Prompt #8 Don't lie to me.

Liar, Liar Everywhere

Dennis Nedry stood outside of John Hammond's bungalow. For the first time ever, he wished that he was going inside to have another financial debate with Hammond, or another argument about the computer systems. Either one would be so much easier to deal with, compared to what lay ahead. He never imagined he would wish for Hammond to be on the other side of the door, but things had changed drastically ever since Biosyn had engaged in a hostile takeover of InGen. Instead of John Hammond relaxing inside of his bungalow, it would be Lewis Dodgson lounging around and acting as though he owned the property.

Lewis Dodgson, that ruthless geneticist who couldn't hold a full conversation without throwing in profanity, and whose patience was the size of a mustard seed. By now, Nedry had learned the hard way that dealing with Dodgson was far worse than any past conflicts he had with Hammond—and that said a lot. Hammond did horrible things against him, and to be fair, Nedry also did terrible things against Hammond when he betrayed him. Hammond threatened lawsuits and started smear campaigns against him, after keeping him in the dark about Jurassic Park. All those things were awful, the worst being that Hammond attempted to ruin his career…but it still didn't compare to what he experienced with Dodgson.

Dodgson thought first degree murder was a foolproof way to permanently silence Nedry. Well, he didn't do it himself, the lowly coward. Instead, he sent Roland Tembo, Howard King, George Baselton, and Eric Kirby to do the job. When that didn't work, Dodgson kidnapped him and Muldoon, and then abandoned them on Isla Sorna hoping they would slaughter each other. And when that wasn't successful, Dodgson bribed Antonio Contreras, that corrupt cop, to turn his back so that the Biosyn team could beat Nedry half to death in a jail cell when he was locked up at the San José Detention Center. He had intended to destroy Nedry's mind, body, and spirit and he had succeeded for a short time. Who knew Nedry was like a cat with nine lives?! Last night, he had asked Nedry to clean the entire cafeteria in the visitor center, just for the Biosyn team to come in and pour dinosaur entrails and mud on him.

All because Nedry told Dodgson the word that everyone on the Biosyn knew not to say to Dodgson: No. No, Nedry wasn't going to follow along with Dodgson's outrageous plan to take over InGen. No, he wasn't going to run Jurassic Park into the ground. No, he didn't want to be involved in the team's stupid antics anymore. This was after all the times Nedry gladly screwed around with the park's control systems and drove everyone from InGen up the wall. The last time he messed around with InGen, he had released the velociraptors. Hammond had suffered a debilitating stroke and landed in the hospital…and he was still recovering.

That's when Nedry discovered that he had limits.

This morning, Dodgson demanded that Nedry come to his bungalow, so that they could go over "future matters". Whatever the hell that meant. Nedry had bristled inwardly when he heard Dodgson mention "my bungalow", but he decided not to worry about it. Instead, he focused on Dodgson's most recent demand: create a program that would transfer and download InGen's information to Biosyn, so that Biosyn would be completely up to date with InGen's secrets. Yeah, he can have InGen's information right at his fingertips, Nedry thought. Nedry didn't plan to be around when Dodgson discovered the virus on the laptop…a virus that had Nedry's signature scribbled all over it. Payback's a bitch. Nedry grinned, just as the door to Hammond's bungalow opened.

The moment the door opened; his grin faded when he realized this wouldn't be a one-to-one meeting with Dodgson. The entire Biosyn team was there, as though they had been expecting him. Whenever the team was present, everything was much worse. The group tended to feed off each other's negative energy, and it wasn't too long ago that he had delighted in it. Now their toxicity disgusted him. He despised all of them (except Lawala) and couldn't wait for the day to come when he never saw them again.

Roland Tembo, Sonya Durant, and Raúl Lopez were huddled together near the back. The trio reminded him of ravenous predators as they watched him closely. Henry Wu came over from the kitchen holding a glass of water which he gave to Dodgson who gladly took it from him. Nedry thought he looked like his former bright-eyed ambitious self. Then the wall came down and he was back to wearing that cold persona. Wu paraded around wearing a mask of indifference ever since deflecting to Biosyn. Nedry saw right through it, but he wouldn't call out Wu in front of the team. Donald Gennaro shot a glare in Nedry's direction. George Lawala stood in the corner, staring at the floor. He glanced briefly at Nedry and went back to studying the floor patterns of Hammond's bungalow. George Baselton and Howard King sat on either side of Dodgson on the sofa.

"Why don't you come in?" Dodgson asked, gesturing to Nedry to step inside the bungalow.

"I'm fine right here, there's a nice breeze."

"Do you know why I asked to meet with you?"

Nedry shrugged. Who the hell knew? "Future matters" was vague and could mean anything. Nedry also knew Dodgson loved playing mind games. This was evident by what Dodgson said next.

"I had the team beat you into submission." Dodgson passed the glass back to Wu without taking a sip. "Then I had them pour dino guts on you. Do you know why?"

Nedry thought before he answered, knowing that the wrong answer could result in another humiliating punishment. But he was here now, pretending to be on Dodgson's side. Maybe he was a glutton for punishment? He settled on the answer he knew Dodgson wanted to hear.

"To put me in my place."

In the back, Lopez didn't hold in his laughter.

A broad smile flashed across Dodgson's face. "No."

Don't lie to me, Nedry fumed. He made sure not to let that slip out. Instead, he shrugged again. "I don't know."

"To remind you that you aren't as important as you think you are. Out of everyone standing here, you're the lowest rung on the ladder."

"I understand, Lew, that's perfectly fine." It wasn't fine at all, but Nedry played along. Then he decided to take his chances and challenge Dodgson, knowing no good would come from it. "I thought you asked me to come here to discuss future matters."

"I did. If your future matters to you, you will listen to what I'm about to tell you."

Nedry shifted uncomfortably. "Okay, go ahead, you have my full attention."

"You're nobody. You were once a fat slob who knew computer systems like the back of his hand but look at you now." Dodgson pointed at Nedry as he continued to heap abuse upon him. "Now you're a convicted felon who thinks because he lost weight in prison that everyone wants a piece of him."

Nedry had to make a conscious effort not to show his anger or defiance. He was fed up with being body shamed, and with having his conviction thrown back in his face. It was always used to demean him and make him feel unworthy. Like he was less than human. He couldn't clench his fists, he couldn't fold his arms across his chest, and he definitely couldn't voice a sarcastic jab.

Dodgson stood up from the sofa he had been relaxing on and went straight to the entrance where Nedry stood. "I want to remind you right here and right now, in front of everyone," he said as he turned back to the entire group that watched the one-sided confrontation, and then focused on Nedry again. "Don't fuck with me, Dennis. Do not even think of fucking Biosyn over, or as everyone here is my witness, I'll make sure you live to regret it."

Live to regret it, that's so cliché. Nedry knew not to make light of Dodgson's threats. At least, not aloud. "I get it." It was all he could say.

"I'm inviting Biosyn's higher-ups, Bill Steingarten and Jeff Rossiter, to visit the island by the end of this week, which you already know about. We're snatching Jurassic Park away from InGen and handing it over to Biosyn. I need everyone to be on point, and you know what? I know everyone will be on point—except for you."

"Me?" Nedry pointed at himself. He took a step away from Dodgson who had invaded his personal space.

"I'm giving you fair warning right now. Do not fuck around, and do not fuck this up. If you do, what happened in that jail cell will seem like child's play."

That's a lot of f-bombs. Nedry made sure to mask his amusement as pretending to be serious and obedient. Submissive to Dodgson's whims. Of course, he planned to throw everything into chaos. He couldn't wait! It wouldn't be fun for both Biosyn and InGen, but it would surely reflect badly on Dodgson, which is exactly what Nedry wanted. I'm gonna make that psycho son of a bitch fail in an epic manner—and I'll finally make good on my promise to help InGen. He was also glad that for the first time his desire for revenge against Dodgson outweighed his fear of whatever Dodgson could do against him—it was liberating.

"I won't."

"Don't lie to me," Dodgson sneered.

Nedry used all his willpower to not burst out laughing in Dodgson's face. We're on the same wavelength, Lew!

"I'm telling you the God-honest truth. I will not screw this up. You have my word."

Dodgson's creepy smile radiated triumph. "Good."

"Can I leave now?"

Dodgson nodded as he strolled back to the sofa and plopped down on it. Nedry didn't turn around when the door closed behind him. He didn't know who had shut the door, but he was grateful to put space between him and Dodgson. Now was the perfect time to head back to the staff lodge. Just get away from everyone and try to put that recent embarrassing encounter out of his mind. Dodgson thought he had control over Nedry, but Nedry knew who was in control of the situation—and it wasn't Dodgson. Still, Dodgson's threats unnerved him, and he tried to shake it off and not let it take ahold of him.

He was halfway there when he saw Ray Arnold and Robert Muldoon walking together along the same path that led to the staff loge. They stopped walking when Nedry approached them. Before, they had been talking in an animated way, and now they were dead silent. Nedry knew why: he had promised to help them get rid of Biosyn…

He was telling the truth when he made that promise, but he also had to lie to them. He had to act like he was on Dodgson's side again, so that in the end, InGen would have the victory. But he couldn't tell them anything. He had to keep pretending that he had switched sides. He knew what they were thinking; it was obvious: Malcolm had gotten him out of the jail on Costa Rica to help InGen, and here he was, schmoozing with Dodgson again. As though Dodgson never tried to kill him. He had to keep lying to InGen, keep them on their toes, and keep them believing that they were really done. Make them believe that he was a selfish and greedy good-for-nothing traitor who was only loyal to himself. Well, that part wasn't too hard. It was more about them believing that Nedry was completely incapable of doing anything good for InGen, and that he would never change.

He would always be a lying traitor.

Lying to them was the last thing he wanted to do. What he really wanted was to make amends for every time he had harmed InGen. He was trying to do the right thing, and he knew it was backwards that he had to lie to the InGen staff to help them. There was no other way though. All his lying would pay off for them, although they didn't know it yet. Lying to the InGen staff made the Biosyn team believe they had the upper hand. The lying was taking its toll though and now a massive headache pounded his skull.

"Goddamn liar," Arnold growled. "I'm sick of his garbage."

Muldoon didn't utter a syllable and when Nedry looked over his shoulder, he saw Muldoon's death stare was meant for him.

"I adore you too, Ray. I hope you and Robert have fun frolicking in the park together!" Nedry called to them and flashed a menacing smirk.

Arnold took one step towards him, before Muldoon stopped him. Nedry chuckled, but even as he did, hot pain washed over him. Would it always be this way? Would he be forever hated for his past crimes, even when he tried to do the right thing? He had finally reached the staff lodge. Behind him, he heard Arnold shouting and Muldoon trying to get him to focus on what they had been discussing before they ran into Nedry. He kept walking to put distance between himself and them. Now he was inside the building and when he looked again, Arnold and Muldoon had turned around and started walking again.

Nedry released a sigh of relief. He went to his room on the first floor—the one without a door since Arnold had told Harding to remove it. Kicking off his sneakers, he threw himself on the bed and pulled the covers over his head. He tried to sleep, but all he heard in his mind were Dodgson's and Arnold's voices overlapping about how he was a pathological liar, and that they couldn't wait to be rid of him.