Sandra slowly pulled her pad from
her knapsack, thumbing to the music and flicking into the classical selections.
She tapped into one without looking and recognized Carlos Salzedo’s harp
concerto. She slid the pad slowly onto the leaf litter, then pulled her hand
back to her side. The king cobra hadn’t moved from its initial coiled striking
pose, but as the harp tones filled the air, it began to sway, first its head
bobbing up and down, then undulations down its neck and body, until it lost its
coil form and lay writhing in pleasure on the ground.
Sandra stood and stepped
back, then pulled the pad towards her with the toe of her boot. She took a
couple of steps farther away before she bent to retrieve it. The cobra was
still moving in time to the music, and she briefly wondered whether it would
follow the sound, but it didn’t seem to notice as she continued backing away.
Sandra turned and almost
walked into the man standing in the center of the trail, his rifle still
pointed at the cobra. She shoved him away in irritation. “Honestly, Jason! I
have it under control, thank you. Now get the hell out of my jungle, will you?”
He grinned and slung the
rifle behind his back, turning to walk next to her. “Well, technically, it’s
not a jungle,” was his only comment.
She growled and he laughed.
She tried not to notice his flashing blue eyes or the dimple she used to kiss
on his cheek. “I was quoting Livingston. And you know damn well that according
to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, the Nilgiri Reserve is, in effect, mine.
What are you doing here, anyway?”
“You mean other than watching
you charm king cobras? Nicely done, by the way. I remember taking you to that
Salzedo anniversary concert.”
Sandra shook her head. She
remembered it too, and she didn’t want to. “Jason,” she growled again. “What
are you doing here?”
He stopped suddenly, and she
swung around to face him. All the humor was gone from his face. She felt a
shiver of unease.
“They’re going to do it,
Sandy. They’re going to activate the protocol.”
Sandra felt her heart
constrict. She took a slow, deep breath to keep the panic at bay. “Where?” she
whispered.
“Aldabra.”
She paled but didn’t say a word, just turned and started walking back
to her camp. He didn’t follow right away.
“What are you doing, Sandy?” he called.
“What do you think? I’m going,” she said without slowing her
stride.
“I have a plane ready to go,” he offered. She did stop this
time and looked back at him, considering. She nodded once and continued walking
away.
Jason smiled grimly and tapped the comm button on his watch.
“Mission accomplished. I’m bringing her in.”
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Dogs in house:
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Houdini, Brindle
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Music:
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Sarah Chang: Selections
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Time writing:
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~40 minutes, including Google time
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May word
count:
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16,851
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Prompt: Cobra, rifle, blue, harp, pteranodon (use at least 3 of these)
ReplyDeleteThe blue plastic pteranodon rattled on the shelf, then fell. I squinted into the darkened lab. Was someone in there? I could hear the rest of my unit behind me, going through the front offices, but I was alone. Barney's unit should have been ahead of us, but there was no sign of them.
I gripped by plasma rifle tighter. "Corporal Stenner, checking in," I subvocalized. "There might be someone in the labs."
"Barney and his lads are back there, Georgia," Chief Comerland said.
"No sign of them," I replied.
"What?"
I could go back, but that had never been my style. I siddled to the door, aiming my rifle into the room, and patted for a light switch to the right of the frame. The lights flickered on, old fashioned florescents.
Huddled in the centre of the room was someone in a white lab coat. He turned to face me. "Please," he said, in a tone far meeker than I would expect from a mad scientist.
A head peered around from behind his legs. Then another. And another. Children?
Time writing: 15 minutes