Abominable by Alan Nayes

Author:Alan Nayes [Nayes, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alan Nayes
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Goliath had the young girl pinned to his massive chest like a grown man might hold a tiny kitten. Shelby guessed the child to be around four or five. Goliath’s hand was so large it covered her from upper chest all the way to her abdomen. She didn’t appear to be in any distress, not crying anyway. But she looked pale and damn scared—or in shock. Hell, who wouldn’t be?

The crying woman they’d passed on the green had tried to rush past the police line but fortunately Shelby caught her and Rivas and another female officer were attempting to calm her, with little luck. She continued wailing, “Get my baby back! Cynthia, Mommy’s here!” The last thing they needed was a panicked human throwing herself at the great ape.

Rivas had moved everyone back except four officers at Shelby’s request. “He’s already anxious and frightened,” she explained. “We don’t want anything to set him off with the child in his hand.” She would never forget the ease with which the giant primate had literally squeezed the guts out the mouth of an eighty-pound Siberian husky in Chitina, Alaska. She’d also suggested they back off the helicopters that continued buzzing low over the “hostage” site, causing Goliath to growl and wave his free hand angrily at the sky. That was how Rivas had called in the scene for assistance. “We have a hostage situation!”

Yet he’d been at a loss when the command post had asked about sending in hostage negotiators, the dispatcher initially unaware they were dealing with an ape. He looked at Shelby and she’d shaken her head in agreement. “That won’t work.” If anyone was going to talk the giant into releasing the girl, it would have to be someone the primate was at least relatively familiar with. Me. And she wouldn’t be given much time. The child was priority one.

Shelby stood about twenty-five yards from where Goliath squatted.

John motioned to the officers that had been moved back. The men and women had positioned themselves in a wide circle around the reflecting pool. “They have him surrounded.”

Shelby simply nodded, quickly taking in the crowd gathering beyond the perimeter line where more officers and cruisers had set up. “I need to do something fast or else Rivas is going to order shots be fired. He’s called in their SWAT team.”

Rivas must have overheard her because he stepped away from his cruiser where he’d been on the radio and said, “No one will shoot until that child is free. Or an attack is imminent. Right now she’s just standing there with him. Can’t risk her getting hit by friendly fire.”

Shelby added, “Plus if you don’t kill him instantly, that hand will…well, let’s not go there.”

The two veterinarians waited with their tranquilizer rifles. And she and John had theirs, making a total of four darts—plenty of sedative to put him down. But they ran the same risk—the anesthetic ketamine would take at least thirty seconds to take effect, and that was only

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