Owen followed the trail left by Blue and, as he heard Catie call her, Beta though the forest. That damned stubborn kid should have told them about her! Catie should have known that Blue and the rest of the raptors would be nearby, yet she did not think it was something he and Len should know. What the hell was she thinking?

Up ahead he saw an abandoned school bus and raptor tracks all over the place. It had to be the nest. He carefully picked his way toward the bus and entered it slowly. There were scratched up bits of cloth and random items strewn about. Most of it he recognized as items that had gone missing from the cabin - blankets, laundry, a ball of Catie's, one of his jackets he thought he had lost on a night drinking with Daniel and Barry. It reminded him a bit of the state they had found his bungalow on Isla Nublar in a few years back.

"Guess you've been watching us for a while now, huh, girl?" he muttered to himself, smiling as he bent to inspect the nest.

The nest still contained egg shells from when Beta would have been born. By the size of her and the state of the egg shells, he would guess Beta was around a year or so old. How the hell long had Blue and the rest of the raptors been there? It did not seem likely she would have been heading up to the Rockies while pregnant. Was she there the whole time?

"Shit," he sighed, scrubbing a hand across his chin.

A loud series of distinctly raptor screeches drew his attention. He froze. Maybe they had come back to the nest and found him there uninvited. Standing up slowly, he saw no motion in the woods. Not exactly a surprise. But then a pained screech pierced the air and he ran. They were not home, something was wrong.

He followed the screeches just in time to see two of the assholes who were with the dickhead who had taken the parasaurolophus drop the last of the adult raptors. Behind them he saw the third asshole wrestle Beta into the back of a truck and stick her with something that stopped her fight. God, he hoped it was a sedative and nothing worse.

The truck took off and he shouted, running after it. The asshole in the back of the truck fired at him and he ducked behind a tree.

"Son of a bitch!" he hissed as the asshole kept shooting.

As the truck got too far to shoot, he swore again and ran up to Blue. He slid down next to her and saw her eyes fluttering. Her pulse and her mannerisms were consistent with the times he had sedated her. A relieved sigh escaped him.

A distant shot rang out and he sat upright, scanning the trees. Then a series of shots rang out and his heart dropped as he realized it was coming from the direction of the cabin. He bolted as quickly as his legs would take him.

When he got close to the cabin he saw the same truck from the gas station speeding off in the distance. "LEN! CATIE!" If that son of a bitch hurt either of them, he….

"OWEN!"

Relief flooded him at the sound of Len's voice. "LEN!" He ran up the porch and swallowed down his anger at the bullet holes around the doorway and the shot out window. Inside he saw the backdoor open and a broken plate on the floor near the door. Catie's door was also open. The panic started to coil in his stomach again. He could hear Len losing her shit in the bedroom and when he rounded the doorway into the bedroom he saw her shaking and fighting with the shotgun storage box. Anger bubbled up in him and he clamped down on it, he did not want to make Len freak out any more. "Baby, stop," he said as gently as he could, sliding in next to her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Stop, let me. What happened?"

Turning in his arms, she wrapped her arms around his middle and leaned on her head on his shoulder. "That fucking asshole from the gas station," she growled, tears flowing into his shirt. "He got Catie. It's all my fault, I told her to lock the backdoor and they grabbed her while I was telling him to…and…. I shouldn't have -."

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, pulling back a little. "Look at me." When she looked up through her lashes, his anger got harder to hold back. That fucking asshole took Catie and shot at Len and she thought it was her fault. When they caught up with him, he was gonna kill the fucker. "It's not your fault. Let me get the shotgun, go get the truck ready and call Claire. I got a picture of him yesterday on my phone, I'll send it to you. Maybe Lowery can figure out who he is. I'll check with Barry." He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, then wiped away her tears. "We'll get her back, I swear to you."

Len visibly shook as she tried to control herself. Whether she was shaking from anger, sadness, adrenaline, or fear for Catie, he had no idea. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay. I…okay, the truck, Claire." Nodding, she slipped out of his arms and took a breath. "I'll meet you outside, in the truck."

As she walked away, he watched her to make sure she was actually okay, then bent down and unlocked the gun box while dialling Barry. The call went to voicemail, so he left a message, then sent Barry and Len the photo.


Lennie took a deep breath as she approached the truck and pulled out her phone. She had no idea how Owen would react, but she was so grateful that he helped her focus and breathe. Despite what was happening between them, he was still a god damned rock when she needed him most. Shaking her head, she tried not to think about the shit between them and unlocked her phone to call Claire. Her hands were shaking so badly it was a fight to unlock it.

A thud and a screech to her left made her jump.

Blue and the other raptors pushed out of the woods, hissing and snarling at her. Immediately her shaking was harder to fight. Being surrounded by 4 raptors will do that, idiot, she thought to herself as she tried to remember what Owen had done when he was training Blue. He always stayed calm and in control. Great, calm and controlled when Catie's been taken who knows where, no problem. "Hey, Blue," she muttered quietly, trying not to show her fear.

Blue snapped and started forward.

Behind her, she heard Owen run out of the cabin shouting "Hey, no!" and halting Blue in her tracks. He pushed out ahead of Lennie, his arm outstretched. "They took her kid too," he muttered over his shoulder.

"What?" she breathed. Blue had a kid? When the hell did that happen? And how the hell long had Blue even been in the Rockies?

"Long story," he shot back. "Tell you in the truck." Blue hissed and snapped, drawing her attention fully back to the raptors. "We're gonna get her back," Owen said, his voice soft and firm.

The rest of the raptors took a step closer, snarling quietly. Lennie tried not to think too much about that, to trust Owen, trust Blue.

"I promise you," he said to the raptors. "We'll get her back."

The raptors chittered at each other, then Blue screeched and lashed out at Owen with her tail.

Owen hissed and pulled his hand back, cradling it against his body as he stretched out the other hand.

"Owen," Lennie muttered. Blue had saved her life before, hell all of their lives - hers, Owen's, Catie's. The only reason she was freaking out now was because someone took her kid. Hell, Lennie could relate to that.

"I'm okay," he said softly, taking a step back as the raptors took a step forward.

Lennie steeled herself and called Blue's name. If Lennie could relate to Blue freaking out, maybe Blue could relate to her. "They took our kid," she said, hoping like hell Blue understood. "They took Catie."

Blue tilted her head.

Owen angled his body in front of her and repeated himself. "We'll get them both back," he promised.

Whether he was speaking to her, the raptors, or just speaking out loud to reassure even himself, she did not know. But Blue seemed placated. She snarled and took a step back, then chirped at her pack and ran back into the woods. As soon as they were out of sight, Owen's shoulders sagged and he let out a pained grunt.

"Owen?" she prompted.

"I'm fine," he bit out.

Stepping around him, she took his hand gently in hers and saw it was bleeding where Blue had hit it. "Your hand -."

"We need to get Catie," he muttered, stepping around her to the driver's side of the truck. "Follow their tracks while we can."

Lennie sighed, thanking her lucky stars that she had put a first aid kit in the truck. It might not be sufficient to cover whatever damage Blue had done, but it would be better than nothing. She went to the passenger side and pulled the kit out from under her seat. "Just let me help you," she sighed. "I know things have been…." Shaking her head she cut herself off. "Let me help you."

Owen started the truck and pulled away from the cabin without answering her, but as soon as he was comfortable driving he handed her his injured hand. Part of her wanted to say something, but with Catie missing now was not the time. Instead she took his hand and cleaned and disinfected it. The wound itself was not as bad as she worried it was, but Blue had cut a sizeable gash in his hand. The bandaids in the first aid kit were definitely not big enough to cover it.

"There's a clean rag in the glove compartment," Owen muttered, seeming to read her mind.

Lennie nodded as she finished cleaning the wound up. "Any sign of them?"

"Just the tracks," he sighed.

She wrapped his hand with the cloth and tied it as tightly as she could, then said, "Let me call Claire now. Didn't have the chance with Blue showing up."

Owen grasped her hand in his briefly, before pulling away to hold the wheel.

Lennie bit down on a comment and instead pulled out her phone to dial Claire.

"Hey," Claire answered. "I'm just about to head into a meeting, but -."

"They got her."

There was a pause on the phone. "You mean -."

"Catie. Some asshole showed up at the cabin and…," she trailed off, taking a deep breath. "Owen got a picture, I'm sending it to you now. Can you get Lowery to see if he can find anything on him?"

"Hang on," Claire muttered. The sound on the other end was muted as though she had covered it, but she heard Claire tell someone to cancel her meeting and get the plane. "Lennie?"

"Yeah."

"We're on it, let me call Lowery and I'll call you back as soon as we have something."

Lennie pushed out a breath. "Yeah, okay, thank you."

"It'll be okay, we'll find her," Claire assured her. "Lowery knows what he's doing."

Nodding, Lennie muttered, "Yeah, I know. Really, thank you."

"I'll call you back as soon as I can."

With a sigh, she hung up the phone and clutched it tightly in her hand as she stared out the window. She felt Owen's hand slide into hers and squeeze, but kept her eyes on the treeline, scanning for any sign of Catie. As they drove, he told her about what had happened earlier, how Catie had known about Blue's kid for…well, long enough she should have told them.

"She's growing up," Lennie muttered, keeping her eyes focussed outside. "Probably just wants some independence, you remember being that age."

Owen snorted a laugh. "I was a shithead, was hoping she'd have more sense."

"Nobody has sense at 14."

He gave her a sidelong glance and a smile before giving his attention back to the road ahead.

After who knew how long, they lost the tire tracks due to melting snow.

Owen swore and pulled the truck to a stop, hopping out. "Where the fuck did they go?" he muttered as he slammed the truck door. Through the windshield she saw him walking around and muttering angrily as he searched for any clues.

At that moment her phone rang again. Putting the phone on speaker, she joined Owen outside. "Claire?" she called loudly enough for Owen to hear.

That stopped him in his tracks. He jogged over to join her by the truck.

"Head to the airport," she said loudly over a roaring sound. Was that a jet engine?

"The airport?"

"Rainn Delacourt," she said. "That's your asshole. He's booked a plane out of Montana, no idea where he's headed, but that's your starting point. We'll meet you -." The phone cut off, but pinged immediately with a text repeating what Claire had said.

After sending a quick acknowledgement back, she looked up at Owen. "Where are they taking her?"

"Doesn't matter," he said, turning back to the truck. "We're gonna find her."

Nodding, Lennie walked back to her door and hopped back in her seat. God, she hoped Catie was okay.