The Red Quarry #7
Its remaining horn entered the black dinosaur beneath the ribs.
The predator’s body folded over the frill.
The triceratops lifted and flung it against the quarry wall.
The dinosaur struck headfirst.
Its neck bent at an impossible angle.
The russet animal dragged the carcass away while the triceratops attacked the fallen predator.
Rina activated the surface-transfer whistle.
A distant tone sounded from the wash-gallery route.
The cloudy-eyed dinosaur emerged several minutes later.
It still dragged the broken tether from the red vest.
Blood covered its head and chest.
Mara did not try to determine how much belonged to Jules.
The transfer gates opened one at a time.
The dinosaur followed the whistle.
It had been trained to do so.
Rina clipped Nadia’s badge to her vest.
“I operate the gatehouse.”
Mara said, “We all operate it.”
“The console there is too small for three people.”
“Then Noah and I wait on the catwalk.”
“No. Once the animal enters the final lane, you go to the elevator. I hold the other gates.”
“And you join us.”
Rina looked at the map.
“A stair leads down from the gatehouse.”
“That wasn’t a suggestion.”
Rina gave Mara a tired smile.
“You really do make everything sound like a felony.”
The central-control catwalk extended along the quarry wall.
They left Calvin’s body and the sleeping bags behind.
Mara carried the satellite phone.
Noah carried a steel restraint cable Rina had found beside the transfer controls. One end had a locking hook. The other fit a manual winch inside the elevator cage.
They crossed above the quarry.
Below, the triceratops continued driving its horn into the black predator’s body long after it stopped moving.
The russet dinosaur had vanished behind the loading structures.
The cloudy-eyed animal advanced through the transfer lanes.
Rina entered the gatehouse.
Mara and Noah waited on the stairs.
The surface elevator descended with a deep mechanical groan.
Its cage arrived behind reinforced doors.
The final transfer gate opened.
The cloudy-eyed dinosaur entered.
The broken restraint pole remained lodged through the lower jaw.
The tether dragged behind it.
Rina looked through the gatehouse glass.
“Bell’s badge starts the handler sequence. Nadia’s confirms the animal.”
Mara clipped Bell’s badge to the front of her vest.
Noah looked at the elevator cage.
“I have an idea.”
Mara almost told him no.
The word reached the back of her teeth.
She stopped it.
“What?”
He lifted the restraint cable.
“If the partition fails, we use this.”
“How?”
“The winch is above the handler section. We loop the cable through the pole in its jaw.”
“That puts you next to its mouth.”
“It puts both of us next to its mouth.”
“Noah.”
“You asked.”
Mara looked at the animal.
It paced inside the cage, agitated by the work lights. The broken pole struck the bars whenever it turned.
“What happens after it is hooked?”
“Winch pulls the head up. Partition closes under the neck.”
“That could jam the wall.”
“Then the cable keeps pulling.”
Rina said through the open gatehouse window, “It is ugly, but mechanically possible.”
Mara looked at Noah.
“You stay outside until I have the cable through.”
“No.”
“I am not debating every part.”
“Then don’t. I go in with you.”
The cloudy-eyed dinosaur stopped pacing.
It stared through the bars.
Mara asked, “Can you put weight on the left foot?”
“Enough.”
“That was not the question.”
“It is the answer available.”
Mara nodded.
“All right.”
Noah looked almost disappointed that she had agreed.
Rina activated the rear whistle inside the cage.
The dinosaur turned toward it.
Mara and Noah descended into the loading yard.
They entered the elevator together.
The animal remained in the rear section.
The handler-confirmation switch stood eight feet inside.
Mara scanned Bell’s badge.
The panel turned amber.
She tried Jules’s.
Medical access accepted, but the partition did not move.
Noah looked at Nadia’s badge through the gatehouse glass.
Rina threw it down.
Mara caught it.
She scanned.
The panel turned green.
The handler gate began closing behind them.
The cloudy-eyed dinosaur turned.
The whistle sounded again.
It ignored it.
Mara reached the confirmation lever.
The partition began sliding from the wall.
Noah fed the restraint cable through the manual winch.
The dinosaur charged.
Mara pulled the lever and ran.
The animal struck her from behind.
Its damaged jaw snapped beside her shoulder.
The pole caught against her vest and tore the fabric open.
Noah swung the cable.
The hook passed through the gap between the animal’s lower jaw and the lodged metal pole.
He locked it.
The dinosaur twisted.
The cable wrapped once around its neck.
Noah was pulled off his feet.
Mara caught him beneath the arms.
The animal backed into the specimen section.
The cable tightened.
The partition continued closing.
For a second, the plan worked.
Then the dinosaur lunged forward.
Its body blocked the partition.
The system detected resistance and reversed.
The animal dragged Noah across the cage floor.
His left ankle struck the grating.
He screamed.
Mara seized the winch handle.
“Tell me what to do.”
Noah looked at her.
“Turn it.”
She turned.
The cable retracted.
The loop tightened beneath the dinosaur’s jaw.
It released Noah and snapped toward Mara.
The broken pole prevented its mouth from closing fully.
One tooth cut across her forearm.
She kept turning.
The winch hauled the dinosaur’s head upward.
The cable bit through feathers and skin.
Blood ran down the chest.
The animal planted both feet and pulled backward.
The winch frame bent.
Noah crawled to the partition control.
“Again.”
Mara trusted that he had seen something she had not.
She hit the switch.
The wall moved.
The dinosaur backed away from it.
The cable forced its neck upward while the partition pressed against its chest.
Its sickle claw swept toward Noah.
He rolled beneath the handler console.
The claw entered the floor grate and stuck.
The animal pulled.
The toe tore open around the claw.
Noah came out from beneath the console and threw his weight against the winch handle.
Together they turned it.
The cable sank deeper into the throat.
The dinosaur’s scream became a wet rasp.
The lodged jaw pole began tearing through the side of its mouth.
The elevator gate sealed.
The cage started upward.
Rina remained visible through the bars.
Then the russet dinosaur came from beneath the gatehouse stair.
It struck her before she turned.
Rina hit the glass wall.
The dinosaur’s jaws closed over her shoulder and upper arm.
Mara screamed her name.
Rina drove the broken diagnostic tool into its eye.
The russet animal shook her.
Her arm tore free near the shoulder.
Rina fell beneath it.
She reached the control panel with her remaining hand and struck one final switch.
The transfer gate closed between the russet dinosaur and the elevator tower.
The animal remained inside the yard with her.
The rising cage carried Mara and Noah above the gatehouse window.
Rina disappeared from view.
The cloudy-eyed dinosaur thrashed against the partition.
The cable cut through muscle along the side of its neck.
Blood sprayed from the wound with every heartbeat.
The winch frame pulled partly free of the cage ceiling.
Noah looked upward.
“It won’t hold.”
“What happens if it breaks?”
“We find another plan quickly.”
The dinosaur tore its trapped foot loose.
The sickle claw remained wedged in the grating.
Two toes and strips of skin pulled free with it.
The animal threw its body forward.
The partition buckled.
The winch tore loose from one bolt.
Mara seized the cable itself.
It burned through her hands.
Noah grabbed the handle.
“Let it pull.”
“What?”
“Let it pull backward.”
The dinosaur braced in the specimen section.
Mara understood.
She released the cable one turn.
The animal staggered backward.
The cable slipped lower around the throat.
Noah locked the winch again.
“Now.”
They turned together.
The cable tightened against the front of the neck.
The dinosaur tried to roar.
Only blood came out.
Its forelimbs clawed at the loop but could not reach beneath the jaw pole.
The winch pulled until the animal’s head touched the cage ceiling.
Its hind feet remained on the floor.
The spine stretched.
Vertebrae began separating beneath the feathers.
The skin opened around the cable.
The dinosaur kicked against the partition.
Mara turned the handle again.
The cable cut through the windpipe.
Dark blood flooded down the chest.
The animal’s body dropped.
The head remained suspended from the winch.
A section of torn neck connected them for another second.
Then it parted.
The body struck the specimen floor.
The severed head swung above Mara and Noah.
The cloudy eye remained open.
The elevator continued climbing.
Neither spoke.