Notes
Hypothetical casting:
Maria Friedman as Amelia Grendel
Steven Berkoff as Jeff Rossiter
Soundtrack suggestions:
Conversation between InGen's management, Rossiter and Grendel:
- The Dinner Party - Bear McCreary, Battlestar Galactica: Season 1.
-o-
The door leading to the courtyard opened, letting three people into the museum. Leading the way was a blonde woman of about sixty, short and plump; closing it was another woman, an emaciated septuagenarian dressed in black and with hair tied in a bun; between the two, an old, bearded man with a balding head was turning the wheels of his wheelchair: Benjamin Lockwood.
Once the woman in black closed the door behind them and returned to position herself behind the manor's owner, he and the blonde woman shook hands and took leave of each other. Whereas Lockwood, followed by the woman in black, went to chat with a group of Indian businesspersons standing opposite of the courtyard door, the blonde woman walked towards the buffet.
While she was putting appetisers on her plate, a fat, bald octogenarian with a small goatee, also busy serving himself, greeted her in his drawl:
"Hello Amelia."
"Jeff… I didn't expect to find you here," she replied, speaking with a slight Germanic accent.
"I'm more surprised that you crossed an ocean and a continent for a courtesy visit."
Having finished serving themselves, they both moved away from the buffet to chat nearby while nibbling on appetisers.
"Because you're here for a courtesy call?" Amelia asked Jeff.
"Benjamin and I are old friends. And I retired years ago. Why would I come here for anything but a courtesy visit?"
"No, but look at that!" Susan Lynton suddenly exclaimed.
Amelia and Jeff turned and saw her walking towards them, with Alistair Iger and Dominick Silverman right behind her.
"Amelia Grendel and Jeff Rossiter, Grendel and Biosyn, under Benjamin Lockwood's roof at an InGen-related reception," InGen's CEO observed scornfully.
"I've retired from Biosyn six years ago," Jeff Rossiter reminded her.
"Once Biosyn, always Biosyn…" Iger replied. "You didn't come with your vulture? Did you leave him on his perch, sitting in his own droppings while flies fly around him?"
InGen's spokesman then folded his arms to his sides and began to let out imitations of a vulture scream, punctuated by "My name's Lewis..." and "New research, must steal them!" as he edged closer to Jeff Rossiter while Amelia Grendel giggled and shook her head. When he got too close for his liking, the former CEO of Biosyn raised his hand to stop him.
"Alistair," he said calmly. "Your mockery of Lewis is very entertaining and I really appreciate it, believe me, but let me remind you that we are not alone. You are making a fool of yourself my dear. InGen has enough image problems and it would be a shame if its spokesman and public relations director was caught clowning around at a reception."
Iger took two steps back and looked around, making sure that none of the other guests had turned their gaze in their direction, although his imitation could have passed for a simple joke. Then he grabbed one of the appetisers that Jeff Rossiter had on his plate, much to the older man's displeasure.
"What are you doing here Jeff?" Dominick Silverman asked. "Were you invited at least?"
"Invited by Benjamin himself. My invitation is in my pocket…," the retired CEO replied, pulling a hand closer to one of his pants' pockets.
"Meh, don't bother! We believe you," Susan Lynton interrupted him. "Your relationship always surprised me. Even when you were both CEOs of enemy companies, that didn't stop you from playing golf or dining together. At least you have an excuse. Unlike Amelia whose presence is more questionable."
InGen's CEO turned her gaze to Grendel's.
"Oh, I know you guys have been talking in secret lately," she continued, "but you must be aware that Benjamin no longer has any power. Whatever discussion you had in secret, I'm afraid it was just hot air. I'm InGen now, and it's not for sale."
When her face was just a few centimetres from that of the Swiss businesswoman, she added:
"I would rather cut my wrists than become your bitch, even for a day…"
"You talk about independence, and yet you've been nothing but Masrani Global's unruly vassal all these years," Amelia Grendel replied while eating one of her appetisers. "Without its intervention, InGen would have belonged to the past. However, they are about to get rid of you like a smelly old sock, desiring to distance themselves after the trouble you brought upon them."
"Oh, you mean all those trials Masrani Global, and not InGen, went through? I guess we should posthumously thank Simon Masrani, who made the huge mistake of swearing that no serious incident will ever happen at Jurassic World, promising, on behalf of his conglomerate, to accept full responsibility should the worst ever happen, making us, on a legal standpoint, poor underlings," Dominick Silverman rejoiced.
"What would a new master change for you, concretely? Jeff Rossiter asked them. "You'll soon retire, Susan. It will change nothing for you on a personal level. A buyout offer would be a blessing for InGen given the current situation."
"Oh don't rub it in, Jeff!" Iger complained. "And don't tell me you're on Amelia's side..."
"I never said I wished to see Grendel buy InGen," Biosyn's former CEO said.
"After Jurassic World, your reputation is not looking good," the Swiss reminded them. "Especially with all those talks about the Indominus... If there's another incident in the near future, you'll be finished."
Susan Lynton glared at her.
"Is that a threat? If any of your employees are caught lurking near our facilities or attempting to sabotage our operations, I will order our men to feed them to the animals. They will join in Hell their little comrades who had the intelligence of taking a dip in the Lagoon just after the disaster. Too bad the Slayers were destroyed. I would have gladly paid them plane tickets to Zurich…"
She then turned to Jeff Rossiter.
"Jeff. You will repeat to Lewis what I just said to Amelia."
"I'm not your errand boy, Susan. And the less I see him, the better I am. Just give him a call or send an email."
It was then that Susan Lynton saw Lockwood rolling towards them.
"Ah Benjamin… We were waiting for you impatiently. How are you, you and your granddaughter?" She asked him.
"Spare me from your hypocritical politeness, Susan," he answered curtly.
"No need to be rude…" InGen CEO replied.
Lockwood came to exchange a cordial handshake with Jeff Rossiter.
"Good evening Jeff."
"Good evening Benjamin. How is your retirement going?"
"Oh, it started years earlier… You can imagine that my health prevented me from carrying out my duties as I would have wished."
"Your position was almost a fictional work. Luckily, I was there…," Susan Lynton murmured reproachfully.
Lockwood ignored her and shook hands with Alistair Iger and Dominick Silverman. Scanning the museum, Lynton then noticed the presence of Claire Dearing, whom Owen Grady had just fetched to tell her about Lockwood's arrival. The couple, along with the director of the World De-extinction Monitoring Center, watched them from their position under the mezzanine, near the Homotherium diorama.
"I see you dared to invite the person responsible for this whole clusterfuck," she said to Lockwood. "You are dealing with our enemies," she added after looking at the couple and then Amelia Grendel.
"This is my house Susan, I invite whoever I want. And the reasons for their invitation are none of your business."
"If these reasons concern InGen and its activities, they concern me! I don't know about you, but I have InGen's interests at heart, and I will defend them jealously."
She sighed.
"I need another drink. Good evening Benjamin. Enjoy your retirement..."
"Just go…," he muttered.
She turned around and walked away, looking for one of the waiters, and the other two InGen senior executives also took leave of Lockwood, but much more politely.
Returning to the lounge, they then passed near Claire and Owen.
"Your mask is pretty, Claire, but I'm afraid that Mardi Gras was a few weeks ago...," InGen's spokesman quipped.
"You've got a beautiful dress," the CFO commented in his turn. "Did you soak it in the blood of the Fall's victims?"
"No, but I'll dip the next one in yours if you continue to accuse me of your own crimes," Claire retorted.
Dominick Silverman turned to her with alacrity, looking offended.
"Did you hear that, Alistair? That slut just threatened me!"
Owen glared at him.
"Insult her again and you'll regret it, you scumbag!" He threatened while rolling up his sleeves.
He frightened the CFO so much that by stepping back hastily, he threatened to stumble and fall backwards.
Elijah, informed by the woman in black who had accompanied Lockwood outside that he would soon be receiving the couple, stepped between the latter and the two InGen executives in order to calm the situation.
"Come on…"
With an arm gesture, Elijah encouraged the couple to move forward in the direction of Lockwood and Guillaume wished Claire good luck.
"Don't bother with them, Dominick," Iger told his colleague. "Come."
"Eli? You heard it too!" The CFO said. "We can't leave this unpunished!"
Elijah turned to InGen's CFO, muttered something, and the latter became silent. Along the way, the couple crossed paths with Lynton, who had just been served a flute of champagne, and she spoke to Claire:
"Let me give you some friendly advice, Claire. Leave this manor, go home and don't stick your nose into InGen's business ever again. Whatever Benjamin promises you, it will be nothing but hot air. Trust my experience..."
Her gaze met Elijah's and with that warning which seemed to have been said just to discourage the fallen park director, she left them and went to join her two colleagues in the lounge while sipping her champagne.
Benjamin Lockwood apologized to Jeff Rossiter and Amelia Grendel, informing them that he would soon have to see other guests privately, and turned to the arriving couple.
"Claire."
He rolled over to her and shook her hand.
"It's good to see you again," he told her.
"Likewise, Mr. Lockwood," she answered.
He then exchanged a handshake with Owen.
"Owen Grady, I presume? I heard about you."
Behind him, the emaciated septuagenarian looked at her watch.
"Sir," she said.
"Um? Ah yes, my bloody medicine...," he muttered. "Thanks Iris. Excuse me."
Rummaging through a small bag attached to his wheelchair, he found his medicine box, opened it and swallowed two pills. He put the box back in the bag and saw Guillaume Vuillier, still standing near the Homotherium diorama and watching them.
"Monsieur Vuillier," he hailed. "Don't stay in the shadows. Come here."
He then turned to his aide.
"Eli. Take Mrs. Dearing and Mr. Grady to your office. I'll join you there soon."
Elijah complied and led the couple out of the museum. They went up to the first floor but as they followed a long hallway, Owen heard footsteps farther behind them. He turned around and half hidden behind a wall's corner, he saw Maisie Lockwood spying on them. He shrugged and leaned closer to Claire's ear.
"An old man in a wheelchair and a weird girl in a huge manor...," he whispered to her. "Nosferatu may not dwell in this manor but I think the Doom Patrol lives here."
As Lockwood just promised to have a discussion with him after his private talk with Claire Dearing, Guillaume Vuillier was still in the museum, waiting for the return of InGen's former CEO. While he resumed his tour, Jeff Rossiter, then a few steps away from him and looking at one of the dioramas, approached him.
"Nice exhibition, isn't it?" he asked.
"Indeed," the WDMC director replied after barely looking at the older man. "Mr. Rossiter...," he added coldly.
The ex-CEO of Biosyn, taking no offense at the tone with which the Frenchman pronounced his name, merely raised an eyebrow.
"I see you know who I am," he remarked, "but know that I came only as a guest and have no desire to talk about Biosyn."
"I don't doubt it," Guillaume replied, turning to him, "but I'm not going to lie to you. I've got some concerns about your sinister successor."
"Yes, Lewis can be…unpleasant, among other things…His appointment was in no way my responsibility but a whim of the board of directors who thought my policies were too passive and soft. Swimming alongside sharks was something Benjamin and I had in common."
"From what I remember, your policies were not the most passive, judging by the number of active agents you had in Costa Rica at the beginning of the previous decade and the nature of their missions. I dealt with some of them when I was still an Interpol field agent."
Jeff Rossiter then noticed the scar above Guillaume Vuillier's left ear.
"I hope they are not responsible for your scar. If so, I sincerely apologize."
"Don't be sorry. I only got it years later..."
"You were living dangerously. It's admirable."
The retired businessman looked around the museum contemplatively.
"To say that this is where it all began. Before San Diego, Sorna, Nublar... Hammond, Atherton and Lockwood built a laboratory under our very feet. This is where they extracted the first paleo-DNA from a piece of amber. It's a place full of history... Who knows what secrets these walls hold…"
He looked back at Guillaume Vuillier and nodded weakly.
"I'll let you continue your tour. Good evening, Mr Vuillier."
Then he went to another part of the museum. Guillaume had noticed that when Jeff Rossiter talked about secrets, he was looking towards the back of the museum, beyond Burroughs' model, where the recess was.
"Why did Benjamin invite them?" Dominick Silverman asked his two colleagues.
"I don't give a fuck, but I'm sure he did that just to annoy me," Lynton replied before taking a sip of champagne.
"I bet he's going to invite them to participate in the operation as interns for his foundation," Alistair Iger said.
"Nonsense," the CFO retorted.
"You bet?" the spokesman proposed.
"Okay," Silverman agreed. "The loser will have to pay for dinner at the restaurant."
"Agreed."
"If that's the case, we'll have to sweep before they arrive..." the CEO said thoughtfully.
"From what I've seen, our dear Claire seems to be already getting along with Mr. Vuillier," Iger reported.
"I didn't had the opportunity to speak to him, but he seems haughty and presumptuous," Lynton said.
"Bah, he's French," the spokesman shrugged. "What did you expect?"
"And he kinda looks like a younger, smaller and prettier version of that damned Gilbert Brunet," she added. "I hope the Grey Guards will remain in the Five Deaths during the operation..."
"May they rot there!" Silverman added before drinking some of his champagne. "I don't want to badmouth," he continued later, "but I think I had more fun at my grandson's bar mitzvah than at this reception. The girls were prettier there…," he specified in a libidinous tone. "And I've been in student parties and brothels with a stricter selection of guests or customers."
"Anyway, Benjamin's state of health isn't improving over time..." Iger pointed out. "I'm afraid he hasn't for long…"
Lynton's eyes went to one of the portraits hanging on the lounge's wall.
"Let him die, and the sooner the better!"
Said portrait depicted Benjamin Lockwood and his wife Elizabeth, née Adams, shortly after their marriage. Benjamin had first met her when he and John Hammond went to visit Norman Atherton. Elizabeth Adams, having been the latter's assistant, was the same woman Claire had seen earlier in one of the photos in the entrance hall.