CHAPTER 280
The cargo door at the rear of the second Chinook was open, and a man stood there with a clip board. He was tall and fit, wearing slacks and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. His entire appearance could be summed up as looking very much like Clark Kent.
He raised his eyes up from the clip board as Dodgson approached. Baselton was still tagging along, though not saying a word.
Through tight lips and a chiseled jaw the man said, "Mr. Dodgson."
Dodgson nodded. "Howard. Are we all set here?"
"Everything is in order."
"Good."
Another voice intruded, "hello! Hey, excuse me?"
Dodgson and Howard turned to see Dr. Levine with her whole entourage following behind her. When Dodgson saw her he grumbled, flicked his cigarette to the deck, and dashed within the Chinook through the cargo door. He reemerged moments later with three Red Bulls in the crook of one arm. He cracked the first and sucked it in within seconds. He was already onto the second one before Dr. Levine spoke again.
"You refrained from saying a word the whole damned chopper ride. I think it's time we had an explanation of all this." She stood poised like she was ready for a fist fight.
Dodgson slowed his gulping half way through the second Red Bull and took it from his lips. "Howard, this is Dr. Richard Levine and her various people. Dr. Levine, Howard King. Howard is a superb geneticist, and somewhat of a protege of mine. Say hello, Howard."
Howard eyed them stiffly. He nodded with the slightest tilt of his jaw.
Dr. Levine suddenly felt her right hand clasped firmly between somebody's sweaty palms, and a heavy set man in a brown blazer was obscuring her view. When he spoke his breath smelled like hot sauce and bad diner food.
"Dr. Levine, it's a pleasure to meet you! George Baselton, public relations consultant for the Biosyn Corporation." He kept shaking her hand even as she pried away. "Lab techs." Baselton jabbed his thumb at Dodgson and King. "You'll have to forgive them." He put his hand next to his mouth and pretended to whisper, "they don't have the best people skills." He put his hand down and spoke loud. "Lewis Dodgson is our head of research and development, but he probably told you that. Did he tell you that? Hey, how was the helicopter ride?" Baselton paused, but not long enough for Dr. Levine to answer. "So, he must have shown you the picture though, right? Dodgson must have shown you the picture. You wouldn't be here if Dodgson hadn't shown you the picture. That's something, isn't it? I mean, my god, the teeth on that thing, and those claws! People are going to go out of their minds over this!"
"Stop!" Dr. Levine blurted.
Baselton tucked his head into the collar of his blazer like a frightened turtle and became silent.
Richard Levine put her palms together like she was praying and pressed her fingers to her lips. "This morning I had the most important find in the history of paleontology stripped away from me in an instant. Six months of work destroyed. I need you to stop bloviating at me, and I need someone with half a brain to tell me right now why it was so much worth my while to get on that god damned chopper whereafter I was dropped off on this god forsaken rust bucket of a sea vessel!"
Baselton had shrunk even further into his blazer, and now Dodgson had come to his side, sipping casually at the third Red Bull. He clapped a hand on Baselton's shoulder and grinned a wide grin.
"Thank you, George. Your superior people skills are no longer required." Dodgson shoved him aside and breathed in deeply as though he were indulging in the fresh ocean air. "Opportunity is right out there." He pointed toward the west.
Everyone looked, but saw only the haze that obscured the waters ahead.
Dodgson dropped his index finger and continued. "Just beyond that fog is an island called Isla Sorna full of genuine, living, breathing dinosaurs, and they are ripe for the taking."
Dr. Levine and her company were silent with confused looks. There were murmurs of excitement that began to bubble forth, but mostly confusion as they awaited more information in an awkward suspense.
Marty eventually put up his hand. He tugged at his beard and adjusted his glasses. "Uh, what?"
Dodgson grinned, "you heard me, Dr. Guitierrez."
Marty shook his head and squared his glasses a little more. "Where did they come from?"
Everyone noticed that Dodgson hesitated. Dr. Levine in particular caught Howard King with an uncomfortable look on his face.
Dodgson quickly rebounded. "It'd be exhausting to get into the particulars of it all. Simply put, a bioengineering company called INGEN resurrected several species of dinosaurs through a process of cloning. Sadly they've mismanaged the whole project. I've been collaborating with one or two concerned INGEN associates to try and secure a merger that would put Biosyn in charge of the operation." Dodgson finished his last Red Bull and lit a cigarette. "Basically, we're just here to collect our assets."
Dr. Levine's eyes sank to the deck. "There's no Lost World," she whispered. "We've been chasing somebody's god damned science project run amuck this whole time." Her eyes flittered up to Dodgson like white hot pokers. "Why didn't you tell me that back on the beach?"
"You're disappointed?" Dodgson puffed on his cigarette. "These dinosaurs are the real deal, Richard. Their genetic material was extracted from blood sucking insects who'd bit the actual hides of prehistoric creatures that were roaming the earth before the great extinction. There's no guesswork here. These are identical, exact, bonafide clones. Are you telling me that you're not chomping at the bit to see them?"
Dr. Levine's eyes danced about. She looked like she didn't know what she was feeling.
Dodgson sighed long and heavy. "Look, this is the opportunity of a lifetime as far as I'm concerned. You could be the first paleontologist to study actual living dinosaurs. But I'm not going to beg you. These choppers are lifting off within the half hour whether you're on board or not. The choice is yours."