An Incredible Case of Dinosaurs (3 page)

Giles looked at the remote-controlled airplane in the store window.

“It’s a beauty all right,” Kevin said.

Giles crinkled the money in his pocket. He’d waited a long time for this airplane—and now, thanks to their dinosaur job, he could finally buy it. He knew every detail of the airplane by now, and had often daydreamed about taking it on its first flight in the big field near his house.

“It’s great being rich, isn’t it?” said Kevin cheerfully. “Now I can buy an iPod to replace the one Tina blew up last month. Those dinosaurs are the best thing that’s ever happened to the genius business!”

Giles jammed his hands into his pocket and turned away from the window.

“Aren’t you going to buy it?” Kevin asked in confusion.

“We’ve got to set them free,” Giles said.

“What? The dinosaurs?”

“It’s not fair to keep them trapped in that pool,” said Giles. “And all because Miss Frost wants to own the only dinosaurs in the world! It’s just like all those other valuable things in her house just collecting dust! It’s just greedy!”

How could he possibly buy the airplane with the money Miss Frost had given him? He knew he’d feel too guilty.

“Do you really think they mind staying in the pool?” Kevin asked with a frown.

“How would you like it if someone boxed
you
in?”

“Tina was thinking about it once,” Kevin replied thoughtfully, “but I managed to talk her out of it. You’re right, Barnes, I don’t think it would be very comfortable at all.”

“They’re not eating as much as they used to, either,” Giles said. “They’re definitely unhappy. We should set them free.”

Kevin shook his head uncertainly.

“Tina won’t like it,” he said. “Do you know what she’s doing right now? She’s at home, dictating her memoirs! Once I passed her door and heard her practising some kind of acceptance speech. She kept saying things like ‘Thank you for this great honour’ and ‘I knew it was only a matter of time before my great genius was recognized by the international community.’ She’s counting on these dinosaurs, Barnes. She thinks they’re going to make her world-famous!”

“We’ll have to do it without telling her.”

“But what about Miss Frost? She’s not going to let us set them free. She owns the dinosaurs! And you’ve heard the way she talks to people on the phone! She’s tough, Barnes. She’s downright scary! There’s no way we’ll ever convince her!”

“There’s only one way,” said Giles. “We’ve got to make her a deal.”

Swift opened the door, blinked, and stared in amazement.

On the doorstop stood Giles and Kevin, both dressed
in large, dark suits and ties borrowed from Mr Barnes’s closet. Kevin wore sunglasses and a scowl. His hair was slicked back with half a bottle of hair gel, and his arms were folded menacingly across his chest. Giles held a briefcase in one hand.

“We’re here to see Miss Frost,” he said.

Without waiting for a reply, he and Kevin marched through the door and headed for the curving marble staircase.

“Wait! You can’t just barge in here!” Swift objected, hurrying to block their way. “Miss Frost is far too busy to be bothered by unannounced visitors.”

“Move aside, sir,” said Kevin in a very deep, very serious voice. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

Swift stepped back without hesitation. Giles was impressed.

They made their way quickly up the stairs. Kevin, practically blind in his sunglasses, had to feel his way along the bannister to avoid tripping.

Miss Frost was on the telephone when they burst into her office.

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse!” she growled.
Snatching up another phone she said, “Tell him he’d better sell now, or he’ll be eating potatoes for the rest of his life!”

Giles gulped.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. But it was too late now. Miss Frost had caught sight of them and was frowning curiously.

“I’ll call you back in thirty seconds,” she said into the phone.

Giles took a deep breath, handed his briefcase to Kevin, and strode up to the huge desk.

“Miss Frost,” he said, trying to sound firm and professional, “I have a deal for you.”

“Is that Giles Barnes?”

“That’s correct.”

“And who is this with you?”

“That’s my personal assistant.”

“How did you get his hair to do that?”

“Never mind that right now, Miss Frost.”

“Why is he wearing sunglasses?”

“To look menacing,” Kevin said helpfully.

Miss Frost glanced at her day planner.

“I don’t believe we have an appointment today,” she said.

“No, we don’t,” said Giles brusquely. “But this simply couldn’t wait.”

“Oh?”

“I want to buy those dinosaurs, Miss Frost, and I’m prepared to make you a cash offer right now.”

Giles thought there was a sparkle of admiration in her eyes.

“Go on,” she said.

Giles suddenly drew a blank. He simply didn’t know what to say next. Instead, he snapped his fingers. Kevin stepped forward obediently and helped him off with his jacket, draping it over his arm. Giles cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. He had no idea what he was doing, but it all seemed incredibly professional. For good measure he snapped his fingers again and Kevin stepped forward with the jacket and helped Giles back into it.

He felt much better now.

“Let me be candid, Miss Frost. Allow me to get straight to the heart of the matter. I’m not a man to mince words.
Speaking as one businessperson to another, I think we can hammer out a deal which is mutually beneficial.”

He hadn’t the slightest idea where all these words were coming from, but they were pouring into his mind thick and fast.

“I think you’ll find that my offer speaks for itself.”

He snapped his fingers again, and Kevin brought over the briefcase and set it on Miss Frost’s desk. Giles gave a curt nod. Kevin opened the clasps and flipped up the top. Inside was a small, rumpled stack of money, held together by an elastic band. Scattered across the bottom of the briefcase was an assortment of coins.

Miss Frost carefully counted the money. Giles looked over at Kevin and smiled weakly. Would it be enough? He didn’t think it looked nearly as impressive as it had earlier in his bedroom. But it was all the money he’d saved up for the remote-controlled airplane, plus some of Kevin’s savings from the genius business.

“You realize, of course,” said Miss Frost, “that these dinosaurs are worth over a million times the amount you have here.”

Giles instantly felt ridiculous.

“Really?”

“I’m afraid so, yes.”

“Well,” said Giles, “this is all I have.”

Miss Frost looked at him curiously.

“And you’re willing to spend all of it on the dinosaurs?”

Giles nodded firmly. “It’s just money.”

Miss Frost gazed thoughtfully at all the television screens flashing numbers, then turned towards the windows.

“What did you want to do with these dinosaurs?”

“Set them free.”

“But why?” she asked in amazement.

“They’re sad and restless. They’re big animals, and much smarter than you might think. And it can’t be very comfortable for them, being crammed into the swimming pool.”

“No,” said Miss Frost, “I suppose not.”

She looked back at the money in the briefcase with a small smile.

She’s going to say no, thought Giles glumly. So much for that idea. All he’d done was make a fool of himself. He should have known she’d never go for it.

“This,” said Miss Frost, looking up at Giles, “is the best deal that’s ever been offered to me.”

Giles gaped.

Kevin’s sunglasses fell off his face.

“Are you serious?” Giles exclaimed.

“I am,” replied Miss Frost. “You drive a hard bargain, Giles, but you’ve got yourself a deal. I only wish I could take a good, close look at those dinosaurs before they go.”

“But why can’t you?” Giles asked, confused. He thought of her secretly watching from the window. Why hadn’t she ever just come down to the pool?

“I can’t possibly leave my office,” she explained. “I might miss an important phone call.”

“Wouldn’t they call back?” Kevin asked.

“Or I might miss a blip on one of the monitors,” she said, waving her hand at the wall of flashing screens.

“A blip?” said Kevin. “Is that serious?”

“It could be,” she replied. “It could be very serious. It depends on what kind of blip we’re talking about. It might be a zig or a zag.”

“A zig or a zag?” said Giles.

“That would be quite serious.”

“I see,” said Kevin.

“But not as serious as a dip,” she went on. “It would be disastrous if I missed a dip. Or a peak, or a trough, a swing, a boom, or a bust—”

Suddenly she started to laugh.

“It sounds so ridiculous really, doesn’t it?” she said. “I stay trapped in this room, year after year, watching screens and shouting into phones. It’s ridiculous! I’m coming out to see the dinosaurs!”

“Great!” said Giles.

Miss Frost stood up. She walked out from behind her desk.

The three of them had almost reached the door when the phone rang.

Oh, no, Giles thought.

Miss Frost hesitated. She looked at the ringing phone, then back at Giles and Kevin.

“It’s only money, after all,” she said with a smile, and then turned and walked out the door of her office.

“They’re beautiful!” exclaimed Miss Frost, peering at the dinosaurs through the bathysphere’s glass hatch. “It’s been far too long since I’ve taken the time to really look at things! Look at them move!”

Giles guided the bathysphere smoothly down to the bottom of the pool. He’d watched Tina enough times to know how to use the controls. The two hydrosaurs glided gracefully through the water around them.

“Did you ever figure out why they came in the first place?” Miss Frost asked.

Giles shook his head. “Not really. Tina thought that maybe they got lost on their way to the ocean.”

In the distance, in the far corner of the pool, Giles
made out a small mound of stones that he’d never noticed before.

“What’s that?” he said, steering the bathysphere over for a closer look.

All at once the two dinosaurs cut in front of him, blocking his way. Again and again, they streaked anxiously past the hatch, making a low, gurgling moan.

“They don’t want you to get any closer!” Kevin exclaimed.

“I wonder why?” said Miss Frost.

Giles squinted at the strange mound and caught a glimpse of something white nestled among the rocks.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

“Look! It’s an egg!” Giles shouted. “That’s why they came here. To make a nest. It’s the perfect place for it, too. Safe and quiet!”

As they all watched, the egg began to shudder slightly.

“It’s hatching!” said Kevin.

The two hydrosaurs swam in close and swirled around the egg. At first, Giles couldn’t see what was going on. But after a few minutes, he managed to catch a glimpse
of a small, bright red, wedge-shaped head, peeping out from the top of the cracked egg.

“Let’s set them free now,” said Miss Frost.

Giles turned the bathysphere round and pushed up against the huge statue of Poseidon. He opened up the throttle to full, and the propeller whirred furiously. Gradually, the statue scraped across the pool floor until the crack was completely uncovered.

The dinosaurs didn’t waste a second.

The first hydrosaur shot down through the opening like a flash of purple lightning. Then the red, baby hydrosaur swam a little clumsily towards the crack, nudged along by the yellow dinosaur. After the baby wobbled down out of sight, the last hydrosaur circled magnificently around the bathysphere once, then darted into the fissure and was gone.

“I’m trying to remain calm,” said Tina.

“That’s good,” said Kevin nervously. “Breathe deeply.”

“I am breathing deeply, Kevin. I am breathing as deeply as I know how. If I breathe any deeper I am going to blow up like a balloon and POP!”

Kevin jumped.

“Barnes, do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Tina asked miserably.

“I think I’m about to find out,” Giles replied.

“You’ve destroyed my career, Barnes. I’m finished. Ruined. Washed up. I spent the best days of my life studying those two dinosaurs. I was ready to make scientific history! They were the only two living dinosaurs ever seen by mankind.”

“Three,” Kevin reminded her good-naturedly. “Don’t forget the baby hydrosaur.”

“Thank you, Kevin,” said Tina through clenched teeth. “Of course, I didn’t get the chance to see the baby dinosaur, thanks to you both! Did you know I’d been invited to speak at the university? Did you know I’d practically finished my memoirs?
Tina Quark: A Brilliant Life
. It would have been a bestseller.”

“Look on the bright side,” said Kevin. “We got another
job for the genius business out of it. Miss Frost has hired us to clean up her house.”

Tina shook her head dejectedly.

“From award-winning scientist to cleaning staff,” said Tina. “This is a very sad day. I’m completely at a loss.”

“I’m not,” said Giles, stretching his arms above his head with a yawn. “I know exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to go home and have a nice, relaxing bath. And, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to have it alone this time.”