Chapter 4
Uninvited Guests
Opening his eyes, confusion instantly set in for Donald Gennaro. Also lying near to where he lay on the floor were Robert Muldoon and Dr. Karen Ross. All three of them had been ambushed half way through their expedition to the remains of The Lost City of Zinj by forces that had fired tranquilizer darts at them. They were fast acting little bitches for sure.
'This is what I get for trying to do Daniel a favor,' Gennaro thought. He barely knew his boss' daughter Karen, having only ever met her once during an inspection of E.R.T.S., the company that Karen worked for at the time. However, this was a chance for Ross to put the past behind her, and his boss wanted to make sure she was protected this time. Who Daniel really wanted was Robert Muldoon with her, but in order to get him, he had to send Gennaro as well.
The prospect of having to go into the Congo didn't really agree to Gennaro, and it agreed even less to his wife Elizabeth. He would once again be missing a big event in his daughter Amanda's life: her high school graduation. Gennaro had no choice but to assure Liz that the money he was going to make for the trip would be well worth it: more than enough to pay for Amanda's entire college education. He was immediately reminded that they already had enough money to take care of her college, but Gennaro reminded Liz that Amanda would need medical school after her bachelor's. In the end, it was easy money, and he was doing this for his daughter, so Liz finally backed off.
Looking around the room, Gennaro couldn't for the life of him figure out where they were, but one thing was certain: his hands and legs were both tied, and as such, he couldn't really go anywhere.
"Robert," Gennaro whispered.
Muldoon groaned.
"Robert," Gennaro stated again.
"I bloody well heard you the first time," Muldoon told him, opening his eyes. He looked around the room. "Where are… bloody hell."
Gennaro tilted his head. "You know where we are?"
Muldoon sighed. "Don't you?"
"No," was the only thing Gennaro could say, but he said it in confusion.
Muldoon shook his head. "Typical."
Ross groaned, opening her eyes. "What's going on?"
"Are you alright?" Gennaro asked her.
"My head's swimming," Ross replied. "Are we still in the Congo?"
"That would be a big bloody no," Muldoon replied.
"Then where are we?" Gennaro asked.
Muldoon smirked. "We are in John Hammond's big, dark secret."
Gennaro's eyes widened.
"John Hammond?" Ross asked. "Am I missing something?"
"Someone Donald and your father used to represent," Muldoon told her. "I worked for him."
"What is the secret?" Gennaro asked, worry creeping into his voice.
"There was a second island," Muldoon revealed.
"What are you talking about?" Gennaro asked, not believing what he was hearing.
"This is why I said typical," Muldoon said. "I'm not surprised that you weren't in the know." Muldoon sat up as best he could, considering his hands and legs being tied the way they were. "They had a second island, Isla Sorna, InGen's dark secret: Site B."
Gennaro suddenly looked angry. "For the love of God, tell me that there aren't dinosaurs here."
Karen Ross looked back and forth between both of them. "Dinosaurs?"
"They should be dead," Muldoon responded, not even bothering to respond to Ross. "This island had issues with disease that Nublar didn't have."
"Then why the hell are we here?" Gennaro asked.
"Bloody good question," Muldoon replied.
"So you recognize this room?"
"I lived in this hut with a few others briefly. I had to come here to observe some of the animals before transfer once to make sure they were clean of the virus. Most boring week of my life. That was actually just a month before your inspection."
"Someone tell me what this place has to do with dinosaurs," Ross finally said, frustrated and confused. She sat up at this point, trying to get into a comfortable position.
Gennaro cleared his throat. "InGen Bioengineering created genetically engineered dinosaurs."
"How the hell is that possible?" Ross asked.
"Fossilized resin," Gennaro replied. "Mosquitoes bit dinosaurs and then got trapped when they landed on tree limbs."
"That seems really farfetched," Ross told him.
"It's true," Muldoon said. "I was the game warden on the other island. I just hope I'm right and the animals are all dead."
"So that's why you didn't tell me about Site B before?" Gennaro asked. "Cause this island should've been napalmed like Nublar was."
"You're right," Muldoon told him. "But like I said, disease made me think the animals here wouldn't have lasted. I was told by Dr. Harding that the island was going to be evacuated a couple days into our stay in Costa Rica. A really bad hurricane plowed through Sorna and destroyed a lot of equipment."
Gennaro nodded. "We were stuck on the mainland for a month before we were allowed to return to the states" He shook his head. "You and Gerry should've told me at that point."
Muldoon shrugged. "So I could miss out on your bitching at me now? Why would I want that?"
Gennaro growled. "I had a right to know. Hell, the others did as well. Who even contacted Gerry?"
"The head of operations on the island," Muldoon replied. "Dr. Wu's brother Elliot. Come to think about it, I haven't seen that bastard since my trip here last time."
Karen Ross cleared her throat. "Alright, so we're on an island that may or may not have dinosaurs on it, and someone went out of their way to take both of you here, along with me. Why am I here? I have nothing to do with this."
"You're probably leverage," Muldoon told her. "Whatever these people want from Don and me, they'll use you to make sure we do it."
Ross closed her eyes and sighed. "Great."
"What the hell do they want?" Gennaro asked. "If there even are still dinosaurs here, they're diseased. What can we possibly do?"
The sound of a nearby door being unlocked suddenly occurred.
"I think we're about to find out," Muldoon stated.
Moving past what looked to have once been a swimming pool and tennis court, Tasha Johnson looked very out of place in her business suit skirt and high heels, but she didn't care. Nor did she care about the tropical climate. There was too much to do for any of it to matter. She and her people had arrived, and it wouldn't be long before her leader revealed himself as well to the invested parties, and they began their ultimate plans.
Moving on one side of her was Ed James, the man that had helped make some of this all possible. It had been difficult getting him to willingly come to the island, having lost contact with Dr. Lewis Dodgson after he'd left to go here, but Tasha advised him that tracking down Dodgson was one of their priorities anyway.
On her other side was the second in command of Mantah Corp: Edward Campbell, the Chairman of the Board. Both Tasha and Edward had invested much in this company and the vision of their founding father. It had been a relief to finally arrive and watch as their men set up barricades and temporary electrified fences, considering their satellites showed that the Tyrannosaurs liked to hunt in this general area during the day. There were construction supervisors all around getting ready for the next phase in the plan as well.
It was all finally coming together.
"Is everything ready?" Tasha asked, looking to Campbell.
"As much as can be expected," Campbell replied. "All of the planes had a hard time landing. You have to remember that the winds are bad on this island. We nearly lost two of them. The last plane had to land to the North. They radioed in having seen a boat near the South of the island."
Tasha stopped. "A boat?"
Campbell nodded. "Looked like tourists. There were two parasailing."
"What happened to them?" Tasha asked.
"They don't know," Campbell replied. "They knew it was imperative to land. I wouldn't worry. If it was tourists, they're probably on their way back to the mainland as we speak."
Tasha shook her head and began moving again, both men following. "I don't want any surprises. It's bad enough we don't know for sure if Lewis Dodgson is still on the island."
"Trust me," James said. "If he hasn't gotten everything he wanted, he is still here."
Walking past several of the worker village huts, they came upon the one that they were intending to visit. It was finally time to get things underway with their experts.
Opening the door, Tasha walked in first, followed by James and Campbell. A smirk crossed her face as the recognition hit Gennaro. "I'm glad to see you're all awake."
"Tasha?" Gennaro asked, shock clearly present.
"You know this woman? Muldoon asked.
"How very observant of you, Mr. Muldoon," Tasha stated. "It's no wonder you survived Nublar six years ago. The obvious doesn't escape your grasp."
Muldoon scowled.
"You died," Gennaro said.
Tasha's smirk finally turned into a grin. "Did I now?"
"Why?" Gennaro asked.
"Because," Tasha said. "I was approached by our wonderfully mysterious backer." She gestures to Campbell. "This is our leader's chairman, Edward Campbell."
Muldoon laughed. "Earth First bastard."
Campbell grinned to him. "In another life, yes. I have moved up in the world."
"Earth First?" Ross asked. "What's that?"
"Provisional saboteurs," Muldoon replied. "Environmental criminals."
"Ecoterrorists, are what they called us," Campbell said. "But you make it sound so much lovelier."
Tasha gestured toward James. "This is an agent in our employ, Ed James."
Gennaro scoffed. "You have someone from Biosyn in your ranks."
"You're only half right," James told him.
"A mole?" Gennaro asked.
"More like these people pay more," James told him.
"I don't know what you want, but if you let us go, I won't press charges," Ross assured them.
Tasha laughed. "I don't care about your idle threats, Dr. Ross. Nor do I actually care about you. You were a means to an end. We wanted Donald and Mr. Muldoon. You are only here because I allowed it. Should our great leader choose, you'll be disposed of without prejudice."
Ross' mouth dropped in shock.
"You won't get anything out of us if you lay one finger on her," Muldoon assured her.
"Your threats are worthless on me," Tasha said. "We already have everything we want. We just wanted your expertise."
"In what exactly?" Gennaro asked.
"They want me to help them control the animals," Muldoon said. "Isn't that right? They aren't dead. Site B is thriving."
Tasha grinned. "To a point, yes, Mr. Muldoon. There's still a lot of work to be done, including dealing with the virus that plagues these creatures."
"DX hasn't been resolved then," Muldoon said.
"It's only a matter of time," Campbell told him. "We have the best in the field helping us to…"
A deafening roar sounded out, grabbing all of their attentions.
"I didn't think I'd ever hear that again," Muldoon stated.
Tasha grinned. "Wonderful. Our first catch of the day." She turned to Ed James. "Mr. James, please let them loose. I want them to see what comes next."
James moved over to them and untied their bindings.
"If I recognized that roar well enough, you should be worried," Gennaro said.
"Thank you for the concern, Donald, but we can handle it," Tasha told him. "We have prepared for this."
Tasha turned, moving for the door.
"From who?" Gennaro asked, standing up, rubbing his wrists where the bindings had been.
Tasha looked back to him. "You'll know soon enough. Our gracious leader has been waiting a long time to see you." She grinned and then moved out of the hut, Campbell and James following her.