Chapter 6

E-mail exchanges kept us current on the progress of the Foundation's investigation and kept Steve updated on the progress of Bonnie's communications skills. Dr. Greene had been out twice more to do additional testing, each time shaking her head in wonder as she drove away. Her research had convince her that Bonnie's skull was shaped differently than other apes, giving her a cranial capacity nearly as large as a human's.

Adamson's Laboratories was aware they were under suspicion and were being scrutinized by investigators. That's probably why we hadn't seen any of their people showing up at the gate looking for information. That didn't mean they'd given up.

The four of us were having lunch when we heard a helicopter approach, then circle the compound.

"Sarah, do we have any binoculars in the house?" Jimmy and I both stood and headed for the door.

"Um, I think they're in the hall closet on the top shelf."

I rushed down the hall and jerked the door open, finding the case right where she said it was. The chopper was making another pass as I stepped out the door and focused on it.

"Keep Bonnie inside!" I shouted back to Sarah.

"Write this down!" I shouted to Jimmy over the noise of the Bell Ranger that was now hovering over the trees with a good view of the enclosure. "N-717AC, got it?"

As soon as the pilot spotted us watching him, he turned and headed east in a hurry.

"Got it! I got several shots with my I-phone, too." Jimmy said with a grin.

"We can't say for sure who it was but we all have our suspicions, don't we?"

Inside, I opened my laptop and accessed my mail page. We downloaded the pictures from Jimmy's phone and sent them to Steve with a short note describing what happened and asked him to find out who owned the chopper. It might belong to Adamson's or it might have been rented to do some surveillance. In either case, we might be able to tie it to them.

I asked Sarah if there was any chance they'd seen Bonnie.

She seemed angry. "No, we were well inside the door, but I'd say there's a good chance they saw you." As the impact of what she said soaked in, I felt like a complete idiot.

"Well, we have to assume they at least suspect she's here and if they were taking pictures, they'll know I'm here. They don't have the option of trying to get her through the legal system so my guess is they might try to steal her."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Sarah asked. "The Foundation doesn't have the resources to post armed guards around the place."

Bonnie sat on the couch listening to us discuss her fate. I suppose it was still natural for us to overlook the likelihood that she'd have an opinion, forgetting that she probably understood most if not all of what we were saying. After listening to us debate the next move for a while she slid off the couch and stood in front of me to get my attention. When I looked down at her, she signed 'Take me home'.

Jimmy squatted down to eye level with her and they began signing to each other. After a few exchanges, he stood and looked at Sarah and me. "I think she has the best solution. She want's to go home and I think she should. Everything that's happened to her over the last several weeks has been not of her choosing. She may not understand about her rights as an individual but she knows she doesn't belong here."

All my frustrations surfaced. "That's what I've been trying to do ever since I snuck her off the ship, Jimmy. I thought that's what all of us were trying to do."

"We say that and we probably even mean what we say but look what's happened. We've gone into protective mode and, all along, we've been grooming her to live with humans. Everybody wants to watch her grow intellectually and see just how much she can learn from us. Why can't we do that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Why can't she be studied in her own world? Why haven't we worked out a deal with them for her return? If she belongs to anybody, it's to them."

Sarah added her opinion. "I can answer that. It's because she's so unique and valuable to science that we're afraid some incompetent government boob will stuff her back into a cage to be used and experimented on at their whim. And who knows what kind of hoops well have to jump through to get her out of the country and back home?" She kneeled down and hugged Bonnie. "Plus, we've all learned to love her like our own child."

I found myself pacing the room. "I wish we could just bypass the whole damned bureaucracy. Couldn't the US and the Congo collaborate on some kind of joint research project to observe Bonnie and the rest of her clan in the wild?"

"That would be ideal," Sarah agreed, "But it may be pie-in-the-sky thinking. We humans aren't very good at looking past our own selfish interests."

"So what we need is someone powerful whose selfish interests just happen to be in Bonnie's best interests."

Jimmy's brow knitted as he worked over an idea forming inside his large skull. "Sarah, does the Foundation have enough clout that we could get the ear of the President?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I suppose we could get close. What are you thinking?"

Jimmy was getting excited. "Look, wouldn't this be an international relations coup it he could work out a joint research project with the Congo? You know if the public ever learned of Bonnie, she'd be the world's sweetheart. That kind of fame would also force Adamson's and their goons to back off. I think if we could pull this off, it'd be the best protection we could offer her." He threw his huge arm over my shoulder and laughed. "And you'd be a hero instead of a thief, Aaron."