I was so totally chain listening to AJR - Bang when writing this. I don't know why but it got stuck in my head some days ago when trying to figure out how to start this chapter.
PREPARATIONS
13 – Here We Go!
The next morning came too soon for some and too late for others. For one hybrid, particularly, the previous day just melded into the other with no sleep in between. She had spent the whole night studying the recorded footage from the forward body camera. Keeping her company was Valerie, for why Pet wasn't entirely sure. When it got to the part of the Spinosaur leaving the raptor nest, the recording was returned to the pack first attacking it. Every time Pet watched the footage, she learned something new and took mental notes.
A light knock on the office door had Pet pausing the recordings. "Yep?"
Simon stood in the doorway, trying to look sharp in a light grey suit. What betrayed him were the sickly dark circles under his eyes. He still hadn't gotten adequate sleep. It truly pained him to see blue-green eyes shift into their animalistic golden yellow. Anyone who knew the hybrid knew she held grudges against those who did her wrong.
Regardless, he kept his best face forward. "It's seven AM. The breakfast trays are being set out should you want to eat something before leaving."
The hybrid snorted a screech and resumed replaying the recordings. The door closed, Valerie frowning and looking at the woman at her right. She was bundled up in sweatpants and a hoodie, her clawed hands buried within the long sleeves and her feet in fluffy socks. Why she brought a fleece hoodie to Central America was beyond her.
A faint smile upturned the redhead's lips. "Men, am I right?" Pet snorted a sigh. "Kind of like your wonderful big brother."
"Wonderful is a bit of an overstretch, and he's not my real brother."
"I figured as much with what you are."
The video on the center monitor showed the Spinosaur running off into the jungle post raptor nest attack. It was brought back to the timestamp of it, barging onto the nest and replayed. "Not all men are assholes," Pet quietly began. "Some are, but not all. Just the ones that smile so sweetly to your face while holding onto a major life-altering secret behind your back. Then there are others like Robert or my fiancé."
Valerie was taken back by the news. "You're engaged? I sure as hell wouldn't have guessed that." She shot a quick look at the socketed clawed feet. Love really must be blind. "I gave up on men a long time ago…starting with my obnoxious pain in the ass little brother, Eli. I swear he's going to end up a con artist when he's older. He's got a silver tongue that would make Loki jealous."
Pet was enjoying the conversation and decided to push more into it. It was nice not fighting with the Army veteran, for once. "How old is he now?"
"He just turned nineteen a couple of weeks ago. No idea what he's doing with his life. I haven't spoken to him since shortly before my second tour overseas."
The recording was replayed. "I'm surprised you didn't get kicked out of service for reasons."
Valerie shrugged. "Don't ask, don't tell. If no one asks me shit, I don't say shit. Plain and simple."
Pet snickered. "No way in any hell would I ever join the military. People telling me when to wake up, when to go to bed, what to eat, what to do with my life…then get sent off to who knows where and possibly blown up."
Green eyes were smirking. "Let me get this straight. You don't want to go into an active warzone, but you'll go to an island with dinosaurs and pick a fight with the biggest, baddest mother fucker?"
"Meh." Pet replayed the video again.
By nine-thirty, what remained of the sausage, biscuits, and fresh fruit were picked over by Derek waking up late. He had to hurry up and eat or miss flying to the island. This was it; this was the day everyone had been holding their breath for.
On the top sundeck, Hoskins and his men were finishing inventorying their equipment. Muldoon and Roland were prepping their respective rifles, and Terrence and Paul loading spare ammunition magazines. It seemed everyone was preparing for a zombie, or dinosaur, apocalypse.
Derek scratched the back of his neck. "Where's Pet? Is she still sleeping, or did she maybe chicken out of this crazy idea of hers?" He gave another look around, thinking maybe he just missed her. "Even Rambo Lesbo isn't here."
"Excuse me?" came a woman's voice behind him. Chocolate brown eyes found Valerie's inquiring green ones. "You jealous because I have bigger balls than yours?"
Terrence stifled back a laugh.
Simon came onto the sundeck using the side access stairwell, Dr. Carlyle accompanying him, and spoke. "Last chance to get what you need. There will not be any coming back until Ms. Hammond has gotten what she's come for." He took a moment to observe the people around him. "No matter what happens, remain with the plan. Both teams set up positions around the airfield. Nobody attack the target until I give the order. Dr. Carlyle, I ask you to remain here on standby and prepare for the worst. Hope for the best."
The plus-sized brunette was bothered by the statement. "By preparing for the worst, you mean…?"
Roland loaded a second ammo cartridge into his rifle and closed it. "Knowing Veronica, the worst being a life-threatening injury such as a missing limb or uncontrollable bleeding. Everything else is the usual scrapes, bruises, gashes, muscle strain, light concussion, or even a minor broken bone."
Dr. Carlyle was at a momentary loss for words. "You're joking, right?"
Derek shook his head. "No, he's very much serious. You said you read all of her medical reports dating back from the zoo, right?" Carlyle nodded. "Well, there you have it. That's what to prepare for."
Simon turned just enough to observe his head of InGen security. "Mr. Hoskins?"
The addressed man straightened his posture. "Sir?"
"I need two of your men to remain on the helicopter should there be a need for aerial support."
Hoskins gave a sharp nod of his head. "You got it, boss."
As soon as Hoskins' team and Valerie were loaded up inside InGen's helicopter, it took off, and the yacht's personal one landed. Its side door opened, and the first to get inside was Simon. Since the back seats were going to be occupied by the hybrid's companions, he chose to sit where a co-pilot would be in the cockpit. Next, were the others getting into the backseats and buckling up. Pet still hadn't shown up.
Derek sighed. "Seriously, you'd think Pet would attempt to be on time to her own damn plan."
Terrence laughed and shook his head. "Hell no. She'll be late to her own wedding."
When Derek was about to get out of the helicopter, Pet got in and sat down across from him. She was back wearing her stained black bathing suit and carrying the bullhorn. Derek looked at the item in her hand and fell speechless. Clutched around its handle were claws painted in bubblegum pink nail polish.
"What the-"
The hybrid kicked her bare feet up and rested them across his lap. Paul roared out in laugher at her sickle claws painted pink as well. "What in the bloody dazes, Veronica?"
Roland, sitting right next to her, stared at her from beneath the brim of his hat. "I had hoped this undertaking of yours wasn't going to drive you mad. It appears it has."
Pet just smiled to herself and leaned her head back against the seat. "What better way to kill that son of a bitch than with the biggest insult to injury?"
So many things Terrence wanted to say. Instead, "I worry about you, sometimes," was said.
The helicopter took off, Pet not wanting to show or admit how genuinely terrified she was. It's not like she couldn't hide it, anyway. She studied Derek without his Remington 750. He was the only one without a rifle, not including Simon. Pet was baffled by this. "Where's your toy?"
"I'm staying in the chopper with Money Bags since I'm the only one here without adequate experience in hunting and tracking large animals." Chocolate brown eyes scowled at his dad's older grey ones staring him down from across the back cab. "Your words, not mine."
Ocean waves turned into rocky coastline, turning into luscious jungle growth and finally giving way to the airfield.
The InGen helicopter had already dropped off most of its team, leaving the others to get into position. They quickly got out to find their hiding spot, leaving Simon, Derek, and Pet inside. The billionaire got out of the co-pilot seat to join the other two lingering in the back.
Derek took a gentle hold of the hybrid's wrist before she could leave. "It's not too late, y'know. You don't have to do this. Just give the word, and I know Dad and the others will take that thing down for you."
Pet's eyes glazed over in a rush of emotion. "No. I've already come so far. I'm not giving up now. If I do…" she forced a weak laugh, "Robert and Roland will never let me live it down."
"Fuck 'em," Derek stated behind his own growing tears. "At least you'll still be alive if you gave up."
Then out of nowhere, a humored smile lit up the woman's face and her tears dried up. "You almost had me. The kicked puppy eyes, the tears…You were trying to pull one off on me to win some stupid bet with someone, weren't you?"
Derek groaned and wiped his eyes. "Fucking hell, Pet."
"Who was the bet with, this time? Terrence? Paul?"
Simon cut in. "He didn't think you would go through with it, after yesterday. I told him you did."
Pet snickered again. "Thanks for the support, asshole." She shoved the man aside and unbuckled.
Derek joked back. "You're welcome!" and smacked her across her backside as she got out of the helicopter.
A pink clawed finger was pointed at him. "I'm kicking your ass, next, after this!"
The helicopter took off, Pet alone on the runway. She glanced around the immediate area. Muldoon was tucked away within the airfield's joined operations building and vehicle parking garage. Roland and Terrence were nowhere to be seen, but she could still detect their scent. She knew her godfather well enough to know he wouldn't go hunting without masking his scent. Him being so easily detectable was deliberate to help lure the Spinosaur to the desired location.
Movement to her left, roughly thirty feet away, was Paul, laying on his stomach. Hiding his person was a collection of tall grass, grown up around an abandoned fuel tanker truck. She could care less where Hoskins and his men were, as she was only primarily concerned with her companions.
Pet cued the bullhorn and spoke into it. Might as well start working on getting the Spinosaur's attention, now. "You guys better not ruin this for me, or you won't be leaving the island alive."
Inside Simon's helicopter, Derek opened the side door. The pilot shouted at him that he close it, but what good that did. Derek withdrew a camcorder out of his backpack at his feet and turned it on. "Brand new batteries…brand new cassette…I'm sure Dr. Grant will want to see this for himself."
Pet stepped closer to the forest line and shouted through the bullhorn. "If you want to finish what you started, here I am! Come and get me!"
The taunts through the bullhorn continued for fifteen minutes before anything was heard. At first, it roaring sounded like distant thunder, but Pet knew better. There went that animal's sense of danger, again. A tingle ran down her spine, and the hairs on her body stood on end.
"I hear you!" she yelled. "Stop hiding like a bitch and face me!"
Roland sighed and shook his head to himself. He grumbled, "How mature, Veronica," and waited for the target to arrive. He adjusted where he was kneeling in between two trees and behind their leafy vines.
From inside the InGen helicopter, one of Hoskins' team members, a black man, watched the top of a tree shake. A flock of birds flew out of it, chirping and squawking in panic. He adjusted his headset's mic closer to his face. "I've got movement, two-o-clock from the girl's position. One hundred meters out."
Hoskins was inside the remnants of the operations office and listening to his radio. "Copy that."
"Seventy-five meters…sixty…fifty…"
Simon and Derek could hear everything through the radio the wealthy man had with him.
Pet felt faint vibrations going through the ground and into the callous balls of her feet. Each time a tree moved closer to where she stood, her heart rate accelerated.
She yelled out a final time, "That's it! Keep coming!"
Derek snickered. "That's what he said." A sharp smack in the side of the arm startled him. He almost dropped the camera because of and looked back at Simon. "Oh shit, I totally spaced out and forgot you were there!"
The billionaire was more than peeved. "Tumhaare saath kya baat hai?"
The slightly younger man laughed again. "What's not the matter with me?" Simon was surprised, Derek sure he knew why, and it wasn't for his answer. "Yeah, that's right. I've been brushing up on my Hindi in my free time. Figured it'd come in handy one day."
Another tree swayed against a large animal's influence, Pet going silent. It felt as though the whole world went silent. Coming out of the tree line were two menacing green eyes staring right at her. She could hear its heavy breathing over the helicopters' rotors and choked out a gasp of a cry.
Tears escaped her eyes in horror, and her grip on the bullhorn's handle weakened. To the gravel, it fell, rattling to a stop next to her foot. Her body suddenly felt like stone, unable to move. Breathing, alone, was an impossible task.
Derek focused on the exposed Spinosaur and zoomed in the camcorder's focus. Simon found it hard to breathe, himself. "Why is she just standing there?"
It roared, bringing Pet back to July eighteenth of the previous year. The plane crash ignited a flicker of anger inside her. Remembering Nash and Cooper dying unnecessarily sprinkled a little fuel onto that angry cinder. It chasing them relentlessly through the jungle had her upper lip curling and a growl coming from her. It almost killing Grant, Billy, and her made her bark a screech. It attacking her at the water truck. The muscles in her body twitched and tensed. Remembering the raptor nest…the baby raptors that were killed before they even had a chance. The plane crash. The attacks. It almost killing her. It nearly killing Grant, twice.
"Alan," slipped through her slightly parted lips in a growled whisper. Fists clenched at her sides. Sickle claws dug into the ground.
The Spinosaur started to run towards her.
Derek's heart dropped. "Ah, shit."
Valerie, kneeling beside a tree with an assault rifle seated in her shoulder, stated, "Here we go!"
That growing cinder of anger was full-blown outrage boiling under her skin. Pet shrilled out the loudest she could ever remember and closed the remaining distance between her and her target. It lowered its head to snap its massive jaws around her, but she jumped to avoid them a half-second before it was too late. Powerful legs bounded off its snout and to the base of its neck. Three foreclaws came right at her, but she was prepared. She anticipated this and moved her body to the side to quickly get out of its reach.
Its left claws slashed at the empty air. Now that its forearm was down, Pet drove a sickle claw as deep into the animal's skin as possible. Using all her strength, she pushed it downwards, leaving a gash in its left shoulder blade's trapezius muscle tissue. The Spinosaur roared out in tremendous pain and thrashed this way and that to shake off its attacker. Her grip faltered a bit, bringing her dangerously close to falling off.
Toothed jaws were inches from her, Pet knowing it couldn't reach its head that far back. Unlike her raptor cousins, she didn't have a tail for it to grab onto. With one toe claw firmly anchored into the meat of the Spinosaur's side, Pet used her other to slash at the underneath of its forearm. She kicked as far as she could to the middle of its chest.
Muldoon watched in awe. He was quickly picking up on the hybrid's tactic. She was using the claws on her hands and feet to puncture and scratch her opponent. The more open wounds it had, the more it would bleed. The more blood it lost, the weaker it would become. "That's it, Pet!"
Pet shrilled and shrieked, her tasting what drops of the Spinosaur's blood got into her mouth. All it did was further frenzy the carnivorous predator within her. She reared her foot back to slash the underneath of the arm again, only to lose her grip. The Spinosaur slammed into the end of the airfield's vehicle garage, making her fall. Pet darted underneath it and between its hind legs. It turned and snapped at the air, but Pet was quick. She leaped onto its flank and tore into the thick muscle there.
The Spinosaur growled and spun around, again, slamming into the vehicle garage a second time. The next thing Muldoon heard was what he suspected was Pet crashing onto its metal roof, for she fell into view and landed on the ground with a thud in front of him. Her chest, stomach, arms, and most of her legs were painted red with the blood's Spinosaur's blood. What unnerved him the most were piercing golden yellow eyes set in a blood-spattered face.
The hybrid shook off the rough landing, never mind her now skinned right shoulder and knee, and was charging at the dinosaur again. The forearms of the Spinosaur hit the ground to brace itself when lowering down to chomp on its tiny attacker only to not. Its left forearm gave out under its weight, causing what could have been a killer blow to fail.
Raptor eyes found themselves less than a foot away from a single green one locked onto her. Pet acted on a quick impulse she didn't initially plan. It was a move that would either pay off or kill her. A mighty leap had her back on its snout for only a second. The dinosaur roared and shook its head, Pet falling to the ground again.
The Spinosaur turned its head towards her, tracking her every movement. It slammed into the vehicle garage a third time, causing the weathered structure to further weaken. The end of it closest to Muldoon was starting to come apart. Hoskins and his men hurried out of the building before it collapsed. Muldoon worried going out into the open, so close to the enraged dinosaur would be anyone's death. He figured he stood a better chance surviving a collapsing garage only made of boards and metal panels than exposing himself to a pissed off carnivore. Even though the animal was growing weaker from extensive blood loss didn't mean it was any less dangerous.
The Spinosaur lunged at the hybrid again. Acting fast, Pet hooked a toe's claw into its flare burned nostril to give her leverage in jumping to the top of its head. Its one good forearm tried to rake her off, but she swung herself over its head to the left side of its face. For a split second, she looked like a squirrel, clinging onto the side of a tree. She was safe there, for a moment as its left forearm had its mobility significantly decreased. She then jumped more so onto its head and loudly shrilled when driving her sickle claw into the Spinosaur's left eye.
The dinosaur screamed a deafening roar in pain and violently swung its head to the side. Pet went flying and crash-landed into the tall grass. The sound and feel of her right collar bone snapping both filled her ears and sent streaks of pain through her shoulder, chest, and neck. She laid there on the ground, groaning out loud and grabbing at the source of pain.
Derek was mortified. "She's hurt, she's hurt! Something happened to Pet!"
Simon stared down at the sight some one-hundred and twenty yards below. He ordered into his headset. "Hoskins, be ready to take it down on my order!"
Pet rolled over onto her left side and barked out a cry when trying to get up. She sat there on her knees, body slouched, and right arm held against her body. She glared up at the beast, still fighting with its own pains and snorted. Heavy pants for breath made her injury hurt that much more. Then another pain registered with her. A pink clawed hand rested on the small slit of a pocket in her swim shorts. Her sliver of tree bark was stabbing into her hipbone. Her memento. Her goal. It was right there and coming back to its senses.
Pet mustered what resolve she could to finish the job. She screamed a shrill in rage, heartache, and determination. Her feet were rapidly carrying her back to the Spinosaur, and the sprung up onto its left side. It took everything she had to keep her grip using only her left hand's claws. Her right toe's claw was implanted into muscle and her left one used to tear through the soft skin at its belly. While nowhere near being fatal, it would help expedite it bleeding to death. It would be a slow, painful, and gruesome way for it to die. Shooting it in the head would be more merciful and what any real hunter would do; lessen the animal's suffering.
But not this time.
Pet lost her grip again and crashed back down to the hard gravel. The pain coming from her broken clavicle ripping through her body stole her breath and left her paralyzed. Above her and retaliating in a mad frenzy was the half-blind Spinosaur, trying to find her to finally finish her off. Pet got to her feet and stumbled forward, only to be swept off balance by the Spinosaur's tail whipping around. The hybrid landed six feet away and rolled another two feet before coming to a stop.
Muldoon's heart dropped in his chest. He could see Pet's motionless form lying face down on the ground. Without immediately knowing what he was doing, he went out into the open and aimed his rifle at the Spinosaur. It was going to end now!
Simon ordered through his headset, "Bring it down!"
Hoskins nodded to the bearded man beside him. A finger was placed over the trigger to a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The two men in the InGen helicopter also took aim with their assault rifles.
Shrilling, and not just one. Multiples. Hoskins wasn't the only one who heard it. "Sir, we have incoming."
A streak of traumatic fear flooded Muldoon, and his head snapped towards the direction of the sound.
Terrence came into view over a tree branch. He had climbed a series of low hanging limbs for higher ground should it be needed for a better shot. "Uh…guys…I think-"
EEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR! One raptor, two raptors, next was the female. They came bursting out of the tree line where Roland had been kneeling. There was a ravaging hunger for more than just blood in their eyes. Four raptors, five and soon seven total, were ambushing the Spinosaur from all sides.
Valerie shrieked out in fright as an eighth one darted past her. It was the juvenile she remembered seeing in the body cam recording.
The fearless male raptor joined its packmates in finishing what the strange one started. They cared not for the strange one's own pack making themselves seen.
Paul broke from his hiding to rush to the hybrid's ever unmoving form. "Veronica?" He checked her pulse at her neck. He sighed in relief at finding her still alive and tried to wake her. "C'mon, Veronica, you need to get up. We need to get out of here, now!"
A whimper came at her being cautiously rolled over. Muldoon couldn't get over the sight taking place before him as the raptors clawed at the bleeding Spinosaur. Pet started something; they were finishing it.
Derek huffed a laugh. "Holy shit, I think Pet just started a type of dinosaur revolution!"
Muldoon joined Paul and nearly cried in relief, seeing his little girl wake up. "You did it! Look!"
She lazily turned her blurred vision to the source of terrific roars of pain. It took straining her eyesight to make out the forms of raptors crowding their prey. The once fierce and unopposed ruler of the island collapsed to the ground in a strained growl. "It's the nest pack," she weakly stated. "They're fighting back."
Roland and Valerie came up behind the group, their rifles at the ready. Hoskins pointed at the battle to his men. "That, right there, is the future of the military. Maybe not so much in a human form, but that level of cunning and ferocity? Did you see how she disabled it, first?"
The InGen helicopter lowering to the ground chased the raptors off into the woods. It landed near Hoskins as Simon's was on the other side of the Spinosaur. He got out of the aircraft and slowly approached the grounded animal, heartbroken for its current suffering state. He always saw himself as an animal person, ever since a little boy. So many times was he found in the fields of a nearby farm hand feeing the cows. This before him didn't feel right to him, and wasn't sure what to think of the hybrid. Dark brown eyes shifted to the woman's bloodied form.
With her legal guardian's assistance on one side and Paul on the other, she was carefully brought to her feet. Pet limped to the Spinosaur, weakly breathing where it laid on the ground. She stood beside its head and glared hatefully into its one good eye watching her. But something inside her shifted. Hate gave way to guilt, and her raptor eyes became their normal blue-green.
"What have I done?" she gasped in a sob. Hoskins' words from the day before gripped her insides and crushed her chest. BioSyn wanted her creation to be used as a weapon. No matter how much she wanted to believe it wasn't true, there was no denying it anymore. Pet's vision further blurred as tears streamed from her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
What life remained in the green eye fleeted from it, its body going flaccid and the pupil mid-dilating. She stood there, not caring about the blood drying to her. Deeply saddened, human eyes met equal dark brown ones intently observing her. Pet wondered what the billionaire must think of her now. Was he wallowing in the thought of her fulfilling her creation's purpose, to kill? Or did he see her as a heartless monster driven only by vengeance? Trying to smell the air for traces of his scent only filled her nostrils with that of blood.
Terrence cleared his throat. "We should get moving. There are scavengers on this island that will come for this thing. I can only imagine what else is out there, like, oh, I don't know, hungry raptors just beyond those woods?"
Simon nodded. "I agree."
Derek hoped he wasn't going to get in trouble for asking this. "Uh, I don't want to be the one to point out the elephant in the room, but…what about Pet?"
Roland was bothered by the question. "What about her?"
"What about her? Look at her!" Derek motioned at the hybrid's entire form. "She looks like Carrie!"
Pet screeched a bark in annoyance. Whoever the hell Carrie was. She firmed her grip on Paul's shoulder and raised a clawed foot. Derek jumped back, expecting her to attack him, but the sickle claw tore into the Spinosaur's gums, instead.
Hoskins rested his hands on his hips and cocked his head to the side. "What are you doing now? Isn't that thing dead enough?"
The hybrid knelt beside the animal's head and wrestled one of the larger teeth out of its lower jaw. She did the same to a smaller one closer to the back of its mouth. Afterward, both teeth were held in her hands, dripping with blood.
One impassive look was given to Hoskins, "I'm collecting my trophies," and she shuffled away.
Derek watched her go into the tree line. "Shouldn't we stop her? I mean, something could attack her out there, and she's in no condition to fight right now!"
Muldoon shook his head. "Nothing is going to attack her."
"The raptors? Surely, they can smell the blood on her? Sense that she's injured and poses no threat?"
Muldoon shouldered his rifle, as did Roland, as they trekked a respective distance behind her. Paul was next, joined by Terrence and finally Valerie.
The half of a mile walk to an inlet of water source wasn't as bad as Pet thought it'd be. By now, her endorphins had kicked, and much of her body felt numb or tingling except her collar bone. It hurt like absolute hell. She waded calf-deep into the rolling waves and dropped to her knees. The cool of the water splashed against her and licked away what dried blood on her body that it could. She closed her eyes and sat there, feeling her muscles' tension relax and a weight off her good shoulder fall away.
Standing at the tree line were her companions. Paul took in the scene. "So, what now? She got what she came for."
Terrence exhaled a heavy breath. "Now, it's being there for her. That thing had been a major source of her nightmares since the incident last year. I know. I've had to counsel her many times after a really nasty one. Taking it down required more than just studying it and learning how it fought. She had to overcome a tremendous amount of fear. I expect after all this, it'll be even more nightmares."
They watched as Pet fought with her hair tie to take her hair down from its tight bun. She slipped below the waves for a few seconds and came back up, wiping off her face. The InGen helicopter flew right over their position, Derek seen sitting inside the open side door. Coming into view, next, was the private helicopter. It landed on the stretch of sand between the observing people and the water's edge.
Seats were claimed, the hybrid wearily taking a seat between Muldoon and Roland. Directly across from her was Terrence. Seated at his right was Paul and to his left, Simon. Valerie sat in the co-pilot's seat. As long as she didn't touch anything in the cockpit, the pilot was okay with her being there.
Terrence frowned at the deep bruising and swelling at Pet's broken right collar bone. "You're going to have to get that looked at."
Pet leaned her head back. "Eh, it's whatever. I'll live."
He analyzed the two teeth in the hybrid's hands. "Why two?"
"Alan wanted me to get him one. The second I wanted for myself."
The strawberry blond man laughed. "You know he already has one, right? Got it off the island after it tore the plane apart."
Pet nodded. "I know, but he asked me to get him another one. Whatever he wants, I'll do what I can to get it for him."
Paul smiled. "Even if it means almost getting yourself killed in the process?"
Blue-green eyes met peaceful blue ones. "I've risked my life for him before. Besides, the best things in life are worth fighting for."
Valerie laughed from the co-pilot's seat. "Taking that whole 'Pain is love' saying a bit seriously, aren't you?"
Dr. Carlyle stood on the top sundeck, nerve-wracked. Standing next to her was Derek. The yacht's helicopter landed, Pet trying her best to get out as casually as she could.
Her physician's brown eyes nearly exploded out of their sockets. "Holy cow, look at you!" She saw Simon get out of the helicopter. "Sir, Ms. Hammond is going to have to be taken to a hospital. I can't properly set that bone, here."
Simon nodded. "Whatever she needs, she'll get."
Pet rolled her eyes and groaned. "Well, with that said, I'd like to wash off first."
