I ran as fast as I could back to the car, glancing over my shoulder and listening for the indominus to show herself. Slamming the door shut, I looked around once more before slamming my foot down on the gas pedal. The tires spun, kicking up gravel and I raced towards the control room. My hands shook as I reached for the phone.
"Hello?" Lawery asked.
"Lawery, get me coordinates on the indominus," I demanded.
"Ok," he paused, confused. "Yeah, I'm doing it right now." He informed me. "What's going on?" He asked.
"Just get me the coordinates!" I yelled.
"Did it get out?" He asked again.
"Lawery!" I yelled.
"Wait, what the hell? It's in the cage." He told me.
I was seconds from the control room. "That's impossible!" I yelled. "I was just there."
"Claire, I'm telling you she's in the cage." He assured me. "Wait a sec," he went on.
My heart sank into my stomach.
"There's people in the cage!"
"Who?" I screamed into the phone.
No one answered me.
"Get them out," I ordered. "Now!" I didn't need them to tell me who was in the cage. I knew from their silence. Owen put himself in danger for the second time today.
"Paddock eleven this is control," Vivian spoke, "you need to evacuate the containment area."
"No one is answering." Lawery informed me.
"Tell them again!" I instructed.
"Paddock eleven? Paddock eleven do you copy?" Vivian tried again.
"What's the problem?" I heard someone answer her. It wasn't Owen's voice.
"It's in the cage! It's in there with you!" Vivian yelled.
There was commotion on the other end as everyone spoke at once. I knew Owen was once again on the screen in front of them. This time I was blind to what was going on. I didn't know if he was alive or dead.
"Close the gate." I heard Mr. Masrani speak.
"We can't just leave him in there." Lawery stated.
"Who is in there? Somebody talk to me! What is going on?" I yelled, desperate for anyone to tell me where Owen was. I didn't care if it was good or bad news. I just needed to know.
By the time I parked and ran to the control room all damage was done. No one moved or spoke when I entered the room. I glanced at the screens. They showed utter destruction to the indominus paddock. I forced myself to put my job first.
"Everyone remain calm." I spoke slowly, trying not to give away my panic. "The implant will shock it if it gets too close to the perimeter fence."
"It's moving really fast," Lawery pointed out.
"This is control," Vivian spoke into her ear piece, "Put out a park wide alert—"
"Hang up that damn phone!" Mr. Masrani cut her off, stepping around me.
"Sorry, I'm getting new information," she corrected, "everything's fine."
"Let asset containment capture it quietly," Mr. Masrani explained, "the very existence of this park is predicted on our ability to handle incidents like this."
Lawery snorted. "You should put that on the brochure… eventually one of these things will eat somebody."
"That paddock is four miles from the closest attraction. ACU can handle this," I informed him, "No one else is going to get—"
"Eaten?" Lawery finished.
I took a deep breath readying myself for the answer before I even asked the question. "Where is Owen," I asked Vivian.
She nodded not looking up at me, her voice just barely above a whisper. "He was in the cage. He got out before the doors closed, but I lost track of him after that."
I reached out and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Thank you," I whispered around the lump I'm my throat.
I heard the elevator open behind me, spinning on my heels when I heard Owen's voice. He shoved passed the security guard, his eyes wild with fury as he stormed over to me.
My relief of having him in front of me turned to fear. I have never in the entire nine years I've known Owen have seen him this mad.
"What the hell happened out there?" He yelled, his eyes burning through me.
"Calm down," I spoke softly, but he did the opposite.
He took another hard step towards me and I backed away instinctively. "There are thermal cameras all over that paddock. She did not just disappear!"
I tore my eyes from his and shrugged. "It must have been some technical malfunction."
Owen leaned towards me, pointing to the screen. "Were you not watching? She marked up that wall as a distraction. She wanted us to think she escaped."
"Owen, we are talking about an animal here." I tried reasoning with him.
"A highly intelligent animal!" He yelled, his face so close to mine our noses almost touching. There was nothing but fire in his eyes. I almost couldn't recognize the face in front of me.
"40 meters to the beacon," Vivian interrupted us.
I shook my head, taking another step back from Owen. Everyone in the room disappeared from my mind as soon as Owen walked into the room. My focus slowly went back to the screen. I could feel the vibrations of Owen's rage in the air between us.
"You're going after her with non-lethals?" Owen asked Mr. Masrani. I sighed glad his anger wasn't pointed at me anymore.
I knew he blamed me for his. I let this monster exist. I blamed myself as well.
"We have twenty-six million dollars invested in this asset, we can't just kill it," Mr. Masrani informed him.
"Three hundred meters," Vivian pointed out.
"These men are going to die," Owen said as he focused on the screen. He turned slowly towards me. "Call this mission off right now." He demanded.
"They're right on top of it," Vivian said.
Owen's eyes narrowed when I didn't speak. "Call it off right now!" He yelled so loud his voice echoed off the walls around us.
I swallowed hard. "You are not in control here." I loved Owen, I loved him with every fiber of my being, but any decision I made right now would depend heavily on the safety of the guests here in the park.
His eyes widened and he took a step away from me. Shock flashed across his face. I have never used my authority to overrule him, but in this instant he needed to realize this was my job. This was under my control.
He turned his back to me as he focused on the screen.
I quickly wiped away the stray tear the escaped my eye and straightened up.
"What is that?" Mr. Masrani asked, pointing at the bloody object in the hands of one of the ACU officers.
"That's her tracking device," Owen pointed out. She clawed it out." He didn't seem surprised.
"How would it know to do that?" I asked.
"She remembered where they put it in," Owen answered without looking back at me.
I stared at his back, wanting to reach out to him. To apologize.
"It can camouflage!" The scream from the screen caused me to jump and I brought my attention back up to the monitors.
Within seconds the indominus ripped through the entire ACU team. One by one their heart monitors flatlined. I reached for Owen's hand and he snapped it out of my grasp. Still refusing to look at me, he kept his back towards me and stepped away.
I let my shoulders slump forward.
Owen slowly turned towards me, his face emotionless. "Evacuate the island."
I shook my head not meeting his eyes, "We'd never reopen." I whispered.
I closed my eyes when I heard the disappointment in his voice. "You made a genetically modified hybrid, raised it in captivity. She is seeing all this for the first time. She does not even know what she is. She will kill everything that moves."
Mr. Masrani spoke for me. "Do you think the animal is contemplating its own existence?"
"She's finding out where she fits on the food chain and I don't think you want her to figure that out." He stepped away from me, his focus on Mr. Masrani. "Asset Containment can use live ammunition in an emergency situation. You have a M134 in your armory, put it on a chopper and smoke this thing!" His military senses were on high and had to step in again. We are not in a war.
"There are families here. I'm not going to turn this place into some kind of war zone!"
He clapped his hands to his temples and fisted his hair. "You already have!"
This was not a place for him. There was no reasoning with him.
I took a deep breath knowing what I was about to say will effect us personally. "If you're not going to help," I spoke not meeting his eyes. "then there's no reason for you to be here."
He didn't say anything to me. I didn't dare look up at him. I jumped as he took his rage out on Lawery's dinosaur collection. I peeked up at his back as he walked towards the elevator. "I would have a word with your people in the lab. That thing out there… that's no dinosaur." He stepped into the elevator and met my eyes just as the doors shut.
With Owen gone, my confidence returned. "I'm going to close everything north of the resort."
Vivian snapped into action, "This is a phase one—real world, bring everyone in."
The security screen for the main lobby caught my attention. There was a familiar face I focused on. It was the mother I saw downstairs with the little girl who lost her dinosaur. Sure enough the little girl came into view holding two identical stuffed animals as she skipped around her mother.
"Maisie!" I gasped, fumbling with my phone.
There were four missed calls from Beth. I slammed my finger down on her name and the line rang once before her frantic voice filled my ear.
"I can't find them!" She cried into the phone.
"Who?" I asked, my heart jumping into my throat.
"Any of them! We were at the petting zoo… they're gone!"
I hung up, turning back to the security screen. I searched different parts of the park trying to locate Maisie or the boys, but they didn't show their faces anywhere.
Owen's face caught my eye as he spoke to a man downstairs. I ran for the door.