"Drive dammit," was all Carter heard as the gun was pressed very roughly to her head. First thought was that she was sick of being herded around at gunpoint today, really sick of it. Second was anxiety for her patient, as she had put Marty in the backseat, and hadn't even enough time to strap him into a seatbelt. She looked up in the mirror not daring to turn her head to the side and saw the kid. Frowning, her eyes flickered and she realized she couldn't see the other man anywhere. She had not heard any gunshots so she suspected the kid must have snuck up from behind the man unawares; maybe hit him over the head. She swallowed, as she didn't see any alternative right now, after all her hands had already been on the steering wheel when she'd been taken hostage a second time.
It was her own damn fault; she'd spent too much time staring at the form of the dinosaur through the rain. Besides that one brief time when the barn doors had opened, she hadn't gotten a good look at it. Damn, she'd though, if someone had really been as insane as to bring such a destructive force back into the world. At least now she felt vindicated, that she hadn't been wrong when treating the workman so long ago back in Bahia Anasco. The body on the floor hadn't escaped her notice either, and she wondered if the large dinosaur had killed the person. From the fatigues it had been one of the mercenaries, but she wasn't sure which one. Anyways the moment of distraction had come when the two men had started
Fighting, and then the other man realized too late the dinosaur was behind him. She was such a fool not to have immediately started the car as soon as the large dinosaur had come into view. But by then it had been too late.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath as she started the engine and heard the passenger side close. The kid threw two backpacks into the backseat, and she heard Marty groan as they hit him at once. But she couldn't say anything, wondering how desperate this kid might be. She didn't know why he had suddenly turned traitor or any of the details only that by co-operating she and Marty might be able to get down to a populated area alive. It was a risky proposition, but hopefully…Dr. Carter set the car on a course for the exit, seeing Muldoon running back to the truck in her rearview mirror. At least they would be followed, she thought to herself, as that greatly decreased the probability of this jackass just dumping them both on the side of the road, far from civilization.
It really wasn't that far from the entrance to the village and she found that they were exiting through the one road. If she remembered right the nearest town was about five or ten miles away. They just needed to get down the mountain and its winding and curving roads. Problem was even the nearest village wouldn't have a phone, but it would probably have enough gas or a car to refuel if they were thrown out by this desperate man. She stayed silent her eyes straightforward as she continued. Just the nearest look at his face she could tell the man was tense, perhaps even a bight frightened. Who knew what it would take to set him off, probably it wouldn't take that much for his trigger finger to slip. Maybe it wouldn't even be an accident she thought grimly to herself.
Marty groaned in the backseat as he was tossed back and forth as the car buckled. In his state, he was barely able to keep himself upright on the seat, much less comprehend what was going on in the front of the car. All he had heard was shouting, a door slam and then two backpacks were thrown into the seat beside him, one of which struck him. He groaned again as the other one hit the floor of the car, as he tried to feel his way around the backpack that had fallen right into his lap. The road was bumpy, and he blinked as he realized there was something in the backpack. Opening it, he was acutely aware of the stabbing pain in his leg, it still hurt like hell, just constant, throbbing pain.
The morphine was starting to wear off he realized, and soon it would become too much for him to handle. This was probably only an intermediate state of lucidity, as the last bit of the painkiller was working through his system. Wiping his brow, Marty stared as he grabbed the backpack and undid the zipper. Was he really seeing this or was it some illusion? Two large ovoid shapes, dimpled all over, he had never seen anything like this except what Grant had described to him when the Nublar incident was being investigated. Dinosaur eggs, two of them to be exact, carefully separated from each other by padding. He wondered where the hell they had come from, realizing they were way too large to be Compy eggs, and most definetly not from that large animal.
Another thing he noticed was that only one of the eggs seemed to be slightly different from the others. As a scientist, he noticed the extra dimpling on the other egg and frowned. Why had they been packaged together? That was one thing troubling him as he looked down. He thought in a village this size there should only be one nest around in the nearby woods, only enough habitat for one larger escaped dinosaur. That was really all the ecosystem could support. He shook his head as he looked up, and saw almost as if for the first time, the gun. Something clicked in his head as only the sight of a gun could. It happened in nature in some instances, such as the cuckoo bird, he remembered from his research.
A transient coming through might choose to lay its eggs where they were likely not to be disturbed, he realized. Although not knowing the context of the site, Marty realized he probably could not even make an educated guess about which egg had been originally in the nest. But it didn't take a genius to figure out…he blinked again as he rubbed his eyes. The reflection in the rear view mirror he could see just enough of the face that his eyebrows shot up immediately. Baxter… even though he still felt like he was about to pass out, he grit his teeth in anger. So the kid had been in league with the 'mercenaries' this whole time?
He shook his head, as he thought to himself how there was nothing he could do. But…he then realized to himself that his cell phone was in his back pocket. As they turned a corner, he took the opportunity to exaggerate a fall, and slammed face first onto the seat. Lying down now directly behind the passenger seat, Marty held the backpacks carrying the eggs and set it down. With his other hand, he slid the phone out of his pocket. Hopefully Levine was smart enough to leave it on…using the other backpack on the floor to keep the phone upright, he slowly texted a message to Levine's phone number out of sight. He thought they maybe had an hour, maybe more before the kid could get the car through the mountains into the main road. Not that he had an idea, having come in through helicopter.
Levine turned the corner, the sweat dropping off of his forehead. He could tell the truck hadn't been checked in a while, as he was barely keeping up with the other car. "It's no use," he said to Muldoon as the main tried to get an aim on the Hummer. "Car is built like a goddamn tank." They couldn't stop either, because they had the Carnotaur on their heels, and it was keeping up with them roaring every second. The road was slick and narrow, and so he couldn't hope to try to pass the car either for a better shot. The only thing he could think of was try to wait it out until they got out of the mountains where the road opened up then Muldoon might be able to take a shot without hurting the hostages.
He heard a strange buzzing noise and turned his head. Only after a second did he realize it was his cell phone going off. Carefully he removed it from his vest pocket, and tossed it to Muldoon. "Put it on speaker," he told the other man, after all his hands were sort of full right now. He took another turn, watching the rear lights of the other car through the rain. The phone was silent, and he realized with a look that it was a text message. Damn…and Muldoon was staring at it like he didn't know what the hell to do. "What does it say then?" He asked the other man, trying not to let his impatience be too clear or obvious. It wasn't exactly a moment where he could just relax enough to read it…
Muldoon set his gun aside and read it… "The Kid has the eggs, going to look in the other backpack now…" He looked back and fired once out the window to make sure that the Carnotaur would still be following them. He could still see it, didn't know how the hell they were going to resolve that, hopefully they would think of something before they got to a populated area or all hell would break loose probably. He looked down again as the phone buzzed, sort of surprised at the second response that he got through the phone. "There's a second part of the message, he says there's some sort of green lizard in the other backpack." Muldoon looked at the other man, not needing to say the word they were both thinking. If the kid had a live Compy in the backpack this could be very bad. It was bad enough losing the eggs, but two species of dinosaur loose elsewhere?
Muldoon sort of knew what Marty might try to do to distract the kid but he didn't know how that could work without the kid noticing. Give him a bigger distraction to worry about? That was a possibility he thought about as he picked up his SPAS-12 and leaned out the window. The Carnotaur was catching up so this was rather risky and foolhardy, but he thought he would try it regardless. Shutting one eye, he aimed at the back window, not high enough to hit the driver or the passengers, but certainly it was enough to cause a commotion. Squeezing the trigger, he could feel the hot breath of the dinosaur behind him as it closed in on what appeared to be easy prey. He wasted no time on getting his body back in the car. He grinned as he watched the back seat window shatter, the glass shards falling off one after another like rain.
Marty picked up the Compy gingerly as he took it out of the backpack. He didn't even dare to breathe, as he was afraid of waking it. He could hear the dark footfalls behind him, the dank air rushing in now that the entire back was shattered by that gunshot. They weren't yet in the narrow passes yet, this was still very much on the road leading out. Hadn't the helicopter pilot mentioned something about there being an additional landing area by the side of the road? Something about a mile to half a mile far from the village the thought but couldn't quite confirm in his head. Either way he knew he could not possibly allow his student to bring these animals out into the world at large. It wasn't something that could easily be contained, this sort of power…
Baxter wiped the sweat off of his brow with the back of his hand as he tried to hold his gun steady. He was trying to keep one eye on the road and another on the to make sure she didn't try any unwise moves, he did not really wish to shoot her, but if she moved suddenly he wouldn't be accountable for any sudden spasms of his trigger finger. It shouldn't really be that far down the mountain he figured to himself, and even with the others pursuing him, he thought it was possible that he could lose them. Once they got out of the mountain passes and into the main roads, the Hummer would easily be able to outpace the truck any day of the week. He knew it was only a matter of keeping pace.
Once they had left the others behind he figured that he would force Carter and Marty out, and drive to a populated area himself. Nothing more he could do really, but with the amount of money he would make, he could move to a foreign country, with no extradition rules. It was really too bad about not being able to finish school, but he was looking at being financially secure for the rest of his life, as long as he could get the eggs and the lizard in the hands of the right people. There were already a few places he had in mind, maybe Switzerland that seemed like a good place to start, although he personally preferred a better climate then that.
He could see movement in the backseat, was Marty waking up from from the drugs? He turned his head as he could see the man was moving around in the backseat. Baxter's first thought was that his former professor could've been hit by some of the glass after the gunshot had hit the back window and that could be it. It was a possibility, but his brow furrowed and he squinted as he saw the man holding the backpack. "Hold it there," He said turning his head slightly to the other side, to face Marty. "Drop that damn thing or…." He realized that if he did follow through on the threat, he most likely wouldn't be able to grab the steering wheel in time to prevent a crash. It was an empty threat and they both knew it. They looked at each other in the eye, and Baxter took a breath as he realized Marty wasn't holding the backpack with the eggs in it.
It was the other backpack, and he could see it was empty. "You sunnavabitch", Baxter cursed as he turned the gun to Marty. That was at least a million out the window if the man had indeed thrown it out of the car. He was angry, but didn't know yet if it warranted pulling the trigger. Once he did he felt like he would pass a point he couldn't turn back from. Was he willing to go there? He swallowed silently, as he stared at Marty, seeing only a blankly impassive stare at him. Not even judging him, just without emotion or even fear. "Damn you, you're not worth it…" Baxter said as he lowered the gun. Stealing was one thing, taking a man's life in a moment of heated anger was quite another.
"But maybe I can show you what happens if you try another stunt like that." He drew the hammer back, aimed at Marty's foot. Distracted he didn't see as Carter took the opportunity to swerve the car as she took the corner, which caused him to be caught off balance. Marty punched him quickly in the face, and he felt the cartilige of his nose crack slightly under the pressure. "Screw you your dead," He said as he raised the gun, aiming for Marty's chest. The man had brought this upon him, he really had. He was so focused on trying to maintain a steady aim that he didn't notice a chirping sound to his left. The Compy jumped onto his outsretched arm, and ran nimbly up until it was close to his face. Baxter blinked, and tried to shake his arm, to get it off of him.
Even as Baxter drew his hand back, the Compy leaped into the front passenger seat. Turning his attention, Baxter immediately tried to stomp the damn lizard. But it was no use; it was too fast. It leaped onto his knee again, as it had in the previous chase, and chirped again. It was almost certainly trying to nip him, and he'd be damned if he let that happen. Aiming the gun, he could see through the window that there was a clearing to the right. "Stop the damn car," he growled to the woman, trying to get control of the different variables at once. The other car was still following them as well, and he could see a dark shadow behind it. They were already half a mile, a mile from the village and it seemed it had been much further then that.
As the lizard lunged at him, Baxter blocked it with his arm, but it got a good grip on the fabric of his shirtsleeve. "Damn you…" He said his temper rising as he tried to knock it over the head with his weapon. Baxter was forced to divert his attention for once crucial moment, which proved to be long enough. As the Compy leaped onto his arm, he felt the car swerve suddenly to the side. Turning, he saw the driver's side door was open, the seat belt swinging in the breeze. What was that… Before he had an opportunity to process it, he felt the Lizard nipping his fingers and just stared at the sight of the blood. The rain seemed to fall super slow as the Hummer raced across the clearing, losing speed but not fast enough.
In the backseat, he could see Marty ducking for cover, but Baxter couldn't really see why until he looked back through the windshield. The trees looming really close in his field of vision, he couldn't stop the crash, nor could he at this moment in time. All he could do was ready himself for the impact as best as he could, closing his eyes as he got into position. Through the downpour of the rain, time seemed to slow down, and his perceptions were heightened. Particularly, he could most definitely hear that buzzing throb through the air, which he thought was just his imagining for one moment, but it wasn't. It was the sound of a chopper in the air, and it was close.