Trigger Warnings for this chapter: Mass crisis, refugee centers, and natural disasters (not literally a natural disaster but akin to relief efforts for natural disasters and therefore possibly triggering).
As always if any of these are triggers for you please contact me at enbysaurusrex and I will email you a version of this story edited to remove your personal triggers so that you can continue to enjoy this story with out stress, anxiety, or harm to your mental health.
Love y'all RAWR! ~💗ENBYsaurus
- Punta Arenas, Costa Rica -
It had taken everything Roxie had in her to drag Dave from the cruise ship, in an effort that caused dark spots to float before her eyes. AJ had helped at first, but that was before his girls had gotten swallowed up by the crowds. Watching him disappear among the horde screaming out their names Roxie murmured a tearful prayer that the family would be safe, because now that salvation was in sight, fear had begun to pollute the masses and only a primal, animalistic need to survive remained. Disembarking suddenly felt like less of a relief and more like a stampede as everyone rushed to be free of the horrors that felt right on their heels.
The ship had been an absolute nightmare, the vacant, hollow expressions, the wailing of the dying, the unnerving quiet of the dead, together, all adrift, lost in a sea of black. Yet even after a day and a half on that cursed, floating necropolis nothing could have prepared the survivors for the triage tents that had been constructed around the port, and in that large, empty hanger who's metallic walls echoed back each and every despairing cry.
If the boat had been a nightmare, than this was hell.
There was screaming, terrible, prolonged screaming that never stopped, not really. Howls of pain and anguish emanated from seemingly everywhere all at once. The iron reek of blood mingled with the noxious sweet stench of decay as flies, and their swarm of ravenous, wriggling, offspring made callous use of all they could.
In the port there was no sense of order, chaos ripped through the survivors and relief workers alike. Families were torn apart in a mass of whirling bodies as people were directed and proded this way and that like cattle, all the while urged ever onward by the fearful demand of those at the back. Parents languished over their children, many unresponsive, but all held high above the sea of bodies in a desperate bid to keep from losing them to the suffocating, potentially fatal crush of the crowds, again.
People, some with their bellies torn open, others hobbled by limbs terribly mutilated shuffled aimlessly in circles, trying to staunch their bleeding with whatever they could find. Some were lucky enough to be quickly bundled away by medical staff and volunteers while others had been left to wander, many of those bearing blackened chests, swollen from internal bleeding passing out from a lack of air. There weren't enough doctors and nurses to fill the need, so each case had to be hastily assessed with logic rather than emotion, and choices, sacrifices, had to be made. There didn't seem to be any hope in that place, as the dead were left where they lay.
Death had made its home in Punta Arenas.
After departing the ship the woman who had to pause and catch her breath woefully discovered that her voice was just one of thousands baying for help. The minutes stretched into eons before Roxanne, as she cried out in desperation until her throat was raw and ragged. It felt like hours before she'd been found by a nurse, one who looked Dave over with a quick appraising glance, dismissing him almost entirely, until Roxie began gesturing to the electrical burns on his chest, and the dangling wires of the AED pads.
"He was electrocuted!" Roxie recalled calling over the din. "Electrocuted. You know, a shock? Shock?"
"Shock?" the woman repeated, nodding her understanding before calling a young man, a dockworker out of his element by the look of it, over to carry the semi-conscious Dave away.
"I need to go with him." Roxie explained at volume, but the nurse who proceeded to squeeze her limbs up and down as if checking for weapons shook her head.
"¿Puedes donar sangre?" the nurse shouted after pressing hard along Roxie's abdomen, repeating herself a second time, before devolving into reciting one word over and over in desperate frustration. "¿Sangre? ¿Sangre?"
"Blood?" Roxie had inquired, when a light lit behind her eyes in illumination and she knew what the woman wanted from her. "Yes! ¡Si! I can give blood! Yes!"
From there she had been scuttled away in a mad dash of anxiety inducing urgency. Roxie was then sat on the hard concrete floor of the hanger in an area with other refugees who seemed more or less unscathed. The needle hurt, put in with haste, but it was all too clear that there simply wasn't time for certain considerations as the red elixir of life was drained from anyone and everyone that some to spare. In the end, Roxie had been left with a pulsing migraine, and unable to stand. She slept after that, dreamlessly, but she slept.
When the woman came around hours later every single muscle fiber felt torn, as if her body had ripped itself into confetti as was sleeping. Heavy with exhaustion, and too pained to move, her head in particular, the woman had to push past her searing discomfort to find her feet needing several attempts to stand. She shuffled like the walking dead between rows and rows of people who seemed damned and forgotten, their vacant gazes following, but not quite seeing the woman as she passed.
In a state of torpor herself Roxie was left wandering, aimlessly unaware of whom or what she had set out to find, knowing only that she had to. Bumping and jostling with other half-lifes in the yawning void, it was as she passed her co-worker, her friend, Dave, that she recognized not only him, but his significance to her.
In a sudden rush of kinetic energy the woman raced to his bed. Throwing herself onto his chest she began to cry in monstrous sobs that shook her violently. His skin was cold, clammy to the touch, and still lacked the color it once had. He seemed to be having difficulty breathing, but he was breathing. Beneath her ear she could hear his heart beating, it's rhythm fairly steady, and the most comforting sound that had ever graced Roxie's ears.
"Hey," he croaked after a few minutes, shifting so that Roxie could fit herself entirely beside him. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but with her face still buried into his chest she was now gratefully in the bed beside him. "It's alright. Don't cry, it's gonna be alright." he gasped out, his hand a limp, cold fish floundering on her back as he attempted to give her a comforting pat.
The world spun and whirled apathetically past the pair who remained huddled together for a time beyond measure, in a place where they existed alone in their anguish and mourning. Until Dave took a turn later that night. The skin at his throat and around his ribs pulling in tight as he struggled to take air that just wouldn't come, his chest heaving in an erratic fluttering motion.
After a moment of sheer dread and alarm for a second time since his defense of her Roxanne found herself watching from the sidelines as strangers worked hard to bring him back 'round and save his life. In the end his already battered and bruised chest was left with an expanding garden of blossoming bruises, as nasal cannula fed him life giving oxygen from a large metal cylinder. The medical staff gave Roxie a folding chair, and brief directions on how to change the tank, leaving her three spares before rushing away, much work still to be done.
Several harrowing days at Dave's side past before Roxie was finally able to contact someone from the park, someone who at one point had possessed power and authority, someone she thought might have some answers or direction for her. Instead he had none. The call was brief, painfully so, apologies, false hopes, empty promises, and vague instructions to do nothing, but wait tumbled from his lips as if recited from a script. Not even a breath had been afforded to the children's names. They were, by all reasoning considered dead. The counselors were just supposed to sit idly on the off chance that one of the intrepid rescue missions manned by military personnel in helicopters bore fruit.
With nothing else to do, and no way to contact the families of the children, all the information she'd once held on them long lost in the cellphone and paperwork missing somewhere on Isa Nublar, she waited. She waited, and prayed, and tried to keep hope alive as she searched for the campers among the cots... and body bags.
It was a dismally muggy afternoon when Roxie returned to the hanger, which had slowly, but steadily been emptying as those well enough to travel returned to their home countries, to find a woman sitting in her chair, holding Dave's hand as they tearily spoke. Spotting her the woman who looked dead on her feet stood and reached to shake hands.
Fatigue draining her senses Roxie found herself staring at the twin bandages the women each wore, and cocked a weary half smile. We're blood sisters, she thought to herself, wondering if the people her blood had been gifted to survived their ordeal, her eyes misting at the dubious prospects.
"Roxanne Dupree?" the woman inquired, her tone gentle, but grave.
"Yes?" Roxie nodded, still drifting through the stages of shock from all that had transpired over the past week.
"I'm Sophie Pincus." the woman said, blinking back tears.
Sirens and alarm bells began to toll loudly in the back Roxie's subconscious, her body processing the information faster than her mind could she felt herself chill with anxiety. Breath caught, heart racing, the woman was frustratingly at odds with herself. Why was she crying? She didn't know this woman, had never met her in her life, so then why did she feel faint, why was she trembling? Roxie found herself inexplicably thrown into a fit of panic, and she couldn't understand why.
"Ben's mom." Dave intoned solemnly from where he sat in bed, reaching for, but just unable to grasp her hand.
The world rocked to one side, spiraling away from the camp counselor as if she'd just taken a blow to the head. Staring, lost, into the others woman's eyes Roxie's heart of glass shattered in an instant. Before she could say anything the women found themselves clinging to one another with a deep and immediate bond, slowly sinking to the floor as they began to cry.
There was nothing, absolutely nothing Roxie could say or do to make things right, and this, meeting one of the kids parents without having any answers was something she had been dreading. Sophie seemed to understand this as she smoothed a hand over Roxanne's hair, the two attempting to sooth one another when there was no salve or balm on earth that could mend the hurt they felt.
"So, that was the last time to saw him?" Sophie, lip aquiver despite how strong she was trying to remain asked, looking between Dave and Roxie who sat side by side on the bed.
"Yes ma'am." Dave muttered, staring hard at the ground, his mind undoubtedly as clouded as Roxie's as if trying to recall detail was akin to trying to find your way through fog.
"And you'd left someone to watch over the children?"
"Yes," Dave nodded firmly. "Jayson Young, he's a good kid."
"We checked," Roxie put in, in an attempt to help. "There's no record of him... getting off the island either."
"Do you have any way to contact him?" the business woman asked, pulling her hair up off her sweaty neck as she began to pace.
"None." Dave shook his head.
"I take it you have heard that the Tree House was completely, and utterly decimated." Sophie voiced, fixing her gaze hard on something in the distance to force herself to keep it together. "That there was absolutely no chance of survival after it's collapse, that the helicopters saw no signs of life during their flybyes."
"Yes, we have." Roxie muttered, before she felt a fiery tingling run through her veins. "But I haven't lost hope, those kids are-"
"Good," Sophie nodded turning on the pair with steel laced eyes. "Neither have I. Could you act as a guide for search party?" the question was posed to Roxie, who answered with an affirmative loudly over Dave's attempts to speak.
"So, you have know how, I have the connections, and now all we need is a man with the money to make it happen." Sophie explained smoothing down the front of her apparel in a motion that seemed to center and empower her.
"And if my sources are correct I know just where to find such a man." she smiled bitterly, stray tears splashing against the screen of her cellphone as she looked at it.
"Do, do you think you can convince him to help?" Roxie asked, hopeful butterflies flooding her stomach, while anxious spiders crawled up the back of her neck.
"Yes." Ben's mom smiled with a pained confidence. "I'm just, not exactly looking forward to working with this particular individual. I'll be back either later today, or early tomorrow. I can't be sure which with some of those road blocks they've constructed. In theory only a few hours. I need to know, though, are you entirely sure you're committed to this? You could die."
"You'd have to kill me to stop me." Roxie grit.
Sophie handed Roxie a cell, the two women hugged, and for the first time as she watched Ben's mom take her leave Roxie thought that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance.
- Sámara, Costa Rica, Saturday 7:22am CST -
Money talked. Money always talked. In this case however, there seemed to be a distinct... language barrier.
Sitting behind bars, with stale sweat soaked through his white button up Xi Kon stared hard at the iron door which stood between him and his freedom. They had been holding him here illegally for days. Xi had lost count of just how many, all he knew for certain was that they'd allowed the piolet to walk free after only two.
It had been a damned nightmare finding a man with a helicopter, and more so, one with the fortitude enough take the flight out to the island, let alone land the thing. The penthouse, after everything Xi was sure that if his son was still alive, that he would have gone to the penthouse, that Kenji was smart enough to know that, that would be the first place they'd look for him. Or, at least the first place after witnessing firsthand the decimation of the Camp Cretaceous Tree House.
His leg rapidly bouncing with a volatility he'd had to keep under pressure since being thrown to the concrete and placed in handcuffs. Xi struggled in his attempt to reign in his outward hostilities. He really didn't want to be maced, again.
The man had arrived in Costa Rica aboard his private jet, just as the noose was being tightened over the crisis ravaged nation. The government had declared martial law and was now enforcing it with particular rigidity along the coastal cities where large airborne predators had made their presence widely, and in some cases, violently known as they sought out new territories. Then of course, there were the looters callous enough to take advantage of the harrowing situation, and the distraction the relief efforts afforded them picking local shops clean while their owners were otherwise distracted. Everything was in chaos, and shambles, death, and confusion holding regency in the wake of such a catastrophic turn of events.
And now? Now, here he was, stuck. Trapped in a cell and unable to, despite his best efforts, buy his way out. Fucking white knight mentality, it's what was wrong with the world.
Standing Xi began to pace. The tiny room he'd been put in wasn't an actual jail cell, or so the man had gathered during his stay in holding. It was instead just a place to shove people, out of sight and out of mind until they could figure out what to do with them, or what kind of authority they had over them. The surprised looks certain officers gave whenever they passed the bars and realized that they did indeed have a guest was all the businessman needed to confirm this suspicion.
It was now very apparent that no one had any idea what to do with the billionaire, or that they were too busy helping with the evacuations to be bothered to do anything at all. Either was a distinct, and irritating possibility. What was certain however, was that Xi Kon had not come all this way just to rot in some backwater holding cell in Costa Rica of all places, waiting for someone with the authority, or balls to make a decision.
He had to get out of here. He had to get back to the island, and he didn't care what it cost to get there.
The humidity was unbearable, Xi thought as he walked across the small space afforded to him. New sweat began to collect along his brow, and burn his eyes. They brought him water, but not often enough, and fed him once or twice a day, when they remembered or he got loud enough to remind them, but it was no better than dog food.
And the flies, there were flies everywhere, his constant companions since his arrest. Even if he had been given an actual bed rather than a stiff board, and a threadbare rag to use as a blanket the man still wouldn't have been able to sleep because of all the fucking flies. Their buzzing was incessant, even now they circled around his head, landing on his neck, his face, his arms, until his body seemed alive with their crawling.
"Hey!" he shouted, when he couldn't take it anymore, grabbing the iron rods in what looked like a poor cliche. "Hey, let me out you sons of bitches! Do you have any idea who I am, or what I could do to you, to your families? Let me out!"
"¡Silencioso!" replied a voice from somewhere just out of sight, a voice that sounded almost, as unbelievable as it seemed, bored.
Aggravated the prisoner began to shake and rattle the bars with all of his might. There was a loud scraping, followed by the dull thud of boots, a sound that grew steadily louder until a man wielding a small, but fearsome aerosol can pointed directly at Xi's face appeared on the other side of his cage.
"Dije que te calles." the official declared, his tone that of a man speaking to a troublesome, and errant child.
Xi's teeth squeaked as he grit them together, staring hard at the police officer in a stalemate until at last the free man smirked, and walked away. Bullshit, the entire situation was complete, and utter bullshit. Head pounding, and heart rate through the roof the distraught father let out a howl of rage as he kicked the locked door. Tears steaming down his cheeks, toes hurting, he stalked back to his bench and laid down. Using his once prized and very expensive suit jacket as a pillow, Xi closed weary, watery eyes.
The man wasn't sure how, or when, or even for what length of time, but eventually he had fallen asleep. It was the sound of the door opening that had awoken him. Sitting stiffly, abused muscles, and aching joints protesting Xi turned expecting to see a uniform with a bowl of gruel. In place of an officer however, he found a woman. She was fair skinned, and petite, with mousey brown hair tidied into a loose mass of curls held back by an overworked hairband.
Brows knit with confusion Xi found his feet immediately. He had only just opened his mouth to demand to know who this woman was and what she was doing there when she crossed the small room in only a few heated strides. Before he could say anything Xi was blindsided, the right side of his face flaring with pain, his ears ringing, and world off balance as she slapped him, with what he imagined was all the force she could muster.
The sun seemed to flare behind the man's eyes, his bottled rage and aggravation threatening to consume him whole. Dazed, fists clenched, trembling with anger Xi looked up to realize that somewhere beneath the tolling of the bell in his head, she was speaking to him.
"-on of a bitch!" she shouted with tears standing in her eyes. "How could you do it? Huh you bastard, answer me. How could you do it?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch the first half of that." Xi Kon said from between his teeth, casting a spiteful glance to the guard who didn't seem to have any concern or interest in the assault he'd just witnessed.
"He was my friend!" the woman spit venomously.
Xi wanted to throttle the her but it was clear from the officer's stance that sides had been drawn, and he, with his hand resting almost too casually on his weapon was clearly on hers.
"Who?" he asked, crossing his arms tightly to keep from doing something violent.
"Simon Masrani!" the woman sobbed. "He was more than my boss, he was my friend! And your lawyers, and goons, and PR assholes can cover up and hide the truth from the media all they want but I know, I know what you did. I know how quickly you liquefied your stock, your assets, the second one of your little spies tipped you off to the situation on the island. And I know that afterwards you swooped in to buy as much private property as possible to double dip, and get in on the insurance payouts."
She was fiery, Xi thought, fiery, and stupid. "Let me guess, you're the secretary."
Pain bloomed across the billionaire's face when she struck him again. Turning with malevolent intentions Xi was stopped by the woman's pointed and accusatory finger jabbing him in the chest.
"I'm Sophie Pincus, and I'm your only ticket out of here, because let me tell you there are plenty of people who want to see your head roll." she stated, with such authority he didn't doubt it. "From here on out you work for me."
"And if I refuse?" the man rebuttaled swatting her hand away and closing the distance between them, his stature menacing over her.
Without a hint of fear, or even missing a beat the woman turned and began to speak over her shoulder to the guard, her hands moving in a way that seemed to help her articulate her meaning. Spanish was clearly far from her native language. All at once the armed man's demeanor seemed to change, his gaze already locked in the prisoner becoming hard as stone.
"What are you saying to him?" Xi snapped, unable to keep the mounting anxiety from his tone. "What are you saying?"
The woman, Sophie, turned back with a coy, crooked smile. "Do you know how much revenue Jurassic World brought to Costa Rica, to towns like this one in particular?" she asked. "How much prosperity, and financial stability it ensured? How after generations of migrant workers, and manual laborers, hundreds of families were able to put down roots, and build better lives for themselves and their children? How, for the first time, in a long time, even the poorest people were able to send their children to seek higher education? How for the first time, this community, specifically, had found real hope?"
Xi, who was unaccustomed to feeling so powerless swallowed hard as he took a half-step back.
"More importantly, do you know what it means to these people to lose that kind of foundation in an instant? One of the very pillars they had dared build that hope upon?" Sophie's eyes were cold as they narrowed, reminding the man of a lion closing in for the kill.
"Because I do." she smiled brightly then. "I know exactly what this means for them. I know the statistics yes, but more than that I know these good people, and I know how hard they have worked and what they have sacrificed to get to this point. I know all of this because I have partnered with them directly, and indirectly for years now. I know what they're going through, and more than that I know what they would do with the man they thought was responsible for this catastrophe, and I know it because I'm Simon Masrani's God damn Executive Assistant to Public Relations with Costa Rica, and I'm really fucking good at my job. So if you don't want to die in here you're coming with me. And if you call me a secretary one more time, I'll gut you."
"What do you want from me?" Xi asked from between his teeth, quaking with anger, outrage, and an unflattering amount of fear.
"Your bank account." Sophie stayed evenly.
Xi scoffed, what little grudging respect he was beginning to develop for someone who clearly understood how the game was played died away in an instant.
"So that's what this is about?" he laughed, a sensation that rolled and grew, and to think, for a minute he was actually scared. "You're blackmailing me? For money? Don't be ridiculous. I think I'll be fine staying right where I am." he announced cocking an eyebrow in her direction as he slowly sat back down.
Checkmate.
"God damnit!" the woman bellowed, power, and composure slipping right between her fingers. "Its not about that you arrogant-"
"Then what is it?" Xi bit into her exasperated railing.
"I need to get to that island!" she shrieked, staring at him with wide, frantic eyes.
Xi's heart skipped a beat, his interest, and hope renewed. "Why?" he asked caution stealing the breath from his lungs.
"Because," Sophie explained, eyes swimming with tears. "My son's still out there."
Xi's stomach plunged at how fragile the former lion now appeared to be. She was just like him, he thought, just as desperate, and just as willing to do whatever it took. Xi looked the woman over, with fresh, empathetic eyes. She was tired, her clothes weren't her own, they were disheveled and overlarge, there were thick white bandages encircling both of her elbows, and as she stood there she was practically trembling right out of her skin.
The fire in his chest fading, Xi cleared his throat and nodded. "Ok, I'll help, but you have to take me with you. My son, Kenji, is trapped out there too."
"I know." Sophie said before her brow knit, and her mouth became a thin, taught line.
How could she have known? Xi thought eyes narrowing, though the contempt written across her face was more than he could bear. His pride, his soul, wounded the man offered what little excuse he could muster. "I didn't know my son was there when I-"
"Started profiting off the deaths of thousands?" Sophie offered.
Xi's gaze fell, his voice a thin, remorseful whisper, he nodded, "Yeah..."
Sophie said something to the guard, who seemed hesitant at first, but eventually moved aside. "Come on." she commanded, "Follow me."
Obediently the man retrieved his jacket and began trailing behind her, his every step burdened by leaden guilt, still, he managed hold his head high. The two walked to the front of the small police station where Xi's personal affects were returned to him, out the front door, and into midmorning air so humid that Xi thought he might drown in it. Sophie led him to an awaiting vehicle and climbed in the driver's seat, pulling away with a spin of the tires before the man could even get his door fully closed.
Once they were on the road, the car was filled with a thick, uncomfortable silence. Yet for all his malease Xi was reluctant to break that silence, choosing instead to scrutinize the condition of his cellphone, and smart watch, convinced that their screens held scratches that hadn't been there before.
After responding to a few pressing emails the man made himself comfortable, and attempted to doze. Choosing sleep as the wisest option given the lengthy blue line the woman's phone displayed between them and their destination. Besides this seemed like it was going to be a long, miserable car ride.
"Our boys know each other." Sophie said in a breathy tone after they had been driving for almost half an hour. Looking at her, Xi could see how hard the woman was struggling to hold it together, lip quivering, hands readjusting, then white knuckling the steering wheel as she drove.
"Do they?" he rasped, his throat impossibly dry.
"Yeah," Sophie sniffled. "My boy's Ben." she explained, clearly expecting him to understand a certain meaning behind this new information. Xi stared, remorse and shame settling over his head like stormclouds. He wished that he knew what she was talking about, but was too ashamed, and too full of self loathing to ask her to elaborate.
"I would have said something earlier," she whispered hoarsely, as if struggling to find the right words, words that wouldn't make her cry. "It just didn't feel right, using your son as leverage against you, just in case..." she murmured.
A chill ran down the billionaire's spine. He hadn't been letting himself think of the "just in case," scenario. Focused solely on finding Kenji and bringing him home, he hadn't allowed for any other possibilities to play out through his fearfully wandering mind. Now, now it was all he could think of, the warmth draining from his body completely, in spite of the temperature.
Sophie laughed then, a sudden outburst she couldn't seem to hold back, starling the man out of his frightening thoughts. Turning he saw that Sophie was smiling now as she wiped at the tears that had begun to flow.
"Ben tells me that Kenji's a real trouble maker." she beamed. "I mean, I can't even begin to tell you how many stories Ben's told me that start with, 'You'll never believe what Kenji did, or what Kenji said, or what Kenji thought.'" fond merriment wrinkling the corners of eyes the woman went on. "I mean he talks about Sammy a lot too, his camp bestie, Darius a close runner up, Brooklynn, and I quote 'the ice queen,' Yasmina, but Kenji, Kenji is the star of the show."
"Is he?" Xi muttered, trying hard to remember how to breathe properly. Compressed under the weight of so many competing emotions all at once, the task seemed nigh impossible as his chest caved in from the heartbreak.
"Oh yeah!" Sophie giggled. "I'm sure you already know about the incident with the raptors, I mean, I lost years off my life hearing about it and Ben wasn't even there. Then of course the hike, and the gyrospheres. I can always tell when Ben's trying to play it cool, but he couldn't hide how exciting following that herd in the spheres had been. I mean his voice was shaking! And the pool!" Sophie snorted with a lark at this. "Kenji was such a clown, in the best way, promise! I meant no offense. Ben just has a real way of describing his antics."
Xi was beside himself, staring blankly ahead. He had no idea what she was talking about. It felt almost like through her son, she knew Kenji better than he did. Maybe she did, she certainly knew more about his summer. Xi hadn't even given a second thought as to how his son would be spending his vacation after making arrangements for his stay at Camp Cretaceous. He had been completely indifferent... for years...
"So," Sophie prodded after a while. "Has Kenji talked about Ben at all? Maybe shared any stories he wouldn't have told his old mom? Nothing could get him in trouble at this point. I swear."
Xi watched the woman checking on him periodically from the corner of her eye, a sort of optimistic apprehension written across her face. The man sat quietly, his soul eating itself, he wasn't sure of what to do. He had nothing to offer her, but she was practically holding her breath with anticipation.
"I uh, I don't know." he confessed.
"You, 'don't know?'" Sophie repeated.
"I, I haven't spoken to my son since he left for camp." Xi explained shifting in his seat so that his body was turned away. Somberly the man peered out the window, trying to hide his pain.
"Oh." Sophie whispered, and in that single syllable he could feel all of the judgement, and disappointment rippling off of her, but also a kind of pity.
"Would you like me to tell you a couple stories?" she offered gently.
Xi looked at her helplessly, his very essence shuddering with loss, "Please." the man cried with hopelessness.
- Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, Saturday 9:47am CST -
"You're not leaving me here." Dave snarled between his teeth as he watched Roxie take another lap around their little nook of the hanger. "There's no fucking way."
They'd been having the same argument all night.
When Sophie Pincus, a woman he'd met only once before had first arrived the man had been overwhelmed with grief and a stark sense of failure. He'd been responsible for those quirky little oddballs, to teach them, to guide them, and most importantly to keep them safe. Yet he had been unable to. The man knew he looked a frightful mess, and that the woman couldn't have felt anything more than pity when she sat across from him, introduced herself, and had taken his hand.
Dave wished she hadn't have been so kind, so understanding, so sympathetic. He wished she would have just yelled at him, hated him, and condemned him instead, because maybe then he could start to feel better for his glaring inadequacies. Instead he just felt, dirty.
Sophie hadn't come just to pity him however, she had strode into that hanger with enough grit and determination to mobilize a small army, and that seemed to be exactly what she planned to do. Only, she planned to do it without him, and now, in a devastating act of betrayal Roxie appeared intent to do the same.
"I can't keep having this conversation with you David!" Roxie grumbled as she passed by his cot.
"What conversation?" the man asked throwing his hands into the air. "As far as you're concerned the decision has already been made."
"David-" Roxie gave a little halfhearted laugh, one that scoured him. She thought he was being stupid, but she didn't understand how bad this hurt. In an instant Sophie had given him hope, a purpose, and then snatched both away as if it were nothing.
"You two were talking like I wasn't even here." he blinked past the tears that misted and obscured his bloodshot vision.
"David I-"
"You can't leave me. I have to go. I have to help. I have to do this!" he bellowed, trying desperately to get her to understand.
"Your heart is properly fucked, David! I'm not trying to be cruel, but you just can't do this." Roxie shook her head.
"I think I know my own capabilities." Dave snarked back, working hard to untangle himself from the oxygen cannula he had ripped from his face.
His nose was dry, crusted, and bled every now and then because of the constant forced air, and now his cheeks stung from ripping off the tape. His eyes watery the man pinched his nostrils closed trying to alleviate the intense burning. It sorta helped, sorta made it worse, but he wasn't sure what else to do.
For days he hadn't been sure what to do, the whole summer actually. He still wasn't even sure how he'd landed the job. There had been interviews for the most promising of all the candidates, quite an extensive list, and they'd wanted someone with a background in education to counterbalance Roxie's experience with wildlife and create the optimum camp counselor duo. Dave had thought for sure that he wasn't going to make the cut, there were others with much broader, and more impressive backgrounds. He thought that maybe, just maybe he'd be lucky enough to be placed on the list for secondary interviews for when the camp went live, but the exclusive beta run? No way.
He recalled how nervous he'd been, the task which had seemed so daunting now paled in comparison to all else. Sitting in that posh lobby, choked by his rented monkey suit, trying to make smalltalk with the people seated around him. They hadn't been the smalltalk type, only adding to his nervousness and discomfort. A few people had been called back, but it seemed slow going, doing little to ease the tension felt by the prospective candidates.
Then, out of nowhere the whole room fell deeply and utterly silent, in a manner unlike before. It was clear that someone very important had just walked in. Craning to see as the man at the desk stood in a hurry with a broad smile, and a little bow welcoming the newcomer as "Mr Masrani."
So, Dave had thought, that was Mr Masrani. The very important man strode across the room talking rapid fire to a woman in a pencil skirt taking notes behind him. As he watched the powerful man enter the lobby and began to pass them by Dave had found himself humored and even delighted to see that Mr Masrani was still human just like the rest of them, sipping on a bottle of diet coke. Then, as he watched Masrani fished around for something in his pocket and pulled out a roll of peppermint flavored mentos.
Dave recognized the danger immediately, as teachers they all should have, it was one of the easiest and cheapest ways to demonstrate a physical reaction, one deceptively disguised as a chemical reaction, out there. Pensively he watched and waited for someone, anyone, to say something. There were videos on YouTube, he remembered fretting, how could people not know what was about to happen? It was as Mr Masrani popped a couple candies in his mouth and went to wash them down that Dave had lept out of his chair and grabbed the man's arm without even thinking about what he was doing.
His deep brown eyes confused and accusatory Mr Masrani stared at the hand on his arm, then up to it's owner.
"I didn't want you to ruin your suit." Dave had hissed out with embarrassment. "Looks... Expensive."
"And tell me, how exactly would I have ruined my suit?" Mr Masrani had posited, brows arching.
"Well, uh, you see the mentos and diet coke would cause a physical reaction, and it would explode and foam everywhere." Dave had smiled nervously, only then realizing that he had still been accosting one of the richest people on earth. "Sorry." he'd apologized letting go.
"Explain to me this reaction." Mr Masrani had instructed turning his full and undivided attention onto Dave who felt insignificant under his gaze.
"Well, where as vinegar and baking soda cause a chemical reaction, fundamentally changing the ingredients on a molecular level into a completely new compound, your coke and mentos would be a physical reaction because, well- You know how soda works right?" the teacher had asked rhetorically, continuing with his impromptu lecture without waiting for a response.
"So it's a carbonated beverage, which means it's jam-packed full of dissolved carbon dioxide gas which forms bonds with water. And you know how when you pour it into a glass you get a foam on top? That's a bit of the gas escaping, but the surface tension of the water keeps most of the carbon dioxide trapped inside, making it a burp factory everytime you take a drink, because that carbon dioxide really, really wants to get away from the water." he had grinned, feeling more in his element and beginning to relax the man had started talking with his hands and with a great deal of enthusiasm.
"So the mentos, right, these little guys." he motioned to the tube of candies. "They may look and even feel smooth, but put them under a microscope and those babies are chock full of little bumps and ridges so fine that they can slice- sh-kow, right between the bonds of the carbon dioxide and the water molecules, free of those bonds the gas rushes to the surface and escapes. Giving you an epic eruption!"
"Fascinating." Mr Masrani had observed, smiling coyly at Dave, handing over the beverage and mints. "Demonstrate."
"Here?" Dave had asked looking anxiously at the floor. He could not afford that kind of a mess. "Do these-? Yes, they open." he asked crossing the room and trying an adjacent window. "This is gonna be awesome." he'd smirked dropping the candy into the cola. He was immediately rewarded with a sticky foaming eruption.
"Boom! Kraka-told-ya so!" Dave had enthused, all nerves forgotten.
It was as a laughing Mr Masrani walked towards him with open arms that Dave heard shouting from below. Eyes wide he tried to stammer out an apology, "I'm so sorry ...I didn't know people were down there!"
"It's fine, it's fine, when the complaint comes in I'll cover the cost!" Mr Masrani had laughed waving away his concerns. "The kids are going to love you, and my suit thanks you!" the man said leading him to the woman who had trailed in behind him. "This is one of my executive assistants Mrs Sophie Pincus, Sophie this is..."
"Dave, Dave Greer." Dave had muttered out in shock.
"Mr Dave Greer, see that the paperwork gets filed appropriately, I want him on team Camp Cretaceous!" the man had announced before continuing on his way into the office, leaving the entire room in a state of shock and awe.
"Well Mr Greer, you made quite the impression, about time too, from what I've heard this little stunt was beginning to cost Mr Masrani a fortune in suits." Sophie Pincus had commented lightly.
"Um, what?" Dave had stared blankly, slow to realize that he'd just passed some sort of Willy Wonka style secret test.
Only what he'd won wasn't a world of pure imagination, or a chocolate factory, or even a magic glass elevator. All he'd inherited was death, destruction, and every ounce of grief and guilt that went along with it.
"They're my kids too!" he croaked, voice breaking. "All I've had to do was lie in bed and remember their faces, and wonder if they made it, if they somehow managed to stick together, if they're struggling to survive right now, while I take my bed, my medical care, my warm meals, my life for granted."
Roxie tried to speak, but Dave didn't let her get a word in, he had to say what he needed to say, and he had to make sure she didn't just hear him, but that she listened.
"I don't believe in a God, not like you do, I've heard you praying. So I don't even have some almighty being I can turn to, no blind devotion to tell me that things are going to be ok, or that it's all part of some big plan. Because let me tell you nothing about this is ok, and if this is part of a plan, it's a fucked up plan made by an even more fucked up God!" he said very aware of how offensive and harsh he was being, but he didn't care.
"I only have what I can see, and touch, and quantify, and what I can do with my own two hands. And right now all I want to do with those hands is help." Something kicked inside his chest, his heart, he thought, eyes wide as he tipped forward in the bed. It hurt, it hurt so bad and gave the man a rush of dizziness, and malease, mortality crawling at the back of his consciousness.
Dave tried to steady his breathing, and play it off as a wave of emotion. He couldn't let her see just how much pain he was in, how short of breath his little outburst had truly left him. He couldn't let her know that he was weak, too weak to be of any use, because all he wanted, all he needed was to save those kids.
"Please," he sobbed looking up at her. "Take me with you!"
"No," Roxie shook her head, lips pressed tight together. "I can't."
"Jesus fucking Christ, use me as bait for the T-Rex if I can't keep up, just so long as I know I've done all I can for those kids! Please - I can't- I can't live with myself otherwise! I can't live with myself knowing that I just left them there!" the man roared.
"David-"
"I can't leave them there, not again!"
"And I can't watch you die again!" Roxie, her composure fractured under the weight of her sorrow wailed. "You coded David, three fucking times! I had to watch them do everything in their power to bring you back, three fucking times! I can't watch you die again. I won't. And I most certainly won't watch you do it out there, where there isn't a way to bring you back. Do you understand me?" she asked gesturing irately towards the far distant island, hot tears trekking down her cheeks.
"All I understand is that you're telling me that my life means more than those kids." Dave said, his tone calm and collected in the wake of such a harrowing prospect. "I would die for those kids Roxie, and as you've so helpfully pointed out I have died fighting to get to them, three 'fucking' times. But here's the thing, I'd do it again, and I'd do it permanently, if it meant keeping them safe."
"David!" the woman gasped, though she seemed to find herself unable to say anything more.
The man let his declaration hang in the air for several long minutes before beseeching her again. "Take me with you."
"No."
"Fuck you!" Dave shouted standing too suddenly, barely catching himself on the less than stable handle of the oxygen tank's trolly.
"Stop being ridiculous, get back in bed!" Roxie commanded with a false sense of authority, earning only spite and a cold silence from Dave in return.
It was hard making his way to the hanger door, everything in Dave ached and raged against the effort he was exerting. His lungs burned, and that painful kick of his arithmetic heart beating in reverse was happening more frequently than it ever had when he was laying stagnant in bed. Still he pushed forward on shaky legs, bracing himself with whatever was at hand whenever he felt his body threaten to give out. He continued to ignore the fuming British woman even as the dam holding back her emotions crumbled, and he could hear her wailing for fear and anger behind him.
Outside the sun was so bright that it flared straight through Dave's eyes, and seared his brain, leaving him disoriented, and his ears ringing. He was going to be sick. Shuffling Dave couldn't think straight, taking in the yawning space before him he was completely overwhelmed and stood wondering where to even begin.
He didn't want to die, Dave thought, wandering through the bay of medical tents and body bags, dismissing any staff who took notice of him. He'd get there eventually, he thought then, everyone did in the end. If he got there sooner for the right reasons though? Well, that would be fine by him. The hairs raising on the back of his neck argued otherwise.
At some point the notion that he should find a boat crossed Dave's mind, and he found himself wandering adrift down the docking bay. There were a lot of ships at port, many more than he felt was usual, having taken a couple trips on the Jurassic World ferry since getting the job, a lot more men in uniform too, he mused. Soldiers and police men, heavily armed patrolled the area, or rushed by to fulfill some order or another. It took everything in Dave to look casual, and walk without swaying, worried they'd think he was some sort of drunk and detain him.
After a while Dave had seemed to amble by most of the uniforms undetected, that was when he started to notice the locals. They looked tired, pensive, and appraised him warily. When the words, "Isla Nublar" or "Jurassic World," left his lips they would spit superstitiously, or put their hands up waving his stupidity away before dismissing him, hurrying out of sight.
Crestfallen Dave's strides took on a heavy burden, each step carrying him an even shorter distance than the last. Still he trudged on, head light, a dull and steadily growing pressure in his chest. It wasn't long before he had lost track of time entirely. As the sun began to ark back down towards the west Dave finally allowed himself to acknowledge how dangerously faint he felt. Undeterred, he muttered out his frustrations before sinking to the ground. Once there he told himself, "Five minutes."
In those five minutes that stretched well on into an hour Dave cursed every bad lucked good intention he'd ever had that led him to being here. He cursed his job, his life, he cursed himself for having tried so hard to connect with the kids and for inevitably falling in love with them for the very flaws that had made them start out as sharp thorns in his side.
He hated the way he missed his morning runs with Yasmina, and the way she'd started slowing down so that they could chat.
He hated the way he half expected Sammy to walk up and take charge, the camp's official cheerleader and unofficial CIT.
He hated the way he waited with anticipation for Darius to interrupt him with an unbridled enthusiasm whenever he spoke.
He hated the way he kept expecting to be caught in an embarrassing moment by Brooklynn and have to awkwardly smile for the camera.
He hated the absence of Kenji's cringe worthy antics, that could always turn even the worst day around.
He hated how in the quiet he found himself scanning his surroundings, so sure he'd spy Ben tucked away in some corner with a book.
Mostly Dave hated himself for failing them, for leaving them to die. Injustice, doubt, and shame ate away at his soul until it felt like there was nothing left of the man who was once David Greer, just the husk of a hollow, empty monster.
It was as he sat, languishing in his exhaustion and self loathing that he was approached by a man with grey hair, and dark, weathered skin, sun beaten by years of hard work.
"All that talk about going to the island is a good way to get yourself arrested these days." the man observed plainly.
"Are you going to turn me in?" Dave asked defiantly, squinting up at the stranger.
"No." the man laughed a spark of amusement in his eye.
"Yeah, then what are you going to do?" Dave wondered, leaning hard against a pylon.
"I'm going to invite you aboard my boat, offer you some water, a shirt, and a word of advice." the old man murmured, motioning to the sunburnt red Dave's back and shoulders had taken on. "You're beginning to look uh- how do you say-? Well done."
"I feel well done." Dave grumbled.
With little else in the way of options he accepted the mystery man's hand up, and followed him up the dock to a boat that while not the most grand or extravagant seemed well loved, and sea worthy enough.
In the darkness below deck the camp counselor practically melted into the seat offered to him. Half conscious and barely aware of his surroundings by the time a glass of water was pressed into his hand, and a shirt draped over his stinging shoulder, Dave teetered on the verge of sleep.
"Thank you." he rasped, without making a move.
"Drink it." his host replied in gentle command.
This was exactly how all the stupid tourists died, or woke up in an ice bath with only one kidney, he thought distantly, recalling his mom's obsession with true crime documentaries. Shaking loose the thought as he heard the other man talking on a cellphone in the adjacent room Dave concentrated hard on lifting the absurdly heavy glass to his parched lips.
"Si, yes, I found him. Yes in one piece. He's a real mule alright." the man was saying. "I think we'd have to tie him up and throw him overboard just to keep him from following us."
Dave had emptied his glass in a fifty-fifty divide between what had dribbled down his chin, and what had taken the edge off of his unquenchable thirst by the time he realized the old sailor was talking about him. Shit, he thought blearily, his mom was right, it really was only a matter of time before something like that happened to someone they knew. To him. Distantly concern and self perseveration whispered in his mind.
The sun's glare had almost completely faded from Dave's vision by the time the sailor returned, enough so that he could make out the man who snapped closed his phone and settled into the seat across from him.
"Thank you." Dave said again, and feeling the life renewing within he truly meant it.
"It was nothing." the old man shook his head.
"So, who were you talking to, just now?" Dave probed cautiously.
"A mutual friend."
Dave's brow furrowed sharply, then in the brief hush that followed he found that he could still make out that subtle look of entertainment in the other man's gaze.
"What?" Dave croaked.
"Nothing, it's just, I don't think the advice I'm about to give you will do you much good." the sailor mused.
"What advice?"
"Take it from an old widower, the woman, she's always right." the old man laughed.
Dave sat perplexed, the heat having sapped away all sense, for a long while, before he seemed able to put the pieces together, "The mutual friend, was that Roxie?"
"Sophie, but your Roxie was with her, I could barely hear poor Mrs Pincus over the shouting, and the swearing." the man grinned as he leaned over to grab a large jug of water. "Mateo Jimenez." he introduced himself then as he poured them each a glass.
"Dave Greer." Dave smiled.
"She reminds me of my wife, rest her soul." Mateo Jimenez smiled fondly then. "God can we pick them."
"Oh, no, we're not-" Dave sputtered into his water.
"With a woman like that, you have two options: a wedding or a funeral. Choose wisely my friend." Jimenez laughed heartily, making a motion to, but resisting the urge to clap Dave on the back at the last second. "Now, get some rest, there's work to be done before we can look for your campers." Jimenez announced gesturing to a nearby cot as he stood.
"You're going to-"
"Si, but first, rest." he nodded a grim look washing over his features as he heading towards the door. "And if we come back to find either you or my boat missing, saints preserve you from that woman of yours, because God knows I don't have that kind of power!"
Dave felt the corners of his mouth tug into a smile, his first real smile in so long. His head might have been lined with cotton, but it was still filled with lead. His thoughts were hazy, but he just couldn't keep himself upright anymore. Needing no further instructions he trudged over to the cot, and falling heavily to the bed he was asleep almost immediately. His last thought was one of hope.
- Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, Saturday, 3:31pm CST-
Sophie's gaze held the road firm before her, as if her will alone brought it's next unseen turn into existence. Truthfully, however, her mind resided elsewhere, but if Sophie Pincus was good at anything, it was making a plan, and executing it with a lazer focused precision.
She'd orchestrated bigger operations than this, and more covert business deals, without batting an eye. She had meticulously gone over every last detail with a fine toothed comb until dozens of Masrani Global's ventures were perfect. This was no different, she'd been reminding herself since she had first formulated the concept. Though, unlike those past projects, her current budget was far from limitless, and the stakes were, quite literally, life and death. Her son's life or death.
Before had been a fluke, Sophie assured herself thumbs drumming against the steering wheel as she waited for pedestrians to get out of her way. The unforgivable weakness, the tears, the inability to act, it was all just a one time thing. She'd been caught off guard, and unawares when the park had fallen, thrown headfirst into the icy waters of a crisis without the curtsey of a life perseverer. The power had been stripped from her in an instant. She hadn't been in control. She couldn't think straight when she wasn't in control. She had to have control.
Huh, the woman thought refusing to let her freshly welling tears fall, so that's where Ben got it from.
It would be different this time, she promised herself, because this time she had a plan. Having had time to recoup, time to think, time to do what she did best, it would be different now because this time she would be able to make the difference.
More than her own hard work Mateo Jimenez had become invaluable to the woman, giving her everything from the clothes she wore to the food in her stomach, and even the newfound contacts from less than reputable locations who were required to construct her plan. All the man had asked for in return was that he, and a few other locals who had approached him be allowed to join her little band on their reckless endeavor, and who was Sophie to say 'no?'
Checking on her future field guide in the review mirror Sophie couldn't and wouldn't hide her uncertainties, feelings that Roxie clearly and vehemently shared with regards to her counterpart. Her passenger was quiet now, watching out the window in a solemn manner that reminded Sophie of her son. The driver wanted to ask if she was going to be alright, if she was still up to the task, or if David Greer's irrational behavior was causing her to have second thoughts. Just like with her son however, she found herself driving on in silence. She was never sure what the right approach was, or if she was helping or making things worse. Similarly Sophie had no idea how to talk to Roxanne. So, she didn't.
Mateo had been kind enough to locate and persuade the wayward counselor in question to return with him to the boat that had become the group's base of operations, before leaving on his own hazardous errands. The sailor's adamant belief that there was little they could do to stop Mr Greer from taking part in the rescue operations however had soured an already tenuous mood. Now Sophie was beginning to doubt all of her well laid plans, wondering if one delusional man could really undo everything.
No, she thought defiantly, she'd gotten this far, she wasn't about to turn back, not when her baby needed her most.
Besides, acting in tandem the harbor pilot who had made costly and dangerous arrangements, and was on his way to pick up the various supplies they would need. From food and medical supplies that had 'fallen' from Red Cross trucks, to firearms and ammunition mysteriously unaccounted for by the soldiers enacting martial law along the coastal cities. The world worked in many dark and seedy ways, but now, thanks to Jimenez, it was working for them. She wasn't about to let such a risk go to waste.
A breath released through pursed lips as she parked the car Sophie took a moment to appraise the man who had been asleep in the passenger seat for the past couple hours. She hated him. Just looking at Xi Kon made her blood boil. He was a soulless, greed driven coward, and Sophie wanted nothing more than to see him pay for all the pain his desire for wealth and power had caused so many countless others. Though, a small part of her couldn't help but feel for him, and the way he'd cried like a little boy when she recounted tales of his son's exploits. Still, the bleeding mother had to remind herself, she hated him.
This was it, she thought next, the big payoff, and the only reason that cutthroat billionaire wasn't still in that closet of a jail cell.
"Wake up." she demanded, fishing a water bottle from the glove box and handing it to him as he roused himself. "We're here."
'Here' didn't exactly look like much, she mused getting out of the car. Rumors built upon rumors relayed by nervous locals had been all Sophie had to work with, in the most important and tenuous game for telephone she'd ever played. This little hole-in-the-wall bar, out of the limelight, and away from most tourist destinations had become a favorite to various military personnel since the blockade went up over the water. Swallowing hard as she surveyed the area Sophie found herself questioning whether or not it was wise to go it without Mateo, he seemed to have a knack, and a natural talent for these things, a talent whose origin they toed around without discussion.
"What're we doing?" Xi asked groggily.
"We're buying our way through a military blockade." Sophie murmured.
Kon snorted as he washed his face and neck, fretting over his hair with damp hands in the car's side mirror. "You mean I am." he spat, clearly the nap had done little to improve his glaring personality flaws.
Choosing to ignore the man who set her teeth on edge Sophie leaned back into the car to grab her purse and tell Roxie that they wouldn't be long.
"Good luck." Roxie smiled, crossing her fingers tightly.
Inside the bar Sophie and Xi immediately stood out. It was a dull, muted spot, filled with smoke haze, there was a pool table in the corner, and from somewhere music drifted over the air while each and every pair of eyes in the room turned towards them. Beginning to regret doing this one on her own Sophie tried to look casual, confident, and cool. Shouldering her bag a little higher she strode past the bar. Not entirely sure who or what she was looking for, all she knew was that Mateo had told her it was a man from the United States Navy, that she was looking for, she kept her chin up and her eyes peeled.
Eventually she spotted the telltale uniform positioned at one of the few booths along the back wall. Making a break for them she slid into the seat behind her mark. The woman waited anxiously for a long while with nothing to look at but the irritated expression on Xi's face, before she made her move.
"Are you here about bypassing the dam?" she muttered to the seat behind her.
She was met with an immediate snort of laughter, then the sound of someone shuffling in their seat. Looking up with a start Sophie found her soldier peering over the high back of the seat down at her.
"Lady," he said in a plain drawl. "You been watchin' too many spy movies. You wanna come sit and hash this out or what?"
The very first impression Sophie had when she sat at his table was just how damned young the kid in uniform really was. He must have joined up while still in highschool, or lied about his age because the boy still had peach fuzz where five o'clock shadow should have been. Sitting across from her he seemed eager to be a part of something like this, but had a practicality about him that she quite couldn't discern if it was a product of good parenting or military conditioning.
Without invitation Xi reached across the table and snaked the pack of smokes the boy had sitting in front of him.
"He isn't housebroken." Sophie apologized, as Xi lit up beside her.
"It's fine, I s'pose." the young man shrugged after snatching them back. "So you wanna get ta the island, that right?"
"Yes, that's right." Sophie nodded.
"And you want me ta help you, 'cause I'd be the one ta pick up yer boat on the radar?" he went on making a circle in the air with his finger as he leaned back in his seat.
"Yes. So, our line of reasoning is that you'll give us the coordinates of your ship, and turn a blind eye to us as we pass by. We'll hug it your ship as tight as we can and that will give us a hole in the net, so none of the other ships see us either." Sophie explained, driving her hands like neighboring ships across the table.
"Right." the boy nodded lighting himself a smoke. "So, I'll need an exact time too." he mused.
"Of course! Anything." Sophie rushed out, her heart fluttering at the prospect that within a day she could be holding her boy again.
"If this goes belly up, what's yer plan?" he asked with an arched brow. "I ain't gonna be left holdin' the bag am I?"
"No, no!" Sophie shook her head, trying to jump ahead of the conversation, afraid that Xi might say something to compromise their position. He did like throwing people under the bus, luckily the seemed too preoccupied with his damned watch to notice. "If we get caught, your name will be left out of it."
"M'kay. So, what're you doin' out there?" the seaman asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
Sophie felt flustered by this question, it was obvious, wasn't it obvious? Her brow furrowed she answered with much more anger and volume than she meant to, "I'm getting my son!"
"Whoa, whoa, mama bear!" the boy laughed as Xi hissed, "Keep it down." into her ear, it took everything within the woman not to shove him away.
"I was just checkin', we got lots a guys trynna get out there an' grab a dino or two, y'know? Poachers, my CO is always sayin' keep an eye out fer dinos in the air an' poachers on the water, these days." the boy, who Sophie only just noticed had his name covered smiled.
"I understand." Sophie nodded, this revelation causing her guard to go up.
"So, you two wanna get out there an' save yer boy? I respect that."
"Boys." Xi cut in, adding. "Separately. Two, separate boys." as a frustrated afterthought, clearly malcontented by the pace of the conversation.
"I can probably get ya to the island, but back-"
"That's fine," Sophie jumped in again. "We'll probably need help on our way back, I wouldn't mind an escort."
"Escort?" the boy snorted. "More like arrest with jail time."
"Noted." Sophie nodded. "Can you help us?"
"Depends, what's in it fer me?" he smirked, knowing that he held all the cards.
"Listen, prick!" Xi snapped, free hand slapping down on the table before he seemed to remember his own advice and reigned himself back in. "I can write all kinds of numbers on this check." he went on in a more collected tone as he reached into his jacket pocket. "Tell me, what's it going to take?"
Well, maybe not all the cards.
"Alright!" the soldier clapped his hands together. "Now we're talkin'!"
The check was written, addressed to no one per the soldier's request to remain anonymous, signed, and pushed across the table to the boy who muttered something about the risks of military prison with mild indifference before pocketing the profitable piece of paper, all grins.
"Y'all just hang tight, an' I'll be in touch. Quick uh, what's a Spanish girls name?" he asked adding the number of Sophie's new cell to his phone. "Don't wanna make things too obvious, just in case."
"'Hang tight?'" Sophie repeated in disbelief. ""Hang tight?'"
"Well yeah, y'all didn't think you'd be leavin' now or anythin' did ya?" the boy asked with a genuine look of confusion. "It's gonna take some doin' to get 'er done, but I'll get 'er done. A week, two weeks tops, hand to God!"
Sophie couldn't breathe. Her chest burnt as she struggled, hands flat on the table stood, but sank quickly back down, only to stand again. She was at odds with herself, she wanted to run, to get out of there, to jump into the ocean and swim it if she had to. All she wanted was her baby, and now she was being told she had to wait? All she'd done was wait. A week? She didn't even want to wait another second! How could this boy, this-this weasel faced rat, who was likely scamming them expect her to wait so long?
Xi's hand pulled her back down again, "Don't make a scene." he muttered without even looking at her.
Sure, it was fine, easy for him to say, she thought vindictively, he didn't even care about his child, but Sophie felt like the bottom of her world had just fallen away beneath her feet, again. One day she'd just keep falling and never stop, she thought as the first tears spilt out onto the table.
Everything bad that had ever happened in Ben's life was Sophie's fault, from her inability to carry him to term, to the hell he'd suffered through in years of silence, and now this. He'd begged her not to make him go, but she wouldn't listen. She'd failed and condemned her only child so many times, and here she sat being asked to do it again, she thought in a panic barely aware that Xi had taken over negotiations.
"Do you have a smart watch?" he asked for some inexplicable reason.
"No." the soldier shook his head, though his eyes seemed to delight at the little state of the art device the billionaire had been toying with as they spoke.
"Here." Xi practically grunted sliding it towards him. "Forget about saving her number, this will be how we keep in contact."
"Alright!" the boy gushed quickly strapping it around his wrist. "Looks good on me!"
"It does. Now, you just be sure to keep in touch, or you'll have a lot more than prison to worry about." Xi told the young man with meaning.
In the first look of apprehension to cross his face since they'd met the boy's expression wavered as he stood. "Yes sir." he nodded.
It was happening again, Sophie thought as she watched him go, lightheadedness creeping over her as the power went with him. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't run, but she couldn't sit still either. Everything was wrong as some clawed beast struggled to rip itself free from inside. What was wrong with her? She wondered as a broken gasp escaped her. Fists clenched in her hair the woman shook all over, as she fought down a small squeaking scream keeping it trapped in her throat. She felt like she would explode into a million fragments of herself, and collapse into a bottomless pit of nothing all at the same time.
She had to keep it together, had to maintain control, she told herself. She couldn't break, not now. Ben needed her, he needed her to be strong. Blinking hard Sophie, who felt like there was a grapefruit caught in her throat somehow swallowed past it, and stood.
Smoothing down the front of her borrowed clothes Sophie felt a little better after she'd neatened herself, took a deep breath and looked towards Xi asking, "Are you ready?"
The man was agape as he stared up at her, "That was some real Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde shit." he muttered sliding out of booth and heading towards the door.
Outside Sophie had forgotten the brightness of the day, and blinked back the glare of the sun. When her eyes had adjusted she saw Xi Kon climbing into the driver's seat of the car. An inferno raged in the woman's chest, and without even stopping to consider her actions she stormed over to grab him by the back of his jacket and pull him back out.
"I drive!" she said. It was a simple statement that meant the world to her in that moment, even as she realized how very much she sounded like a temperamental toddler. "Me, I have to drive. I always drive!"
His brows knit Xi stared at her with growing concern, "You've driven for hours," he said slowly as if expecting her to lash out again, like she had during their first encounter. "When was last time you slept?"
"It doesn't matter." Sophie said batting at her tears and trying to pull away from Roxie who had come to hold her steady by the shoulders. "I have to drive. I have to wait- a week, maybe longer- who knows? And I have to drive." she sobbed feeling weak in the knees. "Like you were any help, here kid have a watch!"
Xi closed what little gap was between them and hissed, "Keep your voice down, and I didn't give him a watch, I gave him a tracking device. Now there's no way he can go back on us, and if he tries, I'll know right where he is. And more than that, all I have to do is say he threatened my life for the money, and his possession of that watch guarantees culpability."
Sophie was staggered by how quickly, and how ruthlessly Xi Kon had seemed to come up with such a devious plan, and an even more cold-blooded failsafe. The hairs along her neck and arms stood on end, who was this man, and how long could she really keep him on her side? She wondered.
"Could I drive?" Roxie asked gently, breaking the tension. "Would that be alright? You could direct me and-"
"No." Sophie shook her head. "I- I have to be the one to drive. I just, I have to. I have to do something! I have to drive. I just need to drive, ok?"
"Alright," Roxie smiled, hands up. "I'll sit up front with you, you can catch me up, and then, maybe if you you get tired..."
Sophie who was acutely aware of how crazy she sounded was grateful for this compromise, and nodded a tearful agreement as she climbed into the driver's seat. Gripping the wheel as a cursing Xi Kon clambered into the back Sophie felt that at least she had control over something, and that if she wanted to plow them straight off of a cliff to their deaths, that she could, and it would be entirely under her control. She didn't want to do that though, she just wanted her baby, and she had to be strong and stay in one piece to get him. So, minding all of the rules of the road she carefully drove them back towards the port.
By the time Mateo had arrived, goods carefully stowed away in his truck Roxie was resting, half asleep with her fingers interlaced with Dave's. It wouldn't last long, Sophie had thought, it was just the relief of seeing him whole and well that had made her forget just how angry, and rightfully so she'd been. With those two settled, and Xi showering it was up to Sophie to share the bitter news that it would be another week, at least, before they could get their expedition underway.
"It sounds reasonable." Mateo said thoughtfully. "Not exactly the outcome we were hoping for, but this is a big favor we're asking, and it would take anyone time."
Sophie glared at him. How could he be saying that? How could anyone actually believe that delaying even a minute longer was a good thing? Mateo gave her hand a squeeze and offered a sad smile.
"You look tired." he observed. "You need sleep. You've been non-stop, driving yourself loco."
Sophie silently agreed, before she turned towards the bathroom, where the sound of running water could be heard. "I'll make money bags spring for a hotel. It won't do us any good using up all our provisions and your hospitality while we wait."
"Good idea." Mateo agreed. "But first, call your husband, he needs to hear from you."
Sophie's heart sank, she really didn't want to talk to Joseph, not right now, part of her afraid that he'd try to talk her out of her plans.
"You'll regret it if you don't."
Conceding Sophie made her way topside where she sat facing the setting sun, towards the island where all her hopes and dreams rested. It was a bittersweet relief when her call went to voicemail.
"Hey Joseph, it's me." she sniffled. "Sorry I haven't called. I can't even pretend to know what you're going through, all alone... I- uh- I've been busy. I've been trying to find a way to get to Ben. I've got a team, and I think I have a way. Listen to me though, I don't want you to come to Costa Rica. I don't want you to come because, because if things go south, well, Ben's going to need one of us..."
Trembling Sophie hugged her knees. "If things go well though, I want us-" she broke off into a sob. "I want us to be a family again. I want you to come home... I don't know if there's any real hope behind what we're doing. Joseph, I'm so scared... We're not soldiers, we're each just someone who's lost someone. I don't know if that's enough. I hope it is, but I just don't know... I just don't know... I love you."
Wiping her nose on her sleeve the woman hung up and detached from it's beauty, and her own body, Sophie watched the sun sink into the sea.
It was as the stars came out to play that her phone chirped in her pocket. It was Joseph.
Taking a deep breath Sophie answered, "Hey..."
