Zoo 2 Read Free Page A

Kimmel. Sit down, strap in, and let’s get you guys out of here.”
    There are only about a dozen plush leather seats in the plane, which we have all to ourselves. Eli picks one by the window. Chloe sits next to him, and I beside her.
    Within seconds, the plane’s engines come alive and we’re speeding down the bumpy, potholed runway. As we lift off into the sky, I close my eyes for just a moment…
    When I hear Eli shriek at the top of his lungs.
    “Look, look!” He’s pointing out the window. A flock of birds—looks like a mix of gulls and ducks and even owls—has suddenly appeared on the horizon, flying right at us. They can’t touch a speeding jet, and we leave the squawking mass of feathers in our atmospheric dust.
    I reach over and take Chloe’s hand. It’s clammy. And trembling.
    I realize mine is, too.

Chapter 5
    The plane’s cabin is pitch-black. We’ve been flying for hours. Eli and Chloe are snoring softly, both sleeping like babies.
    Me? Not even close.
    I’m exhausted but haven’t caught a wink. My first stop, before returning to the United States, is London. There I’ll attend an international summit to discuss new global responses to the animal attacks with representatives from around the world.
    My mind’s been on overdrive pretty much since wheels-up. That world we’re returning to after all this time—what does it look like? The government’s promise to treat HAC as a scientific crisis, not a military one—how will that actually play out? And what is my role in it all?
    The lights inside the cabin come on. Major Schiff turns to face me.
    “Time to stow those tray tables. We’re about to land.”
    Now my heart rate really starts to rise. Not because of the summit in London.
    No, I’m getting nervous because we’re not landing in London right now.
    And my wife has no idea yet.
    Chloe rubs her eyes and sits up in her seat. She gives me a groggy smile and glances out the window—when her expression instantly turns to shock. Then anger.
    “Oz…? Where are we?”
    She asks rhetorically, of course. We’ve just flown past the Eiffel Tower.
    “Chloe, look, I’m sorry. If I’d told you the truth—”
    “I never would have agreed to it, you’re absolutely right!”
    “Listen, I can explain—”
    “No, let me, ” she fires back. “While you jet off to London for the conference, then to God-knows-where-else around the world, Eli and I will be staying here. In Paris. With my parents. Because in your head you’ve convinced yourself that’s safer!”
    Chloe knows me too well. That was my plan to a T. I’d arranged it secretly with Dr. Freitas of the Department of Energy. And it did sound good in my head. But hearing my wife repeat it back to me, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve done the right thing.
    “If there was any way we could stay together,” I say, “any way at all, you know I’d choose that in a heartbeat. But be real, Chloe. Let’s say they send me to the Amazon. Or Mount Kilimanjaro. Or the Ant arctic. Are those any places to take a four-year-old?”
    Chloe just rolls her beautiful eyes.
    I want to tell her we’ll talk every day, no matter where in the world I am. I want her to know that every second I’m not working on solving the animal crisis, I’ll be thinking about her and Eli. I want her to believe me when I promise I’ll be coming back to get them as soon as I possibly can.
    But I don’t get a chance to say any of that. Our plane touches down on a private runway at Le Bourget, and before I know it, Chloe and I are walking down the retractable steps, Eli in my arms. A shiny black Citroën sedan and a handful of people are already waiting for us on the tarmac.
    “Chloe, ma petite chérie! ”
    Marielle Tousignant, my wife’s bubbly seventy-year-old stepmother, wraps her in an emotional hug. Marielle married her widowed father when Chloe was still fairly young. She never adopted Chloe officially, but it didn’t matter. Marielle couldn’t have children