Guess who found some motivation! Hopefully it lasts! Enjoy the chapter guys!
U.S. Wildlife Relocation Facility, Pennsylvania
"Mamma! A dinosaur!" were the first things out of three-year-old Rebecca Grant's mouth as Emily carried her into the US Fish and Wildlife dinosaur relocation compound.
Emily laughed, shifting her daughter to her other hip. "More than one dinosaur, Becca."
Becca twisted around, calling back over Emily's shoulder, "Gramma, a dinosaur!"
Ellie reached over to ruffle Becca's hair. "Yeah, lots of dinosaurs."
Emily's attention was drawn forward as a woman approached. She extended a hand.
"Dr. Bhate; head dinosaur manager here."
Ellie shook it first, saying, "Dr. Sattler, paleobotanist."
"Dr. Alan Grant, paleontologist." Emily's father went next.
Emily went last, "Dr. Emily Grant. Paleontologist and dinosaur expert."
Dr. Bhate tilted her head, asking, "Any relation to Dr. Samuel Grant?"
"He's my husband."
She nodded, smiling. "Just wanted to be sure. We've all heard a fair amount about you here."
"All good things I hope?"
"More or less." Dr. Bhate began walking, and Emily followed. "Let me give you a quick tour while your plane fuels up."
"Every dinosaur captured by Fish and Wildlife in the US stops here before they're shipped to BioSyn's sanctuary in the Dolomites."
"We mainly give them medical attention, make sure they're healthy." Dr. Bhate gestured to a pen as the walked past.
Between the thick bars, Emily could see her husband, bent over, wielding some sort of instrument that he gently ran over a stegosaur's stomach.
She changed direction, walking up to the edge of the cage. Watching Sam push his glasses back up his nose as he peered at a screen.
Becca leaned forward in her arms, putting her little hands on the bar. Emily smiled.
"So much security," Emily heard her father say behind her. "Good."
"This is only the stuff you see," Dr. Bhate said. "There's a lot of people out there who want these guys. Some real shady types."
Emily had to stop herself from adding BioSyn to that. Half the time, they didn't even have to lift a finger to get these dinosaurs. And if Lex was right, that still wasn't enough for them.
"Dadda!" Becca called.
Sam looked up, nearly loosing his glasses off the tip of his nose. A grin split his face.
"Hey kiddo! Give me just a sec and I'll be out."
Becca nodded as Emily heard Ellie gasp. She turned around, finding her father and Ellie crowded around a juvenile dinosaur.
Emily walked over, peering over Ellie's shoulder.
"We got these guys from an illegal breeding farm in Nevada a few weeks ago," Sam said as he approached, tugging off a pair of latex gloves. "Anonymous tip."
Becca twisted in Emily's arms, reaching for Sam. He smiled, and took her, ruffling her hair.
"Hey sweetheart."
"Hi Dadda!"
Sam ruffled her hair, and smiled at Emily. "Hey Em."
Emily kissed his cheek. "Hey."
"Can we touch her?" Ellie asked from in front of them.
"Absolutely," Sam said. "Just be gentle. This guy's been sick."
Ellie gently reached out and touched the dinosaur.
On Sam's hip, Becca tilted her head, then tried to reach for the dinosaur. Sam smiled, and set her down next to the dinosaur.
Emily crouched down, taking her daughter's hand and gently laying it on the dinosaur's side.
"What do you think kiddo?"
Becca smiled. "Dinosaur!"
"Do you know what kind?"
Emily watched her daughter's face screw up with concentration before she said, "Ceratops!"
"Good job! This little guy is a nasutoceratops," Emily said as she stood.
Sam put an arm around her, asking, "I've got a few things to grab, want to help me?"
"Sure."
She followed him toward a low building, almost a trailer. He unlocked the door, letting her move past him before he shut the door and pulled the blinds down.
Emily turned back to him, softly asking, "Do you have it?"
"Right here." Sam pulled a flash drive out of the breast pocket of his shirt. "Lex dropped it off this morning."
"Did she say what we have to do?"
Sam moved over to his desk. "There's a smaller computer room, we get to that room and find a plug in labeled S7. We plug in the flash drive and don't pull it out till it blinks green."
"And then we get it back to Lex."
"Yep."
"Well—" Emily deadpanned, "—that should be super easy."
Sam laughed, ducking into a side room and coming back out in a t-shirt and flannel. "It never really is Em."
"No it isn't. But this time feels, less daunting."
Sam nodded. "I know what you mean."
Emily perched on the edge of his desk, watching him gather things up and toss them in a backpack. He picked it up asking, "When's my Tim coming to pick Becca up?"
"About any time. He texted me a half hour ago saying he was close." Emily hopped off the desk. "Ready?"
Sam opened the door. "I'm not really sure. After Lockwood Manor… even working here dredges up memories sometimes. As helpful as therapy, and you, have been."
"I know what you mean." Emily kissed him gently.
They walked down the steps, and Emily put an arm around his waist. They'd be fine.
They had each other.
Malta
"I need a cup of coffee," Eli yawned.
Lizzy squeezed his hand. "Sorry, I don't think we'll have time to stop for one. Besides, I didn't know that you couldn't sleep on planes."
"You don't remember me complaining about how I couldn't sleep on planes after I took that trip to Peru in high school?"
"Nope."
He yawned again. "Thanks Liz."
"No problem," she said, grinning at him.
Behind them, Briana said, "Can we focus on finding Barry? Instead of complaining."
Lizzy refrained from rolling her eyes. "Sure." She kept a close eye on her surroundings, trying to spot Barry. But she was shorter than everyone but Claire, which made it a bit difficult. Since Owen had insisted she'd walk in the middle.
Malta was bustling, with street vendors, people on mopeds, and the occasional group of children running by. But she couldn't deny that it was a beautiful city, sculpted out of an almost yellow stone, with levels that went all the way down to the sea.
Lizzy asked Owen, "You're sure Barry's here?"
"Yep." Owen looked over his shoulder. "If we don't—"
"Owen!" a familiar deep voice called.
"There he is."
Lizzy grinned, letting go of Eli's hand to hurry toward her old friend. Barry smiled, "Lizzy!"
He swept her into a hug, and Lizzy threw her arms around him. He hugged her long enough that Owen said, "Hey, what about me?"
Lizzy laughed, pulling back as Barry said, "Sorry, sorry."
Barry pulled Owen into a hug, both of them laughing. He smiled as he pulled back, "Hi Claire, Briana."
Briana gave him a nod, and Claire smiled, "Hey Barry."
Barry motioned them to follow him, and Lizzy made sure she got a spot up front with him and Owen this time.
"How are you two?" Barry asked.
"Pretty good for someone with 1.5 legs," Lizzy fired back, smirking.
Owen gave her a look and said, "I'm doing good. Thought you would've chosen a quieter line of work."
"I tried. My cousin and I opened a cafe. I lasted two weeks." He smiled. "The way the world is headed, it's hard to look away."
Lizzy nodded, then gasped. She reached back, grabbing Eli by the hand and tugging him forward to stand beside her. "Barry, this is my husband, Eli."
Barry smiled, reaching across to shake Eli's hand. "I saw the invitation. Sorry I couldn't make it."
"It's alright. Owen couldn't make it either."
Owen scoffed, "At least Claire and I had an excuse."
Barry chuckled. "Enough making fun of Owen. We've got work to do."
"The Malta black market is almost a central hub," Barry was saying. "Especially for dinosaur trafficking. Europe, Asia, everything comes through here. There's a huge market for them."
Lizzy tilted her head, asking, "What about stuff that comes out of the US?"
"Comes through here too. Usually."
Briana nodded, saying from the back, "So there's a good chance they'd bring the raptors through here?"
"Yes."
Owen sighed. "Too bad Blue and Beta have been gone for about a week. They're probably not here anymore."
"No, probably not," Barry said. "Listen, once we're in the black market, keep your heads down. Don't talk to anyone. Stay in groups of at least two."
Lizzy nodded, feeling Eli scoot closer to her. She squeezed his hand.
Owen looked over his shoulder, saying to Claire, "You and I should split up. Cover more ground to look for Maisie."
Claire nodded and Briana asked her, "You want to come with me?"
"Sure," Briana said. She still had a hand on her pistol, glancing around warily.
Lizzy looked to Owen and Barry, "We'll go with you two."
Owen nodded.
They approached a heavy metal door near the wharf. There was a homeless man sitting on the steps outside the door. Barry reached into his pocket and dropped a handful of coins into a rusty bucket beside the man.
The homeless man pulled out a remote, pressing a button.
"What's he–" Eli started whispering, stopping when the metal door slid open. They followed Barry in, and Eli quietly asked Lizzy, "What are we getting into Liz?"
She leaned up, whispering back, "Probably a lot. But we have to save them."
"Alright…" he whispered nervously.
They rounded a corner and the noise level immediately shot up. The underground black market spread out before them.
They walked past a fight ring, a juvenile carnotaurus and a juvenile allosaurus snapping at each other while spectators cheered and placed bets. There were stacks of purse, made from what Lizzy could only assume was dinosaur skin; vendors with all sorts of dinosaurs; even a food vendor with kabobs and roasted locusts.
It was dim and dusty. Eli walked even closer to her; Lizzy couldn't tell if he was trying to protect her, or if he was scared. Or both.
Claire and Briana forked off, Lizzy, Eli and Owen following Barry through the market. Lizzy did her best not to make eye contact with anyone, even when a heavily tattooed man reached for her arm, saying something in another language.
They climbed up a stairwell on the far side of the market. Lizzy thanked God that her leg was doing good today.
"We'll look for your guy from up here," Barry said as they reached the rooftop. "What was his name?"
"Rainn Delacourt," Owen answered. "A friend at the CIA ID'd him for us."
Barry nodded. "Our undercover agent is with that guy. He's a real connard."
They crouched on the edge of the rooftop, scanning the streets below with binoculars. Lizzy had only seen pictures of Delacourt, the ones Owen had gotten from Franklin. But she knew him when she saw him.
"There!" She pointed. "He's heading into the market."
Barry clapped her on the shoulder. "Good eye!"
"Claire," Owen said into their ear pieces. "Delacourt's going underground."
Claire's voice said in Lizzy's ear, "We see him."
Briana took the lead as she and Claire forked off from the others. As endearing as it was to watch Lizzy's husband cling to her arm, Briana was here to do a job.
Get Maisie back. She was willing to help find Blue and Beta, or whatever they kept calling her, but her first priority was the teenage girl who not a day ago was eating a chocolate bar on Briana's couch.
She and Claire ducked into the bathroom. While Briana was in the stall, she heard Claire start to talk to someone. Someone American.
"Look, Claire," the other woman said, "you talk to the wrong people down here, you disappear. You feel me? So go back to your hotel, run a bath with some bath salts and forget you were here."
Briana stepped out. "Wait."
The woman turned, her sharp brown eyes nearly making Briana stop in her tracks.
"First of all, we're not the tourists you think we are. We've been around the block." Briana let her hand rest on her pistol, noting the U.S. military badges sewn on the woman's leather jacket. "Second, we're looking for someone. If you can just take a look at a photo, we'll let you keep moving, and you can forget you ever saw us."
The woman's eyes narrowed, and she brushed a dark brown curl out of her face. "Fine."
Claire shot Briana a relieved glance, and pulled a photo out of her pocket. The woman walked back over and looked at the photo. Her brow furrowed, and she said after a moment, "I can't get involved."
Briana swore under her breath. "What kind of bullshit answer is that?"
"I don't know you two. I don't know who that kid is. I looked at your photo."
Claire looked at Briana, silently asking her to reason with the woman. Briana opened her mouth, but the woman cut her off.
"Sweetheart, I did what you asked. So unless you plan to shoot me with that pistol of yours, we're done here." And she walked away.
Briana caught herself watching the woman, the way she walked, the way she moved. Fuck. Now was not the time for whatever this was. She swallowed and turned to Claire.
"Maisie was here. I can guarantee you that's why the woman said she couldn't get involved, okay?"
Claire nodded, pocketing the picture.
Owen's voice rang out in their earpieces, "Claire, Delacourt's going underground."
Briana and Claire hurried out of the bathroom. Briana scanned the market, quickly spotting Delacourt. She grabbed Claire's arm, murmuring, "There."
"We see him," Claire said into the earpiece.
Lizzy hurried after Barry, Owen and Eli right behind her. They crept up, peering through some wooden slats to watch Delacourt as he talked to a woman dressed in white.
"I have a job for you."
"Yeah?" Delacourt said.
"50,000 to haul these guys to Rio."
"What's the cargo?"
"Atrociraptors. Purebreds, four of them."
"Liz," Eli breathed, "what're atrociraptors?"
"I would assume they're related to velociraptors, but I'm not the dinosaur expert," Lizzy answered.
Owen chuckled under his breath. "That's Grant's department."
Barry laughed quietly, then whispered, "That's our undercover agent with him. Once Santos makes the drop, we'll move in. You three," he gestured to Lizzy, Owen and Eli, "stay out of the way. We don't need you getting shot."
Owen nodded sharply. "Santos is in white, right?"
"Yes."
Lizzy unslung her backpack, grabbing her running blade. She slipped off her normal prosthetic as fast as could and donned the running blade. She had a feeling they'd be chasing Delacourt around, and there was no way she was getting left behind.
Outside, Santos took a bag from one of her men, and dropped it in front of Delacourt. He opened it, and Lizzy could see the money even from where they were.
"That's the drop," Barry murmured, and agents rushed out, guns raised. They surrounded Delacourt.
Lizzy held her breath, muttering, "Come on, get him…"
A shot rang out, and Delacourt bolted. Owen swore, jumping up to run after him.
"We lost Delacourt!" rang out over comms.
Lizzy shoved her backpack into Eli's arm, telling him, "Stay with Barry!"
"Wait, Liz-!"
Lizzy took off running after Owen, and didn't look back.
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