The Terror bird was contained, and the three raptors were back in their containment units. However, this was far from an ideal situation- due to the fact that Blue was missing. Cooper had stayed there for almost an hour, utilizing the remote for the control chip in an effort to recall her. However she hadn't come...he frowned. How had her control chip been deactivated? From what he recalled, they were not supposed to be de-activated unless purposely with this remote.
But he had turned it back on after shooting Owen. So it should have worked. Theoretically. He turned to gesture to the workers who were securing the trailer that the Gastornis was in. It was lucky, that Owen had conveniently left it there, but they'd had to untether it from the other truck due to not having the keys. Another thing he couldn't figure out, where the hell Owen had gone.
No blood anywhere. Not in this ghost town. From his experience, the raptors usually left a mess. So Owen had a car. He shook his head. It didn't matter. He had left with four animals and came back with four. He looked back at the snarling raptors as each was being driven away back to the compound. It would be a long drive, but it would give him time to think of what to say. He couldn't imagine what his boss would say...losing Blue, yes, that was bad. Owen interfering? That was worse.
He knew it was not something he could avoid, as he groaned mentally. Taking out his phone, he would dial his boss's number. Just hoping that the answer wouldn't be too difficult... well, in a sense that he was already screwed. The call would determine just how screwed he was, as he got in the car, taking a deep, frustrated sigh before he felt the beep as the phone connected.
The jeep finally came to a stop at a gas station. Levine put it in park, and went in for snacks, while Claire sighed. She turned, and saw that Owen was beginning to wake up. Without thinking, she went and turned the volume up on the radio sharply, for a few seconds. With a startled grunt, Owen's eyes opened, as he started to get up. She lowered the radio again, as she unbuckled her seat. "What happened?" Owen muttered as he righted himself, holding his head.
Claire looked out the window. Nothing but people going about their business, Levine had been smart, picking a gas station in the middle of the city, no chance of any animals here. So, they could just talk. "We got away. Nobody came after us." She could see his visible relief, as he leaned back, holding his head. He seemed so tired. She paused. "You were out a few hours."
Owen groaned as he continued rubbing his temples. He looked up, and then around, taking in his surroundings. After he was satisfied with what he saw, he looked back. "I got her free, Claire. I got Blue free." He was breathing normally now, he had been asleep for a bit, but now he was back to his full senses. Looking up, he saw Claire's face, and his expression softened. "Listen. I didn't mean to scare you like that- thanks for coming back to get me."
Claire blinked as she sighed, a deep heavy sigh. There were times when she didn't know really what she was thinking, going back to get Owen had been one of these times. "You're a lying son of a bitch." She shook her head, she'd said that before, but it felt good to say it again.
He could see that she was not in a mood to argue about it, so he just kept a hand up as he nodded. "I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I can say it, but I am." He knew he'd screwed up there. Especially with Claire...he didn't know how to put it in so many words, but he knew that they were working together out of mutual interest, especially after both of them had been fired from the same agency.
"We have to work together. But not if you're going to go doing whatever the hell you want to do," She shook her head again, looking back at the gas station store, where Levine had gone. He'd been gone a while, at this point, she'd probably chalked it up to his buying snacks. She didn't overtly mind, they weren't in a rush, but still, it felt like a breach of trust. What they had to do, it was still a long road. Yet the public was still behind Jessica, and they didn't know-
They didn't know just what the hell they were going to do yet. Sure there was Mills, but she didn't know if that would lead anywhere. It could easily be another dead end, she was well aware of that. So, she was going to try to make it work, but if it didn't, she was not going to be wasting her time. "So, Blue's free. Great...one dinosaur." She trailed off, as Owen leaned forward.
"Claire. I figured out how to disable the chips." He pressed on. "They are vulnerable to strong magnets." But Claire had been the one to be the operations manager, she knew more about the chips than he had... He'd just been the guy in the field, the guy to deal with the raptors. The thought of them being controlled by Cooper...especially after what Zia had told them both on the side, it was not a good feeling at all.
"That's great. I'm sure the other three raptors that Cooper has will just stand still for us..." Claire really knew that she was frustrated in this moment with him. Beta and the other two raptors. The issue again was that they knew that Jessica was doing something shady, but no one else did. The incident at the sanctuary had only intensified her suspicion about that, as she would have no idea just how to reframe that. The associations she had with Mills as well...
There was a sharp rap on the window, and they both jumped, despite themselves, seeing Levine at the window. He gestured to bring the window down, and Claire did, as Owen leaned forward. "Sorry to interrupt whatever...this is, but you both need to turn on the radio right this second." Claire gave him a look, but Owen only nodded, as he leaned forward, switching it onto the news.
"Now as I promised, here's a bit more of the dinosaur update for today. So far, we've covered some Stegosaur sightings in Texas, and the Parasaurolophus herd that has been seen wandering around southern Wyoming. Remember folks, do NOT try to approach any dinosaurs that you may come across, large or small."
Owen found the tone of the announcer sort of irritating, he couldn't put his finger on it, as they continued. "I brought this up a few minutes ago, that we got a report of a Raptor sighting." The announcer paused, unconsciously, all three people in and around the car leaned in. "Erik Kirby from Enid, Oklahoma has called in to say that he saw a raptor on a trail near his house. Stay safe out there, folks. Yes, Raptors. By itself though, thy usually travel with a pack-"
The radio started going off into another topic, and everyone continued sitting there silently. Maybe they were all unsure of what to do right now, because of this unexpected development. Maybe. Owen was the first to speak as he looked at the others. "That's Blue. We got to go after her. We have to-"
"Do what?" Levine said as he shook his head, walking around, and getting back in the car. He had a bag of snacks that he tossed to the back seat. "Yours if you want them by the way, I'm driving you as far as your motel." He started to turn the key in the ignition as the car backed up.
"He's right Owen. Blue can take care of herself. I think what we need to worry more about is what we can do next. We can continue that lead with Mills. Whatever he knows about Jessica, we expose that in court. She's got ties to people. Goes all the way back to the Sorna incident." Owen and Claire now both looked at Levine with blank stares.
"With respect- she'd have been roughly ten or twelve years old back then." Claire had worked with Jessica, she couldn't possibly imagine what tie she'd have back then. Both Owen and Claire knew that Levine had been on the island, back before anyone ever so much as suspected that dinosaurs still lived, when Jurassic Park was barely a rumor on people's lips. But she could see on Levine's face that he was dead serious.
They stopped at a Traffic light, and Levine turned to face her. "On Sorna, there were poachers employed by Biosyn genetics. You know the story. They all died. One tried to run away...I watched him die. His name was Howard King. Jessica King is his daughter." He paused as he looked out at the street ahead. It had seemed like a lifetime ago, but it really wasn't. At that point, they had all believed that the story would end there on Sorna.
The DX was supposed to have killed all the animals, and it did- at least on Sorna. No one bothered to check, because after the testimony went live, the Costa Rican government had quarantined all the offshore islands. It wasn't until Ismaloya that Levine had believed that anything survived. Maybe it would have remained quiet still, had Biosyn not tried to push things further.
"But Biosyn went into Chapter 11 years ago," Claire replied. Indeed, she had spent much of her experience in the business field, and she kept up with these developments. "I feel like I would've known if any employees from Biosyn entered the Masrani corporation when I was there." Owen was sitting and watching, as he was eating a candybar from the bag Levine had tossed back. "Jessica was already working there when I started- way before Masrani even got interested in the dinosaurs."
The light turned green, and the car started out again, as Levine would take a right, seeing the motel. Pulling in, he would put the car in park, as he would unlock the doors. "I don't think we'll get that answer. Not unless you were to ask her...and the way she is with you two right now, she probably wouldn't." Levine saw the look on both of their faces. Neither of them were likely to be able to get close enough to ask that question, and they all knew it.
There was one person who might be able to, and he could see that looking right at him. "That's also why I don't think either of you two should go to Mills testimony. The two of you let one of their raptors get away. They saw you do that too- I saw the other cars parked when we were driving up, believe me...you two are living through the calm before the storm."
More silence as the two would get out, Owen carrying the bag with him as they fanned out. Levine fished in his pocket, getting the keycard out. "You two...have to figure out together what you need to do. I think I know what I need to do." That was as clear as he was going to make it to either of them.
"Right. Right Right. I think we know what we need to do. Do we?" Owen looked over at Claire who was looking at her phone, a slight ringing broke the silence, as she looked back up.
"Yes. I think we do. I have to take this- it's two finish up here..." she would start moving to the side to take the call as Owen took the key from Levine. Another set of keys jangled in between.
"I have a rental here in town, you just need to check in at the desk. I trust you two know what you're doing...because I sure as hell don't." Levine gave them both a nod, as he would walk around back to the car, gun the engine and back out of the parking lot, leaving the two alone at the motel.