Chapter 10: King's New Job

Arnold and Shaffer spun around upon hearing the gunshot, followed by a blood-curdling scream. "It came from that way!" Arnold said, pointing in the direction of the gunshot sound. Arnold and Shaffer arrived at the shootout location to see that Jessica Wu had been shot in the lower leg. Arnold scooted closer, lifting Jessica's leg saying, "She'll live, but we have to get her back to the Visitor's Center." Shaffer nodded and added, "Okay, I'll go look for who fired that shot."

Meanwhile, Howard King was running profusely. "I'm still too weak," King thought. "Even when my life depended on it, I still couldn't kill her. Either way, her wound should still be enough of a cover for me to escape-" King's thoughts were stopped when Shaffer jumped out of the trees and landed on King. King rolled over and was punched directly in the face and was starting to lose consciousness. Shaffer punched King again as blood began to trickle down King's cheek. King peered over and saw that the gun was resting behind Shaffer. King managed to shove Shaffer of him. And began to crawl over to the gun. Shaffer picked up a log and knocked King flat in his stomach before he could reach the gun. Shaffer dropped the log and walked over to the gun, but was tripped and knocked his head on a nearby tree before he could reach it. King, incredibly weak, motioned over to the gun and managed to grab it before Shaffer knocked him with the log. King was able to roll out of the way before Shaffer hit him with the log again. King wobbled up and began to run into the woods sporadically as Shaffer soon followed. Shaffer began to close in and jumped in the air a got ready to land on King. King spun around and, on impulse, pulled the trigger that was aimed at Shaffer's head. Shaffer's lifeless body landed on King. King shrieked but was able to shove the body off of him.

King ran back to the main road and went back to boat. "I'm done for. Once Jessica Wu stabilizes, she'll point me out as the gunman, find that man's body, put two and two together and both Lewis and I will be sent to jail. I should have killed her when I had the chance." King continued to run and arrived back at the boat. "Oh, I'm so glad that you're still here. Please, get me back to Costa Rica immediately."

"Actually," said a familiar voice from below deck. "There's been a change of plans." John Hammond stepped out from below deck and King stumbled backwards in fear and shock. King pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger, only to find out that the gun was out of ammo. "Only two bullets! I thought I put in three!"

Hammond stepped closer and said," That's not my problem." Hammond snapped his finger and two of the Costa Rican workers grabbed King by his arm and dragged him as they followed Hammond. Hammond ordered the men to drop King and they did as they were told and left the Visitor's Center. Hammond turned around and noticed that Ray Arnold was already there with Jessica Wu. Hammond turned back to King and said, "Don't you think of leaving," Hammond motioned over to Arnold and asked, "Who is this?"

"I don't know," Arnold replied. "She's been shot in the lower leg and isn't stable enough yet for her to speak." Arnold turned is head slightly and saw King leaning on the wall, clenching his arm to stop the bleeding. "Is that the guy?"

"I believe so," Hammond replied, "He did have a gun." Hammond pulled out the gun and handed it to Arnold. Arnold took a close look at the gun and replied, "This is an ASP." Hammond tilted his head in confusion as Arnold replied, "Where'd he get this? Look. It has custom-tuned springs, a smaller barrel than other ASPs…" Arnold's voiced trailed upon seeing that Hammond wasn't following him. "It's a spy gun, John. This gun is only issued to the Marines—Special Forces specifically. Only people like James Bond get to use guns like this."

"How do you know?"

"I used to be in Special Forces," Arnold replied, twirling the gun around his finger. Hammond chuckled before replying, "So is this the gun he used to shoot her?"

"Well," Arnold replied, "I won't able to tell until I can get the bullet out, but there isn't any other gun on the island, so it's pretty safe to assume that this is the gun." Arnold opened the cartridge and said, "No more bullets…" Arnold walked over angrily to King and asked, "Where's Shaffer?"

King hesitated before replying, "It was an accident. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Arnold punched King in the mouth and walked back over to Hammond. "This guy's a killer and doesn't deserve to live. I say we dump him over the ledge and never speak of him again."

"Not a bad idea," Hammond replied.

"Wait!" King protested, "I'll do anything! I'll tell you who she is, and I'll tell you who I work for!"

"Please," Hammond replied. "We could just wait until she regains consciousness for he to tell us her name and we already know you work for Biosyn, Howard King." King was surprised that Hammond not only knew that he worked for Biosyn, but also knew who he was, but nevertheless responded, "Okay, I'll help you build Jurassic Park for free."

Arnold stepped forward and said, "Listen, nothing you offer-"

"Not so fast, Ray," Hammond replied. "Cheap labor is exactly what we need. We make Mr. King work here until the company summit in a little more than a month, and we let him go back."

Arnold gave Hammond a close stare and stormed off in the direction of the Control Room, but not before Hammond yelled, "Oh, and Ray, install a radar so we can make sure Biosyn doesn't pay us another visit." King attempted to stand, but his leg was too bruised up. Hammond went over to King and said, "You can rest up here and don't bother escaping; I've already sent your boat back to Costa Rica. King nodded as Jessica Wu began to wake up. King groan from pain as he asked, "Do you still want to know who that is?" Hammond nodded as King continued, "That's Jessica Wu, Henry Wu's sister." Hammond was clearly surprised at what King had said, but he made no attempt at calling Wu, who was still back on Isla Sorna.

Jessica Wu sat up to see that John Hammond was standing across the room speaking with Ray Arnold who had returned from the control room smoking a cigarette. Arnold was adamant as he said, "Henry's on the phone. I have him on hold and he insists on knowing what was the problem I called about."

Hammond hesitated before replying, "Tell him it was just a bunch of tourists that got lost. If he finds out his sister is here, he might rethink his job here at Jurassic Park. We need to withhold this information from him until at least he figures out how to clone the dinosaurs."

"That could take months," Arnold insisted, "and if we don't tell, she will." Arnold noticed Jessica was standing up and turned around, to which Hammond soon followed. Hammond began to talk, but was interrupted by Jessica asking, "Where am I?" She turned to Hammond and Arnold and asked, "Who are you two?"

Hammond was shocked. "I understand that she doesn't recognize Ray, but she's seen me before on numerous occasions." Hammond sat on a nearby chair and asked, "Do you know who that man is over there?"

Jessica turned to see King and shook her head as Hammond asked, "Do you know who you are?" Jessica shook her head. Hammond began to chuckle as he said to Arnold, "This could really work to our advantage."