CHAPTER FOUR: A FAILED DRAGNET
"Are you sure about this?" Mika asked.
"Positive," Neera replied.
"What makes you so sure?" Mika asked.
"Whatever it is seems to be in league with carnivores but may not be one," Aladar said.
"What makes you think this Phantom may not be a carnivore?"
"Unlike the carnivores, it never seemed to go for us directly but just lurked around them."
"Sounds like the MO of the Phantom we know."
"And we finally think we have a motive for all of this. It's clear now."
"What?"
"We think that it has it in for dinosaurs in the Nesting Grounds," Neera said.
"What makes you two think that?"
"Because the Phantom never attacked in all the time we were out of the Nesting Grounds, at least not that you've told us."
"Interesting observation. The Phantom never showed up before the herds first appeared, was inactive when you left, and recently tried to kill you two, assuming that it was the same Phantom."
"I wonder, do you think the Phantom has anything to do with Ayala's long absence?" Zini mused.
"We're wondering the same thing," Aladar said.
"Do you think she's dead?" Mika asked.
"I don't know. It's possible. But we're not giving up until we're sure," Neera said.
"Why do you think the Phantom was content to leave Ayala alone all this time?" Zini asked.
"Perhaps because she was the last dinosaur left in the Nesting Grounds. Maybe the Phantom doesn't like groups."
"So, what should we do about the herd? If this Phantom makes another move, some of them could get killed."
"We should warn them, I agree. But I don't see what we can do about this Phantom attacking them. He's managed to elude capture so far despite guards being set in the past. And we can't exactly move the entire herd out of the Nesting Grounds with many of them having small children," Aladar said.
"We still need to find Ayala," Neera said.
"And we will. Though we'll need to be careful. I think the Phantom may attack us while we go out and look for her and also may attack our herd when we'll away as well. We'll have to make plans to defend against both possibilities."
"I wish we had some inkling of what this Phantom was," Zini said.
"I'm thinking that it's not likely a dinosaur," Aladar said.
"What would hate dinosaurs so badly?"
"I'm not sure it hates all dinosaurs," Neera said.
"What makes you say that?" Mika asked.
"There were raptors that chased us and we saw it near them but they weren't attacking us," Aladar replied.
"Yes, and you recall that the attacks on the Nesting Grounds in the past had all been carnivores," Neera added.
"So then you assume that this must be the Phantom," Mika said.
"Yes."
"I wonder where it lives," Zini said.
"If we knew that, we'd catch it," Aladar sighed.
After briefing the herd and Yar and Pilo (as well as Suri, who eavesdropped), Yar suggested "Maybe it hasn't gotten back into the Nesting Grounds yet and we should set guards for it."
"Good thinking," Aladar said. "However, Neera says they were on the lookout for it in the past and never could catch it."
"Maybe we will this time."
They did set out guards to try and catch the Phantom, but, as Aladar and Neera had feared, they never saw it.
"Wish we knew what we were looking for. It's hard to set a guard for something that you don't even know what it is," Zini remarked a day later.
"That's very true, brother," Pilo said. "Whatever it is could have come in here right in the open, for all we know, and we'd never be the wiser."
"That's true enough, but how could we not recognize whatever it is when it keeps coming over and over for years?" Neera said.
"Maybe whatever it is has decided it's not worth it anymore after that close call with you two," Zini said hopefully.
"I doubt it," Aladar sighed. And, as time would tell, he was proven right.
