We congregated again back outside the hotel. Stephen was standing at the rear of a truck, Connor's laptop open, leaning against where it was balanced on the tailgate.

Connor was off looking for Rex.

Nick was pacing beside me, not out of apprehension I noted, because his face relaxed and his lips were curling up into a smile.

Stephen, not surprisingly, had gone quietly amiable. I had tried not to catch his eye at any point without making it seem like I was fully ignoring him. 'Pteranodons hunted from high vantage points,' I said, after clearing my throat.

'Cliff tops, mountains, anywhere that gave it a good sight of potential pray,' Nick added.

'We need to be looking at all the high points within a couple of miles.'

'Okay.' Ryan lifted a hand to his ear, obviously listening to someone on the other end of the radio before he pointed to Stephen and continued, 'rooftop images coming through now.'

'Got it,' Stephen said.

Ryan put his hand back up to his ear as whoever was on the other side triangulated the position of the Pteranodon.

'Office building: less than a mile away,' he relayed, 'it'll be empty on a Saturday, let's go.'

Nick clamped a hand down on Stephen's shoulder. 'We've got to get there first. Anna.'

Looking up, I caught the keys in my hand just in time before they hit me. 'Seriously?' I questioned.

'You drive,' he returned nodding.

It wasn't that I was a reckless driver, really. Back on the estate the groundsman had taught me to drive the tractors and some of the other vehicles they used for landscaping when I was about 13. So by the time I got in a car I knew exactly what I was doing. I was a good driver. A little too good because I was not only confident in my ability but more strangely arrogant in way that made me concise.

And quick.

We easily got to the office first. I hit the brakes, pulled the keys from the ignition and I threw the door open to jump out.

I turned for a moment, looking up at the buildings to see if I could tell which one the Pteranodon was roosting on top of. I heard the doors to the truck slam shut behind me.

'This one,' I said, pointing the building. I was first to the doors and I held them open. Nick and Stephen passed me and I shut the door behind us.

'Is that a tranquiliser gun?' I asked as we walked through hallway up to the staircase up to the roof.

'You bet it is.'

'So, we're not going to kill it?'

'No,' Nick responded, 'no way.'

'Do you promise?'

'Have I ever let you down before? Don't answer that? Just trust me.'

As we opened the door the wind hit me like a cold dead slap in the face and I tucked up my hands up the cuffs of my hoodie.

There wasn't much time to fuss about it. We all went out, beelining to the ladder to take us up to the upper level.

Stephen went up first and I gestured for Nick to follow after him.

By the time I'd climbed up behind them, Stephen had already cocked and aimed. I saw his finger twitch the trigger, but just as he got his eye in the Pteranodon took off.

'Damn it,' Nick cursed, as he ran over to the edge of the building to assess its flight path and see what direction it was heading in, 'we'll have to find a way of bringing it back into range.'

'Well that's easy,' I said absentmindedly, 'you see the red crest on top of her head. We need something red.'

'Red...' Nick repeated, brow furrowing as his mind ticked over in thought. He straightened with realisation. Then turning to me, he held out his hand. 'I need your t-shirt.'

'What?' I asked half-heartedly.

'Your t-shirt,' he reminded me, 'the one you put on this morning, it was red.'

'You're right,' I said. And I immediately pulled down the zip and threw it off. I tossed it to Stephen so that it didn't go fall to the floor. 'Those antennae.'

Nick looked around to where I was pointing and nodded understandingly so I didn't have to explain.

I quickly proceeded to drop my hands to the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head.

Stephen's eyes widened.

It had completely slipped my mind.

Stephen hadn't seen it before: the inverted T shaped scar– a straight horizontal line currently hidden beneath the waistband of my jeans that perpendicularly intersected the vertical line leading down to it– that curved around my navel. It was still a new sort of pale pink and standing angrily out against my white skin.

The wind whipped through my hair, my skin was instantly lining with goosebumps.

It took me another second to realise that it wasn't the only factor I should have taken into consideration. I was now half naked in front of Stephen.

I couldn't work out his expression, something awkward, something strange like he was put out because he never thought he would see me like this.

I threw my shirt to Nick. 'Here.'

'Thanks.' And with a wink he caught in his hand and ran over to the aerial.

I suddenly wished I'd just dropped my hoodie at my feet because I needed it back but I didn't really want to have to look at Stephen in order to reclaim it.

It seemed I had no choice.

Maybe I should have worn a different bra– I thought– and if I'd known I'd have been flashing it I would have put a more appropriate one on because black lace was way too fancy for this situation. I was grateful the cups were at least opaque.

I turned my head to him.

He looked up so quickly it was infinitely suspicious.

He reached for the zip of his jacket and pulled it down. The moment got infinitely weirder when he took it off, and quickly followed with his own shirt.

Then he held the shirt out to me. Our eyes met.

He was still wearing that same expression, the one he had that night in the hospital when I'd told him the truth about Will. I could see the despair in his eyes. And it wasn't fair.

He didn't know. He'd made a mistake but up to that point everything else he'd said would have been true if it weren't for the fact that my fiancé had been killed.

I wasn't going to hold it against him.

I reached out and took the shirt. 'Stephen...' I started quietly. 'I'm sorry,' I said.

He started to shake his head. 'Anna you've got literally nothing to be sorry for.' I pulled his shirt over my head and slid my arms through the sleeves. At the same time he pulled his jacket back on. 'I just want to be your friend.'

'Then you've got to trust me.'

'I do,' he returned sincerely, 'I do trust you. I've got to find a way of showing it, I know.'

'Stephen, you ready?'

I glanced back over to Nick at the sound of his voice.

'Yeah, I'm coming,' he replied.

Nick whistled, trying to catch the Pteranodons attention, trying to get it to circle back to us by following the block colour of my shirt.

In the meantime, Stephen cocked his gun, setting up on the ledge on the edge of the building whilst I stood behind the both of them trying to hold back my hair as the wind blew it back into my face.

'In your own time.'

Just as I watched Stephen lower his eye to the sight, line up his shot and pull the trigger, something clicked in my head.

'The wind took it,' Stephen explained. He lowered the gun to reload.

'Yep, try again,' Nick replied.

'Wait, wait, we've got a problem: if you shoot it too soon it'll go down and it won't survive the fall.'

'What?' Stephen directed over his shoulder.

'How do we stop that?' Nick questioned. The wind almost stopped his voice from reaching me but I just about made him out over the howling.

'You'll have to shoot whilst the Pteranodon's over one of the buildings. Its chances of survival would be much higher.'

'Okay.'

'Quick as you like there, Stephen.'

Stephen fired again. 'The damn thing keeps moving,' he complained.

'Yeah,' Nick responded, 'that's what they do.'

'This time. Come on fella.'

'Nick,' I started, 'we should lock that door, if Ryan's men get up here before we've had a chance to bring it down safely, they'll kill it.'

He nodded back at me just as I turned on my heel and made quickly for the ladder on the other side of the rooftop. I climbed down, bolting across back to the door and upon slamming it shut noticed a bolt. So I slid the bolt across but figuring that wouldn't really be enough I reached for another nearby antenna pole and pulled it down. I slid it through the handle.

At that moment I heard the noise– an almighty thumb of mass crashing down against the gravel on the upper level above me– and I ran back to climb the ladder.

'Oh my god!' I exclaimed as reached the top and stepped down carefully onto the ground beside the creature, 'you did it!'

'Why do you sound so surprised?'

I quickly negotiated a path past the creature and towards the guys. I walked down along the edge of its wing to cross at a narrower point.

'I never said I didn't trust you,' I said, taking a big, long lung so I had a foot either side of its wing. I wobbled and I threw my arms out to steady myself. 'Why wouldn't I?'

'Hey,' Stephen returned with a genuine smile, 'your faith gave me–'