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Chapter 3

"Why do I have to be up so early?" Maisie pouted. She was doing as she was told by Claire, which was to get dressed. Unfortunately for Claire, Maisie was very grumpy in the mornings, especially when she didn't get enough sleep.

"Something very important just came up at DPG. Both Owen and I need to be there, and since there's no one here to watch you, we need you to come with us." Claire clarified.

"Hmph." Maisie huffed, but pulled on her pants.

"You can sleep in the car, Mais." Claire suggested.

Both Claire and Maisie turned at the knock on Maisie's door. A few seconds later, Owen popped his head in. "Are we almost ready in here?"

"I don't wanna go." Maisie whined.

"It'll be quick, kiddo. You can go back to sleep in Claire's office as soon as we get there." Owen offered.

Maisie grabbed her stuffed animal that she'd had since her time at Lockwood Estates, and rubbed her eyes. "I'm ready."

"Okay, let's go." Claire replied, anxious to meet up with Franklin.

The 25-minute drive to DPG HQ turned into 45 minutes, as it was a Monday morning, so the roads were packed—not to mention the two accidents congesting the roads.

"I hate traffic." Owen grumbled.

Claire's phone buzzed, alerting her to a text from Franklin.

Where are you guys?

She quickly texted back to let him know they were stuck in traffic. She was part glad, and part irritated that she was stuck in traffic. A part of her didn't think she was ready for the "more" information that Franklin had waiting for her. Another part of her was impatient and irritated for having to wait to find out. But she was avoiding thinking of all the possible scenarios about Maisie's uncertain future—and what that meant for them.

She didn't realize Owen was holding her hand until he squeezed hers reassuringly. She glanced in the rearview mirror to see a sleeping Maisie dozing peacefully.

"I'm scared, Owen." She whispered. "What if—?"

"Don't. Everything will be fine. We will get through this."

Claire nodded, but remained silent. She knew he was right. They had been through so much already. They could handle whatever else was about to come their way. Traffic began to ease up, and it wasn't long before Owen pulled into an empty parking spot in front of DPG headquarters. He carefully took Maisie out of the car, and Claire helped him ease her on the sofa in Claire's office. They then closed the office door and sat down across from Franklin's desk.

"Okay." Claire breathed. "How bad is it?"

She watched as Franklin hesitated. "Um, well. It's just news. I don't know if it's considered good or bad."

"Okay." Owen said slowly, glancing between Claire and Franklin, "What's the news?"

"Dr. Wu is alive. Here." He placed a few distorted pictures on the table for Claire and Owen to look at. "He was last spotted in Singapore, about two weeks ago. These were taken around that time by some men who were working for him. For InGen."

The last time anyone had seen Dr. Wu was when Franklin had tranquilized him, and a worker of Mills had drug him off somewhere, right as Zia released Blue as she and Franklin escaped. But it would make sense that if anyone knew of Maisie…it would be him.

"Do you think…do you think he leaked Maisie's origins online?" Claire asked in a low voice.

"How would he even know something like that?" Owen wondered.

"He worked with Mills. I'm almost positive Mills mentioned it to him." Claire shook her head. "What else does he know?"

"I'm not sure. He's been working on something big though, Claire. He's been in hiding for over a year—and he even let rumors circle that he was dead. I don't know what's going on, but he's up to something."

"Should we tell DTC?" Claire asked.

"No." Owen & Franklin said together.

"How will we explain how we got the information?" Franklin countered.

"Not to mention, they will probably start asking questions about Maisie. And we need to figure that out first." Owen said.

"What if he is trying to create another monster? Like the indoraptor?" Claire's mind was racing, and she couldn't think straight. "Have you been tracking the rumors of the underground scientists?"

"Yes, but there's not much to go off. They've got everything sealed up pretty good. There are no backdoors for me to get into, or leaked information about it at all. I've been trying for months now, ever since the rumors started." Franklin sighed in frustration. "I'm trying, Claire!"

"Oh no, Franklin, I know." She said quickly, "And we appreciate everything you do."

"Right now, we need to focus on Maisie." Owen spoke quietly, bringing Claire's attention back to the one thing she'd been avoiding. She didn't know what to do, and it was taking everything in her to remain calm and strong. "Can you show me everything that was released online?" Owen asked Franklin.

"Yes." Franklin nodded and turned to his computer. He clicked around for a few moments before printing something out. He nodded towards the printer, and Owen quickly walked up and picked up the documents before reclaiming his seat.

Claire skimmed over the documents with him in a numbed state.

Subject 67ML2009 has survived infancy. She will be released into the living world from her incubator on June 15th, 2009 at approximately 3 months of age.

"So, her birthday is March 15th." Claire mumbled, more to herself than anyone else. She hadn't noticed that on the copy that Iris gave her. Who had this original copy? Why would they want to release it online?

"When did you say these were released?" Claire asked, looking up at Franklin.

"Earlier this morning."

"Do you know by who?"
"Give me one sec…I might be able to track the IP…but if they're using a proxy then I'm not sure…but if I can reroute the…hm…damn it!" Franklin banged his hand on the table. "They're hidden behind a firewall. I can't tell."

"Hm…can you track Dr. Wu now that he's been spotted?" Claire asked.

"I can try. But what are we going to do?"

"I don't know yet." Claire replied, looking at Owen.

"We need to prepare for the fact that it's going to come out that Maisie is a clone. We need to prepare her, and we are going to have to fight for her." Owen said seriously.

"What if we lose her?!" Claire was on the brink of a panic attack and couldn't keep her voice from cracking.

"We won't. Do you still have that lawyer dude's number? The one that was trying to woo you?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "He wasn't trying to woo me."

"Do you have his number?" Owen asked again.

"Yes."

"Good. We need to make some calls."

"What can I do?" Franklin asked, looking from Owen to Claire.

"Keep tracking everything. I want hourly updates." Claire informed him.

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