Raising the Past Page 9

  Dombroski reached out in desperation and his hand found something solid, metal—a candlestick. He swung up as hard as he could and introduced the candlestick to Sherrif’s temple.

  Sherrif grunted and stepped back, momentarily stunned.

  Momentarily.

  Sherrif grabbed him by the shoulder and flung him across the room with a growl. Dombroski slid across the floor and slammed into a wall. He was dazed and dizzy, barely aware that Sherrif was stalking toward him.

  On all fours.

  The sound of tearing clothes filled the room, followed by a heavy breathing so thick that the confused Dombroski knew it came from a pair of lungs larger than a human’s—larger than a gorilla’s. His mind began to make sense of the world again, and as his vision cleared his eyes grew wide. For the first time since hearing the sheik’s telephone conversation, everything made perfect sense. It was the last thing he thought before he felt his belly torn open with a single slash, spilling warm rolls of intestine onto the floor.

  9

  THE MAMMOTH

  Wondering how he got into this mess was no longer a question in Mark Vincent’s mind. Several other nagging questions had taken hold: What possible motivation could there be for him to become a saboteur? What would happen if he got caught? Was he really so desperate? Would someone be killed as a result of his tinkering? Mark prayed to God that he wouldn’t cause too much damage, but wondered if God would even listen to a man like him.

  It was pitch black and the entire camp was asleep, catching a few good winks before the next day when they would pull the mammoth out of its frosty grave. It was also freezing—thirty below. Mark held his shaking hand as steady as he could and lit the small propane torch. He wasn’t sure how hot those things got, but the blue flame shooting out of the front assured him it was hot enough…750 degrees was all he needed. Was that Celsius or Fahrenheit? He couldn’t remember, or maybe that Steve guy never said.

  Mark held the bright azure flame against a portion of cable that was hidden by a crossing of two other Liquidmetal wires. The cable held strong, but after five seconds turned bright orange. The cable began to stretch out and thin. If this went as he hoped, the cable would snap during the mammoth’s ascent, giving everyone a shock and giving a TV audience another reason to sit through another block of Sunny D and George Foreman Grill commercials. Of course, only one cable would break and no one would be in any real danger…he hoped. Mark looked at the cable. It had gone from being the diameter of a silver dollar to that of a nickel.

  Not too thin! He told himself. Not too thin!

  With the intention of making this look like an accident, Mark knew that if the cable were to break now and not while the mammoth was being hefted out of the permafrost, the gig would be up. A witch hunt would commence, and he was sure it would end at his tent’s entrance. Mark yanked the torch away and extinguished the flame. Just in time.

  A pair of boots scrunching through the thick snow gave Mark just enough warning to duck behind one of the giant crane’s treads. He peeked up over the tread and saw a body hovering by the Liquidmetal cables. It was Dr. Norwood.

  Mark had been a journalist before moving to the world of documentary films, and he knew a story when he saw one. Nicole made her crew carry around cameras wherever they went, even to the bathroom—just in case. It seemed her insistence was about to pay off. Mark removed the camcorder from his jacket, switched it on and directed it to Norwood’s position, leaving the side viewfinder closed so as to not light up his position. Mark switched on the camera’s digital night-vision and zoomed in.

  Norwood rubbed his arms, trying to warm himself in the frigid air. He coughed and searched the area for prying eyes. He found none and was sure no one could hear his coughing over the loud hum of the generators that kept the ultra-modern camp warm and electrified.

  Having prepared for this moment for a month, his hands moved quickly. He popped open a small gray case that contained four blobs of what looked like silly putty, each the size of a marble. From his pocket he produced a small battery powered drill. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a drill bit, which he snapped into place on the drill.

  Confidence overwhelmed Norwood and erased any doubts he had about the possible consequences of what he was attempting. After he first found the mammoth in the ice and witnessed the spectacular melting phenomenon, he had done some tests and discovered that the ice melted when exposed to seismic energy, initially created by his single stick of dynamite. Of course, what he planned now would be a much smaller series of blasts, but the results, by his calculations, should be much more lucrative.

  Naturally he would deny any knowledge about the four small rumbles from within the frozen block of ice, which would start the block melting. Norwood knew that if he placed the explosives a certain distance apart and set them off at just the right time, the effect would have the ice thawed in minutes. The frigid air of the arctic would instantly refreeze any portions of the flesh that might become exposed, and then the future Nobel Prize-winning and very rich Dr. Norwood would collect his DNA sample and clone a perfect mammoth—the first geneticist to bring an extinct species killed off by the hands of man back to life. This was no Jurassic Park and he was no John Hammond; he’d be a hero.

  It was true that Norwood still had no idea why seismic energy caused this particular chunk of ice to melt rapidly. It could be some type of new element that heated with seismic activity—perhaps something from deep within the Earth, spat out thousands of years ago by a volcano that had melted away during the last ice age. And if it turned out to be such a thing, he would only be all the more famous for it. Then what would his father have to say? He knew he’d never be able to tell anyone how he came to retrieve his DNA so fast. He never did reveal his knowledge of the rapid melting ice discovered at the same instant as the mammoth tusks. If he had, he knew the Canadian government would take over the site quicker the he could say, “Get me a beer, eh?” It’d be a warm day in the Arctic before he ever let that happen.

  Norwood drilled four holes into the ice at different locations. He then eased the gray balls of plastic explosive, each containing a small detonator and radio receiver, into the four holes. He covered the tiny cavities with snow, packed up his equipment, and headed back to his tent.

  Mark wasn’t sure what he had just seen, but he knew it was something Dr. Norwood didn’t want anyone else to see. Of course Mark had seen it, and if something went wrong, other than Mark’s own sabotage, everyone on Earth would see what Norwood had done. He’d be praised by the network and made a hero among documentary makers. Life was good and Mark was now sure it could only get better.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  The eager crew was awake and moving with the sun, which would only be in the sky for a few hours each day at this time of year. People were in place and ready to make history. A kind of levity had settled over the crew, knowing that this would be their moment of triumph—another successful excavation. Even Eddy had lightened his rigid exterior, but not enough to overlook Nicole Lu setting up a camera in a “no walk” zone. No walk zones were an easy concept: in the areas marked by orange cones, don’t walk. Eddy sighed. It seemed Nicole either couldn’t read the signs or had ignored them altogether.

  Eddy stood next to Nicole with his arms crossed, which were covered from the cold air by only a long sleeved, gray, thermal top. She paid no attention to him and went about preparing her camera.

  Eddy cleared his throat. “Ahem.”

  Nicole spun around. “Oh hi, Eddy, Dr. Moore. Everything all set for the big moment?”

  Nicole gestured and her voice had a higher pitch than usual. Eddy knew in an instant that Nicole had read, understood and ignored the no walk zone signs. “And what do you think you’re doing?” Eddy asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Just setting up another camera. This angle will be great, capturing the bottom of the ice as it passes ominously above.” Nicole moved her hands over her head, following the imaginary line of the i
ce block as it would pass overhead.

  “Well you got the ominous part right, but you won’t be filming it from here…or could you not read the signs?”

  “I can read the signs,” Nicole returned, mocking Eddy’s voice. “Sorry, sorry. I just get passionate about my work, you know?”

  “Look, it’s a matter of safety. The mammoth is going to pass right over this area. If something was to go wrong and someone was underneath, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be the person shoveling your remains out of the snow.”

  “Okay, that was sufficiently gross. Thank you for the image.”

  Eddy smiled.

  Nicole continued, “But thanks, really. I didn’t realize you were so concerned about my safety…” Nicole gave Eddy an alluring look. Maybe she was wrong about him and Eve.

  “Actually I’m more concerned about the mammoth. If it fell on you and your equipment, it could be more damaged than it might be falling on the flat ice.”

  Nicole’s seductive gaze disappeared. “Well, don’t be. My camera’s mobile. I can move it in seconds if I have to. If that thing falls, it’s got to snap through like forty of those cables, right? I’m sure I can move fast enough. Please?”

  Eddy took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment.

  Nicole persisted, putting as much sweetness into her voice as she could muster. She knew it was a powerful tool, having gained her numerous free coffees, video rentals and photo developing.

  “Pleeease.”

  “You’ll move at the first sign that anything is remotely wrong?”

  “Yes.”

  “And if I tell you to move for any reason, even if you don’t understand it, you’ll head for the hills?”

  “I promise.”

  Eddy turned away from Nicole and made a circular gesture with his hand. “Okay, start the crane!”

  Nicole had been the last obstacle to take care of before they started pulling the mammoth free from the ice. Eddy glanced at Nicole. “Better start your camera.”

  “Oh!” Nicole rushed to her camera, peeked through the viewfinder and started recording. She looked up to see Eddy sneaking away. “Where are you going?”

  Eddy smirked. “Only a fool would stand underneath a thirty ton block of ice.”

  Nicole smiled. Was he joking or serious?

  A loud scraping noise rumbled from the cube of ice, now surrounded by a maze of Liquidmetal cables, as they snapped tight from the crane’s pull. Slowly, inch by inch, the block rose from the permafrost. After thirty seconds, the gigantic tusks of the mammoth appeared, rising up from below. After two minutes, the entire block hovered in the air like a floating ice cube with tusks.

  Focusing on the massive cube, Nicole was oblivious to the world. She was right about her position; it was an incredible view. Cast in the shadow of the frozen block, Nicole continued to follow it with her lens. A voice squawked in her ear. “Hey boss.” It was Mark speaking through her headset, which allowed her to stay in communication with her crew. “Doesn’t look like it’s gonna work out. Sorry about that.”

  Norwood watched as the block passed over Nicole Lu. His face was wide with a grin, and he almost laughed with giddiness. After the block cleared the documentary team, Norwood would detonate the small explosives using a cheap radio transmitter, which would begin the series of small rumbles and accelerate melting of the ice. No one would be hurt and he would get a head start on his research.

  Norwood didn’t know that one of the Liquidmetal cables was already weakened, or that Nicole Lu was about to use her radio headset, which used the same wavelength as Norwood’s detonation transmitter.

  Nicole pushed the button on her headset and spoke into the mike. “Don’t worry about it, Mark. This is impressive enough without something going wrong.”

  Nicole was so focused on her work, adjusting the lens and zooming out as the block hung directly above, that she failed to hear the four dull pops above her head. Even as drops of water began to trickle all around her, her subconscious thought nothing of it—a rain storm, perhaps. It wasn’t until the Liquidmetal cables above her head began to glow orange that she became aware that something wasn’t right.

  Standing back from her viewfinder, Nicole became aware of three things: water was pouring off the block above her, the Liquidmetal cables were glowing bright and radiating heat, stretching out slowly and a sea of voices were screaming her name. One of the voices was louder than the rest: Eddy. “Get your ass out of there, damnit!”

  Nicole reached for her camera but before she could grab it and run, a loud twang filled her ears as one of the Liquidmetal cables snapped at the top of the cube—most likely from Mark’s handiwork. The cable swung around beneath the cube and slashed across Nicole’s leg, ripping open her stylish yellow winter pants and slicing her thigh.

  Several sensations hit Nicole at the same time. The cut in her leg burned with pain, and she screamed. But the pain of her wound was replaced by a sudden rush of cold as she tumbled to the snow, now reduced to a puddle of slush. She planted her hands and kicked with her feet, trying to find a foot hold and escape with her life.

  She glanced up and saw the giant ice cube sagging down toward her, still ten feet above her head. The Liquidmetal cables were stretching out, the situation growing more tenuous. She was sure they would snap any second. Through the melting ice, Nicole could see the brown fur of the mammoth begin to appear. Amazing. She looked at her camera. It was still recording. If she survived this mess, it would be some of the best footage she’d ever recorded.

  Determined not to die beneath the bulk of an extinct animal, Nicole dug her foot through the slush and found purchase on the frozen ice below. She pushed up, grunting as her leg protested, and she turned for her camera. The first cable broke, not snapping, but simply sliding apart. One after another, the cables gave way and the mammoth continued its steady descent.

  Nicole scooped up her camera when she felt a tickle on the back of her neck. She turned around and found herself gazing into a tuft of rusty hair. Her eyes widened and wandered down the creature’s still-frozen back. She saw only five slender cables remaining. This was it. She was going to be crushed to death.

  An object moving like Superman flashed through Nicole’s vision and she felt an impact like a car crashing at fifty miles per hour. She felt an immense pressure all around her and found breathing to be near impossible. She was trapped beneath the mammoth!

  A second crash like an explosion shook the ice beneath Nicole. She realized that it must have been the mammoth falling to the ice…but what, then, was on top of her? The load on Nicole’s chest and head lightened and she was able to suck in a breath of air. She opened her eyes and looked into the smiling face of Steve.

  Steve had risked his life to save her?

  “You okay?” Steve asked, as he pushed his hair back over his head.

  “Yeah…yeah, I’m fine.” Nicole was stunned. She sat up and saw her camera lying next to her, shattered into bits against a hard chunk of ice. “Ugh! You idiot! You broke my camera!”

  “What was I supposed to do?” Steve was infuriated. “It was you or the camera!”

  Eddy ran and slid to a stop next to Steve. “Oh, my—”

  “Don’t worry.” Steve said, as he brushed the snow from his jacket. “We’re both alive and little miss prissy still needs an attitude adjustment.”

  Steve failed to notice that Eddy’s comment wasn’t directed toward him at all. It was just beyond him, where the mammoth, now freed from its frozen tomb, lay on the ice. The rest of the crew gathered behind Eddy and stared at the exposed mammoth as Steve and Nicole continued bickering.

  “You haven’t seen attitude yet, buddy! Just wait till you see how bad a little creative editing can make people look! Millions of people will believe whatever I tell them about you.”

  Steve laughed sarcastically, growing irate, “Oh, it’s on, Miss Muffet. You think I can’t have it arranged so that you have to walk back to civilization?”

&
nbsp; Nicole gasped. “You wouldn’t da—”

  Eddy’s strong hand grabbed Nicole’s head and turned it toward the exposed mammoth. She jumped back and screamed.

  Steve looked toward the mammoth and his eyes grew wide. The beast was fully exposed, 100 percent intact. Its tawny fur was thick and matted down from the melted ice. The creature’s eyes were large and dark, like the moon during a solar eclipse. Its ivory tusks looked to be even longer now that they were fully exposed to the light of day.

  But something was wrong with this mammoth. Steve was no biologist, but he could tell its stomach bulged strangely. Perhaps its ribs were broken when it died. Steve leaned forward and noticed a slit across the belly. That was even odder, Steve thought as he leaned in closer, ignoring Eddy’s warning. “Steve, hold on, something’s—”

  It happened so fast that Steve couldn’t fully register what he had seen. He jumped back with a scream any schoolgirl would be proud of and hid behind Eddy. He saw Eddy’s dropped jaw above him and looked forward, to the object that had burst from the mammoth’s belly. It…it was a human, a person, wrapped in furs and frozen solid!

  Eve slid past the crowd of stunned onlookers and knelt by the frozen body, which clutched an object wrapped in fur to its chest. She studied the face. “It’s a woman,” she said.

  Eddy stepped over Steve and knelt down next to the body. Without being asked, Eve gave Eddy her initial assessment. “This is unheard of. To find human and mammoth remains together at the same site proves so many theories that I don't even know where to start. First of all, this creature was domesticated. Ancient peoples must have not only hunted mammoths for food, but raised them as beast of burden. Meaning we’ve severely underestimated the ice age cultures of North America.” Eve was brimming with excitement. “This is more than we ever dreamed of finding!”