Chapter 8

Shocking Discovery

The sound of a mighty roar in the distance brought Dr. Ben Hildebrand out of his slumber. 'Slumber?' he thought to himself. 'Was I asleep? When did I pass out? How long have I been out?' Trying to calm his mind, Ben looked around the structure, spotting Eric Matthew Kirby at the far end, looking through a set of binoculars that he must've gotten from the abandoned supplies.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex," Eric said out loud before lowering the binoculars and turning to face Ben, a grin on his face. "Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Ben rubbed the back of his head as he stood up and moved toward Eric. "Morning? Tell me I didn't -"

Eric chuckled. "No. I wasn't really asleep but maybe a couple hours, and I think you had about thirty extra minutes. It's evening. Same day."

"How are you feeling?" Ben asked.

"Better," Eric replied with a smile. "I'm still a little shook up, but I don't think I'll pass out again anytime soon."

Ben gently took the binoculars. "You saw the King of the dinosaurs, huh?"

Eric nodded, pointing toward the Northeast. "Over toward the village you wanted to go to. We may have to wait till the morning, but you'll be happy to know…"

"There are people over there!" Ben exclaimed, lowering the binoculars. "Looks like they're trying to take the Rex down."

"Yeah, I think there's something going on," Eric stated. "But you should…"

"That's obvious," Ben told him sarcastically, cutting him off.

"Good thing we're here to stop them," Eric said.

"Stop them?" Ben asked. "We don't even know what they're doing. I need to get you to safety, and these people might be -"

"Look past what's going on with the Rex," Eric told him. "Look toward the huts to the west. I've been trying to tell you something, but you might as well just see it."

Ben pulled the binoculars back up and did as Eric told him. "Damn. Looks like those three are… Wait..."

Eric nodded. "My Aunt Karen is still alive."

Ben lowered the binoculars. "She's with that lawyer from your grandpa's firm too."

"They went to the Congo together," Eric reminded him.

"And now they're on the other side of the world," Ben said, shaking his head.

"These people faked their deaths and brought them here," Eric stated.

"Why?" Ben asked. "What's the connection?"

Eric shrugged. "My aunt's a mathematician. I don't really see what she has to do with dinosaurs. Same for Mr. Gennaro."

"Do you know the other man?" Ben asked.

Eric shook his head. "Looks badass for an old guy, but no."

Ben sighed. "We're in way over our heads."

"Maybe, but I'm not leaving my aunt to those people," Eric told him. "They're tranquilizing the dinosaurs, and with all that equipment, I'd bet they're going to use their helicopters to take them off island."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "You figured all of this out in thirty minutes?"

"It wasn't hard," Eric said. "They're making so much noise that I'm surprised all of the dinosaurs aren't up that way. We should be safe in this area."

"Makes me think we need to stay here," Ben said, raising the binoculars again. "What if they catch us? These people are very prepared. We have nothing to defend ourselves."

"We'll figure it out," Eric told him. "You're the best at what you do. Don't you always call yourself the real life Indiana Jones?"

Ben lowered the binoculars, looking at Eric sternly.

"What would Indiana Jones do?" Eric asked.

"This isn't a movie, kiddo," Ben replied. "We could get hurt."

"They've already hurt my Aunt and Mr. Gennaro," Eric said. "That's all I need to know."

"Let's look through everything in here and then we'll make the trip," Ben told him. "I don't like doing it with night coming. We need to wait till we can see."

"But they'll see us," Eric said as he bent down, searching through the supplies for anything useful. "We need the cover of darkness to surprise them."

"More like the wildlife will surprise us," Ben said. "Those Raptors could be anywhere. Regardless of knowing where the Rex is, we don't really know what else is on this island. We could run into something far worse. Cover of darkness is good and all when it's only other humans you have to worry about."

"You really want to wait till morning?" Eric asked.

"If we're going to do this, kiddo, we're doing it my way," Ben told him. "So yes. We wait for morning. I don't think they're going anywhere anyway… at least, not yet." He leaned on the railing, looking out at the foliage across from the game trail. "I'd like to know where they think they're taking the animals."

"We'll find out," Eric said. "And we'll stop them."

"I hope so," was all Ben said in response.

"Take him down!" Campbell called out to his men. "Take him down!"

Several darts of concentrated tranquilizer had already been fired into the adult male Tyrannosaurus Rex. He appeared wobbly, but it didn't seem like he was going to go down without a fight. Two of their men had been stomped in the fight and another had been bitten in half by the creature's incredible jaws.

A few more well placed darts finally brought the male Rex down with a crashing thud.

Edward Campbell sighed in relief, looking back to the nearby Tasha Johnson and Ed James. "Very good."

Tasha nodded. "Bravo." She stepped forward with James following her. "Our prized piece. This will get the money flowing." A laugh caught her attention as she turned around. The noise was coming from Muldoon. "Something funny?"

"You weren't on Isla Nublar," Muldoon replied. "You didn't see what I saw on a daily basis. You have no clue what you're doing, and it'll be the death of you."

Tasha put her hands on her hips and cleared the distance to him. "How about you leave those concerns for me, and you keep your mouth shut."

"You wanted consultants," Gennaro said from nearby, grabbing Tasha's attention as she turned sharply toward him. "I mean, if that's why we're here, you might want to consider listening to the man that was the game warden on the other island."

"At this stage, the both of you would tell us to just pack up and leave," Tasha said.

"You're bloody well right we would," Muldoon said.

"We're not here for that kind of advice," Tasha stated. "This will happen with or without the three of you."

In the background, several men strapped a harness around the Rex as a helicopter moved in low for the straps to be placed.

"Where are you taking him?" Muldoon asked.

Tasha turned around, looking onward, a smirk forming on her face. "An abandoned facility that I doubt either of you knew about."

"I didn't even know about this island," Gennaro revealed to her. "Robert did, but I was never…"

"Of course you weren't," Tasha stated, turning to face him. "Why would John Hammond want to give away everything that he'd done to the biggest pain in his ass?"

Gennaro smirked. "Clearly you never met Ian Malcolm."

"Oh, but I will," Tasha said, moving away from them, going to oversee the transfer.

Donald Gennaro watched as Tasha walked off and then turned to Muldoon. "Alright, is there another facility that I don't know about?"

Muldoon shrugged. "There were rumors of a Site C, but I didn't believe them."

Gennaro crossed his arms. "And why is that?"

"Cause Wu would've told me," Muldoon replied. "And if not him, Arnold or Harding would've, certainly."

"Who was spreading the rumors?" Ross asked, finally speaking for the first time since seeing the Rex in all of its glory. She thought her horrors in the Congo couldn't be topped, but this island had quickly changed her mind.

"The Park Publicist, Ed Regis," Muldoon replied.

Gennaro sighed. "Too bad we can't ask him."

"Why?" Ross asked.

"He was murdered by one of the Rexes on Nublar," Gennaro replied. "Any idea who's running this operation?"

"I've seen a bunch of Mantah Corp logos," Muldoon replied. "But I've never heard of such a company."

"Could be a shell," Ross said.

"I doubt it," Gennaro stated. "They've revealed themselves to us. There's no…"

"…need to keep wondering," a voice behind them said loudly.

They all turned around, finding an elderly man walking on a cane, moving up to them from the large lab complex in the distance. He wore a business suit and a fedora on his head. He almost looked like he could've been a gangster in the forties.

Shock crossed Gennaro's face. "You're supposed to be dead…but considering Tasha, I shouldn't be surprised."

"Who is this?" Ross asked.

"Yeah, I don't know either," Muldoon said.

"You should, Robert," Gennaro said. "He was at the beginning of all this with Hammond. This is Dr. Norman Atherton."

Atherton grinned. "So good that you remember me, Donald."