"Thanks for the heads up," Claire said, fighting the headache she could feel pricking at the edge of her mind. "And good luck out there."
"Yeah, I'm not sure which of us will need it more - me with the Indominus or you with Hoskins," Nic muttered.
That almost made Claire laugh as she hung up the phone. At least, she supposed, her nephews wouldn't be the target of his ire; they were locked safely away in the office with Zara. Not to mention she was pretty sure Hoskins wouldn't hesitate to use them in his manipulations.
Yet another thing she'd have to deal with when this was all over. While she knew Simon Masrani hadn't left her all of Masrani Global, she knew there was a fight brewing on the other side of this. Not just a legal battle for liability with the victims and their families, but one for ownership of the assets, including every animal on that island. And Hoskins would have his scheming hands all over that.
But after all of this, after nearly losing her nephews and nearly losing her own life, she knew she had to respect the animals they'd created. A hard lesson learned.
A hand on her shoulder pulled her from her thoughts and she turned to see Eric looking down at her, concern pulling at the corners of his eyes. His words had been emblazoned on her shoulder blade for as long as she could remember. No matter what, they'd been doomed to fail with the Indominus from the get-go. Longer. "You okay?"
Claire sighed and leaned back against the control panel. "Hoskins is on his way," she said. "He's -."
"Nic told me about him," Eric cut her off, grimacing. "Major asshole, arrogant prick, misogynist."
That made her smile a little. "It's almost as though you've met him."
Eric's hand left her shoulder as he moved to lean next to her, both of them watching the monitors in silence. Seeing the raptors go from the grooming cage to the release cages from their point of view was almost awe-inspiring. They obeyed every one of Owen's commands and followed quickly, snapping at the InGen guards or newer staff occasionally.
Other monitors showed the paddock itself - it looked like organized chaos. InGen Security running from station to station, staff gassing up vehicles, trainers taking care of the raptors and pen.
Nic appeared on one of the screens, working on some equipment, and Claire felt Eric tense. "I don't know how you're not losing your mind," she muttered.
Eric laughed softly. "She's stronger than she looks. Been through a lot and always pulled out the other side," he said. "And I taught her wilderness skills." He shook his head, then looked at her with a nervous smile. "I have to believe she'll pull through. If she doesn't, if they don't succeed, we might all be screwed anyway."
Claire smiled as she watched Nic snap at one of the InGen officers. "I always thought she was quiet," she said.
"That was your first mistake," Eric chuckled. When she looked up, she saw him watching her closely on the screens. "She can be quiet. Until you get to know her. I think she just…she doesn't trust easily."
A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth as his gaze shifted to Owen Grady.
But before Claire could finish connecting the dots between that and the way he'd snapped at Owen on the phone earlier, Hoskins made his grand entrance.
Grimacing, Claire stood up and braced herself.
"Alright," Hoskins declared, arms wide as he crossed the room. "Everyone ready for the show? This is gonna be one hell of a treat!" He dropped into the empty seat next to Lowery - most of the staff had already evacuated to the docks, leaving only a handful safe in the control room.
Lowery stared, mouth wide open, as Hoskins grabbed his large soda and took a sip. His pleading eyes went to Claire. Hoskins was nothing but a bully and Lowery clearly wasn't equipped to deal with him.
"This is my control room," Claire said, snatching the cup from Hoskins. "You're here by my good graces alone."
Hoskins chuckled and tossed her a mock salute that had her blood boiling. "Yes, Ma'am!"
"You want some popcorn with that?" Eric sneered as Hoskins took the soda back.
He grinned widely. "Do you mind?"
The fact that Eric didn't deck him after that comment only made Claire respect him more. Not that she wasn't one wrong word away from doing it herself.
Instead, Eric grabbed the back of Hoskins' chair and wheeled him away from Lowery, snatching the soda back with a smile. He handed Lowery the cup and stood in the spot he'd just forced Hoskins to vacate, tossing Claire a wink that had her biting back on a smile before she got on the radio to continue coordinating the evacuation.
Tension was thick in the air as Nic finished loading her monitoring equipment into the passenger seat of the van. The raptors were snapping and snarling, men and women shouted as they ran around the paddock. And Nic's own stomach was roiling.
Not only was she smack dab in the middle of something dangerous, she was surrounded by remorseless hunters like Vic Hoskins. Like the assholes who'd killed her parents. And she had absolutely no time to process it, let alone things between her and Owen.
Nic glanced up from the equipment and saw Owen preparing the bikes with Barry. Nothing would protect them if the raptors decided to make a meal of them instead of following them. Her only hope was how Blue seemed to consider Owen…almost family. And the way she'd nearly purred earlier when Nic was helping her into the harness. Would Blue protect them or turn on them?
Pack of velociraptors, psychotic hybrid, and whatever the hell was going on with Owen.
Yeah, sure, no problem.
She pushed out a breath and hopped into the van, plugging the equipment into the lighter socket. If any of the batteries drained during…whatever the hell was about to happen, it could be bad. Better safe than sorry.
Nic snorted a laugh at the idea of 'safe', given her surroundings, and started the engine.
The radio came to life, mid-song.
And how much pain has cracked your soul?
And how much love would make you whole?
You're my guiding lightning strike
I can't find the words to say
They're overdue
I've traveled half the world to say
I belong to you
Nic cut the sound and looked up to see Owen watching her as men and women scrambled onto motorbikes and ATVs around him. Her soulmark burned on her hip as he nodded to her before turning back to the group and grabbing his own bike.
If they made it through this….
Shaking her head to clear the thought out, she re-focussed on the equipment. The last thing she needed was to be distracted by budding feelings for her soulmate. Especially if they were all about to die in the most spectacularly stupid way.
As the guards and trainers hopped onto their bikes, Nic put her earpiece in and hoped like hell they weren't about to get eaten. Either by the raptors or the Indominus.
Owen took a glance around the paddock. Without Hoskins there to bark orders and wave his dick around, things seemed to be running smoothly. It almost gave him hope. He glanced down at the chunk of flesh in his hands - the recovered tracker from the slaughtered ACU team. It was time to scent the raptors and hope like hell they didn't eat anyone.
He took a deep breath and approached the cages, holding it up in front of Echo's door and clicking. "You got this, girl," he muttered. Echo snorted in response, making him smile.
He went from cage to cage, making sure each raptor got the scent, ending with Blue's cage. She eyed him through the bars and growled low in her throat.
"I know, Blue," he said. "Get this done and you and your sisters'll get a big treat, huh?"
Blue blinked at him, slowly, showing her trust in him and he took a deep breath. Shit, he hoped he was right about all this.
"You got it, girl?"
Blue curled her lip, eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, you got it." He lowered the tracker and handed it off to a worker, then sanitized his hands.
From the corner of his eye, he caught movement and looked up to see Nic hopping into the van she'd set up as sort of an IT command centre. His heart skipped a beat when she looked up at him through her lashes. Worry creased her brow. And something else.
His soulmark blazed on his chest.
If nothing else, she was his biggest motivation to make it through this. Not only to keep her safe, but to finally have that damn talk with her. And if he was lucky, if he hadn't screwed up too much, maybe more.
Owen turned and saw Barry straddling his ATV, looking at him with a huge grin on his face.
"Shut up."
"I didn't say a word," Barry said.
Owen punched his friend in the arm as he walked past him, then hopped on his bike and gunned the engine. Above them on the catwalks, the idiot kid who'd been hurt was standing with the release button for the cage. The poor kid looked terrified, but he'd volunteered for it and that gave Owen some hope that maybe the kid wasn't a lost cause after all.
A quick glance around showed him everyone was ready to go, so he looked back up at the kid and nodded.
The kid hesitated only a moment before a loud siren pierced the air and the gates swung open.
Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo darted out into the night and Owen chased after them.
As soon as he caught up with the girls, he realized it wasn't him catching up, it was them slowing down. The pack gathered around him in a tight formation as they screeched through the trees in search of the Indominus.
Not only were the girls not eating anyone, they were treating him like part of the pack, part of the hunt.
Owen grinned as he pushed the bike forward. In the back of his mind, he kind of hoped Nic was paying attention because this was probably the coolest moment of his entire life.
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Barry smiling and shaking his head in disbelief as he followed. With a shrug at his friend, he pulled his eyes forward again and followed the girls through the trees.
They weaved and bobbed through the jungles, over fallen trees and through muck and grim, and Owen was firmly in the middle of it.
Eventually the girls started slowing down and Owen signalled back to the rest of the team to slow. "They got something," he muttered into the radio strapped to his chest.
At the edge of a clearing they came very nearly to a stop, slowly walking into it as they sniffed the air.
This was it.
Raising a fist to signal the team to stop, he dismounted his bike and pulled his gun around front to follow the raptors. Barry joined him and gave him a hard look as the InGen Security officers piled out around them.
"Have I mentioned this is a bad idea?" Barry asked.
Owen arched an eyebrow and shrugged as they followed through the trees. "Once or twice."
Up ahead, the raptors came to a full stop, still sniffing the air, but all pointed in the same direction. The four raptors watched the trees, eyes raised, tails moving, feet shuffling in the dirt.
Trees creaked ominously as Owen raised his gun and looked through the sight, trying to catch some obvious sign of the Indominus. He led the team members nearest him and Barry to a fallen log and crouched behind it, still looking around at the trees. Whoever the hell had given the damn thing the ability to camouflage was going to get an earful when this was all over.
Until it came out of its hiding spot, the girls and their senses were all he could rely on.
Streaks of red cut through the darkness, searching.
Suddenly, all the noises in the jungle, all the rustling of leaves and cracking wood, came from one direction and Owen took aim.
The Indominus raised herself out of the jungle menacingly as she growled down at the gathered buffet. She quickly dismissed the humans as threats and looked down at the raptors. Then chirped at them.
Owen froze.
The girls chirped back.
And everything clicked into place as Owen watched, slack-jawed.
"They're communicating," Barry muttered.
"I know why they wouldn't tell us what she's made of," Owen said, fear coiling in his stomach. His eyes didn't leave the pack as he softly added, "That thing's part raptor."
Barry's posture stiffened next to him as the girls turned to look back at them. They were screwed.
Owen's soft declaration the Indominus was part raptor chilled Nic to her core as she watched all four raptors turn in sync to stare at Owen as he pushed up away from his gun, their cameras capturing his stunned expression.
In an instant all hell broke loose - Hoskins shouted for his team to engage the Indominus, Owen started shooting, and all through the jungle she heard animalistic screeching and very human screams of pain.
One by one the raptors' cameras started failing - some going black, others showing just static - and Owen's voice came over the radio.
"Nic, get the hell out of there!"
"What about you?" she panted, dropping the tablet as she started the van.
"I'll find you, go!"
The line went dead silent and Nic hoped like hell he'd just lost his radio as she found the road.
Quickly, though, the silence was replaced with her cousin and Claire shouting in her ear as she tried to navigate the jungle. While searching for Owen. And avoiding being eaten.
"Shit," she hissed.
Every so often she'd catch sight of one of the raptors through the trees, immediately followed by pained screaming.
And the panicked screaming in her ears.
When she nearly drove into a tree, she growled and shouted back, "I'm trying to drive!" then tossed the earpiece away and did her best to focus. Part of her felt bad for snapping when they were clearly just worried about her, but holy shit was their panic not helping her get through this.
"Where the hell are you, Owen?" she muttered, glancing through the trees. When she looked back to the road ahead, one of the raptors dashed out in front of the van and stopped. She shrieked and hit the brakes.
The raptor stared at her, growling low in her throat. It wasn't Blue, that much she knew, but damn if she could recall who it was. Delta, maybe?
Whoever it was, she tapped her claw on the ground as she stared Nic down.
Nic's grip on the steering wheel tightened.
The raptor ducked her head, growling deeper.
Then another raptor came out of the underbrush and chirped, then looked right at Nic. Instantly, she recognized Blue.
And an eerie roar echoed through the air.
Both raptors snapped their heads in the direction of the sound, then the first raptor took off. Blue glanced at Nic, then followed her sister into the jungle.
Finally, she was able to breathe again as she slumped against the steering wheel.
Only to scream again at the sound of the door opening. Barry slid in next to her with a grimace.
"Je suis désolé," he muttered. "But we must go."
Nic nodded and started the van again, peering out into the jungle as she drove. "You seen Owen?"
"Non," Barry replied. "He took off with Blue after him, though, so he can't be far."
Again, she nodded and tried to relax her tight grip on the steering wheel. Blue hadn't had any blood on her muzzle. That had to be a good sign. Or so she kept telling herself. Honestly, if anything had happened to Owen, not only would she not know, but she would be stuck knowing her last interaction with him in person had been…emotionally constipated, to say the least. And she needed to talk to him. Desperately.
The sound of another engine hit her ears and she scrambled to find the source, damn near crying in relief when she saw Owen in her side mirror, driving up to the van. He drove up beside her and smiled, then indicated the road ahead. When she nodded her reply, he winked at her, then pulled out ahead of the van and led the way.
Nic wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him or slap him.