By Your Side {Owen Grady/Jurassic World}

Chapter Six

Hadley

When the elevator doors opened, everyone at the control center was panicking, and Claire yelling at them probably wasn't helping. At the moment, she seemed to be lecturing a tech worker--Lowery, I think--about how he should keep his workspace clean and not have toy dinosaurs everywhere. Owen set his jaw and took a step forward.

"I need to see a badge," a guard said, holding his hand out. Owen ignored him and pushed past.

He stormed in, his hand still holding onto mine tightly, and strode up to Claire, the anger on his face still evident. The guard stepped in front of us and tried to slow Owen down.

"Sir, sir! I need to see a badge!"

"What the hell happened back there?" Owen demanded. Claire turned around at the sound of his voice. "There are thermal cameras all over that paddock! She did not just disappear!"

"It must have been a technical malfunction," Claire said, turning to the large screens at the front of the room.

"We're you not watching?" Owen yelled. I gently squeezed his hand to calm him down. He sighed heavily. "She marked up that wall as a distraction. She wanted us to think she escaped."

"Hold on, we are talking about an animal here," she said, walking up to us and glaring at Owen.

"That is a highly intelligent, man-eating hybrid that doesn't know the difference between food and innocent people," I said, glaring right back at her.

"Four hundred meters to the beacon," Vivian said, keeping her eyes on her computer screen.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Claire said, an uncertain look on her face. "Asset Containment is on their way out there right now."

"You really think a group of guards is going to be able to stop her?" I asked, my anger levels now rising. "She broke through a steel-supported concrete wall, for fucks sake!"

"They can handle it," Claire spat, her glaring eyes now focused on me. "They are trained professionals that have enough tranquilizer to knock out the whole park."

"How do you know it's going to work on her?" I asked, ready to punch her in the face. I couldn't handle how irresponsible she was being. If the lives of thousands of people are at risk, you can't just leave them on the island!

"It'll work," she said, watching the moving red dot that symbolized the I-Rex's path. Staticky voices began to come over the speakers, pulling our attention away from the argument and to the large screen where live footage of the ACU's progress was being shown, along with the members' stats and heart monitors.

"You're going after her with non-lethals?" Owen asked, a shocked look on his face. Mr. Masrani gave him an annoyed glance.

"We have twenty-six million dollars invested in that asset," he said, returning his gaze to the screen. "We can't just kill it."

"Those men are gonna die," Owen said, his lips pressed into a tight line. I looked up at him cautiously, which he returned with a worried glance.

"300 meters to the beacon," Vivian said from behind me.

"You need to call off this mission right now," Owen growled, staring intently at the screen.

"They're right on top of it," Lowery said. Owen's eyes widened. I leaned into him slightly, my hand tightening around his.

"Call it off right now," He demanded. Claire looked as if she were about to explode from all of the arguing that was going on.

"You are not in control here!" She yelled, her arms tightly pinned by her sides. I looked over at her, jaw set.