Claire looked up at Owen, her hands on her hips as they both looked down at the phone on the table. "Do you need to hear that one again?" They had listened to Zia's voicemail at least three times now. Her only regret was that she had called apparently when she'd gone to go find Owen, she couldn't reply immediately- and now she wasn't picking up.

Owen shook his head. "No. I understand. I thought we had time, but we don't." The TV was playing too in the background, and they'd both heard the news of Mills death, it was playing on almost every channel, dinosaur fatalities were still something of a novelty, but enough of a headline grabber. "So, Mills is dead. And Zia tells us that they're chipping all the animals, even the one's born in captivity."

Claire sighed. She knew that this was going to be bad, but just having the two things put together, they really seemed to be so much worse. Really, she couldn't see how it could get much worse than this now, as she connected the dots in her head. "We have a problem, Owen," she said finally.

She knew that it was much worse than that, but still, somehow, she was putting the issue to the back of her mind even now. Here in the hotel room, they were at, it felt safe, even if she understood that was an illusory feeling. "Like hell we do." Owen was staring out of the curtains, almost as if he were checking on if anyone was there.

Claire just shook her head. She'd gone out to find him in the first place because she'd been worried, and they'd both nearly died. Again. It seemed to have a nasty habit of becoming a common occurrence for the both of them. But she knew that they were far from being out of danger just yet.

"Levine never called?" Owen asked finally as he turned around, seemingly still agitated. Claire shook her head, and he sighed, pulling the curtains back. He moved to turn off the tv, but then he stopped.

On the screen, it was showing what looked like a herd of Gallimimus crossing a street, causing a traffic snarl. "While citizens express their frustration with this prehistoric logjam, it remains unclear when a team might arrive to transfer these animals into a sanctuary. Our sources indicate that the Mesozoic Project is still looking to expand it's operations due to the many reports still coming in from much of the Southwestern United States, and then increasingly, the Southeast as well-"

The tv continued, showing footage of other dinosaurs as well, some local, some far away. Finally Claire broke the silence between them. "What are we doing, Owen?" She said finally. Just letting her frustration pass as she felt her fists clench in a ball, as she paced over the setting of the motel room floor. "We're getting nowhere, and for now we don't even know what we're doing-"

She stopped herself...it felt like they'd gone over much of this before, but she felt like she needed to say it again. Especially after what had just happened. "Blue is free. Fine, what's going to stop them from just capturing her again? You almost died. Twice in trying to get her free," she looked away, catching her breath, and then looking back again, Owen hadn't moved or said anything yet.

Damn. It felt good, she'd let it out earlier, but after almost dying, she really just felt that she needed to say it. The dots were connecting, she could see how they fit together, however the truth of the matter was that they didn't have what they needed to make it all work yet. The chips. They were important, somehow. That thought kept swirling in her mind. She had been the operations manager, and yet somehow that was the thing that tripped her up. It was on the tip of her tongue, as she turned, seeing the TV again, as it started a breaking news segment.

"Breaking news live from Las Vegas. The investigation to the Courthouse incident has reached a new development. Apparently eyewitnesses are reporting that the Victim-Eli Mills, who was being led to his hearing for Animal Trafficking among other crimes-" Owen quickly stepped forward, turning the remote level up, as they watched, frozen and fascinated, as the announcer continued, and the picture showed what looked like a blurry cell phone image of small green figures hopping on a table, and the crowd surging.

"We still don't know what happened, the animals just came out of nowhere, it was so sudden." The head of security was saying as he was speaking into a microphone. "Procompsognathus." The screen showed a close up of the animal, which both Owen and Claire recognized immediately. As they should, Compys had been an annoyance to the Mesozoic project almost from the beginning. Small, they bred like rats, and were almost impossible to track down. Some in the project had even advocated that they should be exterminated instead of capture being attempted. Eventually some had been captured, but even that was just a drop in the bucket compared to what was out there-

Which the man was saying. "No, these are extremely difficult to track down. Populations are fairly unpredictable. Given their small size, they can evade notice fairly easily, no, we don't know where the swarm went."

The tv then panned over the crowd, as it was replaying the attack, although of course stopping right before the small animals swarmed Mills. "Right there-" Owen said suddenly, as he pointed, and Claire wasn't sure what he was talking about at first, until she saw it, the face in the crowd. Cooper.

"Oh balls," Claire just said it, and she stepped back, the tv continued, but it was just white noise, as she looked around, clutching her head, even as Owen stared at her. Now it was her turn to feel at a loss. She should remember him, after all, she'd overseen his hiring. He'd been recommended to her by Jessica King after all, and he had some history with Owen.

Her analytical brain knew that it couldn't be a coincidence. Especially as the tv didn't even mention him, nothing about the Mesozoic project on site, other than a pithy third hand comment that they would look into it. She smiled slightly, shaking her head, as she thought about it. And she knew. She knew.

Just two minutes ago, she hadn't been able to really understand how everything connected, and now she thought she did. Still not the entire picture but... Zia's revelations about the sanctuary, Mill's death, Jessica King, she understood better. But still, she didn't understand all at the same time.

"Turn it off. Turn it off so I can just talk." She said, as Owen went over, turning it off, and the both of them just stood, across the table from each other as they really just looked at each other. Claire didn't know what to say, other than the first thing that came to her mind right now. "Half of this might be wrong, but just listen to what I have to say, and don't interrupt me."

Owen nodded wordlessly. "Good. So. Simply put. We don't have time. I'm sorry Owen, I berated you five seconds ago for wasting time, but now I realize we don't have time. It could be tomorrow. Or five weeks from now, but that's besides the point. We are on borrowed time. Both of us." That was what she felt, no. What she knew now, after hearing that, after putting it all together. Maybe it was her analytical mind putting it all together. That ops manager training finally being good for something then.

"Zia told us something very important. They chip the animals. All of the ones in the sanctuary. And your raptors too, all of them, chipped. Through chipping the animals you can use remotes, sonic signals to send certain impulses, directing them to go where you want. Like your raptors." She felt good putting this all together.

"But there's no chips that we know of outside of that except- that Dilophosaur that killed one of your raptors." She saw Owen frowned, and she hated bringing that up, but she knew she had to. Because right now, the pieces were coming together, and she was unsure why. "It was bothering me from the beginning, but back then, before things went to shit. Masrani and Jessica just told us they'd look into it."

But they hadn't. Or if Masrani had found out anything about that, it had died with him. That was another thing that had seemingly been problematic for her. "But no animals would have chips unless they had been captured before." Owen looked back at the TV, and she remembered she'd told him not to interrupt. Mainly because she was trying to work this out. But it was making sense, the more that she thought about this, she realized the implications. "Fine. Just say what you're thinking," she said finally.

"Mills. Dino-trafficker, that's where Levine said he got that other animal from anyways. I know what it takes to contain animals like this, and the operation, wherever it is, they must use a lot of the same methods that we use in the Mesozoic project." It was a truth that was clear to them both, they couldn't restrain these animals or hope to sell them without some sort of control mechanism.

"Right, so if you're saying it's Mills. Then how does that Dilophosaur get out there," Claire couldn't put her finger on it, as she would be tapping her chin.

"Who says it got out there. Maybe it escaped. Maybe the new owner couldn't handle it and set it free. Or maybe it was meant to be there." Owen had a strange look on his face, Claire could see his hands were balled up into fists. But he wasn't angry at her she knew then. What this meant.

"Remember that Chip, Claire? M- not for Masrani, M for Mills." Owen interjected again, as he paced back and forth. "Yes, Mills, so what you're saying is some of the animals I caught, might not even have been wild, just escaped feral dinosaurs."

"Brave new world." Claire said, as she stepped forward, really just this past ten minutes they'd talked back and forth, and maybe half of this was wrong, but if even half was right, she felt a chill crawl up her spine. They had spoken with Mills at the jail, and even so, it was only when they'd brought up her name, on a hunch, a leap of faith- that they'd gotten anywhere.

"The Compys in Vegas. They moved directly for him. Everyone in that crowd, screaming and running, and they didn't attack anyone else. And who was standing right there? Cooper." Owen was shaking his head. It was an ugly insinuation, that this train of thought had led them to.

"Oh my god. Masrani." Claire grabbed her phone out of her pocket, as she brought forth the text Zia had sent her, that she hadn't really thought about until now. The List, that Zia had sent her of the Sanctuary animals. They looked it over.

SANCTUARY:

Search: Found:

Tyrannosaurus Rex: 1 1

Triceratops: 4 5

Gallimimus 10 12

Pachycephalosaurs 6 6

Procompsognathus 32 36

Parasaurolophus 10 12

Styracosaurus 5 6

Dilophosaurus 3 4

Othnelia 2. 3

"No pteranadon." They both said as they looked up from the screen. They paused for a second there. Just soaking in that implication.

"So you think-" Owen started, just as Claire nodded. It just made too much sense, at least now it did.

"Mills. She got them from Mills then, has to be," Claire couldn't believe it herself, and maybe she'd never have confirmation on that. "Just saying because these animals weren't reported anywhere but Nublar...back in the early 90s. I think if she'd gotten them from the wild we'd know." It had been rather convenient, these animals had come and gone without anyone really questioning it. Until now.

Owen got up and headed over to the phone. "What are you doing, Grady?" Claire asked, stepping forward as she would be already opening the drawers. She already knew the answer before he said it.

"Checking out. If what you said is true. There's a pattern here. And I don't like it. You said it best...we've been running around aimlessly for too long. Right now, I think it's clear that we can't wait anymore."

Claire was already tossing her clothes into her go-bag as she would be one step ahead there. Owen had already set down the phone, and she slung her bag over her, as they were already exiting. Once they got to the parking lot, Claire opened the door and threw the bag in the jeep, as she shook her head. Just when she thought she could relax too. But it seemed like they couldn't relax, not yet. "We know too much, and we now know what's happened to two people who didn't know nearly as much."

Claire looked down the road. And then the other way. Nothing, it was the middle of the day and people were going about their business. Still, that sense of urgency nagged away at her, she knew that she couldn't shake it, and for good reason. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they had a target on them. Grady got in the car, and gunned the engine. "You getting in?" He asked.

Claire had her hand on the door. "No... No more running around aimlessly. I know I said we needed a plan, but now I think I know what we have to do. We tried it half-assed last time without real ideas, but now..."

"We have to expose that bitch."