The next morning, I awoke in my hotel room, and followed the soldier to the black SUV to go see Sly. The only thing is, we weren't going in the direction of the warehouse.
When we pulled into a large recreational parking lot, there was a black semi-truck parked behind a building that read SAN DIEGO ZOOLOGY BUILDING.
I sighed. They were really gonna put Sly in a zoo. Greeeaaat. When the car stopped, I jumped out and ran to the truck, where I saw David Whitmore talking with a zookeeper.
"Mr. Whitmore! I don't think it's a good idea to put Sly in a zoo. Now everyone in the world is going to know dinosaurs exist and pretty soon tourists will be swarming the Island!" I shouted at him over the engine of the truck, and Sly's violent hissing from inside.
When he heard my voice, he called to me, and my heart started to break all over again. Mr. Whitmore turned to me.
"Miss MacArthur, the only people who know where that animal came from is me, and the United States Marines. I promise you this is a highly secretive operation. We don't want to endanger anyone by letting them know where more of these beasts are." He pointed to the truck behind him.
"Mr. Whitmore you don't understand. If he gets out of his pen one time, he's going to murder somebody. He's a vicious creature and he's faster than any man with a gun I can promise you that!" I insisted firmly.
He just chuckled.
"We've got this all under control." He stated.
"Then how are you going to feed him? Tranquilize him 3 times a day? How are you going to clean his enclosure? How are you going to get him in their? I'm sure the public of your zoo wouldn't appreciate watching you shoot him just so they can watch him eat, sir!"
By now I was furious, and about ready to rip this guy's head off. Then I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Dawn, calm down."
I turned to face Dr. Grant with a grim look on my face.
"Dr. Grant-"
"Call me Alan." He said.
"Alan, this is the worst idea ever. Out of all the people in the world, wont they listen to you?" I asked helplessly.
He shook his head no.
"Miss MacArthur, will you help us move the animal please?" Mr. Whitmore asked.
I nodded, and slowly made my way to the back of the truck.
"You have to make sure he doesn't jump out when we open the doors and let down the ramp. If he does, my men are armed and I'll have to order them to shoot." He instructed me.
I stood read at the doors when they opened one up, and peeked through. It was dark in the truck, and I couldn't see where I was going when I got in. I walked slowly, speaking softly to Sly as I approached him.
He sat at the far end of the truck, with his head bowed to me. I cooed to him, and finally was close enough to reach out and comfort him. Then said something I couldn't hear, and tossed and object into the trailer. I turned around and picked it up. It was a horse halter with a lead rope clipped to it. I rolled my eyes.
"You need to lead him out with that halter-for safety purposes!" Mr. Whitmore shouted from the end of the trailer.
I sighed, and Sly came to me, sniffing the halter.
"Your gonna hate this, but its gotta be done. If I don't- they'll shoot you." I said softly.
I reached up and slid the halter over his nose. He struggled a little bit, but I got it securely fastened. I rubbed his nose for a minute, then took up the cotton rope in my hand and started walking towards the end of the truck.
Sly followed reluctantly, and began hissing when we got closer to the door.
"Everyone needs to stand back and give us some room!" I shouted, and everyone except 2 men stepped way back.
The 2 men opened the second door and let down the ramp, then jumped back out of the way. When we reached the top of the ramp, Sly looked out at all the zookeepers and soldiers and let out a menacing hiss, warning them to stay back.
We descended the ramp slowly, and stopped when we reached the pavement. I looked at Alan, who was smiling, and motioned for him to walk with us.
Alan accompanied me on Sly's right side while I led him from the left. Mr. Whitmore was about 30 feet ahead, leading us to the enclosure.
As we walked past the monkeys, Sly didn't flinch. Monkeys were common where he lived. But when we passed the Tiger enclosure, he stopped and smelled the air. Everyone stopped and waited patiently for Sly to check out the big cat.
When the Tiger stood up from his nap, he too sniffed the air- then growled at the newcomer. Sly raised his head, and hissed back a challenge. That's when I tugged on the rope to get his attention and started walking again.
Sly walked defensively the rest of the way through the zoo all the way to the back where it was privately reserved for him.
When we approached the enclosure, all I saw was a regular steel fence. Just behind the fence was a moat about 10 feet wide and 10 feet deep going all the way around the pen. Behind the fence was a small field about the size of half a football field, a few big piles of dirt, a poor excuse for a waterfall, and some trees behind it. I stopped in my tracks and gave Mr. Whitmore a vacant look.
"Were still remodeling, but it will hold him until the construction crew finishes it this week." He said.
I gave a shot laugh.
"That fence wont hold him."
"There's a ditch too, 10 feet wide, 11 feet deep." He smiled, like he was proud of himself.
"That wont keep him in either. He can jump farther than 10 feet across. And he can jump higher than 11 feet. Hell, he's 6 feet tall and 10 feet long. And most of his height is his legs!" I said.
Alan shook his head, and sighed.
"Well now where do we put him?" Mr. Whitmore asked one of his zookeepers.
I rolled my eyes.
"Well, we recently relocated our elephants, and that enclosure is sealed with an electric fence about 10 feet high sir." The keeper said.
"Does it have somewhere he can hide and get shade? Like a cave?" I asked.
The keeper nodded.
"Its got a pond with catfish, trees, an enclosed barn that can be opened all day, and its about 500 square feet of perimeter." He said.
"That'll do for now." I said, and the zookeeper started walking down a hidden trail behind the bathrooms.
We all followed, and Alan asked me if this was some kind of 'underground railroad' to the elephant pen. I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. Sly seemed to like it. It was a dirt trail through the woods, and I could tell he liked the feel of dirt better than cement on his feet.
When we got to the enclosure, it was a big brown barn, about 30 feet tall, and a tall electric fence. From the back way, I couldn't see the enclosure past the barn.
Everyone moved out of the way when the bard door opened and I led Sly through. The zookeeper directed me towards the middle stall out of 3 on my right. The left side of the barn was for equipment and food storage and such. The door to the stall was a tall steel gate that slid open by push of a button, and the stall itself was about 10 feet in diameter. The floor was just concrete at the moment, but I led Sly inside anyways. On the other side of the stall was a tall steel door with a small strip of window up and down. Sly immediately went to the window and stared out at his temporary home.
Curious as I was, took a peek outside too. The zookeeper was right. A field about 500 feet across spread out horizontally from the window, and I could see the pond about 50 feet from the barn. But there were only a few trees.
"You know, this enclosure is bigger than the one we were originally reserving for him. And the barn is certainly large enough. We could just keep him here." Mr. Whitmore said from behind the closed stall gate.
I turned and looked at him.
"There are not enough trees. Of course he needs room to run, but he needs cover and shade too. His natural habitat is tropical forest, so youre gonna have to comply with his needs."
I said.
"Well, we can put in a couple more trees, but we cant go spending a fortune giving him trees just to make him feel like he's back home again. We want the public to be able to see him." Mr. Whitmore said.
I walked up to the gate and snatched up the collar of his shirt, pulling him against the steel bars. Then I spoke calm, but firmly.
"I'm the boss of this operation. You'll put as many trees in this enclosure as I say. If I want a sparkling rock waterfall, I want to see one in here by next week. You do whatever necessary to make him comfortable and happy, understand?" I told him.
"yes maim." He said.