One of Owen's eyebrows went up when he learned the reclamation team was getting a few new members from outside the park staff. His other eyebrow joined the first when he learned that one of them was Dr. Alan Grant.
"Say that again," he requested when Claire told him.
"Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ian Malcolm will be joining you shortly. They just boarded the helicopter and are en route as we speak," Claire said. She eyed him appraisingly. "Owen, Do you know Dr. Grant?"
Owen tried to figure out just how much Claire knew about his relationship with Grant, but her expression didn't give away much. He finally shrugged. "Not really. I met him once at a lecture he gave when I was a teenager, but I haven't seen or spoken to him since. We're pretty much strangers."
Owen was well aware that this wan't the kind of thing that should be kept from one's significant other, and he decided that he'd tell Claire about it next time they were face to face. This wasn't the kind of conversation to be had over a phone while he was in the middle of a mission.
The reclamation effort was going smoothly, despite there still being no sign of Blue. The Rex was still off away from the main park, but they would be correcting that shortly. Owen wanted them to have eyes on Blue before they went after the other dangerous predator on the loose. But in the meantime, all the animals that weren't free range had been fed.
"I'm taking Barry and going out to look for Blue," Owen said to Claire. "Since she's not showing on any of the cameras, we know she's not back at the raptor paddock, but there is a chance she could be near there. I'm also going to swing by my bungalow on the off chance that she found her way there."
"Why would she? She's never been there before," Claire wondered.
"No, but if she stumbled across it, she'd probably find it interesting because that place smells like me. It might have been enough to hold her interest."
An hour and a long hike later, Owen found himself proven right, when he and Barry reached his bungalow. It was clear that something at least had been there. The door had been broken in and was hanging off only one hinge.
"Let me go first," Owen said to Barry.
"No arguments here," Barry said as Owen slowly stepped forward.
"Blue? Are you in here, Blue? I'm coming in."
Owen didn't expect an answer, but he wanted to make sure Blue heard his voice. Sneaking up on a dangerous predator they didn't intend to kill would end badly for them. And Blue would recognize Owen's voice. That would hopefully keep her from attacking them on sight.
"Blue? Blue? Are you here? Well crap," Owen said, surveying the damage that the raptor had done to the place.
There was little permanent damage. Mostly it was just that Blue had made a mess. His garbage had been upended, probably from Blue looking for scraps in his trash can. The refrigerator had been left untouched, but his laundry hamper had not. Blue had knocked it over and dragged all Owen's dirty laundry over to his bed. There she'd piled it on top of his bed and made a nest for herself, where she must have slept last night. Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen now.
"Well, at least we know she was here," Owen said. "And she may come back here. I think chances are better than not that she will."
"Should we wait? Or keep looking?"
Owen considered then went to his refrigerator, opening the freezer at the top. He pulled out two frozen steaks, and used his knife to open up the vacuum sealed packaging of one. That one he left on a plate on the counter.
"In case she comes back and we're not here," Owen explained.
"And the other?"
"In case we find her before she comes back here."
Suddenly, a familiar rasping cry came from the forest nearby, followed by a human shout.
Owen and Barry exchanged a look, then Owen snatched up the steak he'd just set on the plate and started running, Barry right behind him. They proceeded as quickly as they could while still being cautious, and Owen had to fight to concentrate on the situation they now had on their hands instead of on how that voice sounded like one he'd heard before.