Chapter 24

A shout drew Claire from her where she was sitting slumped on the hay bale over to the bars. It was followed quickly by more yells and then what sounded like something heavy hitting the floor. Curious she pressed closer to the bars, trying to see what was happening and where, but she couldn't make out anything, the bars making it too awkward to try to peer up at the floor above.

And then she heard a shout that made her blood run cold: "Claire!"

Owen. What was he doing there? Scratch that, why the hell was he there?

"Owen?" she immediately shouted back. He didn't reply. However, Blue immediately started chittering away, adding to the cacophony of sounds.

Claire strained to hear what was happening but it was difficult to make out anything specific over the sounds coming from Blue. Claire was pretty sure that there were people still talking, but it didn't sound like there was a struggle happening anymore. What did that mean? She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad one.

Staying close to the bars, she called out again. "Owen?"

Except for Blue's continued chirping, there was no reply.

Claire wished she was out there, that she could see what was happening, that she could do something. She wasn't used to having zero control over her life. And it wasn't just the lack of control that bothered her, but that no one was telling her anything. Even when anyone came by, to give her something to eat or to briefly escort her to the bathroom, they refused to say a thing. If that hadn't been worrisome enough, it was the fact that not a single person tried to hide who they were that bothered her the most. No one seemed concerned that she'd be able to identify them.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Blue startled snarling, which was usually a sign that someone was coming. A minute later, Claire could see two of the guards approaching, both dragging a third person between them. Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized Owen, his body limp, head hanging.

"Owen?" she gasped, before turning her attention to the guards and demanding, "What did you do to him?"

The guards ignored her.

"God, this guy is heavy," one of them said as they headed for the cell directly across from her. The cell door was already open, and they half-dragged/half-threw Owen through it before shutting the door. One of the guards briefly spoke into the radio clipped to his shirt, and a moment later, there was a loud clang as the gate locked. That was another part of her problem — Claire had spent a fair amount of time trying to fiddle with the lock on her cell door when she'd first woken up trapped, only to later learn that the locks were actually all electronic and were controlled from some master location.

"Packs a hell of a punch," the other guard said, and when he turned away from the cell, Claire could see evidence of a black eye appearing.

"At least you got to tase him," the first one replied as the two started back down the hallway. "Twice."

"Is he okay? Why is he unconscious?" Claire called out after them, but they continued to ignore her.

She knew, from her interactions with the ACU and the vets, that tasers were unlikely to actually knock an animal out. Instead, they just temporarily incompaciated it. She assumed they would probably have the same effect when used on a person. So, why was Owen unconscious? She turned her attention back to him. She could see him slumped on the floor and she attempted to scan him over, as much as she could. On her second pass, she noticed what looked like blood in his hair near his temple.

She was so busy watching Owen — watching his chest rise and fall — that she didn't even notice when Blue started up again, or hear the footsteps of someone approaching, until they spoke up. "Guess your boyfriend thought he could be the big hero sneaking around the grounds. But, Maisie's got a sharp eye, that kid. Came to me, all worried."

Claire pulled her gaze away from Owen to look over at Eli, but she didn't bother to respond to that.

"I guess it's true that love makes people stupid," Eli added.

Before she had even thought it, her hand darted out between the bars and grabbed Eli's tie, pulling him closer to her. "Fuck you," she said calmly, before yanking her hand back, still clutching the tie, smacking him face first into the bars. There was a satisfying crunch, and when she let go, she could see that she'd broken his glasses, the lenses cracked.

"You bitch!" Eli exclaimed, quickly taking a couple steps away from her. Almost immediately Blue started screeching, and Eli backed up a couple more steps. Claire didn't say anything else, just crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at him. Eli's gaze darted briefly between her and Blue before he abruptly spun on his heel and left.

o-o-o

Groaning, Owen awoke to the scratchy feel of rough concrete below his cheek. He could also smell hay and the distinct smell of raptors, and for a moment he was confused, wondering if he had dreamed everything about California and was actually still just on Sorna. He didn't have time to actually contemplate that, as he shifted slightly and his head suddenly felt like it was about to explode, while all his muscles decided to choose the opportunity to remind him that they ached.

Fuck. So much for rescuing Claire.

He paused his motions, wondering if he lay still enough if it would all just go away. Or if he could maybe just pass out again, briefly.

"Owen?"

His name was spoken so softly at first, he wasn't sure he had even heard it.

"Owen?"

When it was repeated, he realized that it wasn't that it was being said softly, it was that the pounding in his skull was making it difficult for him to focus on anything else. Well that, and the fact that when he finally paid attention to the sounds around him, and not just those inside his head, he realized he could also hear a raptor. Claire and Blue, his mind filled in immediately. He groaned again.

"Owen? Please answer me."

The panic in Claire's voice finally jolted him into full wakefulness, and he pushed himself up off the floor into a sitting position, only to have to immediately clutch at his head, feeling like it was about to fall off. He squeezed his eyes shut as the world moved about sickenly, but that just made everything worse, and he had to immediately lean to the side, his stomach heaving. It wasn't until that moment, as his stomach rebelled on him, that he realized how little he'd eaten all day, and that he really had nothing in him to throw up.

"Owen!" Claire's voice was even more worried now, if that was possible, and Blue's chittering had increased in volume as well.

"Just give me a second," he managed to mumble out, still leaning over, his hands braced on the floor beside him. A couple of minutes later, he was finally able to sit up fully, wiping the back of his sleeve across his mouth and wishing he had some mouthwash. Looking around (slowly), he took in where he was. A cell of some kind, with concrete walls on three sides of him. The fourth side was made up of bars. Looking through them, he found himself staring directly at Claire. "Hey," he said hoarsely, raising his hand weakly in a half-hearted wave. He watched as her shoulders slumped in relief almost immediately.

"Thank god you're not dead."

"I'm not so sure about that," he replied, raising a hand to gently touch his head. He found the sore spot almost immediately, right about his left temple, pain pulsing out from it, even though he barely brushed it.

"I think you have a concussion," Claire said, interrupting his musings.

"I think you may be right," Owen replied. A chirp from Blue had him continuing his scan of the area, and he felt a smile wash over his face when he finally laid eyes on the raptor, who was contained in the cell next to Claire. "Blue." Pushing himself slowly to his feet, wobbling slightly, he made his way over to the bars, his gaze still on the raptor. "It's really good to see you, Blue."

Blue sent a long string of chitters in reply.

"What about me?" Claire interrupted, and he turned his gaze back to hers, where she was looking at him with an eyebrow arched.

"I saw you last week," he shrugged, giving her a big grin. A moment later though, his grin slipped away. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She shook off his concern. "They don't seem to know what to do with me, and have mostly left me alone." She looked over to her side, in the direction of Blue, before looking back at him. "I think they're scared of Blue," she told him. "They don't seem to like walking in front of her cage." Blue let out a chirp when Claire mentioned her name, and Owen watched as Claire's gaze looked over in the raptor's direction again. "She's been keeping me company."

Blue followed that with a longer reply, and Owen felt himself relaxing a bit. At least both his girls seemed to be okay, even if they were all currently trapped.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked, and he focused back on her.

"What do you think I'm doing here? You told me that you thought you'd found Blue!"

"I see," Claire replied, a bit of a grin on her face. "So what you're saying is that you came for your raptor."

"What?" Owen's jaw dropped momentarily, before he finally caught on to the fact that she was teasing. "You stopped answering my texts. I was worried." He glanced meaningfully around him, before meeting her gaze again. "And rightfully so."

"And you showing up here on your own has made things better, how?" she asked. "Wouldn't it have been better to, I don't know, call the police?"

"Zara did that," he said, and Claire looked surprised. "How do you think I managed to get here so fast?" He paused, before his eyes narrowed. "Which reminds me, we need to talk about who has access to our place. Zara has a key?"

"She only uses it for emergencies," Claire dismissed his comment, clearly not deeming it worthy of any further discussion. "She called the police? How come they're not here?"

"They didn't want to believe her that anything was wrong," Owen admitted. "She managed to get them to come out, but Lockwood told them that you left yesterday afternoon. And since you're an adult, and it hasn't been long…"

"He said that I left?" Claire was frowning now.

"I'm guessing he believed whatever Eli told him," Owen supplied. "Unless he's in on this."

"I don't think so," Claire said after a moment of consideration. "No, I think it's just Eli."

"Can't be just him," he said, his gaze darting over to Blue again. "I don't buy that Eli sorted out the whole kidnapping of Blue on his own. Not without help. And we both know who that was."

He looked over at Claire again and they both said the name together: "Hoskins."

"He tried to stop me from leaving," Owen added, thinking back to that morning. "Said I couldn't leave without his permission. Said that he'd fire me."

Claire's jaw dropped. "He what?"

"It was an empty threat," Owen dismissed it. "He doesn't have the authority to fire me, he just likes to think he does. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Zara had already sent the helicopter for me, so I said that Masrani had approved of me leaving."

"Owen…"

"What?"

There was a pause, where he could see that she was considering if she wanted to say what she was thinking, before she sighed softly, shaking her head. "Never mind."

He quirked an eyebrow, curious, but didn't press, instead glancing over at Blue, who had quieted down, but was still standing near the front of her cell, watching him. "I've never liked Hoskins, you know that, but it's still just… I don't know what the word is. I guess you and Masrani were right about an inside man."

"Men, actually. It's not just Hoskins who's involved," Claire said, wincing. "I recognized one of the workers here, and when I questioned Eli, he couldn't help himself but share how they found their employees."

"Who?" Owen asked hesitantly, not sure he wanted to know. It was bad enough already realizing that he'd been working with one traitor. But, he was also trying to think of anyone who had worked on Sorna for a while before quitting or being fired, and he was coming up blank. So who had Claire seen?

"Henry."

"Henry? Dr. Wu?" Owen asked, his eyebrows jumping in surprise and Claire just nodded. He started to shake his head, but stopped quickly when it made the room start to spin, grabbing for the bars to say upright, and instead just swearing.

"Are you okay?" Claire asked, her worry evident in her voice.

"Need to avoid any sudden movements," he brushed it concern off. He was still stuck on Claire's comment about Wu. After all, he was pretty sure he'd seen Wu on Sorna yesterday. How had he gotten here before Owen? "I'm fine. But… Wu's here? You saw him?"

"No, Henry's not here. The person I recognized is someone who used to work in the labs on Nublar. I think he left a year ago or so. Not quite sure, I'm not involved in lab personnel," she explained.

"A scientist? Interesting. I wonder what they're up to here," Owen said, but he didn't wait for Claire's response, instead looking around his cell again, spinning in a slow circle until he was facing her again. "So, how do we get out of here?"

o-o-o

They had talked for a while longer, before Claire had been able to convince Owen that he needed to sit down. His face had been getting paler the longer he remained standing, and even from across the hall she could see that he had started sweating. He'd swayed slightly as he'd back away from the bars, using the wall to stay upright as he'd made his way to the hay bale in his own cell, settling on it, and leaning back against the wall.

Claire's medical skills were limited to the absolute basics. But, even if she had known more about treating concussions, there wasn't much she could do, with the bars and hallway separating them. He'd tried to convince her not to worry, that he just needed to rest for a bit, and that she should too. She told him she'd wake him in a couple of hours, and he'd nodded, before closing his eyes, his shoulders relaxing a bit as he took some deep breaths. She felt unable to pull away from the bars to sit down herself, instead focusing once again the rise and fall of his chest, and letting it's consistent rhythm soothe her.

She wasn't sure how long she watched him for — it could've been ten minutes or it could've been an hour — when the lights flickered. Claire glanced up at the light fixtures, and then around, but everything seemed fine. It had been so brief, and Owen hadn't shifted, that she was starting to wonder if it had even happened, when they flickered a second time.

"What?" Owen's eyes opened as he sat up, looking around groggily.

And then the lights went out completely, plunging the entire space into pitch blackness.

"Owen?" Claire called out as she clutched at the bars in front of her, the world feeling disorienting when she couldn't focus on anything. There were no windows nearby, nothing to supply any light from the outside world.

"I'm here," Owen called back. "Just stay where you are. Don't move." In the cell beside her, Blue was growling low in the back of her throat, and Owen followed up with directions for her. "Blue, stay calm, girl."

It felt like an eternity, but it was probably only a couple of minutes before the lights came back on. Blinking in the sudden brightness, it took Claire a minute before she realized that the bars she was still clutching onto now gave way when she leaned against them. Startled, she briefly let go as she stepped back, looking at them in confusion, only to realize that she'd been holding the bars on the door, and whatever had been done to get the lights back on, seemed to have reset the locks on her cell. She hurriedly pushed it open, rushing into the hallway, as she called for Owen.

"It's open, come on," she told him, making her way across the hall to the door of his cell, and pulling it open. She watched, worriedly, as he gingerly got to his feet, before walking towards her. She waited impatiently for him to exit the cell (she didn't want to go in in case the locks re-engaged). But the moment he was free, she threw her arms around him, his own wrapping back around her, and he sagged against her. She felt her knees buckle slightly at the added weight, before she adjusted her hold on him. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked him, one hand reaching gingerly up towards his forehead where she could see a large lump on his left temple.

"I'm fine," he said, although the way he winced and shied away from her touch belied his words. He did manage to stand up a bit straighter, taking some of his weight off of her, although he kept an arm wrapped around her shoulders. "We gotta get out of here."

"What about…?" Claire asked, suddenly remembering Blue. They turned as one to look at Blue's cell only to discover that the raptor was standing in the hallway behind them, her head cocked to the side as she stared at them. Owen immediately shifted, moving to stand in front of Claire, a hand raised towards the raptor.

"Hey, Blue." He spoke gently, not wanting to rile the raptor up. "How you doing, girl?"

Blue took a step towards them, and Claire reached for Owen, wanting to pull him back, but knowing that she shouldn't. Instead, she clutched at the one arm he hadn't raised, holding onto it like a lifeline.

"Whoa, Blue," Owen warned, his voice becoming a bit firmer, and Claire tightened her grip on him.

"Whoa, the raptor's out!"

The surprised shout, had all three of them — Claire, Owen, Blue — turning their gaze up to the level above, where they could see someone leaning over the railing looking down at them. Blue's eyes narrowed. She let out a loud snarl, her lips pulled back and her teeth bared, and the person jumped back from the railing as though he thought Blue could reach him all the way from the lower level.

But it was too late, the damage was done. Claire found herself flung to the side, as Owen shoved her, the two of them trying to get out of the path of the now charging raptor. Claire stumbled into the bars of the gate, wincing, but pushed the pain aside, as she watched Blue's movements. At the other end of the hallway, she could now see that a couple of the guards had emerged and were pointing guns at Blue.

Blue, however, wasn't dissuaded by the presence of weapons, continuing to rush forward. Both guards fired at her, but it was too late. Blue attacked the first one and tossed him aside, before turning on the second, clamping down on the guy's arm.

There was more shouting, and Claire looked up to see that more people were now looking down from above.

"Blue! Let go, Blue!"

Owen's voice drew Claire's attention away from those above and back to the scene in front of her. Owen was approaching Blue, his hand up, his voice commanding.

"Shoot it!" The guard whose arm Blue still had clutched tightly in her jaw cried out. "Somebody shoot it!"

"No. Don't!" Owen shouted, before his attention went back to his raptor. "Come on, Blue. Work with me here. Drop him!"

Blue's head tilted to the side as she appeared to consider Owen's request. Claire's gaze darted between the raptor, Owen, and the few workers above, who mostly appeared to be lab workers.

The ding of the elevator had Claire spinning around. The doors opened to reveal Eli accompanied by another guard, who immediately lifted his weapon and took aim.

"I've got the shot," the guard accompanying Eli said. "Should I take it?"

"Yes!" The guard who Blue was still holding onto shouted.

"No!" Owen yelled, his gaze darting over his shoulder at those behind him.

"Wait," Eli said, his hand raised, his voice calm. "We need her alive. Shoot her, just don't kill her."

Blue let out an angry growl, and Claire turned back just as Blue finally dropped the guard, who clutched his arm to his chest and scrambled backwards away from the raptor. Blue's gaze was now focused directly on Eli, her head lowering as she crouched down. Claire recognized the stance and knew that the raptor was about to spring forward.

"Don't shoot her!" Owen spun around now, his back to Blue so he was facing off with Eli, his tone pleading. "I've got this."

"If you've got the shot, shoot her!" Eli said, ignoring Owen, looking instead at the guard beside him, who gave a quick nod of acknowledgement. Claire watched as the guard tightened his grip on his gun and fired off a single shot.

She heard Owen shout, but his yell was abruptly cut off and she snapped her head around to look at him, but her gaze got caught on Blue, who was now charging forward, snarling angrily. Claire quickly stepped backwards, pressing her back against the gate, watching as Blue ran past her.

The guard fired twice more in quick succession, and suddenly Blue veered to the side, wobbling precariously, before finally collapsing, hitting the ground with a loud thump.

Claire hadn't realized how much noise Blue had been making until her snarls stopped, and suddenly the basement was way too quiet. It took Claire a moment to be able to start processing sounds again. She could hear people breathing heavily and moans coming from the injured guard. She pulled her gaze away from Blue's prone body, turning around, looking for Owen. Her gaze skipped over him on her first pass, as she was expecting to see him standing. It was only when she took a second pass, not quite comprehending at first why she hadn't seen him, that she realized that he was lying motionless on the floor. She could see a puddle of blood by his shoulder that was steadily increasing in size.

"Owen!" She sprung away from the wall, hurrying towards him, only to trip a few steps later. She caught herself, but when she looked down to see what had tripped her she found a gun lying on the ground. One that must have skidded across the floor earlier when Blue had attacked the first two guards. Claire stooped down and picked it up, acting mostly on instinct.

"Drop the weapon, Claire."

Eli's command was hard, but Claire didn't loosen her grip, standing back up and turning to see that Eli and the guard with him were now focused on her.

"Or what?" she asked, raising the gun and aiming it at them. As she did so, she continued to walk slowly backwards, still intent on getting to Owen. "You'll shoot me? You're not going to get away with this. You know that, right?"

"Actually, I think we'll finish him off first," Eli said, gesturing behind her towards Owen.

Claire spared a quick glance over her shoulder. Owen was still lying in the same prone position, the puddle of blood looking much larger than it had before. Looking back at Eli, she tried to push aside her growing panic. Even though he'd essentially kidnapped her, she was realizing she hadn't actually thought he would kill her. But seeing the absolute lack of concern he had towards Owen, towards his own men, really, considering no one was rushing to help the injured guard either, made it finally sink in. Eli wasn't going to lift a finger to help Owen. Which meant that it was up to her.

She swallowed heavily, and after another quick glance back at Owen, focused her attention on Eli, standing up straighter and aiming the gun directly at him. "You'll have to go through me first."

"Very well," Eli said, turning to the guard beside him.

The guard wavered for a moment, before raising his gun to aim it at Claire. She braced herself, watching as the guard's finger tightened briefly on the trigger, but he didn't pull it.

"What are you waiting for?" Eli demanded when a few seconds later the guard still hadn't fired the shot.

"I…I–" The guard stuttered, looking past Claire towards Owen.

"If you won't shoot her, I will," Eli fumed, turning and attempting to yank the gun away from the man.

Claire watched the struggle uneasily. While she was hopeful that the guard was going to win, she also didn't think struggling over a loaded weapon was a good idea (especially when it was still, somewhat, pointed in her direction).

It was just as Eli managed to pull the gun free and had turned back to Claire, aiming the gun towards her, that the elevator dinged again. The sound drew Claire — and Eli's — attention, and both instinctively looked towards it, watching as the doors started to open.

Only two chapters to go! And the epilogue I'm writing that's taken an odd turn (I may have to start over). Can't believe it's almost time to stay goodbye to this series. Thanks so much to everyone who's been on the journey with me so far.

Stay safe and I'll see you in a week.