Ross:
Montana
Standing at the corner of 49th and 10th, Peter Ross stood listening to his voice mail that he had received from Evan that afternoon. After hanging up, he crossed the street and retreated into the 49th street diner. Upon entry the hostess brought him to a booth in the rear of the diner. "What can I get you sir?" She said cheerfully.
"Coffee… black please." He said. Peter looked out the window scanning the street. Then he saw him.
Opening the door to the diner a tall man wearing a long dark duster came in. He walked straight up to Peter and sat down. The man was dressed in casual attire and wore glasses that hung down on his nose; his short hair was concealed by his hat. "Hello Peter." He said loudly.
"Can I help you sir?" The waitress came up to him. "Coffee please decaf." The waitress walked back towards the front.
"Shhhhhh!" Peter said quietly. "Be quiet." he looked around uneasy.
"Did you tell him? Is InGen going to try to go to the islands?"
"One island; and only under two conditions."
"Which are?
"InGen wants Grant to assist on the island, and they want the transportation to be outfitted by some guy, I think his name was Thorne or something like that."
The waitress brought out the two coffees. "Here you go gentleman."
"Shit, you'll never get Grant, not after last time when Hammond got him, and what happened. I doubt you could even get him away from his Montana dig site at this time." The man said waving his hand up concerned.
Peter sighed and took a sip of his coffee. "We'll get him. Even if I have to fly out to Montana we'll get him. Okay?"
"Okay, Peter. Don't forget what we want, those embryos in the main lab are cryogenically frozen. Three million for half; Six million for all 15 species. And a guaranteed job for you at our company. Don't let me down Peter; the last two people that let me down were eaten. Call me when you know more information."
The man stood up and looked at Peter. "Thanks for the coffee." And then he walked up and out the front door.
Peter sat quietly sipping his coffee. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed Evan's office number. Abruptly Evan answered.
"Peter! Did you get my message?"
"I did, I'm glad that the board is going to allow it."
"Well under the two conditions, Benton really stressed those. Apparently that guy Thorne has already outfitted an Explore and two Lab Trailers that were used on Isla Sorna, a few years back. And then there's Dr. Grant, well that might be the only hard part to this plan." He said concernedly. "
"Listen Evan, let me deal with Grant. You get in touch with Thorne, and I'll get on the first flight out to Montana. I'll bring Grant on with us." Peter sipped at his coffee splashing a little bit on the table.
"Okay Peter sounds good. I'll see you in a couple days. Have a nice flight and bring Alan Grant back with you. Talk to you later Peter." Peter hung up the phone. "Guess I got a plane to catch." He mumbled.
* * *
It was midday in the Montana Badlands; the sun beat down harshly over the dig site that Alan Grant had been at for over two years. It was over 110 degrees in the Hell Creek section of the Badlands. In the hot sand, Alan sat on the hard ground hunched over a six inch by six inch squared off plot of land. Pulling out a paint brush out of his back pocket, he bent down and started to brush away the sand exposing fragile bone from under the surface of the earth. Alan was dressed in dirty khakis and a blue button down shirt, he had sand all over him, and his hair was full of sand, his face and arms especially dusty. Alan was a paleontologist. He had devoted his life to the study of dinosaurs. Alan had a great team assembled. There were about 4 college interns, 3 junior paleontologists, 1 paleobotanist, 4 geologists, and a demolition expert. There were also about a dozen men hired as transporters. Alan sat hunched over the tiny bones.
"Hey Billy come over here." Alan said jovial. Billy Brennan was Grants assistant and junior paleontologist. Billy was twenty-five and studying at the Montana State University to get his degree in paleontology.
"Yes Alan?"
"Look at the post atrium femur on this parcel what does it look like to you?"
"Well, it kind of has a crimped femur and humorous, kind of like an Archaeopteryx. However Alan it isn't completely uncovered yet."
"That is true Billy. However, as a junior paleontologist, I'm teaching you to spot certain things that will allow you to gain the skeletons identity without having all of it exposed. That was a good guess as to being an Archaeopteryx. Look at the post-mortem contraction on the posterior ligaments. Look at the half-moon shaped bones in the wrists. Velociraptor."
"Dr. Grant you found a baby Velociraptor? The complete skeleton?" Billy urged, ecstatic at the find. "This discovery could fuel or dig up until next summer."
Grant new the outcomes of this find. A complete baby Velociraptor had never been found before in the upper Montana Badlands. This brought on a whole new theory of the inland sea and the nesting herds that inhabited the Badlands sixty-five million years before. It also held a lot of answers to the predator prey ratio.
"Billy, please watch the site for me real quick I have to call the university and tell them about the find. They want me to teach a seminar tomorrow about the inland sea and the animals that inherited the area."
"No problem Alan." Alan walked down the hill to the Trailer that housed the acid baths and his office. Alan plopped down in a rusted desk chair with tears all in the fabric. His office with cluttered and full of fossils and bones ready to be cleaned. He had an old couch that was full of tears and stains all over the fabric. Tools hung from the walls and an overfilled file cabinet stood in the corner. Grant pulled the phone off the receiver and dialed the Montana State University.
* * *
The following day the plane landed at six-thirty in the evening in Choteau, Montana. The plane ride had only taken two and-a-half hours, but to Peter that seemed like a lifetime. On the plane he was thinking of how he would try to persuade Grant into joining them. Peter had known of what Alan Grant had been through on the tour of Jurassic Park in 89. He had read Grants book about the park and his endeavors in the past. He knew it would not be easy. Peter got off the plane. Walking down gate D, towards the front of the airport, Peter caught out of the corner of his eye, a newspaper stand. On one the papers the headline read "Grant soon to be next Horner?" Peter knew some of Jack Horner's work; he was a very skilled paleontologist with many accredited finds. InGen had contacts with him in the early years before the park was built. He was said to be the top paleontologist of his time.
Peter stopped and picked up the paper. Scanning the article he read it over. The article explained that Choteau and the Badlands were 'dino-country'. It also had a list of the finds in the area and the people that had found them. Then Peter found were Grant came into the article. Grant had just found a new skeleton the day before. It appeared to be a Velociraptor the first ever baby found in the badlands. Peter read on shifting the paper in his hands. He saw a picture of frail looking bones pieced together on the ground. The complete skeletal structure was only about the size of a dinner plate. Peter then noticed the caption, "See Dr Grant and his new find at the Montana State University at seven pm tonight, in the Greenburg Hall auditorium." Peter's eyes lit up, as he read this. Peter then quickly folded up the paper and returned to the rack. He gathered up his things and walked out into the hot arid air outside.
Peter sat on the edge of his bed in the hotel room outside of Choteau. He had two hours till Grants lecture. He unpacked his luggage and got what he needed together for that night. The he headed out the door.
Walking into the Greenburg Hall wing of the university Alan went around to the front of the stage. Looking around and out into the auditorium, Alan then looked over the curator of the college. "Can I maybe get a fold out table here, and the podium placed here?" he said pointing at very points of the stage. Two men pulled a fold out table into the middle of the stage. And then one pulled the podium around to the right side of the stage.
Alan then started going through his bags. He pulled out remnants of bones, and fossils, a fossilized egg, A hadrosaur skull, and lastly a raptor claw. He placed them gently on the table. He then pulled out larger bones and set them on stands around the table.
"Dr. Grant." Alan heard a voice from back stage.
Billy stood in the hall pushing a small cart that contained the baby raptor skeleton. "Were do want the baby?" He asked.
"Next to the podium please, Billy. Thanks."
"You look just about ready Alan."
"I think I am."
The sun started to fade past the distant mountains to west. Choteau was encased in a light pinkish sky. Red streaks ran brilliantly across the sky. Alan sat staring out the window of the university sipping down a diet coke. "Ready Alan?" Billy walked in the room. "I'm ready, you know this isn't the first time that I've given a lecture here." Alan sat down the diet coke and walked out towards the backstage area of the auditorium. Checking his watch he heard the universities coordinator speak over the microphone.
"Thank you all for coming tonight. We are very pleased to present a man that has dedicated his life to the excavations around this area. I will now hand the microphone over to Dr. Alan Grant." The audience started to clap.
Alan walked out from the curtain on the left side of the stage. He looked out over the crowd and was surprised at the amount of people that had showed up to his lecture. A gave a short wave out to the crowd. Grabbing the microphone he began to speak.
"Thank you all for coming out tonight. It is a pleasure to see all of you tonight. I've been digging in this area for over five years now, and have uncovered so many species of dinosaurs; all in your backyard." He chuckled into the microphone. Just yesterday we uncovered the first ever baby Velociraptor skeleton in this part of Montana." Placing his hands on the sides of the podium, Alan leaned forward.
"Millions of years ago, this, and many other parts of the country were under water. Historians and paleontologists call this inner body of water the inland sea."
The lecture went on into the night, at seven-thirty Alan had just finished up showing all of the samples of the bones and fossils arraigned on the table, and the skeleton of the baby raptor. He walked behind the podium and started to wrap up the lecture.
"If there are any questions, I will take them at this time." Almost every hand in the audience rose. "Okay, well. I've gone through this numerous times before. Alan said unenthusiastically.
"Are there any questions that do not pertain to Jurassic Park?" Half the hands went down. "Or about the incident in Sand Diego, which I was not a part of. I was here in Montana when that happened." More hands fell.
Alan pointed towards a young women sitting in the crowd. The women stood up, holding a pamphlet and pen, taking notes.
"Have you heard or know of the rumors surrounding the lizard carcasses on the coasts of Mexico and further south?" The women sounded concerned.
"I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean? I have not heard of any lizards or such."
"I heard the Mexican and Costa Rican governments are getting together to demolish the problem. A problem dealing with six foot tall lizard carcasses. They want to quarantine the coasts."
"Sounds like tabloids to me." Grant said. "I don't know anything about it. If it is real InGen corp. is probably the people you should ask." Grant looked around. "Is there anymore questions?" He looked around, and didn't see anything.
Thank you for coming out tonight. And thank you all so much for all of your support and funding. We are continuing to break the boundaries of paleontology. Thank you again." Grant packed up his papers, buttoned up his briefcase, and headed out off the stage towards the hallway.
Walking out the double doors of Greenburg Hall, Alan heard a voice calling his name from behind.
"Dr. Grant. Dr Grant!"
Hurrying down the narrow hallway, ducking past people was a tall man dressed in a suit with his hair combed back caring a briefcase. "Ah Dr. Alan Grant!" He said cheerful.
"Do I know you?" Alan said cautiously.
"Peter Ross, I was wondering if we could have a word?"
"Well Mr. Ross I am on my way back to Hell Creek in the badlands."
"Oh it won't take long sir, if we could maybe just walk?"
Alan looked around out toward the parking lot were his truck was parked and then back to Peter. "Okay. How can I help you Mr. Ross?"
"Well Dr. Grant, in a few days I'm going to be doing a little research exploration trip down to Central America, My team is going to do some digs in the deserts to gather breeding site information of Central America. And to try to pin point some of the animals that inhabit those sites. I hear you're the best man to come to when it comes to nests and breeding sites."
"Uh-ha…" Grant said softly. "Well with all due respect, Mr. Ross, I'm kind of tied up with the digs up here."
"Dr. Grant I assure you, if you assist us just for a week, I will pay you enough to fully fund your dig for the rest of this year and next. Just a week, I'll have a jet waiting for us in Choteau."
Grant paused and raised his hand to scratch at his forehead. "Okay Mr. Ross, Make the check payable to me, and I'll be ready when you need me."
"I'll pick you up in Hell Creek in three days, we'll leave then. Thank you for your cooperation and support Dr. Grant."
"I'll see you in three days. And you can call me Alan."
After the last parting words the two men walked away in separate directions. Alan got into his truck and pulled out towards the east, and Peter walked further down the sidewalk to a distance bench and called Evan on his cell phone.