Chupacabra (3 page)

Noah Blackwood was sitting in his private office on the top floor of his mansion, located on a hill overlooking his Seattle Ark. The shades were drawn, as always. He was watching the news coverage about the giant squid on a flat-screen monitor atop his large snakewood desk. Snakewood was the rarest wood in the world — and Noah was in a rare good mood.

He may not have gotten the giant squid in his pirate raid in the Pacific as he had plotted, but he’d come back with a treasure worth far more than that denizen of the deep — which, in part, accounted for his good mood.

A couple of hours earlier, a network television crew had shown up at the Ark to interview him about the giant squid. Noah loved speaking in front of a camera, and the camera loved him. The only thing he liked better than speaking in front of a camera was watching himself on television after the fact. And that’s what he was doing right now….

“We are at Noah Blackwood’s Seattle Ark today with Dr. Noah Blackwood himself, who is no stranger to our viewers. He has five zoos — or Arks, as he calls them — in five different countries.”

In the solitude of his office, Blackwood frowned at the blow-dried anchorman reflected on his desktop monitor. He didn’t like it when his Arks were called zoos, although he knew that was exactly what they were. He preferred the term
wildlife conservation centers
. If he’d heard the introduction, he would have corrected the idiotic reporter right on the spot. But his irritation faded as he saw himself appear on the screen. Longish white hair swept back like a lion’s mane against a perfectly tanned face, mesmerizing blue eyes, and capped teeth as white as fresh snow. In the exhibit behind him were three adorable panda cubs, which the keepers had turned out early into the grassy yard for the interview. The cubs were a new addition to the Seattle Ark. The trio had been orphaned in China and personally rescued by Noah — allegedly. The truth was that Noah sent his right-hand man, Butch McCall, to China with enough cash to hire a poacher. Together Butch and the poacher stole the three cubs from three different mothers in the wild and smuggled them out of the country.

“Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to talk to us, Dr. Blackwood,” the reporter said.

“It’s my pleasure.”

“As you no doubt know, Northwest Zoo and Aquarium is about to put an endangered giant squid on exhibit for the first time in history. Your thoughts about this?”

“First of all,
unseen
does not mean
endangered
. We have no idea if the giant squid is endangered or not, but this takes nothing away from Northwest Zoo and Aquarium’s remarkable accomplishment. I’m thrilled for them, and for the zoological community as a whole. We’ll all learn a great deal about this
interesting creature because of their efforts. Northwest Zoo and Aquarium is to be congratulated.”

“But aren’t you worried about the squid siphoning off visitors from the Ark?”

“I’m not in competition with Northwest Zoo and Aquarium. We’re on the same team. They’ve accomplished what was thought to be impossible. I just hope the specimen lives long enough for us to learn from it.”

“Are you saying there’s a possibility the squid might die?”

“Everything dies eventually. That’s the law of life. I just hope that the specimen they captured was young and didn’t suffer any debilitating injuries from the transport. The longer it survives, the more we’ll learn.”

“I understand that you were also off the coast of New Zealand when they caught the giant squid.”

“We had research ships in the area, yes.”

“Were you asked to help?”

“We were dealing with a little crisis of our own around the time they caught the giant squid. In spite of that, we certainly would have assisted them if they had needed it.”

“What kind of crisis?”

“Stay tuned — I’ll give you more specifics on a future episode of
Wildlife First
.”

“Can you give us a hint now?”

“Pirates. But that’s all I’m going to say at this point.”

“Well, we look forward to that episode!”

“Piracy is just one of the hazards of trying to protect our planet’s wildlife. It was touch and go. We lost some crew members to the scoundrels, but we all do this knowing the risks.”

“That sounds fascinating — you heard it here first on SeaTac News, viewers! Dr. Noah Blackwood, battling pirates! But, Dr. Blackwood, back to the subject at hand: Rumor is that you and Northwest Zoo and Aquarium have had your differences in the past. Wasn’t there a falling-out between you and Dr. Loch over an expedition to catch whale sharks? Something about a fire, and —”

“You cannot believe everything reported by ‘the press.’ Dr. Loch and I are not only colleagues, we are friends. He regularly calls on my staff for assistance, and we’re happy to lend him a hand. As I said, I couldn’t be happier for him. In fact, as soon as I get a chance I’m going to go over there, take a look at his giant squid, and congratulate him in person.”

Noah Blackwood and Michael Loch despised each other. Loch had publicly accused Blackwood of sabotaging their expedition to catch a whale shark by setting their research ship on fire. There was no proof, and Dr. Loch had to issue a public apology, but the truth was that Noah Blackwood had sent Butch McCall to torch their ship. And he wouldn’t hesitate to send Butch to the aquarium if their new acquisition threatened his income. A couple of drops of an undetectable poison in the water would do the trick and kill off NZA’s new main attraction.

“A few weeks ago, SeaTac News interviewed you after you returned from rescuing one of your employees, Butch McCall, from the Congo. You indicated at the time you had made an important discovery during the rescue. I’m wondering —”

“I’ll repeat what I told you then:
Wildlife First
. That’s the title of my bestselling book, that’s the name of my internationally
syndicated television show, and that’s my policy.
Wildlife First
: It’s not just a slogan, it is the lifeblood of my very soul. Wildlife first, without exception. Today is a day to celebrate Dr. Loch’s and Northwest Zoo and Aquarium’s achievement. I will not mar it by talking about my own exciting discovery. Now, I have an important phone call to take, so if you’ll excuse me…. ”

Noah watched himself walk away from the camera, pleased with how well he had handled the interview and how good he looked on television. The report moved back to Northwest Zoo and Aquarium and the mass of people waiting to get through the gates to see the giant squid. Noah switched the newscast off, smiling.

This time next week, it will be as if the giant squid never existed.

He called Butch McCall.

“Where are you?” Noah asked, knowing perfectly well where Butch was because he was staring at Butch through one of the dozens of surveillance cameras set up throughout the Ark.

“Pandas,” Butch answered flatly, unaware that he was being watched.

“Is Grace with you?”

Another throwaway question. His granddaughter was perfectly framed on Noah’s screen. Everyone on staff knew there were surveillance cameras at the Ark, but no one knew how many, or where they were. Noah was the only person who had access to all of the cameras at any one time.

“What’s Grace doing?”

“Playing with the cubs,” Butch mumbled.

“What’s the problem, Butch?”

“There’s no problem.”

Butch’s eyes rolled. Butch was lying. It was almost impossible for Butch to hide his true feelings, which was why Noah was careful to keep him in the background most of the time. It was a miracle that Butch had been able to infiltrate Wolfe’s crew aboard the
Coelacanth
.

“Spill it, Butch,” Noah said into the phone, although he already knew exactly what Butch’s gripe was. If life was a chess game, Noah was always five moves ahead of the people on the playing board. In the case of Butch, he was ten moves ahead.

“Grace,” Butch said.

“What about her?”

“There are a lot of other people who could be babysitting her besides me.”

“Grace is my only living relative, Butch. And you’re right, there are a lot of other people who could babysit her, but there is only one person I trust to protect her.”

“Protect her from what?”

“Travis Wolfe!” Noah raised his voice. “Do you think he’s going to sit idly by and do nothing about us kidnapping his daughter?”

“We didn’t kidnap her,” Butch said. “She came with us on her own.”

“She came with us because you were holding a gun to Laurel Lee’s head,” Noah corrected.

“It was a standoff,” Butch argued. “I wasn’t about to shoot Laurel Lee with Al Ikes pointing his assault rifle at me. It was a bluff, and Grace knew it.”

“And how do you know that?”

“She told me,” Butch said.

Noah’s blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. Butch had worked for Noah since he was a teenager, starting out as a zookeeper. Now he was his top field operative. Noah knew Butch McCall better than Butch McCall knew himself.

“It sounds like you and she are getting along splendidly,” Noah said.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Butch said. On the security camera screen, Noah watched as he cocked one eyebrow in doubt. “But I don’t think she’s going anywhere. Even if she had a chance to escape, which she doesn’t.”

Noah smiled. It seemed that Grace had inherited his charm and his guile. “A chip off the old block,” he said.

“What?” Butch asked.

“Forget it,” Noah said. “The more you trust Grace, the closer you need to watch her. She is being far too cooperative. I don’t believe that she is as happy as she appears. She’s up to something.”

“Like what?”

“I expect you to find that out, Butch. Don’t let your guard down. And make sure she doesn’t return to her room for a while.”

“Why?”

“Just do it! I’ll let you know when it’s clear.”

Noah ended the call, then watched them on the screen for a few minutes. Grace did seem to be genuinely enjoying herself as she played tug-of-war with the three adorable panda cubs. He still couldn’t get over how much she looked like his daughter, Rose. She had the same robin’s-egg-blue eyes. The same raven-black hair. Even her smile was the same. He wondered
what she would think of him if she knew what he had planned for at least one of the cubs she was playing with.

“I don’t think you’d be smiling, Grace,” he said aloud. “But you will come around to my way of thinking when you see the grand scheme. When you see what I’ve accomplished. When you see the impossible become possible.”

He hit an icon on his computer screen, got up from his desk, and walked over to his precious collection, which very few people had ever seen, or even knew existed. If you looked at the wall across from his desk, you’d think you were looking at large glass panels as black as obsidian. The halogen lights on the other side of the glass illuminated the cases slowly, like the rising sun. Behind each panel was an animal. Dead. Beautifully preserved by his exclusive taxidermist, Henrico. The animals had been harvested in their prime. Frozen in magnificent poses against a stark black background so that nothing detracted from their natural beauty. They looked more alive in death than they had in life. Among the dozens of rare animals was a thylacine, or Tasmanian wolf, pulling a wombat out of its burrow. A flock of passenger pigeons winging their way to extinction. And the newest addition, a young female Caspian tiger named Natasha, in mid-leap, about ready to take down and devour an unlucky ibex.

Not that long ago he had been petting Natasha right here in his office. Now he would be able to view her raw symmetry forever.

But the bodies were just the shells of the animals. The essences of these long-extinct creatures were stored deep below the Ark in cryogenic tanks, frozen in time, awaiting the day when Noah’s technicians could bring them back to life. And
his geneticists were close. They had already created a living, breathing, mythical beast in his secret laboratory. With the unique DNA from the Mokélé-mbembé hatchlings now at his disposal, who knew what his team could duplicate or invent next.

Noah smiled, thinking about old Henrico and the new apprentice he had found for him. He wondered how they were getting along in the workshop several levels beneath the mansion. He carefully examined the glass. Not a smudge or speck of dust on the surface. It was as if he could reach through and pet the extinct animals, just as he had petted Natasha the Caspian tiger when she was still alive. Just the way he liked it.

He returned to his computer and brought the lights down. No time for pleasure. Time to make his daily rounds.

Marty and Luther followed Wolfe and Theo Sonborn down the hallway to Dr. Loch’s office. The door was open. Loch was sitting at his desk, still smiling. “The crowd is massive,” he said.

“So I’ve heard,” Wolfe said. “Can we borrow your office for a short meeting, Mike?”

Filling the doorway, Travis Wolfe towered over Dr. Michael Loch, as he did over most people. He looked down at the zoo director with tired brown eyes, a full black beard, and long black hair.

“Of course,” Loch said, standing up from his desk. “But what about the press conference? There are two hundred journalists waiting for us in the Squidarium.”

“I’ll pass on that,” Wolfe said. “And the less you say about our involvement, the better. We don’t want the publicity or the attention.”

“In that case, make yourself at home,” Loch said with a sweep of his arms. “I’ll see you at the opening.”

“Actually, you won’t,” Wolfe said. “I’m flying out right after this meeting.”

“You’re kidding?” Loch said.

Marty was surprised, too. Wolfe was notoriously camera shy and rarely spoke to the press, but Marty didn’t think he’d miss the giant squid opening.

Wolfe shook his head. “I have some things to take care of.”

“What could be more important than the catch of the century?” Loch asked.

Marty could think of a couple of things, like finding his parents and getting Grace and the hatchlings out of the clutches of Noah Blackwood.

“You’ll be fine without me underfoot. Dr. Lepod is more than capable of handling any medical problems with the giant squid, and Theo Sonborn here can handle any technical or environmental issues that might come up.”

Dr. Loch looked at Theo with serious doubt. Theo glared back at him with serious hostility.

“Don’t worry,” Wolfe said. “Theo’s smarter than he looks.”

Marty and Luther turned away so Loch couldn’t see their grins. The pudgy, bearded, perpetually angry Theo Sonborn was probably the smartest person on the planet.

“All right,” Loch said, switching on the lights over the conference table. “I guess I’ll leave you to it.” He looked at Theo. “Are you coming with me?”

“He’ll be down after we finish here,” Wolfe said.

Loch left and closed the door behind him.

“I don’t think Loch likes me,” Theo said, pulling off his wig and fake beard.

“I wonder why,” Wolfe said.

“Because no one likes Theo Sonborn,” Theo said, giving him a yellow-toothed grin before popping the fake teeth out of
his mouth. “Which is the point of the disguise.” He dropped the greasy wig on the floor.

Marty had seen Theo morph many times before. He turned away to check out the office. It was filled with books, wildlife photos, and zoo memorabilia. Luther wandered around, frenetically picking up or touching everything within reach.

“Try not to break anything,” Wolfe warned.

The conference table was across from Loch’s cluttered desk. A dozen chairs surrounded it. Wolfe pulled one out, sat down heavily, and began massaging his right leg, where his prosthesis attached to the stump. His leg had been bitten off years ago in the Congo by Mokélé-mbembé.

The rough-looking, not-too-bright Theo Sonborn had almost completed his transformation into Ted Bronson. “Is that thing bothering you?” he asked.

“A little,” Wolfe admitted, kneading the muscles above his knee.

“Want me to make some adjustments?” Theo was now completely gone, replaced by a man who looked like an action hero from a Hollywood movie.

“It’s fine,” Wolfe said. “I haven’t been off my feet in twenty-four hours. I just need to give the stump a little rest. It’ll be good as new by the time I land in DC.”

“You’re going to Washington, DC?” Marty asked, surprised. It was the first he’d heard that his uncle was leaving town with so much going on.

“Believe me, the capital is the last place I want to go,” Wolfe said. “But yeah, I’m taking off from McChord Air Force Base as soon as we finish here.”

“To do what?” Luther asked, still prodding Loch’s personal belongings.

Ted joined Wolfe at the table. “The expedition for the giant squid was not a complete failure. We lost Grace, we lost the dinosaurs, but we won in the scientific technology department. The Orb, the aquasuits, the molecular particle disruptor, the dragonspies, as you call them, and the micro-surveillance cameras: They’re all ready for prime time. Which means we get paid.”

The Orb was a miniature nuclear sub that looked like a golden beach ball and was big enough to hold three people. It was able to reach unheard-of depths without imploding the occupants. They had used it to lure the giant squid out from the Kaikoura Canyon into the Moon Pool of the
Coelacanth
. The molecular particle disruptor was a zipper wand that allowed them to get into and out of the Orb and the aqua-suits. The Orb and aquasuits were made out of a brand-new alloy that Ted likened to “organic body armor,” able to adapt instantly to any environment and impervious to just about everything.

The dragonspy, or bot-fly, was Marty’s and Luther’s favorite invention of Ted’s. It resembled a dragonfly in shape and size, but that’s where the similarities stopped. It was a miniature flying robot equipped with cameras and microphones that sent video and audio to the Gizmo — another invention of Ted’s that made all other smartphones look stupid.

“What about Grace?” Marty asked. “What about my parents?”

“Duh
du jour
,” Wolfe said.

Marty and Luther looked at him in shock. This was the boys’ favorite saying, but it didn’t sound quite right coming from Wolfe’s bearded lips.

“This is why I wanted to talk with you,” Wolfe said. “There are several new developments. Grab a seat.”

Marty sat down at the head of the table, wondering if his uncle had good news or bad. Good news had been as rare as cryptids since they’d returned from the coast of New Zealand aboard the
Coelacanth
. Not even the successful delivery of the giant squid was enough to rescue them from the funk they had been in since Grace’s abrupt departure.

Luther plopped down on Loch’s desk, which would allow him to pick through the director’s clutter while he listened to what Wolfe had to say.

“Let’s start with your parents.” Wolfe took out his Gizmo and consulted the screen. “There’s no concrete news, but Robert Lansa sent me an email late last night saying that he’s heard some rumors about a man and a woman being injured and taken by an uncontacted indigenous tribe to their village deep in the jungle.”

“What do you mean by
uncontacted
?” Luther asked.

“A tribe that has had no contact with the outside world,” Wolfe answered. “Ever.”

“Can’t be too many of those left,” Marty said.

Wolfe nodded. “But I don’t want you to get your hopes up. One of the problems we’re dealing with now is that our presence down there is causing a lot of chatter. It’s the same thing when you’re looking for cryptids. When you go into an area making inquiries about something that’s not supposed to exist,
the rumors and sightings hit the roof. Most of the sightings turn out to be hoaxes, and the rumors lies.”

“But the rumors in Brazil might be true,” Marty said excitedly.

“We’ll see,” Wolfe said. “Laurel Lee and Ana Mika are on their way down there right now to help the Lansas check out the rumors. Jake Lansa’s meeting them in Manaus and taking them to the jaguar preserve.”

Ana Mika was an investigative journalist and Ted Bronson’s longtime girlfriend. Laurel Lee was a cultural anthropologist, and maybe Wolfe’s new girlfriend.

“If there’s any merit to the information, those two will dig it out,” Ted said.

“I wish I’d been able to go with them,” Wolfe said.

“Why didn’t you?” Marty asked, wondering why he hadn’t been told about this beforehand. He would have liked to have gone down with them, too.

“Business,” Wolfe said gloomily. “It’s time to cash in on the technology we’ve been developing the past several years.”

“I thought catching the giant squid would make you solvent,” Luther said.

“Solvent?”
Marty repeated.

“Rich,” Luther explained. “At least that’s what my dad calls having piles of cash.”

Marty looked at Wolfe. “What about Grace?”

“We aren’t going to be able to do anything about Grace until we have enough resources to take on Noah Blackwood,” Wolfe answered. “That’s why I’m heading to DC. In a day or two, we should have everything we need to start the process.”

“What process?” Luther asked.

Wolfe sighed. “It’s complicated. Our first problem is that Grace went with Blackwood voluntarily. The second is that I have no legal proof that Grace is my daughter. She was born in the Congolese jungle. No birth certificate. It’s my word against Blackwood’s, and to be honest, Blackwood’s word carries a lot more weight than mine.”

“At the moment,” Ted added. “But that could change. Ana has gathered a very damaging dossier against him, but the allegations still need to be vetted and proved.”

“Proved how?” Luther asked.

“Good question,” Ted said. “Photos, video, documentation of some of his nefarious activities would help. Al Ikes is trying to figure this out right now, but the Ark is like an armed fortress. Noah has been keeping secrets for years and is very good at it.”

Al Ikes was an ex–CIA agent who was in charge of eWolfe security. Marty had wondered why they hadn’t seen him since the
Coelacanth
docked at the NZA pier.

“Is Grace at Blackwood’s Seattle Ark?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” Wolfe said. “But we do know that Noah’s there. Or at least he was earlier this morning. He did a press interview in front of his new panda exhibit.”

“Cubs that Butch McCall poached in China,” Ted added.

“Or so we think,” Wolfe said. “If we could get proof of just one of these things, we could take him down.”

“Let’s get back to Grace,” Marty said.

“We think she’s at the Seattle Ark, too,” Wolfe said. “I doubt that Noah would let her out of his sight.”

“What about using the dragonspy?” Luther suggested.

Just before Grace climbed onto Blackwood’s helicopter, Luther had landed a dragonspy in her shirt pocket. She had
used it to communicate with them briefly before the helicopter flew the bot out of range.

“It’s off the grid,” Ted answered. “Which could mean one of several things. The dragonspy is somewhere in the Ark that our telemetry can’t penetrate. Blackwood discovered the dragonspy and disabled it. The dragonspy simply ran out of juice. Or Grace isn’t at the Ark with her grandfather.”

“Or Grace doesn’t want us to know where she is,” Wolfe said glumly.

“Not likely,” Luther countered.

Marty wasn’t so sure. Grace didn’t always take the
likely
path. After their terrifying trip to the Congo, where she’d discovered who she really was, she had ventured off the well-trodden path several times. She might be waiting to use the dragonspy until she absolutely needed it. But he wondered about that, too. Grace wasn’t into electronic gadgets like he was. On their way back from New Zealand, Ted had loaned him his dragonspy. It was in Marty’s cargo pocket right now, resting inside his Gizmo. He hadn’t flown it in days, but Luther had … several times. Marty hated to admit it, but Luther was a much better dragonspy pilot than he was.

“What’s your plan?” Marty asked.

“I’m still formulating it,” Wolfe answered. “I’ll know more when I get back from DC.” He looked at his watch. “Phil and Phyllis are flying Laurel and Ana to Brazil. They’re well on their way by now. Ted is going to stay here and make sure everything goes okay with the giant squid. The
Coelacanth
is heading back to Cryptos in a little less than an hour. You two will need to be on board before she sails, so you’ll need to gather your things and get —”

“No can do,” Luther said.

“Why not?” Wolfe asked.

“The parental units.” Luther reached down and pulled his cell phone out of his sock.

“You carry your cell phone in your sock?” Wolfe asked.

“Yeah,” Luther said. “Don’t you?”

Wolfe shook his head. “What did your parents say?”

“Dad just texted me to say that he and Mom are flying in tomorrow morning to check out Mr. Squid. They’ve been reading the press reports, and they’re excited to get a firsthand look. I told him that we’d be able to give them a behind-the-scenes tour of the leviathan. I hope that’s okay.”

Marty knew about the phone in the sock, but the text was news to him, which meant there was a good chance that Luther was lying about his billionaire parents flying in. In all the years he’d known Luther, Marty had met his parents exactly twice. He wasn’t sure if Luther himself would recognize them on the street if he bumped into them, but they would recognize him, if by nothing else than his shocking flame-colored hair.

“I wish you would have asked,” Wolfe said.

“I would have if I had seen you. I’ll write Dad back and tell him no.” He started to tap on his cell phone.

Wolfe held his hand up. “You don’t have to do that. I just need to figure out what to do with you for the night and how to get you to the island tomorrow. What time are your parents flying in?”