It took a several minutes for the natural ARC bustle to restore itself. Becker reluctantly released his grip on the door handle. It appeared that was all that was holding the door up, it crashed to the floor. As he walked towards Connor, Abby and Jess various members of the ARC staff swarmed into the armoury and began to clean up the hideous mess the creature had left in its wake.
"Was anybody hurt?" Abby asked him.
"No fatalities but the majority of my back up need stitches. I think we were lucky."
Abby pondered this, if Becker had needed back up then he'd probably gone off to stop the creature alone. She could imagine Jess had had something to say about that.
"Lucky? That anomaly materialised in the ARMOURY!" Jess snapped before storming towards the ADD.
"Why do I get the impression she's 'Matt' at you?" Connor joked.
He resisted the temptation to laugh when he saw the soldier's irritated expression. Abby too bit back a grin pitying the Captain and not wanting her boyfriend to be shoved into a bodybag.
"She's probably just upset about the amount of paperwork she has to do." Abby comforted.
"Maybe we had a bit of an argument before I dealt with the creature but it all worked out!" Becker exclaimed.
Connor remained oblivious to Becker's mood and opened his mouth to say something undoubtedly inappropriate but Abby stepped on his foot. He yelped.
"So – Lester mentioned your heroics, what happened in there?" Abby asked trying to cover up Connor's squeal with a question.
"Well-"
But Becker was interrupted by the blare of the anomaly alert. Abby whipped round to face Connor as they joined Jess.
"Sending you the coordinates – now!" Jess informed them.
"Connor there's been three anomaly alerts today already and it's barely 2 o'clock. What does this mean?"
"Night shifts if this keeps up." he noted wearily.
Connor absent-mindedly rubbed one eye. Abby looked at her miserable boyfriend and shuddered to think of what another sleepless night would do to him.
"Let's move." Becker commanded.
From the way the action man stood Connor got the feeling that this soldier would temporarily take up the place of team leader for the time being until they regained their old one.
Matt was busy wallowing in regret at his flat. He'd given away the one girl who could soothe the pain, had been kicked out of success, had let down his father and the future all in a couple of days. He knew moping wouldn't get him anywhere, but right now it felt good. It was around this time that he received the GPS co-ordinates for the next anomaly.
Matt prepared his equipment, this time he would not miss the opportunity if it came again. As he stepped into his car he received a text from Jess.
You're still part of my team. Please don't let Becker take over.
This encouragement gave Matt some more energy. For once he had to forget about everything else and just get the job done like his father had told him.
Becker drove the team down to the anomaly site in a large black van. He liked black; it suited uniforms, guns and vehicles. Connor sat in the back seat sulking whilst his girlfriend was in the front by Becker. The soldier knew that Connor was the only grown man to keep count of who sat in the back and the numbers were against him. Becker was surprised that Abby wasn't sitting with him. He decided to not to comment.
The trip was fairly quiet; the loudest noise was Jess tittering away through the earpiece.
"We're nearly there." Becker announced.
Then a stray dinosaur wandered in front of their van.
"I can tell!" Abby exclaimed.
The creature was a couple of metres long approximately and its wide set eyes ensured good vision. Its body was tanned a faint yellow yet a blue stripe covered its back, tail, head and neck. It was relatively thin compared to other dinosaurs however its stomach jutted out up to thigh height. All Becker could register was the huge claws.
Abby gripped her seat tightly as the van veered to the left to avoid the newly found creature.
"That's a Troodon (TROH – oh – don) that is!" Connor yelled. "It's smart, quick and hungry from the looks of it!"
Becker heard this news and decided to take a belated retreat.
Abby screamed as the van spun off road and slowed to a stop. She let out a sigh of relief. Connor did too, he looked slightly green. Then a yellow claw smashed through her window. Becker stepped down on the accelerator once again. The van rocketed off. However this time it was dragging the Troodon with them. Abby struggled to avoid the retractable toe claw by her neck. How the creature had embedded its foot in the window she'd never know but she was terribly aware of its razor sharp claws.
"Becker stop! It's trapped, let's get out whilst we can!" she screeched.
Connor agreed, the last time a car chase with a dinosaur ensued he'd ended up as unconscious bait whilst Danny set up the trap. Not to mention he felt pretty car-sick. If he'd learnt anything from the past few years it was that seatbelts were there for a reason.
The van abruptly squealed to a halt. The trio took off their seatbelts and scrambled out of the car. Abby fell on all fours gasping, the claw had been virtually strangling her. Connor knelt beside her.
"Abby? Are you okay?"
"We need to tranquilize the creature or get out of here!" Becker reminded.
Connor helped Abby up and for a few seconds she stared at the Troodon.
"It's destroying the boot."
The dinosaur thrashed violently trying to escape; its strong arms beating down on the van. Connor raced to the back doors and swung them wide open. The guns were still in there, a small pool of daylight illuminated them. It was cast by the gaping hole the Troodon had made in the van wall. He winced at the sound of metal being scraped and torn. Shortly after, this was combined with the creature's angry shrieks.
"Connor what's the situation?" Becker called.
"The Troodon's made a hole big enough for several of our guns to fall out but there are plenty left."
"Well what are you waiting for?"
"Erm...there's a catch." Abby groaned. Connor watched in horror as the creature manoeuvred its torso through the hole. "It's not exactly safe." He added, before rubbing his temples.
"Connor guns are never safe yet you've happily misused them before!" Becker snapped misunderstanding the situation completely.
"I'd rather not risk it." Connor answered backing away from the doors.
"You're head of security – aren't you armed?" Abby questioned.
"Why didn't you shoot it earlier?" Connor commented.
"I was busy driving! Besides, these aren't tranquilizers; my bullets will only wound it, if that." Becker spat. He walked round the corner and fired a few shots to demonstrate that now he could do something useful. They missed. "Plus it won't stop wriggling around!"
"Shoot it!" Connor yelled.
Becker tried again but this time he gun jammed. He swore Jess tutted and suddenly the Troodon was silent.