What Goldie would have said to Sam will remain unknown, because at that moment every husky in the park heard the alarm through their communications devices. Emergency! Emergency! Medevac teams to the helicopters! All guard Huskies report to nearest pack leader! This is not a drill!
Goldie and Sam rushed to where the twins were to receive their orders along with the other huskies who had just finished their shift. Sandy, the elder (by twelve minutes) of the two, singled out Goldie. "You're with us!" she shouted. Harry had figured that Goldie might be useful in luring Max out of cover. Goldie followed Sandy and her sister Shari into a waiting copter, and Sam followed Goldie. The twins nodded--there was room in the copter, and they might need more muscle, so Sam stayed. Goldie was happy that Sam was squeezed in next to her, telling herself she was glad that a trained husky was accompanying them, as that improved the likelihood of success. The excitement was undoubtedly what was making her heart beat faster.
Harry's worry over Zack was overriding all other emotions in his mind. Zack was his oldest and closest friend among the huskies, and had been a pillar of strength during Harry's trial-filled leadership period. On a stratum of his mind below that was pack solidarity. As Naomi had known well, the wellbeing of other huskies in the pack was the prime consideration for a pack leader. All other emergencies, from the upcoming management meeting to the two monkeys at the gate claiming to be FBI agents and to have the right to enter the park unaltered, were shoved to the back of his consciousness.
++++++++
Damn, thought Zack, this hurts. Who'd have thought the little bastard would be so well-prepared? At least I got the message off to Harry.
The husky had moved fast enough to avoid being crushed by the rockslide, but enough had caught him so that he had broken both his legs. If he got out of this, he knew a regen chamber would fix him good as new, but right now, it hurt.
"Well hello" said the wolverine, coming over the rock.
+++++++++++
"I can't just leave these new does here!" Katie spoke into the communicator. "They don't know anything and the bucks will come after them!"
"OK" said Harry over the mike. "Drop them off at the station, and then get to the entrance gate. There's a couple of human FBI agents there. Stall them!"
++++++++++
Naomi and Charlotte relaxed in the Labyrinth, the name the Minotaur had given his estate. The Minotaur had taken their evidence and ordered one of the anthro servants, a pronghorn-morph, to take them to guest quarters. (All of the Minotaur's servants were anthros--it was his boast that no unaltered human had ever made it past the entrance of the Labyrinth. It was his disdain for "monkeys" that Naomi was counting on.)
"I wonder what's happening in the park right now" Naomi wondered.
"I'm sure, without you, it's all going to hell." Charlotte laughed.
++++++++++
An island of tranquility amid the seething panic (of which they were unaware), Wally and Katerina lay in a close embrace. Contrary to his stereotypes of males, Wally didn't feel the faintest urge to leave after the two had mated. Instead, he wanted to be surrounded by more rabbit-morphs. He felt strangely vulnerable out in the open. Katerina spoke. "I think it's time we went back to the Warren. You and Terry need to have a talk, and you need to find out what a sweet girl she really is."
+++++++++
If only I had more time, thought Max, looking down at the trapped husky. But he hadn't survived on the loose for so long by putting pleasure before survival.
+++++++++++
Susan made the leap and caught the handhold. An electric jolt of pain ran through her dislocated shoulder, but she held on. Keep going, she thought, keep going.