Jurassic Park^TM III Novelization Read Online Free Page A

the gaping, speechless humans.
    Suddenly, a crash and a roar sounded from the trees behind them. The sail-back lifted its head toward the approaching rex—and let out a threatening roar.
    Good!
Alan thought.
Let them fight it out to see who gets to eat us. We can be long gone before they’re finished!
    “Go,” Alan said to the others. “Go now! Move!”
    The group scattered. Paul and Amanda went in one direction, Billy and Udesky the other. Alan moved to join his assistant and the mercenary in the brush—but something grabbed hold of his leg!
    Looking down, Alan saw that his right foot was stuck in a tangle of branches. From one direction, the rex raced toward him, maw wide, claws clicking with anticipation. From the other direction, the sail-back was flying forward.
    Trapped between the two predators, Alan suddenly knew what it felt like to be a football on the fifty-yard line of the Super Bowl!
    Dropping to one knee, Alan pulled at the branches with all his strength. They opened just wide enough for him to yank out his foot.
    As two great shadows fell over him, Alan dove for cover between a pair of massive logs. Above him, the rex and the sail-back rammed into each other, and the ground quaked and shuddered beneath him. The jarring impact rattled every bone in his body!
    Lying flat on his back, Alan let out a terrified gasp as the sail-back’s giant foot suddenly landed across the two tree trunks. The foot had been stopped just a few inches above his face!
    The sail-back attacked the T. rex a second time, but the rex sidestepped the assault, its tail knocking down small trees as it spun out of the way.
    The T. rex continued to whip around, slamming its tail into the sail-back’s flank. The blow sent the sail-back tumbling right toward Alan!
    The scientist leaped clear just in time.
    As the savage behemoths clawed and bit and battled each other, Alan spotted the rest of the group bunched together in the brush several yards away. He sprinted toward them, but was stopped by an earth-shattering crash that nearly threw him from his feet. The T. rex had fallen right into his path!
    An instant later, the sail-back descended on the wounded rex. With claws flailing and maw opened wide, the giant predator latched on to the rex’s throat.
    Backing away in horror, Alan turned and ran to join Billy and the others.
    “Come on!” Alan yelled. He led the group through the underbrush as the sail-back’s triumphant bellow echoed behind him.
    After reaching a safe-looking spot, Alan stopped. Grabbing the front of Paul Kirby’s shirt, Alan slammed him against a tree.
    “Why did you bring us here?” Alan asked. “The
truth.”
    Udesky took a step forward, but Alan held him back with a look. He was tired of games. He wanted answers.
    Amanda spoke up. “Our son is on this island. We need your help to find him.”
    Still crushed against the tree, Paul pulled a photograph from the pocket of his shorts.
    “This is him,” Paul said. “Eric. He’s thirteen. He’s just about the greatest kid in the world.”
    Alan let go of Paul and took the photo. It was a school-portrait-style photo of a young, dark-haired boy with bright, intelligent eyes and a fun-loving smile.
    “He’s with a man named Ben Hildebrand,” Amanda said.
    Billy raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Who’s that?”
    “Her new boyfriend,” Paul said sourly.
    “A
friend,”
Amanda said quickly. “We were vacationing. Eric wanted to see this island and the dinosaurs, so Ben found a guy who would take them parasailing. Dino-Soar. I mean, it
sounded
fun, harmless. But they never came back.”
    “We called everyone, did everything we could,” Paul said. “No one will help us. The guy at the U.S. Embassy said we should ‘accept the inevitable.’ You believe that?”
    “So you hired these mercenaries,” Alan said.
    “We prefer ‘recovery specialists’,” Udesky said brusquely. “We do overseas custody issues and—”
    Alan had no interest in hearing the