Chapter 39: Trying To Regroup

              Ethan and Lex were standing up, in the back of the monorail, as the car smoothly glided over the herds of herbivores. Ethan made a few adjustments on the laptop, and suddenly, the monorail started to move faster. Ethan looked at Lex.

              "This is Brachiosaurus Cove. All of the herbivores were put together in one area of the park. I believe there are five species down there."

              Lex nodded, as she looked down at the beautiful creatures. The sight was really breathtaking, even through the heavy rain. She could see several herds of dinosaurs below.

              "The herd to the left looks like Stegosaurus, I believe," Tim said, from the front of the monorail.

              Ethan nodded.

              "Yes. I think you're correct, Tim. It's funny. Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and the Iguanodons stay away from the other two species, Triceratops and Riojasaurus. They have never been able to figure out why," Ethan commented.

              "Must be some sort of segregation," Ian said, "Do they ever come into contact with one another?"

              "No. They stay very far away from one another. There's only been one time, that I know of, where the Triceratops got into a shoving match with an Iguanodon. The Trike won. After that, the herds stayed separated."

              Jodie found the subject fascinating, but she had other things on her mind at the moment. She looked at Ian and waited for the proper moment to interrupt.

              "Where are Alan and Ellie? Do you know?"

              Ian picked up the walkie talkie. He smiled at Jodie, as he pushed the button.

              "Alan, do you read me?"

              Lex and Ethan were still in the back of the monorail. When Ian started to use the radio, Lex thought of a question to ask him.

              "Ethan, how did you encrypt the frequency on the radio?"

              "Well, I had to open them up and add a separate circuit board. It was very simple, really. The other frequencies are still there. Now, there's just one extra frequency, that the other radios don't have."

              "Wow. You're so clever."

              "Thanks, Lex," Ethan said, smiling at her.

              The two of them continued to talk and giggle in the back of the monorail. Ian was about to make one of his infamous comments, but then Alan's voice was on the walkie talkie.

              "Everything all right, Ian?"

              "Oh, yeah. Jodie was just worried about you."

              "Tell her that we're fine. Where are you?"

              "We're on the monorail. Just passing up the herbivores," Ian said, looking at the monorail track map. "And now we're going over the Suchomimus Paddock."

              "Ellie and I are going to head for the West Dock. We'll meet you there."

              Ethan yelled to Ian from the back of the monorail.

              "Tell Alan to watch out for Raptors. There's still a few left out there . . . somewhere."

              Ian nodded and gave Alan the information. Alan said good-bye, and then Ian put the walkie talkie down. He looked at Jodie.

              "See? He's okay. Don't worry. We'll all be together soon."

              Jodie smiled and nodded, as she sat down on one of the seats. Tim was looking all around outside.

              "The Suchomimus would be an awesome dinosaur to see," he said.

              Ethan had walked up to the front, with Lex right behind him.

              "All that thing does is walk back and forth, next to the river in its paddock. It's not such a great sight. Besides, I think the trees are too thick to see anything. That was one of the flaws mentioned in a meeting a few months ago."

              Tim nodded. He was a bit disappointed, but he continued to search for the elusive dinosaur.

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              Alan brought the program back to the Paddock Security screen, with Ellie's help, and then the two of them headed for the door. Alan had Ellie's hand in his, as he reached the door. He opened it and ran directly into Patrick Bodan, who was soaking wet and very irritated. Bodan forced his way into the room, pushing Alan and Ellie back. Alan thought about trying to knock him down, and make a run for it, but then Bodan produced a gun. Alan stepped back from Bodan and raised his hands. The effort hurt his shoulder, causing him to wince silently. Ellie was right next to him and she followed his lead and raised her hands, too. Bodan smiled.

              "You can put your hands down. There's no need for that, I assure you," Bodan said.

              They put their hands down. Ellie desperately wanted to grab Alan's hand, but she knew in her soul, that Bodan would somehow use that against her. She decided to stand still, waiting to see what Bodan had in mind. He hadn't just marched into the room and killed them, so they had a small chance.

              "Give me that radio," Bodan ordered to Alan.

              Alan took the walkie talkie from his belt and surrendered it slowly. Bodan grabbed it and began to examine it. Realizing that it had been altered, he looked up at Alan.

              "I see you people were using an odd frequency. Very clever. Ethan is very clever, indeed."

              Alan and Ellie stood by silently. They didn't want to provoke the trained killer. Trying to manage the walkie talkie with one hand, Bodan fumbled slightly with one of the control knobs, until he reached the desired frequency.

              "Jacob? Do you read me? Come in, Jacob."

              There was dead silence on the other end. Alan couldn't help but comment.

              "Maybe he's dead."

              Bodan gave Alan an evil stare, as he continued to try and reach Jacob. Finally, after several calls, Jacob responded.

              "Bodan. I . . . I'm here. I was ambushed and hit in the head."

              "Where are you now?"

              "I'm still in the lodge."

              "The lodge? Well, get your body into one of the jeeps over there. I need you at Control Room 3 right away. I have Grant and Sattler. I'm going to need some help, when their friends arrive."

              "What about Mr. Envoy?"

              "What about him? He can take care of himself," Bodan said. He looked at Alan, as he continued. "Besides, I don't really want Mr. Envoy to witness what is about to happen over here."

              Ellie grabbed Alan's hand now, and held it very tight.

              "I'm on my way," Jacob said, through the walkie talkie.

              "And Jacob. Watch out for the jeeps. The Pterodactyls are attacking them for some reason. And use the tunnel. Daniel left the security fences open, before he died."

              "Daniel's dead?"

              "Yes. Hurry up and get over here."

              "Okay."

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              The monorail was traveling over the holding area for the Elasmosaurus. The rain was slowing down a bit, making it a little bit easier to see below. Ethan and Lex had joined the rest of the group, up in the front of the car. Ethan was sitting down, typing something on the laptop again. The rest of them were looking down.

              "So where is it?" Lex asked.

              "I've seen all I want to see of that thing," Ian commented.

              "You've seen it?" Jodie asked.

              "Yeah. Alan, Ellie and I were attacked by two of them. They managed to sink the boat that we came in."

              "Oh, my God," Tim whispered.

              "I didn't know that they were violent," Ethan said, looking down for a minute.

              "They are. Take me word for it. The big one killed three mercenaries," Ian said.

              Tim shivered, as he continued to look at the water containment area below. There were quite a few waves rippling, from the storm, but there were no signs of the water creatures. After a few turns, the monorail approached land again. Ian looked ahead and saw a building to the left of the track.

              "Is that Control Room 3?" He asked.

              Ethan looked up from the laptop.

              "Yes. And just beyond that. The mall."

              Tim became nervous.

              "We're not going directly to the mall stop, are we? Because there are Raptors there."

              "No. I was planning on going through the mall area and stopping the monorail outdoors."

              "What?" Ian asked, very confused.

              Ethan smiled.

              "Relax. There's a set of maintenance stairs, just past the exit. I'm going to stop the monorail there. We can all climb down through the access hatch," Ethan said, pointing to the hatch in the center of the car floor.

              Ian nodded. Jodie was looking toward Control Room 3, hoping to see Alan and Ellie coming out of there. She suddenly became very frightened and nervous.

              "Raptors!" She yelled, pointing toward the control room.

              They all followed her gaze and watched, as three Raptors made their way around Control Room 3. They were circling it, sneaking around slightly hunched over, peering into the building that was only half standing. Ian picked up the walkie talkie and pushed the button. He never took his eyes off of the Raptors.

              "Alan! Ellie! Come in!"

              There was no response.

              "Grant? Do you read me?"

              Nothing again. Just static. Ian handed the walkie talkie to Ethan, hoping that he could miraculously get Alan to hear him. Ethan made sure that all of the dials were properly set. They were. He looked at Ian and shrugged.

              "It seems to be working."

              Ian took it from him again. He pushed the button.

              "Alan? Ellie? Oh, God, please come in. If you can hear me . . . there are three Raptors about to come into the control room."

              Jodie watched, as the Raptors suddenly began to act different. One of them quickly raised its head and then began to move its body up and down. This got the attention of the other two Raptors. All three of them quickly left the area surrounding the control room and disappeared into the jungle. She looked at Tim. He was the one with the most dinosaur knowledge, outside of Alan.

              "Why are they leaving? I mean, I'm not sad that they are. But why?" She asked.

              "I'm not sure," Tim said. "Maybe something is coming."

              It wasn't long before something did come. It was a jeep, racing down the maintenance road. It came to a halt, right in front of Control Room 2. The man in the jeep quickly jumped out and ran toward the front door, oblivious to the stalking Raptors and the moving monorail, above him.

              "Jacob," Ethan whispered.

              "Looks like he was expected, the way he just ran in there," Lex said.

              "I hope Alan and Ellie got out of there," Ian said, looking on.

              The monorail entered the mall area, causing the control room to disappear from sight.

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              Bodan greeted Jacob, as he swiftly got inside.

              "You made it here in superb time."

              "I drove like a son of bitch to get here," Jacob said.

              Bodan had been holding Ellie. He thought it best to hold her closely at gunpoint, so that Alan would behave. It had worked. Now that Jacob had arrived, Bodan let her go temporarily and shook hands with Jacob. The two henchmen quietly talked about what to do with Alan and Ellie. After a few seconds, Bodan turned around and reached for Ellie again. She hadn't moved from where Bodan had left her. She didn't want to anger him, so she had stayed put. Jacob had gone over to Alan. He pushed him backwards once, causing him to wince.

              Bodan grabbed Ellie from behind again, and began to twist her broken wrist, ever so slightly, making her cry out in pain. He could see that Alan was about to become enraged, but he wasn't concerned. Jacob had a tight grip on Alan, holding him back. He continued to taunt him.

              "Don't be mad about the whole hand thing, Dr. Grant. This sort of thing has happened to your precious Eleanor before."

              Alan stood by, trying his hardest not to let Bodan get to him. He knew that's what he wanted. Bodan continued.

              "It seems her dear husband had violently pushed her down a staircase."

              Alan looked at Ellie. He had never heard about that before. Bodan picked up on the look of disbelief on his face.

              "You didn't know about the stairs incident? Oh, of course, you didn't. She wouldn't have told you about that. Mark Degler was her very own nasty little secret. Besides, she had lied and said it was an accident, anyway. But we know the truth," Bodan stroked Ellie's face, "don't we, Eleanor?"

              Ellie closed her eyes. She felt herself starting to shake, as she remembered the day well. Alan continued to stare at Bodan. Jacob was holding him from behind, and he knew if he moved, Jacob would hurt him. He was having a hard time doing nothing. Ellie had her eyes open now, and she could see the rage growing in Alan, as he continued to stare at Bodan.

              "Please, Alan. Don't do anything. They're just words," she said, very concerned.

              Alan looked at her and nodded, but Ellie could see he wasn't going to stand by much longer. Bodan continued to bait him.

              "Falling down the stairs caused her to suffer two broken bones, Dr. Grant. Why didn't you know that?"

              Alan moved forward slightly, and was immediately put into pain, as Jacob pressed down on his shoulder. He winced and gritted his teeth, trying to cope with the pain. Ellie tried pleading with Alan again.

              "Alan, don't. Don't move. That's what he wants."

              Bodan smiled. He still had her arm, so he quickly turned her toward himself. He smiled, and then he slapped her.

              "Don't presume to know what I want, doctor."

              He turned her away from him again. Ellie was both shocked and scared, as she concentrated on staring at Alan. When Bodan had slapped her, he become understandably angry, but his rage went no where. Jacob forced him to remain still, squeezing down on his shoulder again. Alan felt like he might pass out, as Jacob seemed to know exactly where to press. Alan's eyes began to water, both from pain and anger, as he fixated on Ellie's eyes. Bodan laughed.

              "Eleanor, you seem to have your very own knight in shining armor," he said, clearly amused by Alan thinking that he could do anything. "I guess that's a step up from marrying a murderer."

              Ellie was caught off guard by that last remark.

              "What are you talking about?" She asked.

              "Mark Degler, of course. Did you know he's wanted for murder? I'm guessing by you're question, that the answer is no," Bodan said, coldly.

              Ellie was still looking at Alan. She tried to just concentrate on him, and not listen to Bodan. Bodan continued on.

              "You could have been killed, at any second, of any day, Eleanor. Even your children could have been killed, but yet you continued to live with the murderer."

              There were tears coming down Ellie's face now. She didn't trust Bodan, but if there was any chance of what he was saying to be true, it horrified her.

              "He's not a murderer! He's just . . . just . . . "

              "Just a wife abuser? Just a drunk? Just what?" Bodan asked.

              Ellie didn't answer, as she continued to look at Alan. She didn't want him to know all the details of her personal hell. She didn't want him to pity her. Alan didn't have sorrow on his face, though. It was anger. More than anger, as he switched from looking at Ellie, to looking at Bodan.

              "Where in the hell do you get this stuff from?"

              Bodan laughed again.

              "Mr. Envoy thought it a good idea to find out everything we could about the people close to Hammond. I have to agree with him. It was a truly good idea," Bodan said to Alan. Then he jerked Ellie's arm, "Don't you agree, my dear?"

              Ellie was about to start crying hard, but she managed to hold it in. Alan was almost to his breaking point.

              "Leave her alone, Bodan," he said.

              "What are you going to do about it, Dr. Grant? Glare at me? I'm hardly frightened by your glaring."

              Ellie interrupted, once again trying to save Alan from the inevitable beating, or worse, that he was about to receive.

              "I'm all right, Alan."

              Bodan disagreed.

              "I'd hardly say you're all right. You've got a lot of problems. But I digress. I have some problems of my own. You see . . . my computer expert was viciously attacked by Pterodactyls, so that leaves me with only one option. Ethan. And I need one of you for bait. But only one of you. The other one is expendable, I'm afraid."

              Alan was switching his gaze, from Bodan to Ellie. He wasn't about to say anything at this point. Bodan looked at Jacob.

              "Which one, Jacob?"

              "A woman is always a better hostage."

              "Yes, yes. I was thinking the same thing," Bodan said, looking at Alan. "I guess you're the unlucky one, Dr. Grant."

              Bodan twisted Ellie's broken wrist slightly, and pushed her aside. He pushed her with such force, that she fell to the floor. Bodan walked up to Alan, gun in his hand. Ellie's hand was hurt in the fall, but she didn't care. She had something else far more important to deal with at the moment. She began to plead with Bodan.

              "Oh, God. Please, don't do this. Patrick, please. Please . . . stop."

              Bodan ignored her, as he reached Alan and Jacob. Jacob was smiling. Alan was looking at Ellie, as she picked herself up off of the floor. Bodan raised his gun to Alan's head and rested the butt of the gun against his forehead. Whatever Ellie was thinking about doing, to stop Bodan, suddenly came to a halt. With Bodan's gun aimed directly at him, there was nothing she could do. Alan was still looking at Ellie, as Jacob held him in place. He began to breath in short gasps, waiting for the fatal shot. He took one last, long look at Ellie, trying to memorize her every feature, and then he closed his eyes. He could still hear Ellie pleading with Bodan.

              Bodan pulled the trigger.

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              The monorail came to a halt. Ian opened the access hatch and Tim went first. There was rain coming down all around him, as he carefully made his way to the platform. The monorail itself, kept the rain from directly hitting him, as he was fully underneath it. Lex was next. Tim helped her down without incident and she began to go down the wet stairs, and then he assisted Jodie. She followed Lex down the stairs. Ian looked up at the last person in the monorail.

              "Okay. Your turn," he said to Ethan.

              Ethan smiled.

              "After you . . . Dad."

              That made Ian laugh. He went through the access hatch and landed successfully on the platform. His bad leg hadn't given him much trouble, but now it was beginning to hurt some. He was surprised that it had lasted this long, after so many surgeries to attempt to make it function well. He didn't let it get to him, though. He just trudged along. As he was going down the wet stairs, he slipped and fell down.

              Ethan had made it down to the platform, with his laptop tucked under an arm. He heard someone fall. He looked down and saw that it was Ian.

              "You okay, down there?" He yelled from above.

              Ian slowly got up and swore to himself quietly.

              "I'm okay. I just slipped."

              Ethan started down the stairs and saw Ian getting up. He nodded at him, and then he continued down the stairs, behind him. The monorail track was quite a distance up, causing the need for three flights of stairs to get to the ground. The five of them quickly navigated to the bottom. Lex was the first one to the ground. She looked up, to check on the progress of the others. As she did, she noticed Ethan slip. He didn't fall down, but his laptop had shook loose and plummeted to the ground, toward her. She tried her hardest to catch it, but it was impossible. It hit, in several places, on its way down. When it finally reached the ground, it was in about four pieces. Everyone on the stairs looked up at Ethan, who was swearing very loudly and holding his head. Ian tried to calm him down.

              "Ethan, don't worry. It's going to be okay. You had the park under control, so it doesn't matter now."

              Ethan thought about that for a minute. Ian was right. He was able to do everything that he wanted with the computer. They started to walk away from the monorail track, and into the rain.

              "You're right. I just got carried away there, for a minute. I don't like being so clumsy, that's all."

              Ian smiled.

              "You can't blame me for that one. One of your parents gave you that wonderful trait."

              Ethan smiled, but didn't say anything. He just shook his head and changed the subject.

              "Control Room 3 is just up ahead. Then we'll head for the West Dock."

              Lex, Jodie and Tim were ahead of Ian and Ethan. Jodie turned around to face Ethan.

              "Good idea," she said, "We can find Alan and Ellie. I hope they're okay."

              Ethan nodded in agreement. The five of them headed for Control Room 3, as they were carefully on the look out for danger.

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