I left Owen's before sunrise so I could go back to my place for the first time in what felt like a week. I had to mentally prepare myself for what could turn out to be one really bad day, and still beat Simon into the office. A normal person would probably call to schedule an appointment if they needed to talk to the CEO of the company. I was anything but normal so I bypassed that step. Plus, I didn't want him to see me coming.
It was just before seven o'clock in the morning when I broke into Simon's office. Technically speaking, I didn't think picking the lock on his office door constituted breaking and entering, but a pesky little thing called the justice system disagreed with me. I wasn't really sure what time he normally arrived for work so I stretched out on his leather couch, cradling my pumpkin spice latte like a blanket, to wait him out.
About an hour later I heard Simon talking to his secretary in the hallway right before he walked through the door. He passed by without noticing me sprawled on his leather furniture. Simon's situational awareness really sucked. I sat up slowly finishing off my coffee as he puttered around his desk.
"Good morning," I called out to him.
He jumped about three feet in the air grabbing his chest. It was really funny.
"My god Jo! You scared me half to death. What are you doing here so early?"
"I need to talk to you," I said stating the obvious. I stood up and walked to his door, locking it. This was the type of conversation that needed no interruptions.
"What's wrong?" Simon asked alarmed.
I walked over taking a seat in one of the chairs facing his desk. Simon might not know it, but this wasn't going to be a conversation, it was going to be an interrogation. I needed to assess whether he had lied to me about anything regarding the raptors or the Indominus Rex. A person's body language, breathing, and even the way they structured their responses could be a tell as to the truth or deceit of their statement. I was trained to sniff out a lie with the efficiency of a bloodhound.
"I need to ask you some things and I want you to be honest with me," I told him slowly. "It won't be easy to hear and there are certain things I can't tell you, but what questions I can answer, I will."
He eyed me critically and I saw his persona change from Simon to the CEO of Masrani Global Corporation as he raised his guard. Whatever blows your skirt up man. I didn't care what kind of emotional armor he dawned as long as he didn't think he could lie to me. We could do this the easy way or the hard way, but we were going to do this.
"Your company intends to retrain the Velociraptor's instincts to serve human needs, correct?" I asked already knowing the answer.
His eyes narrowed in on mine no doubt trying to figure out the source of my insider information. Good luck with that one.
"Yes, that is correct." Good. So far one question and one truthful answer. I didn't have time for bullshit and apparently neither did Simon.
"Were you aware of InGen's intention to use that development for military purposes prior to me bringing it to your attention?" I was easing into it; I didn't want to go for the knock out punch right out of the gate.
"No," Simon answered leaning back in his char snapping his jaw shut. He was pissed. I could tell from his body language he was not a happy camper about being kept in the dark by his employees. I felt my nerves relax the slightest bit. It was still a shit situation, but at least Simon wasn't a lying, manipulative bastard. Yet.
"You do realize the probability of them ever being retrained enough to even be incorporated into the park is slim, and the notion they could be used effectively as a weapon is preposterous?" I said watching him closely.
He tilted his head to the side studying me, and I was keenly aware that I wasn't the only one evaluating the situation. Simon may not have any formal training in interrogation or profiling, but he wasn't a gazillionaire for no reason.
"Yes, I am fully aware of the low probability of success," he answered giving nothing else away. I didn't need him to confirm what I already knew, he needed to sell the investors something and raptors as a park attraction came with dollar signs attached.
Enough with the heavy petting. Now it was time to get real.
"Did you ask for research possibilities concerning a genetic hybrid?"
Simon shifted slightly in his seat, his breathing coming just a hair faster than before as he interlaced his fingers in front of his mouth. He may as well have held up a sign that said "Yes Jo, that is exactly what I did" because his body language was screaming out the answer.
"Yes, but as you said, it was purely for research. We have been conducting focus groups recently and the overwhelming majority of people are not as excited as they once were when it comes to dinosaurs. We felt the need for something more exotic could be useful in the future once the glamour of the park opening has faded," he answered.
The park wasn't even fully functional yet and he was conductive focus groups on how to improve it? Can you say premature? Too bad I wasn't a part of any of his focus groups because I had some definite opinions on this subject.
Still, something was off. The way Simon felt the need to ramble on in justification of his decision was telling me he was holding something back.
"It's not just research anymore is it?" I questioned and I was really hoping he would say no, but I knew my luck wasn't that good. In fact I was pretty sure the 'L' in my luck had been permanently replaced by an 'F'.
Simon looked down at his desk, "No, apparently not."
"Care to elaborate?" If I thought Simon lying to me was bad, this was worse.
He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before continuing, "I asked Dr. Wu to look into the possibility of genetic manipulation. You have to understand if we aren't able to sustain this park with new attractions this entire endeavor is a waste. I wanted to know if it would be possible to create a dinosaur the public had never seen. He was simply supposed to research the idea and let me know its viability."
"But he did a lot more than that, didn't he? He created it," I finished. I felt chills run up my arms and I struggled to keep my seat. The fact that Dr. Wu was able to create a genetic hybrid without Simon's approval or knowledge was terrifying.
"How do you know about all this?" he asked turning the table on me.
Not in a million light years Simon, but nice try.
"How did you?" I fired back. He was crazy if he thought I was copping to breaking about 50 laws.
"After you told Claire and I about your suspicions with Hoskins I had some of my people do some digging. I've had my suspicions with InGen since the merger, but thought I had appropriate safeguards in place. Turns out I was wrong," he said sounding resigned. "My technicians found some very well hidden files which alluded to much of what we've discussed."
Bet I know where they found those files.
"Come with me," Simon said standing and walking towards the door.
I followed him as he left his office and got on the elevator taking it to the top floor. As far as I knew nothing was up here except the roof and a helipad. As the elevator doors opened I saw that I was, in fact, correct about their being a helipad, and it came complete with a shiny, new helicopter.
Simon made his way over the helicopter speaking briefly with an older gentleman. I consider myself a pretty smart person, but I didn't understand what a helicopter had to do with all this.
"Come on, I want to show you something?" Simon said walking towards the helicopter.
"If it's the helicopter, I can see it just fine from here." I didn't like where this was going.
Simon opened the door the helicopter climbing into the pilot's seat. Wait, what?
I jogged over to the door stopping Simon before he could close the door, "What are you doing?"
"There is something I need you to see and this is the only way to get there right now," Simon stated already buckling in.
"The only way to get there is in a helicopter?" I asked trying to clarify the situation. He shook his head gesturing for me to get in. "Who's going to fly the helicopter Simon?"
"I am, of course," he said confidently as the older gentleman climbed into the other pilot's seat.
Oh. Hell. No.
"Since when do you know how to fly a helicopter?" I screamed over the noise of the propellers my anxiety level rising rapidly.
Simon shrugged, "I decided to start taking lessons." Most people who want to fill their free time take up hobbies like scrapbooking or coin collecting, only insanely rich people take up flying a helicopter.
"How many lessons have you had?" I was in full-blown panic mode now.
"This will be my second, but I've always been an extremely faster learner." I now stood firmly behind my decision to panic.
I knew I should have ordered that parachute off eBay when I had the chance. And to think only days ago I thought my biggest worry was dying in a fiery motorcycle crash with Owen. Speaking of Owen, I really hoped he didn't hear about this. Something told me he wouldn't consider climbing into a helicopter with a man who'd only flown one in a video game "staying safe".
I climbed into the back of chopper strapping myself into the harness so tight I could hardly breathe. I'd been in a helo crash once in Iraq, and it was not an experience I was looking forward to repeating.
It took about 15 minutes to get wherever it was Simon wanted to show me. I almost puked twice, managing to choke it back at the last minute. The instructor wasn't so lucky and tossed his cookies as soon as we landed. Flying with Simon was like being locked in a washer when it was in the middle of a spin cycle. I was walking home. I didn't care how long it took.
I exited the helicopter, resisting the urge to kiss the ground, in front of an enormous paddock. The walls were easily 30 feet of solid concrete and reinforced steel.
"What is this?" I asked Simon as we walked towards a set of metal stairs.
"Paddock 11," he answered. Paddock 11 didn't exist as far as I knew and made a point to know pretty much everything about this park. "It is home to the two assets."
I stopped walking, slowly turning to look at Simon, "There are two Indominus Rex's in there?"
"Yes."
"How is this possible? How did you not know? This kind of operation must cost tens of millions of dollars and you just didn't notice?" I yelled at Simon my arms flailing around.
"Jo, I have billions invested in this park. Millions are allocated daily to its function and development. When you combine that with people actively seeking to deceive me it's not that hard to imagine."
You know you are officially too rich when you don't notice $50 million disappearing from your bank account. We continued up the stairs entering a small observation tower. There was a wall of thick shatterproof glass on one side exposing what appeared to be a holding pen since it was too small to house a dinosaur for any length of time comfortably. There was one employee sitting at a control panel in the corner with the name 'Nick' written in large print across his shirt.
"Jesus Christ Simon," I muttered walking towards the glass looking at the paddock. "Do you know exactly what this thing is made of?"
When he didn't answer right away I turned to look at him. He was staring at the floor tension keeping his body rigid. Fucking shit. He didn't know. We were so screwed.
"You need to terminate these things now Simon. This isn't a game. You can't allow a genetically modified hybrid you know nothing about to be here."
"It's not that simple. As you can see we have quite a lot invested at the moment. Believe me, I'm not happy about how this played out, but simple terminating the assets is a waste of resources," he said sounding every bit the shrewd business man.
"You don't know what's out there! You don't know what it's capable of! How can you possible think this will end well?" I yelled at him. I was starting to question Simon's judgment, and that's really saying something coming from someone like me. If I'm the only sane voice in the room it's time to find a new room.
Just as I finished I heard a snarl from inside the paddock. I turned around, seeing two dinosaurs emerge from the foliage. At first glance they resembled a T-Rex, but as they stalked forward it was clearly apparent something was different. Their skin was a sickly gray color covered in what appeared to be small diamond shaped scales. There were spikes covering the back of their enormous heads that trailed down their back. I squinted seeing what appeared to be horns directly above their blood red eyes. I had no idea how old they were, but they were already bigger than Owen's raptors. They were absolutely horrifying.
I felt my stomach twist uncomfortably as I watched the dinosaurs stalked towards the center of the pen then pause looking me dead in the eye. Simon may have brought me here to assess these animals and their enclosure, but the dinosaurs on the other side of this glass were studying us. I was positive of it. The way they tracked my movements as I walked back and forth in front of the window, letting out low chirps and growls was all the confirmation I needed.
"Are you seeing this?" I asked Simon.
He came to stand next to me watching the dinosaurs, as the two of them seemed to be having a conversation. Suddenly, the one of the left snapped at the other lunging forward slightly in aggravation. With speed that was astonishing the one on the right turned striking out, her massive jaw seemed to unhinge as she lunged for the throat of her sibling. Rows of razor sharp teeth cut through her sibling's skin like a warm knife through butter as I fought the bile rising in my throat. Blood sprayed the ground as the dinosaur in distress clawed and bit at its aggressor fighting for survival. It was all in vain as the dominant I-Rex violently shook the smaller dinosaur viciously from side to side. The smaller I-Rex crumbled to the ground no longer able to withstand the onslaught. Simon covered his mouth turning away from the massacre and rushing out of the room. I watched as the larger I-Rex slowly and meticulously devoured her sibling.
Well, on a positive note, at least we didn't have two Indominus Rex's on the island anymore.
Malfoy-Whitlock-21: Thanks for the amazing review! I thought it was important to delve a little into Jo's background so we know why she is the way she is. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Desert Vulpes Zerda: I love it too! They are my favorite make believe couple and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact their mine...ok, so maybe a little. Thanks for reading!
ZabuzasGirl: Thanks for reading and the review! Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.
sarahmichellegellarfan1: :) I think so too...glad you agree!
twifan1987: LOL! That made me laugh. No, not at all...those two just have a lot of unresolved sexual tension to work out. Thanks for reading!
BlueEyedPisces: I hope the confrontation with Simon didn't disappoint. Glad you like the inner monologues...I like them too :)
jahoney: Thanks again for another great review! Totally get where you are coming from. Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
AngelLove1728: Thanks for reading and the review! To answer your question, I'm planning on doing a sequel that takes us through the events of the movie. Obviously it will be a little AU since Jo will be there, but it won't deviate from the overall plot. I've had some request for an Owen POV story so I might publish a few chapters from this story, but from his perspective before that. Thoughts?
angelicedg: Thanks! I really love writing those and I'm glad you like reading them. I liked how that chapter ended as well...good times.