PREDATOR ISLAND (Sea Lab Book 2)

EPILOGUE

PACIFIC OCEAN
ONE WEEK LATER

Onboard the yacht to San Diego, the Sea Lab team gathered around Savannah's computer screen as she opened the email sent by Dylan's contact at the zoo in Costa Rica. It was morning time, and as such, Jake sipped from a steaming cup of coffee while Tony crunched into a pond apple he'd picked off a tree before they left the island. Sarah touched the small of Jake's back, widened her eyes and nodded recognition of what they were about to see. Rachel rubbed her arms, hugging herself as Savannah clicked on the email.

The message opened with a brief greeting and a request to confirm the validity of the blood sample. There was an attachment with the lab results, but the body of the email spelled it out in layman's terms.

Dylan,

What is this? A prank? Are you serious? I don't get it, but based on the genetic tests this animal is related to a hybrid species called a Liger. They're known to be the largest felines on Earth. A liger is the result of a female tiger mated with a male lion. Fully grown they weigh nearly a thousand pounds and can measure over eleven feet long. But I want you to understand this important fact...this is not a liger! It's related to the hybrid species but it's not one of them. It's something else. What makes this particular animal so unique is it's a chimera. Someone in a highly advanced laboratory that specializes in gene splicing added the DNA of a panther and a jaguar, along with a number of other unknown species. Basically, they built this animal on the foundation of a liger. Then they pinpointed all the necessary genes and tweaked them to their liking in order to make the creature from this blood sample. All of this could explain the predator's size, strength, and speed. One of the DNA markers also denotes the presence of an albino trait, which explains why the creature can only come out at night. As much as I'd like to lay my eyes on this cat, something tells me I don't want to be anywhere near it. Oh, one more thing! After looking into Dr. Graham's storied past, it seems he had connections with a lab in Central America, where I suspect he created the cat and had it flown to Cocos Island. Good luck with all this...and you owe me big time with the strings I had to pull to keep this a secret.

Your's truly,

Savannah glanced up and caught Dylan's eye. "Who is this so-called friend of yours in Costa Rica?"

"Just an acquaintance." He swallowed. "A friend."

"Uh-huh. Do we need to talk about her?"

Dylan shook his head. "Nope. Nothing to talk about."

"Guess that answers our questions about the cat," Jake said. "I still can't get that thing out of my head."

"You're not the only one," Rachel said.

With everyone dispersing to different areas of the yacht, Jake caught up to Sarah as she studied her phone, her finger hovering over a recent email containing the results of her blood test. She'd connected to the ship's WiFi in order to check for messages from the mainland.

She flashed her phone to Jake.

"You want me to open it for you?"

"No." She shook her head. "I wasn't expecting it until we got to San Diego, but after everything we've been through, I can handle it."

Sarah touched the message tab for the email and read the results. She skimmed over the lab analysis and went straight to the findings. It read:

Subject seems to show increased, strength and stamina, as well as healing rates beyond any human living today. Her cells seem to have the capability of regenerating from injury at remarkable speed. Other than that, the results are somewhat inconclusive because at this time, we just don't know whether these things are temporary or permanent. Future tests will be required.

"They could have told me something I don't know already."

"You do realize that I'll be with you every step of the way," Jake said. "No matter where this road leads."

Sarah smiled and leaned in for a hug. "I know. That's what worries me."

THE END

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out my after thoughts...