David Golemon - Primeval

Jack opened the old journal. Seeing the written Russian script, he thumbed carefully through the dried and yellowed pages until he came across the last page. On it was a detailed drawing of the area that had been discovered by L. T. Lattimer, but with no coordinates it would take someone familiar with the landmarks, such as the drawing of the plateau and bends in the river. Under the small diagram was a name. Jack read it and he knew the others saw the wonder of that name cross his facial features.

"What's the name, Jack?" Sarah asked.

Collins handed the journal over to Sarah and the others stepped up to see the name as she held it out in front of her. They had to read the sentence that Lattimer had written to his family. Jack, for his part, turned, unbelieving toward the staircase and sat down on the bottom step. Sarah read as the others looked on. The name was of one of the Group's very own professors.

I, Lawrence Thurgood Lattimer, hereby declare this journal as my personal property and the description listed as my claim to the property described herein. It is thus forwarded to my next of kin, Archibald Lattimer of Boston, Massachusetts. I hereby sign this article as true and unyielding this date of July 23, 1968.

L. T. Lattimer, Esq.

Witnessed this day by: Charles Hindershot Ellenshaw III

Stanford University

Will Mendenhall and Sarah McIntire were chosen to drive as quickly as possible to Nevada to enquire as to Charles Hindershot Ellenshaw III's current disposition. Jason Ryan and Captain Everett had been assigned the task of standing by and guarding the old Grumman seaplane under the small bridge on the L.A. River because Jack figured they may have to leave quickly if the agency or the FBI found them out. Ryan assured Jack that he could not only fly the seaplane, but evade anyone looking for them. When asked how, Jason just smiled and said, "That's navy stuff, Colonel."

Collins, Farbeaux, and Punchy Alexander were holed up inside an old and tired Motel 6 where they would pore over the Petrov Diary and the Lattimer note, hoping to get a good fix on where they would find Sagli and Deonovich — and Lynn. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to drag Doc Ellenshaw with them if he could pinpoint on a map for Sarah and Mendenhall just where to start looking for the site, a problem because Collins had counted no less than six small plateaus along the Stikine River that resembled the Lattimer description.

Punchy Alexander had told Jack that he would return to Montreal and meet them at the Stikine. He said he had some ground to cover to keep the prime minister happy. However, it was Farbeaux who suggested it would be a very bad idea to split up at that point for security reasons. He figured if one person was caught, they all would eventually succumb to the authorities. And after Jack thought about it and saw the seriousness of the Frenchman, he agreed. Punchy would take the full ride with the Event Group.

"Tell me, Colonel, how it is that the two of you are so close?" Henri asked Jack while Alexander was in the bathroom adjusting the wrap he was wearing for his bruised ribs.

Jack looked at Farbeaux and saw the man was waiting with a stern look on his face. "I met Punchy in 1989, a joint recovery operation conducted by the British SAS and Delta units in Vancouver, British Columbia."

"May I ask what it was that this joint operation was to recover?"

Jack smiled as he saw the seriousness of Henri's demeanor.

"You may indeed ask, Henri."

"You Americans are becoming very private with your secrets Colonel, almost as good as—"

"The French?" Jack said, anticipating the self-made pat on the back from Farbeaux.

The tall man from Bordeaux looked from Collins toward the bathroom as the door opened and Alexander came through and rejoined them. Henri just looked back at Jack and winked.

Sarah and Will, who was dozing in his chair next to her, waited inside Niles Compton's office while the director was on the phone trying to seek out the whereabouts of Professor Ellenshaw, after they had explained why they needed to find him.

As she waited beside the dozing Mendenhall, Sarah looked over at two of Jack's security men as they waited for Director Compton just inside of his door.

"Do you have to follow the director everywhere?" she asked the lance corporal who looked entirely uncomfortable doing his job.

"Yes, sir, the director's own orders," he said as he cleared his throat. "He's acting on the president's directive, ma'am."

Sarah was amazed that Niles could just simply stay at the base; instead, he was doing as his friend, the president said: He was under house arrest for having let Jack leave the complex.

"Well, I hope you don't shoot him if tries to escape," she said half jokingly.

The black lance corporal looked hurt and he was taken back.

"I resent that, ma'am."

"Just kidding, Corporal," Sarah said, knowing Jack's people, no matter what happened outside in the real world, every one of them, was loyal to the colonel, and to their main boss, the director of Department 5656. They would never allow anything to happen to Niles.

Sarah smiled, trying to apologize for her bad joke, when Niles stood from his desk and then pointed at Sarah, indicating that she should follow him. She nudged Will who came awake with a start and then realized they were on the move once again.

"Come on you two, keep up." Niles said to his two guards, "Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked as she tried to keep up with Niles as he hurried to the elevator.

"Down into the dungeon."

Seventeen levels beneath the main science labs of the facility, a small cordon of laboratories occupied the lowest level of the science department, just above the first level of artifact vaults. Director Compton had offered better facilities for the department currently occupying these spaces, but the department head refused to move his people. He said they felt far more comfortable away from the maddening crowd. And to be honest, Niles knew the department still wasn't well received by the rest of the sciences, no matter how many Group accommodations it had received and how many times Compton stepped in to protect some of these strange, but very dedicated people.

The Cryptozoology Department was chaired by the now famous Charles Hindershot Ellenshaw III, the eccentric but brilliant paleontologist/anthropologist, formerly of Stanford and then Yale universities, until his beliefs drove him away from mainstream science.

Before Niles, Sarah, Will, and the two security men stepped from the elevator, the loudness of the music blaring from the hallway caught their attention although the elevator doors were still closed.

"Is Doc Ellenshaw having a party," Sarah looked at her watch, "at twelve thirty in the morning?"

"Not that I need to explain Professor Ellenshaw to you, but he does his best work alone, and late at night. He says it gives him the freedom to use Europa and other department's equipment without interference from the other supervisors and department heads." Niles looked over at Sarah. "And yes, he has my permission."

The elevator doors had opened to a semidarkened and curving hallway. The heavy beat of the '60s song "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now," by the Byrds, slammed into the group. Niles smiled and shook his head.

"You two remain here. I promise not to escape through the bowels of the complex," Niles said as he gestured for the two guards to remain.

"Disobeying orders?" Sarah asked.