Free Taming a Planet (Trapped in Time Book 2) by Saxon Andrew Page B

pulled the retract cord on the glider and the two wings snapped in as he caught his feet under him and stumbled toward them. He took off the face mask and Harmony saw him. Her expression was another vision he would never forget. Then the smell hit his nostrils and he dropped to his knees. “WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS THAT SMELL?”
    Harmony had jumped out of the saddle and started running toward him but stopped short. Andy was shaking his head and Harmony said, “Dinah has an odor that attracts predators. I used the stink bush to gather pods.”
    Andy shook his head and Harmony hesitated but then said, “To hell with it.” She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Andy’s neck, “You don’t know how good it is to see you.”
    Andy held his nose and pulled her close, “I thought you were dead. I flew past you and didn’t see you. You nearly scared me out of ten years of my life.”
    Harmony held him tight and then leaned back. “Did you find them?” Andy nodded. Harmony took her arms from around his neck and turned away.
    Andy reached forward and grabbed one of her arms and pulled her back. He immediately grabbed his nose and pinched it close, “Damn, you stink. Harmony, I saw one of the guards hacked to death for refusing to execute some young boys. You had no choice. What you were forced to do hurt you to your core and I know what it cost you. You were a child when you were first forced to do what they wanted. You weren’t wise enough to stand up to them on principle.” Harmony started crying and shaking her head. Andy grabbed her chin with his free hand and made her look at him, “But you never lost your heart. They weren’t able to kill that part of you that makes you the wonderful person you are. You have to let it go and try to atone for what you’ve done.” Andy shook his head, “God, why did you do this? Death by a carnivore is better than this smell.”
    Harmony’s tears continued and she couldn’t help but smile, “We have not been bothered by any predators since I put these pods on the saddle.”
    “I can understand why!”
    “You’ll get used to it in about two hours and then you’ll only notice it when you focus on it.”
    Andy shook his head and noticed that there were no dinosaurs downwind from them. “I need to repack the glider.”
    “You should stop holding your nose. It’ll only take longer to grow accustomed to the smell.”
    Andy released his nose and winced. He walked over to the glider and began sliding the frame into the hollow rods. “What made you do this?”
    “I saw a T-Rex stick his head out of the forest and sniff the air. It immediately turned toward Dinah. It started a charge but I moved her too far away. I confirmed that Dinah has an odor that attracts carnivores. I figured the only way to prevent it was to use the stink bush pods to cover her smell.”
    “How did she take it?”
    “About like you’d expect. She doesn’t like it but her sense of smell is back. She can smell predators again.”
    “I must have flown by when her nose was deactivated by this malicious odor.”
    Harmony sat down with her rifle over her legs, “What do you think about what you saw?”
    Andy looked at her and winced as a breeze blew the smell toward him, “Are you sure about getting used to this?”
    “I don’t really notice it. I suspect we’ll have to pick some more pods at the next source of water.”
    “The Destroyers are heartless. Why didn’t you tell me about their boats and those huge guns?”
    “I would have eventually. I guess I don’t want to think about when I was captured and taken by them.”
    “You’re going to need to get over that; my Elders need to hear everything you know.” Harmony sighed and nodded. “We’re going to have to plan on how to counter them.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Their large guns can fire on my community from the ocean.” Harmony looked at the tall cliff and her eyes narrowed. “We have cut the height of the cliff at my