Chapter One

Guitterrez

Martin Guitterrez walked briskly through the open doors of the Medical Research Centre of San José. A large open reception met his eyes, the marble floors gleaming. His secretary sat behind her large desk a few meters from the doorway, looking up at him as he entered and beckoning him over. Martin had the impression that she had been waiting for him.

"Dr. Guitterrez, there are two nice men from the San Jose Police Department here to see you, they say it's urgent", she said in a feigned airy voice.

Martin frowned. What in the hell would bring two inspectors to see the Head of Medical Research? A twinge of suspicion formed in the back of his head, but he ignored it.

"Where are they?" he asked in the most casual voice he could muster.

"I told them to wait in your office", she answered and turned away, shuffling a stack of papers unnecessarily. He sensed that she was urgent to retreat from the situation. Martin gave a small shrug and headed for the staircase. Taking the steps two at a time, he ran up to the second floor and hurried along the corridor. He passed several cubicles bearing a single occupant each, the sounds of ringing telephones and rustled paper filling his ears. He turned a corner and approached the large oak door which bore his name in gold lettering. Pulling it open he found two heavyset men dressed in black suits and ties seated in two tattered armchairs. Their appearance was rather comical to Guitterrez; they looked as though they were ready to audition for the next Men in Black. Hiding a smile, Martin entered his large office. A long desk took up the majority of space, the rest taken up by a bank of filing cabinets. Stacks of papers and mugs of coffee littered all but a small space which had a plaque with his name centered in it. The two men stood, now he noticed that one was considerably shorter than the other.

"Dr. Martin Guitterrez?" asked the taller man in a deep voice, extending his hand.

"Er- Yeah", answered Marty, shaking the inspector's hand.

"We'd like to ask a few questions if you don't mind", said the inspector, gesturing towards the desk.

"Sure."

Martin crossed the room and sat in his chair, looking expectantly at them, his expression quizzical. The two men reseated themselves slowly, the taller man staring at Martin with apparent suspicion. The shorter man produced a large brown envelope from his inner pocket and unfastened the rubber strap. He pulled out a large photograph and threw it onto the desk.

"Do you recognize this man?" the inspector asked.

Martin looked down at the image, which showed a stocky man with graying hair wearing a white lab coat. He considered for a moment before shaking his head. The larger inspector's eyes narrowed, but he made no comment. The shorter man took out another image and threw it on top of the last one.

"What about this man?" he asked.

This one showed a tall man in his mid thirties. Again, Guitterrez shook his head. He stared fixatedly at the image, the eyes of the taller man hadn't left him since he had entered the office and Martin was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"The first man there is named Dr. Michael Sharp", the shorter man said, "Have you heard of him?"

Martin shook his head once more. His mind was working furiously to work out what any of this had to do with him.

"The second man is Mike Bakker, a tourist. He was killed in an accident two days ago", the inspector continued, "Did you know him?"

"Nope."

Martin could tell that both of the men were watching him closely to see any reaction that he might show.

"You haven't received any unusual telephone calls?"

"No."

"Nothing unusual at all?"

"No", said Martin, rather more defiantly than he meant to.

The shorter man picked up the pictures and stacked them neatly in a little pile, tapping them on the table lightly. Calmly, he slipped them back into their brown envelope and stowed it in his pocket. Then, very slowly, he leaned towards Martin and spoke in a hushed voice.

"If you receive anything you consider significant, contact us immediately."

He produced a small contact card with a phone number scribbled on the bottom. Martin took it and stuffed it into the pocket and nodded, despite the fact that he had no intention of contacting them at all. Then the short man spoke again.

"You are aware of the InGen islands?"

Martin smiled despite himself.

"Who doesn't?" he answered.

Both men seemed completely unabashed by this answer.

"You are also aware that you signed a non disclosure agreement with InGen and the Costa Rican government over a decade ago?"

Guitterrez's face fell. Only a few select people knew about such an agreement. He merely nodded silently and looked at them both with mingled surprise and agitation. The men stared at him for a moment and Guitterrez wandered whether they were going to attack him, but the tall man merely spoke in a calm, harsh voice.

"You would do well to remember this agreement".

Both of the men stood abruptly and moved towards the door. The tall man paused with his hand on the door handle and turned slowly to look at Guitterrez.

"We'll be seeing each other very soon, I expect."

His voice had become sharper, more sinister. Martin had the feeling that it was a warning, almost threatening. Without another word they both swept from the room and snapped the door shut behind them, leaving Martin at his desk.

Several minutes later Guitterrez walked back into the now deserted reception and approached his secretary once more. She didn't seem to notice him coming, despite his echoing footfalls; he suspected she was trying to avoid him. She managed to ignore him right up until he stood a mere foot away from her face, at which point she gave a small jump as if she had only just seen him.

"Dr. Guitterrez, you startled me", she whispered.

"Penny, did those men from the Police Department ask for anything?" Martin asked.

She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. After a moment she spoke in a small voice.

"They asked to see all of your mail, but they didn't find anything interesting. They told me not to say anything."

Martin wasn't surprised by this piece of information. The two men hadn't acted like any police officials that he had ever met. He had a small suspicion that they weren't real officials at all. He made to turn away when he wondered if anything had arrived recently.

"Has anything else come today?" he asked, turning back to face her.

Penny turned to consult a chart on the wall and walked into a small office behind her desk, emerging a few seconds later.

"As a matter of fact, this just came from a Dr. Sharp."

Martin's head snapped up as she held out a package the size of a paperback book. He tore off the wrapping at the top and tipped it upside down. A piece of semi-blackened photography paper, a post-it note and a metal tube fell into his hand. Written on the post-it was a small message scribbled in blotched ink.

Image taken - Cabo Blanco Biological Reserve.

Single fatality, unknown symptoms.

Startling blood work from body; High serotonin, unknown virus.

Dr. Michael Sharp.

Frowning, Martin inspected the metal vile which was marked with bio-hazard warnings in several languages. Undeterred, Martin twisted the screw top open. There was a sharp hiss and the vile frosted in his hand. He tipped it upside down and a tiny container containing a blood sample and a scroll of paper laden with test results fell into his hand. He frowned at it and put them aside, fully intending to run through them as soon as he returned to his office. He then picked up the photograph paper. His face fell as what he was seeing hit him. His eyes widened and he quickly stuffed everything back into the package that they had arrived in before Penny could see anything.

"Penny, I need you to make a few calls for me. I need to talk to Dr. Ian Malcolm."