Dragon's Teeth by Mercedes Lackey Read Free Book Online

through! Then you’ll be free! You’ll be able to play in the sunshine, and roll in the grass—eat all the flowers you want—we’ll make sure they never catch you, don’t you worry.”
    The beast drew nearer, until she felt the warmth of its breath on her coat sleeve as she worked. It snuffled a little, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell.
    Poor thing! What were they feeding it, anyway? Didn’t they ever give it a chance to bathe? Her resentment grew as it sniffed at the gap between the metal slats. Why, it was lonely! The poor thing was as lonely as some of those rodeo horses had been! Didn’t anyone ever come to pet and play with it?
    Finally she disabled the last of the alarms. The creature inside the corral seemed to sense her excitement and anticipation as she worked at the lock on the gate. She heard it shifting its weight from foot to foot in a kind of dance that reminded her of her pet parakeet when he wanted out of his cage, before she’d grown wiser and freed it into the abundant outdoors.
    “Don’t worry little fellow,” she crooned at it. “I’ll have you out of here in no time—”
    With a feeling of complete triumph, she popped the lock, flipped open the hasp on the gate, and swung it wide, eager for the first sight of her newly freed friend.
    The first thing she saw was a huge-headed lizard, about six feet tall, that stood on two legs, balancing itself with its tail. It was poised to leap through the gate. The last thing she saw was a grinning mouth like a bear-trap, full of sharp, carnivorous teeth, closing over her head.

    Hank threw his rope over a chair in the employee lounge and sank into the one next to it, feeling sweat cool all over his body. He pulled his hat down over his eyes. This had not been the most disastrous morning of his life, but it was right up there. Somehow the Dino had gotten into Gertie’s pen—and whoever had left the gate open last night was going to catch hell. The little carnivore couldn’t hurt the Bronto, but he had already eaten all the Dobermans that were supposed to be guarding the complex, and he was perfectly ready to add a lab tech or lab hand to the menu. You couldn’t trank the Saurians; their metabolism was too weird. You couldn’t drive a Dino; there wasn’t anything he was afraid of. The only safe way to handle the little bastard was to get two ropes on him and haul him along, a technique Hank had learned roping rhinos in Africa. It had taken him and Buford half the morning to get the Dino roped and hauled back to his corral. They’d had to work on foot since none of the horses would come anywhere near the Dino. All he needed was one more thing—“Hank!” someone yelled from the door.
    “What, dammit?” Hank Sayer snapped. “I’m tired! Unless you’ve got the chowderhead that left Dino and Gertie’s pens open”
    “They weren’t left open, they were opened last night,” said the tech, his voice betraying both anger and excitement. “Some animal-rights yoyos got in last night, the security guys found them on one of the tapes. And the cleanup crews found what was left of two of them in the pit under Gertie’s pen and just inside Dino’s doghouse!”
    That was more than enough to make Hank sit up and push his hat back. “What the hell—how come—”
    The tech sighed. “These bozos think every animal is just like the bunny-wunnies they had as kids. I don’t think one of them has been closer to a real bull than videotape. They sure as hell didn’t research the Saurians, else they’d have known the Dino’s a land-shark, and it takes Gertie a full minute to process any sensation and act on it. We found what was left of the cattle-prod in the pit.”
    Hank pushed his hat back on his head and scratched his chin. “Holy shit. So the bozos just got in the way of Gertie after they shocked her, and opened Dino’s pen to let him out?”
    “After disabling the alarms and popping the locks,” the tech agreed. “Shoot, Dino must have