Gordon Sellers excused himself from Claire and Zia's presence under the pretense he had to use the restroom. Once the bathroom door was locked behind him, he removed his sleek cell phone from his pocket. He typed out a simple text: Grady alive, target gave him an egg.
As soon as he pressed send, he flushed the toilet, pocketed the phone and busied himself washing his hands. He exited the bathroom to see Zia packing up her instruments.
Owen drove back to his farm. He could see the remnants of his house, just a blackened ruin. The firefighters were gone, the ground and everything soaked from their water. The barn was untouched, as was the pig pen, except that he noticed one of the pigs was missing. He could've sworn there had been four but there were only three, they were still begging at the feed trough. He hadn't fed them because he kinda got knocked out, house burned down, and a sudden surprise visit. It would seem that the surprises were not done, not by a long shot.
He heard the barn door open and suddenly Maisie burst from within, backpack still over one should, her long dark brown hair tied in a braid that was coming loose.
"Owen!" She shouted his name and ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist. He patted her shoulder and knelt down to her level, he wanted to know why she was here, but she was excited chattering about something that he wasn't able to keep up.
"Maisie, slow down," he pleaded after she had stopped hugging and had begun to pull his arm towards the barn, obviously wanting him to follow her.
"It's Blue! She's sick!" Maisie finally repeated for the 4th time. Owen jogged to the barn and pulled the door open. His eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness, and in the last stall on nest of straw Blue lay on her side. He gave her a quick once over, looking for any type of wounds. Had she been injured in the fire? Had someone shot her? His worst thought was that someone poisoned her. However he noticed something that he hadn't see before. He had been so concentrated on the fact she had been alive and had rescued him from a fire, he hadn't noticed the distension of her abdomen. "What's wrong with her?" The distension tightened for a few seconds then relaxed.
"She's pregnant," Owen said quietly at he slowly knelt down next to his best friend and with utmost care, reached out and touched her head. Blue was giving off low hooting noises, and when he touched her, she jerked slightly but didn't do anything except lay there and breathe.
"How is this possible?" Maisie asked and Owen shrugged. He knew his raptor, but this was entirely uncharted territory.
"Call Zia, she'll figure it out," Owen instructed. Blue's body seemed to seize, and she curled up, and when she relaxed, laying back down on the straw, exhausted, Owen and Maisie were staring at the straw not far from her cloaca.
Weakly moving and chirping not unlike a bird, was a small miniature version of Blue. A small infant velociraptor. It was the same color, gray with a blue stripe, and Owen was taken back a moment to the days when Blue herself had been an infant. He smiled and very carefully picked up the infant, worried for a moment that Blue might think he was taking it from her, and brought it to Blue's face so she could see her baby. They nuzzled, the baby chirping happily. The baby clumsily hopped down from Owen's hands to curl up at the space between Blue's neck and her head.
Owen had planned to leave them together in the barn, and with Maisie's phone get Zia over there to make sure that Blue was okay. She was after all the paleo-veterinarian. Blue's head suddenly snapped up, though Owen could she was spent from the birthing. She gave a warning hoot and before he could do anything. He noticed a person standing in the entrance of the barn, backlit by the sun.
"This makes it much easier," spoke the familiar Russian accent that Owen had heard before they had shot him. The Russian mafia had returned, but why? The mob boss entered followed again by two thugs, they had guns trained on him, and Owen didn't think these were the bean bag types he'd been shot with earlier.
"You can't have her," Owen stated firmly, stepping between Blue and the men.
"We just need the infant," the boss said and then to his men, "Kill the adult." Blue was struggling to get up, her movement nearly as clumsy her baby's
"No!" Maisie shouted quickly ran towards the men who had guns pointed at them. The mafia thugs were hesitant to not shoot a child, and this gave Owen an advantage. A shovel lay on the ground, with a kick of his foot, the shovel was up into his hands and he swung at the nearest thug. The shovel made a satisfying twang as it connected with his face. Maisie had kicked the other one in the shin. Blue had exited the stall, upright, breathing heavily, and the Russians took a step back. Owen had no fear of her, she had saved his life, more than once.
"Maisie! Get the infant and run!" Owen shouted, hoping that Blue would follow her baby rather than stay and fight. Maisie didn't even think twice, didn't hesitate, and scooped up the infant in her arms. "It's okay Blue!" Owen shouted as he noticed that Blue's lips curled menacingly at Maisie. "Go!" He ordered his best friend whose head whipped between looking at Maisie's retreating back and the men who were in front them. She bolted from the barn after Maisie.
"Foolish of you, once you're dead, who will protect them?" The Russian boss had pulled his own pistol, pointing it at Owen.
"Killing me is the last thing you'll want to do, Raptors have long memories, and she is damn smart. I don't doubt that she'd hunt you down and feed you to her offspring." Owen partially bluffed. He didn't think that Blue would avenge him, but the Russian boss didn't know that.
"You're right, we'll use you as bait," the man stated, "Force her to come to us on our terms." Owen suppressed a chuckle.
"She's a dinosaur, not some rival mob boss, the only terms are hers. Why do you still need her?"
"You've proven that Raptors can be trained and can take instruction," the man indicated with a nod over the display that Owen had just done. "We can create more raptors, but it's her genetic makeup that needs to be recreated. Cuff him." The remaining standing thug approached him, and Owen didn't resist. He just hoped that while they were focused on him, Blue and Maisie could escape.