Page 16 of Lagoon

“Press-ons,” said Angela. “She’s obsessed.”

“So, Bub got her, just like he got me,” said Riley, looking at Dr. Greyson.

“We don’t know what happened,” said Dr. Greyson. “But this is exactly why he needs to be caught, tranquilized, and put in a tank.”

“Sounds to me like this thing needs to be put down,” said Lieutenant Harris. “And I didn’t sign on to this job to go hunting lizardmen in the jungle.”

“Well, we have to go looking for Nancy,” said Angela with a sigh.

“We need to get in touch with Anderson Scott,” said Harris. “Can anyone do that besides Nancy?” He looked at Greyson.

“Can’t you?” said Greyson. “Don’t you talk directly to him?”

“You don’t either?” said Harris.

“Email chains,” said Greyson. “He insists they all be routed through Nancy.”

“Ditto,” said Harris, folding his arms over his chest.

It was quiet.

Harris sighed. “All right, Ramirez, it’ll be less creepy if it’s you. I want you to go into Nancy’s cabin and find her laptop or phone or anything you can find, and we’ll reconvene here in an hour to try to go through all that shit.”

“So, I’m understanding that you’re refusing to go look for Nancy,” said Dr. Greyson, his voice low and lethal. “And you’re refusing to try to tranquilize Bub.”

“You’re calling him that weird name, too?” said Harris, shaking his head. “What the fuck is wrong with you people? It’s not a pet. It’s a dangerous, wild animal.”

“You’re refusing,” said Greyson.

“I’m not refusing, because I don’t take orders from you,doctor,” said Harris with a shrug. “I don’t have to refuse.”

“So, it’s up to me to save Nancy,” said Greyson. He looked at the other guards. “Anyone here willing to help?”

Angela looked from Harris to Dr. Greyson. “If I can find her laptop, I’ll meet up with you, Dr. Greyson, just so you have someone with a gun with you, and—”

“No,” said Harris. “Youdotake orders from me, Ramirez.”

“Well, it sounds like everything’s falling the fuck apart here, sir,” said Ramirez. “And there’s a woman out there whose life could be in danger.”

“I’m not getting the rest of us all killed for her,” said Harris. “She knew she wasn’t supposed to go see that thing. Dumb bitch wants to eliminate herself from the gene pool, it ain’t my problem.”

Angela’s nostrils flared.

“I’m going,” said Dr. Greyson, shaking his head. “And I don’t want a gun out there. I’ll take the tranq pistol.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Riley.

Dr. Greyson shook his head at her. “You’ve been through too much today, Dr. Stine.”

“No, you need help,” she said.

Dr. Greyson looked her over. He finally nodded. “All right.” He pointed at Harris. “By evening, I’ll have Bub in a tank, Nancy safe, and business back to usual around here. But if you think I’m not telling Anderson Scott everything you said and did—”

“Oh, right back atcha, doc,” said Harris. “You really think he’s going to take your side?”

“This is his project, and he cares about the species we’ve discov—”

“I doubt he cares if it’s just a murdering monstrous thing that’s going to get him a lot of bad PR,” said Harris with a shrug.

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