Chapter Twelve
I follow behind Owen and the door to the command centre opens, revealing a whole lot of people behind computers as well as Claire and Simon. Claire's eyes fall on us as we walk through the door. The guard asks for a badge but I snarl at him and he backs off. Owen is thrumming with anger and I don't blame him
"What the hell happened out there?!"
The guard tries to grab hold of Owen but he struggles in the man's grip. I grab Owen away from him trying to get him to calm down
"Getting angry is not doing us any favours Owen"
He looks at me, frustrated at the turn of event but says nothing. I look at Claire
"Claire what exactly is going on with this dinosaur? Your cameras were not able to pick up on her and she was still in the paddock"
"There must have been some kind of a technical malfunction"
Owen's face goes red
"Were you not watching?! She marked up that wall as a distraction; she wanted us to think she escaped"
Claire does her trademark spin
"Hold on, we are talking about an animal here"
"A highly intelligent animal"
A young woman speaks through their argument
"Four hundred metres to the beacon"
Voices come over the speakers about location and approaching the target. Simon stands not too far from me and I have to ask him
"Simon"
He looks at me, worry in his eyes. I approach him
"Simon we need to stop the Indominus"
"I know that, I understand that"
"You realise that we are going to have to put her down?"
"We have twenty six million dollars invested in that asset. We can't just kill it"
"Then I'm sorry to say that you have sent those men to their deaths"
"Three hundred metres to the beacon"
I plead with Simon
"You have to call them off"
Owen backs me up
"Call it off right now"
Claire the ever wise butts in
"You are not in control here"
We hear beeping and we look towards the screen. A soldier had found a piece of flesh and picked it up. Embedded in it is the tracking device
"Her tracking implant" I whisper
"She clawed it out"
"How would it know to do that?" Claire asked
"It remembered where it had been inserted" I say and walk towards the screens. I could hear the rustling of leaves but something isn't right…
Drip, drip, drip…
Suddenly a scream comes over the speakers
"It can camouflage!"
We hear a roar and there is chaos erupting all around them. We hear the scream of the commander and its abrupt cut off. On the screen Commander Hamada's life line goes dead. Trooper Craig's goes dead not soon after, and then another and another. I look at Simon
"We have no time left, call them off to fall back and hide, or they're goners Simon"
Screams surround us and many other life lines go dead. Masrani puts his hands together and looks thoughtful and regretful at the same time. Owen looks at Claire
"Evacuate the island"
"We'd never reopen"
I feel the rage well up in me and I can't control myself any longer
"Is that all you care about Claire, the fact that this park will never open doors again?! How sick are you? There are people on this island that you are responsible for and will be held responsible for if something happens to them because of this 'asset'. You made a hybrid dinosaur and kept her locked away for her entire life. Now that she managed to get free she is learning where exactly she fits in the food chain. And trust me once she realises where she fits, no one is going to want to stick around for the aftermath"
"Asset containment can use live ammunition in an emergency situation. You have an M134 in your armoury, put it on a chopper and smoke this thing!"
"We have families here. I'm not gonna turn this place into some kind of war zone"
I approach them
"Too bad, Claire, because from what I can see, you have no other choice"
She points at Owen and I
"If the both of you are not going to help there's no reason for either of you to be in here"
Owen strikes out at the dinosaurs perched on one of the guy's desk, knocking them over onto the floor. The guy doesn't look impressed and I give him an apologetic look. Owen clearly done with the situation approaches Masrani
"I would have a work with your people in the lab. That thing out there…that's no dinosaur"
With that he strides out and into the lift. I look at Claire
"If you don't care about yourself and getting out of here alive, then at least care about the people out there that have trusted you to take care of them"
I get in the lift as well and the door closes.
I place a hand on Owen's shoulder
"We've advised them the best we can. It's their decision whether or not to take the advice"
"Why can't she see further than the end of her nose?"
I give him a small smile
"It's Claire we're talking about. When has she ever admitted that she's wrong?"
He sighs and looks at me with fondness
"When did you get so smart?"
"I told you Owen that I am smarter than your average Jane. You just didn't believe me"
He suddenly pulls me into a hug
"I'm glad that you're always there to back me up"
I smile into his shoulder and wrap my arms around his waist
"Always"
The doors open and we walk out into the corridors, people buzzing around in excitement.
We spend some time looking at them and I can suddenly hear a familiar click of heels. I turn my head and see Claire speed walking through the guests, searching. I tap Owen on the arm and we walk through, approaching her. She looks over us and looks relieved at seeing Owen
"I need you"
Owen goes into a state of dumbness for a moment
"Okay"
"I need your help. My nephews they're out in the valley. Please if something happens to them-"
She looks like she would have a break down at any moment by the way her heart is racing and her breathing pattern is faster than normal. I pull Claire and Owen to the side, not wanting the conversation to heard and cause panic
"How old?" I ask and she looks grateful
"The older one, he's high school age"
She raises her hand to indicate height of a high school student and looks as if though she couldn't come up with a description of the children
"The younger one he's…he's a few years…"
Owen and I look at each other before I ask incredulously
"You don't know how old your nephews are?"