Chapter 4- Negotiations

The helicopter turned in an alternate direction on the way home, not going to the sunny shores of California, but to the ocean surrounding lands of Costa Rica. One of the biggest tourist attractions of the south islands, the beautiful series of islands with it's rich flora and fauna, and more than appealing natural and man made attractions and monuments.

They were not here to site see though. They were here on business. The helicopter pilot landed the chopper at the national airfield on a small landing strip away from the planes. Using a rent a car, Regis and Hammond made their way into the city, the appointment with the president approaching swiftly.

The car rumbled along the dirt roads and streets, the majority of the people not outside in the blazing heat, residing inside until the later part of the day when the temperature would come down. After about ten or fifteen minutes, they had traveled through the majority of the small city and were coming upon the United States Embassy and the President's office. Regis pulled the car into the small parking situated in back of the buildings and turned the ignition off.

"Would you like me to come inside with you sir?" Regis asked, his hands still holding onto the wheel.

"No thank you Ed, I believe that I can handle this by myself. I will see you in a little while" he said smiling, as he opened the door to the car and stepped out with his cane leading the way. He made his way across the parking lot, his cane clicking the ground in front of him. He walked with a big grin on his face, nodding to those he passed, often getting a funny look of surprise from said people. He was not from the area as they could easily tell, and it was unusual to see a man of his age in such a good mood, with such a large hop in his step.
He arrived at the front of the building and slowly made his way up the steps, using the banister to help steady himself as he went up. He opened the door to the building and a nice gust of cool air escaped out at him, the air conditioning in the building on full blast. He walked in and noticed how nice the building was decorated with pieces of art and flowers and small individual trees. Facing forward, he continued walking and saw what looked to be the secretary sitting behind a large desk. As he approached, he noticed that the lady had the top few buttons on her shirt open, the heat of the day having forced her to do all in her power to keep cool. She looked up as he approached and gave him a small smile.

"Hola senor, may I help you?" she asked pleasantly.

"Yes my dear. My name is John Hammond and I have an appointment with President Vasquez. My assistant assured me that the appointment was booked and he is ready to see me."

"Un momento por favor senor, I will call him and see if he is ready," she said quickly.

She picked up the desk phone and dialed an extension number. She spoke very rapidly in Spanish, so quickly that Hammond was unable to catch any of it. After a few minutes of talking, she hung up the phone and turned back to him.

"Senor Hammond" called the secretary "He is ready to see you now"

"Okay, thank you," Hammond answered, turning the corner and heading for the president's office.

Hammond proceeded up the stairs until he came to a large office with giant windows. The door slide open, and he entered the office to see the president sitting behind his desk, working on some paperwork.

"Ah, senor Hammond, please, have a seat" greeted the president.

"What can I do for you?"

"I am interested in purchasing or leasing some of the islands that are situated in that island chain off the coast of your country. I can assure that my venture is of the legal sort, and country will benefit greatly from the investment that we are trying to make here" he said, the old grin still on his face.

"Los Cinco Muertes? No senor Hammond, I am sorry" the president said quickly, his demeanor changing from that of joy to one of seriousness and tension.



"Those islands cannot be purchased," he said addingly.

"Los Cinco Muertes? What does that mean Mr. President?" Hammond asked, confused on his sudden change with the conversation.

"In Spanish, it means "The Five Deaths." The name comes from an old story in our culture about a warrior who had to choose between five ways to die. It is what you Americans call Urban Legends. Those islands make up the center of the story. Which islands did you have in mind," he asked.

"Um…Isla Nublar, and Isla Sorna," Hammond answered, having some difficulties in remembering the names of the islands.

"And the purpose of the purchasing?" he asked, starting to become a bit weary of the circumstances.

"I work and own at a company known as INGEN. We have recently started on preservation projects, and we decided that our next project should be off the mainland. We feel that on an island, we will have better control should something unexpected occur," he said, finishing what he thought was a very good, yet still vague explanation of the project.

The president sat for a second, clearly thinking about the situation, as well as trying to think of the pros, and the cons to the arrangement that would be made.

He folded his hands on his desk, and looked Hammond square in the eye.

"Here is what I can do, senor Hammond. I can lease the islands to you however, it will cost a fair amount of money. Those islands are uninhabited and as far as anyone is concerned, just pieces of land. Since they reside in Costa Rican waters, I also ask that the country get a piece of the earnings from this preserve that you are setting up. No money needs to paid until the park is up and running, except the leasing fees of course," he said smiling at his own impromptu joke.

Hammond looked at him for a second, thinking over his words carefully.

"You drive a hard bargain Mr. President, but we need those islands, so whatever conditions you deem fit to bring forward, we will abide by them."

"Bueno!" the president said, standing up to escort Mr. Hammond out.

"We will send you the lease agreements and the conditions within the week to your company's home base. We will also keep in contact about the progress of your project and how it is going. It was wonderful doing business with you Mr. Hammond; I hope that your park is everything you imagine it will be."

Hammond nodded, gave his thanks again, and left the office. He made his way back through the building and outside, back into the blazing sun.

"How did it go?" inquired Regis, as soon as Hammond reached the car.
"We have ourselves Isla Nublar, Ed" proclaimed Hammond, getting into the car.

"Oh, Mr. Hammond. I just got a call from Mr. Lewis, the head of the terraforming company. They finished their outline of the island, and the construction crews have all been gathered at central office in California," Regis read from his notes.

"They are setting off from California in two days, with the first round of supplies. The people will be flying, the supplies will be sent by ship. As you may know we own a boat by the name of the S.S. Venture, which will the boat doing all the back and forth deliveries. The construction foreman assures me that they have assembled enough materials to build the labs and the worker's village, akin to the plans laid down by the architects that the company hired. They estimate a month to finish everything though," he said, finishing.

"That's quite alright. There is plenty of work to be done here in the United States before we can even think of moving all important operations over to the islands. Come now, I would like to get back to California."



With that, the two set forth on the long journey back home. Between the drive to landing strip, and the helicopter ride back to the mainland, it was early next morning when they finally touched down. Hammond retired to his mansion to get some rest, and would continue on in a few days.