Scooby must’ve escaped his temporary confinement without force or panic. A gate had been left unsecured during a shift change, and he moved through it as if he had been waiting. No barriers were broken. No alarms sounded at first. He simply walked out, almost regally, making his point clear.
When the alarms finally triggered, they fractured the space. Doors slammed. Radios crackled. Voices rose in urgency. Vanessa heard the sound from inside the house and knew, before anyone spoke, that something had gone wrong.