Notes
Soundtrack suggestions:
By the pool and the map's search:
- The World Beneath - Trevor Jones, Dinotopia (Starting from 06:10).
- Nocturnal Activities - John Williams, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (Up to 03:06).
-o-
During the lunch break, Jocelyn waited for Owen to arrive in the canteen. Before speaking to him, she scanned the room, looking for Claire. She wasn't there, but given that she hadn't been told she was absent, the Farm's manager knew that she must have preferred to eat alone in some quiet corner in the estate, away from the hostile gazes others would give her.
Good, she thought.
Jocelyn then went to inform Owen, seated a little apart from the others, that there was a free guest room upstairs and he accepted her offer. Satisfied, the manager returned to her table and texted the cook, informing him that there would be an additional covers at dinner.
The afternoon passed really fast, the sun set and dinner time arrived. In the evening, there were fewer people in the canteen than at lunchtime and the table was set only on a few, where the employees accommodated within the estate generally grouped together according to their respective departments, with the workers on one side, the guards and ACU troopers on another, the keepers and the veterinary team at a large table… Owen eventually went down and while he looked for a free seat, as all the chairs of the keepers' table were taken, Jocelyn noted that he had washed, combed his hair and put on new clothes, consisting of a polo shirt and jeans, both black. She waved at him, inviting him to take a free seat at her table. In the latter, were not only seated other employees of the Administration but also Valentine Taylor and one of his colleagues, Benito, as both had just finished their shift. As for Juan, he was seated as usual with the other keepers and the only other Costa Rican keepers to stay on site were Dana, Aura and Inès, which hailed from other parts of the country. Jocelyn remembered that the free accommodation at the Farm was one of the arguments that had encouraged them and their foreign colleagues to stay.
Owen sat down in the free chair at her table, directly across from Austin, who gave him a wary look, and he ate with them. Throughout the dinner, Jocelyn asked him questions about his former job at Jurassic World, the IBRIS program and the raptors, his Navy background, and himself. Facing the keepers' table, she noticed several of them occasionally glancing at Owen, whose back opposed them, and whispering. They were divided on the matter of the conflict that the couple was going through: Whereas some accused Claire of pushing him to the limit, others reminded them, without fully taking the fallen director's side, that Owen was not totally innocent and had looked for trouble a little bit by making inappropriate remarks about her while others made fun of the whole matter and even argued that it was nothing but an act.
Once dinner was over, Site D's employees dispersed. While some went into town to go to the bars and other leisure places, others stayed inside the estate, with most of those returning to the bungalows, while the night shift's guards and ACU troopers headed for their respective posts, generally on the borders of the estate and by the paddocks with the most dangerous occupants. Horatio, Vinny, and Mark proposed to Owen to play cards with them in the canteen, where some of them sometimes stayed until quite late at night, but he declined, telling them he was tired and wanted to rest. The three keepers then took leave of him but Jocelyn knew that he wasn't that tired and just wanted to be left alone in this rough time. All he needed was a good drink and the company of a pretty woman. She watched him go upstairs and then returned to her office, continuing to work a little while waiting for the cooks to leave. As usual, they finished work around 9:30 p.m, and she then went outside to look at the lower patio and its swimming pool, where some people sometimes bathed when the nights were warm enough. Seeing no one in or around the pool, Jocelyn was satisfied and went back inside. She went upstairs and knocked on the guest bedroom, hoping Owen wasn't asleep. He opened soon after and she was relieved to see that he was still dressed. It would have been a shame to disturb him while he was sleeping.
"Hey. I was wondering if you'd like to have a drink?" she asked him.
"Where, in town?"
"No, in the patio, but if you want to go to town, we can do that too."
"I'm for the patio. I've got one little thing to do and I'll join you."
"Very well. I'll wait for you downstairs."
He waited for her to disappear further down the hallway before closing his door, then he texted Claire, informing her that they would be at the patio. Once he was ready, he went down to the canteen and scanned the ceiling. He and Claire had made sure earlier that there were no surveillance cameras there or in the administration, but he preferred to check one last time.
"Owen?" Jocelyn's voice called.
She was standing in the kitchen's doorway. She had two glasses in her hand and a bottle of red wine, which she handed to him.
"Could you take this to the deckchairs by the pool please? I'm coming soon."
"No problem."
He grabbed the bottle and the two glasses and went to the edge of the swimming pool. He chose two deckchairs between the edge of the swimming pool and the upper patio's wall, brought a small table between the two and placed the bottle and the two glasses there. Jocelyn arrived soon after, carrying a candle and its holder. Setting them on the table, she then lit the candle with her lighter and said to Owen she had to turn off the light on the upper patio.
"I can fill the glasses in the meantime if you want," he proposed.
"Very good idea."
She went back to the upper patio, turned off the light and went back down to the lower patio, lit only by the candle and the light from the few rooms still lit in the hacienda and filtered by curtains. Owen was lying on his side in one of the deckchairs and he had poured wine into the two glasses. When Jocelyn settled into her deckchair, he raised his glass.
"To Operation Fallen Kingdom," he toasted.
"To the Operation," she toasted back, raising her glass.
They each took a first sip of wine and then put down their glasses. Suddenly, Jocelyn heard a faint stomping sound, coming from the bushes between the pool and the paddock fence beyond. She froze.
"I heard a noise," she said.
"Oh it was probably a female monkey."
She looked at Owen.
"You know if it's a female or a male monkey based on the noise they make?"
"Females are more active than males at night."
"Interesting."
Owen sighed inwardly, relieved that Jocelyn had bought his fib. Of course, a female monkey wasn't behind that sound but the Farm's manager had to ignore this.
Her initial worry gone, Jocelyn asked Owen more questions and while slowly and gradually emptying their respective glasses, they talked about various topics. While alcohol began to cloud her mind, Jocelyn felt discomfort in her ring finger and took off her wedding ring, putting it on the small table. She ended up talking about her husband and her married life:
"... oh he's so annoying, you have no idea!" She said in a voice that tended to fluctuate more and more. "I think I'm going to ask for a divorce once I get back home… The only thing that makes me hesitate are the kids. We'll have to organize shared custody, agree on alimony… That kind of stuff…"
"Somethings, when things don't work anymore, they don't... You have to avoid forcing yourself before you hurt yourself too much."
Jocelyn reached out and put a hand on Owen's shoulder.
"You're a good guy, Owen, you know that… you're brave, smart, caring, and handsome as a Greek god!"
She hiccuped.
"No, but really!" She added. "Any woman who could have you is a lucky one."
"I agree."
Already there, the manager's feeling of fatigue increased and she put a hand on her forehead to massage it.
"You're alright?" he asked her.
"Oh, I'm very tired all of a sudden…it must be the wine. And work…"
She let her head fall back against the cushion and fatigue completely overwhelming her, she closed her eyes. The next moment, her arms relaxed.
"Jocelyn?"
But she didn't answer. He stood up and approached her face. Once he was sure she was breathing, he relaxed, relieved that the soporific substance he had put in her drink while she was on the upper patio was working without unwanted effects. He looked towards the bushes on the other side of the pool, where he heard a succession of sounds.
First there was a metallic click, then some kind of small sigh and finally a sound of liquid falling on the dead leaves and the dirt. He motioned for whatever was inside to come closer, and soon after, Claire emerged, buckling her belt. Hooded, she wore black sweatshirt and trousers and had left her work clothes and her half-mask in her backpack, hidden somewhere in the middle of the vegetation.
As she walked towards them, her face had a satisfied expression.
"Excellent work, Owen."
"It was close. A few more minutes and we would've been frolicking in the pool. However, if I had to bang her, I would have banged her. I believe you told me that I had your permission."
"I never said that."
"Yes you did."
"Oh, maybe but I probably added that you better bang me twice as hard afterwards."
"Anyway, that's no longer possible. I don't want to be Harvey Weinstein's cellmate."
"Good, now that the bitch is sleeping, let's get to work."
"I hope we won't wake her..."
"You're the one who wanted to use some common sleeping pill from the drugstore."
"But at least we're sure she'll wake up. I don't know how she would have reacted with the horse tranquilizer you suggested, but I think we would have been in trouble."
Claire grabbed the bottle and emptied the rest of its content by the pool before placing it under Jocelyn's deckchair.
"What the hell?"
"A smokescreen, Owen. Always improvise a smokescreen," she explained while emptying the two glasses at the edge of the pool. "Take the key."
Carefully, he removed the chain from Jocelyn's neck and put it and the key in his jeans pocket. Claire put the two glasses back on the small table and they then went to the stairs but as they climbed them, he stumbled against a step and had to lean against the wall to stabilize himself. She turned.
"It's nothing. I drank a little..."
"I'm well aware of that. The monkey has been hanging around in the bushes the whole time. My bladder couldn't wait any longer..."
"What did you tell the others?"
"That I had something to settle with Jocelyn and that I would take a taxi."
They reached the upper patio and entered the house by the canteen. Thanks to the light of Claire's cell phone, they navigated between tables and chairs while Owen began humming the Pink Panther theme. She reprimanded him before they alerted someone:
"Owen!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help it...," he apologized in a whisper.
"Watch out, you're drunk...
"I can't help it if I had to drink for the good of this mission."
They entered a hallway to their left. Jocelyn Hodgson's office was not far away, only a few meters away, but its door almost faced the administration's main hallway. If anyone was there, they would see them right away. So Owen approached the intersection of that hallway and the one they were in. He listened. The only audible sound was that of their breathing and the songs of insects and frogs outside. He then looked beyond the wall's corner and of course saw nothing.
"Nobody?" Claire asked.
"Nope."
"Then let's go."
She walked to the office door and took the key Owen handed her. She handed him her cell phone to light the lock while she opened it.
"Open sesame…" he said.
The door unlocked and Claire gently pressed the handle before slowly pushing the door open. They both moved into the office and Claire closed behind them. She scanned the desk with her cell phone's light.
"Okay, where are those fucking maps?"
They separated in order to each search a part of the office. Claire noticed the presence of several piles of documents, binders and folders stacked on the desk while the computer keyboard was half buried under sheets.
"She better clean up. It's a mess!"
After several minutes of intense searching, Owen found the maps among one of the piles on the desk.
"Aha…"
Claire pulled her own map out of her trouser pocket and compared it to one of the copies. At first glance, there seemed to be no difference. Claire had plotted the buildings and other structures on her map, and they all seemed to be there. Afraid she hadn't looked at it attentively, she scanned it again and again, until she finally found the only difference between the two. On the old version, there was a building indicated in the north of the domain, a building that was missing from her map and the plans she had used to draw it.
"Bingo. I think I've found it."
She put the copy on the floor and asked Owen to light it up with his cell phone, so she could take a picture with hers. As soon as she had taken several decent pictures of it, they put the copy back in its pile and put the pile itself back on the desk where they had found it and put things back as they were as best they could.
Making sure first that there was no one in the hallway, they ventured out of the room, locked the door, and returned to the canteen to regain the patio. They went back down to the deckchairs by the pool and Claire put the chain and its key back around the neck of the drugged and sleeping manager, taking particular care to put the key back under her blouse.
"Good night, Jocelyn… Sweet dreams," she said mockingly.
The couple walked away from her and went to retrieve Claire's bag in the bushes.