When the Russian Mafia cuffed him, he had expected them to take him away. What he didn't expect was for them to cuff him to a rail of the pig pen, with the pigs nuzzling his pockets for treats.
"You gonna burn my barn next?" Owen asked them as they stepped back, away from him.
"She will rescue you if you're in peril. We are now counting on it."
"Really you're gonna kill the pigs?" Owen shouted incredulously as they shot them. He looked sadly at the corpses of the three pigs in their pen. One of the henchmen put the gun to Owen's temple, pushing so hard that Owen was forced to move his head from the pressure. It did nothing to help his still throbbing head. This had to be the worst Thursday ever. Owen noticed the henchman was looking towards the treeline and a small dribble of sweat moved down the henchman's forehead into his eyes. The henchman blinked away the sweat. Owen glanced around to the others including the one who identified himself as Nicolai. All of them were watching the treeline. "She's not gonna show. Blue has a child to care about now."
The henchman moved his gun from Owen's temple after several minutes, Owen was sure he had a muzzle imprint in his face from it. Without taking his eyes from the treeline, the henchman lowered his gun and then fired. Owen shouted and then gritted his teeth in the pain as the bullet entered into his shoulder. With the echo of the gunshot all the men once again moved their eyes to the treeline.
Once in the safety of the darkness of the trees Maisie put the baby raptor down and it moved with much better grace to Blue and nuzzled her mother. Maisie's heart was hammering in her chest. She had never been this close to a raptor that hadn't wanted to tear her to pieces. With the gunshots that moved the birds from the trees Blue suddenly surged forward and Maisie put up her hands to halt the raptor.
"Blue, he's protecting you and your baby. You need to run and hide." Maisie said and had the feeling that Blue could understand her every word. Maisie looked down at the clicking of the huge raptor claws, the ticking of the extra claw was Blue's way of thinking. Blue took a step forward, pushing her infant towards Maisie with her muzzle. The infant looked from Blue to Maisie. Blue hooted and the infant took a step towards Maisie. Tears started to well up in Maisie's eyes, then slid down her cheeks. "Don't you understand! He's trying to protect you!" Blue hooted at her, and Maisie picked up the infant. It was so tiny, no larger than a kitten. Blue hooted in approval and then turned, gave once last hoot and ran off into the trees in the direction they had come. Maisie sighed heavily looking down at the baby raptor in her arms. "Beta, what should I do?" Not entirely realizing that she had named the infant.
Owen could feel the blood seeping down his shirt from his shoulder, he had hoped that Blue would have been smart enough to keep Maisie and her baby safe. The henchman, not the one who shot him, but the second one suddenly dug his thumb into the bullet wound and though Owen hissed and groaned and gritted his teeth so sharply that he was afraid he'd break them did not call out.
"Scream, scream for the raptor." Nicolai instructed.
"No." Owen said through clenched teeth.
"He'll stop once you call for the raptor."
"You don't understand," Owen began, panting heavily, "I'd rather die than let you have her." He tugged slightly on the cuffs. They were the plastic cable tie style. A simple pocket knife would release him, or a simple slice with a raptor claw.
No one expected the attack from Claire. The old Jeep Wagoneer barreled up the drive and instead of slowing it seemed to accelerate as it neared the Russians. Claire was not visible behind the steering wheel as they shot at the windshield. She must have laid down in the seat the Jeep barreled towards them. The henchmen jumped out of the way as the Jeep crashed into the pig pen only inches from Owen. That was when Blue attacked.
She leapt on the first henchman, claws extended, teeth bared and bit down on the man's face. The second henchman tried to fire at her, but the bullets ricocheted off the Jeep Wagoneer that was between the second henchman and Blue. Owen stuck his feet out and twisted, tripping the second henchman and the shot fired up into the air. Owen gave a sharp whistle even though he was stomping the fallen henchman. Blue appeared next to Owen and Owen jiggled the plastic cuffs, with a single swipe Blue cut him free. Owen automatically grasped the bleeding shoulder he was going to nod to Blue to attack the fallen henchman that he'd tripped up, but both the fallen henchman and Nicolai were suddenly running for their own vehicle. Claire slid out the front seat of the Wagoneer like an eel, completely unharmed. She threw her arms around Owen, and when he winced at the jostling at his wounded shoulder, she immediately backed off and tried to apply pressure. Owen goaned and Claire suddenly backed off, seeing Blue's expression.
"Blue has an infant," Owen managed to say amidst the pain.
"What?" Claire asked seemingly flabbergasted.
"Blue has an infant, a baby," Owen repeated himself. Blue was hooting towards the treeline. "She was trying to tell me she was pregnant." With Claire's help he stood up, after Blue had freed him. He was woozy from loss of blood, from the pain of the bullet in his shoulder.
"What do we do next?" Claire asked.
"We save Blue and her baby," Owen stated with defiance.