Chapter 3
"So, this, what I'm looking at here... This is a real dinosaur?" Craig asked. He had arrived in a short notice after jack called him. "This is amazing. I mean, I expected something like this happening somewhere in the world, but still... A real dinosaur. And it looks like a," Craig dragged his "a" for a while until Lewis finished his sentence. "Dilophosaurus. It's a dilophosaurs Craig." Craig a stared at this dinosaur, wrapped in a blanket and tied up in several places, to stop it from struggling. "We have to tell someone guys." Lewis looked up at Craig, then at Jack. "I thought he wouldn't tell anyone! We can't do this guys. This can create wide spread panic. We have to keep this secret." He demanded. Craig responded "But what gives us the right to keep is a secret? We don't work with the government. Someone needs to know." Jack kept thinking about the situation, trying to figure out a plan of action. He got an idea. "Craig, you know computers right? And you also said that people in England knew of this?"
"Yeah?" Craig looked confused at first, but he started to see where Jack was going with this. "So, you can find out the contact data of those guys. We can tell them. They would know how to take care of this." Jack suggested. Lewis started nodding his head slowly. "Yeah, that's a start. If they have had prior knowledge, then they would know how to keep this a secret. And they probably would keep this a secret." Craig walked to a desk, where he had put his laptop. He opened it and began his search for the organisation. Meanwhile Jack and Lewis looked at the dinosaur. It was slowly breathing. It was likely it sustained a concussion after it was hit by the car. It had thick, scaly skin. "I thought dinosaurs were covered in feathers Lewis." Jack said as he felt the cold skin of the dinosaur. "In the later stages yes, but this is one of the earliest predatory dinosaurs, so feathers haven't evolved yet." Lewis responded whilst looking at other features of the dinosaur. He then looked at Jack.
"Jack! Look at you! You need some medical care. That dilo gave you some nasty cuts." He said as he realized that Jack had not received any care after the incident in the forest. Jack examined his own injuries and realised that Lewis was exaggerating a little. He had some cuts and a wound on his leg, but nothing too bad.
"Do you have a first aid kit here somewhere?" He asked. Lewis pointed to a box hanging on the wall. Jack walked to it and opened it. Meanwhile, Craig was doing good work. He found some names associated with the previous incident. He then found a website. Not a public one, but a database of more names and other things. He whispered them while scrolling down that database.
"Administrator...James Lester...head of security, Hilary Becker..." He kept looking. "A.R.C. Personnel... These guys are the one that had knowledge. Oh my god, there are so many of them. Not just some scientists. They have a page of Deceased members, retired members, missing- what is happening? Why are here so many dead people? Head of operations: Nick Cutter... Status: deceased. Second head of operations: Danny Quinn... Status: M.I.A." Craig mumbled.
"Look, Craig. These guys are probably working with dinosaurs, and I wouldn't be surprised if some get killed." Lewis said. "But this Nick dude, he got killed by a gunshot. Since when did dinosaurs have guns?" Craig said unsurely. Jack was applying some alcohol to his cuts to clean them. "Craig, get their contacts, please." He seemed to be getting less patient. Craig looked at the screen and decided to call the most experienced guy according to the page. "I'm gonna call this guy. His name is, Connor. Connor Temple. He's still alive according to this database." He took out his phone and dialed his number. After a few rings he heard a voice on the other end.
"Hello?" Asked the voice.
"Uh, hello... My names is Craig Hamilton" Craig responded. "Oh, sorry, I'm Connor Temple." He heard the other voice say. "Hey I'm in at Heathrow Airport, so I'm gonna have make this quick." He added. Craig was surprised. "Uh, ok. I'm in Queenstown right now," Craig found himself interrupted. "What? I'm going there right now... For a.. A business trip" The guy seemed hesitant about his words. "Hey Connor, what kind of business? Anything involving rather... Uh.. How do I say this... Extinct animals?" Craig wanted to know. He was met by a long silence until he heard a slow, curious but almost strict voice. "How do you know?" Craig didn't know what to say next. At that moment Jack came to the desk and grabbed the phone.
"My name is Thomson. Jack Thomson. I was in a forest here in Queenstown until I was attacked by a dinosaur. My colleague here, is a hacker, and found you guys after I told him to find someone we could talk to about this. He found your name and now we're here talking." Jack continued the conversation.
"Ok, look. I'm on my way to New Zealand. I'll be landing in Christchurch in about a day. I'm also bringing a colleague here. How many people know about this dinosaur?" Connor was now able to make a proper conversation.
"Only me, and two friends. We're all here in a lab. In fact we have a specimen, a dilophosaurus. It's unconscious. We want you to come and help us out with this right now, since I'm assuming, you have past experience with this sort of thing." Jack answered.
"Ok, just keep it there, and uh... Don't tell anyone else about it. As soon as we land, we're coming to Queenstown." Connor requested. He hung up. Jack still held his phone, but lowered it. He realised something and just whispered it in his question. "Who's 'we'?". Connor had said we. Someone was with him. "Hey Craig, are there any members on that database that are operational right now? Connor's coming with at least one other person." Jack wanted to know who else might be coming. Craig looked up. "You want me to do more stalking? Well, it could be anyone. Hilary, Matt, Abby, Jess, does it matter?" Jack thought that it probably didn't, so he just agreeingly waved the topic away. He looked into the darkness of night. The lake was calm and the city was too. "Let's take some shifts. I'll watch I this thing first, you two get some rest. And tomorrow sometime Connor will be here." He said to the other two. They decided to agree and went to get some sleep. "There's a couch you can sleep on," Lewis invited Craig to spend the night, "if you want to stay." Craig took the offer and they both went to get some sleep.
