4. ZINJ HEADQUARTERS
Edward Campbell emerged from his Dodge Viper in front of the entrance to a small gas station in the outskirts of New York City. It was pretty warm, but yet cold at the same time, seeing as which it's not very hot even in the summer in the big apple. Campbell walked into the gas station and nodded to the man at the checkout counter.
"Good morning Mr. Campbell," The man said smiling. Campbell smiled and continued toward the back storage room where he went inside and moved toward the back where a broom was propped up against the wall. However, when Campbell went over and grabbed the broom he didn't pick it up, but instead moved it back from the wall.
Suddenly the wall moved out of the way to reveal an elevator! Campbell entered and then punched a number into the keypad to the right side of the elevator. Then, a door closed, and the elevator began to descend downward at a slow rate. The very tired man stood in the elevator car waiting as patiently as he could for the car to make it to his destination.
Edward Campbell had been working non-stop for the past several days trying to put together his team of people that would be lucky enough to see Jurassic Congo for the first time. He'd had a very hard time even getting people that were willing to see what was featured in Jurassic Congo. He'd finally decided to start lying to people about what the attractions were. Even then he was unable to get at least one survivor of any of the three Jurassic Park incidents. All of the people that he'd bothered to ask had become very cynical after the nightmares they'd experienced. This was even stronger for the people like Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, Robert Muldoon, and Ellie Sattler who'd all experienced two trips to one or the other dreaded island. Everything dealing with the Jurassic Park survivors seemed hopeless for Campbell. He knew that he had no choice in the matter as to weather or not there would be an expert from one of the JP accidents, but he wished to God that he did. It wasn't until earlier this week that he'd realized that a kid by the name of Eric Kirby had been involved in the third incident on Isla Sorna, which was part of the reason for the island's destruction.
Eric Kirby wasn't one of Campbell's favorite choices, but he had to remember that Eric was a kid and kids were a large reason for the attractions at Jurassic Congo. Even the company's sponsors knew that much, but Campbell knew that they wouldn't allow the JP survivor to be a kid, so all he could do was hope that they'd never find out about it.
Suddenly the door to the elevator slid open to reveal an amazingly humongous office complex with offices on all sides, desks in the center with several employees answering phones, and others doing duties that were done everyday. Several people, all in suits, moved around quickly, taking papers back and forth to other desks. There seemed to be a lot of chaos within the office. Campbell however, moved calmly around the office, moving past everyone. Ahead, Campbell noticed a room marked Genetics Lab: Authorized Personnel Only. He quickly opened the door and stepped inside.
The Genetics Lab was just as chaotic as the offices. In this room however, there were scientists in lab coats as well as all kinds of genetic equipment like gene splicing machines and sequencers. "Most of the time this lab is very quiet," Campbell thought to himself. He'd wondered what was going on to cause all of this busy wok between all of the geneticists. Campbell stopped the nearest person, which almost caused both men to fall.
"What is with all of this in here," Campbell ordered for the man to answer.
"Ms. Johnson is here sir," the man replied. "We're trying to make every little thing look important to our daily work. We don't want to seem like we're slacking sir."
"Tosha Johnson is here!" Campbell's confusion turned into fear at that moment. Tosha was one of the representatives for the Zinj sponsors. She unlike most of the others was to be feared by everyone. She could almost be a dictator were this a Communist country. Tosha appeared to be a very gothic person for the profession that she was in and how rich she was. With all of these factors she was not only feared, but also hated by everyone, because she always took control of every situation. As most people in any company would feel, these qualities of Tosha made her the main, and pretty much only, representative that the sponsors would ever bother to send to the company period. The sponsors were very smart people, and when it came to matters dealing with Zinj, she was always sent. These were the reasons for Campbell's fear. He'd always feared Tosha and hated to ever deal with her.
"Where is she now," Campbell asked.
"She's waiting for you in your office sir," the geneticist replied. "She's been in there for an hour now. You might want to hurry to her."
"You're right. I'll go there now." Campbell started running, full of fear, for his office. He exited the lab and moved past all of the people working in the offices. He dreaded having to see Tosha right then, during all of the problems that he'd been having recently, but he had to get it done so the trip to the Congo could get underway. He started toward the entrance to his office and prayed that she'd be in a good mood.
* * *
"Where the hell have you been," Tosha Johnson yelled as Campbell entered his office. "I've been waiting here for a whole damn hour! Do you have any idea how many meetings I've missed? You'd better have a good explanation for this!"
Campbell sighed as he stared at Tosha. She was sitting in his chair and twisting one of his pens in her right hand. She was wearing a business coat and a dress skirt that matched. Tosha was thirty-two year old and didn't look a day over twenty. She seemed to be at home in his leather chair and she always was when he wasn't in the room at the time that she stepped in. Tosha acted like she was the CEO of Zinj Bioengineering and Campbell was sick of it. He would tell her that, but Tosha was Zinj's number one sponsor and supporter. She had helped the company get through several accidents in the past with loads of cover-ups.
During the relocation of the animals from Site C to their new locations in Jurassic Congo, several workmen were killed by the more vicious dinosaurs which included not only the carnivores, but also a few of the herbivores as well. Tosha had to go through very tiring processes to tell the families of the dead workmen that the deaths wee caused by construction incidents. The silences of the people were also very expensive, but Tosha would stop at nothing to make sure the Jurassic Congo project remained in business. So she was a bitch, but she had always been a great person to have added into the company and Campbell respected her for that.
"I was in the process of-," Campbell was interrupted.
"Of being utterly fucking useless," Tosha finished. "What a surprise."
Campbell sighed. "I was in the process of getting my team for the trip together. We finally have a Paleontologist by the way. He may be new in the field, but he'll be a very trustworthy one."
"New in the field," Tosha almost screamed. Another of her sermons was about to occur. "Why are you fucking with me? You know good and well that we need experts for this trip!"
"And experts you are going to get," Campbell replied calmly. "Dr. Coleman is a very reliable Paleontologist. You also can't forget that we have Dr. Alex Ventral. He is one of the best Zoologists in the-"
"Don't even get me started on that cynical bastard," Tosha interrupted. "I have no clue on Earth what made you get him involved! I mean, he's been involved in almost everything else so why this too? You might as well have gotten Ian Malcolm to go on this trip!"
"I actually did try to get him, if you remember," Campbell replied annoyed. "However, he, like all of the other JP survivors that you suggested, were so cynical and afraid of ending up running from dinosaurs again that I've now resorted to having to get Eric Kirby."
"And I'll be fine with the Kirby boy as long as you get him and not his stupid parents!"
"Oh don't worry," Campbell replied throwing his hands up in defense. "I have no intention of getting Paul or Amanda. That would be committing suicide!"
Paul and Amanda Kirby had recently become a very ruthless duo. After their experiences of Isla Sorna, they'd become ill tempered and superstitious of everything and everyone.
"That was basically Tosha on a good day," Campbell thought to himself as he smiled.
Even without the new attitudes, they were in too large a corporation, Kirby Enterprises, to be able to trust them to remain silent about the park. Eric on the other hand, they could put their trust in for the fact that he was still a kid and he'd never really cared for his parents or of telling them anything anyway. On top of all that Eric was a dinosaur fanatic and was also against the destruction of Isla Sorna unlike most of the other JP survivors. Eric would've actually gone to the island with Earth First if his parents hadn't kept him from doing so. Paul and Amanda had become very protective of Eric after what had happened with him and Ben Hildebrand. He was hardly ever aloud to leave the house except to go to school.
The Kirbys, soon after their trip to Isla Sorna in 1999, had bought stock in the Museum of Natural History in New York and they'd actually worked there from time to time. The reason for the buy was mainly for Eric's love of dinosaurs in hopes that he'd take up with the museum and forget all about the genetically engineered monsters that he'd saw on the island. However, when Isla Sorna was destroyed Paul and Amanda's fears of Eric going back were history. The Kirby adults were not to be trusted anyway though, so that's why Campbell didn't approach them.
"Just so you understand that neither Paul nor Amanda will be involved," Tosha ordered. "They'll ruin everything!"
"I know that more then you do," Campbell replied. "Zinj Bioengineering is still having trouble money wise and Kirby Enterprises would take this company down instantly. They've been against the InGen dinosaurs since Eric was put in danger. I'm just glad that our headquarters is here in New York while they're in San Francisco."
"That brings me to this question, what makes you think that we'll be able to take Eric Kirby on this trip without his parents realizing that he's gone?"
"They've been planning a vacation just for themselves for months now. My contacts in San Francisco have been watching them both closely and they plan on leaving later this evening I do believe. And besides how would they find him if they realized that he was gone anyway? We're going all the way to the Congo!"
"What about the people that are going to be looking after Eric," Tosha asked. Those people were surely going to be a problem to handle, because whoever it was, was more then likely related to Eric, and would try to contact his parents to tell them what was going on.
"If we have to we'll silence them, lock them in a closet, or who knows, perhaps we'll bring them along."
"This is not some little fun filled vacation," Tosha screamed. "This is a fucking investigation of your park and we only need experts for this trip!"
"Fine," Campbell screamed. "I'll let you handle Eric's keepers for the vacation! While I'm getting Eric, you take care of them, deal?"
"That sounds great," Tosha smiled. She turned and walked out of the office. That smile scared Campbell for when Tosha smiled there was going to be trouble and that was the last thing that Edward Campbell wanted to deal with at that time.
Edward Campbell emerged from his Dodge Viper in front of the entrance to a small gas station in the outskirts of New York City. It was pretty warm, but yet cold at the same time, seeing as which it's not very hot even in the summer in the big apple. Campbell walked into the gas station and nodded to the man at the checkout counter.
"Good morning Mr. Campbell," The man said smiling. Campbell smiled and continued toward the back storage room where he went inside and moved toward the back where a broom was propped up against the wall. However, when Campbell went over and grabbed the broom he didn't pick it up, but instead moved it back from the wall.
Suddenly the wall moved out of the way to reveal an elevator! Campbell entered and then punched a number into the keypad to the right side of the elevator. Then, a door closed, and the elevator began to descend downward at a slow rate. The very tired man stood in the elevator car waiting as patiently as he could for the car to make it to his destination.
Edward Campbell had been working non-stop for the past several days trying to put together his team of people that would be lucky enough to see Jurassic Congo for the first time. He'd had a very hard time even getting people that were willing to see what was featured in Jurassic Congo. He'd finally decided to start lying to people about what the attractions were. Even then he was unable to get at least one survivor of any of the three Jurassic Park incidents. All of the people that he'd bothered to ask had become very cynical after the nightmares they'd experienced. This was even stronger for the people like Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, Robert Muldoon, and Ellie Sattler who'd all experienced two trips to one or the other dreaded island. Everything dealing with the Jurassic Park survivors seemed hopeless for Campbell. He knew that he had no choice in the matter as to weather or not there would be an expert from one of the JP accidents, but he wished to God that he did. It wasn't until earlier this week that he'd realized that a kid by the name of Eric Kirby had been involved in the third incident on Isla Sorna, which was part of the reason for the island's destruction.
Eric Kirby wasn't one of Campbell's favorite choices, but he had to remember that Eric was a kid and kids were a large reason for the attractions at Jurassic Congo. Even the company's sponsors knew that much, but Campbell knew that they wouldn't allow the JP survivor to be a kid, so all he could do was hope that they'd never find out about it.
Suddenly the door to the elevator slid open to reveal an amazingly humongous office complex with offices on all sides, desks in the center with several employees answering phones, and others doing duties that were done everyday. Several people, all in suits, moved around quickly, taking papers back and forth to other desks. There seemed to be a lot of chaos within the office. Campbell however, moved calmly around the office, moving past everyone. Ahead, Campbell noticed a room marked Genetics Lab: Authorized Personnel Only. He quickly opened the door and stepped inside.
The Genetics Lab was just as chaotic as the offices. In this room however, there were scientists in lab coats as well as all kinds of genetic equipment like gene splicing machines and sequencers. "Most of the time this lab is very quiet," Campbell thought to himself. He'd wondered what was going on to cause all of this busy wok between all of the geneticists. Campbell stopped the nearest person, which almost caused both men to fall.
"What is with all of this in here," Campbell ordered for the man to answer.
"Ms. Johnson is here sir," the man replied. "We're trying to make every little thing look important to our daily work. We don't want to seem like we're slacking sir."
"Tosha Johnson is here!" Campbell's confusion turned into fear at that moment. Tosha was one of the representatives for the Zinj sponsors. She unlike most of the others was to be feared by everyone. She could almost be a dictator were this a Communist country. Tosha appeared to be a very gothic person for the profession that she was in and how rich she was. With all of these factors she was not only feared, but also hated by everyone, because she always took control of every situation. As most people in any company would feel, these qualities of Tosha made her the main, and pretty much only, representative that the sponsors would ever bother to send to the company period. The sponsors were very smart people, and when it came to matters dealing with Zinj, she was always sent. These were the reasons for Campbell's fear. He'd always feared Tosha and hated to ever deal with her.
"Where is she now," Campbell asked.
"She's waiting for you in your office sir," the geneticist replied. "She's been in there for an hour now. You might want to hurry to her."
"You're right. I'll go there now." Campbell started running, full of fear, for his office. He exited the lab and moved past all of the people working in the offices. He dreaded having to see Tosha right then, during all of the problems that he'd been having recently, but he had to get it done so the trip to the Congo could get underway. He started toward the entrance to his office and prayed that she'd be in a good mood.
* * *
"Where the hell have you been," Tosha Johnson yelled as Campbell entered his office. "I've been waiting here for a whole damn hour! Do you have any idea how many meetings I've missed? You'd better have a good explanation for this!"
Campbell sighed as he stared at Tosha. She was sitting in his chair and twisting one of his pens in her right hand. She was wearing a business coat and a dress skirt that matched. Tosha was thirty-two year old and didn't look a day over twenty. She seemed to be at home in his leather chair and she always was when he wasn't in the room at the time that she stepped in. Tosha acted like she was the CEO of Zinj Bioengineering and Campbell was sick of it. He would tell her that, but Tosha was Zinj's number one sponsor and supporter. She had helped the company get through several accidents in the past with loads of cover-ups.
During the relocation of the animals from Site C to their new locations in Jurassic Congo, several workmen were killed by the more vicious dinosaurs which included not only the carnivores, but also a few of the herbivores as well. Tosha had to go through very tiring processes to tell the families of the dead workmen that the deaths wee caused by construction incidents. The silences of the people were also very expensive, but Tosha would stop at nothing to make sure the Jurassic Congo project remained in business. So she was a bitch, but she had always been a great person to have added into the company and Campbell respected her for that.
"I was in the process of-," Campbell was interrupted.
"Of being utterly fucking useless," Tosha finished. "What a surprise."
Campbell sighed. "I was in the process of getting my team for the trip together. We finally have a Paleontologist by the way. He may be new in the field, but he'll be a very trustworthy one."
"New in the field," Tosha almost screamed. Another of her sermons was about to occur. "Why are you fucking with me? You know good and well that we need experts for this trip!"
"And experts you are going to get," Campbell replied calmly. "Dr. Coleman is a very reliable Paleontologist. You also can't forget that we have Dr. Alex Ventral. He is one of the best Zoologists in the-"
"Don't even get me started on that cynical bastard," Tosha interrupted. "I have no clue on Earth what made you get him involved! I mean, he's been involved in almost everything else so why this too? You might as well have gotten Ian Malcolm to go on this trip!"
"I actually did try to get him, if you remember," Campbell replied annoyed. "However, he, like all of the other JP survivors that you suggested, were so cynical and afraid of ending up running from dinosaurs again that I've now resorted to having to get Eric Kirby."
"And I'll be fine with the Kirby boy as long as you get him and not his stupid parents!"
"Oh don't worry," Campbell replied throwing his hands up in defense. "I have no intention of getting Paul or Amanda. That would be committing suicide!"
Paul and Amanda Kirby had recently become a very ruthless duo. After their experiences of Isla Sorna, they'd become ill tempered and superstitious of everything and everyone.
"That was basically Tosha on a good day," Campbell thought to himself as he smiled.
Even without the new attitudes, they were in too large a corporation, Kirby Enterprises, to be able to trust them to remain silent about the park. Eric on the other hand, they could put their trust in for the fact that he was still a kid and he'd never really cared for his parents or of telling them anything anyway. On top of all that Eric was a dinosaur fanatic and was also against the destruction of Isla Sorna unlike most of the other JP survivors. Eric would've actually gone to the island with Earth First if his parents hadn't kept him from doing so. Paul and Amanda had become very protective of Eric after what had happened with him and Ben Hildebrand. He was hardly ever aloud to leave the house except to go to school.
The Kirbys, soon after their trip to Isla Sorna in 1999, had bought stock in the Museum of Natural History in New York and they'd actually worked there from time to time. The reason for the buy was mainly for Eric's love of dinosaurs in hopes that he'd take up with the museum and forget all about the genetically engineered monsters that he'd saw on the island. However, when Isla Sorna was destroyed Paul and Amanda's fears of Eric going back were history. The Kirby adults were not to be trusted anyway though, so that's why Campbell didn't approach them.
"Just so you understand that neither Paul nor Amanda will be involved," Tosha ordered. "They'll ruin everything!"
"I know that more then you do," Campbell replied. "Zinj Bioengineering is still having trouble money wise and Kirby Enterprises would take this company down instantly. They've been against the InGen dinosaurs since Eric was put in danger. I'm just glad that our headquarters is here in New York while they're in San Francisco."
"That brings me to this question, what makes you think that we'll be able to take Eric Kirby on this trip without his parents realizing that he's gone?"
"They've been planning a vacation just for themselves for months now. My contacts in San Francisco have been watching them both closely and they plan on leaving later this evening I do believe. And besides how would they find him if they realized that he was gone anyway? We're going all the way to the Congo!"
"What about the people that are going to be looking after Eric," Tosha asked. Those people were surely going to be a problem to handle, because whoever it was, was more then likely related to Eric, and would try to contact his parents to tell them what was going on.
"If we have to we'll silence them, lock them in a closet, or who knows, perhaps we'll bring them along."
"This is not some little fun filled vacation," Tosha screamed. "This is a fucking investigation of your park and we only need experts for this trip!"
"Fine," Campbell screamed. "I'll let you handle Eric's keepers for the vacation! While I'm getting Eric, you take care of them, deal?"
"That sounds great," Tosha smiled. She turned and walked out of the office. That smile scared Campbell for when Tosha smiled there was going to be trouble and that was the last thing that Edward Campbell wanted to deal with at that time.