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Hammond's Dream Ch.10
By Amber
Departure
It was a cool day Tim thought, especially cool for San Jose in the summer. Then again it was a nice change from the hot Montana sun. Tim decided he would step inside the airport and wait for his boarding call.
It had been more than two months since Williams had first spoke to Tim, and since then they had kept in touch by phone and email. Every week Tim would get a call from Williams with updates and information. They would talk about vehicles, and what they needed to pack. After the first month, most of the calls he received were form Scott Philips with more information.
He still couldn’t believe he was going to the islands for the first time in nine years, he was scared yet, eager at the same moment. Tim checked his watch, it was seven fifteen and the helicopter would be ready in ten minutes. He was tired, but used to getting up early to work on digs.
She should have been here by now he thought. Amanda was supposed to meet Tim at the airport entrance at seven, he looked at his watch and it was now seven twenty. He met her once, about three years ago at one of Alan Grant’s lectures. He kept in touch with her for about a month before she left for Africa. Just recently had he talked to her from Africa, also periodically updating her on the expedition. Amanda Harper was in her thirties; but Tim mostly remembered her curly red hair and slender appearance.
Derrick Carter and Clay James were both nursing a beer at the bar and eating a plate of eggs and salsa. The two were having some sort of discussion with the bartender in Spanish, he couldn’t make out much of it , something about an illness or death in a village. Tim hadn’t eaten anything yet; he brought a few candy bars to eat later if he got hungry.
“Hey Tim!” came from somewhere behind him. It was Amanda, she was wearing khaki shorts, a short sleeved blue blouse , and a red bandana around her neck.
“Hi Amanda” Tim replied. “Philips called me and said the helicopter was going to be late, well actually, it’ll be here in a few minutes. Oh, and Philips is going along with us, something about keeping an eye on the project.”
“Where’s Carter and Clay, are they here yet?”
“Yah, over there at the bar.” Tim said as he motioned to his left.
“Great, I’m starving“, she said as she dropped her duffel bag. “Do me a favor and watch my bags while I get something.” Amanda set her bags next to Tim’s on the floor and began to walk off to the bar.
“Well, we don’t have much time to eat,” Tim said.
“Don’t worry, I’m just going to get a cup of coffee and a sandwich or something, do you want anything?
“No thanks, I’m good.” Tim said, as she walked over to the bar to greet the others. Tim pushed their luggage over to a chair and sat down and closed his eyes hoping to get a few more minutes of rest. He was getting drowsy and his eyelids became heavy. Tim was almost asleep when Amanda came over and tapped him on the shoulder with a cup of coffee in hand.
“Our flight is ready, Carter and Clay are waiting at the bar.”
The four walked down the concourse and out toward the roaring helicopter. When they reached the gate Philips was already on board, they could see him talking to the pilot and pointing out the open door in their direction. Mason then stepped out of the helicopter and walked towards the gate to greet them. Tim noticed Mason was a big guy, he reminded him of a football player he knew. A tall and well built black man, probably no older than Philips. On the side of the helicopter was the insignia and name of a private company, probably based in Costa Rica. Tim thought to himself, wow, Philips really traveled in style.
“You all set?” Mason said. The group nodded in response.
“Spare no expense.” Tim said with a smile. As Tim entered the chopper he could here a beeping under the whine of the rotary blades.
“Hold on, I’ve got to get this,” Philips said. He reached under his seat and pulled out a metal briefcase. He placed it on the seat, opened it up, and took out a satellite phone.
“Hello, wait a minute, I can’t hear you, I said I can’t hear you!” Philips screamed into the receiver. He stepped out of the chopper and walked over toward the terminal to continue the conversation. Tim noticed Philips briefcase was still open and curiosity took over as something caught his eye. Inside, was a manila folder and in black lettering were the words:
SITE B DISMANTLING : PRIVATE
Tim thought this was strange, as far as he knew, Site B was the Sorna manufacturing facility. He knew the facilities were destroyed by a hurricane, but he didn’t know if its was dismantled any time after that. Unbelievably, after so much that had happened on the islands, the Costa Rican government had been able to cover up almost everything. So far there was no pictures or footage of actual dinosaurs from the park the public had seen. Some even claimed it was all a hoax or conspiracy to cover up the real reason why there was so many deaths of disease in the island chain. It could even be a cover up for Costa Rica’s recent medical problems.
“Hey, what you looking at?” Clay said as he loomed over the briefcase.
“Oh, uh, it’s something in Philips briefcase. Something about a Site B.”
“I thought Site B was Sorna.”
“Yah, it is,” Tim said as he continued his focused stare into the case, “ I always thought it was just a manufacturing plant, but from what I've heard-”
“Hey, getting a good read there Tim?” Philips said with a stern look.
Tim hadn’t noticed Philips was back and already stepping into the helicopter. Tim sat down and watched Philips place his satellite phone back and close his briefcase. Philips then placed it under the seat and sat down next to Dr. Carter.
“So, I guess we’re ready to go.” Philips said as Clay nodded his head and gave a sigh.
The intercom above there heads began to crackle “We’re ready to take off now so just sit back and relax.” Mason said , his voice was distorted over the intercom. The doors shut, Tim was surprised at how quiet the inside of the cabin was. As they rose into the air Clay’s fingers began to tap on the glass.
“Nervous?” Carter asked with a smile.
“I hate flying.” Clay moaned.
It had been about seven minutes since they took off and it was silent, they were now over dark blue water. Tim was half asleep and Philips was hunched over, snoring.
“So Amanda, what work have you been doing in Africa?” Clay broke out.
“Oh, well I’ve been working on a dig near Cairo. We believe it’s a Spinosaurus aegypticus. It looks like a partial skeleton and near by we also recently found some footprints. They may be from the same animal, but we don’t know for sure since we’ve never found a confirmed Spinosaurus footprint before.”
Amanda was right, the only other Spinosaurus skeleton ever found was destroyed during World War II in a bombing raid. Tim, though half asleep, found this interesting. Since the last time he talked to Alan Grant, he found out there was at least one Spinosaurus living on the island. The more he thought about it the more nervous he became. But Tim was tired, so tired, he decided he would close his eyes and relax for the remainder of the flight. Try to fall back to sleep, and dream. Dream of flying reptiles outside the helicopter, soaring alongside the aircraft.
6/22/2003 8:53:08 PM
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