Chapter 10

It didn't make it. He watched as it clipped a tree branch, causing it to fall just a few feet short of his target. Even with Zia leaning as far into the cage as she could manage, she couldn't reach it, and she pulled back immediately, the moment Blue started towards her.

"So, how good was your high school football team?" Claire teased, as she stepped back beside him, handing him the couple of pieces of jerky she had left.

"What do we do now?" Lowery asked, also moving back towards him.

The three watched as Blue headed straight for the radio, nosing it on the ground trying to determine what it was. After confirming it wasn't going to hurt her (and wasn't food), she stood up, and looked back at them. Her gaze swung towards Zia briefly before returning back to them. Blue then bent down over the radio again, before picking it up carefully in her mouth. She began walking towards Owen and the others, and they all frantically waved at her to go the other way. Blue paused, tilting her head at them curiously, before turning toward Zia, who had her hand outstretched (although not into the cage), beckoning Blue towards her. Blue took the couple of steps towards Zia, before dropping the radio back onto the ground.

Zia, keeping her eyes on Blue, bent down and reached carefully for the radio, snatching her arm back as soon as she had it within her grip. Standing back up, she held it up to the others, so they could see that she managed to get it. She followed that action by raising a hand with two fingers pointed up, and she saw Owen nod in agreement, holding up his own radio in return.

Blue was looking expectantly at Zia. Unfortunately, the paleo-vet had no treats on her to reward Blue's behaviour. Zia switched on her radio and asked, "Hey, can you guys call for Blue? She's looking for her reward and I have nothing to give her that isn't a part of me I'd like to keep."

Almost immediately, there was a quick whistle, as Owen called Blue back over. Blue hesitated for a moment before leaving Zia, looking back at her unhappily. The moment Blue was back at the fence, however, she was greeted by Owen who tossed her a few more strips of jerky along with showering her in praise. She tossed a look over her shoulder at Zia, before chattering happily towards Owen.

While Owen was occupied, Claire pulled the radio from his hand and held it up so she could start talking with Zia. The questions tumbled out of her, "Zia, are you okay? Did they hurt you? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine," Zia reassured her. "They put me in a room last night and then have stuck me out here today. I don't think they know what to do with me yet, and I've been able to convince them, so far, that Blue still isn't 100% and that they need me."

"What can you tell us about the guard situation?" Owen asked, grabbing the radio back from Claire. They had a bit of a tug of war over it, before Owen relented, letting Claire maintain hold, but not without giving her an exasperated look first. "We saw one at the guard booth, but really haven't seen anyone else."

"I don't think there's a ton of people working here," Zia agreed. "I came back with those guys who shot you, Owen. There were four of them. The bald one – the one who shot you – I learned his name is Wheatley. Besides them, there's was the guard at the guard house, and at least one other." Zia paused, trying to remember who else she saw. "Oh, and Dr. Wu!"

"Wu?!" The response came from all three, Owen, Lowery and Claire equally surprised. No one had known where he disappeared to during the fallout of Jurassic World. And there'd been nothing about him since. The three of them had had numerous conversations speculating on what might have happened and why InGen was covering for him. And they were sure InGen was covering, because if they weren't, they would expect InGen to be looking as hard as everyone else for his whereabouts, wanting to hang the Indominus on him.

"Yeah, I saw him briefly yesterday," Zia confirmed. "He came out to the boat with another guy to give Blue a sedative for the drive over here, as she had woken up from the tranq."

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," Claire said, her gaze resting on Blue, who had gone back to roaming her paddock now that Owen was no longer offering up treats.

"Me, too," Lowery agreed. "If Wu's here… who knows what else is." He looked nervously behind him and back into the dark jungle.

"If Wu's here, there's got to be more scientists," Owen added, thinking aloud. "The operation doesn't appear to be too big, and considering there aren't guards wandering around in the compound, they don't seem at all concerned that anyone is going to stumble in on them."

"These islands are pretty much a no-go area for Costa Ricans," Lowery reminded everyone. "They're called Las Cinco Muertes for a reason."

"Right," Claire agreed. "This whole area is pretty much avoided at all costs. Even the main shipping routes don't have ships coming within a few miles of here. It's the perfect area to set up a secret lab."

"You don't think–" Lowery started to look agitated, his gaze jumping around more frantically.

"Think what?" Claire asked.

There was a pause before Lowery managed to say, "The Indominus?"

Claire paled at the thought, her gaze following Lowery's, bouncing through the jungle.

"I doubt it," Owen tried to reassure them. "Don't get me wrong, I think Wu's a total egomaniac and would love the idea of trying again, but, there's nothing we've seen here that is big enough to contain an Indominus."

"So it might be loose?" Lowery asked hesitantly, and Claire paled even further.

"No!" Owen shook his head forcefully, gaining their attention. When both were looking at him again, he continued. "I don't think this electrified fence would be a big enough deterrent. There's no way they'd want one running loose on this island, not when they have to use an unprotected roadway to get to and from their ships, which is probably how they get most supplies. I'm surprised that Baryonyx we encountered was loose. Besides," Owen shrugged. "Like I said, Wu's an egomaniac. He would want to observe his creation as it grew. To study it. To improve on it. Anything he's cooking up in there," Owen waved towards the buildings through the fence, "and I'm sure he's cooking up something, it will be something that he can keep contained in these paddocks. Also, remember Hoskins' comments?" At that, he turned towards Claire, who after a moment nodded. "A 'fraction of the size' is, I think, how he phrased it. I bet you they talked about the Indominus and I bet that's a conversation they had."

"Great," Zia's voice coming through the radio reminded them of where they were. "So what you're saying, is that there might be a smaller Indominus running around in here with me?"

"Well, not with you," Owen replied, 'but yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he's working on something like that. In the couple of paddocks we passed we saw a couple of Gallimimus and an Apatosaurus. Whatever it is, whatever they're doing, they're going to think they're in control. Just like they think they're in control of Blue now."

Before anyone could say anything else Zia whispered a quick, "Someone's coming," before her radio went silent. Owen pulled Claire and Lowery further back into the jungle with him, making sure they were out of sight.

Barely two minutes went by before Zia was back on the radio. "Sorry, a guy came to check on Blue. Said the guard watching the feeds thought she was acting funny, jumping for something. I told him she was chasing butterflies."

"They bought that?" Owen asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Zia replied with a bit of a chuckle. "These guys are not at all knowledgeable about animal behaviour."

"Great," Owen groaned.

"Why's that a bad thing?" Claire asked. "Isn't them being dumb about this working in our favour?"

"Sure, in this case," Owen agreed. "But, they're more likely to do something stupid and set the animals off if they're not aware of what they're doing. That's what I worry about."

"Oh, just a sec again," Zia interrupted. They all waited patiently for a few minutes until Zia came back on again. "Some guys were just walking by. It sounds like they're about to do a run to the docks as a ship is arriving with supplies. This might be your best bet on figuring out a way in, as that'll greatly reduce the number of guys wandering around with guns in here."

"Good idea," Owen agreed. "We're going to head the rest of the way around just in case there's another entrance, but I think we're going to have to go in through the front. Keep giving us a head's up when we shouldn't radio you. We're probably going to need your help."

"Copy that," Zia said.

"Come on," Owen gestured to the others. "I'd like to see who leaves and how many."

The journey around the rest of the compound was uneventful. There were a couple more empty paddocks as well as a Carnotaurus, an Ankylosaurus, a Stegosaurus and a few Compsognathus. The last ones had drawn a comment from Owen as they went by–"Really? Who in their right mind would think bringing Compy's to the island is a good idea?" To which Claire had replied, "No one here is in their right mind."

They approached the front gate just in time to see a couple of the trucks leaving. It looked like there were four men heading out, two per truck. Owen didn't see the one who had shot him, Wheatley, which made him think this must be the four main "guards" at the base (minus the one left in the guardhouse and Wheatley himself). That would definitely make now the best time to try to get in.

After the trucks had left, the remaining guard had shut the gate behind them before retiring back to his guard house. He looked pretty relaxed, which wasn't surprising – he probably rarely to never had anything to do that wasn't interacting with the people in the compound. Watching the guard for a couple of minutes, Owen knew that they were going to have to find a way to distract him, to get him to leave his post. There was no way they could get that gate open without him noticing. It was too big and way too noticeable.

"Hey Zia," Owen used the radio.

"Yeah?"

"We're going to need a distraction. Something that would convince this guard to leave his post temporarily. If we can get him to go to you…"

"You want me to get Blue agitated?" Zia asked, looking in at the raptor, who had turned to look at her when she heard her name.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," Owen agreed with a wince. This was definitely not ideal, but he knew Blue, which meant he knew what Zia could do. "She's not going to like you for this," he warned Zia.

"I don't think she likes me now," Zia replied. "Even though I did save her life."

"Well, be prepared to make her like you even less," Owen said, eyes still focused on the guard. "Blue really doesn't like unnatural sounds. You know, like things that beep."

"Like a truck backing up?" Zia clarified.

"Yeah," Owen agreed. "Although I don't think we're going to be able to pull that off. What's in the cage with you? What kind of locking system are they using?"

"Um," Zia looked around her. She hadn't paid much attention to it, having no faith that she would be able to get herself out once in there. Looking now, she saw two keypads, one for the gate that led into Blue's cage and one for the gate that led back to the main compound area. "Two keypads in here, looks like one is for each gate. Also a big red button, I'm guessing that might be an emergency shut command."

"Sounds like the setup we had back on Nublar," Owen replied. "And yeah, the red would shut the gates – that didn't need a code. Try the keys. On Nublar, every time you put in the wrong code it would give out a horrible sound like a buzzer on a game show." Owen waited a moment, before adding, "Oh, um, maybe don't try it on the one that leads into Blue's cage. I know the odds aren't great that you get the right code but, um, if you do, I'd rather you're free and not face-to-face with Blue."

"Right," Zia nodded, turning to the other keypad, pretending she hadn't moved towards the one near Blue. Not that they could see her and tell what she was doing. "I had the same thought," she covered for herself. Facing the keypad, she decided to aim for super simple, knowing those were least likely the code. Quickly she entered 1-1-1-1 before hitting the pound sign. She was greeted by a loud buzzer. Even though she was both expecting and hoping for it, it still caught her off guard. Blue roared, and looking over her shoulder Zia could see her coming towards her.

"That's great Zia," Owen encouraged her. "You're going to need to do it a few more times. By then, Blue's reaction should be enough to get the guard's attention."

Zia repeated the same code, watching as Blue got visibly more agitated with each entry. After four more tries, Blue was now pacing back and forth in front of the gate alternating between roaring and trilling angrily. "Any action?" Zia asked Owen.

"Not ye–" Owen started, before cutting himself off. The guard was finally moving, heading for the door. "Yep, he's moving now. Make sure you hide the radio. And the moment he leaves you, give us a few clicks so we know."

"Good luck," Zia replied and the radio fell silent.

Owen waited until the guard had disappeared around the corner of the building before hustling Lowery and Claire forward. Getting the gate open ended up taking longer than expected, as it was clear it had been built to be opened from the inside and not the outside. They had to fiddle quite a bit, Owen getting increasingly nervous as time went by, but trying not to show it. Finally, they managed to disengage the lock and scramble through, quickly shutting and re-locking it behind them.

Claire took the lead, darting in the same direction the guard had, which had Owen almost reaching to pull her back so they could go the other way. But, he then saw what she had noticed – there was a cluster of utility boxes, the kind that store access points for electrical systems and such. They would make a good cover point, as they tried to figure out their next move – they would be able to stay out of sight of both the buildings and the gate and guard house. Just as they had almost made it, Owen heard clicking from the radio, and he pushed Lowery and Claire to move faster. They had just ducked out of sight when they could hear the guard muttering to himself as he came back around the buildings towards them.

There was enough space where they were hiding for the three of them to comfortably sit or kneel on the ground, and both Lowery and Claire immediately took advantage of that, sitting down with their backs against a utility box. Owen maintained a crouch, trying to peek over the edge and watch the guard's movements. He didn't want to be surprised if the guard for some reason decided to wander over by the boxes on his way back to his post.

Once the guard finally disappeared back into his small guard house, Owen shifted around to check on the others, while simultaneously gesturing for the radio from Claire, who was still clutching it.

"What?" Claire asked, looking at him.

"The radio," Owen hissed back, reaching for it. He almost rolled his eyes, watching the internal debate Claire had before she reluctantly handed it over. He knew she hated not being in control, but it was just a radio. "Zia?" Owen asked softly, before waiting for a reply.

"Did you guys get in?" Zia replied, and they could hear Blue still trilling angrily from behind her.

"Yeah, it was close, but we're in," Owen nodded. "How's Blue?"

"Not happy," Zia said simply.

"She'll get over it," Owen told her. "Too bad you don't have any jerky for her."

"She's limping a little more now," Zia noted. "I'm thinking the pain might be getting to her as well, which will just make her more easily aggravated."

"Can you give her something?" Owen asked.

"I don't have anything," Zia replied. "The guard and I talked about that, actually, but I'd prefer she's not under the influence of anything so I can see how she continues to heal. What I wish I could do is check her bandage. But that won't be happening unless we knock her out again. I do wish I had more food for her though, she's definitely malnourished."

"Well, add that to the list of things we need to sort out," Owen said, rolling his shoulders to relieve some tension.

"Wait," Claire interrupted the discussion. "Malnourished?"

"Yeah," Zia is the one who answered. "She's definitely looking too thin. I think that's why she hadn't been moving much before we got here. Nublar is not that big of an island and most of the carnivores on there have big appetites. It makes me wonder how well the T-Rex and others are doing. I hate to say it, but the ones in the cages here might actually be better off than whatever's left on the island."

"But the T-Rex survived from the original park," Lowery reminded them, looking up from his tablet, which he'd pulled out the moment he sat down.

"Right, but besides Rexy and the compy's," Claire interjected, "there really wasn't anything else that did. There wasn't a lot of carnivore competition." She was wracking her brain to fill in details from what she remembered about the earlier park.

"Carnivores usually have really large territories," Zia added. "Lion prides can cover 100 square miles. Nublar is way too small for multiple large carnivorous species to thrive together."

"And don't forget, Blue's a pack animal," Owen reminded them. "She's used to hunting with her sisters. Not only has her entire environment been turned upside down, but she lost her entire family too."

"Okay, well, this is all well and good," Lowery piped up impatiently, "But I'm not sure how it helps us out right now."

"Yeah, we're getting a bit sidetracked," Owen agreed. "Zia, did the guard say anything else to you? Or even last night? Do you have any idea what's really going on here? Why they're collecting all these dinosaurs?"

"No, not really," Zia sighed. "I wish I had a better answer, but no one's said much of anything. I did get the impression that Blue is important though. That they've been trying to find her for a while." There's a pause, while everyone digests that, but any thoughts on it are tossed aside by Zia's next statement. "Oh, and on the boat, Wheatley was talking to someone, maybe Wu, and he was telling them that he'd shot you, Owen, and that he'd brought someone else back. And then he said 'no, not the redhead.' These guys definitely aren't just random mercenaries. I mean, considering Wu's here, we know that. But they know who you two are."

"Our faces were plastered all over the news for months," Claire sighed, her gaze on Owen's face. He was clutching the radio tightly, and his eyes were squeezed shut. His lips were moving, but she couldn't hear anything. She recognized the response, having seen him do the same before, counting off silently trying to calm himself down. She reached out a hand, resting it on his back, rubbing softly as she continued. "I don't think we can read too much into that. If the guy, this Wheatley, recognized Owen, whoever he's talking to quite probably just assumed I'd be there too."

"I think you're brushing it off to easily," Owen said, shaking his head. "Those guys didn't stumble on Blue by accident. They told me 'thanks for your help.' They knew we were there. They must have been tracking us." He paused, taking a peek towards the guard house to confirm nothing had changed. "Who else knew you were coming here?"

"No one," Claire replied immediately. When Owen looked at her in disbelief, she insisted with more force. "Seriously Owen, we didn't tell anyone. I barely told you, remember? Even those at the DPG just think we've gone on a trip to New York to talk to investors."

"The pilot knows," Lowery reminded them.

"Okay, fine, the pilot," Claire conceded. "But I didn't find him through anyone, and he didn't reach out to me. How or who would he know to contact?"

"It doesn't matter," Owen stopped the argument. "It's not like we can go back in time and prevent yesterday from occurring. What we need to do, is figure out what we're going to do next."

For a moment, silence falls over them all, only to be interrupted by Lowery exclaiming loudly. "I'm in!"

"In what?" Zia asked, not being able to see him.

"You know, you would think with all this top secret stuff they were doing they would put some passwords on their computers," Lowery muttered, before looking at Claire and Owen with a big grin. "I managed to get onto their wifi network. Mind you, there appears to be two different ones, and I'm on the intranet, not the internet."

"What does that mean?" Owen asked.

"I can access the local network and stuff that's right here and connected to it," Lowery explained. "The internet would let me check emails or go to Google. I'm still working on access to that. But," he grinned again, "I was able to get access to their security cams!"

"What do they cover?" Claire asked, curious.

"There actually aren't that many here. They really must not be worried about outsiders. There are the ones on the outside ring of the perimeter fence, some focused on the paddocks in the back, and that's about it," Lowery shrugged. "Whoever they paid to do the security here was not worth the money."

"How many radios do we have?" Owen asked, turning to look at Claire.

"Three left," Claire replied, digging the third one out of her bag and holding it up. "Why, what are you thinking?"

"We need more info about what's going on," Owen said, looking back over the boxes again at the guard. "We still don't really know what we're up against."

"I thought we were just going to get Zia," Lowery said.

"I'm not leaving Blue," Owen and Zia both replied in almost unison. Zia added, "I don't feel comfortable leaving any of these dinosaurs here, not until we know what they're planning on doing."

"I agree," Owen said. "I want to go snoop around a bit, see what I can find out." He looked at Claire, who was still holding the third radio. "We've got three radios, Zia has one, I'll take one, and you two can share the third."

"What? No way," Claire shook her head. "I'm going with you."

"I can sneak around better without you," Owen argued. "One person is less conspicuous than two."

"That may be true, but we don't know what you're going to find. You're going to need me," Claire insisted. Owen was ready to retort, to argue that she was wrong, but his eyes were caught on Claire playing with the straps on her backpack, the only outward sign she was giving that she wasn't as confident in what she was saying.

Before he could reply, Lowery spoke up. "Just let her go with you, man," Lowery rolled his eyes. He was busy reaching into his bag and plucking out a solar charger for his tablet. "You know she's going to follow you either way."

"He's right," Zia agreed, her small chuckle perceptible even through the radio. "Besides, Lowery said there are no security cameras in there. One of you can be on lookout for the other."

"Fine," Owen ground out as he quickly pulled a couple of things out of his backpack and checked over his vest pockets, before leaving his backpack on the ground with Lowery. He gestured to Claire to leave hers as well. He paused, looking at Lowery and then down at his radio. "With three radios, we're going to need to be careful we don't give anyone away. If you want to talk, give three clicks. When you hear three clicks, reply with two quick clicks if you're good. And then, only if you get two sets of two clicks back, do you say anything. Got it?" Owen looked intently at Lowery, who just nodded, while Zia replied with a quick "copy."

Owen then crept towards the edge of the utility boxes, Claire following behind him. He paused, looking around the area, before with a brief glance over his shoulder at her, he said, "Let's get one thing straight. I'm in charge."

"Believe what you want," Claire replied, giving him a smile when he turned back again to glare at her, before following after him, as he sprinted across the clearing to the first building.


Next chapter - some answers. :)

Thanks for reading and reviewing. My stories would not be anywhere close to what they are if it wasn't for all the time, effort and help that Elise-Collier has provided. She pushes for all the clawen moments, and has been the hidden source behind many of the small details. Please take a moment to go check out her fics - they're awesome. We're also planning out a joint fic, stay tuned.