The InGen Conspiracy
Disclaimer: I don't own Jurassic Park or the Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego franchises. The characters of Harold Scammon, Kathleen Brewer, and Danny Castaldi are my creation.
San Francisco:
"Well nothing flagged up positive from the InGen investigation." Danny Castaldi, a twetny-five year old ACME detective, said as he jogged alongside his partner, Harold Scammon.
"What do you expect, InGen is notoriously paranoid when it comes to investigations of any sort." Scammon replied, as he jogged along. He was a lean, compact fellow of thirty-two who always kept himself in good physical condition.
"What I'm getting paranoid about is all this extra training you've been doing." Danny replied, "Where does all this energy come from?"
"From my days with the 82nd Airborne Division." Scammon replied, "We always believed in being fit."
"You'd think injury means slow down, buddy." Danny replied.
"C'mon man, Airborne Easy. You said you wanted to 'work on cardio'." Scammon replied to the short, stocky Italian-American running beside him.
"I said work on cardio, not kill me." Danny protested as they ran along through Golden Gate Park, "You're in the National Guard now, not the 82nd Airborne..."
"But I'm still a sniper." Scammon replied, with a grin.
"Don't you think you're a little old to be lugging a heavy rucksack around, sneaking through the woods and shooting people for a living?" Danny asked.
"Not really." Scammon replied, "Hell I'm thirty-two. I'll consider slowing down on my death bed."
"Oh great." Danny groaned as they ran along.
"C'mon, weren't you in the Army?" Scammon asked.
"Yeah, I was in the MPs until I got picked up for ACME." Danny replied, "I wasn't a paratrooper."
Just then Scammon's cell phone rang and he stopped running to answer it. After listening for a few seconds he hung up the phone.
"Guess we're gonna have to cut this one short, I'm afraid." Scammon replied.
"Saved by the bell." Danny quipped.
ACME HQ
A few minutes later the two men had showered and changed in the locker room before reporting to the briefing room. "Nice jacket." Scammon remarked, indicating Danny's stylish black leather jacket.
"About time you two showed up." a female voice sounded.
Both men turned to see a young woman, about twenty-three years old, with short brown hair, blue eyes, a slim, pleasant figure and a rather lovely smile. Kathleen Brewer, or Kate as she liked to be called, was the third member of their team in the ACME Undercover Investigation Unit.
"We're not late are we?" Scammon challenged.
"No, you guys are on time." Kate replied.
"So no need to complain, right?" Scammon asked.
"Actually, you are the senior detective Hal." Kate replied, with a mischievous grin that made her seem almost Pixie-like, "You should be on time."
"You wound me fair lady." Scammon replied.
"You wound me fair lady." Scammon replied. Damn it, Hal, what is it about this woman...?
"Hal, this isn't Elizabethan England." Kate remarks, "Try to get with the program and talk like everyone else will you."
Her smile told Hal she was kidding and Hal was reluctant to give the disapproving scowl he might have given to an uppity junior partner. He wasn't sure it was warranted in this case even, but he hoped whatever was bugging him about her would resolve itself fast.
The three of them entered the main conference room and then a short, stocky bald fellow appeared. Their boss, Chief Inspector Louis 'Papa Louie' Trent spoke, "Open the files on the table. This is your newest assignment."
As the three detectives complied the face of an old man with snow white hair and beard, a short stature and a certain merriment about him was visible. Scammon almost laughed, the man reminded him of Santa Claus for God's sake.
"This is John Hammond, the CEO of the InGen Corporation in Palo Alto, California." Trent began, "If you don't know, his attraction Jurassic Park opened eleven years ago, in 1993."
"We're investigating him?" Danny asked.
"No, Mr. Castaldi, you aren't. Turn the page." Trent replied.
On the next page was a picture of a bespectacled fellow in a business suit with close cropped brown hair and pale blue eyes was visible.
"That's his nephew, Peter Ludlow." Trent replied, "He's under suspicion over an accident that occured two weeks ago, when John Hammond was in Scotland for his father's funeral."
"Details?" Scammon asked.
"Well two workers were killed in a construction accident while building an extension to an unnamed exhibit." Trent replied, "That's all our source in InGen is willing to disclose."
"Who's our source?" Kate asked.
"He's a veternarian named Dr. Harding." Trent replied, "That's where you come in, Kate. You've got a degree in veternary medicine and are a practicing vet so you're a natural for this one. Scammon, you and Castaldi are going in as backup."
"Cover stories?" Hal asked.
"Well, Miss Brewer's is obvious. She'll be with a tour group of five people who are applying to become staff veternarians at Jurassic Park. Mr. Scammon, you and Mr. Castaldi will be posing as a tourist and as a park employee respectively. You'll find all your neccessary documents and papers in the next room." Trent replied, "Good luck."
"Thanks Chief." Hal replied.
Kate walked into her apartment, the one she shared with her fiance, Scott Patterson. He happened to be about an hour earlier than usual, sitting back on the sofa with a beer in his hand, his tie and jacket removed and his shirt's top two buttons unbuttoned.
"Hi honey." Kate said.
Scott smiled at her, "Hi yourself, beautiful. I got off work early today. And I just got three off days I've been dying to use all this month right after."
He sidled up to her, nuzzling her neck, "I wonder what shall we do with all my time off?"
Kate smiled, "I can think of a few things I'd love to do right now."
"Hmm, enlighten me?" Scott said.
"But, I have to pack." Kate replied.
"You're on another case?" Scott asked.
"Yeah." Kate replied, "I'm sorry. I've gotta make the seven o'clock flight tonight. Hal's probably waiting downstairs."
"I'm jealous of your boss." Scott said jokingly, "Sometimes it seems like he gets to spend way more time with you than I do."
Kate headed into the bedroom to grab a bag and began putting itmes into it. "You're avoiding the discussion..." Scott warned.
"No, merely moving it." Kate replied as she put some spare clothes, toiletries and a couple other items. She almost closed the bag when she remembered something. She didn't want to hop off the plane in Costa Rica and have to go bra shopping, so she grabbed a couple spare bras and tossed them into her bag.
"Have a safe trip honey." Scott said. Inwardly he was pretty upset. Kate's job was one that meant she would be traveling all over the place almost all the time. ACME detectives were a sharp bunch of people surely, and Kate was happy with her job but he wished she would go on to a safer job before they started a family. He walked with Kate out to a waiting desert tan 1999 Land Rover.
"Damn Scott's a lucky man." Scammon said under his breath.
"What was that?" Danny said, looking up from his US News article on InGen.
"Nothing Danny, drop it." Scammon replied.
"Oh c'mon, it's perfectly natural to admit..." Danny began.
"Drop it." Scammon replied.
"Still, if she were single..." Danny replied.
"Danny, what part of 'drop it' do you not understand." Scammon began, in the tone of voice that a sergeant would use to address an unruly private.
"Jeez, you don't have to be such a grouch." Danny replied.
"Did I miss something?" Kate said, as she put her back into the car after giving Scott a quick kiss.
"No, you didn't." Scammon replied.
"Just that our resident sniper's in a bit of a mood." Danny replied.
"Age does that to you, doesn't it." Kate joked, with that smile you just couldn't get mad at.
Scammon rolled his eyes and started the engine. "Wow, this Dr. Malcolm fellow seems adamant to prove that Jurassic Park will fail." Danny said.
"Oh yeah, he's that mathematician from Berkeley who Ludlow's trying to sue for selling 'false stories'." Kate said, "It was on ABC News last night."
"He's supposedly traveling down to Isla Nublar to give a talk on this, right?" Scammon asked.
"That's what the broadcast said. Either way, we should talk to him." Kate began.
"He may have a nugget or two of information we could find useful." Scammon replied. Little did he know how right he probably was...
TBC (I'll get more into Jurassic Park later on, but I wanted to introduce my originals for now.)