After Cynthia's communication to them, Alice and Will entered the park bar; at this time of night, it was empty. The only light in the bar was coming from a booth, where Cynthia was sitting. Approaching nervously, Alice and Will sat next to her. It was Alice who spoke first, "What's this all about?"
Cynthia smiled, a fake, predatory smile, "Confession time; I haven't been entirely truthful with you. The reasons Theodore sent me here were… different to what he said to you." Will stated, confused, "Why did he send you?" Cynthia smiled, "You see Theodore became… worried about how interested the board were becoming after the whole Brontoscorpio thing; he knew them and he knew they thought it was an opening. He thought they were going to be up to something fishy; so he sent me here, undercover to keep an eye on the place."
She looked at Alice, "Firstly, I have to owe you an apology; I thought your brother was a saboteur. However, that got nixed fairly quickly; nobody can be in two places at once." She paused, "After that, I thought he was one of ours… but then, I realised he's not our type." Will looked at Cynthia, confused, "You have a type?" Cynthia looked at him, flabbergasted, "You honestly mean neither of you has been approached?"
Alice was confused, but didn't let Cynthia know she was – what on Earth was she going on about? Why would she suspect Jack about anything – especially anything relating to some acts of sabotage? What proof did she have that anything fishy was going on at all? Yes, there were the incidents, but…
As if sensing the confusion, Cynthia rolled her eyes and continued, in the patronising, half-sneering tone one used when explaining something to a four-year-old, "Did you really think that everything that's happened in the past year was just an accident? A system failure that causes our most dangerous animals to escape was just a run of bad luck? Nope, all staged." Cynthia lifted a tablet, "This is how they did it – it links to any chosen perimeter system and turns it off. That's how we've had all these escapes; I thought, after the Borealosaurus incident, after I'd confiscated this one, it'd stop but it seems they had a spare. One which they've been very good at hiding." Alice looked at her, confused, "Why did you steal it from Nikolai's office?" Cynthia shrugged, "I didn't want him getting involved; the last thing I needed was Nikolai finding it and that Woodward starting to ask questions."
Alice and Will looked around the room nervously – the pieces all came together and they were suddenly realising that it made a lot of sense. Multiple escapes of some of their most dangerous animals in the space of a year, a mass breakout which led to multiple dangerous carnivores running loose - nobody was that unlucky. It was Will who spoke next, "Who's been doing this? And why are you telling us now?"
Cynthia shrugs, "Haven't the faintest idea. I thought it was just someone working behind everybody's back, but I've realised this goes further than I thought. It goes up to the top – the very top; one of the higher-ups is behind this. Problem is, it could be any one of them; there's really not much to indicate which one it is." She then looked around the room conspiratorially, "Unfortunately, I'm starting to believe they know more about me than I do about them – and I think they're going to try and do the old 'accident' trick on me. Which is why I need to tell someone – you two seemed like the most… trustworthy, shall we say?" She gave a little smirk.
Her tone turned icy, "Here's how it's going to work; you're going to keep an eye out for anything or anyone suspicious. If you do, you tell me directly. And you must tell absolutely no-one that you're doing it; it'll be our secret." Alice and Will looked at each other – this was big news and it was important to the safety and future of the park. But lying to their colleagues… their friends…
Cynthia looked at them coldly, as if understanding that they were having difficulty. Moving closer to them, she said, in an icy tone, "If you tell anyone or imply you know anything about this, they will find out and you will be dead. If that happens, I'm not going to blow my cover for you. Is that clear?"
Alice and Will shrunk back at her threat –. Alice lowered her head to the floor and nodded, "Yes. We'll keep it a secret." Cynthia gave a predatory smirk, "Excellent. Go back to your accommodations; you've been officially deputised. We start in the morning." Alice and Will left, quiet – what had they agreed to?
One week later
Drew Luczynski and Leon Gilbertson were sitting in Drew's office, waiting for Alice to arrive. Drew was checking his watch and tutting, whilst Leon flicked absent-mindedly through the info-packs, saying monotonously, "She said she'd be here around about now." Suddenly, a voice said, "I'm here". He turned to see Alice walking towards him, noticeably twitchy. "Where were you?", Drew asked, "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago". In response, she looked at the floor diffidently and replied, "I was busy; that was all. Anyway, what are we going after?"
Drew smiled and showed them a picture of a large shark. It looked like a great white, only much, much bigger; according to the picture, it was sixty feet long from head-to-tail. Leon smiled, "Megalodon. I was kind of hoping we'd go after it someday." Drew said, half-jokingly, "Right as usual, Leon! What do you know about Megalodon?"
Leon sighed, half-pondering, "It's the largest carnivorous fish that ever lived; at sixty feet long, it was only slightly smaller than the whale shark. It was so big in fact that it primarily hunted large whales. It existed for over 15 million years and was found all over the world; it was once thought to be related to the great white shark, but is actually a member of an extinct family of sharks called the odontids."
Drew smiled, "Thank you, Leon. Today, we'll be taking the Mariner back to the Pliocene, 4 million years ago, to the coast of Peru; that's where some of the best Megalodon fossils have been found, as were some of the whales it hunted… Alice, Alice? Are you paying attention?" Drew clapped his hands to get Alice to focus. After a few seconds, Alice snapped out of her daze, "Just was thinking about something, that's all." Drew sighed and rolled his eyes, "Anyway, the Mariner's ready, so we should be heading off."
And so, Drew, Leon and Alice headed to the Ancient Mariner; when they arrived, they were surprised to find Will and Yolanda there. Drew smiled and said, "Have you come here to see us off?" Will walked up to them and said, "Sort of. I'll need to talk to Alice for a minute or so", looking directly at Alice. Alice nodded, "OK", before she and Will walked off. Whilst Drew ignored the statement, Leon and Yolanda looked rather curious; there was something he wasn't saying or something that was going on. They knew something that everyone else didn't. Yolanda turned to them, particularly focusing on Leon, and said, "Promise me you'll be careful. All of you." Leon smiled and said, "We will."
Meanwhile, Alice and Will were standing in a secluded area near the boat. Alice said, quietly, "I'll keep an eye on Drew and Leon whilst we're on the mission; you keep an eye on everyone else." Will said, "You really suspect them?" Alice sighed, "We have to suspect everyone; even our friends." The two paused and looked guiltily at each other – they were trapped in the agreement they had made. Eventually, Alice said, "Goodbye" and headed off, leaving Will alone.
Alice boarded the boat to notice that Drew and Leon were waiting. Giving her a puzzled look, Drew asked "What the hell was going on with you?" Alice shrugged, "Nothing." An employee entered the time period and location and the portal whirred into life. The Ancient Mariner headed towards the portal, before sailing through.
The Mariner had emerged from the portal. The team looked out at the sight that greeted them; they'd landed near the coast. Alice looked out and reflected on the vista before her. The Peruvian coast hadn't changed much in 4 million years; the same rocky shorelines and sandy beaches, being lapped by small waves. The ocean was calm; the location looked almost idyllic. It helped calm her troubled mind. Ever since Cynthia had told her and Will of what was going on, somehow things had changed; everyone was a potential plant, someone to be feared, someone who, if they knew a tiny bit more, might arrange a little "accident" for you whilst you were cleaning out the Andrewsarchus pen.
Was this what the life of a Novum deep-cover agent was like? If so, Alice didn't want any part of it; she preferred the simple, normal world of working with the animals and going back on these missions, rather than this cloak-and-dagger world she had found herself in. Some thrived in it; she didn't.
Her train of thought was interrupted by Drew's voice, "Alice! I need to meet you and Leon inside to talk about something." Sighing and turning on her heel, Alice headed towards the boat's command centre; the fresh air and the introspection could wait.