“Your head in deep time as usual,” Laura accused. “Look, I want everybody to know Tanya and I had nothing to do with this.”
“That’s true,” Pick said. “I called you both to come help and I didn’t tell you about the complications.”
“What you did got Tanya killed,” Laura hissed at him. “And it might get us all dead before this is over. Pick, you’re a complete idiot.”
I thought that was a bit of an understatement as bullets began to ping on our little rock castle and whistle overhead. Brian said, “Maybe we could head for the lake and get some walleye fishermen to pick us up.”
It wasn’t a bad idea except for the news Ray gave us next. He was keeping his eye on things below. “They’ve got automatic weapons. Looks like AK-47s. And one of those guys has moved around behind us on the lake side.”
“What are we going to do, Mike?” Jeanette asked.
I appreciated her asking, which effectively put me in charge. I gave it some thought. I checked Edith to see if she had her satellite phone with her. She didn’t, so I asked, “Anybody got a radio?”
“I do,” Laura said.
“Start calling. See if anyone answers. We’re safe for now, I think. I don’t see those guys charging up here, at least during the day.”
Laura moved off to the other side of the dig and started talking into her radio. A few minutes later, she said, “Nothing. I’ve tried a number of frequencies, including the emergency channel. I’ll keep trying.”
This was a disappointment but not a surprise. The radios didn’t have much range and there were hills higher than Blackie Butte all around us. That’s why Laura hadn’t been able to raise Pick the night we all came into the ranch.
“OK,” I said. “When it gets dark, I’m thinking Brian’s right. We head toward the lake. If they only have one guy guarding that route, we should be able to get past him.”
“Why not go for the ranch?” Jeanette asked.
“Lots of fences to cross. Anyway, they’ll be expecting us to go that way. It’s wide open to the lake.”
“There’s a full moon,” Ray pointed out.
“That will make it harder,” I acknowledged. “When we go, I’ll start shooting to keep their heads down. Ray, you take everybody else and head out. If that guy between us and the lake starts shooting, find him and kill him.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Ray swore.
“Mike, you can’t stay behind,” Jeanette said.
“Somebody has to. I won’t wait long before heading out, too.”
“They’re doing something,” Ray said. “They have a big net they’re spreading out.”
I crawled over to have a look. It did look like a big net but for what purpose I couldn’t imagine. Then one of the Russians went over and started rolling one of the jacketed bones toward it.”
Pick was watching. “They’re going to destroy the bones!” He stood up. “Cade, tell them to leave the bones alone! They’ll break the jackets!”
This was answered by a round flying past Pick’s head. Ray reached up and pulled him down. “Don’t do that again, Dr. Pickford,” Ray said.
Down below, Cade pushed himself out of his chair and limped closer to our hill. “Pick, if you don’t want these bones destroyed, come down here, and show us what to do. We’ve got a helicopter coming for them.”
That was news. It was going to have to be a damn big helicopter to lift the plastered bones of two T. rexes. “They can’t let us live,” Jeanette said. “If they take the bones and we’re alive to alert the state police, a helicopter is going to be easy to trace.”
This wasn’t news. From the moment Cade and the Russians had shown up, I knew they meant to kill us. Their mistake was not to do it right away. “Pick, where do you think they’ll take the bones?” I asked.
Pick mulled my question over, then said, “Toby mentioned Mexico when we were still talking about only the baby skeleton. He said there would be less questions that way. Mike, we can’t let them get away with those bones. We must bring this knowledge to the world.”
“Hey, Pick!” Cade called. “Dammit. The boys just dropped a bone. It’s all busted up.”
“Stop it!” Pick screamed.
“Remain calm, Pick,” I said. “Give it some thought. They want those bones to sell. They’re not going to damage them.”
Pick nodded although I could tell he was unconvinced. I thought about the helicopter. Likely, rather than trying to fly with a huge load a long distance, it would transfer the bones to trucks somewhere. Then it occurred to me there was one among us who would know exactly the plan.