Prompt #26 No more Mr. Nice Guy

Dennis Becomes a Heel

Dear Mr. Nedry,

I hope this letter finds you well. Thank you for taking the time to meet with my team last week to discuss the company's project. I regret to inform you that we will not be moving forward as initially planned and are declining your professional services at this time. Currently, we are exploring different candidates who will be a better fit for our company' s needs. We wish you the best in all your future endeavors.

Dennis Nedry didn't bother to read the sender's name. The letter was brief and vague. No solid reason or concrete explanation was provided as to why his expertise was being turned down. One phrase resounded in his mind: better fit. What the hell did that mean? This was the second letter he had received from a potential client rejecting his services. Like the first letter, it didn't state exactly why they were turning him away after agreeing to work with him. Deciding not to give it further thought, Nedry crumpled up the letter and threw it in the trash can.

Nedry sat in the waiting room of InGen's headquarters waiting for John Hammond to summon him to his office. When he wasn't being demanded to fly down to Isla Nublar to fix his computer bugs, then he was being ordered to show up at InGen's headquarters in Palo Alto to have meetings with management about his work. He wished he could be done with InGen already, that it was just a past memory. Unfortunately, he was sitting in the last place he wanted to be. Just then the secretary called his name.

"Mr. Nedry? Mr. Hammond will see you now."

Nedry rose from his chair and followed the secretary into a small conference room. John Hammond was seated across the table, alongside his lawyer, Donald Gennaro. The secretary gestured for Nedry to take a seat across from them. Nedry took his time as he approached the table. His mind fired questions around with no answers. Why was he meeting with Hammond and his lawyer? What was the real purpose of this meeting? Were they going to fire him? Nedry's smirk flashed across his face and evaporated quickly. If he got fired, then he'd celebrate with a glass of expensive wine. Being forever severed from InGen would be a blessing. He'd have nothing to do with them ever again. He could go on with his career and treat InGen like a nightmare that he woke up from.

Gennaro snorted and Nedry glanced in his direction. Nedry had met Gennaro once—and it was fair to say that both men immediately disliked the other. Gennaro liked to act as though he were the boss. He always wore those stupid Armani suits. Nedry tried to ignore Gennaro's scrutinizing glare as he sat down across from them.

"I'm going to make this quick and to the point," Hammond started. "There's been ongoing issues since you started working for InGen. Your work is sloppy—"

"You kept me in the dark the entire time, and then you complain there's bugs in the system."

"I've asked repeatedly for you to make changes to the systems you designed—"

"But you're not willing to compensate me for additional work." Nedry folded his arms across his chest, indicating what he felt about the matter. "I don't work for free, John."

"They were in your contract."

"No, they were added at the last minute. I know what I signed."

Hammond sighed and turned to Gennaro. "This is what I'm dealing with, Donald."

"We'll get to the bottom of it," Gennaro said. "We're gonna give him his options, and it's gonna go our way."

"I hope so. He's fought me tooth and nail this entire time. There's no reasoning with him."

"That ends today. Before he leaves this conference room, he'll make the decision that's in InGen's best interest."

Nedry watched both men having a conversation about him—right in front of him! He coughed loudly, forcing both men to refocus their attention on him.

"Excuse me, I'm sitting right here. You can talk to me, and not about me." He pointed at himself.

"I've let your clients know that you're unreliable," Hammond said, facing Nedry now. "I don't want them experiencing the same difficulties I have…"

Nedry didn't hear the rest of what Hammond said. Those rejection letters! Everything made sense now—the letter he received from a potential client this morning. Stating that they needed a candidate who was a "better fit"—and now with what Hammond just shared. The old man had literally admitted in his face that he was responsible for sending letters to Nedry's clients stating that he was unreliable and irresponsible. The implications hit him hard.

Hammond was trying to blackball him!

Ruin his career. Destroy his credibility. After everything he had done to create a decent reputation for himself—all his hard work would be flushed down the drain. And all because Hammond was going on a petty rampage to damage his ability to work in his field. Nedry stared at the table now. If he looked in Hammond's direction, he knew he would see blood red. He kept his clenched fists under the table too so that neither Hammond nor Gennaro would be able to read his body language that indicated how furious he felt.

"You have a choice, Dennis. Either make the changes that I'm asking you to make…" Hammond started.

"Or we'll see you in court and settle it then," Gennaro finished for him. "As John and I've discussed before you came in, we've already started filing a lawsuit against you for this breach of contract."

An uncomfortable silence filled the conference room.

"Are we clear?"

Nedry didn't know who asked him that question. It may've been Hammond. Possibly, Gennaro. It didn't matter. He simply nodded his head, and kept his eyes glued to the table. He didn't hear when Hammond called his secretary back in to escort Nedry out. Nedry didn't bother to wait for the secretary to return. He stood up abruptly and left the conference room without saying a word to Gennaro and Hammond. He thought he heard them calling his name, telling him to come back, but he ignored them. There was nothing more to say, and now he knew he had to make a decision. A decision that would be in his best interest.

Nedry punched the down button and waited for the elevator to arrive. It didn't come fast enough, and he pressed again. The elevator finally arrived, and the doors opened. Nedry hurried inside and jabbed the down button to go down to the lobby. The faster he got out of this wretched building, the better off he would be. As the elevator descended, he took out a business card from his coat pocket and read the name, title, and contact information.

Lewis Dodgson
Head of Product Development
Biosyn Corporation
Cupertino, California

He thought back to the first meeting he had with Dodgson, and how he had snubbed the five hundred thousand dollars offered to him. Dodgson had upped his pay rate to one point five million dollars. That had been less than a week ago. Initially, Nedry wasn't going to do the theft. There was too much at risk: his professional career, his certification and license. His reputation. When he thought about it more, he could commit the theft and get away with it easily. He had designed the computer systems and could use a specific code to give him access to anywhere in Jurassic Park: white rabbit object. InGen wouldn't miss a couple of embryos at all…

It was the perfect crime.

No one would suspect anything.

And he would be paid handsomely for it.

It would be worth it since Hammond refused to pay him for his additional labor—and it would be his own way of giving John Hammond and his damn InGen company the middle finger. Although Dodgson had come extremely close to convincing him that day—he had still held out. After this meeting though, it was clear that he had to do this. There was no reason to be loyal to a boss who obviously didn't care if he destroyed him forever by obliterating his career. It was one thing for Hammond to have words with him and complain he didn't like his work ethic. It was totally another thing to threaten lawsuits against him, engage in smear campaigns against him, thereby ruining his chances to get work in the future. You mess with my money, you're done, Nedry thought as he marched out of InGen's corporate headquarters.

By the time Nedry reached his car in the parking lot, he had already made up his mind. He would call Lewis Dodgson before the day was over and accept his offer.