The Stein & Candle Detective Agency, Vol. 1: American Nightmares (The Stein & Candle Detective Agency #1) (39 page)

I did not mention the circumstances. During a reconnoitering expedition, several of my father’s associates panicked and opened fire on a peaceful Ape Man family. James was the only survivor. My guilt-stricken father adopted the boy, intent on raising him with all the light and goodness that Western civilization had to offer. He raised James and me together and we had been fast friends ever since – two brothers of different species on Acheron Island. James now occupied a strange position, trapped between the civilized world of the ‘Thin Ones’ as outsiders were called by the Ape Men and his own clans and tribes. I wasn’t sure if he was entirely happy with either. Still, he called himself my friend and I was always glad to have him along.

Nathan leaned closer. Max curled up next to him and the little triceratops sniffed and whined as he tried to draw himself to the picnic basket while remaining near his master, like he was on a very short leash. “Well, did you follow your father’s footsteps and become an explorer?” Nathan wondered, with utter sincerity.

“There really wasn’t much else to explore, dear boy,” I explained. “The Polar Regions, the African and Amazonian jungles – they had all been thoroughly mapped. But there was something else to occupy the desires of a young man, eager to prove himself.”

“The war.” Meyer stated it softly.

“The Great War, yes,” I agreed. “I enlisted, received a commission and did my duty.” I did not give Nathan the details. I had no wish to scare the child with stories of those long years of muddy hell in the trenches of France. Somehow, I survived the machine guns, the gas and the shelling. I had earned a knighthood – but lost so much more.

I continued my story as best I could. “Well, I returned to England after the war’s end and found my father was gravely ill. And there was something more. He had spent the last penny of the Crowe family fortune to finance his expeditions. We were destitute.” I didn’t mention about my younger sister’s decision to find education in an American college and the subsequent expense. There was no need for details. “So I returned to Acheron Island and sought work as a hunting guide. Luckily, that’s just when the popularity of Acheron Island and dinosaurs really rose. I suppose people wanted to forget about the troubles of the present – so they turned to the world of the past.”

“Plenty of business,” James added. “Plenty of newcomers.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Nathan bowed his head. “About your father.”

It was a kind thing to say. “Thank you,” I told him, matching his sincerity.

He perked up a little. “Mr. Crowe – Sir Edwin, I mean – you said you wouldn’t recommend becoming a Dino Guide? Not that I could ever be a Dino Guide, but I am a little curious about whether or not it’s a good job?”

I didn’t quite know how to respond. Was it a good job? Indeed, it was. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. But I knew that being a Dino Guide or hunter – or an adventurer of any kind – was nothing a boy should desire to be. Beyond Nathan’s naivety and clumsiness, a gentleman adventurer would not be a suitable career for anyone. There was no future in it. Men like Richard Francis Burton, Henry Morton Stanley and my own father had been the great heroes of a previous age, one that had vanished with the advent of the radio, the automobile, and the airplane – and with the horrors of the World War. I remained, of course – one of the last of the gentleman adventurer in a changing world.

But one shouldn’t speak so to a child, so I merely smiled like I was telling a joke. “Oh, it’s a fine job, Nathan,” I said. “As long as you aren’t afraid of getting gobbled up by some hungry theropod or trampled into jelly by a brachiosaur.”

Rose and Meyer chuckled at my humor. Nathan merely smiled a little. He looked down at Max, and I noticed that the little triceratops was becoming exceedingly agitated. His tail was thrashing back and forth and he started waving his horns in the air and making little bleating whines, like a rusty door hinge when it is thrown open. Nathan picked up Max and tried to calm him. He looked up at me and there was real fear in his eyes.

I came to my feet. Max had smelled something. That was for certain. “There’s no reason to be alarmed,” I said. “It must be some old scent of a long gone predator that Max has smelled. I assure you, there are no dangerous dinosaurs residing this close to Victoria City. We are perfectly safe.”

That’s when James tapped my shoulder and pointed to the edge of the clearing. I followed his finger and then I saw it – a flash of rust red feathers and jagged teeth between the trees, gone before I could blink. It was a raptor. And if there was one, then there must be others. They were pack hunters and a whole band had apparently arrived here, eager to hunt. I gripped my rifle closely. There was no time to wonder why the raptors were here. I had to get the Whipples to safety.

Meyer noticed my discomfort. “Something wrong, Sir Edwin?”

“I think it would be best if we left, Mr. Whipple,” I said, as James stood up and took his shotgun in hand. “Just pack up and we’ll begin our return. I think there may very well be a predator here and I have no desire to risk a confrontation.”

They did not panic or argue. All of the Whipples knew the dangers that accompanied the wonders of Acheron Island. Rose came to her feet and put her hand on Nathan’s shoulder, while he picked up the uneasy Max and held the triceratops close. Meyer grabbed the basket, stuffing inside the checkered blanket and empty lemonade bottles with only slightly shaking hands. James and I stood watch, scanning the undergrowth for any more signs of red scales.

I saw one drawing closer, near the edge of the little lake. The raptor’s snout poked out from the shadows, leaning over the water and sniffing the air. The rest of its shaggy, feathered body followed, the claws stepping silently into the muddy, shallow water. I didn’t alert James. There was no time. I raised the rifle, worked the bolt and fired.

The gunshot cut cleanly through the still jungle air. A flight of pterosaurs left their perches and lifted into the air in a leathery, squawking cloud. Rose let out a little scream, but cut it short. Her son simply closed his eyes and breathed slowly. The raptor reared back, a bullet burned through its shoulder. It slithered into the underbrush, leaving a trail of blood and a few feathers behind. But I knew this one was not alone – and his friends wouldn’t be long in making their appearance.

“Move!” I cried to the Whipples. “Come along, back down the trail! They won’t follow us in a civilized area! Stay close together and keep next to James and myself and do not panic! The beasts mean to divide us before they strike. Do not give them the chance!”

“Of course,” Meyer agreed. He clutched his wife’s hand. She still held her son’s shoulder. “Come along now. Stay with Sir Edwin.” He had the same confidence in me that his young son possessed. It was foolish, really – but I can’t say I didn’t like it. I wanted to keep them safe.

We hurried out of the clearing. The winding dirt trail we had taken was narrow and a little difficult, but it was the only means of getting through the Hadean jungle. James and the Whipples went first, Rose and Meyer both staying close to their son, and I followed. James and I both carried our weapons, ready to use them at a moment’s notice – but in the case of raptors, I doubted we would even have that.

The trees and vines seemed to stir and shake, though no wind passed through the jungle. Max squeaked, an expression of pure, reptilian terror. The raptors were drawing in. I could see their rusty, scarlet shapes through the occasional gap in the tree. They were keeping pace with us, herding us where they wanted us to go. I had experience enough with them to know that they were merely waiting until we grew tired before they struck.

I decided not to give them that chance. I stopped running and raised my rifle, as James and the Whipples hurried ahead. If this was a hunting expedition – and I had brought the proper tools – I would have a gun with a greater rate of fire, as well as smoke bombs and strings of firecrackers to frighten off the packs of raptors. But I had neither. There was only the gun at my hand, the revolver at my belt, the machete in the scabbard at my side, a dozen or so hungry raptors and three of my clients who might very well end up as their snacks.

I stood my ground and motioned for James to stop. “Hold on, old friend,” I said. “Stay with Meyer, Rose and Nathan. Let us give our pursuers just a few seconds.” I looked past James and he stared past me. He held his own weapon, a powerful trench gun from the war, like his fellow natives might hold a heavy war club.

Rose Whipple held Nathan close. She covered his eyes. “Don’t look, darling,” Rose whispered in her son’s ear, and it was loud enough for me to hear. “Just stay close to me and papa and hold onto Max and everything will be all right. Sir Edwin will get us home. Just keep your eyes closed.” I was glad that she had given young Nathan that command. He did not deserve to see the carnage that would soon occur.

The raptors pounced. One came at me from the side, leaping through the air with claws poised and mouth open. If I hadn’t readied my rifle, there would be no time to react and the beast would have torn me apart. Instead, my rifle flashed and burned a long line of blood against the raptor’s side. The dino collapsed into the dirt, wriggling about like a worm on a hook and hissing like a steaming kettle. It slipped back into the underbrush, but I already knew that the attack was a feint, a tactic to draw me out while the raptor’s fellows prepared their attack.

But that was why I had asked James to stand ready. Another raptor leapt into the path. This time, Rose did scream. It was long and loud and full of panic. The raptor was terribly close to her and Nathan and it would be on top of them in a simple pounce. James did not give the raptor the chance. He stepped in front of the Whipples, protecting them with his bulky form. James racked the shotgun and fired, blasting a wave of lead into the raptor’s skull. The beast flopped back on the ground, blood spewing from the wound.

James worked the pump on his shotgun. He looked at the brush and fired again, shooting high and ripping up several branches. His shot was simple intimidation, a roar of a rival predator. It had the desired effect.

The raptors slipped out of their hiding places, from both sides of the little trail. They peeked out from behind trees and bushes, appearing out of the shadows like they had emerged from the air itself. As one, the whole pack moved away from us, their feathered tails waving behind them. Some of them even padded across the dirt path, staring hard at James and I. The implication was clear – if we appeared weak, they would be on us. I raised my rifle, tracking each raptor as it passed.

In a matter of seconds, the whole pack was gone. They left only their dead behind. I sighed as I wiped sweat from my brow. “It’s all right,” I said. “They have gone.” I walked over to join the Whipples and James. Nathan opened his eyes. He stared up at me and smiled. He seemed to have no doubt that he would be safe in my company. “You behaved yourselves admirably, I must say,” I told them. “A first rate job.”

We started down the trail once more. I could see the towering skyscrapers of Victoria City, standing tall in the distance through the trees. It would take an hour or so to reach the edge of the city, the coastal capitol of Acheron Island and the home away from home for numerous tourists, expatriates and refugees. My father had founded it, when he first arrived in on Acheron Island.

“Well, thanks for getting us through it,” Meyer agreed. He still held his son’s hand, and gradually let it go. “But there’s something I’m not quite clear on. I thought you said that there was no chance of dangerous predators popping up here.”

“I did,” I agreed. “And there shouldn’t be. It is too close to the city for a raptor pack to appear – unless something drove them here from the higher hills around Mount Erebus.” I felt a little shiver as I said the words. Something was happening on Acheron Island and I wasn’t aware what it was. That unnerved me.

Before I could think much more on the subject, James clamped his hand on my shoulder. “Men are approaching, Edwin,” he announced. “From behind us on the trail.”

I stopped walking and the Whipples did the same. I turned around and sure enough heard the sounds of boots. It seemed like a small army was approaching. For some reason, this unnerved me worse than the appearance of the raptors. I gripped my rifle tightly. They would arrive soon.

I’m not sure what I expected of these intruders, but it certainly wasn’t the neat column of men in uniforms, walking in single down the trail. Their uniforms were dark blue in color, with peaked caps and Sam Brown belts, all neatly folded and creased. The men who wore them, on the other hand, seemed to be the most roguish sort of ruffian. They had weathered faces and the tired eyes of men who had seen much killing. They had automatics in the holsters at their waists, and many of them carried rifles.

I looked back at the Whipples and James. My partner shifted uneasily, still clutching his shotgun. Meyer bit his lip, while Rose held closely to Nathan. The boy stared up at me, waiting for me to act. He was right. It was my duty to protect his family.

So I strode to meet these strange men, swinging my rifle over my shoulder on its strap. I doffed my hat. “Hello there,” I called. “Um, may I ask who are you gentlemen, and what exactly are you doing here in the Hadean Hills? I wasn’t aware that there were any army maneuvers to be carried out. Or that there was any army at all out here…”