Chapter One
LEX
Somewhere in Texas
The sound of gunshots can be heard as the Desert Eagle barks its loud echoes all over the firing range. The thirty year old user dressed in a black crop top pulls the trigger again making the gun at her hand fire another shot finishing the last bullet from the magazine in a complete bulls-eye.
"Switching!" she shouts as her partner, a beautiful blonde bombshell wearing a crop and shorts showing her own midriff throws her a pump action shotgun which she immediately checks, the safeties and the readies in seconds before advancing at the right side of the range in the next pump action shotgun blasting target after target like there's no tomorrow.
"I'm out, switch!"
"Here!" her partner once again passes to her another long arm, this time an AR-15 which she cranks immediately before jumping belly first on a covered pass on the ground before lobbing rounds uprange to the targets a few yards away from her. She continues to fire until the gun is empty before whistling as she takes off the black sunglasses covering her eyes and the ear-covers.
She's a tall woman and quite athletic. Other than her crop top, she is wearing ruined torn jeans at the knees and simple tennis shoes. Her long straw coloured hair is also done in a simply ponytail and braided at the sides. One look at her and one might think they have been looking at someone who have workout to achieve the classic Tomb Raider look, athletic, fit but elegant enough to be attractive. She is no one else but Alexis Murphy, or as she is commonly known, Lex by her friends and family.
"Excellent work Senora Murphy, magnifico. As superb as usual in testing out our range's products," the high pitched voice of Ludo Sanchez, the owner of the gun range sounds off at the side. He is a chubby man and the owner of the Sanchez Ranch of Rifling, the range slash gun selling business here a little bit far away from the main city of Texas.
"The Desert Eagle's got a little bit of drag and the Shotgun shoots a second late. You might need to twist some of the components of those inside before you start entering the competition again for your gun range," says Lex handing the chubby man the AR-15 which he almost dropped before accepting the warm towel handed to her by her blonde companion.
"Thanks Sophie," she smiles at the French beauty who merely gives her a wink.
"However the AR-15 works very well if I might say. The new foregrip is really doing wonders," she adds as she dabs the towel on her face, wiping the sweat that has accumulated under the heat of the sun.
"Thank you Senora Murphy. Are you done already?" he asks as Lex takes a big gulp of water from the tumbler she has set aside from her sports bag.
"For now, my apologies for quitting early today Ludo but I have other appointments that I need to keep for today," answers Lex simply.
"Very well then, as usual please come back Senora Murphy. It has always been a pleasure both in coin and in sight watching you train under my range," he bows making Lex smirk at him before walking away back to the car park followed by Sophie who places their bags at the back of the Wild Truck.
"You do know he's watching your ass as you run around shooting targets right," the French beauty comments as they enter front of the pickup and strapping their seatbelts.
"I seem to recall him staring at both our asses, so it's not that big of a deal. Besides, it's something we are both proud of. I'm just kind of envious at you in the Chest Department. I'm still flabbergasted how you manage to carry all that rack around while serving in the GIGN,"
Sophie, or rather Sophie De Leon is a former GIGN. She has unfortunately retired to take care of her sick father and turned to inherit their farming business at least thirteen farms all in all at Southern France. When her father died, their family farming business is immediately threatened by Biosyn who is ramping up acquisition of land to test out their new Biosyn seed. She might have been overrun by lawyers and her assets seized if not for Alexis Murphy, a major shareholder of Ingen stepping in, offering to buy instead her family business in the right price rather than seizing it and leaving her penniless in a way Biosyn would. Now she serves as secretary slash bodyguard slash girlfriend of Alexis who is also a good friend of hers.
"Clue, straps, lots of straps," Sophie answers Lex who breaks out laughing even as she revs the engine to as they head back to the main city.
"What's the next in my itinerary Sophie?" asks Lex as the car zips through the highway.
"The meeting with Masrani at her office here at Pal Alto Building," answers Sophie. "He has been calling for a while and is rather quite insistent that he wants to talk to you,"
Lex winces at that as she puts on her shades. She has a pretty good idea as to what the Indian Businessman wants to talk about.
Lex had come a long way from that eight year old girl who got attacked at the park of her Grandpa. Sufficed it to say that she was traumatized would be the least of the loosest terms of definition that would be described what happened to her the moment she returned to the mainland. Things simply had gone from bad to worse for her family after that. Her parents finished their divorce and she and Tim lived with their mother who was the daughter of John Hammond. They still retained their birth names as Murphy unfortunately. It's not the lack of money that was the problem, despite the loss of the park, Ingen was still the leading genetics company in the world and their products and drugs remain top notched. Biosyn, the nearest thing to a competitor to the mega corporation that was Ingen can barely challenge it in the field. No, money was not the problem especially with their grandfather allotting both her and Tim rather large shares.
No, the problem was the nightmares.
It was quite frankly a reasonable outcome if one would look at it in a way. Being traumatized simply was to be expected. They had after all been chased by a rather large and badly tempered T-Rex and quite vicious Raptors. She and her brother had sufficient reason to be traumatized. It took a lot of sessions between Therapists and Psychiatrists that made her and Tim normal enough to function once again correctly in human society.
Of course everything was no longer the same. Lex had sworn to herself that she would never be that helpess again. Next time such a disaster might happen, she might not be so lucky and not had someone like Doctor Grant bail her ass away from trouble. Thus she had honed her body to something that would be ready for emergencies. She became a track and field champion, a judo practitioner and of course, a weapons specialist of a sorts using the money from her shares to frequent the range as she continued to grow. Unlike Tim, she did not specialize in Law but rather in business, opening up her own corporation that managed farms and agriculture like the ones she bought from Sophie all over the world. It was rather quite lucrative and Lex was quite happy that she made a name and a path for herself. Before she knew it, she was already thirty years old, a beautiful young woman in her prime with a rather hot and capable girlfriend who was also badass.
The rest of the trip remains in silence with Lex looking over the numbers of her budding company earnings at her tablet to keep her mind occupied. She simply does not look forward to the upcoming talk with Simon Massrani. She knows of course who the man is; she doubts anyone in the world does not. He is the current head of Ingen and the creator of Jurassic World, the post successful park that stands on the ashes of its precursor Jurrasic Park. Judging by only minor accidents at the park, one might say that Simon Massrani has succeeded on where Hammond has failed. Jurrasic World stands as the eighth wonder of the world, serving as a zoo for the greatest living attractions of the world, dinosaurs. Word from the grapevine is Doctor Henry Wu, the one who originally worked for her grandfather now works for Massrani. Yet for Lex, Massrani is someone she knows a little bit more personally compared to the random person of Earth.
Simon Massrani is also her godfather thanks to her grandfather who is a very good friend of his. And him specifically calling for her means he wants something that he can guilt trip her into doing. He has been hovering over her quite a lot ever since her grandfather passed away.
"We are here Lex," the voice of Sophie snaps Lex back to the present as she blinks. She has been too engrossed in too much thinking to realize that she has blanked out during the entire drive.
"Alright, do you have a spare jacket I can use?" asks Lex indicating at her crop top.
"Here,use mine," says Sophie taking off her flannel jacket and handing it to her which Lex promptly wears before taking a whiff of it and raising an eyebrow at her girlfriend.
"It smells like you,"
She only smiles brightly in response. "Of course it does, I aim to please," she grins saucily making Lex roll her eyes before exiting the car.
"Flirt, I'll wait for you up top,"
"Bye! And I know you love it!" she hears Sophie call from the inside victoriously before the door closes and the pickup drives off leaving Lex standing sand shaking her head at her girlfriend's antics.
Taking a breath, she zips the flannel jacket to cover her crop top before rearranging her hair as neatly as she could before looking at the giant building looming over her. Like everything it does, Ingen built their office here at Texas big with almost twenty stories in height gleaming like polished silver under the crisp morning sun. Walking to the entrance, the guards stepped aside as Lex shows them her ID before entering the building. The smell of liquid detergent immediately fills her nostrils and the cold kiss of the AC unit as she comes in. Ingen employees in their suits and their lab coats can be seen running back and forth to busy to stare at the newcomer though some pause and look at her probably wondering why someone in casual clothes is here.
She promptly ignores them.
Marching to the receptionists, she submits her ID for clearance before walking to the elevators where she joins countless others who are also lining up to ride one. They certainly stare however as she presses the highest floor of the building. The highest floor of course belongs to none other than the main office of Simon Massrani when he's here at Texas for a visit.
One by one the people at the elevator trickles out with only Lex the only one remaining. It does not long before the whirring machinery finally pauses and the elevator door finally opens bringing wafting in the scent of fresh olive greens. She tidies herself one final time before stepping out to an opulent office filled with hardwood and decored in lime. She recalls very vividly that Simon Massrani likes organic furniture compared to plastic and metal ones. A very large painting occupied the right side of the wall showing three men holding each other by the shoulder side by side. She recognizes each and everyone of them of course, Benjamin Lockwood at the right in his prime, her own grandfather, John Hammond at the right and of course, at the center looking quite young is no one else but Simon Massrani himself.
"We are quite young then and ambitious. Three men who believed that the impossible can become possible if one simply dared to dream," the sudden sound of rich accented voice nearly makes Lex jump, as it is she automatically turns to a fighting pose which makes the Indian Billionaire raise his hands in surrender at the sudden move.
"Woah! Woah! Don't turn me blue and red Lex. My board members would be laughing about me if that ever happens," chuckles the man.
"Godfather, don't do that," Lex says irritated immediately relaxing as the man claps softly.
"My god-daughter, businesswoman and fighter, you don't see that every day," he makes weird fighting poses with ridiculous sounds before laughing again and inviting her to seat to the comfy sofas of the living room where an entire section of the wall has been hollowed out to accommodate an entire transparent crystal window.
"Spared no expense if that's what you're thinking about," says Simon Massrani noticing where Lex is looking. "Drink?"
"I could use one," she answers as he whiffs up from a cabinet a bottle of wine which he pours one glass to Lex and one to himself.
"Nineteen Eighty Two, very good year," he sighs as he smacks his lips after sipping a drink.
"Godfather, please tell me why did you ask for this meeting that you have to call my secretary seven times?" asks Lex directly making the billionaire mock sniff at her.
"Please, can't a godfather just want to enjoy some free time with his god-daughter? I'm a very busy man you know and I could use what little free time I have to relax with someone who is practically family,"
"Really?" Lex raises her left eyebrow at the man who gives off an explosive sigh.
"Fine, fine, fine, since when did the bubbly little child I use to bounce on my knee gone?" he grumbles unhappily but acquiesces to her as he places his glass of drink instead at the glass table at the middle between them.
"I have called you here because of the promise that I made your grandfather," he begins standing up and staring at the open glass wall. "Your grandfather wanted you and your brother to enjoy the beauty of his creations, to see you smile as you stare at the wondrous animals that his dream has successfully brought back to life. Simply called, your grandfather wants you to experience Jurassic Park in its entire beauty if it had back then been successful. I promised your grandfather I would succeed where he failed. Now it is time for me to fulfill that promise. I want you to visit Jurassic World again and behold it in all its wonders as your grandfather would have wanted,"
Lex just sighs as she gulps all of the wine at her glass before answering: "You're seriously asking me to return to the island where I am nearly killed before?"
"It might be the same island but it is not the same place before my god-daughter. Jurassic World is perfectly safe and we have no major accidents except for unruly guests for years now," reasons out Simon Massrani.
"So you just want me to visit your theme park? That is all?" she asks her godfather whose face winces a bit.
"Maybe not that all, I want your commendation on the new dinosaur that we are creating, perfectly new bred and created from the labs of Doctor Wu. It would mean a lot for the public if the granddaughter of Hammond supports its launch. It would also silence the old crowd skeptics on my board at Ingen about us trying to create a new dinosaur from scratch instead of using the old strains," he answers.
"So you want me? Me? To endorse your dinosaur that you're going to show to the public?" she asks.
"Yes, that's the gist of it, but it would mean the world to me and to your grandfather if you come to the island. You know, take photos for a bit, enjoy the sun, see what it has to offer. It would not be like the old days. You would be with thousands of guests," he points out.
"Fine, fine! I'll do it. I'll come to your damned island but it would be with my team and I need full access to your armory there also," reasons out Lex making the smile at Simon's face falter a bit.
"Full access? You're not planning on executing on any of my dinosaurs are you?" he chuckles nervously.
"I do not even dream of it godfather. But I would feel very much secure if I at least know at the back of my head that I've got weapons to fall back to if things got hairy again like last time," waves off Lex.
"Alright you'll get security access the same as that of the Animal Containment Units once you get to the island. Just promise me you won't randomly start shooting my animals will you?"
"Not unless they attempt to bite me first. After that there's no promises," answers Lex already standing up and dusting off her ripped jeans. "I'll be there this weekend once I'm free godfather. I'm taking some of my friends with me. I want the same access of the ACU to be given to them also,"
"As you wish and I'll also grant you full VIP access. Please when you're there. Do not attempt to burn down my island will you god-daughter?"
Lex only laughs as she enters the elevator gain before waving at her godfather. "About that, I can't promise anything godfather. It depends on the dinosaurs if they want to eat me or not,"
…
Author's Note:
Okay so this is my first attempt at Jurassic park. So apologies if its not up to snuff. We will see if we can reach 20 chapters with this story so that we will know if we have a complete lineup. Anyway thanks. Please review and comment for your reviews are the songs that liven up this writer's soul.