Z. Raptor (25 page)

Adam might have been out for seconds or maybe for minutes, but suddenly strong arms were lifting him, turning him onto his side. His ribs felt in pieces as he coughed up water, choking and retching for air, shivering cold on wet sand, his back and his head throbbing like crazy. As his eyes flickered open, he found himself on a beach. A thick, wide stream of seawater was spewing from a cave in the cliffs, cutting through the shore and feeding back into the ocean.

“Easy, Adam.” Starting at the sound of David's voice, he turned feebly and saw the man's familiar weathered face lined with concern. “You're okay. You washed out of there in one piece. Nothing broken.”

“Doesn't feel that way.” Adam tried to smile. “I thought you were locked up.”

“We got out. Got all the other survivors out too.” David gave him a strained smile. “Turns out our friendly neighborhood guard, JJ, had keys for all the rooms aboveground as well as below—including the raptors' larder.”

“Though it took
me
to think of actually looking,” came a familiar voice from close by. Adam rolled over weakly to find Agent Chen kneeling beside him. “That a-hole Ford put me in with the other castaways—then ran into a pair of Brutes.”

“I know,” Adam muttered.

“So I checked out JJ, stole his keys, found the right one out of about a hundred and we all ran like hell—well, except for those who had to be carried.” Chen frowned at Adam. “What's
your
story? What happened in there? That flood—”

“It was the sea monsters. They won't attack the
Pahalu
now. And Loner's dead. He tried to kill us—” Adam broke off in a coughing fit.

“Slow down,” Chen urged him.

“Loner never cared about anyone,” Adam muttered. “He was just using us to get rescued.”

“He
what
?” David stared. “You mean, after all these months—”

“Wait! Harm!” Adam shook his head, tried to lift himself up on his elbows. “Where's Harm?”

“Uh . . . Lisa's waiting with the other survivors in the jungle,” David said, as if he hadn't heard.

Chen shared a look with him and nodded. “See, Adam, when the earthquakes started, we hightailed it down here to try and get you out through the beach tunnels. But I guess you beat us to it—”

“Where
is
she?” Adam realized David was blocking his way deliberately and struggled up. “Harm!”

He saw her.

She was lying on her back, her bloody legs bent at right angles to her body. Dr. Stone was crouched over her, pinching her nose and breathing into her mouth.

“No!” Adam shouted, pushing past David to get to her. “Harm, wake up!”

Stone didn't look up. He was too busy putting his hands over her heart and starting compressions. “Stay back, Adam. I know this is difficult for you, but—”

“You can't die, Harm,” Adam insisted, staring at her swollen face, her blue lips. “I . . . I haven't even told you about your dad yet. He knew it was you—perfect Harmony, sweet Harmony.” He took her freezing cold hand in his own and held it tight. “With all that Geneflow did to him, he still remembered. He still cared.” Tears were balling in his throat. “He didn't die in Josephs's lab, all alone. He died protecting
you
.”

“John,” Stone called, “the boy shouldn't have to see this.”

“We didn't tell him to wake up, Doc—”

“Harm, you can't die now,” Adam pleaded, shrugging off Chen's uncertain hands on his shoulders. “We've made it, don't you see? We've—”

Suddenly Harm's back arched. She choked and puked water over herself. Adam shouted, and then laughed and pointed. “You see that? She's back!”

“I hurt all over,” Harm said hoarsely.

“That just proves you're all right!” He whooped. “She will be all right, won't she, Dr. Stone?”

“Aside from the headache you're giving her? I hope so.” Stone checked her eyes and her pulse. “She needs rest. But I think she should pull through.”

“I'm glad you didn't get
your
friends killed, kid.” Chen was smiling, his hand held out to shake. Adam took it, and David put his own hand on theirs.

Stone rolled Harm onto her front, placed her head on one side. “She needs fresh water and rest.”

“I'll find some coconut milk,” David offered.

“No way,” Harm gasped, her eyes still closed. “David, there's, like, a ton of bottled water in the Geneflow storeroom.”

David looked at Chen. “There is?”

“Through the sickroom door, down the steps, double doors on your left,” Chen confirmed. “Start fattening up the survivors. Don't go crazy. Proper food's gonna be a shock to their systems—and I don't know how much toilet paper Josephs was hoarding. . . .”

With a look hovering between amusement and disapproval, David turned and walked away.

Adam crouched beside Harm. “It's going to be all right,” he whispered to her. “It really is. The
Pahalu
can come in safely, get us out of here.”

“A good feeling, isn't it?” Stone smiled. “Having hope again.”

Adam looked at him. “Hope that we'll get back home?”

“Hope in being human,” Stone said quietly. “For all their cleverness, Geneflow could only breed beasts that hate and kill and destroy. But for all our faults, people like us . . . we can mend. Mend and care and make better.” He shrugged. “That's something I've forgotten these last washed-up years. I'm glad I've been given the chance to remember.”

Chen nodded. “A new start, huh, Doc?”

“Why not?” Stone looked up at him. “How much of our lives do we spend wishing we'd done things differently instead of making a difference now?”

“A federal agent doing time inside is sure going to be different,” said Chen.

Adam looked at him. “You really think you'll go to jail?”

“I deserve to,” Chen accepted. “And I will. But I need to swing a deal first. I'll serve out whatever sentence the judge decides—later. First, I've got to make somebody see we have to stop the rest of these Geneflow lunatics. With all I've seen here—with all I know now—I can't cool my heels in jail and trust some other jackass to take care of this. I'm seeing it through all the way.”

“There you go again, John.” Stone shook his head. “A snap decision you'll be regretting for the rest of your life.”

“Next time I'll be going it alone, Doc,” Chen promised him. “You've done enough for me, and I'll never be able to repay Pete and Brad and Doug and . . .” He shook his head. “But, Doc, something tells me that the rest of my life isn't going to
be
so long if I don't even try.” He shrugged, staring out to sea. “Time'll tell . . . and just look at what's coming in over the horizon. Beats the hell out of Santa and his sleigh.”

“What?” Adam looked, and his head spun to see a tall-masted ship approaching over the horizon. “The
Pahalu,
” he breathed. “Dad.” He looked at Stone and Chen, grinning uncontrollably. “My dad's coming!”

Even Harm managed a smile, down on the sand. “Hey,” she said croakily. “Happy holidays.”

A
dam watched and waited at the water's edge as the crowded life raft washed in closer.
Most thirteen-year-old boys wait for their dads to get home from work in the evening,
he reflected, shaking his head.
Me
. . .

“Hey! Adam!”

Adam's battered heart very nearly gave out altogether at the sound of the voice. He opened his mouth to call back, but the words dried in his throat as a tall, gawky figure stood up in the middle of the boat. He waved madly, and Adam waved back as his father jumped in the water with an ungainly splash, almost lost his spectacles, swam and then waded toward shore. Adam ran into the surf and into his dad's arms. He almost passed out from the pain of his crushed bruises, but hugged him right back. He found he couldn't let go, couldn't even look up into his dad's face, in case he was imagining things. Adam had figured he'd have so much to say at this moment, but right now words made way for tears.

That was okay.

He knew the feeling wouldn't last, but everything was okay right now.

An hour later, Adam stood at the cliff edge, a light breeze stirring the rags of his T-shirt, looking down at the graceful lines of the
Pahalu
dominating the inlet below. Wide black shadows washed beneath the idle surface of the glistening sea—the guardians of the shattered base. With their final task completed, their own systems had shut down.

“I can't believe what you've been through,” Adam's dad said to him. “I was afraid I'd lost you this time.”

Adam nodded distantly and found himself looking all around for any sign of raptors—a slither of scaly movement, the flash of an amber eye or the twitch of a claw.

Bill Adlar got slowly to his feet and stood beside Adam. “I know I can't wave any wands to fix this. But now that the whole thing's over and we're back together—”

“It's not over, Dad.” Adam turned to him. “I mean, the raptors are dead, but Samantha Josephs”—he hugged himself—“she said she wouldn't be killed. She seemed to really believe it, but how—?”

Mr. Adlar shrugged. “Sam Josephs was delusional. You know that. But in the end, she proved no less human than you or I, Ad. She's gone from our lives now. Finally. And this time we have real evidence of what Geneflow has been doing. The sea monsters . . . the submarine Josephs used to get in and out . . . the bodies of the raptors . . . Chen's already interrogating one of their guards, I believe. You and I can go home now, Ad.”

Adam forced a smile. “A bit late as Christmas presents go. But I can deal with that.”

“Home!” came a cheerful voice. Harm had approached, using a branch as a walking stick. “Just imagine—TV. Music. Three meals a day. Sleeping in a bed.” She laughed suddenly. “A bed! I mean,
what
? Are you serious?”

Adam grinned. “Will you go back to your mom?”

“Maybe.” Harm shrugged. “I was just drifting before, you know? Came out here wanting to meet up with my dad again, wanting something big to change my life.”

“You got that, all right.”

“But I wanted it to change without me doing anything myself,” Harm said. “The
new
me is never going to wait around for stuff to happen again.” She looked at Mr. Adlar and smiled. “So, while he's glad to see you and all, can you give us five minutes alone?”

Adam's dad raised his eyebrows and pretended to consider. “I guess I can. Seeing as it's Christmas.” He winked at Adam and walked off into the jungle foliage. “I'll catch you later.”

“You know it,” Adam said. He turned to Harm, curious. “What's up?”

She looked at him. “What did Alta-Vita mean again?”

“Er . . .” Adam cast his mind back. “Life at its summit, or something.”

“I think David just reached his. I caught him and Lisa in camp. You know, she's busy feeding everyone out of that storeroom 'cause that's how she is, and he's helping her to do it 'cause that's how
he
is. And then, you know what she does?” She leaned forward and kissed Adam lightly on the lips. “She does that.”

Startled, Adam felt his cheeks burn red. “She, uh . . . she does?”

Harm smiled at him. “See what a good new person I am? You nearly get me killed, and do I kick your butt? No, I limp all the way out here to kiss you just 'cause the sun is shining and life is sweet.” She looked out to sea. “Or at least, it could be. Guess it's all up to me and my dreams, isn't it?”

Adam nodded.

He and Harm sat in the sunshine, for the first time enjoying the beauty of their tropical surroundings. The sky stretched wide all around them, a pale and perfect blue. There wasn't a cloud on the horizon.

Not yet.