This chapter turned out waay longer than intended. I think the next one or two or three might turn out the same way. Got a lot of stuff planned! Some parts will be exciting, some sad, some even anger inducing. It's about to turn into a hell of a roller coaster for everyone.
PREPARATIONS
10 – Taking Precautions
The sun had just peeked over the horizon when the yacht's helicopter's rotor whirring to life forced Pet awake. For fu… maybe if she threw the pilot overboard when no one was watching, she wouldn't have to hear that thing constantly go off. Unless Simon had an extra pilot on board.
Downdrafts from the rotor splashed down onto Pet, whipping her untamed hair all around her face. She wanted to shoot the damn thing to make it stop and rolled over onto her other side for Roland's Nitro. But it was gone along with its owner. A lazy raptor eye followed the offensive aircraft in its journey towards the mainland until it couldn't anymore.
Pet forced herself to sit upright and stretched. Her back popped, reminding her that the lounge chair wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing to sleep on. She had slept on far worse before, though, like the hard ground, on her belly across a tree limb…Billy's bed. Holy cow was that man in desperate need of a better mattress.
The smell of something caught the hybrid's attention. She sniffed the air to discover the delicious smells of breakfast. Where was the dining room, again? Following her nose accidentally brought her to the boat's tiny kitchen somewhere below deck…or decks. As if she knew how she got there… The cooks stared at her confusedly as she did them. One of them was at least kind enough to point her in the right direction.
Then she found the dining area. It was a sizable room closed off in windows on the far wall. It had a mini bar against the left wall and two long tables holding heated food trays against the right one. Tables were scattered in between where the yacht's guests helped themselves to breakfast. Located at the front of the room and mounted on the wall was a large flatscreen TV.
Hoskins sat with his men, each one of them quietly staring her down in passing. It was like walking past a pit of vipers, eager to strike out and bite her. That's okay. She would have no problem biting back. It wouldn't be her first fight against a deadly snake.
A plate was piled with a ladle full of scrambled eggs, three sausages, a pancake, and a biscuit. Syrup smothered the pancake that spilled onto half of the eggs, but Pet didn't care. For all she knew, this could be her last good breakfast.
She joined Muldoon, Derek, and Paul at a table, while Terrence and Roland sat another deep in conversation. Pet wasted no time scarfing down her plate full of food. Derek stopped eating, a fork in one hand and a piece of toast in another, to stare at the hybrid. It took the hybrid a little while to notice this.
She arched a brow at him. "What?"
"You're eating normal food," he stated. "You never eat normal food. It always has hooves or antlers still attached. Sometimes it's even still screaming out in pain."
Pet glowered at the man and snorted a screech. She resumed eating when a glance around the room showed Simon to be absent. "Where's the money bags?"
Muldoon answered. "He took the heli to the mainland to personally greet the last two people that will be joining us."
"Oh." A large bite of the pancake was shoved into her mouth as syrup dripped down her chin.
After breakfast, Pet got her backpack from beside her lounge chair and underwent the adventure of trying to find a shower room to use. Apparently, there wasn't one. Paul saw her walking the hallways below deck as though a rat trapped in a maze. He led her to the room he was staying in to use the shower there.
Fifteen minutes later, the bathroom door opened, and a plume of steam wafted out. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror was the hybrid in a black bikini top with matching swim shorts. That's not what has his interest. It was the horrifying scars decorating various parts of her medium dark-skinned body that had him wide-eyed. He was able to identify several claw marks, a bite mark on her right shoulder, and a rather prominent slash running almost the entire length of her left side.
"Dear God, how are you still alive?" He got off the bed and stood in the bathroom doorway to better look at the woman's battle scars. Three fingers were used to trace over the distinct claw marks marring her left shoulder blade. "What did that?"
"A juvenile Velociraptor on Isla Sorna. I accidentally stumbled into their territory one day."
Paul pointed at her left side. "And that?"
"The T-Rex on Isla Nublar. I was trying to save the park survivors from getting attacked."
"What's the story with this?" Now, he was pointing at her right shoulder.
Pet bent down and dug around in her back for a black mesh bathing suit coverup. "I got bit by a leopard trying to subdue it after it escaped its enclosure at the zoo in Kenya." She slid on the coverup, not really wanting to explain every single scar to the man.
Paul then gestured at the remaining scabs on her left arm. "And…those?"
"My stupidity." Pet picked up her backpack and carried it to the bed. She sat it down and unzipped the small front pocket where her sliver of tree bark was... the reminder of her goal. She tucked it away into a slit of a pocket inside her shorts.
"All right, I'm curious. Why a piece of wood?"
Pet met his calm blue eyes. "It's my reminder to not be stupid again. To stay focused and not tunnel on only one thing." She zipped up her bag and slid her arms into its straps. "It's also my goal…my motivation. Hopefully, by the end of this, it'll be a Spinosaur tooth." She exited the room and almost walked into Derek. The two people gawked at each in surprise.
Derek saw Paul and smirked. "I honestly expected Terrence to come out when the door opened."
Pet snickered, Paul answering. "Well, I wouldn't say no should he decide to explore his options."
Derek roared out in laughter. Pet followed him to the patio deck, her placing her backpack beside the lounge chair.
A little over an hour later, the helicopter returned. It landed, and the one person Pet would've gladly lived the rest of her life never seeing again got out; Valerie Mills.
Sure enough, Derek was his usual self and running his mouth. "Whoa. She's hot. I bet she likes it rough, too."
Pet scoffed. "She's also a bitch."
"Yeah, well, so are you."
Behind Valerie was a pleasant-faced, plus-sized woman with dark brown hair styled in a braided bun. She had a sweet-sounding Brooklyn accented voice, too, when speaking with Simon. "Oh, don't worry, Mr. Masrani, I'm sure we'll get along great!" With her person were a floral suitcase and a matching shoulder bag.
The two ladies were shown down the side stairwell, Derek eager to meet the new redhead. Acidic stares were shared between Pet and Valerie before her attention fell on the raptor-like feet. Shock and even disgust contorted her face. "The fuck is wrong with your feet?"
Pet snarled. "The same thing that's about to be fucked up with your face if you don't stop staring."
Derek interjected. "Ladies! Ladies, please! Hold that thought while I get a pool full of Jell-O ready!" Muldoon almost knocked the younger man to the deck floor from smacking him upside his head so hard. Derek rubbed his head a little, laughing.
The brunette woman set her luggage down and brightly smiled at the distracted hybrid. "You must be Ms. Veronica Hammond!" Pet's attention broke off Valerie to see the New Yorker coming right at her. "I've been so eager to meet you since Mr. Masrani told me about you!"
Blue-green eyes blinked a couple of times. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
Simon took it upon himself to make introductions. "Ms. Hammond, meet your new personal physician, Dr. Beverly Carlyle."
"I get a personal physician?"
Dr. Carlyle extended her French manicured hand for a friendly shake. "You can call me Bev or Bevy."
Pet accepted the gentle handshake, her mind a whirl. "I'd like to stick with Dr. Carlyle for now…until I get to know you better."
"Sure! Absolutely, sweetie!"
Okay, Pet wasn't about to tolerate the sweetie and sugar and honey talk. She would need to have a polite sit down and address her likes and dislikes with the kind-natured woman.
Simon then introduced the Army veteran. "I'd also like everyone to meet Valerie Mills. She'll be assisting your team, Ms. Hammond, for the corralling."
Pet smiled, more like snarled, when stating, "Which begs me to ask why she's here before the corralling."
Valerie sneered. "To watch you fail in this hunt, Mr. Masrani told Dr. Carlyle about in the chopper."
Hoskins was heard snickering to himself. "I like her!"
Simon's forced professionalism masked his growing annoyance. When Mr. Winston stated both women disliked each other, it was an understatement. "Please, follow me so we can discuss the details of Ms. Hammond's personal quest."
Derek got shoulder to shoulder with Valerie. "So, uh-"
But she stopped him before he could continue. "Spare me your bullshit pickup lines. I don't date dicks."
Derek's pace slowed to a stop. "I can be a gentleman, too."
Terrence stated into his ear in passing, "I don't think that's what she meant."
The group ventured back below deck to the dining room now cleaned up, and the tables remade. A young Indian male crewman dressed in a white uniform, patiently stood beside the television screen. Simon waited for everyone to get seated before nodding at the crewmen. He rushed to a windowed room that contained several pieces of electronic equipment. The screen came to life, displaying a satellite imaging of Isla Sorna.
Simon fetched a laser pointer out of the side room and aimed it at the map. "For those who don't know, this is Isla Sorna…or Site B." He nodded at the crewman intently observing him through the side room's viewing window. The next slide was shown. It was the same satellite image, but with clusters of dots scattered about it. Pet knew precisely what she was looking at. "This shows thermal imaging of the animals. I requested a specialized security team do a fly over of the entire island to identify what animals' territories were where. I'm sure you already know all this, Ms. Hammond, but I feel it best everyone else know this as well." All the different herds and animal packs were explained, using Hoskins' notes. Pet came close to nodding off a couple of times during those grueling twenty-minutes. "The primary area of concern is here." Simon nodded at the crewman a third time, the screen changing. Nearly the entire western side of the island was highlighted red.
Terrence huffed a laugh. "Let me guess, that's the Spinosaur's territory…the whole twenty square kilometers…just like Robert and Veronica said before."
Simon stared right at the ex-game warden. "That's right."
Valerie raised her hand. "Sorry to ask, but…what's a Spinosaur?"
Simon answered. "I'll be getting to that shortly." A circle was drawn two and a half miles south-east of the airfield.
Pet shrugged. "What's that region supposed to be?"
Hoskins made himself known once again. "Its den."
"You know that how?" Roland inquired.
"I know an animal den when I see one." The head of InGen security got to his feet and joined Simon in front of the large screen. "We could see bones from its kills all over the place when flying over it. The three times the chopper passed over the area, it was seen there twice." He pointed right where the laser pointer had been. "There were piles of excrement mostly downwind from that location, too." His sausage-like finger was now circling an area on the western riverbank. "It's a perfect location. That thing has plenty of food sources on all sides and access to an endless supply of water."
Pet's stomach fell into the pit of her gut. Her memories brought her back to the island after the plane crash. She and her companions just thought they were putting distance between them and the Spinosaur. How very wrong they were. "We were basically in that damn thing's backyard the whole time."
Hoskins was pleased with seeing the disrespectful woman knocked down a few pegs in her high and mightiness. "Don't know as much as you thought, now do you?"
Pet hissed a snort as her eyes shifted to a raptor's. It put Valerie on edge, but Dr. Carlyle in a fascinated trance. The brunette physician was heard saying, "Cool," in the anxious silence of the room.
Simon nodded to the crewman yet again, the next slide being a video clip. It was an aerial view of the jungle treetops. Seen weaving in and out of sight was the Spinosaur. The helicopter was a safe distance above and following the rampaging animal. Up ahead was a clearing, the perimeter fence leading to the aviary visible. The aircraft descended into the open field, lingering in the air a few feet above the tall grass swaying in the downdraft.
Then the Spinosaur erupted from the tree line, its fierce and unique roar heart-stopping. PTSD struck the hybrid, and suddenly, she was back on Isla Sorna, watching it tear through the remaining fuselage of the downed plane. She could still hear the fearful screams from the people trapped inside. Alan. Billy. They were in danger.
Muldoon saw the distant, unblinking distress in Pet's glazing eyes and quickly brought her back to reality. As if remembering what happened wasn't bad enough, to linger on those thoughts was even worse. He knew this, personally.
On the television screen, the Spinosaur was charging right at the helicopter and roaring again. A rifle's muzzle was seen in the camera's lower right-hand view, and a shwiff sound came from it a second later. A man's voice shouted, "It's tagged! It's tagged! Pull up!"
Luckily, the pilot was quick enough to ascend the aircraft well out of the dinosaur's reach by the time it reached their position.
Pet wrapped her arms around her, body quaking with nervous energy. "You're tracking it?"
Hoskins nodded. "Mr. Masrani wanted to know where the animal was at all times."
Paul pointed at the screen, attention on the pale-faced hybrid. "That, right there is what you want to kill with your bare hands? That monstrosity of a holy terror?"
Roland watched the hybrid sink into her chair a little. "Are you sure about this?"
Valerie's furrowed watch was locked on the paused video clip of the fierce-looking creature. "There's no way that's a real fucking thing."
Muldoon nodded. "It's real."
Derek took hold of one of Pet's hands, clutching her upper arm and squeezed it comfortingly. "Hopefully, it'll be dead soon."
Pet felt numb all over and on the verge of being sick. "I will kill it, even if it kills me in the process."
"I prefer that not happen," Simon stated. "You still need to hold to your side of the bargain." The subtle grin and teasing glow in his dark eyes brought a soft laugh out of the woman. He calmly resumed. "First thing first, though. Before you fly out, we need to discuss how this will happen."
Everyone listened to what Simon and Hoskins presented in the way of plans and back up plans. The first thing that was addressed was monitoring her throughout her time on the island. A body vest awaited her, complete with two body cams on both the front and back, GPS tracker, radio, and earpiece. For the first thirty minutes of their explaining, Pet's mind was in a nauseating fog. Somewhere at one point, she went from unresponsive to on her feet and outlining locations on the red highlighted portion of the map.
"You can come up with whatever back up strategies to whatever scenarios you want, but I'm sticking with my original plan." Pet nearly scratched the television screen she was sure cost more than her Jeep with a claw. "I get dropped off somewhere on the outskirts of its territory. Doesn't matter where. From there, I keep tabs on it for two or three days. I want to know everything I can about it from the way it fights, its weak spots, to its mannerisms."
Terrence was leaning against one of the tables, thinking. "Do you have an idea of where you'll be sleeping when not creeping around this thing?"
Pet visually searched the map east of the airfield. Everything looked so different in a satellite image than it did on the ground. "Yeah, there's a downed tanker truck somewhere in a marsh between the airfield and aviary. That's where Eric Kirby took shelter. It's a pretty sturdy structure, so I plan on re-utilizing it for the same purpose." She went silent as the seconds ticked by, thinking of other places and ways to last out the nights. No way was she going to explain it to the already sweating under the collar billionaire and his egotistical head of security. "Then, it's drawing it out into the open at the airfield and taking it down."
Derek was standing towards the back of the small group forming around the map, arms crossed over his chest. "Why the airfield?"
"So, if something happens to me, it's in clear view of Porky Pig's SWAT team." Not a single one of Pet's companions let themselves laugh out loud. It was an incredibly difficult feat. Meanwhile, Hoskin's jaw muscles firmed, and his face turned hot. "Shoot the damn thing in the head with an RPG if you have to. I don't care. Just kill it if I can't."
The rest of the details were worked out over the spans of another hour and a half. Pet and Hoskins remained at each other's throats the whole time, giving Simon one of his life's worst stress headaches. After everything was finalized, the thirteen people were dismissed, including the crewman making fourteen.
Pet caught up to Muldoon, inquiring. "Hey Rob, would it be okay if I borrowed your satellite phone for a minute? I'd like to call Alan and keep him posted on what's going on."
"As if you even need to ask."
She made sure to stay close to him so she wouldn't get lost in the maze called below deck again. This place would be the best setting ever for the most epic game of hide and seek. The dark wooden door was unlocked, and the two people went inside. The phone's case was pointed at on top of a chest of drawers next to a dolphin statue.
Now to find her way back outside…again. Pet sighed with the case in hand. The hallway appeared daunting, and she frowned. Hopefully, she could get topside and make the call before time to leave for the island. A set of narrow stairs were found, and the hybrid timidly ascended them, worried they'd take her somewhere else she shouldn't be.
Much to her satisfaction, she was back outside, this time on the bow's open desk. The wind rushed past her as she discovered the yacht was in motion, presumably in the direction of Isla Sorna. Pet sat down on the couch like cushions along a barrier in front of the railing and popped open the case's latches.
Five minutes later, she was listening to a series of rings on the other end.
The Montana sun shined down on the dig site. A cloud here and there dotted the sky, and a gentle breeze snaked through the trailers and tents. It was the perfect day for the fossil's protective tent's walls to be opened. Quiet chatter mixed in with steady tink, tink, tink of chisels working the skull out of its earthy confinements echoed the otherwise quiet air.
That's what got Billy the most; how quiet the place was. He paused in his brushing away a few flecks of sediment where he was working to gaze over at Quarantine. The top of it was just visible over a travel trailer parked between him and it. He wasn't aware he was frowning till Cheryl said something.
"You look bummed out. Everything okay?"
The junior paleontologist didn't immediately answer, instead choosing to spend another minute taking in the quiet day. "Just feels strange, is all. No childish arguing between Nica and Derek…Terrence telling stories about his days in Kenya in the plastering tent or Robert scaring the shit out of the rookies just by looking at them."
Cheryl snickered. "Yeah, I guess it does."
Grant spoke from his carefully scraping the remaining dirt out of the skull's eye socket. "I'm not complaining. It just means more work can get done without constant distractions."
Billy smiled. "Are you kidding me? They haven't even been gone that long, and already the plastering tent is chaotic. I had to mix up another batch because one of the new kids didn't know what they were doing. The femur that he was working on had to be completely cleaned off and redone."
"Hmph," was all Grant had to say. The sound of the dig site's satellite phone's ringing instantly broke his focus off his work. Fear gripped him something had happened, Billy being the first to answer it. He was much younger and better capable of getting off the ground, unlike his mentor.
Billy grabbed it off the fold-out table, having various handheld tools scattered across it. "Hello?" His just as worried features lit up in a smile. "Hey! How's it going?" He smiled wider. "A yacht? Have you killed that son of a bitch, yet?" He laughed.
Grant waved his hand at him. "Give me the phone."
"All right, here's Alan." Billy handed him the phone, laughing. "She and the others are staying on Money Bag's yacht."
Grant shooed him away and strode off towards the office trailer for privacy.
Billy returned to where he was working, him not so bummed out anymore. Cheryl was more than curious. "Who's killing who? Or what?" Billy's smile dropped in realizing he forgot she was there when saying too much.
Fifteen minutes later, Pet wasn't so sure calling Grant was a good thing. Giving him a very brief rundown of what was discussed during the meeting only scared him that much more. But she needed to hear his voice should it be the last. No, she shouldn't be thinking that way. She needed to stay positive despite the impending dangers. The phone was returned to its case, and it secured shut. Time to get ready to go.
Another thirty minutes later, Pet was securing the last of the supplies she planned to bring to the island inside her backpack. One of the items Muldoon was insistent she included was a flare gun. He wanted her to have some way of relaying her position to the InGen team should she need recovering.
A hand was brought to her shorts' small pocket to make sure the piece of bark was still secured, there. She watched the waves zoom past the yacht in its approach to Isla Sorna. Far off in the distance, the island's form resembled a mirage on the horizon. As she sat there on the lounge chair, a person's shadow crept over to her. She tossed a backward glance over her shoulder to see who it was.
No surprise, it was Simon, but what was surprising was him looking as though on the verge of tears. Pet stood up, setting her backpack in the chair, and faced the troubled man. "Should I ask if something is wrong? Or do I already know?"
Lethal sickle claws were analyzed first, then muscular legs and finally hands that might as well be armed with razors. "Just remember, Hoskins and his men will remain on standby the entire time you're on the island. If anything, and I mean anything happens that I feel threatens your safety, I will have them bring you back here. Even if that means them needing to tranquilize you to do so."
The hybrid released a labored breath, her body still trembling in anticipation. She wasn't the only one terrified on the spot. For the first time since meeting the billionaire, Pet smelled fear through his expensive cologne's scent. Her brow dropped, and she frowned. "Here I thought you were going to try and talk me out of this at the last moment."
Simon shook his head, his sad expression deepening. "I know how it feels to want something so bad that you'll do everything you can, never mind the extreme dangers, to obtain it. It's why I put myself at risk going to that island, last year, to personally find and recover you. I'll do it again if I need to."
Pet parted her lips to say something but couldn't. No words would have her. On the top sundeck where the helipad was located, she could see the pilot and crew chief doing their pre-flight inspection of the yacht's helicopter.
Her chest tightened with a rush of fear, excitement, and anger. "The other chopper should be here soon."
Simon nodded. "That's the other thing I came to tell you. It's currently five minutes out."
Pet picked up her backpack and shouldered its bulky weight. Everything inside it was necessary. She'd just have to leave it in the tanker truck to avoid being encumbered by it during her Spino observation. "Guess I should go get that body vest on, now." She went to step around him, his voice stopping her.
"One more thing, Veronica," sounded strained and bordering emotional.
The hybrid turned and met his heavy gaze. "Yeah?"
"Be careful. Please." He sounded just like Grant on the phone, nearly sickened with nerves and concern. A hand was brought to her face, and her cheek cupped within his palm. The remaining distance between them closed in a gentle kiss, Pet freezing on the spot. Her mind felt like a train crashing with itself and derailing for miles on end. Then exploding.
A man clearing his throat nearby broke the moment. It was the pilot. "My sincerest apologies, sir, but it's time." He gave a nod in the direction of the approaching speck of grey barely visible in the distance.
Pet felt her face, neck, and ears ignite with embarrassment as she watched the pilot and suited man stride away. It was as though her being engaged didn't matter to him. Thinking about it, though, she had been in his shoes once before. Was this how Grant felt those so many years ago at Jurassic Park? She knew he was romantically involved with Ellie at the time, something she gave no second thought to when taking advantage of her own opportunity. It was because of this that the hybrid couldn't be mad at the billionaire. Doing so would just make her a hypocrite.
Movement from the corner of her eye had her visual focus breaking off Simon loading into the helicopter and over to Muldoon. He quietly stood in front of the sliding glass door with a contemplating look on his scarred features. Pet could only hope he didn't see what just happened. That's when she spotted a mountain climber's chest harness in one hand and a walkie talkie radio in the other. Attached to the front and back of the harness were body cams and, a GPS tracking device.
Feet feeling as though made of lead brought her to his position. "I thought I was supposed to be wearing a body vest." She flicked a strap of the harness with the back of a clawed finger. The turquoise and off-white helicopter took off, the two people going inside the deck's enclosed portion to talk.
Muldoon wryly smiled. "It was Mr. Masrani that wanted you to wear a vest. I argued against it, thinking more along the lines of better mobility for you."
Pet scoffed. "It's not like it really matters anyway. What good is a vest when the Spino can just rip my head off with one bite?" It was then handed to the hybrid. "Would it be stupid to ask why Simon has climbing gear stashed on his boat?"
"He didn't. It was the InGen team who had it in their bags of equipment should there be a need to use it."
The answer was good enough for the woman. She took off her backpack and put the harness on.
The next thing she was handed by Muldoon was the radio. Attached to it was a wire connecting to an earpiece. "Now, we can see and hear what you do, while tracking both you and the target's movements."
The earpiece was firmly secured in place, and the radio clipped to the harness's backstrap. Pet tapped the earpiece. "Is this thing on?"
Derek's voice responded. "Gotcha loud and clear. The video looks good, too. And the GPS is transmitting perfectly."
"So much for privacy for the next few days." Pet's cheeks filled with embarrassment again. "Speaking of…you, uh, didn't see…um…see-"
Muldoon knew what she was stammering about and shook his head. "The sun was in my eyes. I couldn't see a bloody thing." Which was a damn lie, and she knew it.
Derek was all attention. "What happened, Pet? What was Dad not supposed to see?" But Pet ignored him.
Pet saw InGen's helicopter approach the helipad through the sliding door. "Looks like that's my ride." She and Muldoon went back outside and up the side stairwell. They waited for the aircraft to land, and the all-clear for them to board be given.
Hoskins and his men were already on the scene, as they had been waiting nearby on the sundeck. The seven people were soon loaded up and lifting into the air. The head of InGen security had a scheming smile on his face Pet wanted to claw off the entire flight. Visible through the right-side window was the yacht's helicopter. It stayed at their five-o-clock position up until time for the Agusta 109A to land at the mouth of the river. At least this way, she would be downwind of the Spino's den and central territory region.
Pet's heart pounded fervently in her chest. She looked at Muldoon fearfully, her lower lip trembling and eyes watering up.
He forced a smile for her sake and nodded his head. "You'll be fine. You survived four years on your own out there." But he wasn't fooling her. His fear permeated the air, and it was heartbreaking. The bearded InGen team member hastily opened the helicopter's door.
Pet knew better than to dottle and slipped out of the safety of the aircraft. Hot, gritty sand bit into the bottoms of her clawed feet and whirled about her person. The strong downdraft of the spinning helicopter blades kicked up more sand as it took off.
She stood there, staring into the misleading green foliage of the island. To think, this used to be her island of Eden, but not anymore. It was a graveyard, now, for all those who had tragically died on the island in the years past. Well, except for Reynold's team. Fuck 'em. They got what they deserved.
Not wanting to look back for fear of seeing her best friend watching her through the helicopter window, Pet calmly disappeared into the forest undergrowth.
Derek was heard still pestering her through the earpiece. "Seriously, Pet. I'll find out one way or the other what happened."
I expect the near ending of this chapter to possible cause some outrage or dislike...
