Chapter 21
When the elevator door opened and Claire stepped out into the Control Room, there was a louder hum than she was used to. Everyone seemed to be talking in hushed but excited tones to those around them. However, as she walked across the room towards Lowery and Vivian the hum died down, as if they didn't want to be overheard. Feeling self-conscious, Claire wondered what new rumours might be going around about her, and what had triggered them. Zara hadn't said anything earlier, and normally she was quick to inform Claire if she thought they might impact Claire's day.
"What's going on?" Claire asked as she took her usual place behind and between Lowery and Vivian. "What's got everyone reved up?"
"You haven't heard?" Vivian asked, turning to look up at Claire.
"Do I look like I know what's going on?" Claire replied, an eyebrow arched.
"Usually you're the first to know," Lowery commented, and Claire just looked at him pointedly, raising her eyebrows in question. "Right. There's a reddit post that's been going viral. A doctor from… Russia, I think, posted about an animal bite he encountered at his work. Said that he'd seen nothing like it before and was wondering if anyone could help him identify the source."
"Why couldn't whoever got bitten identify it?" Claire asked, although she was worried she already knew the answer.
"The person did. Said it was a bear, right?" Lowery looked over at Vivian who nodded her agreement. "Except the doctor doesn't believe that it's a bear. He thinks it's something else."
"What does he think it is?" Claire asked. She was pretty sure she didn't want to know, especially when Lowery and Vivian exchanged another look, the way they always did when something was up. After all, if it was something that got everyone in Control talking, well… As much as she didn't really want to have her suspicions confirmed, she also felt an inkling of hope welling up inside her. If it was a dinosaur, could it be one of the missing ones? Would this be their first lead?
"He's not sure, that's why he posted it. Said he didn't want to bias anyone with his guess," Lowery replied. He turned back to the monitor in front of him, tapping away quickly on his keyboard before pulling up a couple of images.
Claire stepped closer to his side, leaning down so she could look at them more closely. She knew Lowery and Vivian were both watching her, waiting for her reaction. There were two images. Both appeared to be of a male forearm, each capturing a different angle of the bite. However, both clearly showed two rows of puncture holes. The bite didn't appear to be all that big and Claire was pretty sure it was too small to be from Blue. But… she supposed it could be from a dinosaur. Not that she had a lot of experience staring at dinosaur bite wounds.
"People think it's a dinosaur?" she half-asked, half-stated, as she stood back up, her gaze darting between Vivian and Lowery who both nodded. "Why?"
"There's really nothing in Russia that should produce a bite mark like that," Lowery started.
"But it's also the size," Vivian added. "It's too small, but also too… maybe long is the right word, for most of the carnivores in that area. Well, those that don't have fangs. It's definitely not from a cat or a dog."
"What about the vets?" Claire asked. "Have they looked at these?"
"Dr. Holloway said it could be a dinosaur, but that he didn't want to commit from a picture," Vivian said. "And Dr. Holt said it reminded her of, well…" Vivian trailed off and Claire could tell she didn't want to finish what she was about to say. Claire urged her to continue. "She said that it reminded her of some of the marks the baby raptors used to leave on toys and stuff."
"Huh," Claire said, her mind whirling. "Can you forward those images to my email?"
"Sure," Lowery agreed, turning back to his monitor. He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Are you going to show Owen?"
"If there's anyone who would know, it'd be him or Barry," Claire said. "And if it is a raptor, well maybe we'll finally have a lead on what happened to Fern and the others. But," she added, finally turning her attention to the large map of the park, and the actual reason for her visit to Control, "before I do that, is there anything I need to know?"
Thankfully, Lowery and Vivian didn't have much to report and not long later, Claire was back in the elevator on her way to her office. She had pulled out her phone and was staring at the images in her email, flipping back and forth between them. While she'd told them she was going to forward them to Owen, she was now feeling a bit hesitant on doing so. She didn't want to get his hopes up. But, she also knew that she had to. That if they were going to keep working on trying to repair their relationship, she couldn't be hiding something like this from him.
After her trip the previous month, when she'd made it back to the island, it had taken all of her courage to finally phone him. She'd actually been surprised that he'd listened and had left her alone for the rest of her trip. Well, mostly alone. She'd returned from her first full day of meetings to find a colourful bouquet of flowers in her hotel room. There was a small note with them that had simply said, "When you're ready, call me." It hadn't been signed, but it hadn't needed to be. She'd almost texted him right then and there, but she was afraid if she did, that she wouldn't be able to go through with not talking to him for the rest of the trip. Or that he'd take it as an invitation that she actually did want to talk.
And she did. She really did. She missed him more than she expected she would. But she also knew that she needed the break. She needed time to sort through how she was feeling. To separate out her concerns and stress about work and the missing dinosaurs and lab samples from her stress over their relationship.
The break had been good.
After her meetings were finished, she'd spent a day at a spa, choosing to pamper herself fully. She'd spent time wandering the streets, ducking into coffee shops and stores that caught her eye. She'd checked out the ice skaters at Rockefeller center and had taken in a Broadway show. She'd shopped, too. Enjoying the chance to actually get to try on the clothes first, instead of having to rely on online shopping as she mostly did from Nublar.
Their first conversation once she was back had started off stilted and awkward and uncomfortable, both of them clearly unsure of their footing and not wanting to say the wrong thing. Eventually, she'd snapped, frustrated with the way Owen was acting, agreeing with everything she said. She didn't want a "yes" man. She didn't want him to compromise who he was for her. They'd never last if he did that. He'd loosened up a bit after, but it was still awkward. Claire knew there was no way around that, not given the topic, and it wasn't helped by the fact that they were having it over the phone and not face-to-face.
It was Owen who had actually suggested that it would be better if they could talk in person. And then, to her surprise, he'd offered to come over to Nublar. He'd been upfront and had said he couldn't come for long, just a single night.
If she had thought their phone calls were awkward, they were minor in comparison to when they first met up again. She was torn between wanting to just throw herself at him, but also feeling like it wasn't her place to do so. He'd looked equally unsure as to how to behave. But once they'd started talking, they hadn't stopped.
Claire had never been one for pulling all-nighters. She had always managed to stay organized enough to rarely need them. There were exceptions, of course, like the night of the Indoraptors incident, where she hadn't really had a choice.
But they'd pulled one that night, neither ready to stop, once they'd got over the initial awkwardness. She'd driven them out to his lot (she still struggled to call it theirs) instead of going back to their condo. The night had started off with both of them sort of metaphorically dancing around the other, each tentatively trying to get closer, before backing away again.
They had both tried to be as open and honest as possible, but it hadn't always been easy. They'd tried to stay focused on what they wanted. On reconfirming that they really did want the same things and that neither actually wanted to walk away. But there had been moments where one or the other had needed to step back and take a break. Moments where the conversation started to get too heated, the emotions still too raw.
The biggest stumbling block continued to be Owen's life on Sorna. It wasn't a situation that made either of them happy, but it was also a situation that they were at a loss as to how to change, and neither thought Owen quitting was a solution. As they had talked it through, Claire had realized that she actually didn't have a problem with the long distance part of their relationship. She completely understood and related to getting caught up in your work and putting in long hours. She'd realized that she didn't need him to be there, physically, every evening for things to be okay. That she could get by with their nightly phone calls and occasional video chats (if the internet held up). But not needing him there every night, didn't mean she was okay with not seeing him for months. She needed it to be more frequent. At least once a month, but preferably more often.
When she'd finally managed to put that into words, she'd been surprised when Owen had agreed. It had been one of many moments where she realized that their communication had been sorely lacking. They were in agreement on a lot more than they had ever realized, both too busy making assumptions and jumping to the worst-case scenario.
By the time the sun had risen the following the morning they were nestled together in the hammock, their voices low and starting to slur from exhaustion.
It had felt bittersweet saying goodbye to him a few hours later at the ferry, although she also thought it was probably good he couldn't stay longer. She knew that there was still a way to go before they got back to where they were. Or, more accurately, where they wanted to be. It was a start, which was important. But considering how many starts it felt like they'd had at this point, she was hesitant to just throw caution to the wind and dive fully back in. Thankfully, Owen seemed to get it, and to feel the same way, and so there had been an unspoken mutual agreement to not rush it.
In the couple of weeks since, she had managed to get over to Sorna for a visit to check in on the lab, and Owen had also come back to Nublar for another night. They were both trying. They just were also both afraid of being hurt, and of hurting the other.
But, progress was progress, as she kept reminding herself. She just really hoped that sending the images to him now wasn't going to be the thing that sent them backwards, sending him spiralling back into his obsession on finding Blue.
Claire tapped the forward button on her email and added Owen's email address. She was about to hit send when she hesitated, and then added Barry to the email as well. She debated about adding Zia, but decided she didn't want to pull in too many others, not yet.
Once it was sent, she closed her email and called Owen. She was still listening as the phone rang as she exited the elevator and started down the hall to her office. She could tell a couple of people were trying to get her attention as she walked, but she stayed focused on her office, and hoped they'd just assume she was already in the middle of an important phone call.
Just as she thought he wasn't going to answer and she'd be stuck leaving a voicemail (and was also thinking how she should've included a message in her email forward) he finally picked up.
"Hey, Claire, what's up?" he greeted.
"Hey, I just forwarded an email to you and Barry," she told him, skipping normal pleasantries. "Is he around? Do you have time to take a look now?"
"Um, sure? What is it? Actually, wait a sec, let me get Barry first." There was a bit of a scratchy sound for a second while she was pretty sure he'd covered the mic with his hand before she could hear a muffled version of him calling out for Barry. She could also vaguely hear some snarling in the background when Owen uncovered the mic and figured they must be out at the paddock. "Okay, I'm putting you on speaker, Claire. What do you want us to look at?"
"I sent you both an email," she repeated as she entered her office, closing the door behind her as she did. "There's a couple of pictures in it. Could you take a look and tell me what animal you think did it?"
"Did what?" Barry asked.
"You'll see," Claire just said, walking around her desk to sit down.
"Whoa," Owen exclaimed and she knew they had opened the email. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Merde," Barry agreed. "Where's this from? I don't remember anyone getting bit, do you?"
"No, no one was bit. I mean, we had scratches and little nips and stuff, but nothing like this. No full on bite marks," Owen said. "Wait, Claire, is this… could this be?"
"I'm not sure," Claire admitted, knowing that Owen's mind had jumped to the same conclusions she had. "But I'm guessing from your reactions, you both think that's a raptor bite?"
"I wouldn't stake my reputation on it," Owen said after a brief hesitation, "Not just from these images, anyway, but yeah, I'm pretty sure."
"D'accord," Barry added.
"Damn," Claire replied, swearing lightly. "I was really hoping I was wrong."
"Where's it from?" Owen asked, his voice tight.
"Reddit," Claire said, with an inward grimace. "I was just down in Control and apparently someone from Russia posted the picture on Reddit asking for help identifying what animal could've made the bite. Everyone was talking about it."
There was a pause, before Barry spoke up. "Do we know if it's legit?"
"You think it could be fake?" Claire asked in surprise.
"People are pretty good with make up these days," Barry replied.
"And photoshop," Owen added.
"True," Claire said slowly. "But I think if it was fake, whoever put it out there wouldn't be pretending they didn't know what it was from. They'd probably want people to think it was real, so they'd claim it was a raptor bite from the start."
"Also true," Owen conceded.
"Okay, let's assume it's legitimate," Claire started, thinking aloud. "That it's not a doctored photo and that it is a raptor bite and that it's recent. If we assume that, then this is probably our first solid lead on the robbery."
There was a brief pause on the line.
"Unless someone else has created raptors," Barry said. "Wasn't there a rumour a while back about another theme park?"
"There was," Claire agreed. "But, nothing ever came from that. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I still highly doubt it."
"I agree," Owen said. "Also, look at the size of the bite wound. It tracks for how old Pepper and the others are. The odds that not only has someone else started breeding raptors but that they also have one similarly aged? That seems unlikely. What are you going to do next, Claire? And what can we do?"
"You two? At the moment, nothing," she said firmly. "I need to do some more research into this. I'll let you know what I find out."
"Okay, just a sec," Owen said. There were some muffled sounds and it sounded like he and Barry were having a quick discussion, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. A minute later, Owen's voice came back through the phone again, but it was clearer than before, a sure sign he'd taken her off speaker. "Hey," he said, his voice low.
"Hey," she echoed. "Sorry to ruin your day with this."
"You didn't ruin it," he disagreed. "If it's really a raptor bite, and really from one of ours, well, it also means they're probably alive." He let out a sigh, and she could picture him running his hand down his face, scrubbing at his jaw. "I'm trying to tamp down the hope I feel."
"Same," Claire said. "I really hope this leads to something."
"Me too."
There was a long pause as both fell silent, and she knew they were both thinking over the potential impacts of this information. Letting out a groan at the thought of the extra work this was going to bring, Claire propped her elbow on her desk, letting her head fall into her hand. "Ugh, I better go see what I can find out."
"Call me later?" Owen asked, hopeful.
"Yeah, I'll let you know what I find," she replied.
"No, not about that," he countered. "I do want to know, of course, but just… Can you do dinner tonight?"
"Oh." Claire was glad he couldn't see her and the heat she felt rising in her cheeks over the misunderstanding. "Yeah, sure. Seven?"
"Sure. I–" He was cut off by a loud screech that was followed immediately by snarls. "Sorry, I gotta go, they're getting restless."
"No problem," she said, before reminding him. "Be careful."
"Always," he replied, and there was a brief pause where she could hear more raptor snarls. "Love you, Claire."
"Love you, too."
o-o-o
"Ah, Eli, I was just looking for you."
Eli paused beside the model of Jurassic Park and turned around to see Ben was wheeling across the floor in his direction.
"Ben, how are you doing today," he greeted the older man.
"I'm fine," Ben dismissed his concerns. "Just getting old. One of the many inevitable parts of life."
"An unfortunate one," Eli replied and Ben nodded his agreement. "What did you want to see me about?" he asked, trying not to eye the elevator at the end of the room.
"Maisie keeps mentioning hearing noises in here," Ben said. "She keeps saying it sounds like something's roaring."
"Sounds like her imagination is finally getting ahead of her," Eli said, forcing out a laugh that didn't quite come out as light and airy as he was hoping, barely suppressing a shiver that ran down his spine. He hoped that Ben didn't notice. "She does have quite an imagination."
"She does, doesn't she?" Ben agreed, a fond smile on his face, his gaze drifting away momentarily. "Just like her mom did."
"I think she's probably hearing things she wants to hear," Eli continued. "I've had to use this old elevator a bit more recently, as I've been trying to do some more work down in the basement. While it's functional, it's been known to let out some old creaks and groans, showing its age. That's probably what she's heard."
Ben nodded along as Eli spoke, and Eli could feel his shoulders relaxing a bit. They still really needed a better solution on how to keep Blue quiet. While she was no longer screeching all day, every day, she was still far from being docile.
"How's that work going?" Ben asked.
Eli spared a quick glance in the direction of the elevator. He'd been hoping to go down and check in on the lab. While he wasn't always sure he'd be able to tell if anything was wrong, it always felt better when he went by. He wanted those working down there to know that they were being checked up on and being watched.
While Henry had vouched for everyone they'd hired — all former employees of his — Eli wasn't quite so trusting. Sure, they were the first ones who had ever successfully stolen from Jurassic World (well, successfully stolen research, that is), but now that they had, and that it had ended up being even easier than he'd expected, he was worried that others would follow suit.
Eli hadn't been surprised when there was no public news of the break-in. He'd expected that InGen and Jurassic World wouldn't want that information to leak out. But he was also aware that now that the research was at the Estate, and now that more people had been brought in to work on it, it would be much easier for the information to spread even farther. He (and Hoskins and Henry) didn't have the same resources — nor did the Estate have the same security — as InGen. They had done their best to set it up such that it would be difficult for any of the new hires to walk away with any of the research, but that didn't mean that one of them wouldn't actually run their mouth to the wrong person, and that word wouldn't get around. They were really relying on getting their own operation fully functional and off the ground before someone else, with more resources, could.
So far, they were succeeding, but it had been difficult. By the time Henry had to go back to work, he had been able to get a couple of batches of eggs incubating. They'd lost a few eggs a week later, when one of the incubators had malfunctioned. They had lost even more in the weeks since, and while Eli knew that Henry had said this was to be expected, it was still concerning, and more than a little frustrating. He had buyers waiting. He needed to be able to deliver.
"It's… going," he finally said. "Always amazing how much clutter still seems to build up when you don't feel like you use an area." He was still surprised that Ben seemed to have bought into his excuse that he was just helping clear out the basement.
"Have you come across any old Jurassic Park stuff?" Ben asked. "I've been thinking a lot about those days, recently." The older man's gaze drifted over to the model of Isla Nublar that Eli was standing next to. "I've been thinking we should invite Ms. Dearing back out for another visit. It'd be nice to get another update on the research institute. And I'm sure she'd be fascinated by any old Jurassic Park documents and artifacts you may find."
"You've been getting the reports I've been sharing, right?" Eli confirmed, his brow furrowing. He didn't want to invite Claire back to the Estate. Not with everything going on now. With his luck, she'd end up coming out the same time Henry was due back, which was hopefully going to be well-timed with the eggs hatching.
"I have," Ben nodded. "I have some questions I'd like to ask her. I know I could send them along or phone her, but it'd be nice to do so in person. Conversations are always so much easier face-to-face, aren't they?" Ben didn't wait for Eli to respond. "Can you reach out, please? See if she could come?"
"Sure, of course," Eli said, smiling tightly. "I'll do so today."
"Thanks," Ben replied.
The sound of footsteps had them both turning towards the south entrance where Iris was hurrying into the room. "It's time for your next dose, Sir," she said as she approached.
"When is it not?" Ben asked rhetorically, but he allowed Iris to turn his wheelchair and start to lead him out of the room. "Eli," he called back, "let me know what she says. And offer up the Estate, she could stay here."
"I will," Eli agreed. He continued to stand in place as he watched them leaving the room, forcing the smile to remain on his face in case either of them looked back, only allowing it to slip once he was completely alone. Finally, once they were out of sight, he headed for the elevator.
It was crazy, he thought, how only half a year ago he would've told anyone and everyone what a great mentor Ben had been and how much he'd learned from him. It no longer felt the case, anymore. Or maybe he was just finally acknowledging that he'd outgrown Ben's knowledge, that the mentee had finally surpassed the mentor.
o-o-o
While it had been a couple of months since the break-in, and while the lab was back fully operational with eggs incubating, and while the few baby dinos that hadn't been taken had continued to grow, the mood on Sorna was still somber. The first few weeks after everything had happened, there at least had been some hope. Hope that there would be a lead and that they'd be able to recover everything, or, at least, get some of the animals back alive. As the weeks had gone by with no news, that hope had faded.
Then, a couple of weeks ago when Claire had forwarded Owen the pictures of the baby raptor bite, Owen had felt his hope rise again, that maybe if they could find the babies, they'd be able to also find Blue. For a brief period of time, it had felt like a real possibility, and he'd started to think that maybe the somber atmosphere would finally go away.
"I still can't believe they're dead," Zia said, breaking the silence, her fork clattering onto her plate.
Neither could Owen.
Claire had broken the news that morning, and it still didn't feel like it had completely sunk in. All four baby raptors — Fern, Pepper, Snow and Sky — had been recovered. But none of them had made it. They had been too late. Weeks too late for some of them. They had been found in an abandoned warehouse in Russia. Whoever had been storing them there (and they still weren't entirely sure who had) had been struggling to keep them alive.
The raptor bodies were going to be shipped back to Nublar and the vets there would attempt to figure out the cause of death. Owen didn't really get the point of that. He was pretty sure it would be a combination of lack of nutrition and the inability of the raptors to adapt to a sudden change in climate. The warehouse had been much colder than they kept the nursery, while also having a much lower humidity. Owen knew that it took a lot of work to keep all the dinosaurs at Jurassic World alive, and the dinosaurs were at least designed to withstand the environment there even if it differed from the climate the original species had once lived in.
"Me either," Owen said, when he realized that Zia was looking at him and Barry, waiting for them to say anything. He let his own fork and knife fall to his plate as he shifted in his chair, leaning back, no longer hungry. "Dammit."
"I hate that I kind of wish we had never found them," Zia said. "I'd prefer to think of them alive somewhere, than know that they're dead."
"D'accord," Barry agreed. "Of course, it was always hard to think of them being treated well, considering how they were taken. Maybe this is for the best."
"The best would've been if they had never been taken," Owen grumbled, and the other two nodded their agreement, falling silent. He watched as they both started eating again. "You know what I actually hate the most?" he said, and they both paused to look over at him. "I hate that as much as I hate all of this, I also don't really care. I was never able to care about Pepper and the others as much as I should've. And while it's sad that they're dead, what I hate more, is that we still have no information on Blue. It doesn't look like she was there. Or the other baby dinosaurs. Does that mean whoever stole everything parcelled it out and sold them off to the highest bidder? And if so… that means Blue could be anywhere. And we're probably never going to find her."
As he'd been talking, his voice had risen and he realized that others were looking over at their table. With another groan of frustration, he pushed his plate aside, resting his elbows on the table and dropping his head into his hands. "This is all just a fucking nightmare."
"It really is," Barry agreed. "And, I get it. I feel the same way. It would've been nice to get the raptors back — alive. But the only one I really want is Blue."
"I don't think you should give up hope," Zia said, and Owen raised his head briefly to look at her. "Just because the baby raptors died, doesn't mean that Blue has. She's older. She's better adapted to the world, having survived for over four years already. She'd also be more able to defend herself, if she needed. The babies would've been solely reliant on whoever had them."
"She will be too, if she's in a cage," Owen mumbled. "I doubt she's running around loose somewhere."
"Right, but if someone has her in a cage, they want her alive," Zia said, being the voice of reason. "They're going to be feeding her."
"Yeah," Owen said, letting out a sigh as he rested his head back in his hands. He just didn't want to think about any of this. They'd been having this discussion for months now, going in circles, and it was not like this time was going to be any different. Them continuing to debate on what may or may not be happening wouldn't change what actually was, or the fact that they still didn't know what that even was.
For not the first time, he wished that he was living back on Nublar. That he wasn't eating dinner in a cafeteria, but was eating in his own home. That it was Claire sitting with him, not his two friends. That, after this, they'd go sit together on the couch, where he'd zone out to some sports replay while she'd tap away at her laptop, finishing off reports or sending emails. And that later, they'd go to bed, and he could fall asleep wrapped around her, or with Claire nestled into his side, her hand resting over his heart, head on his shoulder.
He really needed to get back over there. It definitely wasn't doing him (or their relationship) any good for him to be living on Sorna right now. And it wasn't like he'd made any significant progress with Charlie and Echo over the past couple of months. While they were slightly less difficult than they used to be, they still weren't interested in doing any drills or playing any games. It was time he fully accepted that feeling like he needed to be on Sorna as much as he was, wasn't helping anything.
Shifting to rest his head on his left hand, he used his right to pull out his phone, intent on checking his calendar and asking Claire what would be a good time for him to visit. He was surprised to see that he'd missed a text, especially one from Claire. Frowning, he opened up the app, worried she was going to have more news about the raptors, and not sure he really wanted to know what it was. Instead, there was just a short message.
Got a call from Eli today. Mr. Lockwood wants me to come visit and update him on the research institute. Will probably go out on the 29th and fly back on the 1st.
I'm sorry. RIP Fern, Pepper, Snow and Sky.
By the way, did anyone else join the Jurassic Park watch party with Joe Mazzello today? It was a really nice break from everything. I recommend checking it out. It's entertaining enough on its own without the movie. Lots of little tidbits about the making of.