James Smith - The Flock

"Goddamn, indeed, gentlemen. This animal has no right to be seen by God or man. So we're going to do something about it. We're going to kill each and every one of them. We're going to shoot every one of the beasts we can find, until the forests are bare of them and none remain."

He pointed quickly at the man nearest to him, a blond, almost gracefully built soldier with clear green eyes and reddish complexion. "You. Jim Gant. You've shot Bengal tigers. Two of them that I know of. Faced the damned beasts from a few paces and put bullets into their hearts." The man nodded, barely.

He pointed to another, a man standing far to the left. "Wallace Joyner. You once killed an Alaskan brown bear with a.22 rifle. Dropped him with a single shot at twenty yards. Fine shooting."

"And you, Redmond." Grisham indicated a very tall man standing directly in front of him. "You sly bastard. You killed a damned Komodo dragon with a crossbow. How you got away with that particular deed, I don't even want to know." The retired colonel cracked a smile. "The point is that each of you knows how to not only kill a man with a single good shot, but you also know how to track the kind of creature we're going to be hunting. Make no mistake about it. These animals are predators, and efficient ones. I'm sure they're agile, and I can tell just from looking at a single photograph of one that they are fast."

He turned and walked over to the map wall at his right. It was hung with a number of topographic quadrangle maps showing the lay of the land for over two hundred square miles. "We've only got a short time to act," he told them. "We have to disappear our human targets and then get right down to business. While we're out in the bush, we have other members of our group doing the wetwork elsewhere. There may be problems. We have to plan for such contingencies. I doubt any of our law enforcement officers will be poking about in the wilderness outside of Salutations. But just in case, I want to track these damned things down and be done," he roared the word, "with them in short order."

Once more he faced his men. "And, in case we encounter any of the stray human targets in the bush, you must be able to sanction them, too. Keep that in mind and don't hesitate to act while we're out there.

"Now. Before I let you sit down here to consume these intelligence reports, I'll field a few questions." He stepped back, as if ready to take a shot in his hard gut.

"Sir." It was Gant, the red-faced one. "How many of these things are there?"

"I don't know," he said. "My sources say maybe a dozen. But I don't know."

Redmond cleared his throat and spoke. "What are they?"

"What do they look like?" Grisham returned.

There were a few seconds of hesitation from tall Redmond. "Well…I hate to sound foolish…but this looks like a dinosaur. Some kind of dinosaur."

"Then that's what it is," Grisham said. His expression grew very hard, his brow knitting into a fleshy shelf. "Any other questions?" he yelled.

"What about human targets? Do you foresee any problems there? There's a lot of bush to whack out there."

"Ah. We have an ace in the hole," he told them. "Someone on the inside has made it much easier for us to find our main target, if he's out there. He has a transmitter he doesn't even know about, and I have the frequency. Piece of cake.

"Anything else?"

There was silence.

"Then get busy reading. After that, give the folders back to me. Then prepare to go in-country."

"Where am I?" His head hurt. Someone was slowly pounding a hole in the base of his skull. And it was dark. The lights were out.

"You're with me," she said.

Ron immediately recognized Kate's husky voice. "Kate. Oh." So that's whose lap his head rested in. He was slowly getting his bearings. He was pretty sure where up was and that down was against his back.

"Are you going to be all right?" she asked.

"I think so. Yeah." It was very dark in the room. He couldn't see Kate's face, and although he knew his eyes were searching the room, he couldn't see any sign of a flaw beneath door and floor. Or any place that looked like there might even be a door. "I'm going to try and sit up," he told her. He groaned and fell back.

"Just lie still."

"No. No. I'll be okay. It was just that first try. I can do it." He made another attempt and succeeded this time, propping himself up with one arm while he twisted his torso until he was sitting with his back against the wall. His legs splayed out in front, he could feel his shoulder touching Kate's arm. "How about you? Are you okay? That was a nasty bruise you had, too."

"I'll be fine," she said.

"How long have I been out?"

"I couldn't say. I came to just when you and Niccols were brought here. But I was too woozy to do more than just lie here. I think I passed out again when the door was shut, but if I did I don't know for how long."

"Where's Mary? What did they do to Mary?"

"I don't know. They didn't leave her here. I wouldn't worry about her anyway; your pal looks like she could maybe just pound a door down if she was of a mind to do so."

"She might at that," Ron told her. "What the hell's going on? What're Levin and those others up to?" He shifted and pushed a bit closer to Kate. Not completely involuntarily.

"He thinks he's going to save the birds," she said. "I think he believes that when Vance comes back, all of his troubles will be over. Vance will have all of the answers and will save the day."

"He wouldn't have shot us, then." Ron reached back and gingerly touched at the bruised and swollen knot on the back of his head.

"I don't think so. But that guy's an Earth First-er if ever I met one. I think he'd exterminate all of Mankind if he had the chance."

"For real?"

"For real." She arched her back, and brought herself a little closer to Ron. At least it seemed to him that she was closer. More of her was making contact with more of him, at any rate. "He used to be into all kinds of terrorist dogma. Spiking trees, poisoning livestock, setting mantraps in old growth forests. Pleasant stuff like that."

"Jesus."

"He's not a bad sort, really. He's just sick of seeing Mankind eating away at the natural world."

Ron said nothing. He didn't quite know what to say.

"Ron?" He could feel Kate turn toward him. One of her long arms reached over and she grasped his right hand in hers.

"What is it?" He swallowed hard. Ron was nervous. Grade school nervous. He was being stupid.

"Since we've got nothing better to do, why don't we have that talk we were going to have?"

He could feel her breath against the side of his face. "Sure. I'd like that, I guess. It'll help pass the time until Holcomb gets back and they let us out of here."

"Yes," she agreed.

"You were going to tell me about some things I needed to know about you," he said. "I can't imagine what it might be, but if you think it's important, go ahead and tell me. If you're Jewish, I can always convert."

She laughed. "I will tell you," she said. "But first I want to ask you something."

"Fire away."

"The other night, when I took you back to your truck. You wanted to kiss me, didn't you?"

"Well. Sure I did. Fact is, I've wanted to kiss you just about since you came across that field and found me sitting under the pines."

"Well. Kiss me then."

"You don't mind?"

"Kiss me, dammit."

In the darkness, Ron reached out and found her. His hand closed gently on her long neck, and he turned and lifted himself to a kneeling position, leaned toward her, and found her lips. Their mouths met warmly, softly. It was as he had hoped. The smell of her, the taste of her, the feel of her was good. His breath came quicker; his heart beat a little faster. They remained that way for a few seconds, soft lips caressing and tasting one another there in the darkness. Finally, their mouths parted. Ron edged back a bit, feeling an erection.