“Looks like a stalemate to me,” Dr. Perry said.
“Yes,” Chuck agreed, “unless we can talk some sense into him.”
“Chuck Spencer!” Masterson’s voice boomed again. It bounced off the boulders, echoed in a thousand darkened shadows, echoed in the very pockmarks of time itself.
“I’m here, Masterson.”
“Send Gardel over. Send him right now.”
“He’s not going anywhere,” Chuck yelled back.
Gardel tried to rise, but Arthur slammed one meaty hand into the small of his back, and he bounced back against the ground again, the wind knocked out of him.
“Send him over or I’ll shoot Denise,” Masterson said.
Dr. Perry’s eyes widened. “Why, the man is insane!”
“He’s bluffing,” Pete said. “He wouldn’t shoot his own niece.”
“Try him and see,” Gardel muttered.
“Gardel stays with us,” Chuck shouted back.
“I’m not kidding,” Masterson said. “I’m not fooling, Spencer. I’ll shoot her if you don’t send Gardel over.”
Chuck heard Denise shout, “Don’t believe...” Her voice was cut off, as if a hand had been clamped over her mouth.
“You’re bluffing,” Chuck shouted. “And we’re calling your bluff.”
Dr. Perry’s eyes took on an anxious look. “Chuck, are you sure you’re...”
There was a deadly silence now. It seemed to hang over the land like a mailed fist. The fog was almost all gone, but the sky was still a leaden gray. Chuck saw a small reptile scamper across the no man’s land between the rock and the boulders. The Jurassic, he thought. Jurassic. Jurassic. Jurassic.
The silence continued, and Chuck waited with his heart in his mouth.
“Send him over,” Dr. Perry said. “Send Gardel over or he’ll shoot the girl.”
“What’s to stop him from shooting her once he gets Gardel?” Chuck asked.
“The man is a maniac, can’t you see? Why should we provoke him?”
“I think you’re wrong, Doc,” Chuck said. “He’s more than a maniac. He’s got something up his sleeve. If we send Gardel over, we’ll be playing right into his hands.”
“You gamble real pretty with somebody else’s life,” Gardel muttered. “Maybe Denise don’t feel the way you do about it.”
There was silence again. Chuck waited, his ears straining for the sound of a bolt being shoved home.
Finally Masterson said, “All right, Spencer, I’ll make a bargain with you. I’ll send Denise back safely.”
“All right,” Chuck said. “Send her over.”
“I said a bargain, not a gift. I’ll trade Denise for Gardel and Dr. Perry.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Send over Gardel and Dr. Perry, and the girl is yours.”
“Tell him we’ll do it,” Dr. Perry said quickly.
“‘No!” Chuck snapped. Something was beginning to take shape in his mind. He began to wonder all over again about Masterson’s reasons for taking Dr. Dumar with him and leaving Pete behind. Dr. Dumar was undoubtedly valuable to him, whereas Pete was not. Now he wanted Dr. Perry. Why?
He remembered the mining equipment he had seen in the truck that day he had unloaded supplies. Suddenly it became perfectly clear to him.
Uranium!
Of course! Why the entire time slip had probably been an excuse for Masterson to get back here where he could get his hands on the uranium deposit. He’d probably read all about it in the newspapers and decided to come back to the Jurassic to find the scientists and the deposit. That explained the mining equipment in the truck and it explained Masterson’s motive for smashing the force field. A hunter, indeed! He was hunting, all right. He was hunting for a fortune in uranium, and the only men who could lead him to it were Dr. Dumar and Dr. Perry.
Now Chuck understood why Masterson had constantly wanted to return to the spot where the two doctors had been found. He had probably assumed that the deposit was somewhere in that vicinity and had tried to lead the party that way, rather than back to the rendezvous site. He’d probably known all along that Chuck was heading in the right direction — but a return to his own time was the farthest thing from his mind. At least, until he’d got all the uranium he needed.
This gave Chuck another interesting thought. How had Masterson planned on getting away with it? He’d find the deposit, yes, probably by getting “lost” from the party and searching for the two scientists until he found them. Then what? If he left the doctors alive, his plans would be ruined. Had he then planned on killing them?
“What do you say, Spencer?” Masterson shouted. “Denise for Gardel and Dr. Perry.”
Chuck snapped his thoughts back to the immediate problem. “Dr. Perry,” he said anxiously, “who has the map to the uranium deposit?”
“Why... why...”
“I know it’s top secret stuff, but this is important. Does Dr. Dumar have it?”
“No.”
“Then you do.”
“No.”
Chuck’s eyes opened wide in disbelief. “Well... well, who does?”
“The Jurassic has it, Chuck.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Pierre had it in his sleeping bag with him on the night of the upheaval. In all the excitement...”
“He left it in the bag!”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. We still remember the location. We spent a lot of time there, Chuck. We could probably draw it from memory — if the upheaval didn’t change the situation.”
“What do you say, Spencer?” Masterson shouted.
“I say NO!” Chuck roared. “I don’t like your bargain, Masterson. It smells.”
Hastily, Chuck lowered his voice and told Dr. Perry, Pete and Arthur what he thought. He watched their faces as he spoke, saw Dr. Perry nod.
“I was wondering why he was so friendly to us when we first joined the party,” Dr. Perry said. “I should have realized he was after something.”
“We’ve got to stall him,” Chuck said. “We’ve got to get that rifle away from him. If he gets you over there with Dr. Dumar, he’ll force the location of the deposit out of you. And when he’s through with you...”
“Mmm,” Dr. Perry agreed.
Chuck’s eyes wandered over to the cliff, climbed the sheer wall to settle on the ledge fifty feet from the ground.
“That’s it,” he said aloud.
“What? What’s what?” Arthur asked.
“The ledge.” Chuck indicated it with a motion of his head, not wanting Masterson to see him pointing. “If I can get up to that ledge without Masterson seeing me, we’ll have him boxed in.”
“How the deuce you going to get up there?” Pete asked.
“I don’t know. Around the side, maybe. The sides don’t look as steep as the face. I’d have to go up the side anyway, or Masterson would see me.”
“You’ll never do it,” Arthur said. “It’s too steep a climb.”
“I’ve got to try.”
“Why not me?” Arthur asked.
“Because I’m the alleged guide on this time slip.”
Chuck said quietly. “So far, all I’ve done is get us into a lot of trouble. Maybe I can get us out of some now.”
Arthur’s eyes met Dr. Perry’s, and the paleontologist nodded imperceptibly. Chuck saw the movement and smiled. “I’m not trying to be a hero or a martyr, believe me. I just feel... I feel as if I’ve... as if I haven’t been doing my job. Do you know what I mean? As if I’ve let everyone down.”
Dr. Perry was quiet for a long time. Then he said, “Every man has his mountain to climb, Chuck. Do a good job with it.”
“Thanks,” Chuck said. “Now here’s my plan...”
The ground was rough, covered with sharp rocks that stabbed at his hands and his chest and his knees. He kept close to the ground, hugging it for dear life as he moved away from the protection of the rocks. Behind him, he heard the sharp crack of a rifle as Arthur began his diversionary fire. He did not turn to look back. He kept his head low and his body pressed flat to the terrain as he inched his way toward the boulders and the sheer face of the cliff. The rifle fire stopped suddenly, and then the second part of his plan went into action.