Sorry for the delay but the last two weeks have been hectic. Only one more chapter after this. Hope you all enjoy it.
The sun had barely risen as the Nublar group traveled up the tributary. There were numerous dinosaurs on both sides of the riverbank. This indicated they were close.
About a minute later, Ben spotted something. "That's a radio tower! The lab must be located near it."
The others looked for a safe place to land the boats. Zayna pointed to a small patch of land big enough for the vessels. The group cautiously maneuvered the boats over before pulling them to shore.
They slowly crept up the hill to see the Broker's hideout. What they saw was a rundown chicken farm. This was not what they were expecting.
"I can't believe it! We've come all this way and there's no warehouse or lab! Are we sure this is the right place?" Kenji asked the others.
"This can't just be a chicken farm. You don't need a radio tower on a small farm like this," Yaz pointed out helpfully.
"Yaz is right, you all. There has to be something else going on here. The chicken farm could be used as a cover for the Broker's warehouse," Sammy added.
Ben agreed with her and turned to ask Darius his opinion. He hopped back slightly seeing that his friend had transformed one hand. Zayna, seeing this also, jumped back.
"Darius, why did you…" Ben started to question when Darius held his human hand up.
"Silence, I'm trying to listen to the soil."
The others exchanged baffled expressions but didn't comment. Darius was using his Oryctodromeus hand to dig through the dirt. He grabbed a small clump and let the dirt sift through his fingers.
"The soil here is abnormal. It's not the right kind," the teenager remarked. "The primary soil orders found in tropical rainforests are Oxisols and Ultisols, which are soils rich in iron and aluminum oxides but with low natural fertility."
Zayna wasn't surprised that Darius knew something about the soil. Honestly, he was a walking trivia game. "What kind of soil is it then, Mr. Smarty-pants?"
"This is Mollisol, a well-developed, highly fertile soil with a dark, thick A horizon created by the buildup of organic matter. You would find this in a temperate grassland," he explained to the group.
"I reason the Broker dug out the dirt to create an underground facility. When filling it back up, they must have used soil from the grasslands to even it out. It's not something anyone would notice unless they were watching for it."
"That, and they would never imagine a person with an Oryctodromeus hand to dig through it," Kenji joked.
As Darius changed his hand back, the others discussed what their next move was. If there was an underground facility it was imperative to find a way in. Also, make sure they had a way out if something went wrong.
They descended to the farm below and cautiously made their way through it. So far, they had only encountered some annoyed chickens. As they continued to walk, Darius noticed a long chain attached to a wall.
Following the chain, the Nublar Five stumbled upon a green Monolophosaurus. The creature growled and sprang at them. They started running only for Zayna to shriek, "There's another one!"
Indeed, a gray Monolophosaurus was charging from the other side. The group ran as fast as they could when a choking sound stopped them in their tracks. Turning around, they saw the dinosaurs straining to break their chains.
"We need to find an entrance and fast. I don't think those chains are going to last much longer," Ben voiced to the group.
The others nodded and looked frantically for an entrance. Kenji spotted a door and called the others over. At that moment the chains snapped and the Monolophosauruses sprinted after the group.
Kenji flung the door open and bellowed everyone to get inside now. The two dinosaurs were virtually on top of Ben when he swung the quarterstaff at them. The two animals both got struck in their faces.
That bought the group a few additional seconds while the Monolophosauruses shook off the pain. Zayna was the last one inside as the boys slammed the door closed. They braced themselves against it as the two creatures tried and ultimately failed to break the door down.
Everyone gulped air, relieved to be alive. Looking around, they saw they were on a platform with a stairwell going down. Kenji took the lead as the group descended wondering what horrors awaited them.
At the moment, Brooklynn was with Soyona in the lab with Captain Lang and Dr. Sarr. She had her prosthetic cover over her arm since Soyona didn't want Dr. Sarr to see it. She wasn't sure she could trust the man.
Apparently, the Broker's instincts were correct. Soyona was inquiring both men how the dinosaurs from the lab were now roaming freely through the jungle and nearby town. "Why hasn't the operations crew recaptured them by now?"
"I haven't seen anyone else here besides, Dr. Sarr. I've been doing everything by myself," Captain Lang stated.
"Don't blame me for your incompetence, Captain Lang. You're the one who failed to transport the Majungasaurus and eggs I requested."
Brooklynn felt a chill go up her spine. Soyona was starring daggers at Captain Lang demanding to know what Dr. Sarr meant by that.
Captain Lang gave the Broker the short story. Brooklynn tensed as she heard about how her friends nearly died trying to trap the Majungasaurus. To learn that Kenji jumped into the ocean to save a crate of eggs was unbelievable.
"Where is the surviving Majungasaurus right now?" Soyona demanded to know.
"The crate fell over as we were transporting it down the river. I sent Sullivan to get the animal back yesterday, but I haven't heard from him since."
"He's most likely dead then," Dr. Sarr remarked. "Pity, I would have loved to use the creature's DNA in my latest code rewrite."
"What do you mean by that?" Brooklynn couldn't help asking.
The man looked at her as if she was dumb as a rock. "I work to perfect what nature gives us. An embryo is a possibility that needs my genius to replace the unworthy parental DNA to become a masterpiece."
"Save your grandiose speeches for another time, Dr. Sarr," Soyona said as she stared at Captain Lang.
"Did you get the eggs back?" she demanded. Captain Lang nodded furiously. "Did the Nublar group follow you?"
"I'm positive they didn't. I never mentioned an exact location on the river."
"So, they know my base is somewhere along the river? How did they find that out?"
"I caught the rich kid eavesdropping on my conversation when I was radioing…"
Soyona raised her hand to stop him. "Let me get this straight. You lost valuable cargo to the Nublar group. Then when you get it back, they followed you upriver to search for the lab?"
Captain Lang was babbling apologize when Soyona pressed a button on her watch.
Brooklynn felt agonizing pain go throughout her body. She struggled to stay standing. Looking at Soyona, the woman's eyes shifted to Brooklynn's pants pocket.
She felt like she was going to throw up. Pulling out the remote, she aimed the laser at Captain Lang. The door to the lab burst open as Red came charging into the room.
Red locked onto her target. Captain Lang was pleading for mercy. Brooklynn hesitated for a few seconds not wanting to become a murderer.
"Brooklynn, you know what to do," Soyona hissed. Her finger was over the button on her watch. "You know what I'll do if you fail."
"I'm sorry," Brooklynn whispered as she pressed the button on the remote again. The laser color changed and Red went after her prey. Lang managed to escape the lab with the Atrociraptor following.
Back with the others they had decided to split up. They needed one group to locate the eggs and Geba. The other was going to try to find a computer for Zayna to hack.
Sammy volunteered to go with Kenji and Ben in such of the eggs. She had a strong feeling that she would be able to sense the eggs. Using a sliver of the capsules, Sammy grew the Maiasaurus beak. Kenji grew a few horns while Ben stuck with his Iguanodon thumbs.
"Be cautious and safe. We'll meet back by the stairwell in an hour."
"Roger, Dino Nerd. Captain Kenji and his crew are on the move."
Yaz took point while Zayna and Darius followed behind her. She decided to follow electrical wires. There were a lot of them heading in one direction which either meant the generator or the lab. She hoped it was the lab.
As they strolled, Darius tried to make small talk with Zayna. "So did you know that the Cryolophosaurus was discovered in…"
"Antarctica in the 1990s. Yes, I did."
"Oh, well did you know that the biggest snake was…"
"The Titanoboa that lived 85,000 years ago near the end of the Cretaceous period. You're not the only one with a big brain, Darius. I'm not as ignorant as you think."
Darius was bewildered by her statement. "I never alleged you were ignorant, Zayna. I spout facts when I'm anxious. It's a coping mechanism I developed while on Nublar."
Zayna felt herself growing hot with shame. She shouldn't have made assumptions about Darius. It was natural for a person who had been traumatized to find a way to deal with the stress.
"I apologize, Darius. I felt like you were treating me like I was a helpless child. I should have spoken up sooner."
"It's in the past. Let's focus on our goal. Find out more about the Broker and if they have anything related to Brooklynn's whereabouts."
The group followed the electrical for a few more hallways until it led them to an open area. There was a large pit in the middle of the room. Along the side of the room were smaller labs.
Strangely, there was still no one in sight. All but one of the smaller lab areas was dark. They headed inside to see what was happening.
There were three cylinders containing developing baby dinosaurs. There were also two incubators with a strange machine between them. There was a small desk and on it was an active computer.
Wordlessly, Zayna sank into the chair and started going through the computer files. Using some tricks she learned she was able to bypass the locks on the files and gain access.
The first file held information about a project called the Leucistic Baryonyx. The dinosaur had been modified in vitro to remove its eyesight completely. Instead, it had its sense of hearing and smell enhanced tenfold.
Seeing this wasn't what they were looking for, she moved on. There was another file that looked more promising. It was about an experiment Dr. Sarr was working on.
"Okay, according to this file, a scientist named Sarr released a majority of the dinosaurs into the wild. He wanted to see how fast they would adapt to the climate and the jungle here. He planned to recapture them at a later date to view the results."
"Why would he do that?" Yaz asked. "What purpose could any of that data serve?"
"He likes to modify DNA. What better way to design dinosaurs that can adapt to different surroundings and climates? But how was he going to recapture them if he didn't know where they were?"
"It seems he placed a tracker under the skin. Didn't the keepers at Jurassic World do the same?"
Darius nodded and couldn't believe he didn't think of that on his own. "Anything else useful in this file?"
"No, but I haven't accessed the others yet. Give me a few minutes." Zayna searched a few more files. One contained a series of emails in them.
"I discovered something. These emails are a correspondence between this lab and the Broker!" Zayna exclaimed excitedly.
Yaz and Darius were thrilled about the news. They watched as Zayna did her best to trace the IP address of the email. She got lucky.
"I don't have an exact address, but the emails were sent from a computer in Dubai. That must be where the Broker is located. The only other information I gleaned was that the Broker is a woman."
"A woman? I knew there were crazy women like Tina. I didn't expect the leader of a smuggling gang would be a woman," Yaz mentioned offhand.
"Is Brooklynn mentioned in any of the emails?" Darius questioned Zayna.
"No, she's not mentioned. I couldn't find any information on your group. I believe Dr. Sarr only kept information relative to him and this facility."
"Hey, is that a video feed?" Yaz asked pointing to a pulsing icon. Clicking on it, the group gasped. It was a live feed and it showed Captain Lang running in this direction. There was a shadow of a dinosaur running behind him.
"We need to hide, now!" Darius exclaimed. His eyes scanned the room and he noticed a ladder. "We can hide in the pit!"
The trio quickly sprinted and descended into the pit. They pressed themselves against the wall. They could hear the screams of Captain Lang as he made a desperate attempt to reach the ladder.
The trio saw one of his hands grasp the ladder. Before he could pull himself over, he was pulled away. The group blocked their ears to avoid hearing his dying screams.
After a few minutes, the trio uncovered their ears. They heard the distinctive clank of a sharp claw striking the metal. The dinosaur started searching the perimeter of the pit.
Yaz tugged on Darius's shirt. He looked at her and she gestured to a tunnel entrance. It was completely dark.
The trio slid into the tunnel and hugged the tunnel walls. For the first time, they witnessed the dinosaur that had attacked Lang. It was a red Atrociraptor.
The Atrociraptor sniffed the air and peered down into the pit. The trio held their breath, praying the creature couldn't see them. After chuffing for a few minutes, the Atrociraptor headed away.
The trio strode out of the darkness and into the pit again. They would have to form a human stack if they wanted to get to the ladder out of here. Yaz was pulling Zayna up when a low rumble echoed from the tunnel.
They heard footsteps coming their way. They were too loud to be the Atrociraptor. Whatever it was, it was much heavier, and if the rumble was any indication, it was hungry.
Back with the others, each member was checking out the different rooms in the facility. They had yet to bump into another human being. The lack of personnel was starting to feel like a bad omen.
Ben stuck one of his Iguanodon's thumbs into a keyhole in a locked room. With a gentle twist, he opened it. What he saw inside made him wish he hadn't.
Kenji and Sammy were about to explore another room, when the sounds of Ben retching, reached them. Turning around, they saw Ben on his hands and knees in front of an open door.
As they got closer the aroma of decay filled their nostrils. Sammy was thankful for her beaked mouth giving her the inability to throw up. Kenji was covering his nose and mouth in an attempt to block the smell.
Sammy crouched down to help Ben. Kenji looked into the room and gasped. It took all his resolve to stay upright.
The room had been turned into a make-ship morgue. But there were no bodies inside. Instead, there were several body parts spread around the room.
They were all in different states of decay. The teeth marks indicated they had been fed on. Kenji grasped grimly that all these body parts belonged to different people based on their skin tones.
He quickly closed the door and tried to banish the scene from his mind. "I think I know why we aren't finding any personnel here."
"Please don't say it. I don't think my stomach can take it," Ben whispered. Sammy clutched him tightly as if trying to squeeze the memory out of him.
"Let's get away from here and search another area. We still have to locate the eggs," Sammy said in an attempted upbeat tone.
The trio power walked away from the room. As they got further away, the scent of decay slowly faded. The trio hoped they wouldn't find anything else like that.
In another part of the lab, Brooklynn was in the control room. Soyona had gone with Sarr to check the holding pens. Before leaving, she had ordered Brooklynn to search the lab for the operating crew.
So far, Brooklynn hadn't found any of the crew. Her camera contact lens was recording everything she saw in this facility. She hoped there would be enough memory to capture the whole facility.
Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She swiveled the chair and stopped breathing. A strange Baryonyx was going after Darius, Yaz, and a teenage girl.
She wouldn't let them be killed. Her hands danced across the controls as she went to work. First, she needed to get the lights on so she could get a clearer picture.
Everyone flinched when the lights came on. Despite the Leucistic Baryonyx's inability to see, it could still sense the sudden change in heat. Brooklynn used that moment to start lowering a container attached to a crane.
As the container got lower, she saw the teenager shout something. This restarted the Leucistic Baryonyx's hunting mode. The trio scattered in different directions while banging on the walls.
If they were trying to confuse the dinosaur it wasn't working very well. The Leucistic Baryonyx was standing still to listen carefully. Locking onto the sounds created by Darius, the predator went after him.
Brooklynn sped up the crane and dropped the container on top of the Leucistic Baryonyx. The creature roared as it managed to wiggle free. Seeing the girls heading towards the container, she flipped a switch and opened the doors.
The girls bolted inside as a distressed Gallimimus tried to do something to the teenager. It looked like it wanted to nuzzle the younger girl. The girl in question shoved the dinosaur back inside the container.
Darius was still in jeopardy. He was endeavoring to get to the container only for the Leucistic Baryonyx to come after him from the opposite direction. The girls were forced to shut the container doors to avert the predator from getting in.
The Leucistic Baryonyx shoved the container so hard it almost came off the crane. If it did that again, the container would come loose and be stuck in the pit. That was not an option.
She frantically flipped more switches. On the screen, the predator was screeching in pain. It thrashed back and forth as if it was under attack.
Wondering what was going on, Brooklynn zoomed in. That's when she saw the speakers installed around the rim of the pit. The Leucistic Baryonyx was in pain from the feedback coming out of the speakers!
She quickly flipped the switch and the container doors opened again. Darius dove inside as Brooklynn lifted the container out of the pit. She then noticed on a different screen that Soyona and Dr. Sarr were leaving the holding pens.
She rushed out of the control center. She had to intercept them before they reached the pit. Hopefully, Darius and Yaz wouldn't do something stupid.
Meanwhile, Sammy and the others had found the pens where the dinosaurs were being kept. Presently, they had concealed themselves in a storage room adjacent to the pens.
Peering through a crack, they could see the two older adults looking at a pen with six small dinosaurs. The Nublar group had never seen this type of dinosaur before.
The dinosaurs were only four feet long and had light armor-like growths on its back that went to its tail. There were also horn-like protrusions around the neck. The bipedal dinosaurs also had a deep seated jaws.
"I trust that you are impressed with my Jakapil brood? It took months of selective editing to recreate this dinosaur," Dr. Sarr noted with pride.
"Recreated? Are you stating you went against my protocols to bring about this brood? I told you I wanted the dinosaurs as pure as possible!"
Dr. Sarr waved his hands dismissively. "Trying to get ahold of Jakapil's DNA would have been too time consuming. By taking DNA from my available stock, I was able to edit an entire fetus into producing a perfect copy of the Jakapil in a short amount of time."
Soyona harshly glared at the man. "Well, I expect your brood to be up to my standards. After all, I can't sell defective products."
The man smiled and assured her they weren't defective. He then added that he wanted to show his latest creation to her. The duo left the pens and headed back in the direction they came.
The trio waited for five minutes before coming out of the storage room. What they had just witnessed made them shiver.
"That lady had to be the Broker," Kenji whispered.
Ben agreed with him. "She seemed really angry that the scientist didn't follow her protocols. What do you think she's going to do with the Jakapils?"
"I know what she's not going to do to these dinosaurs. I won't let her harm these precious ones," Sammy declared. She strolled over to the pen and started cooing at the Jakapils.
Her Maiasaurus beak altered the sound slightly. The six dinosaurs were looking up at Sammy with big eyes. They seemed to be asking her to be their mom.
"We need to get them out of here. We need to free all these dinosaurs before they're sent to the highest bidder."
Kenji held up his hands in protest. He asked Sammy if she was foolish. This was how the whole mess with the dinosaurs on the mainland began!
"We can't be responsible for the ecosystem here becoming even more unbalanced! Remember, Zayna's family is already dealing with a Suchomimus. Do you really want to release more dinosaurs that could hurt people?"
"We can't just leave them here either!" Sammy responded. "That scientist and the Broker have terrible plans for them! I can't turn my back on these animals."
Both Sammy and Kenji looked at Ben. The guy started to sweat realizing he was the deal breaker here. Who should he support?!
"Sammy, do you even know how we can get them out of here? A lot of them are too big to fit through the door."
Sammy stated there had to be an entrance to load and unload the dinosaurs. They just had to find it.
"We don't have time for that. The longer we dawdle here the less chance we have to finding the eggs."
"He's right, Sammy. I don't like having to leave these dinos here, but we can't forget why we came here. I refuse to give up on locating Bumpy's egg."
She glared at Ben. "Then you and Kenji should go find them. I'm not leaving here until I've given the animals a chance to survive."
Seeing that she was refusing to budge, the boys gave up. They left holding pens to continue their search. Sammy looked down at the Jakapils vowing to help them.
As the boys strolled down the hall, Kenji let out a huff. "Ugh, why is Sammy so set on liberating the dinosaurs? Doesn't she remember what happened last time, she did that?"
"At least there were no Baryonyxs in the holding pens," Ben noted. Kenji tapered his eyes at him. "Calm down, Kenji."
"How can I be calm with all that's happened to us in the last few weeks? I thought Brooklynn was dead, but she's alive. We were nearly killed by an Atrociraptor hit squad. Also, my father…"
Kenji looked down at the floor. Tears were starting to form in his eyes. He tried to hold them back.
Ben placed a hand on Kenji's shoulder. "Kenji, Yaz was right. You need to let it out. The grief is literally going to kill you if you don't."
Kenji tried to speak but the words wouldn't come. Instead, he let the tears flow freely. He permitted Ben to hug him as he finally let himself feel his grief.
Kenji kept sobbing and hiccuping. Between the hiccups, he would ask why he felt this much guilt and sadness. His father had barely paid attention to him and then tried to have him killed.
"Family dynamics and relationships are unique to everyone. As much as you hated what your father did, you still loved him. A small part of you still wanted to be acknowledged for your accomplishments."
"Why…did he wait…until the end…to show he cared about me? He always left me alone…and made me…feel like I was…useless. I heard him say once that he wished my mom was still around instead of me."
Ben gave Kenji an extra strong squeeze. "From what I saw on Mantah Corp island, it seemed that your dad had buried his empathy a long time ago. Maybe in those final moments, he realized that he had one last chance to show you he still cared."
"I don't even know what happened to his body after we escaped the area with Mateo. Did the raptors eat his corpse or did they leave it to rot? Am I ever going to be able to say goodbye properly?"
"Hey, once we leave this place you can call the people in charge and find out what happened to his body. I'll help you plan the funeral. Don't worry, I got you, buddy."
Kenji wiped the tears from his face and thanked Ben. He did feel a tad better now. "Come on, I get a feeling those eggs are close by."
Back in the pit, the trio was discussing how they were going to get down when they heard two adult voices coming their way. Yaz, Zayna, and Darius quickly lay down. Geba mimicked them assuming it was a game.
"I hope what you have to show me is worth the amount of money, I put into this facility. If it's profitable, I'll be able to overlook the fact that this facility failed to keep the dinosaurs under wraps."
"Believe me, my beauty is worth more than anything else in the world," Dr. Sarr remarked. He looked past Soyona's shoulders and frowned.
Soyona turned and acted surprised to see Brooklynn. "I thought I told you to wait for me."
"I wanted to help you inspect the dinosaurs. That's part of the job description, wasn't it?"
Soyona gave the young woman a small smile. "Yes, it is. A second opinion would greatly help right now. Dr. Sarr was about to show me his latest creation."
Dr. Sarr snapped his fingers and the Leucistic Baryonyx reappeared in the pit. Seeing the animal up close prompted Brooklynn to tremble in fear. Her friends were tremendously fortunate she had been in the control room when they encountered this beast.
Brooklynn tuned back into the conversation between Dr. Sarr and Soyona. Dr. Sarr was boasting about his creation.
"My beauty has ten times the smell and hearing capabilities than a normal Baryonyx. Without any eyes, there is no eye shine to alert others to her presence."
"I know several militaries that would want such a creature. Can you make this modification repeatedly?"
Dr. Sarr laughed and told her his creation was one of a kind. "I have no desire to create an assembly line of products. It is a waste of my talents. I rather create unique lifeforms for my personal army."
Brooklynn gasped as she realized something. "Oh my, you fed the operations crew to that monster! That's why no one else is here!"
"Ah, so there is a working brain in that head of yours. Since you figured it out, I guess it's time to feed you to my creature." The man lunged forward and shoved Soyona against the rail.
He pushed harder as the Broker struggled to get free from his grasp. She couldn't call for Red's help without the laser. Nor could she use the remote to force Brooklynn to act.
Brooklynn snapped out of her shock. Dr. Sarr would kill Soyona if she did not do something. The woman needed to revoke the hit on her camp family before that happened. Brooklynn pulled her prosthetic cover off and sprinted toward the man.
Dr. Sarr was caught off guard as something scratched his back. He flinched giving Soyona a chance to push him away from her. His eyes hardened as he looked for the Atrociraptor, believing the creature hurt him.
Instead, a loud sound compelled him to turn his back to Soyona. He caught a glimpse of Brooklynn before Soyona grabbed him and forced him against the railing. The two thrashed and then both lost their balance.
Brooklynn managed to grab Soyona's arm with her dinosaur one before she fell over the rail completely. She pulled as hard as she could to get the woman on the right side of the rail. Brooklynn collapsed as she tried to get her breathing under control.
"Thank you for saving my life. You've been very impressive during this mission. Keep this up and you'll have what you want."
The young woman nodded and asked what the Broker required her to do next. Soyona told her to pick up the eggs from the observation room before joining her in the control room. It was time to scrub this facility.
Ben and Kenji had found the room with the eggs in them. They quickly checked to make sure the eggs were intact and still warm. To their delight, the eggs hadn't been harmed at all.
"We need to get back to the stairwell quickly. I haven't seen a working clock here, but I'm certain close to an hour has passed," Ben insisted.
"Agreed, but first we have to get Sammy. I swear if I have to drag her out of those pens, I will. Her life is more important than those dinosaurs," Kenji replied.
The doorknob in the room started to twist. Kenji pushed Ben behind him, intent on spearing anyone who entered the room. The door opened and Kenji charged.
Ben seized the back of Kenji's jacket just in time. The boy was about to spear his ex-girlfriend. Kenji and Brooklynn looked shocked to see each other again.
"Kenji? Ben? What are you two doing here? You need to leave now!"
Kenji moved closer to embrace Brooklynn, but she sidestepped him. "There isn't time for a reunion. You need to depart asap!"
"Brooklynn, we just…"
"Kenji, if you ever loved me, you'll leave this instance! I can't protect any of you if the Broker discovers you're here. Give me the egg case, now!" she snarled at the boys.
"Bumby's egg is in there! We're not letting the Broker get their hands on it!"
"I have to bring all the eggs to her right now. I can't show up short one. She knows they all made it safely."
"You don't have to do this. You can escape with us. You don't have to pretend to be dead any longer."
Brooklynn offered Kenji a sad smile. "It's not as easy as you think. You guys have been a pain in her neck. Listen to your brains instead of your hearts. Don't gamble your lives thinking you can hit the big time."
Using her dinosaur arm, she yanked the suitcase out of Ben's hands and headed towards the door. She hesitated and looked back at them. "I suggest you follow my orders. If you don't remove yourselves from the situation, all of you will be either dead or captured alive for one of her other scientists to use in their experiments."
Brooklynn then exited the room. Kenji started to go after her, but Ben stopped him. Kenji looked ready to spear him when Ben told him she had been speaking in code.
"Code? How could you tell she was speaking in code?" Kenji demanded.
"When she spoke, she put the same emphasis on certain words as she did in her texts. I'm not entirely sure of the whole message yet. I could only understand that she's working for the Broker because she's trying to protect us."
Kenji didn't know what to feel right now. He was desperate to make sense of all the recent events that had happened to him. "I don't know what to believe anymore."
"We can talk about it later. Let's get Sammy and rendezvous with the others. Then we can plan a way to get Brooklynn back safely."
Meanwhile, Brooklynn was walking down the hallway with a firm grip on the suitcase. Seeing the boys twisted her heart greatly. Of course, she was happy to see them alive, but how could they be so stupid to be here at the same time as the Broker?
The clicking of claws alerted her that Red was right behind her. Brooklynn could feel the signs of a panic attack approaching inside her. She had to keep her composure.
Red sauntered next to the strange human. She could smell other strange human/dinosaur scents clinging to her. Perhaps, this dwelling was a hatching ground for these strange humans?
The smell of Red's favorite human was just up ahead. There was also another human smell. One that Red found disgusting.
Brooklynn noticed the instant Red's body language changed. The raptor had been attentive and calm. Now Red was growling and tensed.
Please, don't be ready to attack me. Please, leave me alone.
Turning the corner, Brooklynn saw Soyona waiting for her by the door to the control room. The woman was checking something on her phone. She looked up and smiled when saw the young woman.
"It's good to see you keeping yourself in check. I hoped Red didn't scare you. I sent her to watch over you to keep you safe from whatever else might be roaming free."
She held out her hand for the suitcase. Instead of handing them over, Brooklynn had activated the laser. Soyona reached for the remote when a dark laughter was heard behind her.
Dr. Sarr was standing there in one piece. The Leucistic Baryonyx stepped out of a side hallway. Saliva dripped from her jaws as she got into a hunting stance.
"You two are not going anywhere. Not until I'm done experimenting on both of you." Dr. Sarr laughed cruelly.