"Migrating!" Ellie said. "That's fantastic!"
"Yes," Grant said. He was grinning.
Ellie said, "Where do you suppose they want to go?"
"I don't know," Grant said, and then the big helicopters burst through the fog, thundering and wheeling over the landscape, their underbellies heavy with armament. The raptors scattered in alarm as one of the helicopters circled back, following the line of the surf, and then moved in to land on the beach. A door was flung open and soldiers in olive uniforms came running toward them. Grant heard the rapid babble of voices in Spanish and saw that Muldoon was already aboard with the kids. One of the soldiers said in English, "Please, you will come with us. Please, there is no time here."
Grant looked back at the beach where the raptors had been, but they were gone. All the animals had vanished. It was as if they had never existed. The soldiers were tugging at him, and he allowed himself to be led beneath the thumping blades and climbed up through the big door. Muldoon leaned over and shouted in Grant's ear, "They want us out of here now. They're going to do it now!"
The soldiers pushed Grant and Ellie and Gennaro into seats, and helped them clip on the harnesses. Tim and Lex waved to him and he suddenly saw how young they were, and how exhausted. Lex was yawning, leaning against her brother's shoulder.
An officer came toward Grant and shouted, "Senor: are you in charge?"
"No," Grant said. "I'm not in charge."
"Who is in charge, please?"
"I don't know."
The officer went on to Gennaro, and asked the same question: "Are you in charge?"
"No," Gennaro said.
The officer looked at Ellie, but said nothing to her. The door was left open as the helicopter lifted away from the beach, and Grant leaned out to see if he could catch a last look at the raptors, but then the helicopter was above the palm trees, moving north over the island.
Grant leaned to Muldoon, and shouted: "What about the others?"
Muldoon shouted, "They've already taken off Harding and some workmen. Hammond had an accident. Found him on the hill near his bungalow. Must have fallen."
"Is he all right?" Grant said.
"No. Compys got him."
"What about Malcolm?" Grant said.
Muldoon shook his head.
Grant was too tired to feel much of anything. He turned away, and looked back out the door. It was getting dark now, and in the fading light he could barely see the little rex, with bloody jaws, crouched over a hadrosaur by the edge of the lagoon and looking up at the helicopter and roaring as it passed by.
Somewhere behind them they heard explosions, and then ahead they saw another helicopter wheeling through the mist over the visitor center, and a moment later the building burst in a bright orange fireball, and Lex began to cry, and Ellie put her arm around her and tried to get her not to look.
Grant was staring down at the ground, and he had a last glimpse of the hypsilophodonts, leaping gracefully as gazelles, moments before another explosion flared bright beneath them. Their helicopter gained altitude, and then moved cast, out over the ocean.
Grant sat back in his seat. He thought of the dinosaurs standing on the beach, and he wondered where they would migrate if they could, and he realized he would never know, and he felt sad and relieved in the same moment.
The officer came forward again, bending close to his face. "Are you in charge?"
"No," Grant said.
"Please, senor, who is in charge?"
"Nobody," Grant said.
The helicopter gained speed as it headed toward the mainland. It was cold now, and the soldiers muscled the door closed. As they did, Grant looked back just once, and saw the island against a deep purple sky and sea, cloaked in a deep mist that blurred the white-hot explosions that burst rapidly, one after another, until it seemed the entire island was glowing, a diminishing bright spot in the darkening night.
Epilogue:
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