Claire folded the newspaper first, shaking her head in disbelief as she tossed it on the hood of the jeep. She sighed, looking out at the grassy plain, as she could see Owen was talking on the phone a bit away from the car. He had been talking for quite some time now, and so far she'd been occupying herself... what there was to occupy herself with anyhow. Unemployed like this, from such a high profile position, she was not really in any shape to get back on the market.
Reading that article hadn't put her in any better of a mood to be honest, maybe worsened it if anything. Jessica King had seemingly managed to find another journalist who she could easily deflect any hardball questions off with ease. The fact she recognized her name on the byline as being the same one who had interviewed her on the talk show- well that was just the icing on the cake. She had been PR before this, but now she had stolen her job. Some things really just were not fair.
There was still something else that was bothering her. Which was why Owen was talking, she could overhear him now. "No Richard, not just yet. No...you see, we have to be careful here. I don't know just how much of a good idea that is. We're in the middle of nowhere. Won't work. It's going to sound too obvious." He sighed, as if very exasperated.
Claire leaned against the hood of the jeep, watching the dirt road again, as she saw the glint of the highway in the middle distance. Somewhere over there, cars were passing by. They were off on a side road. Not exactly as far as they had gone during the Carnotaurus encounter, but far enough. Here they could see in all directions, they wouldn't be surprised, and there were no dinosaurs around. Which was good, she didn't really need to have any distractions. This was not even the last stop today. It had been Owen's idea, that they needed to be moving around.
She wasn't exactly sure why. So far, Owen had told her that was necessary, something in his eyes had made her not question it. But so far they were not under scrutiny from what she could see. Jessica had her little prize and seemed content with maintaining her grip over the company, and their ability to bring in new dinosaurs using the raptor squad. Still, something bothered her, as the car began its bumpy drive back onto the main road.
"Levine say what he wanted to talk about that required us be all the way out here?" Claire was not so sure why...only that he had given them that number, and told them to wait a day before calling. It was real cloak and dagger type stuff. Not anything that she really had experienced back in her time as operations manager. Honestly, she didn't even have a job right now unless you counted whatever this was. Because so far they didn't really even have a plan.
She wasn't really even sure what they had been trying to do with visiting Mills, or sneaking Owen into the raptor pit. Owen looked up, his hands gripping the steering wheel a bit, as he smiled back. "Didn't want them to track the call. Or make it harder. Anyway, he said he had something to help me out. Wouldn't say what, but theres a small town a mile off the road. One that lived and died by the main highway before they changed up the direction of the freeway."
He pointed up, and as they drove, Claire could see some buildings just up ahead. So they were getting somewhere. It seemed like a desolate place when they pulled up after a few more minutes. A general store, a few houses, and some shells of what seemed to be long abandoned buildings. There was a gas station, but it seemed like it had not been used in a while. She shook her head, as she saw a new car, with a trailer parked to the side of the gas station.
Owen did a u-turn and parked a bit to the side, and put the car in park. Claire turned, as she exited, it seemed so dead and quiet here. Nothing to be seen at all. Of course, that would also make this place the ideal perfect place for a rendezvous. She saw Levine get out as well, approaching them. "Thank you for agreeing to come. I wasn't sure if you would accept." He seemed somewhat apprehensive, Claire stared past him, at the trailer. She had an ominious feeling.
"You said you had something important." Claire said, answering for Owen as she gave him a look. Again, there was the question of how much she wanted to be involved. She'd already nearly died twice in the last few weeks. From what she knew, Levine had gone through worse. So had Malcolm. That was just the stuff that had been made public though...
"Yes. Important. You could say that. But first I want you to know that I do not take this lightly. I can help you... but I can't go in the field with you. My days of risking my life are over." He smiled wryly, as he leaned back, hands in his pockets as he gave a deep sigh. Seemed like he really was tired. "Now if I can show you what I have here...just stay away from the sides." He led them over to the edge of the trailer so that they could see. She felt her eyes widen as she could see an eye staring back at her, surrounded by feathers. There was a hint of a beak, and then a clank as something hard rubbed against the interior of the trailer. She raised a brow, as she found that she backed up slightly now.
"Gastornis. A terror bird. InGen's little secret. Found it in Mexico a few years back, but now found its way to the states." He shook his head as he looked over, and she could see Owen frowning. Yes, she could see the question rising to his lips again as she had the same thing. Why? But he seemed prepared to answer for the both soon enough. He patted the edge of the trailer, careful to keep his hands away from the windows. "She is the only one of her kind. At least I think-" he shrugged as he looked over at the pair.
Owen was walking around, seeing the animal moving as he had his hands on his hips. He seemed to be thinking hard, scratching his head as he was considering it. "And you said you bought this-" he said looking at Claire as she realized what he was saying. Mills. She remembered what she'd read about Levine being well off financially. A doll company or something supposedly, it had been hit hard by the economic downturn but it was still somewhat working.
"Yes. From your little friend," Levine had been clued into the fact that they'd visited Mills, but Claire hadn't realized just how involved he'd gotten. She swallowed a bit, somehow feeling that she was in up to her neck in things that she didn't fully want to take part in. But she already was. People had died. Masrani had died...she closed her eyes and sighed, shaking her head. "It wasn't difficult. Men like him, they see money first, think later."
That answer still didn't satisfy Claire, as she would walk around, remembering that time she'd nearly pulled Owen over to the side. She was about to again... but she stopped, but they did need to talk. "Give us a second here," she turned her head to Levine who nodded and waved them off, leaning against the side of the vehicle as he gazed down the empty street.
"Owen." She looked up at him, her palm on his shoulder. She rarely had used that tone before, and now that she wasn't his boss anymore... that tone definitely had changed a bit. She wasn't sure why. But there was that something that had always stood in the way, as she knew that she didn't have time to worry about that now. None of them really did. "Why are we doing this? I went with you because we were supposed to have a plan-" she thought that plan was something.
But had it really been a plan at all? She looked up at him, at the man that she'd worked with for these years. Trying to figure it out. His words seemed to echo around her, even as she stood there in this abandoned town. "We need to do something Claire. You're trying it your way with getting Mills to talk, and that's good. However, I don't think we are dealing with reasonable people." She froze, hearing that. She swallowed again as she looked over at Levine and back at Owen and back at the creature shrieking.
"Shit." She just let it loose, as she stepped back, feeling annoyed. "Shit. Shit. Shit." Yes, the reality of the situation was starting to sink in as she looked around. It was clear where this was likely going, and where this was likely to end. Although it never really ended did it? She knew Mills knew Jessica, and somehow or other, that played a part in how she was out of a job, and how Jessica had taken over her position.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. But how these things were connected... it was there, the answer was there. She just didn't want to put the pieces together. She looked over at the animal again, it was clacking the side of the trailer with it's beak, clearly antsy and anxious to get out. Freedom... it wanted freedom. So did she, Claire realized. Why were they about to take this again? She had a creeping feeling in her gut she knew the answer to that too. She did not want to admit to that one either, but it was right there. Staring her right in the face.
"Why?" She asked, both of them. Owen and Levine exchanged looks. But she could tell they were very different looks. Still, it didn't make her any less anxious. Owen stepped forward, as he scratched his head.
"Claire. They have Blue. She... There's something not right. And we both know it. I need to get to her again, and we both know I'm not getting inside that compound again. That last time was a fluke-" Claire knew. She had pretty much been on her last gasp of clearance just getting that.
She was looking at him, understanding what he was getting at. But at the same time...she'd always been distanced from the raptors. What was she after staying with him? It was all about Masrani, and he was her main objective to exposing that, exposing what had happened with the Carnotaurus and Masrani's death. She stepped back again, but this time just shaking her head. "This is what it's about. This- this- you are okay with this?" She was looking over at Levine, as she realized what had happened, what they'd talked about-
Bait. This was bait. She realized this even as she saw Owen being handed the keys by Levine. This town, it was abandoned, and that's why he'd agreed to meet here. She was finding herself stuck, as she felt herself get angry. Just angry, as she shook her head. "You lying son of a bitch," she said as Owen would pick up the phone, as he shrugged.
"Did you call them already?" Owen turned to ask Levine, as the men would be fixing something along the trailer. The cold eyes of the Terror bird from inside followed them as they maneuvered. Claire felt her gut sink, as she turned. She didn't hear anything, but still she felt that feeling of helplessness, as she stepped away again, one eye on the car.
"Just before I got here. I told them we had a sighting. They should have the Squad down, Told them it was a carnivore." Levine stepped over, as he was passing something to Owen, and Claire realized with a flash that they were handing each other the keys to the other vehicle. She turned around, as she took another step towards the car, as Levine turned to her.
"If you want to leave...now's your chance. Passenger side's open," she looked back at Owen as she shook her head again, even as she stepped over to the side, and saw the man standing next to the trailer hitch. Levine was tapping the steering wheel impatiently. Not just standing, she realized as she quickly got in the car and turned to Levine.
"Get us the hell out of here."
Because she saw Owen was opening the trailer door latch, and she could hear something in the distance. It sounded like dogs barking. But she knew that wasn't the case at all.
(For these still reading, I'm sorry I took so long to upload, I'm still writing chapters, and still intend on finishing this story!)