Ch 8:
Franklin was able to set up a meeting between them and Barry for the next day. They got a small, cheap charter flight with Franklin's help and flew overnight to Malta. The flight took over twelve hours, so leaving late that afternoon, they arrived in Malta early the next morning.
They reached the crowded marketplace where they were supposed to meet Barry. They'd all traded in their warm jackets for slightly cooler clothes with Malta's dry, sunny climate. Sierra was wearing a loose cargo jacket with matching pants over a dark blue t-shirt.
"Owen!" A familiar voice called as they rounded a corner. They all turned to see Barry approaching them with a large smile. Owen instantly pulled him into a hug. Sierra practically pushed her way into a hug, having not seen Barry in years.
"It's good to see you." she told him when they pulled back, Claire stepping in to hug their old friend.
"I thought you would have chosen a quieter line of work." Claire commented pointedly.
"I tried. My cousin and I opened a café. I lasted three weeks." Barry commented, making Sierra and Zach laugh. "The way the world is heading, it's hard to look away."
With Barry in the lead, they wound their way through the crowded marketplace toward a back alley.
"Delacourt was hired by Soyona Santos, a broker in the underground dinosaur trade. We don't have intel on his cargo, but once they make the exchange we'll see what they know about your girl." They stopped in a back alley, where Barry passed them all some ear pieces, which they slipped into their ears to be able to communicate.
"You can listen in, but promise me, you will not make contact." Barry insisted sternly, to which they agreed. The look he gave them clearly said he doubted they'd be able to keep their word. Especially Owen. With that decided, they left the alley and headed to wherever Barry was leading them. "There's a big underground market for dinosaurs, now. Europe, Middle East, Northern Africa; it all comes through here."
Sierra took a deep breath. After several minutes of walking, they reached a weathered stone building with what looked like a homeless man and his dog sitting out front, wrapped into a hooded shawl.
At Barry's instruction, Claire dropped a coin in the man's mug. The man pulled a device from his pocket, pushing a button. The doors gave a mechanical click as they unlocked, so Claire pushed the door open. They immediately left the bright sunlight to enter the dark, dank building below.
"Don't look at anyone, don't talk to anyone. Just try to blend in." Barry ordered as they entered.
"Hard to do with a ginger." Sierra quipped, earning a slight glare from Claire. They rounded a corner and entered what looked almost like a giant, underground cave but with smoother walls. It was crowded with people and dinosaurs. Sierra had to fall back on her childhood instincts of keeping a blank face to keep the disgust and horror off her face.
There was a fighting ring that had two chained dinosaurs fighting, it looked like juvenile Allosaurus and Baryonyx. People were looking through cages of baby dinosaurs that looked like they'd just hatched, as if this was a pet store. A man had a pterosaur perched on his hand like he ran a falconry with dinosaurs instead of birds. There were compies in a small cage. A man was even grilling dinosaurs.
"Okay, I have to go up to the roof to watch for Delacourt." Barry told them quietly.
"I'll come with you." Owen decided.
"Want me to tag along?" Zach offered.
Owen and Barry exchanged a glance. "He's Army now." Owen pointed out with a shrug.
Barry nodded, looking at Zach. "Alright, you're in." He turned to the women. "You two stay in here, try to blend in. When we spot him, we'll let you know over the comms. Keep an eye on the entrance."
Sierra and Claire both nodded. The guys turned and disappeared, leaving the two women standing there, looking and feeling slightly out of place. At least Sierra's tan skin and dark hair made her feel like she blended in a bit more than Claire's fair skin and red hair.
They wandered a bit, trying to get the layout figured out. Claire soon decided to use the restroom, so Sierra continued wandering on her own. She soon came upon a Stygimoloch strapped in a full-body device. The square bars and straps didn't hardly allow the poor thing to move.
With a careful glance around, Sierra approached the creature. When she got close, the Stiggy lurched toward her, trying to headbutt her probably. Of course, it couldn't go very far being strapped in as tightly as it was.
"Shh, it's okay." she whispered, holding a hand out slightly. It thrashed it's head a bit before Sierra's hand came to rest gently on it's domed head. It stilled, tense for a moment, before it seemed to relax a bit. "There, you see. You're okay." Sierra smiled slightly. Moving a bit to the side, she ran her other hand over the Stiggy's back as best she could, letting her eyes skim the small body for any wounds. She didn't know whether to be relieved or disgusted. There were a few cuts, but most of it's wounds were old scars that looked like whip or knife wounds.
She had to take a deep breath to keep her anger from being obvious on her face. She didn't want to give herself away too much.
"Interested?" an unfamiliar voice asked as a man came up on Sierra's other side. Sierra stepped back, letting her hands drop from the Stiggy as she gave the stranger a cursory glance.
"Just looking, thanks." she answered shortly.
"It's quite the fighter, this one." the man went on. "I've seen it paralyze an Oviraptor with one hit in the ring." he added with a nod toward the fighting ring nearby.
Sierra cast a glance at said ring before forcing herself to respond. "Impressive. But I'm just looking, thanks."
"Maybe you'd be interested in something else." the man suggested, taking a step closer.
Sierra forced herself to maintain a blank face. It wouldn't help matters if she pissed someone off down here. This looked like the kind of place where people would disappear if they pissed off the wrong crowd.
"Sorry, but my friend is waiting for me." she excused herself, having caught sight of Claire coming out of the restroom. She quickly sidestepped the man and crossed the room to where she saw Claire hurrying out the bathroom. She slowed her pace slightly when she got a good look at the redhead.
Claire had followed another woman out of the bathroom, and she looked frazzled and was holding what looked like a photo to show the woman.
Sierra had gotten good at reading facial expressions and cues when she was younger. And it was clear this woman was not only uncomfortable with whatever Claire was saying, but she was also hiding something by the way she kept casting her eyes about instead of looking at Claire or the photo. Finally, the woman turned her back on Claire and walked away, leaving Claire looking defeated.
Instead of approaching the redhead, Sierra changed her mind at the last second and followed the other woman. She was fairly easy to keep track of. She wasn't greasy looking like most of the people down here. She had dark skin, short, curly hair, and was wearing a fur-lined leather jacket with patches on the sleeve.
The woman stopped and began browsing some different things at a small booth, so Sierra sidled up next to her to browse, too. She saw the woman glance at her from the corner of her eye while Sierra thought about how to start this conversation.
"Interesting place. You been here before?" she finally asked, picking up a dinosaur tooth to look at.
"Something like that." the woman answered after a moment. She had an American accent, which might have been why Claire felt the need to approach her. "Don't get a lot of Americans down here." the woman went on, probably thinking along similar lines as Sierra. "Considering I've been approached by two in the last minute, I'm guessing you're with the redhead."
Sierra glanced over and met the woman's eyes. "That obvious?" she joked sarcastically.
"If you're going to ask me the same thing she did, don't bother." the woman stated, turning and walking away. Sierra followed stubbornly.
"I don't know why she went to you, but I'm going to guess she was onto something." Sierra said, quickening her steps so the woman couldn't lose her easily. She needn't bothered because the woman suddenly spun around and Sierra almost ran right into her.
"Look, I already told your friend, I can't get involved."
"You clearly know something." Sierra stated. "Some creep took a child. And you clearly aren't okay with it."
"Look-"
"No, you look." Sierra snapped, pulling her wallet from her pocket and pulling out a small photo from one of the pockets. She held it out so it was in the woman's face. They didn't have a lot of photos of Maisie, since they were supposed to stay hidden, but this photo was one of Sierra's favorites. "This is one of the only pictures I have of her, and it's almost a year old." The photo showed Sierra and Maisie laughing by a bonfire while messily eating smores. Sierra had managed to get chocolate and gooey marshmallow all over her mouth. "This girl was stolen by the only family she's known for the last four years. She's just a kid. I mean, I literally just had a conversation with her how she's at that awkward between stage where she's not quite a kid anymore, but she's not a teenager either. But she's still just a kid." she rambled slightly. "And some slimy poachers snatched her, and we don't know where they took her or what they're going to do to her. And you clearly know something."
The woman was glancing around, both trying to avoid looking at Sierra while being unable to not look at the photo.
"You know something." Sierra reiterated. "If you want to stay out of it, fine. I get that. Just tell me what you know and I'll keep you out of it."
The woman continued to avoid eye contact just as Owen's voice spoke into Sierra's ear from the earpiece.
"Claire, Sierra, he's headed underground. See him?"
The same moment, the woman's eyes went to the entrance, where two men walked into the building. Sierra recognized one of the men as Delacourt.
"Sorry, I can't help you." the woman stated firmly, pushing past Sierra and walking away. Sierra kept her shoulders from slouching in defeat, keeping her eyes fixed on Delacourt. If the woman wouldn't help them, at least they had eyes on Delacourt.
Sierra watched him as she moved through the market. She also spotted Claire, who was doing the same. After a minute, the two women met up and slipped out a small back door into an alley, where they spotted Delacourt and another man approaching a truck. A blonde woman in white and a few armed men were standing around the truck. They were clearly waiting for Delacourt.
"My people say the raptors arrived in good condition." the woman noted with an accent. Sierra perked up slightly at the mention of the raptors. Was she talking about the baby raptors? "You boys didn't cock this up. Color me amazed. I do have another job for you. Short hop, money's double."
"What's the cargo?" Delacourt asked. The armed men threw back the tarp on the truck, revealing cages. Whatever was inside snarled, making the two men jerk back.
"Atrociraptors." the woman answered smugly. "Thoroughbreds. Trained to kill."
"Kill who?" Delacourt asked.
"Whoever they're told." she answered. "Laser marks the target, they attach to the scent, don't stop 'til it's dead. Inescapable."
"Sounds a bit like the Indoraptor." Sierra whispered. After everything went down at the Lockwood estate, files were confiscated, but some were leaked to the public, including some info on InGen making hybrid dinosaurs. Luckily, not enough info was leaked that random companies could make another Indominus or Indoraptor without starting from scratch. And some activists got onto the property and set fire to the hyrbid's body, destroying any genetic evidence. Either way, there'd been enough evidence to get InGen shut down once and for all.
"Those idiots making hybrids had it all wrong." the woman went on. "You can't engineer loyalty. You have to nurture it. 50,000 to fly them to Riyadh. In or out?"
Sierra hated this woman. Because she had the same opinion as Sierra, in that you have to nurture a dinosaur's loyalty. But also because this woman was abusing that loyalty. It was like combining what Vic Hoskins wanted, with what the Grady siblings kept trying to tell him. You can't force the raptors to be loyal to you, and you can't beat them into being loyal, or inject some DNA to ensure compliance. This woman had clearly raised and nurtured these animals, ensuring they were loyal to her and would do anything for her, but she was using that to make them killing machines.
It was like looking into a dark alternate universe. Sierra and Owen could have done that with the raptors. Luckily, it would never come to that.
"She's not here." Claire whispered.
A bag of money was thrown on the ground, and Delacourt checked it before standing with it in hand.
"That's the drop." a voice said over the earpieces.
Suddenly men rushed in with guns aimed, yelling for Delacourt and Santos to get on the ground.
Suddenly, shots were being fired, one bullet hitting the wall near Sierra and Claire's heads. People were running or ducking, bullets flying everywhere. Someone yelled that they lost Delacourt.
Sierra ducked her head around the corner, looking around the alley to try and catch a glimpse of what was going on. But then she heard screaming and chaos in the market, so she ducked back into the building to look.
Sure enough, Delacourt was there, running from Owen.
Sierra ran back into the building. Instead of going all the way down the steps and around the wall, she grabbed onto the handrails and swung under them, landing lightly on her feet. She stood and her eyes and ears quickly found her brother and Delacourt crashing through the market. She pulled her stun gun from her pocket, just in case, and hurried forward, weaving around people to try and intercept Delacourt.
One person, unfortunately, didn't get the memo to get out of Sierra's way. The creep from earlier stepped in front of her, grinning with crooked teeth under greasy hair.
"Going somewhere, beautiful?" he asked, smirking.
Sierra glared at him before a quick thought occurred to her. If he was standing here, did that mean-
She glanced over her shoulder and, sure enough, the Stiggy was strapped right there. Looking forward again, she carefully stepped backward a couple times. Another glance, this one past the creep's shoulder, showed Delacourt still running from Owen. Only somewhere along the way they'd freed an adult Carnotaurus and Allosaurus. Owen was trapped between the two carnivores, and Delacourt was just escaping the fighting pit.
A quick glance at the creep in front of her, Sierra lurched back and to the side, yanking her knife from her thigh holster. The blade sliced through the Stiggy's straps like butter, breaking the tight confines that held it in place. The Stiggy instinctively lurched forward, and when it found no resistance, it bolted.
Sierra smirked at the brief look of horror on the creep's face before the Stiggy barreled right through him. And probably through sheer luck, the Stiggy's path took him straight ahead and into Delacourt. The impact knocked the poacher right back into the fighting pit. It gave Owen the second he needed to catch up, jumping right into the ring with Delacourt.
Sierra shoved through the growing crowd to the edge of the ring, watching anxiously as the pair fought with fists and knives. She briefly heard one of the men in her earpiece mention the truck going under the underpass, but she was focused more on the fight. Three dinosaurs were chained in the pit, waiting for their chance to strike.
There was also chaos outside of the pit. The adult Allosaurus and Carnotaurus were attacking people. Some guy fell into a fire pit and caught on fire. When another man tried to help, he was promptly eaten.
Finally, Sierra noticed that Owen was the only familiar face she could see. Putting her hand to her ear, she asked, "Claire, where are you?"
"I'm following the truck." she answered. "Zach and Barry did, too."
"We just took out the truck under the underpass. We threw down a spike strip and it went through a wall." Zach's voice added.
In that moment, Owen got the upper hand and slammed Delacourt onto his back. The chained juvenile Carnotaurus chomped down on Delacourt's outstretched right hand, making him scream. And then the little Lystrosaurus clamped down on his left hand.
He wasn't going anywhere.
Owen pointed his knife down at Delacourt's face. "The girl. Where is she? Where did they take her?" he demanded. "Where is she?!" he yelled. Sierra swallowed the lump in her throat. Her brother was practically foaming at the mouth. He was desperate to get Maisie, his daughter, back. And he would do whatever he needed to do.
"I don't know!" Delacourt answered. His teeth were gritted in pain. "We handed her off to Santos. I don't know where they took her after that."
Santos. The woman from the alley.
Sierra backed away and spun around, ignoring the fact that the juvenile Allosaurus had broken free and bit off Delacourt's head. She raced through the market toward the alley they'd been in earlier.
"Claire, Santos. The woman in white. Did you see where she went?" Sierra asked into the earpiece.
"I saw her, yeah. She went after the truck."
"It's her, Claire." Owen's voice added into the earpiece. "They gave Maisie to her."
"I'll find her." Claire's voice was determined.
Sierra ran out into the sunny alley, ducking around the corner and running down the crowded street. She'd seen the underpass earlier when they walked to the market, so she had a vague idea of where she needed to go. It helped that the truck crashing through a wall made enough of a ruckus that people were yelling and pointing in the general direction.
"Claire, do you have her?" Owen asked as Sierra came upon the building with the gaping hole in the wall. She spun around a corner only to collide with someone. She barely had time to acknowledge that it was Santos, the woman in white, before the woman started slashing at her with a knife. Sierra lurched back, dodging back and forth to avoid the knife.
Then, Santos shoved her backward, making her stumble back into the building. She barely managed to catch herself against the wall and realize the blonde was shining a red laser at her chest.
Then, Santos spun around and disappeared in another door in the same moment Sierra heard all the screaming coming from behind her. Claire came barreling out of the building, just catching sight of Santos. She ran after the blonde.
Sierra took a step after her, when she realized one of the screams was familiar.
Zach.
Sierra hesitated for a moment before ducking into the building, surveying the chaos below.
The building was filled with stone rubble, caused by the truck sticking partially into the building. Four large, black crates were scattered around the ground. There were boats and tanks spread around, too.
And people were running around and screaming while trying to escape the four Atrociraptors. Sierra spotted at least one agent being killed by one of them. One raptor was determinedly trying to get into an old houseboat. And then she spotted Zach. He must have climbed up a boat that was propped up against the wall, managing to climb up into a crevice in the stone wall. He was partially hanging out of it, unable to turn or move without falling to his death. The fall wasn't the part that would kill him, of course. It was the leaping Atrociraptor with chomping jaws waiting below him.
Looking around, Sierra tried to think of a safe, quick way to get around to the other side of the building. She saw that there was a set of stairs and what looked like a doorway outside right next to where Zach was stuck. If she could get there, it wasn't too far away for her to help him get to the stairs.
The tricky part was getting there without being attacked. Unfortunately, Zach didn't have a lot of time. She could see him slipping from here.
Making a rash decision, she jumped down into the building and bolted across the open space to the other side, pulling her stun gun from her pocket as a precaution.
She caught a glimpse of a reddish Atrociraptor desperately trying to get into a boat. Sierra then dodged to the side to avoid a different striped raptor, but to her surprise that one ran from the building, heading the direction Claire and Santos went.
Trying not to think too much on where that raptor was going, Sierra turned her focus back to trying to reach Zach. The Atrociraptor that was trying to attack Zach was an orange and brown-striped one, and each leap was bringing it closer and closer to Zach's dangling leg. Running up behind the raptor, she leapt up a box and a set of stairs, racing up to the top until she was just above the propped up boat. The raptor snarled at her, renewing it's efforts to reach them.
"Zach!" she yelled, pocketing her weapon for the moment. She held onto the wall with one hand and leaned out as far as she dared, her other hand outstretched toward Zach. "Come on! Take my hand!"
Zach stared at her with wide eyes for a long moment, his grip on the small crevice precarious at best. His hands were grasping at the rock wall, his gun barely held in one hand. And one leg was dangling as if he was unable to pull it up without risking falling.
He tore his eyes from Sierra's outstretched hand to glance down. The raptor's chomping jaws were mere inches from his foot. It wouldn't be long before it figured out it could just run up the stairs like Sierra did.
Taking a deep breath, Zach carefully turned his body so his shoulder was pressed into the crevice, leaving him more unbalanced than before. The rock under his foot crumbled, terror briefly flooding his face before he made a desperate leap.
His sweaty palm latched onto Sierra's midair. She stumbled, but lurched back, throwing her whole weight into yanking backwards, pulling Zach away from the edge with her. In the process, his gun was dropped, but his feet landed on solid ground.
There was a stumbling tangle of limbs for a brief moment; Sierra's free hand went to his chest to steady him, his hand gripped her waist for a second. Blue eyes met brown for a split second before a screech brought them back to the here-and-now.
Zach's grip tightened on Sierra's hand, and he yanked her away from the stairs and out into the blinding sunlight. They ran out into an alley, and Zach instantly yanked Sierra to the left. She wasn't sure if he had a plan or destination in mind, or if he was blindly running. But then he dragged her right to an old motorcycle leaning against the wall of the next building over. He must have spotted it when he'd been following the truck in the first place.
"Did you get tagged with the laser, or was it just me?" Zach demanded as the two mounted the bike, Sierra behind him.
"Santos tagged me as she was running." Sierra answered as Zach revved the bike. A second later, they were speeding off. A peak over her shoulder told Sierra that their pursuer wasn't giving up easily.
"Great. So that thing isn't going to stop until it kills us both." Zach answered sarcastically. "Fantastic."
Sierra fisted Zach's jacket as he sped around a corner, nearly unseating her. They sped down narrow alleys and around sharp corners, dodging pedestrians and parked cars. Through it all, the stubborn Atrociraptor stayed on their heals.
"Well, this brings back memories." Zach called over his shoulder as he barely missed a screaming pedestrian. "Being chased down the road by an angry raptor. Just like the good old days, huh?"
Sierra opened her mouth to instinctively remind him that she hadn't been in the back of the truck with him and Gray when they'd been chased by Delta and Echo, but the words died in her throat. She'd heard the story enough times to know how it went even though she hadn't been there.
Releasing Zach's jacket with one hand. She pulled her stun gun from her pocket and held it close to her chest for a moment. She turned her head to look over one shoulder, then the other, trying to decide which way was less risky.
Finally, she swung her stun gun-wielding right hand to her right, stretching as far back as she dared while pulling the trigger. The raptor had chosen that moment to stretch it's neck out, jaws open wide. Sierra jabbed out and managed to jab it right in the nose.
It yelped and shook it's head, but it only fell back a few meters. It wasn't much, and the blasted raptor managed to regain the ground in seconds. When it got close again, Sierra repeated her attack, jabbing out with her stun gun sparking.
Unfortunately, the Atrociraptor didn't seem too keen on getting zapped in the snout again. It jerked it's head to dodge her attack, then snapped it's jaws forward. Teeth crunched down on metal, and Sierra yanked her hand back to avoid losing it.
Turning back around, she grabbed back onto Zach's jacket with both hands.
"Owen!" Claire's voice suddenly rang in their ears through the earpieces that Sierra honestly forgot about. "They took her to Biosyn! There's an airfield on the north side of the island!"
Zach glanced over his shoulder, meeting Sierra's eyes briefly before focusing back on steering the bike without hitting anyone or crashing.
"Me and Zach are on our way on a motorcycle. We're also trying to lose one of those Atrociraptors, but we'll meet you there."
"Okay! I met a pilot who's willing to take us there. We're on our way there. Hurry!"
"Hold on!" Zach yelled over his shoulder before he put on a burst of speed. Sierra almost fell back, so she tightened her hold on his jacket and practically buried her face in his shoulder. She felt the bike swerve this way and that as Zach seemingly dodged around people and corners.
After hearing yet another crash and scream, Sierra forced herself to look over her shoulder again. Sure enough, their tail hadn't given up yet. The Atrociraptor was still chasing them, the sun turning it's striped skin a blazing orange.
Zach maneuvered the bike out of the alley and into a huge courtyard-like space in front of what looked like a government building. He instantly had to weave back and forth to avoid being stepped on by the Carnotaurus and Allosaurus. People jumped out of their way, probably mostly due to the raptor on their tail.
Zach suddenly swerved, going down another narrow alley. Sierra hoped there weren't any pedestrians down this way, because there wasn't hardly any room for the bike to maneuver. After a few moments, the alley widened up, but on the side of one building was a some construction equipment, including scaffolding and wooden ramps. Zach directed the bike up one of the ramps, following the long wooden beam that ran alongside the building. Sierra chanced a glance down, fervently hoping they didn't fall as they went up another story. Especially when the beam shook and bounced as they drove.
Peaking over her shoulder again, Sierra saw that the raptor was still easily keeping up with them. Glancing down, she reached for one of the pockets on the side of her thigh. Her fist wrapped firmly around the grip of her side-handle baton. Snapping her arm, the baton extended to it's full-length.
Keeping one hand fisted tightly in Zach's jacket, Sierra turned as far around as she dared on the speeding bike, swinging her baton-wielding hand back and smacking the metal weapon onto the raptor's face. The impact knocked the raptor off balance just enough that it stumbled and fell off the side of the scaffolding. Sierra watched as it hit the concrete ground below.
"I don't know how long it's down, but hurry while we've got a chance." Sierra yelled near Zach's ear so he could hear over the rushing wind. Zach gave a short nod, speeding the bike down the scaffolding and down another ramp to the street below.
Within minutes the buildings and alleys faded until it was a stretch of dirt and brown grass. Zach turned onto a long, winding dirt path that took them down toward the ocean, where a lone cargo plane was parked. It looked like it was barely held together with duck tape. As they drew nearer Sierra saw a jeep parked near it, two forms running from the jeep and into the back of the plane. By the time Zach skidded the bike to a stop, the plane had started moving, turning to aim down the stretch of dirt that must have been the airstrip.
Sierra jumped off the bike before it had completely stopped, and Zach did the same, letting the bike hit the ground as the pair raced for the plane. As they ran after the plane, the back of which had opened, Sierra glanced back the way they'd come and realized Owen had arrived. He was also on a motorcycle, being chased by a different Atrociraptor.
With his longer legs and better fitness, Zach reached the plane a few steps ahead of Sierra. Taking a leap, he landed somewhat clumsily on the ramp. Grasping onto a strap on the side, he outstretched his other hand back toward Sierra. Taking a readying breath, Sierra took a leap with a hand stretched out.
She stumbled when her feet hit the sloped the surface, and she would have probably rolled right back off the ramp if Zach's hand hadn't grasped her palm. With a hard yank, he pulled her upright and sent her body crashing into his. With a twist and a hand shoved at her back, he pushed her up and further into the plane away from the gaping door. Claire, further back and grasping a different strap, grabbed onto Sierra's hand to pull her even further. Sierra grabbed onto a different strap, turning to watch her brother speed after the plane.
He was getting closer to the plane, but the raptor was, too. They all yelled at him to hurry. Especially when the plane started to tilt, signaling the pilot was getting ready to take off.
Probably seeing what Owen was planning, Zach started pulling himself further into the plane, away from the opening to give Owen room. Then, with a rev of the motorcycle, Owen popped the front wheel up just enough to zoom up the ramp and into the plane.
Sierra flattened herself against the wall of the plane as her brother whizzed past her. He tipped and slid, falling off the bike, which flew toward the front of the plane, crashing into the wall that separated the back from the cockpit.
Another thump revealed that the raptor had made a leap into the back of the plane after Owen, landing in a crouch with jaws parted in a screech. It snapped at Zach, who leapt back and dove further into the plane to get away from it. The plane tilted more and Owen, unable to grab onto anything, started sliding back toward the carnivore. Claire reached down and grabbed his hand, yanking him up and out of the way of the bike, which flew back down and crashed into the raptor, sending it out the back of the plane and plummeting into the ocean below.
There was a palpable sense of relief in the plane as the pilot started closing the back of the plane. Claire and Owen were clutching each other tightly while Sierra sagged against the side of the plane. Looking over at the others, she saw Owen checking Claire for injuries, and Zach pulling himself to his feet from where he'd dodged the raptor earlier. She saw him check his upper arm and hurried over instantly.
"Are you hurt?" she demanded, grabbing his arm and turning him to check.
"Nah, I'm fine. It was close, but I think I got away unscathed." Zach waved her off. "You?"
Sierra looked down at herself, holding her arms out. "Miraculously, I think I'm good." she joked slightly, her voice still breathless from their mad dash. Zach grinned at her words, chuckling.
The two turned and followed Owen and Claire toward the cockpit of the large cargo plane. Owen took the front passenger seat next to the pilot, and Claire took the seat behind the pilot, leaving only one seat left. Before Sierra even had a chance to glance at Zach, he was gesturing for her to take it. He stayed standing in the doorway of the cockpit while Sierra sat, buckling herself in.
"Kayla Watts." the pilot announced, making Sierra finally look at the pilot helping them. "You're welcome."
"You're the woman from the market." Sierra realized, making Kayla glance over at her.
"I am. And you got what you wanted. I'm helping you get your girl back." she answered around what Sierra guessed was chewing gum.
"You look like you fly for Biosyn." Owen announced searchingly.
"I'm gonna take that the way you meant it, and not the way it sounded." she laughed slightly while Owen started putting on the headphones. "I fly for whoever got a bag, but we'll call this one a favor." she explained. When she looked over at Owen again, she added, "Those don't work. They broke."
Sierra snorted slightly as Owen took them back off again.
"I'll take y'all to Biosyn, but I can't promise it won't be dangerous."
"That's fine. The last 36 hours haven't exactly been a walk in the park." Sierra joked, making Zach laugh and nod.
Owen was staring over at Kayla Watts. He was silent for a moment. "You're willing to risk your life for people you never met?" he asked, though it didn't sound too much like a question.
"You want to ask questions, or you want a ride?" Kayla countered.
There was a long, tense silence as Zach, Claire, and Sierra looked back and forth between Owen and Kayla as they had a sort of stare down. Sierra briefly hoped her idiot brother wouldn't piss off their ride. They didn't have the time or resources to try and find another one.
Finally, he looked out the front windshield of the plane. "We'll take the ride."
AN: Hopefully I did this scene justice. I tried to have Sierra have her own little misadventure with the atrociraptors so she wasn't just sticking with Claire or Owen, so hopefully everyone enjoyed what her and Zach went through.
With the Atrociraptors: Red was the one trying to get to Barry in the houseboat, Tiger went after Claire, and in the movie, Owen being an overachiever, got chased by both Panthera and Ghost. I figured when writing this scene Owen didn't need both atrociraptors chasing him, so I had Ghost chasing him, as that's the one that got knocked out of the plane, and Panthera went after Zach and Sierra instead.
Let me know what you all thought of this chapter. Specifically, what did you think of Sierra's thoughts of Santos, comparing her bond with the Atrociraptors to the Grady siblings' bond with the velociraptors? I went really deep in thought while writing that scene and just kinda went with it.
Thanks!