ADAPTATIONS

26 - A Hopeful Lead

Dr. Albert Jacobs sat as his desk and looked hungrily at his juicy hamburger seated before him, still in its wrapper. He was so hungry and couldn't wait anymore to eat. He was already having a late lunch due to the work load in the lab. Biting his lips together in anxiousness, he picked up the partially wrapped burger and was about to take a massive bite when his office phone rang. He hesitated, wondering if he should answer that or eat his lunch. After a moment of staring at the offending object and debating on answering it, he sighed and slammed down the burger. A splash of excessive mustard splashed onto his lab coat and he grumbled, picking up the phone.

"Dr. Jacobs speaking. How can I help you?"

There was a slight pause prior to a foreign sounding man answering. "Dr. Jacobs! So glad I could get in contact with you. Hopefully I am not bothering you?" The scientist was about to answer as bluntly as possible, to hell with professionalism, but was interrupted before he could say a word. "My apologies for not introducing myself. This is Simon Masrani from Masrani Global Corporation."

Jacobs's jaw hung open. He knew who this man was. No need to state the company. The man on the other end of the line had captured the scientist's attention. Nervously, he cleared his throat and starting straightening his posture. "Good afternoon, Mr. Masrani." Jacobs awkwardly laughed to himself. "I can honestly say I wasn't expecting a call from you. What, uh, can I do for you, sir?"

Simon wasn't about to waste any time and cut straight to the point. "For the past couple days, I've been going through files pertaining to InGen's previous accomplishments and came across your name pertaining to one particular achievement."

Butterflies tore at the geneticist's insides. Which achievement was his named attached to? There were so many he had a hand in, that he couldn't immediately think of which. Was it recreating the Do-Do bird? Unfortunately, it didn't make it past three days. But at least he had helped recreate one, right? "Which one would that be?"

Simon didn't have to look at the sticky note tacked onto the side of his monitor to get the name right. He'd only become obsessed with it that he had now memorized both classifications for it. "A projected addressed as I-10 HY. Do you remember anything about it?" Jacobs' smile melted into sheer horror. Everything inside him came to an abrupt halt. "My apologies for bringing up anything possibly negative from the past regarding this topic. I would not bother you regarding this had it not been for everything about it being redacted. I find myself extremely curious," more like consumed, he thought to himself, "to at least get some insight on what this little mystery is..."

Jacobs breathed out, "Pet," under his breath and absent mindedly hung the phone up, eyes wide and staring off into space. Suddenly his hungry stomach wasn't his biggest concern.

Simon looked to the phone in offense and surprise. Was he just hung up on? And what did a pet have anything to do with his question? He instantly called the scientist back. He would have his answers even if it meant meeting this man face to face. Good thing he was still in California and didn't fly out two days ago to return to India as originally planned.


Jonathon Stevens sat at his desk in his office. He mindlessly twirled the curly cord of his office phone around his forefinger while rolling his eyes in boredom to what was being explained to him from the other end. He could care less. His attention was broke and him startled, however, when his office door swung open. Stevens was about to give his secretary a verbal lashing, but she scampered out of sight just as a tall man of Indian ethnicity and wearing a navy-blue suit came into view.

Stevens froze on the spot. "I'll have to call you back. Something just came up."

He hung up the phone and shot to his feet, feeling hot under the collar in nervous anticipation to what this conversation was going to concern. "Mr. Masrani. I wasn't aware I should be expecting a visit from you." He extended a hand for the other to take, Simon accepting it with a level of professional that was expected of him. "What can I do for you?"

"Earlier today, I called one of your scientists regarding information on a quite secretive little project from InGen's early days called I-10 HY." Steven's look of instant dread reflected Jacobs's exact reaction days prior. Apparently, this subject was very touchy and Simon felt he was closing in on the reason or reasons why. "Tell me, what do you know about it? I was told you would know quite a bit, given your involvement in it towards the middle of last year. From what I read in several other files, certain people such as the late Peter Ludlow had knowledge of it as well. He even tried to terminate the subject in question, is that right?" Stevens gulped and nodded. "Why is that?"

Stevens fidgeted with his glasses for a moment, completely blindsided by the topic and not knowing how to explain. There was going to be no getting out of this at all. "Unfortunately, there isn't much I can tell you other than the subject being deceased." At least he hoped. Nothing had been heard of from the team he sent to Isla Sorna last June and feared the worst. Virgil Reynolds was a very thorough man, which was why he was hired in the first place, and for him to not come back for the rest of his payment could only mean one thing; he was dead.

"You know this for certain?" Simon stared down at the lesser executive, who was starting to break out in a light sweat in the heat of the probing stare.

Stevens shook his head. "No, sir." He could see the other man open his mouth to speak, but cut him off. "But, reasoning leaves to question on how a teenage girl could even survive on their own on an island with-"

"Teenage girl? Excuse me?" That was it. That was the answer Simon had been desperately searching for. The 'her' John Hammond told him about was, in fact, this I-10HY. Now to figure out why almost everything pertaining to her was redacted. Simon squared his eyes down. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we? What and who is I-10 HY?"


Empty leads. It was all they seemed to be; empty. Over the course of four months, Simon had managed to get a list of names associated with his newest obsession he had come to realize was named Pet. So that's what Dr. Jacobs meant when he said pet. Some of the names he was given were from Stevens while a few others were what Jacobs could remember from his time at Animal Kingdom. Down the list Simon went, making sure everything about that person was thoroughly checked out before scratching them off as a dead end. He started with the names that struck him as being the most pronounced in affiliation with the hybrid.

The thought of a half human, half Velociraptor hybrid's creation authorized by John Hammond, himself, didn't sit right with Simon. He never imaged the jovial old man as one to tinker with human genes for experimental genetic purposes. Yet, he boasted about her…this Pet…as being his company's greatest achievement. Perhaps he didn't know Hammond all that well.

The first name on the list was Robert Muldoon. Both Stevens and Jacobs gave the troubled game warden's name first before any others. His last known address was in Kenya, Africa but that was a dead end. Come to find out, he hadn't resided there in a little over a year and no new addresses had come up anywhere with his name associated with it. He had a sister, Barbara Muldoon, and when questioned regarding her older brother, stated she hadn't seen him in close to four years.

The second name down was Terrence Mitchell. He also served as a game warden at Animal Kingdom and even partnered with the hybrid before her transfer to Jurassic Park. He, too, seemed to have disappeared as his last known Kenyan address was voided in the later part of nineteen ninety-seven. When Simon called to question fellow employees on his whereabouts, no one knew anything. All they knew was he had been called away by Peter Ludlow for a job in the middle of nineteen ninety-three. Upon returning, he quit his job at the zoo to begin working as an anti-poaching patrol for Kenya. Following any possible leads, there, all turned up with nothing other than Terrence deciding to retire before a poacher's bullet found its way between his eyes.

Third name was that of Dr. Ian Malcolm's. It was mentioned in a stashed away file kept secret by Stevens that Ludlow explained the chaotician and hybrid's past through his experiences at Jurassic Park and Isla Sorna. After making a phone call to Malcolm to inquire about the hybrid, Malcolm informed he had not seen or heard from the woman since leaving Isla Sorna. While questioning Malcolm, Simon went ahead and asked his fiancé, Dr. Sarah Harding, the same thing. Just as predicted, an answer very similar to Malcolm's. Useless.

Forth name and another favored crowd of the hybrid, as perceived by Ludlow when in Isla Sorna, was big game hunter, Roland Tembo. That question and answer session was a bit uncomfortable and not to mention, short and straight to the point. After the male Rex wrecked the campsite, nothing was seen of the hybrid since.

Simon tapped the top of his pen on his desk, looking at the fifth and sixth names on the list. Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler. Their associations with the hybrid was while on Isla Nublar and during the irreparable damage caused by Dennis Nedry. That was a little over five years ago. What would they know about the hybrid? He scratched off those names without even bothering to call and question them. If the previous names of the people who were known to have had contact with the hybrid came out empty, most likely they would too.

The next name and last name on the list was Derek Muldoon. Simon remembered reading about the troubled kid in one of Hammond's many reports regarding those working at his zoo for whatever reason. Now, it seemed he was a bounty hunter and working out of the San Francisco, California area. He had been hired by Stevens to join an Australian hunter with a questionable past named Virgil Reynolds to hunt down the hybrid after reports came in of the hybrid being alive on Isla Sorna. Contact information was available pertaining to Derek's employer, to which Simon planned to contact. He hoped this conversation would provide something after this many dead ends. He checked the time on his watch and thought to himself quietly. If it was currently two AM in India, then it would be roughly one-thirty PM on the west coast of the United States.

Simon made the long-distance call to the bail bondsman number he had been given courtesy of Stevens. It rang three times before an answer followed. "West Way Bail Bonds this is Mike. How can I help you?"

Perfect. Someone was available. "I'm looking for a...Derek Muldoon? Is he available to speak with at the moment?"

The man, Mike, was heard scoffing. "What, that little shit? Nah. He comes and goes from time to time. Hasn't been around these parts in some time, now. I'd give you his number, but that'd be no use. His number changes each week and since I haven't spoken to him in months, it's bound to have changed again."

Simon clenched his jaw in frustration. Another empty lead. "Can you perhaps tell me how to get in touch with him, then? A friend? Relative?"

Mike went silent for a moment. "Who's calling?"

"I was referred to speak with him from an associate. Can you, perhaps, tell me where he has gone?" The CEO's patience was beginning to walk a fine line of being barely tethered.

"He hasn't told me a damn thing other than 'in the middle of nowhere'. As far as relatives go, there's his mom in London and then his uncle he went and moved off with. That's all I know. Can I ask who's calling and a contact number so the next time I see him I can relay the message?"

It was something better than nothing, at least. "That'll be alright, Mike is it? I'll try calling back later," and hung up.

Nothing he said was a lie. Simon had been honest in everything he said. He jotted down a quick note of what he had learned next to Derek's name. He even made a star next to Robert Muldoon's scratched out name, seeing how he and his nephew were known to be affiliated with the other. The man began subconsciously chewing at the top of his pen as he put the pieces of a forming puzzle together in his head. The only known survivor of Stevens' little hired hunting party was Derek, who moved off with his uncle roughly about the time he was to return from Isla Sorna. Was if possible, the bounty hunter found a certain someone on the island? Or was it that he just wanted to get as far away from InGen as possible? What were these two men up to? He planned to find out.