The Chimera Sequence Read Online Free PDF Page A

execution-style?”
    “Yes, they all took direct shots to the head and chest, but there were other wounds also. We did not find them all until the necropsies were done.”
    Musamba had been one of the first to the scene on that horrific morning. Seven well-known mountain gorillas slaughtered, simply because their presence in the park made it harder for corrupt officials to profit from illegal charcoal and mining operations. The story was big enough to merit an iconic photo on the cover of National Geographic —the dead silverback being carried through a cornfield on the edge of the park, his five-hundred and thirty pound body tied to a makeshift bamboo stretcher on the shoulders of no less than fifteen grieving villagers—which was how Cole first heard of it. That photo was the reason Cole even started thinking about mountain gorillas and dreaming of how he might be able to get involved. Fast forward a few years, through two deployments and his PhD coursework, and here he was.
    Musamba continued, “Let’s say this girl got hit by a single bullet, lived long enough to clean herself up and allow the wound to contract a little. It’s going to take a careful exam to find what we’re looking for.”
    Cole was impressed with his colleague’s assessment. Wildlife medicine involved a lot of forensic pathology, and Antoine Musamba had become the Gorilla Doctors’ resident expert over the last few years. It helped that almost all the gorilla killings had happened in the Congo, so the veterinarians based at the other parks in Rwanda and Uganda had a distinct disadvantage on that front. Not that they minded, of course. Even the most natural pathologists among them never looked forward to an autopsy of a gorilla they knew personally, though it often meant unlocking the mysteries of how they could better protect these vulnerable animals in the future.
    They all paused to listen to an extended exchange of gunfire. When the last echo faded, Innocence looked up at the two veterinarians with an impatient look on his face. “Time for a careful exam is something you do not have, my friends. Those guns are getting closer, and we must not be caught here so far from the helicopter.”
    “He’s right,” Cole said, opening the backpack. “Let’s glove and mask up for a quick once-over and then—”
    “Wait,” Musamba interrupted. “There’s something else over here.”
    Cole jumped to his feet. They’d been so focused on the discovery, no one had done even a superficial assessment of their surroundings. Now he could see that the Congolese veterinarian was walking towards what looked like another dead gorilla. Its massive black form was about ten yards away, partially shielded from where the others were standing by a thick cluster of prehistoric-looking ferns.
    “Oh, no,” Musamba said, pointing at the body. “Can you see the left front limb there?”
    Innocence and Bonny were right behind him.
    “It’s Rugendo.”
    “You know I’m still the new guy around here,” Cole said, jogging over to the second gorilla’s final nest. “How in the world do you recognize him already?”
    “Rugendo is the only silverback we’ve known to lose an entire hand to a hunter’s snare and recover to do just fine,” Musamba explained. “We intervened about two years ago, removing the necrotic tissue and shooting him up with long-acting ceftiofur. He was head of a family of twelve. That must be one of his females back there.”
    The silverback was resting on his right side, and Cole did his best to ignore the deathly stench as he crouched down to look at the stump of a limb. The hand and wrist were missing, but the gorilla’s long dark hair had grown over the area, covering up any sign of the old wounds.
    “Looks like this guy Rugendo knew he was going to die, just like the female. You two agree?”
    “Yes,” Innocence answered. “I can see he made a proper nest here. He must have been sick for some time, you know. Gorillas are not