Chase and Koda arrived at the dig site, parking up the jeep as close as they could to the rock face. As they got out, they could still see signs of their battle. While time, the local wildlife and the weather had caused most of the most obvious signs to be removed, there were still things like damaged and broken trees that stood as testament to the release of their newfound energy.
They approached the rock face, finding what they were looking for. The unmistakable shape of the triceratops' beak was just poking out of the rock face. The rest of it was still buried. Chase just smiled.
"Hello again big guy." He greeted it. "I guess Keeper was right, the local amateurs must not have found this yet."
As Chase started to unload some equipment, Koda grabbed a pick off the truck and headed intently for the rock face.
"Uh Koda, perhaps..." His warning came too late as Koda let out a huge yell, running at the rock face and swinging the pick into it as hard as he could. Chunks of rock flew in all directions as he smashed into it. Chase made his way towards Koda, ducking, and moving cautiously, hoping not to get hit by flying rock, or an errant pick! "Koda...KODA!"
He managed to find the opportunity to get behind Koda and grab the handle of the Pick. Koda frowned at him as he managed to swing both Chase AND the pick in front of him, but he could see Chase holding it back.
"Koda, stop!" He told him.
"Need to break rock." Koda reminded him. "Get skeleton."
"There's not going to be much point in getting the skeleton if we smash it into a million pieces in the process!" Chase told him. "You don't want to smash our gift for Kendall do you?"
Koda thought about this for a moment, and then shook his head.
"We need to break the rock away, but we need to go carefully." He told Koda. The Blue Ranger finally released the pick axe, allowing Chase to take it away.
"Then how?" Koda asked. Chase went back to the truck, collecting a couple of tools. He presented Koda with a small hammer and chisel. The way Koda looked at the tiny tools, Chase could already tell what he was thinking.
"Take long time." Koda said a little dejectedly.
"Yeah, well...the sooner we start, the sooner we finish." Chase told him. "I'll get some more stuff. You make a start here."
As he went to get more tools, Koda turned to the fossil and sighed.
"For Kendall." He said as he started to chip away at the rock.
Back at the Dino Bite Cafe, Shelby was working away, but continued to watch her supervisor. She knew that Glen was a scumbag, but she didn't think he was a thief. She didn't claim to be a complete innocent, but after being caught sneaking a dollar out of her mom's purse when she was five, and incurring her wrath, she learned to be disgusted at the mere thought of theft.
"I worked hard for that dollar!" Her mom had yelled at her as she stared at her. "I'm not a rich person, but that's no reason to take what doesn't belong to me! I have that dollar because I EARNED it, and that is something NO ONE can take away from me! You can only give your integrity and your reputation away, and when you do...it is very hard to get them back!"
It was a hard lesson, one that had earned Shelby a long time in time-out, but one that was important to her life. They weren't a rich family, and while there were times she could understand why people sometimes helped themselves to a few odds and ends to make their situation a little better, she could never bring herself to do so. When she needed money for books, she did yard work for her neighbours. When she needed a new laptop, she had washed more cars than she could count. Now, she needed money for tuition fees, a LOT of money, thousands! She could see the logic in taking it from someone else, hell there were people that spent more on a pair of shoes than she spent on her entire wardrobe for the year! They most likely wouldn't miss a few bucks here or there, but that was something she couldn't do. No matter how much she wanted her dream, she would only take it if she earned it fair and square.
Glen wasn't a bad looking guy, as could be attested by the number of the female customers that responded to his lame come-on lines and cheeky smile. He had a decent enough build on him, he obviously worked out, and he had short-cropped blonde hair. Shelby watched as he made another "pocket transaction", slipping the cash into his pocket once the customer was walking away and he believed he wasn't being watched.
She had figured out the system. Customers generally came to the counter with their cash or credit cards already in their hands. For credit cards, he needed to use the register to take the payment, so he couldn't touch them, but there weren't many credit card sales. The majority were cash transactions, and most of them went to the desk with the money already in their hands. That was his signal it was a cash sale.
One in three, that was what she observed. Roughly every third sale, he would just call for the food from the back, and keep the customer talking, so that no one noticed he didn't ring up the sale. When the food came, he would take the money, very few bothered to ask for a few cents change, and when the customer wasn't looking, it would go into his pocket. What she couldn't figure out though was how he planned to get the money out of the building.
Museum policy meant that staff were subject to random searches when they were leaving the building. She had protested when it happened to her the first time, but quickly relented when she realised it was part of the terms of her employment. While no one would say anything about someone carrying some money in their pocket, especially in their wallets, she had to imagine it would be difficult for one of the waiting staff to explain walking around with several hundred dollars in their pocket. While he wouldn't be searched every day, he had to be taking a gamble trying to leave with that money on his person.
"Hey, Shelby!" Glen called over. "I need you to take out some trash!"
Shelby just smiled at him.
"Coming!" She replied through gritted teeth. As she got close, he threw a soda can into the trash, tying up the bag, before thrusting it into her hands.
"Don't be too long." He warned her. "You already disappeared once today. If you're more than five minutes, I'm taking it out of your break."
"I'll be right back." She assured him.
Meanwhile, in the hospital, Kendall was most definitely going stir crazy, and couldn't help but continually stare at the clock. She had been under observation to ensure that she really was on the mend. She couldn't help sighing as she realised that midday had come and gone. She had promised her friends she would listen to the doctors, and had promised she would stay until she was released. While she had been told that someone would come to give her a final examination at midday before she was released, it was now clear that wasn't the case. By the time the clock hit twenty past, she just humphed in frustration and got out of the bed.
"For God's sake, where is that bloody doctor?" She complained. She went into the wardrobe, and found her clothes, beginning to get dressed to save some time. By the time she was pulling on her jacket, adjusting her hair over the collar, she heard someone coming into the room.
"That's a bit premature don't you think?" He asked. "I haven't examined you yet."
"Where the hell have you been?" She asked in response, glaring at him impatiently. He just smirked at her.
"Sorry, but a woman down the hall went into labour, and since I'm the doctor on duty for this floor, I kind of felt like I should check in on her." He said sarcastically in response. "I'm sorry if that's inconvenient, but I find these things rarely are considerate of timetables."
"Oh." Kendall replied somewhat sheepishly. It was annoying that she was here longer than she needed to be, but she guessed she couldn't begrudge him that. It wasn't as though she was the only patient he had. "Well...let's get this over with."
"Alright, sit up on the bed." He told her as he got out a torch. Kendall just stared at him. "Now would be a good time."
"I'm a foot and a half shorter than you." She reminded him. "You can do this standing up."
"Right, you're one of THOSE patients." He muttered. "Well, let me explain how this works. I'm doing this examination, and until I do it, I'm not signing your release forms. So the longer you take to do as I say, the longer you stay here. Am I making myself clear?"
Kendall clenched her jaw. This doctor was working her last nerve, but she could concede his point. She eventually got up on the bed, allowing him to shine the torch in her eyes, checking her pupils. He put it away, getting out a thermometer. "Open wide."
"This is ridiculous; you've taken my temperature dozens of times!" She snapped. "I came in for observation, and I haven't exhibited any symptoms..."
"Other than the fact you're only back here because you checked yourself out against medical advice and passed out into a bowl of soup." He reminded her.
"I feel fine! I haven't got any symptoms..."
"And I'm not putting my name on a form saying you're fine until I check you out myself, so I'm doing this examination or you don't get your discharge papers!" He warned her, holding up the thermometer. "Now, I'm going to need to take your temperature. We both know there are two ways I can do that, and I'm not above calling an orderly to hold you down while I take it the other way. It's up to you."
Kendall hated this. The doctor grated on her, but she had already had a setback by pushing too hard too early, and she knew her friends would insist on seeing her discharge papers. She opened her mouth, at which the doctor smiled.
"Good choice." He answered as he placed the thermometer in.
Back at the dig site, Chase was taking a break. The work was slow going, and they had already been there for a couple of hours. To describe archaeology as digging was more than a little bit of an oversimplification. Fossils, while they were considered rock, they were essentially solidified soil and bone or shell. They had also been in the Earth for millions of years. They were brittle, and the wrong move could easily cause irreparable damage. More than one great discovery had been all but destroyed by an over-enthusiastic amateur; even professionals with years of experience weren't immune to such errors. Digging them up was more akin to peeling an onion than digging up a rock. Once the hardest upper layers were gone, once they started to get close, they would need to gently chip and scrape away the rest, literally millimetres at a time. The last stage was generally done with brushes rather than chisels or picks. They had now taken to taking it in turns to work away at the rock.
Chase took a bottle of water from his bag, taking a long drink as he caught his breath. He knew this was going to take a long time, but he hadn't banked on HOW long. They had been here for hours, and it seemed like they were barely getting anywhere.
"Chase!" Koda called out. Chase got to his feet. "Chase, come!"
Chase ran to him, pulling out his Dino Charger. He knew that Ice Age was still out there, and while neither of them had seen him in a long time, they were both still aware that Fury was somewhere in the world, seeking the Energems too. As he got there though, he saw Koda was still alone.
"Koda, what is it?" He asked.
"Problem." Koda responded. He pointed to the Triceratops. Chase came closer, and saw the issue. While they had made impressive progress, he moved around behind where they had dug away to, and saw some vertebrae. He then walked back...a good four paces!
"That's...that's just the head?" He asked. Koda just nodded. They knew a triceratops was big, but they had no idea HOW big it was! Because of its similarities, most thought of it as being like a rhino, but the truth was that a triceratops was closer in size to an elephant!
"So big." Koda responded.
"We're going to need a seriously bigger truck." Chase agreed. "We've been at this for hours...and we're not even halfway done?"
"What do we do?" Koda asked him. Chase thought about it for a moment, before running back to the jeep. He grabbed some heavy tarpaulin, coming back to the rock face.
"Help me cover this up." He told Koda. "We need to protect it from the weather."
"But Kendall..."
"We can come back for it with better tools and a bigger truck." Chase told him. "In the meantime, we need to keep this protected."
As they finished covering it up, securing it in place, Koda looked at it unconvinced.
"People will find." He responded. He snapped around as he heard branches being moved, and found Chase dragging some foliage towards it.
"I already thought about that mate," he answered, beginning to lay the branches up against the tarp, covering it, "which is why this calls for a little camouflage."
Koda nodded in understanding and went to fetch more foliage.
After her shift, Shelby was still struggling to think of what to do about Glen. It turned her stomach to think that she spent all day getting bossed around by a guy that was ripping off the museum she just wanted to be a part of. So many people worked so hard to bring the past to life in this place for the whole world to see. The place was already losing money, and there was no guarantee that sooner or later the owner would cut it loose as an investment. This creep was putting everyone's hard work in jeopardy, all to line his own pockets.
As she left, she saw him, but instead of going to his car, he seemed to be going around to the back of the museum. He looked more than a little shifty, and he moved like he was checking he wasn't being watched. It was then that he made an unexpected move, and headed back into the museum, into the refuse area. Why would he want to go back to the museum after his shift?
Shelby made her way in, but kept out of sight, not that Glen was paying much attention. He was busy searching through bin bags in the recycling area. She furrowed her brows, wondering what he was up to, pulling out her cell phone.
He eventually seemed to find what he was looking for, and pulled out a 7-up can. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pen knife and slipped it into the can, cutting it open carefully. He pulled out a small, plastic bag. It was then that the penny dropped. The museum didn't sell drinks cans, they sold their drinks in plastic cups. She had seen Glen put a can into the trash before he got her to take it out. He opened the bag, confirming her suspicions.
Glen heard a noise, and turned to see Shelby standing before him, looking far from amused.
"What the..."
"I have to admit, for a creep, you're pretty clever." Shelby told him.
"I don't know..."
"You put that can in the trash, and since we don't sell cans, you knew that would be the one you put in." She explained. "You put the money you ripped off into the can and get it thrown out with the trash. Then, you come back afterwards and collect the can."
"Money?" He asked her. "What money?"
"Don't try and deny it, I've watched you do it!" Shelby snapped. "You're ripping this place off!"
"That's a pretty serious accusation." He told her. "And...what makes you think anyone's going to believe the waitress who can't do anything right over me?"
"Yeah, it is my word against yours." Shelby said, conceding the point. She could see that he was right about that, she knew everything, but she could prove nothing. She pulled out her cell phone. "Or at least it wouldn't if I didn't have pictures."
This was a complete lie. While Shelby did have a camera on her phone, she hadn't thought to take pictures at the time. Thinking about it now, it would have made the case for her, but she still didn't really have the proof. She tried to seem confident, playing a game of mental poker with him. She hoped that if she seemed confident, she could bluff him into believing she had the proof she needed. He just smiled.
"Well, aren't you clever?" He asked. "So, what's this now? Do you want a cut?"
"I'm going to give you a chance to turn yourself in." Shelby told him. "Maybe if you admit to it, they'll just sack you and not press charges."
"I offered to let you benefit by this, but if you think I'm going to let some little shit like you get in my way, you have another think coming!" He asked her, starting to make his way towards her. He shoved her against a dumpster. "Give me that phone!"
Meanwhile, a cab arrived outside the museum and Kendall stepped out. She paid the driver for the journey, and turned to head back into the museum. Just as she did though, she heard a loud crash.
"What the hell?" She asked. She heard some more loud noises, and a couple of screams and realised they were coming from the back entrance. She ran around, heading into the refuse area. There, she found Shelby, sitting on Glen's back, twisting his arm painfully up behind him. Glen was screaming in pain. By the looks of the area, there'd been one hell of a fight.
"What the hell is going on here?" Kendall asked. "For God's sake get off him! What the hell is going on here?"
"This lunatic jumped me!" Glen screamed. "I reprimanded her for her crappy work and she lost the plot!"
"That's not true! He attacked me!" Shelby told her. "I caught him ripping off the museum!"
"Are you going to listen to...?"
"He smuggles out the money in the trash in these!" Shelby told her, showing Kendall the drink can that had been cut open. "He rips off one in every three cash transactions. Each transaction averages twenty dollars, and he gets about four every hour."
"Ms Morgan, she's just trying to..." He was cut off as Kendall held up a hand.
"I'll hear your side of it in a moment." Kendall told him. "Go on."
"He works eight hours a day five days a week." Shelby continued. "If my maths is right, I think he's ripping off the museum by about 3200 dollars a week."
"This is all bullshit, you can't listen to her!" He told her. "She's a lousy waitress that can't take it when someone calls her on her shitty work!"
"Turn out your pockets please." Kendall told him. Glen just looked at her blankly. "Now would be a good time."
Glen did as he was told. He didn't have the money, that was scattered all over the ground, but what he did have was a pen knife. Kendall ran a finger along it.
"The blade's sticky...probably from the leftover soda." She told him. "Don't bother coming in tomorrow. We'll send your pink slip in the mail. Shelby, do you want to press charges?"
"He's got more lumps than me, I'm good." Shelby replied. Kendall just looked to him and pointed to the street. Glen just looked between the two women, before storming off. Kendall turned to Shelby.
"Are you alright?" Kendall asked her. "Do you want to see a doctor? Can I get you a cab home?"
"I've had worse, but the cab would be nice." Shelby answered.
"Then at least come in and let me clean you up. I have a first aid kit in my office." Kendall told her, guiding her inside. "It's the least I can do."