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Dr Terry Dennis was sitting with his back against a sprawling eucalyptus tree reading a novel, his laptop taking readings of the magnetic field, when the shout went up from the ADF Special Forces soldiers that were guarding the anomaly. Terry jumped to his feet, dropping the book, and strode forward.
“Is it a creature?”
“No, sir,” replied Captain Paul Kelly, as his men continued to struggle to subdue what had come through. “It appears to be a woman.”
A few more steps and Terry was face to face with the struggling figure.
“Helen Cutter, how nice of you to drop by.”
“Terry Dennis. I see you’ve been talking to my husband,” she snarled, still struggling.
“You haven’t been, clearly, seeing as he’s no longer your husband. Then again, it is a little difficult to post a divorce decree to the Permian. Maybe a gorgonopsid ate it.”
“You’re lying,” Helen growled, as her hands were securely cuffed.
“Why would I do that?” asked Terry. He chuckled. “Now, if you would go with these lovely gentlemen, we have a few questions for you.”
“I want a lawyer.”
“Oh sweetheart, you’re a known foreign terrorist in the hands of a top secret project. Whatever makes you think you’re going to get a lawyer?”
As Helen was escorted away, Terry turned to Paul. “Ten bucks on her making an escape attempt within half an hour.”
Paul snorted. “I’m not taking that bet.”
Paul moved away to report in and inform headquarters that a prisoner was being brought in. Terry fished his mobile out of his pocket and hit speed dial number 5.
“Nick! Sorry to wake you. I just thought you might like to know that your ex wife is currently enjoying the hospitality of my friends and I.”
The lengthy set of Scottish expletives that followed had Terry laughing so hard he needed a tree to support him.
In Britain, Nick Cutter hung up the phone and rubbed his hands through his sleep ruffled hair.
“Well, fuck.”
“Bad news I take it?” muttered a half-asleep Becker.
“Good, I think. The Australians have caught Helen. That was Terry letting me know.”
Becker grunted in response.
“You’re right, it can wait until morning.” Nick snuggled back under the covers.
***
The next morning, Lester had more information to brief them with.
“As some of you may be aware,” he eyed Nick, “Helen Cutter was taken into custody by our allies in Australia when she tried to sneak through an anomaly they were guarding. She has not managed to escape as yet and all her possessions have been confiscated. This includes a notebook that appears at first glance to contain observations about her travels and some scientific theories and equations. The Australians have agreed to send us copies of all this as soon as they can do it securely.”
“Let me guess,” said Nick. “Helen’s not talking.”
“Such a brilliant deduction, whatever would we do without you, Professor?”
Nick narrowed his eyes, but took the high road and didn’t respond.
Lester cleared his throat and continued. “Obviously deciphering Dr Cutter’s notes is our highest priority apart from anomaly call outs at the moment. She had eight years of study before we even knew what was going on. I want to know everything she knows.”
For once, Nick agreed with Lester. “I can get in touch with Terry directly if you like. If we can bounce theories and ideas off each other, it might help.”
“Thank you. We will, of course, be cooperating fully with the Australians in this. Currently I believe they are holding Dr Cutter on suspicion of international terrorism. I doubt they’ll be giving into any of the demands she will no doubt make.” Lester looked faintly amused at this fact.
Nick rolled his eyes. “Well, I’ll just go and email Terry then. Give me a shout when the copies of Helen’s notes get in, yeah?” He headed off to his office, stroking his thumb briefly over Becker’s hip as he passed him.
He sighed. He probably should clear out some of the paperwork in his overflowing inbox before the notes came in.
He hated paperwork.