CHAPTER 300
George Baselton was still cowering on the ground.
Diego kicked him in the rump. "Hey, Calabaza, get up."
George peeked out from under his elbows and then looked around. "We're ok? We're ok!" he said. "Oh, thank God. I thought we were dinosaur chow."
George rolled onto his butt and groaned into a seated position. He rocked back and forth a few times until he'd gained enough momentum to thrust himself onto his feet, only he didn't. His attempt ended up being quite shy of successful, and he tripped backwards onto his butt again.
As George started to rock himself once more Diego saw that he was reaching out his palms for help.
George chuckled with embarrassment, "I think I had a few too many eggs this morning."
Diego offered a forearm, and George latched on with both hands.
"Mas mas mas!" Diego grunted as George slowly pitched forward. "Come on, huevos. Come on!" A moment later Diego found himself falling backwards. "No mas!"
George was suddenly toppling at him fast and Diego had to throw all his weight back the other way to stop him.
Baselton teetered and stabilized. He patted Diego's shoulder. "Thanks buddy."
They both looked around and saw that everyone had congregated around the sonic device.
Diego started walking first, and George followed.
"Hey, Diego? Did you get a look at those animals? What do you think they were?"
"Some kinda pollo."
George didn't know what that meant, but they had met up with the others, so he didn't ask.
Around the sonic device there were nervous looks, but Dodgson was appearing more confident and excited than ever. A cigarette burned in his fingers, and another Red Bull kept hurling to his lips between words as he spoke.
He clapped his hands. "It's time to get started, ladies and gentlemen. We'll be entering that building there," he pointed to the nursery, "and collecting our assets. All of the specimens within are juvenile, so they should be relatively small and easy to handle. Any equipment we might need to contain and transport said assets should already be there. If all is as I expect, this should be a quick and easy in and out operation."
Dodgson turned to Dr. Levine and her people. "You'll be accompanying us in, of course. Any expertise information you might be able to provide that could be of use to us would surely be accepted. These animals are priceless. I don't want any screw ups."
Dodgson turned to Thorne. "Wait here. Be ready to help us load the assets onto the choppers. Howard will show you how to use the sonic deterrent." He leaned close to Thorne so the others wouldn't hear. "If you hear so much as a single blade of grass bend, use it. There are things more dangerous in that jungle than you could ever imagine."