Notes
Soundtrack suggestions:
Mills in his office:
- Chaos is a Ladder - Ramin Djawadi, Game of Thrones: Season 3 (up to 01:16).
In Benjamin's bedroom:
- Kate's Motel – Michael Giacchino, Lost: Season 1
- How to pick a Lockwood – Michael Giacchino, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (starting from 01:20).
- Track 14: Poisoned Milk — Joseph LoDuca, Brotherhood of the Wolf.
- Patricide — Gavin Greenaway and The Lyndhurst Orchestra, Gladiator.
Mills and Wu at the manor's entrance:
- Chaos is a Ladder - Ramin Djawadi, Game of Thrones: Season 3 (from 01:17 to 02:00).
-o-
In the arrivals hall of Reno International Airport in Nevada, Margaretha Charteris was watching the exit of the corridor in which the passengers of the Dallas-Fort Worth flight would start to appear very soon, as their plane recently landed.
The secretary, whom Susan Lynton had turned into a spy and sent in Guillaume Vuillier's bed, wore a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a cap. The agent dispatched to Juan Santamaria airport in Costa Rica had given them the details of the couple's flight: The date and time of arrival, their connection... The task entrusted to Margaretha was simple: Make a phone call as soon as Claire Dearing and Owen Grady would show up.
The first arrivals emerged from the corridor and a few minutes later, the couple finally appeared. Even though Claire had tied her hair in a tight bun and put her wide-brimmed hat over it, the InGen secretary had still recognized her thanks to her white half-mask and when she saw her, she couldn't help rethinking about why Lynton chose her to follow and seduce the WDMC director, whom some had seen conversing with Claire Dearing during the reception at Benjamin Lockwood in March. But although they were both thirtyish redheads with angular facial features, Claire was taller and more athletic, and thus the two women were as dissimilar as a skinny nerd and an Olympic swimmer. Remembering what people said about her temper, Margaretha hoped that the fallen director of Jurassic World would never learn that she was part of a conspiracy targeting her and her boyfriend.
Margaretha pulled out her cell phone and called Hawkes, an InGen Security employee she had been put in touch with.
"Yes Hawkes, it's me. The Buck and the Doe have returned from migration. They'll head for the meadow."
"Copy that. You can go home."
Having accomplished her task, Margaretha left the hall and returned to her vehicle.
Before leaving the arrivals hall, the couple went to the toilets and coming out first, Owen waited for his girlfriend in front of the women restroom's entrance.
"Is it done?" He asked her when she got out.
"Yes."
She picked up her luggage and they headed to the parking lot where they had left their vehicle more than a month and a half ago.
While they crossed the arid landscapes of the westernmost part of the Great Basin, rolling straight towards the greener mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the setting sun, Claire, sitting on the passenger side and listening to the radio, straightened up in her seat when she heard the name Masrani. She turned up the volume.
"... Vishnu, a Masrani Global satellite, was destroyed by an asteroid. Fortunately, the remains fell in the Pacific Ocean and no injuries were reported," the reporter stated.
"Vishnu? Isn't it the satellite used by InGen to track the animals?" Owen asked.
"Yes," Claire replied.
"InGen definitely has a bad karma…"
Dinner at the Lockwoods was taken in a heavy silence. Still punished, Maisie ate in her room and thus, only Iris, Mills and Wu dined with Benjamin Lockwood. During the meal, the housekeeper couldn't help but stare at the foundation manager and the geneticist with wary eyes and they noticed that soon enough.
Maisie had indeed told her intrusion in the basement without missing any detail and although she had not told the young girl whether or not she believed everything she had said, Iris had already begun to feed serious suspicions about the two men. All the comings and goings between the manor and its basement, the supposed renovation work in the second basement's conference room, some strange visitors which Elijah sometimes received, the prolonged stay of Henry and his team… After listening to Maisie's story, Iris told Benjamin about it. He had listened to her with a deeply pensive look and had kept it throughout dinner. When the latter ended, he waited for Elijah to leave before taking Henry aside for a moment. A little later, as soon as his conversation with the geneticist was over, Benjamin asked Iris to fetch Elijah.
She found the foundation manager in his office, settled in his chair. While his face seemed pensive, troubled even, his fingers were playing with a small circular object, which the housekeeper presumed to be a ring or something.
"Eli."
He turned his head to look at her.
"Benjamin wants to see you, now" she informed him. "He would like to talk with you and Professor Wu about a certain sensitive topic."
Elijah sighed, knowing in advance the probable topic of conversation.
"Tell him I'm coming in fifteen minutes," he replied. "I have an urgent matter to settle first."
Iris left and a minute later he left his office but instead of going straight to the top of the southern tower, he went down to the kitchens and saw one of the servants there finishing making the herbal tea which Benjamin took every evening at this hour, just before bedtime. He stood for a moment at the entrance to the kitchens, then disappeared down the halls.
When the businessman entered Benjamin's room a quarter of an hour later, he found the householder sitting in his bed. On the bedside table, was the tray with the cup of herbal tea, which Benjamin had started to drink. He looked strange, woozy. He didn't seem well, even less than usual. Iris was leaning over the old man and had one hand resting on his forehead.
"It's nothing," he said to the housekeeper. "We'll see that later."
Seeing Eli, Benjamin added:
"See if Maisie needs anything."
Iris nodded but just before leaving, she wanted to move the bed table and bring the tray and the cup. Benjamin held her by the arm.
"No, leave my tea. I'm very thirsty."
"As you wish...," she said not without concern.
She left the tray and the table in place and left, passing between Eli and Henry, who was also present, standing near the Jurassic Park model. Leaving the room, the housekeeper closed the door behind her.
"Henry told me all about what you're doing in the bunker," Benjamin told Elijah as he drank from his cup. "More than a year ago, I accepted that he and his team come here to carry on with their research in peace, not that they raise a predator below our feet! Your duty was to tell me about that kind of things Eli, not to work behind my back and literally take over the project if I believe what he told me."
While Eli glared angrily at Henry, unhappy to learn that he had reported him, Benjamin glared at Henry as well.
"Have you thought about the other people living in this manor?" He asked them sternly.
"But the bunker is secure. The predator has no chance of escaping," Eli replied, sensing his employer's concerns.
"The same kind of speech was heard at both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, and we know the result," Benjamin retorted. "I think Henry is well placed to know that zero risk doesn't exist."
"When I allowed them to continue Project Giger here," Eli said, "I was thinking about the future of InGen and the future of this foundation. Your foundation. You entrusted me with your fortune and tasked me with making it productive. And the bunker was the only safe place which could house Project Giger in those troubled times…"
"You sound like Susan," InGen's co-founder replied.
He then looked his aide in the eyes.
"I'm aware of your relationship," he added, "What did she promise you? A seat among InGen's board of directors? That woman won't do you any good, Eli. Take my word for it. Please, stop being her gigolo and distance yourself from her. For your own sake..."
Benjamin grabbed the cup to take another sip of herbal tea.
"I don't want InGen's dirty little business in my house anymore," he said while putting it down. "Contact Susan and ask her to transfer this whole freak circus elsewhere."
"But where?" Henry asked.
"I don't know, Site H for example. It's Torres' stronghold and all of this is an InGen Security project. I don't see any better solution."
Benjamin then noticed that Henry didn't dare look him in the eye. He was angry at himself for betraying the trust of an old friend.
"Henry…I'm aware that you have to do research of…controversial nature to ensure the future of the company which John and I created. But Maisie could have been hurt today by your latest creation, or worse. Thank God she hasn't met it and I don't want that to happen."
"I perfectly understand, Benjamin," the geneticist replied sincerely, looking up.
"Henry and I will see what we can do with Susan and Edward," the foundation manager said. "I will keep you informed of their decision. I won't bother you any longer..."
"Eli, I'm not done with you," Benjamin snapped, his face flushing as the conversation continued. "Project Giger wasn't the only topic I wanted to talk about with you, nor the one which anger me the most... You see, I tasked someone with searching the second basement. He found what Maisie saw there."
Benjamin took a deep breath and then exclaimed:
"How dare you, Eli? Turn my house into the hub of despicable traffic?!"
Henry, whose access to the second basement was restricted just like it was for his team and the rest of the manor's residents, looked at Eli with a bewildered expression.
"What is he talking about? What are you hiding near the conference room?" he asked inquisitively.
It was then that the businessman knelt down by Benjamin's bed. His face bore all the marks of shame and the other two men thought that his gesture was pathetic.
"If you love InGen as much as you say, as much as Susan, as much as Hammond…" he began.
"Don't you dare use his name!" Benjamin thundered, furious. "He was far more noble than you, than you two, than the three of us… The expected profits from the sale of Jurassic World's animals alone are enough to save InGen. What you plot in the basement will only enrich you and your co-conspirators, whoever they are! Damn you!"
Trembling, Benjamin looked at the geneticist.
"Henry, give me the phone. I have to tell the authorities. Take the necessary measures to hide the presence of the laboratory from them. It will be easier for Eli if he cooperates."
Henry nodded and fetched an old black corded phone from atop a cabinet a few meters away.
"Since that's how it is, I'll take the opportunity to tell them what happened here ten years ago," Eli threatened.
"Don't you dare..."
On the monitor screen, Elijah and Henry saw a quick heartbeat and before he could finish his sentence, Benjamin suddenly leaned to the side, pushed the bed table back a little and vomited. Henry was so startled and worried that the corded phone slipped from his hands and fell to the floor, and Elijah rushed forward to check Benjamin's temperature and heart rate. In doing so, he knocked over the tray and the cup of herbal tea, smashing it into pieces and splashing the rest of its content on the floor. The manager of the Lockwood Foundation began by placing a hand on Benjamin's forehead. He was hot, he had a fever. He then placed two fingers on his neck. The monitor wasn't lying, the heart rate was abnormally high: Benjamin was having an attack of tachycardia.
"Henry, call 911! Now!" Eli barked, startling the geneticist.
Complying, the latter took out his cell phone to call them.
Standing on the steps leading to the manor's front door, Mills watched as the ambulance helicopter took off from the lawn and headed south, carrying Benjamin Lockwood to the hospital.
A few minutes later, while he was still there, Iris came out of the house, taking Maisie by the hand and holding a small backpack in the other. Mills looked at them.
"Are you going to the hospital?" he asked them.
"Yes," the housekeeper answered.
"Okay," he just said.
They descended the stairs, heading for Iris' car. Once they were out of sight, Mills hailed the nearest guard and told him to come.
"They're going to the hospital. Follow them, but discreetly," he ordered him. "Inform me of any suspicious behavior from Mrs. Caroll. They have to return here before tomorrow evening."
"Yes, sir."
Iris' car pulled into the driveway and crossed the bridge, followed a moment later by the guard's. After the vehicles disappeared behind the tree line, Mills put a hand into his pocket, reaching for the item he had left there, and pulled it out. It was a silver ring, adorned with a red gem and decorated with two snakes.
Coming from the museum, Wu came to the doorway and stopped, realizing that the ambulance helicopter had already left. It was then that he saw Mills holding the ring between his fingers and seeming to have eyes only for it. Recognizing the jewel, Wu shuddered and when the manager of the Lockwood Foundation put it on his finger, he felt trouble and took a step back. The gesture was symbolic: Eli had the power now. Wu preferred to not stay and returned inside the manor, assailed by worrying thoughts.
Benjamin was old and sick, and what had just happened to him was likely to give him the deathblow, Henry was aware that he might never come back. Maisie was the heiress of John Hammond's old friend, but she was still a child and even Iris was not going to be able to protect her forever from Eli's influence and plots. Eli had now become the undisputed master of the estate and the foundation, and he also threatened to become one of the most influential figures within InGen even though he was not even a part of it. With Lynton's and Torres' backing, the businessman had every InGen employee working and living in the manor at his mercy. Ivan, Karim, Giles, Nicole, the other geneticists, Maya… Wu feared that Mills' greed would lead to disastrous consequences for them and the Giger project as a whole. No one could oppose Mills...no one except maybe Guillaume Vuillier as well as the ring's original owner, Wu's sworn enemy, the same one who had tipped Isla Nublar into the darkness because of her arrogance: Claire. But if she managed to follow any leads to Orick, he knew that he would not be spared by her vengeful crusade and that she was going to make everything in her power to destroy the Giger project.