There were oohs, aahs, and applause from the crowd of technicians and data analysts. Tracey wasn’t able to see them through the material, but she pulled it off her head, balled it up, and shoved it into Collins’ hands.
Nielsen quickly stepped up to the front of the room. “Thank you, Rudy. I have complete faith in your detail’s training.” He waved a hand in front of Tracey. “Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the paleontologist who will be accompanying us, sharing her expertise and experience, Dr. Tracey Moran.”
There were stunned looks and applause, as if her interjection was all part of the show. Marcy looked positively flabbergasted, and she clapped enthusiastically.
When the noise died down and all eyes were expectantly on her, Tracey leaned against the metal table and eyed the group with a combination of pity and contempt. “This is no pleasure jaunt, I assure you all. I was in the last expedition. I was awed when I saw my first dinosaurs, two T. rexes, but the effect wore off quickly when they ate our security detail and nearly killed the rest of us. They can see you, even if you remain still, and one damn near climbed a hill, using its little arms, to eat my group.”
She turned to Collins. “With all due respect to your training and experience, your Hueys may take one down, but what about velociraptors? They’re smaller and agile, and they picked off several of our group and the indigenous warriors who had experience with them.
“You can blow up the whole damned jungle, but there are other things…” she paused, pondering how exactly to explain, “…more preternatural, even supernatural elements of the
