Notes
Hypothetical casting:
Nacho Fresneda as Juan Baró.
-o-
The group followed her and they returned to the hacienda. They walked through the courtyard door and immediately turned right, passing under the open veranda which surrounded the courtyard, whose central point was occupied by a fountain. They entered the building's northern wing and ended up in the hallway of the Farm's administration. Like in the rest of the house, the ceiling was high and the walls white. The employee led them to an open door a little further to their right, that of the conference room, empty for the moment.
The couple and the DPG trio sat around the table, on which several pens had been placed, and while waiting for the manager, they looked out the bay window, which overlooked another large paddock, which the hacienda dominated and where a herd consisting of several species of hadrosaurs, smaller than Shantungosaurus, was grazing. Among them, the group recognized the tubular crests of the Parasaurolophus, the high ones of the Corythosaurus which evoked the crest of a Corinthian helmet, as well as the axe-shaped ones of the Lambeosaurus.
They heard the tapping of heels on the hallway's tiles and the Farm's manager finally arrived, dressed in a beige shirt and canvas pants and wearing brown cowboy boots. She was carrying a folder and was followed by two men. The first was an African-American man in his forties with close-cropped hair and wearing a blue and black camo shirt, grey military pants and combat boots: Commander Joel Austin of the Asset Containment Unit and the Farm's security overseer. The second was a slightly older man, Costa Rican, tall with a ponytail and a thick, long moustache, and he was dressed in an olive-green T-shirt and shorts: Juan Baró, the head keeper.
Jocelyn Hodgson positioned herself at the end of the table, in order to have the whole group facing her. While she scanned them, Claire saw her stare at Owen a little longer than the other members of the group.
"Greetings ladies and gentlemen. Let me welcome you on behalf of the Farm's entire staff and I sincerely hope that our collaboration will go well," the manager began while her two colleagues were standing behind her. "I won't be here long however as I must prepare for the local councilors' and press' visit, planned for this afternoon, and I'll go straight to the point."
She put her folder on the table and opened it to take out some documents.
"First of all, you must sign these non-disclosure clauses. Mr. Merced from regional headquarters was adamant: He won't allow you into the facility until you sign."
Zia and Franklin exchanged a concerned look and the couple's eyes rolled slightly. They had expected InGen to bother them. Alexander reassured his two colleagues and signed his clause first. After sighing discreetly, Claire and Owen also signed and as their three older companions had complied, the two youngest of the group signed in turn. Then Commander Austin passed by each of them to take the clauses back and when he had collected them all, he gave them to Jocelyn.
"Good," she said in a tone of satisfaction. "I assume you watched the press conference held in San Jose earlier this month?"
"Yes," Claire and Alexander replied.
"In that case, I think it's useless to repeat what was said there. If you forgot things or have any doubts, feel free to ask questions during your tour or later. As agreed, you will help the keepers in their tasks. Juan will give you more details about those and your integration within the team."
Claire raised her pen to ask to speak.
"Uh excuse me Jocelyn?"
"Yes, Claire…," Jocelyn replied in a tone that the fallen park director perceived as almost disdainful.
"As I wrote in the email I sent you last month, Miss Rodriguez here trained as a paleovet at the San Diego Academy. Did you talk to Brice about her?"
Zia, as well as Franklin, looked at Claire in surprise.
"Yes, I did," Site D's manager replied in a slightly annoyed tone. "She'll start collaborating with him Monday. In the meantime, she'll be with you and the keepers."
"Understood," Claire said, "thank you."
"You will see during your stay that the animals are in good health and that their welfare is one of our priorities," Jocelyn assured them while looking more specifically at the DPG trio.
That may be true, but you still have to admit that a healthy animal has more monetary value than a malnourished and sick one, Owen thought.
Jocelyn noted his thoughtful expression and brushed a strand of hair on her forehead.
"Mr. Grady," she said with a voice oddly nervous for Claire's liking. "You seem thoughtful."
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about the upcoming tour."
"Okay. Since we were just talking about the specific assignments given to some of you, Elijah… Mr. Mills told me about the documentary you're making, Mr. Webb. Like I told him, you have our permission but we ask you in exchange to let us see the footage that you'll take."
"No problem ma'am," Alexander assured her, answering instead of his young colleague.
She pulled out other documents from the folder and passed them to the group.
"Here's maps of the facility, so you don't get lost."
Zia picked up her copy of the map, which was titled The Farm, Burgo Nuevo - Site D, and she looked at it. Since it was oriented along a north-south axis, she immediately noticed that the hacienda and the long driveway with the oak trees had been built along an east-west axis. The hacienda bordered two large paddocks, the one that contained the hadrosaurs and the one of the Shantungosaurus, Gallimimus and Sinoceratops. The herbivores' paddocks were in the central part of the estate, where most were organized around a loop, while the carnivores' paddocks were concentrated in the western part, with the majority within an enclosed rectangular space near which was written an annotation reading Predators' Camp. Between the eastern and southern boundaries and the central paddocks and buildings, forming some sort of a belt, Zia saw the limits of a number of fields, meadows and plantations as well as the outlines of a few greenhouses. She also saw the eastern gate and its crossroads, the bungalows north of the oaks driveway, the old farm south of the hacienda, and the site of a large building, The Ark, named that way because of its shape, similar to that of a ship.
Here and there within the limits of the estate, small annotations indicated the presence of small abandoned buildings and structures of agricultural nature.
As he looked out of the corner of his eye at the copy given to Owen, something caught Austin's attention. He leaned over the Raptor Whisperer's shoulder to check the map. Owen was surprised when the ACU Commander grabbed his copy and showed it to the manager.
"You photocopied the wrong map Jocelyn…," he whispered to her.
She took one, looked at it carefully and realized her mistake. She looked up at the group.
"Ah, excuse me," she said nervously. "Commander Austin has just told me that those maps are outdated. I'll take them back and you'll receive the updated ones later. Sorry."
She picked up each copy of the map, put them back in the folder, and checked the time on her phone.
"Jesus, time flies... I'm very sorry but I must leave. I'll leave you with Commander Austin and Juan. I wish you a pleasant stay with us. Claire, can I talk to you alone for a moment?"
"Sure."
The two women left the room and went to talk privately in the hallway. Being quite close to each other, Claire was struck by the smell of cigarettes that emanated from Jocelyn's mouth and looking closer at her face, she saw dark circles under her eyes. Poor thing, she probably had trouble sleeping because of her job's stress and the noise made sometimes by the dinosaurs during the night.
"It's about the councilors' and press' visit. Its purpose is to reassure them but your sudden appearance might not go unnoticed and kick up a fuss. You must be aware that the less media attention we get, the more the operation has a better chance of going well. I made arrangements with Juan so that you wouldn't run into their group."
"That's good Jocelyn because I don't want to be filmed or photographed, and I even asked Mr. Webb earlier to avoid taking footage of me. The only thing that matters to me is fulfilling the mission which Benjamin Lockwood gave me. Don't be afraid, I won't be under your feet, neither today nor the rest of our stay here. I will be like a ghost."
When Claire turned her half-mask towards Jocelyn, she saw the latter become tense and swallow, disturbed by the mask and what it hid as well as the visible piece of scar.
Claire could read the disgust, as well as fear in the manager's eyes, and for her, she had to be some kind of bird of ill omen. Like her, Claire was a young, beautiful and ambitious administrator who held a position of responsibility within InGen. But it just needed one disaster to turn her into a mauled pariah. Jocelyn must have thought that if another incident were to occur, this time not at Nublar but at the Farm, she would suffer a similar or worse fate.
"Claire, although you were an InGen employee and held a much more high-ranking position than the one I'm currently holding, let's avoid familiarities. If you have to address me in front of the others, it will be either Mrs. or Manager Hodgson."
"Okay. As you wish…"
"I'll let you go back to the meeting. I wish you a good stay with us, Claire."
Then Jocelyn turned around and walked away, heading for her office.
"Have a good day, Manager Hodgson," Claire muttered mockingly.
She returned to the conference room. While Commander Austin waited for her return with folded arms and silent, Juan, much friendlier than his colleague, was chatting with Owen. The Costa Rican's face was familiar to her unlike that of the commander, because she had seen him a few times at Jurassic World, and she knew that he probably became head keeper after the disaster and the resignation of Jonas Roth, his predecessor, who returned to the United Kingdom since and was probably helping Lord Clayton to prepare the reception of the animals that the aristocrat was going to buy for his park.
The meeting resumed with a short briefing from Commander Austin on the safety rules inside the facility and when Owen asked about Torres, he replied that the latter wouldn't be coming to the Farm until the end of the following week, which reassured the couple a little.
Once the soldier had finished, Juan led them out of the conference room, preferring to explain to them what he had to tell them throughout the tour of the facility that they were about to undertake.