African Pursuit by David Alric Read Free Book Online Page B

others and they had agreed with the Bonaventures that the UN should be told, with a request that the information should be restricted to a few senior officials until the future management of the site could be properly planned.
    Helen and Julian insisted on speaking only to the most senior official at the Rio office, who listened in astonishment to their storyabout the prehistoric crater with its two extraordinary valleys. As they showed him dozens of photographs and videos of giant ground sloths, sabretooth tigers and dinosaurs of every size and shape, his attitude turned from an initial one of deep scepticism to one of wonder and admiration.
    Helen and Julian also told him about the villains but did not mention the invisibility robes. They mentioned the visit to the crater by the policeman investigating the deaths of the villains, Inspector Colarinho, but explained that he knew nothing of the prehistoric nature of the site. At one point the official rang the detective, without disclosing the secret, and the inspector was able to confirm the details that Helen and Julian had given concerning the position and inaccessibility of the crater. When they had finally finished their story and requested that the information they had given him should remain confidential to all but the most senior people, he sat in deep thought for several minutes. He then asked an assistant to download all the photographic material he had been shown on to his computer and turned back to Helen and Julian.
    ‘They’re just not going to believe this,’ he said with a wry smile, ‘but let’s give it a go.’ Over the next hour he spoke to UN officials in New York, London and Paris, and then to the Brazilian Minister for the Environment. Every call followed the same pattern. First, frank disbelief at the other end, then the emailing of the photographic evidence, then an excited discussion about what to do next. The Rio officer proved to be a strong and eloquent advocate for Helen and Julian and they were relieved to have had the good fortune to be dealing with such an intelligent and sympathetic person.
    Finally he turned back to Helen and Julian.
    ‘We will obviously need you to come to a top-level conference in the near future to discuss this in detail and to formally present your evidence,’ he said. ‘My colleagues point out that, before that meeting, it will be essential for our experts to verify that the photographs and videos are genuine. In the meantime I think I’ve managed to convince the appropriate authorities that the site should be put completely out of bounds. The Brazilian authorities are, with immediate effect, banning all flights within an area of fifty square miles centred on the crater on the grounds of national security. This won’t raise any eyebrows; there are lots of military sites that are restricted and everybody will just assume it’s just another defence project.’
    Helen and Julian thanked him. They exchanged contact details and it was agreed that a strategy meeting would be arranged in the next month or so, to which both the Fossfinders and the Bonaventures would be invited.
    As they left Helen and Julian were delighted with the outcome of their interview.
    ‘The crater is now safe, but is still effectively secret as far as the public are concerned,’ said Helen. ‘I can’t wait to tell the others but we’ll wait till they’ve recovered from their flight.’
    Two weeks later, relaxed after their holiday, it was time to return to England. Before they left Rio, Julian arranged a meeting with Inspector Colarinho’s colleague in Rio, Inspector Poirot, to enquire about the professor. Poirot was the detective who had originally investigated an attempt by the professor to murder his research assistant, Lucinda, and steal her research.
    ‘I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news,’ said the detective after they had exchanged greetings. ‘The blighter’s escaped’.
    ‘What do you mean escaped? ’ asked Julian with