Chapter 1: A Mysterious Meeting

Marlo sat at the plain brown desk in the center of her private study in her Miami apartment gulping down another bottle of alcohol. It had been about 6 months since the events of Barbie Dolphin Magic and the failure of her attempt to smuggle gemstone dolphins out of an island bay in the Caribbean. As for her research facility, it had been taken away from her and since then, she couldn't find anyone willing to hire her due to attempted smuggling on her criminal record. Her former intern and Barbie's boyfriend Ken had long since gone off and had been offered a well-paying internship at another facility in the Bahamas as a reward for his efforts in rescuing the gemstone dolphins. Frustrated and bitter, she was now unemployed and absolutely hated the Roberts family.

"Ugh, if it weren't for that meddling girl, her mermaid friend, and her sisters, I'd be filthy rich by now!" she grumbled as she threw a throwing dart at a picture of Barbie on the opposite wall.

She was about to gulp down another swig of the alcohol when her phone rang. Sighing, she put down the bottle and picked it up.

"Hello, who is this and what do you want?" she asked exhaustedly.

At first there was no response but then, a mysterious voice said "I hear you have some unfinished business with Roberts eh? Well, I think I and my associates can help with that."

Marlo was both intrigued and puzzled. There were others that the Roberts family had "wronged"?

"Well uh, yes. But whose business is it besides mine and more importantly, who is this?" she asked.

The voice on the other end of the line crackled slightly but still remained audible. "I have my ways." said the voice in a dark tone. "This line may be tapped so I must be brief. If you want to discuss this further in person, meet me at the MacArthur Causeway at nine o'clock tonight. One of my associates will pick you up in a black sedan."

"Wait, you never told me what your name was." said Marlo.

At first there was silence but then the voice spoke up. "You can call me Dunbar." stated the voice before the phone was hung up.

As she put down the phone, Marlo couldn't recall a time when she had felt so nervous yet so anticipatory at the same time. She also couldn't believe that there might be others that shared her feelings about Barbie. Glancing at her watch, she decided to put on a pair of grey sweat pants, a black top and a black trench coat before heading out the door into the misty night.

MacArthur Causeway, 8:59 pm

The night was a bit damp and there was mist swirling all around the 97-year-old causeway that separated Miami Beach from mainland Florida. Marlo glanced anxiously around her looking for a vehicle of the description that Dunbar had given her. Just as the time on her watch turned to nine, a large, black vehicle drove up and stopped right next to her. The door opened revealing a short, pudgy man dressed in a black boiler suit and black baseball cap.

"You must be Marlo." said the man. "Get in before anyone sees us."

Marlo hesitantly climbed into the passenger seat of the vehicle and the man put the sedan in drive and took off. At first there was an awkward silence but then the man spoke up.

"I suppose we should get to know each other." he said simply. "My name is Joe and as you probably already know, I'm an associate of Dunbar's. I'm from western Miami but I originally came from Willows, Wisconsin where I worked at a carnival called "Willowfest". My partner Marty also came here with me from Willows. How about you?"

Marlo glanced suspiciously at Joe but decided to speak up. "And as you probably already know, I'm Marlo. I used to be a marine biologist before little miss protect the dolphins and her sisters put an end to that." she stated a bit harshly.

Joe perked up slightly. "You don't say." he said curiously. "Me and my partner Marty ran into the same trouble in the caverns under Willows with the same quartet of girls a short time ago but you'll hear more about that later. What was the oldest one's name? Barbara or Barbie or something like that."

"The second one you said." said Marlo. Joe simply nodded and they drove on into the night towards a well-kept but shady section of the city. After about 10 more minutes, the sedan pulled up behind a 4-story building on the edge of a street. Joe and Marlo got out of the vehicle and Joe showed a slip of paper to a large guard who nodded and let them in. The building was a bit old but was in fairly good condition with narrow corridors and several closed rooms on either side of the hall. Finally, they came to a large wooden door at the end of the hall where Joe stopped and turned to face Marlo.

"Well, here we are." he said. "Remember to not be afraid or hesitant to tell him every part of your story. You have no idea how much he knows and what he has to offer."

Marlo nodded and Joe opened the door. Inside, there was a large window facing out towards the street on the opposite side of the room and an ornate, oak desk in the center. There was a man at the desk chair facing away from the duo and towards the window. Abruptly, he swiveled his chair around and Marlo got a good look at him. He was about 6' in height, had neatly combed dark brown hair, and wore a black suit with a light green tie. Marlo had already guessed who this was. Dunbar.