A/N: The current plan is that Part I of this story is going to be end in a few chapters so I can focus on other stories and then I'll pick up in this same story with Part II. I also read that Jurassic Park IV is coming out in June 2014. Hopefully I'll have this story done by then…
Isla Nublar: Chip Hanford was standing in the rain across the road as he watched Jeff Thomas and Samantha Brown briefly argue over the canister when his acute hearing picked up a non-natural noise from around them. He darted his attention around the area but his vision was partly obscured by the rain streaking down his protective goggles. He was still sweeping the area when a gunshot was heard. Chip immediately took cover and looked over to see Jeff having tackled Samantha behind the small embankment to protect her from the shots.
Chip for his part finally located where the shots were coming from, aimed his M16 rifle into the trees above him, and returned fire.
Pacific Ocean: John Brown could barely make out the island of Nublar with the overcast clouds high above it, far in the distance.
"I should be back soon. If I'm not, in three hours you're free to leave and forget all about me," John told the boat captain who merely held up his hands as if he had already washed his hands on this whole venture. The Pacific Pharmaceuticals Executive untied his black speedboat from the back of the fishing trawler and soon was roaring off away towards Jurassic Park.
A few miles back, a disguised BioSyn helicopter roared low over the ocean to avoid detection as it too headed for Nublar with Lewis Dodgson onboard.
Across the road, the sounds of gunfire were heard as Jeff did what he could to shield Samantha as bullets ricocheted around them.
"The hell kind of a stickup is this?!" Samantha found cause to complain as she screamed briefly when a bullet ripped right over her head and hit the pavement.
"Give me that canister and it'll be my problem and not yours!" said Jeff lunging for it. Samantha barely kept it away from him, but the new mud on the ground caused her to lose her footing and she collapsed onto her backside.
"Who do you really work for?" Samantha demanded as she tried to scurry away from Jeff on all fours as he advanced on her while still trying to keep out of sight of the unseen shooter.
"That's none of your business. But it has nothing to do with destroying InGen," Jeff swore as lightning flashed overhead and thunder could be heard accompanying it.
"Then why are you here if not to sabotage us?" Samantha asked next as she fumbled for her gun that was secured to her side.
"I'm only here for that!" Jeff insisted pointing at the device.
"And why do you want this canister so badly?!" Samantha shot back trying to distract the man. To her surprise, it worked as Jeff was momentarily distracted by that nagging question.
"I don't know," he reluctantly admitted. Samantha then pulled out her gun but Jeff was too well trained and kicked it out of her hand and then knocked the can out of her other hand with his and picked it up.
"Then someone's not telling you the real truth by not letting you know," Samantha swore darkly as she looked up at him through blood stained eyes from lack of sleep, something noticeable even despite the goggles. "And I should know; I'm in the same situation. That's why I need those embryos."
Jeff regarded the can carefully as Chip raced across the road and fired some more into the trees above them before tapping his hand on Jeff's shoulder and jerking his head towards the sign indicating the East Dock.
"Cover fire and then I'll be with you," Jeff promised. Chip nodded and headed off down the road while firing at their unknown assailant who continued shooting at them. Jeff then turned to look at Samantha long and hard as she stared up at him.
"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely and then ran off down the road leaving Samantha with nothing but a jumble of confused thoughts running through her mind.
Above, Howard King watched the two Pacific Pharmaceuticals workers vanish from sight. Scowling at his poor marksmanship, he wondered how he was going to catch up with them. …And then his eyes fell on Samantha Stone's Hummer and a smile spread across his face as he ran off towards it.
Below, Samantha had gotten back on her feet and was brushing mud off of herself when she had to leap out of the way as her Hummer raced past her towards the East Dock. She hadn't seen who was driving, but given that someone had been shooting at her and Jeff and his accomplice, it seemed a third-party was involved in the attempted recover of that embryo canister.
Gathering her wits about her, Samantha Brown recollected her weapons and ran off down the road after the departed individuals.
Control Room, Isla Sorna: Sheila was rocketing through lines of code with the search algorithm she was running; while on Nublar, Cassie was doing the exact same thing; both trying to hunt down the elusive white rabbit and find his rabbit hole.
"Some early news coming in from the team," said Ed Regis over the conference hookup. "It looks like they were successful."
Sam breathed out a long sigh of relief at that.
"Finally some good news," he commented as he reached for his coffee.
"Have we heard from Samantha yet?" asked Ludlow on his end.
"No, there's still a lot of disarray over there from all the destruction so they're trying to get an accurate headcount," Tim told him. "Once they track everyone down we should then be able to get a bead on her."
"Then put me in contact with the second in command," Ludlow requested. "Jeff, whatever his name is."
Tim and Ed Regis gave each other a sideways glance at that statement.
"Yeah, we're kind of having problems getting in touch with him," Ed admitted reluctantly.
"What?" said Ludlow as that got his full attention. "Find him, immediately!"
"I-yes sir," said Tim hurriedly as he began typing away on his keyboard and making some calls.
"Who else is missing amongst the senior staff who were there?" Ludlow asked.
"Chip Hanford and Howard King,"
"Ed, I need you to go to the East Dock immediately," Ludlow ordered. "Find the DRT team in that mess and then take them with you."
"Right," said Ed as he ran from the room.
"What's going on?" asked Sam concerned.
"Nothing you need be worried about right now," the COO of InGen stated with a dismissive shake of his head. "I'm sure we'll be hearing from Samantha very..."
Alarms suddenly started blaring and Cassie and Sheila were both terrified that Ed James had made his move already. But looking at her terminal, Sheila saw that the male programmer hadn't done anything yet. Quickly sending a reassuring message to her sister that she read through Tim's e-mail system, the two continued their work.
"What now?!" demanded Ludlow at this sudden intrusion into what was going on.
"Sir, tracking buoys on the east side of Nublar have gone off!" said Tim heatedly. "We've got an unidentified seagoing object on rapid approach to the East Docks."
"Where are our helicopters?!" shouted Ludlow irate. "Send them to the East Dock now!"
"Sir, we can't," said Tim shaking his head and knowing he was being the bearer of bad news. "They're all being refueled right now. And even if we did get one in the air in the next few minutes it wouldn't have any ordinance."
Ludlow barely avoiding cursing at that fact but knew it would be no good. Obviously whoever was doing that had to have deliberately chosen this time to make their move.
And then suddenly a new round of alarms went off startling him out of his thoughts.
"Sir, radar is picking up a flying object also approaching the east dock," Tim revealed as he read his display. "ETA for both is about six minutes."
"Then tell Regis he needs to be there yesterday and see about getting the cameras online on the dock," Ludlow began. He was about to go further when he saw something off camera and his jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry, sir, I tried to keep them out, but-," began Stephanie Sandelder.
"Hey Pete, what's going on?" asked Jake Whitacre with a smile as both he and Henry Wu entered into the room, both heavily bandaged but otherwise perfectly mobile.
"Did we come at a bad time?" Henry asked also bemused.
As if the day wasn't stressful enough for InGen's COO…
Nublar: It was difficult for any programmer in the room to notice the commotion coming from Tim's desk. But for Cassie it meant more to her than the others…and she a hunch Ed James felt similarly.
She also knew that if anyone at InGen got any video evidence of what was going on that John Brown, Pacific Pharmaceuticals, and by extension her, would be completely up the river.
The only way to stop that would be to sabotage the cameras. But she also remembered her sister's threat about not doing anything besides looking for dirt on Nedry. And so she knew that if she went where she wasn't supposed to go, Sheila would never forgive her.
Looking up at the security camera that was panning the security room and when it briefly looked straight at her, Cassie felt a slight tear roll down her cheek.
"I'm sorry," she mouthed to the camera. And then set about on her work to find the camera program location on the mainframe.
Sorna: "Jake, Henry, long time no see!" said Sam pleased at the scientist's return to the living. The two scientists were visible on the remote feed to
"Hey Sam, how's the island? Did it fall apart without us?" Jake teased.
"Actually, Lori wanted me to let you know that island efficiency is up thirty percent with you not around," Sam told him. Jake groaned at that as that was Lori's standard line to him whenever he was gone from Sorna for a prolonged period.
"So what's everybody so excited about?" asked Henry curious. Ludlow appeared reluctant to tell them but figured they'd find out sooner or later anyway.
"There's a commotion near the East Docks," the COO said, still hoping to be ambiguous and hope Jake and Henry would chalk it up to dilophosaurs. Henry sighed at that as Jake shook his head in disappointment.
"So someone's finally making a play for the embryos; are they?" asked Jake knowingly. To Sam's side, Sheila abruptly stopped typing but Sam was too wrapped up in what Jake had said to notice. Sheila for her part had been hit by a double whammy of Jake's statement and that her sister was no longer looking up the filename of wht_ and was instead trying to get into the camera system.
"Why didn't you tell me this might happen earlier?" demanded Sam since it was clear from Ludlow's earlier orders to Ed Regis that both had likely suspected something was going to happen.
"It was strictly need to know and I didn't want to distract you from your regular duties trying to ensure Sorna's survival. Besides, there's little you could do about it from where you are anyway," said Ludlow irritated that he had to be going over this while more vital things were currently happening on Nublar. "Timothy, why are you not getting us a feed from the East Dock?"
"I'm trying," the programmer insisted as he tried to work with the code. "But something's blocking my access."
"Maybe the cameras over there are damaged after that storm," Sam reasoned.
"Or else there's a bat in your belfry," Jake muttered. Ludlow shot the scientist a glance and then turned to Tim.
"Is that possible?" he asked. Tim shrugged.
"I wouldn't be surprised," the programmer stated nonchalantly. "But really there's not much in these systems that would be useful for anyone who would have reason to be here. All the DNA sequences are currently stored on Site B's mainframes and I just checked the servers and the only traffic coming back and forth between the two islands has been between Sheila and me."
"But we're logging keystrokes so…," began Ludlow. Sheila tensed up at that statement.
"Why not just send a guard to look at all the programmers and so who's doing it?" asked Sam feeling that all this tech talk was a waste of time.
"Like they're going to know what to look for," Jake laughed at that idea. Sam was a little steamed at this flippant remark but knew he was right.
"Should we even be discussing this over an open mic?" asked Henry concerned. Tim waved off his concern.
"They stop now and they won't be able to access the cameras if I get there first," the programmer told the scientist. "They can't afford that."
"Very well," said Ludlow feeling somewhat placated over this scenario involving the computers. "Ms. Matula, would you-?"
"You know what," said Sheila abruptly as she pushed herself away from her desk and stood up. "I need some air."
Before anyone could protest, the female programmer yanked out a stick of gum from a pack Jake instantly recognized and put it in her mouth and began to storm out the room.
"Hey, give me back my gum you thief!" Jake yelled out after her but she was gone without another word and Jake threw up his hands in desperation.
"That was weird," Sam admitted as he turned to look at the closed door. "I wonder what's gotten into her?"
Before anyone could respond, Jake came up with an answer. "I'd say nerves. She probably just had to blow off some steam what with everything that's going on around here lately. I feel the same way."
That answer surprised Henry. Normally Jake would be the first one to spout off some conspiracy theory whether serious or half-joking when something strange happened. That he hadn't in this case was somewhat suspicious but maybe he had good intentions behind it considering the embryos were in danger. He made a mental note to ask him about it later.
"Ah, Jake's right she'll probably be back in a few minutes," Tim agreed as he cracked his knuckles. "It doesn't matter anyway because no two-bit hacker is going to outclass me."
The programmer began typing feverishly as he sought to find a way into the camera system while the others could do little but watch from their vantage points.
"Sam if you scrambled your two pilots right now how long would it take them to get to Nublar?" Ludlow asked curious.
"Once they're off the ground it would take forty to forty-five minutes in the helicopter and probably about fifteen or less in the DC-3," was the response he was given by Sam. "The helicopter is about ready to be put back into service since it's finally been detailed cleaned. But Kevin and Jennifer just took apart the plane's right engine because I guess it's pulling to the side or something. No ETA when they'll be done."
Ludlow let loose an exasperated groan upon hearing that. "Well tell them to be prepared to scramble to Nublar at a moment's notice." He ordered. "And put me in touch with Ed Regis now!"
East Docks, Nublar: In the distance, a powerboat and helicopter could be seen racing towards the island as shots rang out from the jungle towards the water. Jeff Thomas and Chip Hanford ran out from the jungle and into the dock area as seconds later a Hummer also appeared chasing after them.
The two Pacific Pharmaceuticals workers took cover behind some equipment and opened fire on the pursuing vehicle. Chip managed to blow out one of the vehicle's front tires and it skidded to a halt as Howard King pushed open the driver's side door and ran off for cover as bullets peppered the area. The Biosyn worker also took up a position behind the base of one of the giant dock cranes and fired off a couple of shots.
"Give it up Pac Pharms!" Howard yelled at his opponents as he reloaded his weapon. "You're not leaving here with that canister!"
"That's rich coming from a B-Syner!" Jeff yelled back, trying to stall for time. "You're lucky InGen supplied your bullets because your real employer is run by real bean counters! I wouldn't be surprised if Biosyn will even be around in the next five years with all your recent scandals that have required massive payoffs to keep quiet."
"Oh, we'll be around," insisted Howard as he finished chambering rounds into his rifle. "Can't the same thing for you, though."
Jeff made a motion to Chip who nodded his head and silently moved off to try and outflank Howard King.
"I don't see where you came up with that idea," said Jeff slightly offended at such a remark. "We're a multi-billion dollar multinational company. Something like that doesn't just disappear overnight."
"No, but any chain is just as strong as its weakest link," Howard reminded him. "That being you and your boss. Coming here was the last mistake that either of you two will ever make and you'll take your company down with you."
The sounds of the powerboat and helicopter could be heard and all three faces turned towards the sea as the two vehicles could be seen drawing ever closer.
"That's not the way I see it," said Jeff with a grin. Howard King was about to respond when he felt the cocking of a gun behind his head and he looked behind him to see Chip Hanford at point blank range. Jeff got up and walked over to the duo and took Howard's rifle and emptied it off its bullets before tossing it the ground nearby.
"Guess you lose this round," the Pacific Pharmaceuticals worker observed. Howard King gave him a devious smile.
"It's not over yet," was his smug response.
Control Room: "Ha, ha, success!" said Tim triumphantly as the camera monitor on the big screen fired up showing the East Docks. Cassie watched the cameras slowly start to pan across the area to try and see what was going on. Despite her situation, the female programmer smirked briefly and hit the enter key on her keyboard and the signal burst into static.
"Oh, shit," said Tim annoyed and began digging into the code to try and fix the signal. On the other sides of the conversation were annoyance, disbelief, and someone cracking a joke and being told to be quiet.
East Docks, Nublar: Jeff was about to question what that meant when a sound of feet running across the concrete was hear accompanied by the sounds of panting breath. The three turned to look across the way as Stephanie Brown came to a halt completely out of breath.
"All three of you are under arrest!" she wheezed as she could barely stand straight while still holding her gun at them. The three looked at each other and then back at her as if somewhat amused that she could hope to hold the three of them until backup arrived.
"You and what army?" they asked in unison.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Abruptly high winds buffeted the group as the black helicopter roared by low over their heads. The winds scattered the group and Samantha fell to the ground as she was too tired to stand up any longer. The wind also had the adverse effect of tearing the embryo canister from Jeff's jacket and it went rolling off down the docks as he immediately went after it as Howard King pursued it as well with Chip Hanford farther behind having elected to take the occasional warning shot at the helicopter to get it to veer off.
As they ran towards the end of the dock, the powerboat went racing past in the opposite direction throwing waves onto the concrete and dousing the three men with water. It then reached the shoreline and spun around to head back. But what the driver of the boat didn't take into full account was Samantha Brown who was now hobbling along trying to catch up with the three imposters trying to grab the embryo canister. As it was moving past her, the helicopter went rocketing close by overhead and the driver of the boat instinctively veered to try and avoid a collision. The resulting wave splash and thrust from the boat was enough to knock the weakened InGen Board Member off the side of the dock and into the waters nearby. Jeff, who was looking behind him to judge when the powerboat would catch up with them, saw the whole thing and swore to himself. He grabbed a nearby metal rod and used it to knock Howard King off his feet before tearing back the way he had come.
"Chip, get the canister!" he yelled at the other Pacific Pharmaceuticals worker as the two went past each other. The worker gave a silent nod of his head and continued on as Howard King got to his feet and the two now barreled towards the shaving cream can that had stopped on a crack in the concrete. The powerboat then went by him and briefly slowed down but Jeff waved to it to keep going and it moved on towards Chip.
He then made it to the end of the dock and dove in without hesitating and swam out to Samantha and helped bring her in. As the two lay gasping on the docks, Jeff looked up blearily and saw Chip knock Howard King off his feet and then sweep the canister up into his hands and leapt off the dock as the powerboat stopped at the end and he dropped into it as the top compartment opened and the worker dove into it. The top compartment then closed and the boat tore off as the helicopter landed nearby to pick up Howard King and then chased after the boat.
"Why?" croaked Samantha coughing out some seawater. Jeff could tell the question was more directed why he saved her and not why did he want the embryos so badly.
"Because I'm not your enemy," Jeff insisted again. "I'll make this up to you, somehow."
The sounds of an engine could be heard as a new Hummer appeared from the jungle and drove into that dock area straight at him. With that Jeff was gone running down the dock as fast as he could as the powerboat appeared once more and picked him up and tore off with the helicopter again coming after it while the DRT Team opened fire on the two departing vehicles.
"Samantha, are you okay?" Ed Regis asked concerned as he helped her up. Samantha nodded as she coughed hoarsely from her dip in the water and Ed motioned to one of the DRT members who brought over a blanket and draped it over her.
"I'll live," she said ruefully as she watched the vehicles depart.
"Did they get it?" asked Ed needing to know. Samantha slowly nodded her head.
"They got it," she confirmed and the Head of PR was immediately off to inform Ludlow and the others. Alone, Samantha walked to the edge of the dock and looked at the departing vehicles and tried to make sense of what had just happened. And more importantly what Jeff Thomas had meant by his final statement to her.
Control Room, Nublar: "Damn," said Tim disappointed at hearing that the embryos had been stolen. "What were they driving?"
"It was two separate parties fighting for the embryos. One fled in a boat, the other by helicopter," Ed began. Cassie Matula and Ed James both did everything in their power to try and lean in to hear the next part. On it, everything depended for the both of them.
"So which group got the embryos?" came the inevitable question from Ludlow. Ed could be heard asking Samantha that question to which she responded.
"The group in the powerboat," relayed the Head of Public Relations to the group. Both programmers were too caught up in their own emotions to notice what the other was up to. Cassie just breathed out a sigh of relief and completely forgot that Ed James currently had a unique piece of code he was on the verge of executing. Ed for his part gave a slight smirk and began typing away on his computer.
Control Room, Sorna: "Sorry," said Sheila apologetically as she took her seat once more at her terminal. "Did I miss anything?"
"Yeah, the embryos got taken," said Sam glumly. Sheila nodded her head as a wave of sadness fell over her because this was the end result of her sister's betrayal.
Sitting at her computer she was deciding what to do next when she noted what was happening on Ed James's computer now that the embryos had been taken. He had exited out of his coding window without implementing wht_ . Curious-and desperate not to be thinking of her sister-Sheila was thinking about what to do next when her search for that term in the computer's code indicated that it had found something.
"I'm not too concerned," she could hear Henry Wu say over the radio. "Those embryos are useless right now because they haven't been properly cooled for weeks now. Viability is gone and those DNA strands are garbage at this point."
"But somebody still wanted them," Ludlow reminded him. "I want to know why."
Arguments and theories raged over that subject as Sheila read in the coding what the white rabbit was responsible for. When she finally saw it, her jaw slowly dropped wide open she was so shocked.
Ocean: Lewis Dodgson's helicopter pursued the motorboat as much as it could before fuel consumption concerns forced it to race off for Costa Rica.
"I wonder how he's feeling right now?" asked John Brown in a jovial mood as he steered the boat with one hand and held the embryo shaving cream canister in the next.
"I can only wonder," said Jeff as he used a towel to dry off his face. "That was not easy to come by. Or get off the island." He said, alluding to the fact that they'd had no contact with their boss for an evacuation from the island but he'd still managed to come through for them.
"Hey, if it worked once in Nicaragua I figured it would work a second time here," said his boss, pleased and grateful that it had in both instances. "Course, it was a real hassle trying to keep exact tabs on what InGen was doing over here. But I figured if you were going to make for the embryos, this would be the time to do it. But don't worry boys with this it only gets easier from here!" He continued, briefly flipping the canister in his hand and then putting it in his jacket pocket. The boat continued on towards its rendezvous with the fishing trawler.
Mano De Dios Amber Mine, Costa Rica: "Can I help you?" asked a voice with a Spanish accent from out of nowhere as Sarah and Jess Harding were both startled out of their sweeps of the empty amber mine. The two turned to see an older slightly balding man approaching them from a nearby wooden building which must have been the office of the place.
"Sorry, I did not mean to scare you," the man apologized as he offered his hand. "My name is Rostagno I run…or should I say ran this facility."
Sarah figured the man was likely up to no tricks, especially by himself and with Jess there, and so she shook his hand.
"My name's Doctor Harding and I-," began Sarah wanting to ask him a few questions when that name caused some recognition with the Amber Mine overseer.
"Doctor Harding? From InGen?" asked Rostagno, a mixture of doubt and hopefulness in his tone. That question threw Sarah by surprise but she managed to stop any of it from being expressed on her face.
"Yes I am. Sarah Harding," she said introducing herself. Apparently this man knew of her father's association with the company but not much about him if he thought she was the Harding being referred to.
"May I see some identification?" the man said, asking the next reasonable question. Sarah pulled out her San Diego University ID and handed it to him.
"Sorry I don't have my InGen ID," she apologized trying to sound embarrassed. The other reason she used her school ID rather than her driver's license was that her school ID identified the department she worked for. Rostagno knew at least something about her father and so having an ID saying she worked in behavioral research with animals may be enough to convince him she was the real deal.
"And you are?" asked Rostagno to Jess as he returned Sarah's ID. Jess gave a smile.
"Jess Harding. I study extinct species," the younger Harding sister replied with a grin. To Sarah's surprise that also seemed to resonate with him as well. What she couldn't see was Jess's eyebrows scrunch up as she wondered where she had come up with that answer and why it had seemed the right thing to say.
"So have you come to let us know InGen is starting up production again?" asked Rostagno with a tone between hopefulness and desperation. Sarah shook her head.
"Sorry, I was just here on vacation and thought I'd stop by," she offered apologetically before looking around the place. "I guess they stopped production after the accident?"
"Yes, though I can't be surprised after hearing what happened on Nublar," Rostagno agreed with a nod of his head. That gave a measure of hope to Sarah that she might be able to finally find out what happened. For Jess, her head snapped up after hearing the word Nublar as a wave of fear and dread passed over her…although she couldn't remember why she felt that way.
But before either could say anything more…
"Look, I mean you no disrespect but this is still private property," Rostagno began. "If you're not here to tell us we're restarting our work then I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Sarah wasn't sure what a good response to that statement would be but figured if she tried to fight it and Rostagno contacted InGen to complain, they'd be onto her very quickly.
"No, I understand," said Sarah trying to sound sympathetic as she turned to leave. "C'mon Jess, let's go."
Jess looked she wanted to protest that they should force the amber mine overseer to give them more information but seeing the look in Sarah's eyes, she let it go.
"Hey look," said Rostagno before they could leave. "I know you're not here to cause trouble so you can have a souvenir. Maybe it will remind Hammond that there was more to this whole operation than just that island resort of his."
The man walked over to a nearby cart full of what looked like rocks and began rummaging through it.
"Here," he said tossing them an object which Sarah caught. It was a piece of amber. "The last one we found before they closed up shop on us."
Sarah nodded her gratitude and then walked off with her sister back to the jeep. She was grateful for the gift but not entirely sure how it got her any closer to solving the mystery.
"Any of that mean anything to you?" she asked her sister as she handed her the amber piece so she could find her keys.
"Nublar," said Jess in a hushed tone as she studied the fossilized tree sap. "There's something familiar about that word but I have no idea what it is."
Sarah pulled out her notebook and jotted the word down.
"Doesn't ring any bells right now but I'll compare it to the other notes I took about InGen when we get back to the hotel," the older sister remarked as they got into the vehicle.
"Maybe check to see if this means anything either," Jess figured as she handed back the amber to her sister.
"It's just a rock," Sarah said dismissively as she started up the vehicle while inwardly thinking her mysterious contact had just taken her on a wild goose chase. Jess shook her head.
"Look closer," she insisted. Sarah looked at Jess skeptically but nevertheless looked at the fossil. On close inspection she noticed a tiny dot in the middle of the tree sap. Looking even closer, the object began to take form.
Inside the amber was a perfectly preserved mosquito.