Dave Freedman - Natural Selection

“Want a tour?”

Jason shook Ackerman’s hand. Rich men’s toys didn’t really interest him. “Can we go over our game plan first?”

Ackerman’s eyes suddenly looked particularly icy. “You may not want to do it after that.”

“What do you mean?”

A glint of sun caught his eyes, but they didn’t blink. “You’re fired, Jason. The whole group of you. I’m terminating your contracts, effective immediately.”

Jason was speechless. “What are you talking about?”

Ackerman shrugged. From a familiar laptop case slung over his shoulder, he removed a large, unsealed manila envelope. “Your termination letters. Written by my attorney. I assure you everything’s in order, but take a look if you have any questions.”

Jason stared at the envelope. This was actually happening. “What are you doing?”

Ackerman just looked at him.

“Harry, we’re in the middle of real scientific discovery here. Why on earth would you cut that off at the knees?”

“Flying monsters that kill joggers, Jason? That’s what you call ‘real scientific discovery’? I thought you had more sense than that. Phil Martino has more sense than that.”

“We agreed we’d follow the trail and see where it led. You gave us your word.”

“I changed my mind.”

Jason felt like punching something. “Why?”

“Ultimately, it comes down to dollars and cents.”

“But… you said you worked out your financial problems.”

“I did. Thanks to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I had an unused financial asset I needed to harvest.”

Jason paused. Harvest. The only person who used that word other than a potato farmer was a businessman. Harvest, the polite word for profit.

“What ‘financial asset’?”

“Your new species, of course. Turns out it has tremendous value.”

“What are you talking about? How—”

“DVDs, Jason. Among other revenue streams. But I’ve been working on a DVD deal specifically for months. Turns out they’re a tremendous business, and not just for the movie studios. Do you realize that the National Geographic DVD on volcanoes sold twenty million copies at nineteen ninety-five per? That’s four hundred million bucks in revenues, with extremely high margins.”

Jason felt sick. “You’re saying… You’re selling the species?”

“Effectively. A well-promoted DVD on this animal could easily move thirty million copies. There’s also going to be a book deal, a speaking tour, and a TV special with commentary from some Hollywood actor who likes nature. It all starts after I publicly announce the findings to the Species Council.”

“What findings? You don’t have any findings. And… how do you even know about the Species Council?”

“I have all the findings I need.” Ackerman looked up as a feather flew onto his shoulder. He brushed it off casually, reminding himself to buy tickets for next month’s cancer benefit at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, something to do with newborns infected with HIV. “And all you need to know is that I know all about the Species Council, too.”

Jason eyed the gurgling Jacuzzi. He’d never so much as mentioned the twelve-person ruling body in Washington, D.C., to Ackerman. That had been an oversight on his part, but how would Ackerman know about something like that otherwise? And even if he did, the council’s requirements for new species determinations were stringent, to say the least. They demanded detailed documentation from multiple accredited scientists and a host of other supporting documents that Ackerman couldn’t possibly have. “You can’t have any findings.”

Ackerman had been looking at a seagull. “And why is that? Because you refused to share your notes with me.”

Jason paused. “I told you I wasn’t comfortable doing that, and you said you were fine with it.”

“I wasn’t. It doesn’t matter now. This is my discovery: I financed it, I researched it, I own it. And if you need to confirm any of that”—he held out a twenty-page stapled contract—“just read the addendum you all signed.”

Jason just looked at the papers, not touching them.

Ackerman released them along with the earlier proffered envelope, and Jason watched as they hit the deck, the pages blowing slightly in the breeze. “You don’t have a body, either.”

“Are you sure?”

A pause. “You have a body? How?”

“You left one behind in your friend’s freezer. I took the liberty.”

Jason’s eyes shifted. “But that’s not enough. That’s not nearly enough.”

“Combined with everything else it is: the expert analyses from the brain maven and all the others, team notes, the pictures… I have everything I need.”

“How can you possibly have all that?”

Ackerman didn’t answer. He just stood calmly on the massive deck. Jason saw he wasn’t bluffing. Somehow, he actually had everything he said he did.

Ackerman checked the Roman numerals on his wrist. “It will be satisfying to finally be recognized by the business community for my accomplishments.”

“ The business community? Will the business community even care, Harry? I mean, about you? Don’t they pretty much see you as an Internet joke who got lucky?”

The cold eyes blinked. “We’ll see. Take me to court if you like. Your employment is terminated. Take your letters, take your addendum. And get off my boat.”

A dismissal on top of everything else. Something snapped in Jason then. He stepped toward Ackerman, his face literally an inch from the man’s nose. “Now you’re being rude ?”

Ackerman didn’t move. Jason suddenly looked frightening, his face a combination of unadulterated fury and calculating composure. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Jason grabbed his hand. “Come with us.”

Ackerman tried to pull his hand back—but couldn’t.

“Learn to fire a rifle, come out in the forest. See for yourself what’s out there.”

Ackerman tugged his hand but couldn’t pull away. “Go to hell.”

Jason squeezed very tight. “You’re a coward.”

“I’m a multimillionaire.”

Jason continued to squeeze. “Can’t buy pride as easily as a yacht, can you?”

“Save the nobility speeches; they bore me.”

Jason squeezed the hand tighter still. “You should pay attention to the nobility speeches.”

Ackerman squirmed in pain. “You’re hurting my hand.”

Jason’s eyes bored into him. “You’re hurting my feelings.” He released the hand.

“You’ll be sorry you did that.”

Jason went to him menacingly. “No, I won’t.”

As Ackerman cowered, Jason noticed his laptop. Did his computer have something to do with this? Then he climbed off the massive boat and boarded the Expedition. He had to tell the others right away. As the boat pulled out, he looked up at the sky.

Off in the distance, he thought he saw a tiny puff of white. Is that a cloud? If the clouds were rolling in, perhaps the fog wasn’t far behind. As he left the dock, he eyed the distant puff once more. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it had already moved closer.

THE BLACK eyes didn’t move. They were watching the cloud too.

The creature had been watching the cloud for more than an hour, since it first appeared on the horizon. At the mouth of the cave, the winged body was sprawled out on the rock, the back half shaded, the front half exposed in direct sunlight. The animal was uncomfortable with the heat on its thick skin, but it was too preoccupied with the cloud to move. The eyes refocused. The distant spot of white was moving closer.

“ LISA.” JASON looked around. “Do you know where Darryl and Monique are?”