Chapter Eight – Under Investigation Part 2
"Jenny, do your thing. Becker, tell your men to stay outside and on the road, if anything comes out that shop they shoot it" Matt began "We'll enter the shop and attempt to contain the creature" he finished and his assembled team gave him a nod, Matt then turned to look at Gavin "Stay back with Jenny" Matt said and quickly unloaded an EMD rifle from the pickup "Use this only if you have to, that switch to power it up and pull the trigger. Lester said your ex-MI5, guessing you must be a good shot" he said before he and the team moved towards the shop. Once they were close enough, Matt chanced a glance round the corner and into the shop window to see what the team were up against.
"What have we got Matt?" Becker asked quietly, hearing the loud crunching of glass from inside the shop.
"An Ankylosaurus, an adult I think, it's at least 2 metres tall" Matt replied, knowing this was going to be incredibly tough to contain and return home through the doorway in time.
"The anomaly must lead to the Cretaceous then; we need to get it locked before anything else comes through. The armour on its back is thick, the EMD's probably won't affect it if we hit the plates, we'll need to aim for its underbelly" Connor told the team, Matt was silent for a moment before pressing his earpiece.
"Jess, do you know exactly where the anomaly is in the building?" Matt asked the young field coordinator.
"It was in the store room, directly behind the shop floor. The creature must have gone through the wall separating the two" Jess replied, Matt could hear Danny and Emily talking in the background, but not what they were saying.
"Thanks Jess" the team leader then turned to his three team mates "Ankylosaurus are incredibly heavy, so moving it when it's knocked out isn't going to be an option. Instead of knocking the creature out, were going to use the EMD's on the lowest setting to push the creature back through the anomaly. Once it's through, Connor, you get the anomaly locked" Matt told his team, who gave him nods "It's a herbivore so it won't be trying to eat us, just keep out of the way of the tail, if that hits you, it'll be like getting hit by a bus" he added just as the creature let out a low roar.
Matt held up three fingers and lowered slowly, once they were all lowered, the team moved forward in unison and began firing EMD rounds at the creature, which turned its head to face the team. The heavy tail swung through the air, the club smashing into a glass partition that went from the floor to the ceiling, the resulting smash sent shards of glass flying through the air. Abby was closest to the glass and she let go of her EMD to shield her face, but one piece of glass managed to pierce her cheek. Matt turned to what had happened to Abby and moved quickly across the shop floor to cover her, firing EMD rounds straight at the Ankylosaurus, which reared slightly onto its back legs.
"Becker" Matt shouted across the shop "I'm getting Abby out of here, you and Connor get it back through the anomaly" the team leader yelled, guiding the young blond woman out of the shop. Becker and Connor slowly moved forward, forcing the large creature back towards the anomaly at the back of the room. The Ankylosaurus raised it head and let out another roar and moved forwards, sending more racks of clothes flying through the air. Becker dived out of the way of a metal clothing rack that flew in his direction, hitting the hard ground with a loud thud, he heard Connor shout something and then the voice of another man reply. Through his blurry vision, Becker could hear the creature roar and saw it move backwards further into the shop, the unmistakable sounds of EMD blasts filling the room, then everything around the military captain went silent.
"Get it locked Connor" a voice ordered in the distance, and Becker then heard the crunch of broken glass and felt someone grab his shoulder, giving him a shake, his vision still blurry from when he hit his head.
"Mmm fine" Becker groggily mumbled, attempting to sit up, he then saw the face of Gavin Ashton in front of him, a concerned frown on his face.
"Are you sure Captain?" Gavin asked as Connor quickly made his way over to where Becker was sitting.
"The anomaly's locked and there's no sign of any other creatures" Connor said, kneeling down and giving Becker a worried look. Becker's vision slowly became less blurry and he took in the scene around him, and he could only hope the shop had insurance. Broken bricks and concrete were scattered across the shop floor from where the Ankylosaurus had smashed its way out of the store room, leaving a gaping hole in the wall separating the store room. Becker turned to look at Gavin Ashton a bit more closely, the sleeves to his white shirt were rolled up and his shirt was untucked, he looked nothing like the normal government worker the captain was used to seeing.
"Is Abby okay?" Becker asked, remembering it had been the young blonde who had taken the impact of the shattering glass partition.
"She'll be fine mate" Matt answered, appearing beside the military captain, followed by Jenny "Just a superficial graze, it looked worse than it actually was" he finished, watching as Becker stood up. He wobbled slightly as the blood rushed to his head, and Gavin was quickly at his side, an arm round his shoulder keeping him up.
"I'm impressed you managed to get the creature through by yourself Connor" Matt smiled at the young computer geek, who looked up at the team leader.
"It wasn't me, it was all Gavin, just marched through the door and fired at the Ankylosaurus until it went through, he was like a machine" Connor said with a impressed grin at the assistant director.
"It was nothing, honestly" Gavin replied shyly before leading Becker out of the ruined shop and into the back of the ARC ambulance waiting outside on the street. Once the two had disappeared from view, Connor continued
"Trust me, it was more than nothing, was like something from a James Bond film. I'm going to find Abby" he said, bending down to pick up Becker's discarded EMD rifle before walking out of the shop. Matt then tuned to look at Jenny before walking over to her.
"Good luck explaining this to the owners Jen, I'll keep two men here to watch over the anomaly until it closes. Make sure the road stays closed until we can get the windows boarded up" Matt ordered.
"Already organised, the road will stay closed till tomorrow morning and Jess is sending someone down to block up the windows" Jenny answered "As for what I will tell the owners, I'll work on that when I get back to the ARC. Could tell him the truth, that way he might just laugh it off" she finished, sighing as looked around at the devastation.
Xxxxx
Outside on the main road, Abby and Becker were both sat in the back of the ARC ambulance getting checked over by two of the ARC's medical team when Connor found them.
"You both looked wrecked" he said simply, leaning against the doorway of the ambulance, this earned him two glares from his teammates.
"Thanks Connor, it's nice to see you too" Abby snapped at her fiancé, winching slightly as Alex, one of the ARC medics, finished cleaning up the cut on her cheek.
"You very lucky it only tore the surface of the skin Abby, any deeper and it definitely would have needed stiches and probably would have scarred" the male paramedic told her before softly placing a plaster on her cheek "Change the plaster every few hours or as and when you need too" he finished, watching as his colleague Sophie tended to Becker.
"Captain Becker, you have a mild concussion so I advise you stay at the ARC tonight where we can keep an eye on you" Sophie began as she ripped of her gloves "Although if you have someone who can go home with you then I'll be happy with that" she stated.
"He can come home with me" answered the voice of Jenny Lewis from outside the ambulance "I'll keep an eye on him and wake him up every couple of hours" she told the paramedic, who gave her a nod.
"Very well, if Captain Becker is happy with that then I am too" Sophie replied, and Becker grinned as he gave a nod, knowing he couldn't argue with the ARC teams PR officer.
"You two ride back to the ARC with the medics, we'll finish up here and meet you there" Jenny ordered and Connor stepped back from the ambulance, letting Sophie slam the door shut. Connor and Jenny then watched as the ambulance started up and drove out of view, the two of them then turned back to where the shop was stood, looking at the glass and clothes that covered the road out front.
"What the hell are you going to tell the press?" Connor asked Jenny, who looked over at him with a smile on her face.
"I have something in mind" Jenny replied before straightening her dress and walking over to where the assembled new crews and reporters were stood. Connor smiled to himself before wandering back over to the shop to see if Matt needed a hand with anything.
Xxxxx
"…and in other news, Strand Avenue remains to the public following the closure of the high street earlier this morning due to a power surge in the store room of TopShop. Emergency services were called to the scene at around 9.30am this morning following a large explosion in the storeroom of the popular clothing shop. The closure has caused queues and delays on the roads in the surrounding area, and is expected to remain closed until tomorrow-"
The television in Lester's office was muted and the director of ARC operations turned to face Gavin Ashton, who sat on the other side of the desk watching something on his iPhone.
"I have to admit, Jenny is very good at what she does" Gavin expressed looking up from his phone to Lester "There seems to be no video coverage of what happened, the only one I could find was the edited film she supplied to the press" he added, putting his phone into his suit pocket.
"That's why I tried so hard to get her back last year" Lester said, watching out of his office window as Jenny, Becker and Danny made their way through the Hub and towards the lift, heading towards the underground car park. He then picked up a plastic file folder and passed it to Gavin "I read the field report Connor supplied, it seems you were quite the hero today" Lester told his assistant director, who dropped the file onto the desk.
"It was honestly nothing, Abby was injured and Matt got her out of the shop, I just stepped in thinking they might have needed some help" Gavin said, standing up and doing up the buttons to his suit jacket "I need to get going, the boys are home alone and I can only imagine what might be happening" he finished, smiling at Lester.
"How are they doing, I know it must be hard doing it alone" Lester said as he leant back in his chair, Gavin was silent for a moment before sighing and sitting back down in the seat he had just vacated.
"It wasn't hard when they were younger, they needed me back then, plus my sister has always been with us and supported me. Now there older they go off and do their own thing" he said, watching as Lester pulled out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses from his drawer.
"How old are they now, it's been what; eight years since I saw them last" Lester said as he poured a generous amount of amber liquid into each glass and then handed one to Gavin.
"Ben is 21 and works at the Home Office as a personal assistant. Owen turned 18 last month, he's doing his second year of college" Gavin said as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and found a recent photo of his two sons, he always carried it with him; he passed it over to Lester.
"They've grown up a lot. The last time I saw Owen he was half the size and the curls were overflowing his head" Lester smiled "Ben looks exactly like you, everything except your smile, he has Claire's smile in this photo" Lester remembered fondly as he passed the photo back to Gavin once the younger man had downed the contents of his drink.
"Yeah, he does. I'm glad one of them has something of hers" Gavin said quietly to Lester, who studied him closely, eventually the silence was broken by Gavin's phone ringing, he quickly looked for Lester's approval before he answered it.
"Hi Owen, everything okay…yeah, I'm just leaving work now…its fine, I'll pick you up on the way home…okay, see you then…bye" Gavin finished before hanging up the phone, he then looked apologetically at Lester, who shrugged.
"Go on, go home Gavin, it's been a long day" Lester ordered and Gavin gave him a small smile before standing up and making way towards the door, he then looked back to his boss sitting behind the desk.
"Night boss" Gavin said before quickly making his way out of Lester's office and disappearing from view. Lester sat back in his chair again and picked up his own mobile, hesitating slightly, he then dialled a number and waited for a response.
"Hello dear…I'm coming now, I'll be half an hour…okay, love you…see you in a bit" Lester finished before powering down his computer and leaving his office, turning out the lights as the door slowly shut behind him.
So that was the final instalment of Part 1, I'm already working away on Part 2, so please let me know what you thought. Feedback is always great! what you like to see happen next?!