Jurassic Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

option to RSVP.”
    “No need, my friend. Now, I hope you’re ready?”
    Xander shrugged, glanced at the captain, who was busy refilling both glasses, and now Xander wondered how many the man had already imbibed , and what, exactly, made him need so many?
    “I’m sending you images from our American friends down at Erebus Station, Antarctica.”
    Great, Xander thought, we’re going somewhere even colder.
    “Hold onto your balls, and prepare to have your mind blown seven ways to Sunday.”
    Xander accepted the glass. “I’m intrigued. Bring it on already.”
    DeKirk pulled back and made some clicking noises, and the screen changed to a grainy bright view of an icy work site, an industrial place of cranes and platforms. Dozens of men in parkas bustling about, and then… a shift, and a view in a tunnel, something rising on a platform. Something huge, something…
    Xander peered closer, squinting
    His fingers flinched, opened, and the glass fell and shattered.
    “Holy shit, is that…?”
    “It is,” came DeKirk’s voice, barely containing his giddiness. “Perfectly preserved, and it’s not alone. We’ve found at least two other dinosaurs, different species, but just as intact.”
    “This is it,” Xander whispered, marveling. The cold, the flight, and the rough seas were all forgotten. “It’s…everything.”

 
    6.
     
    Monitoring the ship’s bow from her darkened office with a small set of next-gen rangefinder binoculars outfitted with night-vision technology, Veronica Winters observed the helicopter’s take-off. She waited with baited breath to see who could possibly be so important as to warrant a dangerous delivery to DeKirk’s private and super-secret tanker.
    She waited, hoping she’d get her first glimpse of his face, if the man dared remove his hood in the extreme winds and temperatures outside. She hoped that even from this distance that she’d be able to make an ID. If not, she’d have to break her cover as the Hammond’s doctor, a cover her CIA superiors had worked hard and pulled several lucky favors to get in place. After spending the last two years in much more agreeable climates, such as Morocco and Monte Carlo, Veronica had no urge to consider heading out into less extreme conditions any time soon.
    Come on , she thought. Mystery man, show your damn face and save me the trouble.
    Already, she felt far too vulnerable on this mission: being the only woman, and a beautiful one at that, alone, with thirty female-starved crewmembers loaded with testosterone and bad manners, was not her idea of a good time. Every one of them would be feigning injuries at some point to book an appointment with the hot doctor, and for this mission, Veronica actually adopted a contrary disguise, toning down her looks, cropping her hair, and bundling herself in incredibly itchy and unattractive sweaters, but it did no good. Not with this crew of louts, or that ever-drunk captain always leering at her. It had been a long six days since cast-off from Chile.
    Antarctica. She knew the destination from their Intel hacked from a rare less-than-secure email communication from one of DeKirk’s contractors. A paleontologist, of all people, named Marcus Ramirez. What DeKirk wanted a fossil-hunter for was anybody’s guess, but this had been a ten-year case of trying to nail DeKirk on anything, hopefully gaining evidence on a multitude of international crimes: money-laundering, sex-trafficking, drug running, artifact stealing, and corporate espionage were just a few of the possibilities. It should not have been this hard, but it was. He had deep pockets and incredible security. He was rarely seen in public, although he sat on at least twenty different boards, most with charitable leanings to provide himself some degree of legitimacy. He had no known romantic attachments, no indiscretions as far as Veronica could ascertain, and no weak links.
    It was a nearly impossible assignment, and although she had come close on