Chapter 7

Owen's eyes shot from left to right as he counted the number of enemies surrounding them. There were two men behind, one beside and one in front of him. He didn´t know how of them had guns, but he suspected almost every one. It was now or never. He punched the one closest to him in the face. He felt the bone of his target's nose break under the abrupt impact of his clenched fist.

"It's a trap! Back to the Insula!" he called.

The Ukrainians reckoned their ambush attempt had been discovered and they drew their guns. The InGen employees also grabbed their weapons, resulting in a short-range firefight. Owen did not possess a gun. Instead he charged at one of the foes behind him forcing the man backwards. Like a quarterback he slammed into the sailor and together they tumbled over a nearby crate. His target hit the deck with his head and got knocked unconscious. All around there were the echoes of gunfire and the cries of people getting shot. From behind the crate Owen witnessed his team getting butchered. The leader of the party got decapitated by the Japanese gangster, whereas the rest was shot trying to return to their ship.

"OWEN!"

A marine aboard the Insula called his name to alert him that the gangplank was about to fall. He knew that he had only one chance. In a swift motion he snatched up the sailor's gun and shot the last man that blocked his way to the side of the ship. As he ran towards the gangplank, he glanced back and saw two of his allies doing the same thing. He noticed it was already wobbling frightfully, but there was no time for hesitation. The Insula had fired up her engines to make a tactical retreat and this was the only way. Halfway, the plank collapsed and Owen made a leap for the railing, just managing to grab on one of the cables.

He tried to pull himself up, but was caught by surprise as an abrupt extra weight pulled him down and made his hand slip from the cable. In the blink of an eye his sharp reflexes had him seize the ledge of the deck with his other hand, saving him from a quick descent. An InGen employee had made the same jump, yet couldn't reach the ship anymore. Instead he had grabbed hold of Owen's legs, almost taking both of them down.

"HEY! PULL US UP!" Owen shouted.

The sharp whizzing of nearby bullets pained his ears and he called out again. This time a man leaned over and lifted him up by his arms. When he was almost back on the deck, he heard another whiz and the weight at his knees vanished. Below him, the man tumbled down with two blood stains on his chest. The hail of bullets continued and he and his saviour went inside.

"We have to contact Isla Nublar asap." he advised.

"We can't, not from out here. We have to get closer to the sluice."

A sluice was built into the north side of the wall to allow InGen´s ships to pass through without letting the fauna escape. It was an unmanned station, but had a radio tower to redirect transmissions to Isla Nublar if anything went wrong.

"Who's in command now that the captain's dead?"

"The next in command was Charlie, but he got shot inches behind you."

Owen remembered the falling man with the gunshot wounds.

"And after him?"

"I believe you are, sir."

.

It was much darker in the dense jungle than Alan had expected. The canopy blocked almost every ray of sunlight and those that did pass were not enough to lighten everything. The subsequent random spots of dark vegetation had everyone on edge, not to mention the random sounds. The continuous suspense combined with the damp atmosphere had everyone soaked in less than half an hour. The group was marching in a line with Ivan up front. After him five of his mercenaries, then Alan, Arie, Ian, Harold and at the back the last two soldiers. Nobody had said a word since they had left and Ivan had only communicated with his men through sign language. Grant and Malcolm appreciated this. Arie on the other hand could not stand the silence any longer.

"Do we even know where this Aleksei was when it happened?"

He carefully avoiding the word 'killed' in the hope not to arouse another hate-fuelled speech from their Ukrainian companions. Alan was surprised by the ease with which the old man managed to keep up with them.

"Ssssh!" Malcolm hushed.

"What? If these creatures are as dangerous as you described them, I'm sure they'll hear us coming even if we are quiet." Arie replied annoyed.

"He's got a point Malcolm." Alan admitted.

"Nonetheless I prefer quiet." Ian whispered.

"I'm sorry, mister Ivan?"

"What?" the latter replied sour.

Vliegenthart was about to repeat his question when he was already given his answer.

"Every radio has an tracker that can be switched on. Aleksei activated his the moment he left camp."

The old professor nodded. Ian tried to make them whisper, yet all he got was a glare. Fortunately for him this reply was the end of the conversation.

The undergrowth was dense. If a raptor was three metres away you wouldn't even be able to spot it. Ian had seen the velociraptors make use of such advantages before. During his last trip here, they had been cunning enough to hide themselves in tall grass. They couldn't be seen until it was too late and no-one had stood a chance. He expected the same thing to happen any second, causing him to sweat perhaps even more than the others. Repeatedly he wiped his forehead with his sleeve, soaking it too in minutes.

Suddenly a shape emerged from the bush next to him and in panicky move he fell on his back, shielding his face with his arms. All around him the guns were aimed for his position. It was only a bird however, that flew up to the safety of the trees. Malcolm wished he could too. The men laughed at him, mocking him as payback for his negative attitude. He didn't care, he would be right sooner or later. As Arie had said before, it was impossible for the twelve of them to travel undetected. And when the time came that he would be proven right, he'd let them know. If anyone was still alive of course.

"Be careful that the parrot doesn't peck you on the head." Harold joked as he walked past him.

The soldier behind him reached out to help Ian back on his feet. Out of thin air, a man-sized brown creature emerged, charging Harold in the back pushing him face down in the grass. The bodyguard wrapped his arms around his neck for protection, consequently getting bitten there. The razor-sharp teeth cut open his arm as the animal tried aimed for his throat. The second soldier in the back of the line drew his gun in a flowing motion and filled the beast excessively with hollow points. The entire cascade of events took only a few seconds, but in that time Harold's arm had gotten severely ruptured.

"Your first battle scar, Harold!" one of the soldiers laughed.

The seeming unshakable bodyguard got up and was still a little pale because of what had endured. It took him a brief moment to regain his sturdy attitude. The group's medic applied a bandage on his torn arm. Harold thanked him and then pointed at the mangled corpse in front him.

"Is that a raptor?" he asked.

"No…" Alan said, bending over "it is not."

"Then what is it?" Ian asked, still a little pale from the ambush attack.

"If I am correct, than this is a Sinornithosaurus. It is a late cretaceous dinosaur from nowadays Asia."

"Looks like mutant bird." Harold's saviour remarked in deficient English.

"Well, it is part of the group that developed the first feathers. The descents of this thing became the birds, so you're not entirely wrong. These creatures cannot fly though. They glide between treetops similar to flying squirrels today."

"Flying squirrel?" Ivan asked.

"Never mind. What's important is that it is believed to have venom glands."

Everyone looked at Harold, who shook his head in reply. Their stare maintained as if the man could display signs of poisoning any second.

"Really, I feel fine."

"Well, maybe InGen's genetic recombination has abolished that property?" Ian suggested.

"Let's hope so, for his sake."

"I told you. I'm al-right!" Harold sparked.

Ivan had heard enough.

"Okay" he said, "then we're moving on. And keep your eyes up as well, we don't want any more birds landing on poor Harold here!"

.

The Insula was no longer side to side with The Russian Jewel, but the danger had not yet been averted. They had to get out of range quickly. The cargo ship was still anchored and it would take them a while to reel in the enormous anchor. Also it would be much slower than the more lightweight Insula. The real problem was the four long range cannons, positioned on all sides of the enemy vessel. As they were distancing themselves as fast as they could, Owen stared perplexed at everyone on the bridge.

"How can I be the next man in charge?"

"Formally you're not, I am." the first mate answered "However, you are the only one with military experience. Therefore I think you are the best choice to take command in our current situation."

"I didn't serve in the navy!" Owen shouted.

Although he understood the reasoning, he didn't want to be in charge. He didn't have any more clue than anyone else in the room. He looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at him and none of them was willing to take no for an answer. As much as he'd like to argue against his appointment, he reckoned that time was scarce and thus accepted it reluctantly.

"Alright then." he sighed, "Now let me see."

He studied the map of the area carefully even though there wasn't much to look at. He contemplated whether to fight or to run away. Neither of the options struck him as ideal. The only difference he could deduce was getting shot up close or at a distance.

"What do we do sir?"

"Don't call me sir!" he responded aggressively.

"Sorry, Owen."

He made an apologetic gesture to the man. The tension was making him petulant.

"We gotta try to get out of range, fast."

"But with our cannons…"

"I know we have cannons, two. They have four. Now that we are speaking about those cannons, we shouldn't be going in a straight line. Try to make a zigzag manoeuvre to doge the incoming fire and have it as random as possible. Isn't there a military tactic like that?"

The first mate nodded and began shouting commands down the radio. Almost immediately Owen felt the ship tilting. The swift response pleased him. He walked outside and took the binoculars from his bag. The Russian Jewel hadn't begun to lift anchor yet.

'They must be pretty confident about their gunfire' Owen pondered hoping they were wrong.

He spotted how the front, side and rear cannon slowly aimed for their position. He praised the Insula for its speed as they doubled their distance during that time. He saw the first round being fired and a few seconds later an enormous splash behind them. Owen heaved a sigh of relief. As planned, their boat now made a one hundred and fifty degree turn. A second bang echoed over the water, this time the distance was correct, yet thanks to their manoeuvre it still missed. The third was delayed until when the Insula began to make another turn. This time however, it was only forty five degrees resulting in another splash.

"Come on! We're almost out of range." Owen spoke nervously to himself.

Then, The Russian Jewel did what he had feared the most. All three cannons rotated in different directions. When the Insula made a rightward turn, Owen knew it was already over. The three cannons fired simultaneously and he could only stare at the incoming shells. Two splashes, one at their previous course and one to the left of it. The third round dug itself into the hull of the Insula and blew it open.

The force of the blast wave pushed Owen from the bridge and he fell six metres down. Whereas he thought to land on the deck and break his neck, he ended up in the canvas of one of the lifeboats. The impact had ruptured its chain and had shove it onto the deck. His head was sore from the explosion, but he was alive. Having thought this for only a moment, two more rounds hit the Insula. The first at the bow, tilting the ship forward as it began to sink, the second into the bridge hut. If that first hit hadn't knocked him over, he would've be dead.

"Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

The man that called out to was his previous saviour. Not that he needed to. It was already evident that the vessel was lost and everyone was making his way to the boats. Together with a couple of sailors, Owen pushed the lifeboat over the side. As the ship was sinking rapidly it was only a three metres drop. When The Insula had vanished into the blue, all members that were still alive had spread themselves across the three emergency vessels.

"What do we do now?" someone asked.

Before Owen had time to respond, another man beat him to it.

"Everyone, calm down!" the guy shouted from another boat. "They've just set out a small transport. They're coming this way to pick us up!"

End of chapter