Page 11

Daniel took Steph back through the main house and out into a small courtyard filled with basic-looking vehicles. There were a few quad bikes and what looked like a couple of oversized golf buggies that had been given a makeover. Although, Steph suspected they had a little more power than a golf buggy. They were also caged around the outside. It was one of those buggies that Daniel had taken the keys for and was opening when he heard a voice.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Steph turned around to see Michael walking lazily towards them. Daniel growled to himself.

“I was going to show… Steph, is it?”

Daniel asked, turning to Steph. Steph nodded.

“I was going to show Steph around and answer some of her questions.”

“Ah, gave her a job, did he?”

Michael replied, rolling his eyes.

“I have honestly never seen a recruitment strategy like it. Wait for people to break in and then give them jobs!”

Michael winked at Steph.

“He hired me the normal way!”

Daniel protested.

“Did he?”

Michael asked.

Daniel paused for a moment.

“Well, sort of. He was sitting in on a guest lecture at my university and liked how I argued with the lecturer despite him being an esteemed palaeontologist and me being a ‘wet-behind-the-ears little slug with my head in the clouds’. I think the two concepts are somewhat juxtaposed but… Anyway, we’re going out to look around. I’m showing Steph where a few things are.”

“Not without me you’re not!”

Michael said.

Daniel sighed.

“Don’t you sigh at me. I didn’t make the rule. If you don’t like it, take it up with the boss. Anyway. Give me a moment to fetch some tranquillizers and I will be right with you.”

Steph watched as Michael wandered back around the house.

“I did speak to Kelvin,”

Daniel whispered.

“He said it was a loose rule. I go out without him all the time anyway. Besides, the rule doesn’t make any sense with the cabins. Ah, you look confused. Don’t worry, I shall explain that in a bit.”

Steph considered the young man for a while. He didn’t look like he was long out of university. Whether that was true or not was hard to tell as he had one of those boyish faces. He had seemingly struggled desperately to grow some wispy chin hairs to combat this problem, but if anything, it made it worse. He was wiry-looking, the type of build that suggested that no matter how much food he consumed, he was never going to gain a single pound. Above all, though, he had a kindly face. No wonder he was walked over.

Having returned, Michael sat in the backseat with a rifle over his lap. He assured Steph it only shot darts. Why he felt she needed reassurance on the matter was beyond her.

“So why did Kelvin give me a job?”

Steph asked. She was going to test how accurate Martina’s assumption was that Daniel would answer her questions.

“He thinks that you will be able to see whether the animals have tried to integrate,”

Daniel replied over the mild electric hum of the buggy.

“He’s rather a spontaneous person. Makes snap decisions. Says that’s how he made his money in the first place and how he makes more still, so he isn’t going to change his habits. I can’t comment on that; what I can say is that I think he is trying something bold and exciting. Plus, he’s a good boss. Has been to me anyway.”

“And what counts as bold and exciting?”

“You’ll see,”

Daniel replied, excitement etched across his face.

“And how does he know I am staying at the hotel?”

Steph asked.

“What?”

Daniel replied, looking away from the track momentarily.

Michael leant forward.

“Because he knows everything; doesn’t miss a trick. Davey possibly told him, but otherwise, he has his sources. He is a little like one of those medieval spymasters who has a person in every royal court across the Western world.”

Michael sat back. Steph digested this information for a while. It made sense, she supposed. Even so, she did not like the idea of someone going to the hotel to get her things. It felt forced, controlling even.

They travelled through areas of trees as well as open heathland. There were slopes that Daniel made a point of avoiding, claiming that the vehicle would never cope with all of them in it. At one point, they crossed a bridge over a river where Steph could see trout swimming.

“We top up the river with trout from a farm,”

Daniel said.

“So what other animals do you have here?”

Steph asked.

“Loads!”

Daniel replied.

“All those native plus a pair of beavers – they have just mated successfully. That’s a common species to rewild in this country I know. Deer, wolverine, a pack of wolves, moose, a brown bear, a cave bear, a cave lion, and we would love to have mammoth, but it is hard to find a decent specimen where the DNA is useable. Oh and a small herd of European bison.”

Steph put her hand on Daniel’s arm. He turned as she gestured slowly to stop the buggy, words failing her. Daniel laughed as he gently stepped on the brake.

“How is all that possible?”

Steph asked, having gathered herself.

“I mean, getting permission for existing animals is one thing but… extinct animals? How is it even possible?”

“Money!”

Michael put in, scanning the treeline.

Daniel shrugged then nodded.

“I suppose money does talk when it comes to a lot of things. It is how Kelvin managed to acquire this land as far as I am aware. All above board! Sort of; as far as politicians are concerned.”

Steph tried to hide her scepticism.

Daniel pushed on.

“That said, I think it’s all rather hush-hush. I think the Scottish government – British for that matter, although they care less – knows there is some sort of rewilding project going on, but not the full extent, even though they have signed documents acknowledging it… or someone has. What they are not aware of is the introduction of more extinct species.”

Daniel stopped as if he thought he had covered the main parts. Steph looked at him.

“She probably wants to know about how an extinct species could possibly be alive today,”

Michael put in, shaking his head at Steph and grinning.

“Oh, right! Well, Martina is the one to ask for the finer details,”

Daniel said.

“However, the gist of it is that they find intact DNA that hasn’t been damaged by a thawing-out process. People wait for a specimen that has been frozen perfectly since the last ice age. The best finds are males with their testicles still intact. They then add the DNA to the egg of a close relative and develop a hybrid. The process is repeated until they arrive at a creature closer to the extinct animal. For the cave lion, we used a mountain lion – I know, smaller, but hardier; not that it seems to have prevented its large size. For the bear, they used… well, a grizzly I believe. It’s basically just a larger bear. Although to me, it is fascinating.”

“His job was meant to help us predict the behaviour of the animals,”

Michael added, nodding at Daniel.

“But it’s proving to be like getting a hot tip for the races from a snail.”

Daniel frowned, but ignored Michael, instead staring out at the treeline. Steph turned her head to see a mass of shaggy brown fur come loping out from between two trees. Steph saw Michael smile. She studied the animal from afar. It seemed completely disinterested in their presence and sat momentarily on the grass.

“That’s not the cave bear, is it?”

Steph asked, frowning.

“Nah, the prehistoric version dwarfs that one,”

Michael said.

“So why do you have other bears here?”

Steph asked.

“To try and create a more realistic dynamic,”

Daniel replied.

Steph scoffed. She saw Daniel roll his eyes as he started the buggy once more.

They drove for maybe another couple of miles; it was hard to tell. There was little that Steph could see in the distance. Everything was up close. They passed a herd of deer who skittered off as the buggy went by. She would have liked to have stayed with the herd. With so many predators about they were surely due an unfortunate amount of attention.

Eventually, Daniel stopped the buggy in the middle of a field scattered with rocks, heather and other plant life that broke up the monotony of the open space. Daniel then pointed to a clump of rocks.

“There!”

he whispered.

Steph strained her eyes in the direction Daniel was pointing. She was not quite sure what she was looking at.

“He blends in well,”

Daniel said when he saw the confusion on Steph’s face.

It was at this point that Michael handed Steph his rifle used for tranquillizing animals. Steph took the gun but looked bemused until Michael pointed to the scope at the top and moved Steph’s finger away from the trigger. Steph nodded slowly, closed her left eye and raised the scope to her right.

It did little better for her than the naked eye, but at least now she could make out the outline of fur lying on the rock even if she could not yet distinguish the features properly. There seemed to be a patch of fur missing in one place or, at least, the fur seemed thinner.

“Has the lion been fighting?”

Steph asked.

“Quite likely,”

Daniel replied.

“It sometimes clashes with the bears. Not the cave bear – I don’t think – but the others. None of them have come out on top yet, but they give each other a good bashing.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I dare say that’s for you to tell us,”

Daniel smiled.

Steph considered this for a while. She supposed it was her job. She would be paid well enough from what the contract said; double what she would have normally earned. She assumed her salary would also be scalable as the work progressed. Then there was the matter of the death of the boy. It would be easy to get distracted by this new job which would be the envy of many of her peers. Yet even as she thought of it all, her gut groaned.

“Well, we can’t stay here all day,”

Daniel replied, not taking his eyes from the rocks.

“Davey will likely be back soon with your things from the hotel, and I have no doubt you will want to settle into your room.”

“I’m still not really sure how I feel about that,”

Steph said, also not taking her eyes off the rocks.

“It feels a little invasive.”

Daniel grimaced.

“Kelvin sometimes can be a little like that. Time is very much an entity to him. I guess he assumes the quicker he can get you on-site, the sooner you can get to work.”

“But what if I don’t want to live on-site?”

“I suppose you could take that up with him; he wouldn’t be able to stop you. He would likely just give you incentives to stay. Besides, it’s actually pretty good in the house and grounds. I doubt you saw the pool or the other rooms with the gym stuff yet, and… well, I don’t use the gym but I’m wicked at table tennis.”

“Don’t worry,”

Michael put in, scanning the land around them.

“you can still head off to the pub for some alone time. You just aren’t allowed to disclose what goes on here. The locals know the drill well enough by now. Gives you an air of mystery. I love it.”

“You would!”

Daniel said.

Michael laughed and slapped Daniel on the back. Shaking his head with a slight curl to his lip, Daniel started the engine again. The lion raised its head for a moment and then lay back down.