The Adventures Of Miniator -- Chapter 19 Preston Fox

Preston Fox, had just returned to London from a four week expedition in India. Where he had managed to track down and capture two tiger cubs for one of his wealthy sponsors. He first had to find a she-tiger with cubs, then tranquillize her to take the cubs. The job was well paid... because it had to be well organised all along the way; there was the fixer, and the helpers to pay, bribes to pay the officials to smuggle the animals through the customs, and then more bribes to get around the transport restrictions. And the bigger the animal the harder that was. But he was very experienced. He had been doing this for fifteen years. There were many people who wanted these animals; sometimes for pets for the wealthy, or private zoos, and life parks. And there were always ways to go around the laws if one had enough money.

And now he would be off again, this time to Brazil, to get a jaguar for Julius Bettermore-Mountblank, his old army officer, who owned a private exotic wildlife park in Equatorial Guinea, and was slowly building up his collection of animals. Very hush, hush... A club only for very exclusive members... where rich people could even get to hunt and kill big game...

Preston Fox had taken a few days to relax in London. It was his home town. He looked-up a few of his old army friends and his sister while he was waiting for this next job. He was now forty years old and had as a young man spent ten years in the English army. Then later he had been a paid mercenary solder in Africa. His life had always been about adventure. And his job took him around the world, to exotic places.

A few days later everything was arranged for the Brazil trip. His fixer, Manel Abalroado -- who he had worked with many times -- had paid the rangers to turn a blind eye, so he and Manel would be able to go into the nature reserve, find a good specimen jaguar, dart it, and ship it out to Julius' park in Guinea. Manel Abalroado had also alerted – through his contacts in customs and transport officials on duty at a small air field, close to the nature park – of their requirements: they needed helpers and a place where they could crate the beast ready to fly it out secretly in the middle of the night. Making sure there would be no record of the flight. No paper trail.

Preston Fox flew first to Rio De Janeiro, to meet Manel who had hired a Jeep for them, and the tranquillizer guns and the drugs they needed for the darts, and more drugs to inject the animal with to keep it asleep during transportation. They then had made the long drive north to the nature reserve.

For two days they had found no sign of jaguars, following the rivers looking for tracks and pitching their tent in late afternoons.

One day while combing a riverside they came upon a sight, which they could not believe... for there in a shallow pool in the river they saw a creature no human being had ever seen... A living fully grown, long thought extinct Tyrannosaurus Rex! The creature was mammoth. Preston Fox began to shake with shock and excitement... The hair on Manel Abalroado neck stood on end... both men were fixated. It was wallowing in the water looking very content... Then Fox's hunter instinct clicked in... thoughts ran through his mind like a train. This was a chance in a lifetime... to capture an animal thought extinct, why he would be world famous...! How had such a creature survived and never been found?

But he had to get it out of the nature reserve... They would be many questions if he reported its sighting... and he wanted much more than being the one to have first seen the creature. If he could capture it and fly it out to Julius Bettermore-Mountblank's wildlife park, why the possibilities would be endless... they could say they had captured it in Africa... an animal thought extinct was not covered, nor protected by any law, the media access alone to the animal would bring millions... books, films documentaries, and such. The most famous animal of all time! And the most famous hunter of all time! Preston Fox!

Without a word to the silent Manel, he took aim with the tranquillizer gun and fired a silent dart. It hit the creature in the neck. The creature made little reaction. As if it had been bitten by an insect. Fox reloaded the gun quickly, and fired again. The dart struck creature in its back, the creature now began to react, getting on to it hind legs and looking around, the third dart struck it in the chest. The creature tried removing the dart, but the darts have a barb which fixes them in place. The creature turned away, and began to make its way to the opposite bank, but it was now becoming unsteady on its feet, falling each time it regained its feet. Fox reloaded and fired two more darts before the creature sank onto its side motionless.

The two men rushed into the shallow water, and with a length of tree trunk manage to support the creatures' head above the water so it didn't drowned.

Fox told Manel to call the helpers, give them their bearings, and to bring the covered truck with a winch, but he should not mention to them what they had...

An hour and half later the men arrived, and after their initial shock, and promises of double pay for their work, and further promises of a large bonus after the successful transportation of the creature, the men went to work dragging the sleeping creature from the water with the winch, and into the truck.

Preston Fox then telephoned Julius Bettermore-Mountblank, and left a message on his answering service, that he should expect an e-mail later bearing some more than excellent news...

The two vehicles made their way to the main road and headed North in the direction of the airfield.

During their journey Manel contacted his people at the airfield informing them that they would need a far bigger crate for the transportation for that night. A six meter wooden create with air holes. And a lot of strapping. And that they would need a very discreet place to do the packing, before loading it onto the aircraft after dark.

Before they reached the town of Figo, they pulled off the road and entered the forest. There Fox give the creature an injection of the same drug to keep it immobile for a few more hours. They told the men to stay where they were with the truck, until they returned after dark, when the work would begin.

Fox and his fixer Manel had found a hotel to relax in for a few hours until it was time. He had to know that the plane had been arranged. And he had also written the Email to Julius Bettermore-Mountblank, and was waiting for his response. Which had come via a phone call.

Bettermore-Mountblank had at first thought it was all a joke... Fox had warned him not the mention the species when he telephoned him... so they talked around it all the time. But Bettermore-Mountblank repeatedly asked Fox if it really was true. And Fox repeatedly assured him it was, and that this time he wanted no fee, but fifty percent of anything this deal brought. Fox also told him he would need to quickly build a special enclosure; electrical, to stop the creature from breaking out, and a place well out the way of prying eyes... until they could figure out how to make the most of this venture. They talked of exclusive visitors and films, and scientific research, and all kinds of media deals.