Ready To Live Dangerously?

Chapter 37 | Chapter 39

Youth Gone Wild - Skid Row

“Jesus.” Arnold groaned as he watched the attack footage for the tenth time, at least. “Man, oh man.”

The Big One appeared to just…snap. He didn’t know a Hell of a lot about animal behaviour, sure. But he didn't need to. It was integrating politely with the others, sniffing the ground, and then-

Carnage. 

As if one of the others had crossed some invisible boundary.

He paused and rewound again, shaking his head. 

The smaller monitor beside him showed the live feed, the grainy figure of Lizzy arriving on the scene, far too late. 

“How many dead?” She panted, swallowing down the metallic taste in her mouth. The air rushing in had felt like her throat was being sandblasted, she'd pushed herself so hard to run faster, trying to get to the paddock in time to make a difference.

“I don’t know.” Muldoon answered distantly.

She tried a more positive angle. ”How many alive?”

”I still don’t know.” He was peering into the paddock, trying to find a viewpoint that would allow him to see through to the ground. “More worried about those that are somewhere between the two.”

Fortunately, he'd had the presence of mind to reach for his gun, not trusting that he wouldn't have a job to do by the time it was all over.

"Between-" Lizzy cocked her head. “What’s that noise?”

There was a high-pitched keening carried on the air, not like any island bird she'd ever heard.

”It’s them.” Kathy was distraught. “The in-betweens.” It was somehow worse, not being able to see the destruction, just the odd spray of deep arterial crimson on the nearest branches. Only being able to imagine the untold suffering that had occurred, that in the end they had been powerless to prevent.

For all their planning, worrying, thinking through all possible scenarios, it hadn't changed a thing.

“Do we suppose it was her?” As the words left her mouth Lizzy realised she didn't know for whose benefit she was asking. "Is she-"

Injured? Dead?

”Not to jump to conclusions or anything, but I think we both know it was her.” Muldoon answered, with a grim kind of awe. “The others would have done it before now.”

Lizzy felt terrible for him. He’d finally looked away. 

Arnold took a deep breath before he pressed the tannoy button and prepared to relay the message he knew his colleagues were dreading. 

"Folks, the biggest one is still alive." His voice boomed into the paddock. "And unharmed, from the looks of things.”

Did they try and fight back? Or was 2308 simply that quick, to take on the other seven before they even realised what was happening?

Muldoon cursed under his breath. He might have started Believing if the Big One had been taken out. He was sure he would have managed to find it within himself to get over the loss. 

Would have saved me a job. 

A high shriek rose from the raptor pen.

In his sanctum, Arnold turned away from the screens at what he'd just witnessed, reaching for the trash can, stifling a retch with the back of his hand. He wasn't ready to relay that to the animal handlers, nosiree.

“Oh, poor baby.” Kathy began to rock from foot-to-foot. “Oh no, no, no-“

She was wringing her hands at the fact that she couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t comfort the animal in distress.

There was only one way.

”Please, Rob, you have to stop it.” Begged the famously anti-gun Kathy Baker. “Please.”

”I fully intend to, with or without your say-so.” Though it helped to have her sign-off.

“Quickly.” She urged, a tad hysterically.

”Just a few moments, alright? Still need to be safe.” Muldoon busied himself with checking the gun, reassuring her quietly. “Then it’ll be sorted. I’m truly sorry to be doing this, I know you all care for them deeply.”

“They can’t suffer.” Lizzy said simply. “Needs to be done.”

“Christ.” He heaved a deep sigh as he raised the stock to his shoulder. “All that and she didn’t even bother to finish the job.”

“Hold it!” Richardson's clipped English accent roared over the frequency. "Come in Team Carnivores, come in now-“

“Nobody answer that." Muldoon deliberately clicked his radio off. "And Baker, don’t look.”

The other animal handlers followed suit, clicking their radios off one at a time.

Muldoon listened carefully to the noises from the enclosure, zeroing in, then fired into the patch of foliage and a death-scream was abruptly cut short.

Richardson stormed up, out of breath and looking especially ruddy in the face. ”Stop! We need to get Harding in there, now!”

He strode forwards and took hold of the barrels of the shotgun, pointing them skywards. Muldoon let him, though careful to keep a firm hold. The Animal Supervisor was just asking for a faceful of lead, being careless like that.

“For him to do what, exactly?” The park warden argued. “The same thing I’m doing, just twenty minutes later? If they don’t bleed out before then!”

Richardson glanced at the gathered crowd, both Team Carnivores and Herbivores alike, all watching him curiously for the outburst that would follow.

”Does nobody else think this is insane?” He rounded on the group. “The first sign of difficulty and you’re blasting that rifle like nobody’s business-“

”It’s a shotgun.” Kennedy muttered. 

“I gave you plenty warnings this would happen-“ Muldoon tried to reason.

“A bloody rifle is not the answer to all of life’s problems. This is not your private trophy-hunting session!"

”It’s a shotgun.” Lizzy and Kathy said in tandem. 

“If you think I am stuffing and mounting one of these anywhere near where I sleep, you can think again."

”You are blowing millions of dollars worth of animal to smithereens!” Richardson stamped, actually stamped his foot. “We can’t plead natural causes for Hammond’s sake if they all have bullet holes!”

”They’re too far gone.” Muldoon stood his ground. “They are suffering.”

”But they might get better with treatment!” Richardson doubled down. “Give them a chance!”

“I have given them a chance! And how do you propose we get them out of there, hm?” Muldoon gently but firmly took his gun back. “Are you volunteering? Be my guest, Animal Supervisor, to go in that paddock and assess the situation!”

Richardson spluttered for a moment before raising his voice again. “That enclosure is too small!”

”You think I didn’t tell them that?”

“Boss, got another one over here.” Tom jerked his head and pointed into the enclosure. 

”Don’t you-“ Richardson threatened. 

"Let me do my job." Muldoon was glad of the interruption. "They're my animals, not yours. I have a duty to them."

He lined up and fired another shot into where Tom had pointed. 

”God in Heaven-“

”God’s got nothing to do with it, pal.” Tom said bluntly.

Lizzy wasn't sure what Richardson looked more offended by: Muldoon being called Boss, or himself being called pal. And where Lizzy was from, pal was often not a term of endearment.

The park warden clicked his radio back on. “Arnold, how many left?”

The groaning had stopped.

“Three.” Came the unhappy reply, scratchy, as if he’d been coughing. “Give the computer a few minutes to confirm, but I think there's three, ugh…over.”

”She killed all but two of the others.” Muldoon looked around for Lizzy. “Christ.” 

"This is a big problem." She tried to keep her expression in check, to not show Team Herbivores how much she was internally floundering.

"Yes, she is." Muldoon nodded. "You want to know the worst part?"

She looked up at him inquisitively.

"Hammond will love it."

A chill went down the back of Lizzy's neck. "Well, you know him better than I do."

Five dead. Two potentially wounded. One unscathed. 

Their survival rate was still marginally better than the incubations at Site B.

But the living raptors weren't out of the woods yet. Infection set in fast in the tropics. Even a small wound could mean a slow, agonizing death in a matter of days. They only had a matter of hours to treat injuries, or things would get real complicated, real fast. It was due to the rotting meat trapped under claws and between teeth, a film of bacteria easily transferred to the next victim.

“Arnold, scan whoever’s still standing, top to bottom. Any open wounds, Harding will need to deal with. I’ll figure out the how later.” Muldoon thought about having to stalk the raptors one by one. He'd need Kennedy with him, possibly Armstrong too. They'd have to tranquilize them all at once to be able to enter the pen safely. 

And they’d have to be certain, beyond shadow of a doubt, before they set foot in the paddock, that all the raptors were immobilised, no tricks.

The thought of the big one charging at Lizzy, her body taking the full force of the attacks that up until now had been directed at the fences, made him feel quite ill.

Charging elephants in Namibia was one thing, these raptors were a very different kind of terror. 

“We never have these sorts of problems with the Herbivores.” He overheard Richardson grumbling. “We’ve integrated herds with no issues.”

Not true, Lizzy thought. The triceratops had to be kept in small groups or they would fight. Isaac told us. 

”Of course you don’t.” Muldoon turned to argue back. “But your stegosaurs are almost always sick, I’ve seen the reports.”

And, Harding tells me everything worth knowing. 

”Not almost always.” Richardson instantly became defensive. “Every six weeks.”

”And you don’t think that’s even more strange?” Muldoon questioned. “There is an ethologist here who could probably help you with that.”

”I don’t need Elizabeth’s help. Gerry is dealing with it.” Richardson gestured widely. “As he should be dealing with this. How are you retrieving the bodies?”

The tropical climate and insect population would no doubt take care of it. 

”We’re not.” Muldoon ground out. “Once again, be my guest to waltz in there with a wheelbarrow. See what happens.”

The sounds of their argument faded away as Lizzy picked her way around the edge of the paddock, trying to catch a glimpse of the remaining raptors. What good was a pixelated still on a camera feed, when they should be checking in person, as much as they coul-

The smell that was becoming all too familiar recently hit her nostrils, barging it's way against her olfactory nerve.

The smell of rot, of death.

Lizzy paused and exhaled, trying to still her body. 

It took her a moment to pick out an amber eye, and slightly open jaws as she scanned the ferns and moss in front of her.

She was there.

Blending in with the undergrowth, but there nonetheless.

Fresh blood, already clotting, fell in thick, lumpy droplets from her mouth, making a heavy pat-pat noise on the ferns beneath.

Lizzy braced for the attack, but to her surprise, the raptor did not charge the fence, but merely watched her with interest, studying her.

The ethologist came to her senses when she heard the muffled shouts of Armstrong! Lizzy! and Liz! from further down the fenceline. 

They regarded each other for a moment longer, Lizzy the first to break eye contact as she stumbled back to her colleagues. 

Just give me the opportunity. 

I’ll get you, one day. 

***

Dennis Nedry drummed his fingers anxiously on his knees under the mahogany table.

No tablecloths, nothing to hide or cover up. This place was fancy fancy. He cast a dubious glance over his entrée, having been urged to get whatever you want, Biosyn's paying. He'd nodded and ordered the lobster, which then felt like a terrible cliché. The feast was poisoned, or would curse him blind as soon as he touched it. 

This was a nice place. A mighty fine place. And he stuck out like a sore thumb, in his best shirt, which still wasn’t anywhere near good enough for the company present. There was a maître d' here, for Chrissakes.

But nobody seemed to care for his appearance, the staff, other diners. It was as if he and the man sitting opposite him were invisible. 

His face was unremarkable, and he had a name now: Lewis Dodgson. 

“Why’d you come to my apartment?” Nedry asked, still wary. 

“We’ve been trying to contact you for a while, but your ‘phone was disconnected, and you clearly aren’t reading your mail.”

Nedry’s face burned. How many other bribes were buried in his unopened pile of bills and overdue notices? 

This dinner was exactly that: a bribe, showing off. He’d graduated magna cum laude from MIT, he wasn’t stupid. Look what you could have, all this. 

He had used what remained in his bank account after rent to get himself presentable once he’d read the note slipped under his door. And now here he was, gambling yet again. 

“I hear you’re desperate.” Dodgson pried. His shirt didn’t even have a brand label on it.  

“I bid too low for the InGen contract.” Nedry muttered sheepishly. “Didn’t think it was that big a deal. Won’t make that mistake again.”

“Shame Hammond thinks your work is worth so little.” Dodgson picked apart his insecurities as a trained pathologist dissecting a corpse. “Is that not terribly embarrassing for you?”

Yes, it was. 

Nedry placed a forkful of lobster in his mouth. Under the sauce, it wasn't actually that good. He'd tasted far better on vacation in Maine, from a simple waterside shack.

“Do you even know what they’re keeping on that island, Dennis?” Dodgson's tone was a little sharp, and Nedry's head jerked upwards, the feeling that he'd committed some kind of fine dining faux-pas looming large.

He shrugged. “It’s a job. I don’t get paid enough to ask questions. I built the system, that’s all.”

“You barely get paid to do that much.” Dodgson took Nedry's own wine glass out of his hand as he was in the process of taking a sip and placed it back on the mahogany table, his mouth turning downwards slightly in annoyance. “Dinosaurs, Dennis. Real, live dinosaurs.”

Nedry just blinked at him. There it was, the man was clearly nuts! He was going to ask him to meet him in the gents in a matter of seconds-

”Okay…” He pulled his napkin from his shirt collar and made to stand up to leave. “Well, thanks buddy-“

“Sit down." Dodgson hissed.

There was just enough caution in his tone for Nedry to pause, think twice, and sullenly do as he was told.

"I’m serious." The Biosyn rep continued. "DNA engineering isn’t the next big thing. It’s happening now. Guaranteed win.”

Nedry considered. That was true enough, by the time research papers were published these days, the discoveries contained were already several steps out of date. Advances were happening far too fast. 

But, dinosaurs…

It did kind of make sense. He’d seen blueprints, enclosures built to contain something big. Miles and miles of moats and electric fence. It was either a high-security prison, or Dodgson just might be telling the truth. 

”I mean, I always knew it was something high-profile to do with genetics. But I signed an NDA.”

“There you go, see. You always knew.” Dodgson nodded reassuringly. 

"What do you want from me, buddy?" Nedry still had a bad feeling. "I'm just in computers, I'm no geneticist."

"At the moment, nothing. Just your trust."

"No offense, but that doesn't seem proportional to...all this." He pointed at the harp player plucking out some classical music in the corner of the room. He didn't recognise the piece.

”Hear me out. I see you’re a man of the world, driving a hard bargain.” Lewis Dodgson held up his hands. “Let’s talk numbers.”

“If you say spare-no-expense-” Nedry’s eye twitched. His expenses had decidedly not been spared. 

“How does seven-fifty sound?” 

”Seven-hundred-and-fifty dollars?” He queried. “Per week?” 

Hell, he’d consider it at this point.

Dodgson was shaking his head condescendingly. ”No, Dennis. Seven-hundred-and-fifty thousand.”

The latest bite of lobster was almost inhaled in his shock. “Come again?”

”Upfront.” Dodgson's tone didn't change at all when discussing massive sums of money, Nedry marvelled. “Same again on delivery. One big, tax-free windfall.”

“One-point-five-million dollars?” He stammered. “Did I- did I hear that right?”

The bad feeling evaporated quickly. Ten years on his current salary. All his money problems wiped out, virtually overnight. No more final notice, overdue, prosecution imminent letters being shoved into his apartment. 

Dennis Nedry, millionaire. Now that sounded a whole lot better than Nerdy Nedry, loser. Now he felt as if he were King Midas. 

Everything I touch.

“What do you say, Dennis?”

"I'd say-" 

Dodgson waited, one eyebrow raised. Half waiting for the thanks, no thanks or the screw you buddy. But he was confident in his bet. He’d done it before, multiple times. An already irate, desperate employee was easily bent to his will. Moral compasses were easily demagnetised by dollar signs. 

”-that this calls for a toast.” Nedry picked up his glass. “To…restoring the balance.”

“To Biosyn.” Dodgson smiled.

“To Biosyn.” The programmer echoed. "Hey, how about some cigars, to really seal the deal?"

"Of course, Dennis."

Nedry's eyes widened, he'd only been joking. But Hell, he could get used to this.

Got him. 

***

“What are you lot moping around for?” Muldoon appeared at the top of the visitor centre steps. “It’s happened now. Get yourselves to the canteen."

Lizzy, Tom and Kathy were silently taking turns skipping stones across the lake in the dusk, disturbing clouds of mosquitoes. 

“Why are you so upbeat?” Kathy rolled her eyes. “This is pretty high up there in terms of worst days ever.”

”Well, it can’t get much bloody worse, can it?”

”You’re never happy unless you’re miserable, Boss.” Tom pointed out.

”I know why.” Lizzy turned around to face him. ”Vindication. You were right.”

”I was right.” Muldoon said with more than a little satisfaction. “Actually, I know exactly what you three need.”

"And I dread to think of what that involves, that lumps us in the same category as Liz." Tom whispered to Kathy, who chuckled.

Three questioning looks were directed his way.

”We’re all going for a drive.”

***

”So this is where you two go when you disappear, huh?” Tom acted his best real-estate agent, running a finger along the nearest fallen log to check for dust. “This is cosy. Love what you’ve done with the place.”

”I didn’t even know this was back here.” Kathy was staring upwards at the stars, trying to orient herself. "Is that the rex I can hear?"

"She's snoring." Lizzy smiled.

Watching, Muldoon got the feeling the four of them were getting closer together, but further apart from the rest of the animal handlers. It was a sacrifice he could live with. He’d built a good team, a solid team. Trust like that didn’t just happen overnight, he could count on any one of them.

"So what do we do now?" Tom shrugged, evidently waiting for something miraculous to happen. "I don't feel any better yet."

"Requires a bit of self-reflection." Lizzy sat herself down on the ground. 

"Maybe it's like a Quaker meeting." Kathy mused aloud. "You stay silent unless the spirit moves you to say something, and then you have to say it."

Lizzy bit her lip hard, fighting back a cackle. She was pretty sure even if the spirit was actively shoving Muldoon, he wouldn't say anything unless he wanted to. But she loved her friend's interpretation of what she thought they got up to.

“Okay, uh...I nearly played football.” Tom blurted out. “Professionally. Scholarship and everything.”

“You did?” Kathy was shocked. “You’ve never told me that before.”

He hadn’t. Mostly because of the inevitable follow-up questions. 

”Yeah, Houston Cougars. Wide-receiver.”

Lizzy shook her head. ”I don’t know enough about football-“

”Means I’m fast. Pretty damn fast, in-fact.” Tom puffed out his chest. “Held the state record for the forty-yard dash for a coupla years. Got scouted for the Cowboys.”

”What happened?” Kathy couldn’t believe her ears. “Why were you in Costa Rica, instead of tearing down that pitch at the Rose Bowl?”

“Things got real bad for my mama ‘round about the time I was packin’ up to leave for Dallas.” His entire demeanour changed. "So I quit. No-brainer, really."

They let him talk.

“Got a job at Houston Zoo instead.” He continued after a deep breath. “So I could stay close to her. Custodial.”

“Janitor.” Kathy murmured in response to Lizzy’s quizzical look.

“Man, I saw some things that made the mess today look tame.” Tom pulled a face. “Kids are gross. Adults are grosser, actually. But then I covered on big cats one day when the head keeper was off sick, and it kinda snowballed.” 

“What about your old man?” Muldoon surprised everyone by filling the next silence.

“I sat out on the porch every night with a shotgun across my knees until he tried his luck.” The Texan smirked. “Popped him in the shin when he came back. Now he has a reason to drink.”

Lizzy chanced a look at Muldoon, trying to gauge his reaction. Something akin to respect, or pride, even.

“This is my first time…away.” Tom continued. “I ain’t ever even been on vacation outside Texas.”

"Hon-" Kathy reached out for his arm.

"Hell, I ain't ever really been on vacation, period. Shame you’re a Vikings fan, Kit-" He smiled at her, nostalgia tugging at his memories. “When you could have had real live Dallas Cowboy.”

”I got a cowboy.” She immediately answered with determination. “A damn good one.”

”You don’t mean goshdarn?” Tom clutched at his heart.

”No, I mean damn.” She gently slapped his hand away. "I just know your mama is so proud of you."

Lizzy suddenly got the feeling she was intruding, and quickly turned her head. Her vision became a little blurry and she hurriedly blinked the emotion away. 

Her mother was a lost cause, but she wished she knew if her father was proud of her. What she'd give.

“I was on the field at college football games too.” Kathy admitted.

”Cheerleader?” Tom wolf-whistled.

"No." She took a deep breath. “I was in band.”

“What’d you play?” 

"Okay, I don't like this anymore-"

"You will tell us what instrument you played, Baker." Muldoon ordered sternly. "You're only making us want to know more."

Kathy looked around in horror, clearly expecting the park warden to either take her side or say nothing. 

“French horn!" She screeched and covered her face with her hands. “You’re so nosey!”

“Of course.” Tom slapped his leg. “Ya big dork. Did you have the uniform?”

”I sure did. Hat and everything.”

”Bet you still looked hot.”

"No-" Kathy shook her head sadly. " I had braces too."

”Braces? Teeth or pants?” The Texan held her at an arms length. “Aw jeez. Either way, hard pass, kiddo.”

"Worth it, you have the most perfect teeth I have ever seen." Lizzy chimed in, not thinking. It was the wrong thing to say, it drew attention to her.

“Your turn, Liz.”

”I haven’t got anything else worth telling.”

Lie.

“I’m sure that’s not true.” Kathy scoffed. “C’mon, it’s us.” 

Make something up so they leave you alone.

Lizzy shifted with unease. "Do you know what, I can't even remember anything right now."

Lie lie lie.

It’s them, why can't you tell them?

“Nuh-uh, not buying it.” Tom pressed. 

Lizzy lashed out. "It's need to know, okay? And you don't need to know."

"What the Hell is-" Tom raised his voice until Kathy hurried to her feet and stood between them. 

"It's fine. We don't need to know. But it would be nice to."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence, spell broken.

"So..." Tom dug the toe of one of his boots into the dirt. “Don’t you think it’s crazy they freak out more over a dead dinosaur than a dead employee?”

“Tom!”

”What?! That’s factually what happened. He’s dead, he died. We had a funeral.”

“You don’t need to say died.” Kathy hissed out of the side of your mouth. 

”You’re right, he didn’t pass away, Kit.” The Texan nodded. “He was basically slaughtered.”

”For once, I agree with Kennedy.” Muldoon agreed. “Let’s not diminish what happened because we don’t like saying the word. Give it the respect it deserves.”

“Why are we here?” Tom began to pace the clearing in a wide circle. “Why are any of us still on this goddamn island?”

“Because-“ Lizzy said slowly. “I worry more about what would happen if I wasn’t here.”

“That’s just it. Could you in good conscience let a completely new team of people handle something like what happened today?” Muldoon posed the question. 

”I mean…out of sight, out of mind right?” Tom shrugged. 

Muldoon looked like he was working up to say something meaningful. “You three-“

Lizzy started beaming-

”-have made my life Hell.”

Her face fell. 

“You less so, Baker.”

Kathy stifled a delighted squeak.

”You two only just get on. Nearly as bad as those bloody raptors.” He nodded at Tom and Lizzy. “I locked you both in a cleaning cupboard.”

“Good times.” Tom reminisced. “Made a real breakthrough that day.”

”But I can think of worse people to endure this Hell with. So, there’s that.”

His words hung in the air, along with the moths and mosquitoes above them.

“Oh, you’re done.” Kathy had been waiting for more, but there wasn’t any. “Gonna miss that, I have to admit. The never-ending pessimism.”

“I am-“ Muldoon started. 

”Never disappointed.” The other three said in chorus.

Tom and Kathy wandered off to the edge of the clearing, listening to a noise the rex was making in her sleep.

I think that was a pep talk. 

“Not happy about being put on the spot?” Muldoon nudged Lizzy’s arm.

”Was this your way of dealing with me?”

”Sort of.” He shrugged. “Stopped you thinking about your impending lawsuit for a while, didn’t it?”

Lizzy took a measured breath. “Granted.” 

Ah yes, the lawsuit. 

“Look, I’ll tell when I’m ready.” She said firmly. “We have time.”

”As long as you don’t keep waiting until someone else brings it up on your behalf.” He gave her a very meaningful glance. “I’m not often shocked, Lizzy.”

”Oh, I think I might manage to shock you yet.”

She thought back to their earlier conversations. It was true, she didn’t want InGen to have the leverage. One day, she’d tell.

Soon.

Tom and Kathy circled back to them. 

“This going for a drive thing…I get it now.”

”It’s an alternative, for sure.” Tom agreed, realising too much time had elapsed since he last insulted Lizzy. “What are you lookin’ at, four-eyes?”

She grinned. In reality, there was nobody else she’d rather be enduring Hell with. 

***

“This is grim news indeed, my boy.” John Hammond stood in front of the window in his bungalow, gazing through the blinds at the landscape of his island. 

Gennaro had called a meeting, since he felt the news of the raptor massacre justified breaking in-person. 

”I warned all of you.” Muldoon got his statement in early. “The paddock was too small for eight.”

"What happened?" Hammond was upset, he always took the loss of an asset heavily. “I understand we have it on video?”

"The lone female we tried to integrate, she didn’t like her new companions.” The park warden explained. "The most worrying thing is she didn't give them a warning, she went straight to offensive. To cause damage."

To kill.

”Very interesting.” Hammond nodded. “The ethologist didn’t pick up on that in time?”

Gennaro and Muldoon shared a glance. Of course, directly prior to the attack Dr Armstrong had been rather preoccupied. 

It was like the big raptor knew they’d finally stopped watching, though that was of course impossible. Just bad luck, he kept telling himself. 

She'd picked off five in record time, one-by-one, almost methodically. The remaining two, the smallest, had fallen into line. Perhaps those two were the most intelligent, smart enough not to challenge, to take orders from her.

Which in a way was so much worse. 

“There was no warning.” He repeated. 

Muldoon left out the part that was haunting him most. As starving as the big raptor was, she hadn’t killed the others for food. 

She killed them, then snapped at the smaller two for moving away. Encouraged them to eat start their siblings, while they were still alive. 

He hadn’t shown Baker, it had been bad enough to make Arnold lose his lunch. But he’d called Armstrong through to look. She’d watched, blanched white, then abruptly hit eject on the tape by herself, head in her hands.

“Is it bad?”

“Cannibalism in animals is surprisingly common. In response to stress or to reduce competition. But this, I can’t make sense of. It’s more like she’s-“

“Proving a point. She could have easily killed them outright, she’s much stronger than them. But she half-arsed the job.”

“Exactly.” Lizzy agreed. “There’s no competition here. Short of looking directly into the cameras, it’s like she’s saying I can do whatever I want. Watch me.”

”Which shouldn’t be possible?”

Dolphins, parrots, apes were all known for playing games with their handlers. For even being capable of understanding a joke. Was this just one big joke to her? I killed all my siblings, isn’t that funny? 

”Correct. That’s higher animal intelligence. Just as we thought.” Lizzy moved to lie on the floor, to think better. “And if she simply wanted to be alone again, why did she keep two?”

“Pets.” Muldoon offered without humour. 

True, captive snakes sometimes allowed their live rodent food to co-habitate with them. Nobody really knew why. 

”Or maybe she’s just saving them for later.” Lizzy postulated. “If I could do some more studies-“

“If you go near that pen I will do things to you, Armstrong, that don’t bear thinking about.”

She raised her head up off the floor. “…I’m not hearing a no?”

The look he gave her-

Ed Regis saying something foolish brought Muldoon back to the present. 

”Yes, I want them all fitted with radio collars, immediately.” Hammond ordered. “And have Henry Wu tell Sorna to double their efforts."

"Excuse me?" Muldoon glanced around at his colleagues, but nobody else seemed shocked. 

"We’re only a few months away from opening, we need more animals.” The park’s founder justified. "These are arguably one of our most interesting attractions, and now there are only three."

Radio collars? He couldn’t be serious.

"So you want to add more, when 2308 is a proven killer of humans, and now her own kind?" Muldoon foresaw so many issues. "Unless Wu can breed them to be more submissive, those three may very well be the limit. We will have exactly the same problem over and over again.”

But he saw an opening.

"Unless, you give me the go-ahead to retire her since she’s unsound." The park warden said carefully. “Treat the Big One as an outlier, and start again.”

“I think you’ve retired enough of my property this week, Robert. No more.” Hammond’s voice was tight. 

Damn, he'd pushed too hard.

“I wish I could breed the women here to be more submissive.” Richardson said needlessly. “You can wrangle Elizabeth, can’t you? Surely the raptor is nothing in comparison.”

Hammond had more or less let him do as he pleased in Kenya. Trusted him to manage things. Muldoon didn’t understand why he was intent on interfering so much this time around.

Perhaps, because in Kenya he was definitively the wildlife expert. And on Nublar, there were no experts who studied the living animal. They were improvising. 

“We have another problem, sir. There are…rumblings.” Gennaro was suitably vague. 

“Donald?”

”I have concerns that there may be obstacles to the opening of this theme park.” The lawyer looked uncomfortable. “I am seriously concerned the biggest resistance will come from our own employees, which my firm will not take kindly to. Could make the investors nervous, if anything gets out.”

“This is why a non-disclosure is part of the employment contract.” Regis waved his hand. “Can’t prove anything if they can’t talk about it.”

“They’re not wrong though.” Muldoon tried his luck again. “While we’re all in the same room-“

“No, no.” Hammond sighed. “You’ve made your opinions very clear, repeatedly. We all know you’re an alarmist.”

There was a nervous chuckle from Regis in the corner. 

“Richardson, you’re in charge of clearing the air internally.” Continued Hammond. “I trust your own team is not in any danger of, er…mutiny, and the other team only has three people, one of whom is leaving us in a couple of months.”

”Yes, there are only three.” Muldoon fixed Regis with a stare so intense that he quickly pulled the rim of his cap down to hide his face. 

“Hm, yes. Perhaps you could take some guidance from Michael on retaining staff. Why is your Team Leader leaving, Robert?” Hammond became interested. “After less than a year with InGen? Bit disappointing.”

“To work somewhere that will appreciate her talents.” He didn’t hold back. “Smithsonian.”

“Good for her.” Gennaro murmured, looking up with interest.” “I didn’t know it was the Smithsonian.”

“She’s very intelligent. Hard to believe, I know.”

”Recruitment costs a dime these days. Need to fill the gap.” Ed Regis grumbled. 

“Got any more girlfriends hold up in Africa you can hire, under the radar?” Richardson examined his fingernails. 

”I didn’t know Doctor Armstrong from Africa.” Muldoon wondered if he knew Namibia and Kenya were several thousand miles apart.

“But you certainly know her in Costa Rica.”

Fuck it.

“Fine, I’ll ask her out for you.”

Gennaro snorted. 

”Oh, you-…you-“ Richardson scowled.

“Now, now-“ It was Hammond that intervened. “Lads, please. Worse than a bloody classroom.”

“If you want Baker to stay that badly, have you tried offering her a promotion, or a raise?” Muldoon had truly had enough. “Or even a hello?”

”She’ll outrank you, in that case. We can’t really have a blaa-haa-“ Richardson remembered the existence of Hammond’s Haitian assistant in the nick of time and hurriedly cleared his throat. “-er, blue-collar woman running things on this island.”

“Why not? All the dinosaurs are female, why don’t we go for a clean sweep?”

Richardson didn’t have an answer. “Because.”

”Because.” Muldoon nodded. “I see.”

“I think expecting the entire staff to be female is a bit unrealistic.” Hammond thought for a moment. “On that note, won’t you be bringing your own charming daughter out here for the grand opening. Honour, isn’t it?”

He had already known his daughter would be remaining in the relatively-safe-by-comparison Kenya while the park’s accident record was filling up at an alarming pace.

“I’ll have Regis sort everything out, gratis of course, as a favour. She won’t be the only young’un. My grandchildren will be here too, of course.”

“I think not, Mr Hammond. We’ll be busy enough that week.”

“Hm, I see. Shame.”

The room waited, holding their breath to see if Hammond would explode or not. Instead he gave himself a little shake and carried on. 

“Where were we? Ah, yes…As for clearing the air externally, with investors and such-…well, I’m open to ideas gentlemen. This park must open. The children must see the wonders we have created!”

There were several long moments of everyone present either staring at the ceiling, or down at their shoes.

”I might have an idea on how we deal with that-“ Regis cracked a lop-sided smile. “We’ve got contacts, don’t we? In the palaeontology field? Leave it with me.”

***

Chapter 36 | Chapter 38

Life’s What You Make It - Talk Talk

“There you have it, my man!” Ray Arnold’s false enthusiasm was jarring even to his own ears. “Eight. See? Comes before nine, after seven. Eight raptors. Alive and well.”

Muldoon didn’t look even a little bit convinced. “How long after death would they continue to register on that thing?” He tapped the screen.

“Pffft…Oh, you’re serious…-and why would I expect anything less-“ Arnold leaned back with a weary sigh. “Within minutes. But we’d still have to verify the count visually with the cameras to make sure-“

Muldoon gave him a very pointed stare.

”Jesus, buddy-“ The engineer finally lost his patience. “I am not visually counting them all again! It takes forever. My eyes, man! I swear they hide from us on purpose. Like going up against the goddamn Viet Cong!”

”You as well?”

“What? No! Figure of speech…” Arnold looked bewildered. “Whaddaya mean as well?”

”…figure of speech, of course.”

Man, the park warden’s sense of humour was becoming really warped, Arnold mused.

”You’re getting worse, again.” The engineer muttered. “Can’t do everything, all the time, y’know? Puts you nowhere but an early grave.”

Muldoon no longer acknowledged him, just continued to stare at the monitors.

The control room door quietly opened and Arnold leaned his chair back, since Muldoon was in the way, doing his signature impression of a goddamn tree-

Kathy was standing there, arms folded, looking sympathetic.

“Oh, thank God-“ He pointed at his saviour. “I’m just, gonna…”

No response from Muldoon.

Arnold shrugged. ”…whatever.” He stood up, wincing as all his joints cracked in unison after sitting down for what had to be hours.

“Has he slept at all?” Kathy asked in disbelief when he reached her.

”Not a damn wink. Was here when I left, here when I got back.” The engineer tried to light his match with a new cigarette before rolling his eyes at his own error and trying again. “How’d you figure?”

“I just knew.” She sighed, then spoke louder so the park warden would hear her. “Look, it’s done. Anything that’s gonna happen, would have happened already. There’s no extracting them now without a fight.”

Nothing.

Kathy’s jaw set in a way that Arnold recognised from his own mother.

”Robert!” She strode forward, grabbing his arm and trying to move him, to no avail. It was like attempting to uproot a statue. “Let. It. Go!”

“I just know as soon as I turn my back-“ he protested.

“Uh-uh. You need to sleep.” Baker insisted. “I swear, the last few days you’ve been closer to a gosh-darn vampire, ‘scuse my language.”

“You have-“

“What I have is a list, I’ll run the show for today. You can just go, I’ve got it all under control.”

There was a vague and distant swell of pride, that he known she was the right woman for the job all those months ago, and she’d proven him right, she’d thrive under the pressure-

But he couldn’t say all that to her face, not even on a good day. Didn’t have it in him. Likely never would.

Besides, she was leaving anyway, what did it matter if he said it or not?

“Baker, I’m-“

Struggling.

She just blinked up at him.

“You know…” He held out his hand, and pantomimed shaking. Muldoon quickly shoved it into a pocket when he realised he didn’t have full control over stopping the tremors.

”Alright-“ Her voice instantly softened as she twigged. “What can I do?”

“Don’t really know.” He sighed. “Can‘t switch off.”

”Raid Gerry’s drug supply?” That remark earned her a very disapproving glance. “Ah-ha, yeah…no…Not funny. Gotcha.”

Kathy knew exactly what he needed, but how to diplomatically suggest to your boss that he needed to find their colleague and mutual friend, go into the nearest room with her, and not leave until he felt better?

”What time is it in Kenya?” She offered instead. “Can you call your daughter?”

“Hm.” He appeared to be considering it. “Should be getting home from school…”

“There you go!” She steered him towards the phone with some effort. “Knock yourself out, big guy.”

It occurred to Muldoon that Baker was maybe getting a little too comfortable around him.

As he approached the phone it began to ring, seemingly in mockery of him.

“Couldja get that, man? While you’re over there?” Arnold gave him a thumbs up. “We’ve got the screens, me and KitKat.”

Muldoon rolled his eyes.

“What?” He asked irritably upon picking up the handset.

It felt like the final nail in the coffin of his bad mood. Of course somebody was ringing in when he needed to make a call. No doubt they’d have an idiotic question, that-

“Uh, hey. Hello. I hope I’ve got the right place. Can I speak to Liz Armstrong, please?”

Why did it feel like the universe was especially taunting him today?

Could he speak to Lizzy? Muldoon really felt like outright saying no. That would get rid of his dark clouds for a moment or two.

He was well within his rights to deny it, after all, he was her boss.

Muldoon thought about the question for a long moment, formulating an answer through the fatigue, trying to figure out why the distinctly New Yoik New Yoik accent was aggravating him so much.

“Uh…hello? Still there?” The voice moved away for a second to shout “Ma, they speak English in South America, right?”

”Who‘s calling?” Muldoon eventually replied.

“Me and her used to date…-“ He heard a muffled aw jeez as the phone was swapped to the other hand. “We were engaged, actually. I’m Simon.”

***

“Is she smiling? I can’t tell!” Kathy’s voice was nasal, she had her entire face pressed against the glass, leaving a circle of condensation.

“I should bloody well hope not.” Muldoon felt nauseous, no longer purely from lack of sleep.

He kept revisiting the horrors he’d recently heard, which at that moment felt worse than anything he could have possibly seen from those blasted cameras pointed into the blasted raptor paddock.

Is she there? She needs to come to the phone. It’s real important.

…

Man, you guys are hard to track down. All the way out there in Costa Rica. So, uh, how’s she doing-

Muldoon had tried his best to be neutral, but now he’d heard the man’s voice, had some defining characteristic to put to the name, he hated him instantly.

Baker had intervened before there was an international crime, thank God.

You need to go get her. What if someone’s ill, what if someone in her family’s died?

I’m the one that assumes the worst, not you. Can’t you pretend you‘re her? Just until we find out what he wants?

Like I can do a Scottish accent! He’s not gonna fall for that! He interrogates people for a living-

Baker hadn’t impersonated Armstrong, in the end. She had however, been almost as flustered as he was, fumbled as she’d taken the receiver off him and in her panic pretended to be an automated hold message while the ethologist was radioed to make her way to the control room.

Yelling. Kathy had expected yelling. She would have preferred it.

Things were still complicated, but they’d been starting to fall into place, and now-

It would have made her heart happy to see them both content, for once. Muldoon and Armstrong.

Instead, Lizzy had been talking on the phone for an uncomfortable amount of time, costing New York, New York a fortune. This wasn’t just passing on simple information, it was a discussion.

Kathy glanced upwards and shook her head decisively when she saw the look on Muldoon’s face. Pain.

“Right-“ She moved to throw the door open. “No, I’m not letting this happen.”

Arnold hurriedly clamped her arms to her side.

”Raymond Arnold, get your hands off me right this second.” Kathy growled. “I am a strong, independent woman and I have nothing to lose!”

She stormed back into the control room.

“Put that phone down. Do not even think about taking him back.” Kathy demanded, she didn’t care if Simon heard. Doofus.

Lizzy waved her away with a grimace and mouthed some words back at her.

Kathy frowned as she tried to decipher. “‘I’m blue’? What the heck-“

The ethologist rolled her eyes and covered the mouthpiece while she slowly reiterated, as if Kathy were incredibly dim.

”I’m being sued.”

***

“He can’t sue you!” Kathy protested. “You haven’t done anything wrong!”

”He’s a lawyer, I think he would know.” Lizzy answered dryly.

“We’ve got a lawyer.” Kennedy pointed out. Lizzy couldn’t remember him ever appearing in the room, but he was just there.

“Gennaro doesn’t like me.” She argued, spinning her chair away from him. “And he’s InGen’s lawyer, not mine.”

“He doesn’t need to like you, dumbass.” Tom grabbed the armrests and spun her back around. “Just needs to like money, because you’re going to pay the man. And all lawyers like money. You should know, you nearly married into the easy life before you blew it all to Hell.”

Lizzy hesitantly turned to face Muldoon, getting the distinct impression she was in a lot of trouble with him. “What do you think I should do?”

”Pay Gennaro mates rates or pay off a court settlement the rest of your life, choice is yours, Armstrong.”

Oh, she didn’t like that. She wasn’t going back to last-names-only. Not a chance.

Lizzy’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t.”

”Don’t what?” Like a blast of Arctic air in the humid nerve centre of the tropical island.

”Act like I’m to blame for this.” She muttered. “He called me.”

”Never said you were to blame.”

“No, but you’re clearly inferring it-“

“One argument at a time. Please.” Kathy rubbed her temples.

“I’ll pick you up again, Liz. Swear to the good Lord above I’ll do it.” Tom muttered.

***

Gennaro was disapproving. ”I work for InGen. Not you, Dr Armstrong.”

“Told you.” Lizzy said to nobody in particular before getting up to leave. “Never mind, guess I’m royally-“

”However, by extension, the legal wellbeing of employees is in the best interests of my client and therefore lies somewhere within my jurisdiction.” The lawyer shrugged and steepled his fingers under his chin. “I can at least offer you advice.”

“Okay…” Lizzy sat down hesitantly. “But…?”

“But not for free, of course.”

She knew it would be something slippery like that.

Lizzy rummaged in her shorts pocket and produced a crumpled dollar she had been saving for the vending machine. She quickly smoothed it out and passed it to Gennaro, who gingerly took it, holding it away from him.

“This is…acceptable. I’m officially retained, I guess.” The lawyer made no effort to keep the disgust off his face, wrinkling his nose as he pocketed the warm and slightly sweat-dampened Washington. “But don’t go blabbing about this in front of Hammond. Maybe just lay low for a while”

“Liz? Lay low?” Tom muttered to Kathy. “She can’t even talk low.”

“I’m in trouble?” Lizzy couldn’t keep the panic out of her voice. “Am I seriously in trouble? I can’t afford a lawsuit!”

“It’s likely scare tactics.” The lawyer explained. “Send you some official-looking papers in an expensive envelope and hope you just bend over.”

Muldoon gave Gennaro such a foul look he cleared his throat and backtracked immediately. “Figuratively speaking.”

“And you know about this sort of thing because…?” Kathy pried.

Gennaro gave her a sly sidelong glance.

”I’ve never just bent over for him and I’m not about to start now.” Lizzy muttered decisively.

Nobody dared look at Muldoon.

”I bet it’s his mother.” The ethologist continued, partly to herself. “Hassling him to give me a hard time. She never liked me. Pretended she did though.”

You’re really wearing that to dinner, sweetheart?

You should wear your hair differently, that cut does nothing for you.

Pick, pick, pick.

Constant, never-ending.

When am I getting a grandchi-

“Why are they even doing this?” Lizzy’s internal Richter scale hit critical. “She’s well aware I’ve got no money of my own, but they don’t exactly need any extra themselves. They’re loaded!”

There was a long pause.

“It’s not about the money, Armstrong.” Muldoon finally said. “It never was.”

It’s about humiliation.

“He doesn’t know you’ve got access to a lawyer.” Kathy pointed out. “And that works in our favour. We’re gonna be fine.”

Lizzy fought back a smile. Our. We’re. Her problems were shared, apparently.

”Or a park warden with a shotgun licence.” Muldoon nodded. “Excuse me, I need to make a call to the dock-…er, my daughter. In Kenya, Africa.”

”That wouldn’t be some way of ensuring that if Simon turns up in San Jose looking for Doctor Armstrong, you’ll know about it?” Gennaro asked suspiciously.

“…no.” Muldoon grunted, not looking at anyone except Lizzy as he left the room. “We’ll finish talking about this later.”

”Hoo boy. Whole different kind of trouble there, Liz.” Tom nodded knowingly once Muldoon had left. “TPO.”

“What’s that?” Kathy asked. “Do I want to know?”

”Texan Protective Order.” Kennedy elaborated. “It’s where you skip the restraining order and go straight to the last step: final warning.”

“Is he serious?” Gennaro was staring at Tom in disbelief, clearly considering if he was a potential liability and if the park insurance had a Texan clause. “And more importantly, has anyone checked Muldoon is alright?”

“He’s sleep-deprived.” Kathy answered. “Just let him do what he needs to do, mister.”

They all filed out, one-by-one, until Armstrong and Gennaro were the only people left in the office.

“Thanks.” Lizzy stared down at her boots. “I probably can’t afford to pay you all at once-“

”Don’t mention it.” Gennaro held up a finger when she opened her mouth to speak. “No, really. And don’t speak to him again either. Pass him over to me, I’ll handle it.”

“You didn’t call me Miss.” He’d referred to her as Doctor instinctively for the first time ever since they’d met.

“I didn’t.” Gennaro too, seemed surprised. “Seems we have developed a mutual respect. But then, you usually call me far worse in passing.”

Lizzy reddened. “I owe you.”

“Probably.” The lawyer nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll call it in when I need it most. Might be later today. Might be next year.”

Lizzy had a feeling Gennaro already knew how to use his one favour from her. But he was waiting for the right moment, biding his time. Until she was of the most use to him.

Trust a lawyer. She’d been burned before.

But she had no choice.

Lizzy wanted it gone, brushed under the rug.

There were several things she wanted gone, come to think of it.

“Gotten the Led out recently?” She asked awkwardly to fill the silence.

“I’m sorry, what?” Gennaro looked very confused, then mortified. “Hang on, did you take my cassette tape? I’ve been looking for that-“

The image of Donald Gennaro with long, flowing hair swam unbidden into Lizzy’s mind.

”-it’s a paperweight!” He exclaimed hurriedly.

They both jumped out of their seats when they heard a tyrannosaurus rex roar at close-range. Far louder than it should have been at this point on the island. It sounded like she was right outside the visitor centre.

What’s got my big girl riled up?

Then static over the radios, and screaming. Her two best friends calling for help.

Kathy and Tom were yelling not only over each other, but at each other through the radios in their panic, not waiting for either to finish, protocol forgotten.

“Again, play it again. Arnold, for Christ’s-“

”-uldoon come in! Mayday, mayday in the raptor pen-“

Lizzy just knew.

They’re fighting.

God, they’re killing each other.

Gennaro was staring at her, wide eyed, white-knuckled hands clinging on to the edge of his desk as if an earthquake had struck.

“Stay in here, lock the door, don’t follow me.” Lizzy managed to blurt out before she started running towards the terror, everything within her telling her to stay hidden in the office with the lawyer.

Her true feelings about the big raptor were suddenly abundantly clear. She did care.

Whether the big one was being killed, or doing the killing, she cared a Hell of a lot.

***

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 35 | Chapter 37

20th Century Boy - T. Rex

“They’ll be fine-” Richardson simply brushed off any and all concerns the Carnivores team presented of how to integrate the seven juvenile raptors with the much larger version. “…overthinking this.”

“Will not be fine.” Muldoon insisted. “Not with her.” 

“You worry too much.” The portly man fielded. 

“They are completely different animals from 2308, you may as well stick them in with the damn Rex.” The game warden complained. “I fancy their chances better.”

“Could we…?“ Richardson actually seemed to be entertaining the idea.

“No.” Kathy and Muldoon said in one voice, looking equally horrified. 

“As far as terrible ideas go, you’ve excelled yourself.” Lizzy murmured.

The Animal Supervisor scowled in her direction. “Rubbish, they’ll just avoid each other.” “It’s alright to have more than one apex predator in a game reserve.” Muldoon explained very slowly, as if he were talking to a pre-schooler. “But the paddock is the equivalent of a goldfish pond. You can’t cram a barracuda and a shark in a pond together and expect things to just work out.”

“Fine. But I’m telling you, they’ll either avoid each other or sort it out amongst themselves.”

“There’s several million dollars worth of animal at risk if they sort it out themselves.” The game warden was losing his patience. “Who do you think InGen will blame if it goes horribly wrong?”

”Whoever’s in charge of Carnivores.” Richardson gestured at him. “Therefore it’s not really my problem, is it?”

“Best leave this to the experts then, eh?” Muldoon, astoundingly, managed to reply without sarcasm. It was his polite way of saying ‘bugger off’. 

Richardson finally got the hint and swanned out of the office after a cursory nod to Tom, who merely raised an eyebrow. The animal handlers watched him exit with relief. 

“Doesn’t change the fact that after thirty years working directly with wildlife, I’m actually a bit stumped.” Muldoon admitted. “And I’m already in the bad books with Hammond.”

Lizzy remembered. His threat of leaving and going to the press had not been well received. 

”It’ll be alright. I’ve known that man nearly as long.” He must have noticed the worried look on her face. “He does this sort of thing rather a lot.”

“Guess I’m not too used to hanging around with millionaires.” “Armstrong, you are getting on my nerves today.” The game warden announced, then without changing tone, followed with: “Can I borrow you for a bit?”

“Oh, look how that worked out.” Kathy muttered in mock-surprise.

Tom blinked. ”I don’t get it.”

I’ll explain later Kathy muttered to him. 

“Where are you going?” Lizzy asked Muldoon, who already was in the process of leaving. 

“Hammond’s bungalow.” He held up a hand when she automatically went to follow him. “Had an idea. I’ll be back.”

”Can I-“

“Won’t be long.” He stopped her again, lowering his voice this time. “Armstrong, I’m fed up of Richardson, don’t give him an excuse.”

Lizzy’s eyes flicked to Tom, who was also preparing to leave the room with Kathy. 

Her former arch-rival had kept his word, for now. She had to trust him, and he was yet to let her down.  

He hadn’t told anyone he’d seen her leaving a certain game warden’s room early one morning. And if he’d told Kathy, she didn’t show it. 

As if he’d read her mind, Tom glanced back over his shoulder while Kathy wasn’t looking and winked at her.

***

“What’s all this?” Lizzy’s expression was barely visible as she peered over a stack of books Muldoon had unceremoniously dropped on his desk in front of her.  

”You’ll remember that Hammond owns a game reserve in Kenya. It’s very important to dress for the occasion.”

She took a closer look at the lettering on the pristine spines. It felt like her game warden had lifted every title that had anything remotely to do with wildlife management. 

“Jeez, they haven’t been opened, ever.” Lizzy exclaimed, the book in her hands creaking as she opened it gently, the pages still crisp,  though starting to wilt from the constant moisture in the air. They’d be yellowed soon enough. “And they’re all first editions.”

Muldoon cracked the spine on his book a little more forcefully. “S’good, isn’t it? Books he’ll never read, in a house he doesn’t live in.” “Why me?” Lizzy wondered aloud. “Payback for something?”

”You know how to research properly, and you’re the fastest reader.” He said simply. “In other words, reliably focused.You honestly think Kennedy has the attention span for something like this?”

“Good point.” She noted with pride he had placed her own thesis amongst the reading material in front of her. “I think Kathy and Tom are…busy, anyway.”

He looked up sharply. “That’s still going on?” 

She smiled at his response. Muldoon never could deny how protective he was of his Team Leader. 

“Getting kind of serious, possibly…” She turned the end of the sentence into an unintelligible grumble. It was still monumentally weird for Lizzy. She would never have put money on her remaining teammates ending up a couple. Not that she hated it, just that it put her slightly on edge, being a third wheel. Things had changed, and she wasn’t sure it was for the better, at least not yet.

Damn. Was that how everyone else felt around her?

“-Hey, isn’t it your day off tomorrow?” She wanted to talk about something else. “We might be here for a while.”

“No such thing anymore.” He pointed out. “Never made use of them anyway.”

True enough. Day off or not, Muldoon was usually always up at the arse crack of dawn, doing god-knew-what in the far reaches of the island, and would often only reappear at sundown.

Lizzy had asked once or twice where he went but he’d given a vague answer followed by a pressing excuse to be somewhere else. 

His business. As long as he wasn’t drinking, she’d have to be content with not knowing. But it buzzed in the back of her mind like an angry hornet. 

“Anyway, this isn’t exactly terrible.” He added, turning a page. “You’re here.”

Lizzy focused even harder on the sentence she was currently reading to keep the idiotic grin that was brewing under wraps. 

They continued in mostly silence for a while, interspersed with several passionate - relatively, for Muldoon - discussions about enclosure design.  Lizzy finally let loose her smile, a year ago she would never have thought she’d be in the same part of the world as Robert Muldoon, never mind the same office, discussing his specialist subject. 

It didn’t change the fact they were still facing a dead end. 

“Do I need to call Sarah again?” Lizzy threatened eventually.

“Don’t you touch that bloody phone!” Muldoon snapped yet another book shut and tossed it back on his desk. “We’ll have no distress signals to Africa this time, thank you very much.”

“Gennaro calls the consultants in Montana with the real-life things.” She complained. “All the time. I have their books, too. What they eat-“

“And what do they know, Lizzy?” He cut in. “The dinosaurs they study are dead and gone. We have living articles here, on the island. Let’s face it, nobody on this Earth knows those animals better than you and I do.”

“Better than Richardson does, anyway…” She muttered viciously.

“We have a problem we need to solve, let’s buckle down.”

Just then Kathy walked past the open door, paused and shook her head, pursing her lips as she made eye contact with the ethologist. It was obvious she disapproved of something.

Kathy was all dolled up. She was effortlessly beautiful day-to-day, even covered in mud and wiping sweat from her brow after a tough shift, but she had really knocked it out of the park. 

“You look-“ Lizzy called, but Kathy was already gone. She sighed. “Amazing.”

Their friendship had a slightly tense edge recently. On the surface the two women were carrying on just fine, but Lizzy felt the tug of the undercurrent every time they spoke. Something wasn’t quite right. Kathy was still leaving the island soon, and besides, she had Tom now. She didn’t need Lizzy like she did during the early days, where it felt like the two of them against the world. 

Muldoon was right, maybe this wasn’t so bad. 

As if to prove a point, his next words came as a complete surprise. “Do you know, you’re very beautiful when you’re concentrating?”

“Hm?” Lizzy made a distracted noise, trying hard to re-focus on the pages in front of her. 

“Longest you’ve ever stayed quiet for.” He continued. “Bloody lovely.”

She raised her book higher to hide how fixated she was on chewing her lip.  Pleased at the results, Muldoon reached for Lizzy’s thesis next, just in case there was something, anything he’d missed the first three times. He made the mistake of glancing at the dedication on the inside page to her almost-husband and the words were burned on his brain before he could do anything about it. 

Why did it still pain him so terribly? They were broken up, had been for months. 

And yet, the words didn’t even sound like her. To my darling Simon. He could barely imagine her saying such a thing without sarcasm evident, it just wasn’t Lizzy.

Not his Lizzy, at any rate.

It was ruined. Muldoon was no longer thinking about the task at hand, this was going to gnaw at him for hours, days. He closed the thesis without reading any further. “You agree, we’re off the clock?”

Lizzy nodded, haltingly, as she continued to trace her finger along the lines of text. She was hoping against hope he wasn’t about to suggest they call it a night. Looming, terrible deadline aside, she was in her element, pushing exhaustion aside and speed-reading chapter after chapter.  “I want to ask you something.” He hesitated. “Not as a colleague.”

Uh-oh.

This wasn’t what we agreed.

But Lizzy was drawn in.

”Shoot.”

“You went back to the States often?” He held up her work so she could see. “While you were writing this?”

“At first.” Lizzy paused her scanning and tried to remember her university days, wondering what Muldoon was getting at. It felt like another life, a completely different geological period. “Every couple months, for a week at a time…ish. Why?” ”Get much work done in those weeks?” 

”Loads.”

”Hm.” 

Good? Bad?

She waited for him to explain, but he had nothing further to add. “Uh, hello?”

”It’s fine.” He shrugged. “Just curious.”

”About what?”

”Doesn’t matter.”

Lizzy finally shut her book with a sigh and gave him the look over the frame of her glasses, raising her eyebrows. “If it didn’t matter then you wouldn’t have asked me. I’m not gonna let it go-oooo…-“

“Alright. How’d he ever leave you alone?” He fixed her with an equally intense stare. “That man of yours.”

“Leave me-? You’re serious?” That threw her. “I dunno…we’d been together a long time by that point.”

”That’s a piss-poor excuse.” He sat back, not satisfied with her answer. “The entire street should have known you were back in town. The entire damn borough.”

Lizzy did an excellent impression of a fire hydrant, she flushed such a deep shade at what he was implying.

“Not really his style.” She barely managed to croak out.

”Fucking his wife-to-be isn’t his style?”  Every trace of breath left her body and Lizzy just sat there, dumbfounded.  No, apparently it wasn’t his style. Hadn’t been. 

Simon would buy her things she would never wear, or had little use for in Africa. Jewellery, perfume, nice clothes. All of it still packed away in their apartment to that day, gathering dust. He was forever despairing she wasn’t above tying her hair back with a used shoelace before talking a walk around Central Park, passing the 5th Avenue shoppers who looked at her sun-bleached curls and loose-fitting clothes with disdain. She’d never cared. Simon had. 

She’d come from so little, it was just nice to have enough. Lizzy hadn’t wanted or needed extra. 

Why hadn’t she realised together forever probably wasn’t the best idea, the way things had been going? Why hadn’t she called it off sooner?

For God’s sake, why hadn’t he wanted her? Why hadn’t she been enough, as she was? Without tailoring to his idea of what she should be? 

“I…-“ Lizzy floundered. 

”Thought you looked nice, that’s all.”

”Stop doing that.” She abruptly ground out in a flash of anger. “Catching me off guard. It’s not fair.”

”I’m the last person you should be talking to about not fair.” Muldoon sounded infuriated too, though maybe not necessarily at her. “Not fair is knowing how we both feel and pretending this is enough. It’s not.”

She frowned at him in concern. What was going on? Had Rico’s accident also made him worried about things left unsaid? 

“Anyway, when’d you get so squeamish, Armstrong?” He smirked at her.

“I’m not.” Lizzy bristled. “Because…-“

“Because what?”

“Because if I was trying to wind you up, these books would be on the floor and this desk would be getting used for something else entirely.” She slammed her hand down flat to drive her point home. 

Muldoon paused before answering, and his words were extremely measured and even. 

“You’re probably right.”

The silence practically rang in their ears as they both glanced to the door, still ajar. 

Lizzy eventually cleared her throat and opened her book again. “But I can’t. Wind you up. Because we’re supposed to be behaving aren’t we? Anyway…who’s to say the raptors want to live in groups? In such a small paddock, it could turn into a turf war.”

”We, hm…-“ He shifted his weight. “We can’t do anything about that. There’s only one paddock big enough.”

“Can’t we generalise and say herbivores are social, carnivores are solitary?”

”No.” He said gravely, looking at her as if she’d just insulted his family name. “Koala, giant panda, moose, leopard-“

“Alright then, Field Guide-“

“Lions, wolves, killer whales…” Muldoon was still listing species, paying her no heed. 

“Okay, okay, but if they hunt alone here then they probably won’t die!” Lizzy slumped back in defeat and frustration. “They can’t possibly starve, we plonk their food right in front of them!”

“Hm, hunting…” Muldoon visibly brightened. “You could be on to something there, Armstrong.”

“Why do I feel I won’t like this?”

“Maybe…we feed her early in the day, before they arrive.” He explained, the plan still taking shape. “Make her slower, the bottomless pit that she is. She’s like Kennedy in the morning, set your alarm early if you want eggs, you’ve got no chance after he’s been in the canteen-“

“Feed her, and…” Lizzy redirected masterfully. “Good start. You know how to treat a woman.”

“Then we dart her while she’s resting, and when she comes to, the younger animals scent is all over her patch.”

“And she just…accepts them?” “We can gauge her reaction and intervene if necessary while she’s still coming around.” He shrugged. “Hopefully she won’t be too hopping mad.”

”What if they group up and attack her while she’s drowsy?”

”I’ll look after her. Don’t you worry.”

She paused. “How does hunting come into this?”

”I’m going to let you get close. Very close.”

Lizzy mouth twitched at his choice of the words let you. As if she hadn’t been sneaking ever closer to the fence for weeks.

But not recently she reminded herself. 

”Because I’m hoping she’ll dislike your presence more than that of the other raptors.” Muldoon explained. “It’s not unusual to bond over a common enemy. Same goes for animals.”

“I’m the distraction.” Lizzy understood. “Got it.”

“Aren’t you just.” He agreed. “Good work tonight, Armstrong.”

“Hey-“ She caught his attention as they were tidying up. “How long has it been?”

“Long enough.” He knew what she was referring to. “I haven’t, if that’s what you’re asking. Not once. Though I’ve been awfully tempted lately.”

“Is it any easier?”

”No. But it’s a conscious choice I make. You, or…that.” He shrugged. “Simple, really.”

”I know.” Lizzy said simply. “Thank you.”

“No need for thanks…” He tailed off, muttering something else as he turned away that sounded a lot like you utter pain in the arse.

Lizzy’s shoulder ached, but she didn’t care. 

***

The plan was off to a bad start. The raptor shipment was delayed by rough seas, and now the shadows were growing long. Muldoon was getting increasingly twitchy, he was worried about losing the light. “That damn dock-“ He kept repeating. “It’s not good enough.”

Lori Ruso hadn’t accompanied the dinosaurs, but that didn’t surprise Lizzy at all. She’d done her part, they weren’t her animals anymore.

Kathy sidled into Muldoon’s field of vision as the container was manoeuvred towards the paddock gate. “Are you getting Lizzy a Valentine’s present?” She whispered.

“A what now?” Shamefully, it hadn’t ever crossed his mind. It hadn’t been a concern of his for many years. 

“Tom gave me this last night.” She proudly showed him the thin gold chain around her neck. The same one Kennedy usually always wore. “He remembered.”

”Hm.” He frowned, trying to think of a good response. “I let her have seven more of those ruddy animals, that’s all she’s getting for a very long time.”

”Ah, so you do like her!” Kathy retorted cheerfully, chuckling at the confused look Muldoon shot her way.

The park warden reminded Kathy of her dad, with the abandoned kitten she’d presented to him when she was a child, and she was moodily told one night only. Ten years later, the cat still curled up to sleep on her dad’s shoulder in front of the TV every single night. 

Here he is, with the eight lethal carnivores he said he didn’t want. They always come around.

The big raptor had already been darted, though too early in the day, before they knew the ship would be delayed. They couldn’t give her another dose, Harding advised, it could tip her over threshold. 

It was intended to be just enough to make her a bit wobbly, to lower her guard and make her less vigilant.

It seemed to have just made her more irritable. She kept on tossing her head and rumbling at the visitors lined up near the fence. 

“Am I doing it?” Tom was on top of the transport container, ready to man the gate. He looked around anxiously when he didn’t get an answer. “Uh, guys? This thing is really heavy.”

“Muldoon?” Kathy asked timidly. “We’re waiting for the go-ahead.”

When he didn’t answer, Lizzy couldn’t resist glancing his way.

He looked uncertain. If she knew him at all, he was no doubt running through every possible scenario in his head. What he’d do to get them out if she attacked. How far he’d go to protect them from 2308. If Hammond would consider it a personal debt owed this time and Muldoon would be making amends very slowly from his own funds with high interest. 

“If we were in Kenya, you know you’d just go for it.” Lizzy stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm. “Forget about the money situation. We trust you. Let’s try.”

Her words seemed to snap him out of his indecision. 

“Alright. Do it, Kennedy.” He called up to the Texan, who saluted and began to lift the gate. “Armstrong, you go over there and keep her busy.”

Nothing happened for a second, then the first juvenile raptor poked their head forward into their enclosure, scanning the environment. They didn’t seem fearful of their new cagemate at all. 

The younger, smaller animals were curious of the larger, chirping and moving forward in a group. They reminded Lizzy of guinea fowl, investigating something novel, the way their heads kept bobbing back and forth. There was nothing aggressive about their movements. 

“Armstrong?” 

“All good.” She signalled. “They’re coming out now.”

She heard a series of clicks as another tranquiliser dart was loaded. Over threshold or not, Muldoon was still prepared.

Lizzy had a good view, she was closer to the fence than she’d been in a long time. Far closer than she was comfortable with, to be perfectly honest.

“This isn’t right.” Kathy was watching beside the park warden, tense. “Thought you said 2308 would go for her.”

“I did.” The big raptor wasn’t hunting Armstrong. Watching her constantly, yes. Keeping her body between the human and the younger animals, stance defensive.

But not protecting her. 

It was almost as if it were-

…guarding her?  Armstrong was high value. Muldoon understood now, the way the raptor was prowling closer to Lizzy, claws tapping erractically. He knew what the dinosaur had to be thinking, because he often thought it too. 

This one’s mine.  That sent a chill through him. 

He really didn’t like the way more of the big raptor’s teeth were becoming visible as the juveniles pottered closer. Her pupils narrowed into slits as they flicked towards him, warning him off. 

“Armstrong, move away.”  “It’s okay.” She reassured. 

”It’s really not.” He tried not to sound too alarmed, but his heart was in his mouth. “Move. Carefully.”

Didn’t she realise that she was being sized up? 

He could almost see it playing out, a freak accident, the ground was spongy under her feet, if Armstrong was startled and slipped to within grabbing distance-

The raptor nearly had Regis, and she was miniscule then.  She got Esteves not so long ago. 

I shouldn’t have used her, this is just reinforcing behaviour we don’t want.

”Talk to me.” Lizzy, confused, turned her attention away from the raptor, spinning around so that she was side-on to the animal. Had he spotted something she hadn’t?

Christ, watch where you stand.

“Move a-“ He started to order.

The raptor slammed her entire weight into the fence next to Lizzy with juggernaut force, throwing off a shower of sparks and screeching in pain at the shock.

She was close enough to feel how hot her breath was, the saliva splattering her in the face, causing the white-hot sparks to sizzle on her skin as the dinosaur screamed loud enough to make her eardrums wobble at close range. 

Fuck! Lizzy froze, rooted to the spot, shrinking down in the face of death. Her raptor was even bigger now than only a few weeks ago. She was vicious. She was terrifying. 

And now 2308 associated Lizzy with the pain of a sizeable electric shock.

The big raptor vocalised, a sound Lizzy hadn’t ever heard her make. A low, rattling whistle. 

She did it again, and most of the smaller raptors charged the fence. They stopped short of the wire, hopping and snapping in her direction as well as at each other. 

”What the-“ Lizzy froze for a second time, frowning.

That’s not right.

“O-kay, time to go!” Next thing Lizzy knew she was flung upside-down over Tom’s shoulder and ended up closer to the back of his jeans than she’d care to be, at eye-level with his belt as he carried her to safety. “The things you’ll do to get a good look at my butt.”

“You wish.” She had the wits to retort despite her teeth chattering. “Nearly as hideous as your face.”

”No!” Kathy’s alarmed voice rang out. “Mike, stop!”

Tom dumped Lizzy right-side up with her feet in the jungle stream. 

“Ugh, idiot-“ The cool water flowed over the tops of her socks and into her boots as she brushed her hair out of her eyes to get a better look at the newest commotion. 

“The Hell are you playing at, dude?” Kennedy demanded. “Seriously?”

Richardson feigned innocence, a chunk of bloodied meat dangling in his hand. ”We’re feeding them extra, yes?”

The big raptor snatched up the first piece he’d lobbed over the fence and disappeared into the paddock’s undergrowth with a growl.

”Yes, but-“ Kathy rubbed her forehead, jostling her glasses out of place. “-not right now! Give it a sec-“

”Why?” The Animal Supervisor clearly thought they were being ridiculous. “It’s a distraction, no?”

“You just rewarded her for attacking Armstrong.” Muldoon was struggling to keep his voice even. “If that weren’t incredibly obvious.”

The implied you idiot was clear.

Kathy took a slow step back. She’d never seen her boss this angry. 

The smaller raptors chirped in chorus, and one-by-one, sprinted away, following the bigger animal out of sight.

The animal handlers stood still, nobody daring to blink, waiting to hear screams of terror as the young ones were inevitably torn to shreds. 

Nothing, only sounds. 

“See? It’s fine!” Richardson bemoaned loudly. “You were worrying over nothing. As usual.”

”No, it’s not fine.” Muldoon argued, clipping his words harshly. “But we can’t separate them now. Cover’s too thick to catch the youngsters, they can easily hide, and the light’s going.”

“I’m calling it-“ Tom added, trying to diffuse the tension. “-but dibs on not going in there with the big girl.”

”This enclosure is not ideal.” The game warden continued, paying him no attention. “If I’d been involved from the beginning-“

“For Christ’s sake, Robert! Enough complaining about the bleeding enclosure.” Richardson was also getting agitated. “We’re stuck with it now!”

”What do we do?” Kathy asked timidly.

”Pray to whichever God does it for you.” Muldoon shrugged. “Check back first thing in the morning. Christ. Are you alright?”

He turned back to Lizzy, voice hard but eyes betraying his concern. 

“Yeah.” She shoved her hands into her back pockets to conceal how much they were still shaking. “She’s just…a lot bigger than when I saw her last.” 

Bigger than me Lizzy thought nervously as she shuffled closer to Muldoon.

”In hindsight, probably shouldn’t have done that.” He admitted. “Involved you. She’s just taught the others a new trick.”

Attack her.

“I got it wrong.” Muldoon sighed resignedly. 

”We got it wrong.” Lizzy corrected. “Should have moved away when you told me. Thought I was getting through to her-“

”Shake you up a bit, Elizabeth?” Richardson swaggered back into earshot. “Finally come across something more feral than yourself?”

Lizzy scowled at him. Clearly, no apology was coming her way.

Because he’s not sorry at all. 

“Remember: she doesn’t need to run fast, Richardson.” Muldoon was still furious. “She just needs to run faster than you.” 

The colour leached from the Animal Supervisor’s hammy face and he made himself scarce, roaring off in his own Jeep now that the spectacle was over.

“So far so good.” Lizzy said wearily. 

“Or the calm before the storm.” The park warden deliberated. “We’ll find out which when her sedative fully wears off.”

“So pessimistic.”

“I am never disappointed if I assume the worst.” He gravely informed her. “Just get to say I told you so.”

“Guys, it’s dark. We can’t do anything more tonight.” Kathy pointed out. “Come on, I’m hungry.” 

They crammed themselves into Muldoon’s Jeep, trying not to think about arriving to the worst the next morning, where VM2308 had defended her territory to the death. Lizzy wondered if it was unreasonable to camp out in front of Arnold’s monitors, and wait for the Velociraptor population count to tick slowly downwards. 

***

By the time they got back to the visitor centre, the scaffolding was lit up by the quartz beams in the darkness. And the silhouette of Richardson was blocking the road, waiting for them. 

Can’t escape this guy…

“What’s he got in his hand?” Kathy craned forward to see. 

The headlights picked up the object he was holding. Lizzy leaned forward and stifled a gasp when she realised what it was. 

Someone had vandalised one of the lunchboxes in the newly stocked gift shop area with a black marker pen, to read Ass Park.

”Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Muldoon thumped the steering wheel, making the other three jump. 

“Robert!” Kathy was horrified enough to first-name him. “Honestly-“

”Christ, Baker! Can’t I do anything I like around here?”

“You can do Lizzy.” Tom muttered under his breath.  Lizzy whipped around so fast to scowl at him she cricked her neck. 

“Who did this?” Richardson boomed through the windscreen. Nobody answered, of course. “A replacement will be coming out of someone’s paycheck!”

”Oh, sure. This he cares about.” Kathy muttered.

”I will not be made a mockery of!” Even in the gloom, Richardson was a ridiculous shade of puce. “Get your staff under control!”

He threw the lunchbox into a puddle at the side of the road, and in a fit of pique absolutely nobody was expecting, actually stamped on it before trundling away.

They rolled around to the parking garage in silence, the animal handlers afraid to say a single word in case it was what finally tipped their boss over the edge.  Muldoon cut the engine and they sat in silence, the Jeep ticked quietly as it cooled.

Was he too angry to speak? Having an aneurysm? It was hard to tell. 

“I will neither confirm nor deny to him it was one of my staff-“ He finally said. “But, Kenned-“

”Yeah, yeah, boss. I’ll fix it.” Tom was apologetic. 

“You’d better.” Was the stern response. “It’s not funny.”

”No. Not at all. Sorry.”

“Good, as long as we’re clear.” Muldoon sounded like he was trying his very best not to laugh. “Not funny. Not in the slightest.”

Lizzy couldn’t look at him and stared resolutely at her own boots. She daren’t make eye contact, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself laughing if she did. Kathy was still trembling with fear in the backseat.

“Armstrong. Baker.” Muldoon nodded curtly at the two women before making a hasty exit from the garage, leaving the keys behind in the ignition.  Lizzy had a feeling he was headed straight to find Arnold and Harding. An if you don’t laugh you’ll cry kind of situation.

“Now that was priceless.” Tom announced proudly. “Did that break the tension in here or what?”

“You’re a real asshole, you know what?” Kathy lightly smacked his arm. “This is only the most stressful day of his darn career.”

”The most stressful day so far.” Lizzy added, reflecting that she was turning into a pessimist herself, and that Muldoon was right. Again. It was oddly liberating. 

“I got him.” Tom beamed happily. “Worth it.”

“You know folks, I think I’m going to get him a swear jar.” Kathy nodded thoughtfully. “He’s terrible these days.”

***

Thanks for reading!!

I love writing Wildlife Expert Muldoon.

Chapter 34 | Chapter 36

Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash

As the skipper steered away from the dock and out into the fog bank that filled the ocean passage between InGen sites, Lori Ruso only managed to keep sight of Muldoon and Armstrong for a few seconds before they disappeared completely.

In less than a minute, there was no sign that Isla Nublar even existed.

A productive site visit indeed.

She hadn’t made the journey with high hopes, but the sombre man and his that’s-not-my-girlfriend-she’s-just-a-colleague had turned out to be decent people. Lori had no interest in screwing them over, and nothing she had told them was a lie, per se…

But Muldoon’s proposal of a meeting couldn’t have come at a better time. The residents of Nublar had no idea that the “site visit” was the perfect cover for something else altogether.

Unbeknownst to John Hammond’s company, Ruso had received a rather intriguing phone call several weeks prior. It was from a man who seemed particularly interested in her position as a disgruntled current employee, and was offering her a lot of money for-

“That’s all? Just information?” Lori had shivered as she remembered how tight of a leash Ingen currently had her on. “You really aren’t asking me to do anything more…invasive?”

“No-” Lewis Dodgson had replied. “-I got another guy for that.”

***

”You’re panicking about Kathy leaving, aren’t you?” Lizzy felt compelled to say so.

”Panicking?” Muldoon turned to make his way back down the dock. “Hardly.”

“The raptors are coming-” Lizzy thought of the Scotswoman, the Kenyan and the Texan holding down Fort Nublar by themselves. It sounded and felt like a terrible joke. “-and you think three of us alone can handle more than one of them? What if they all turn out like…her?”

“I think one of us alone could handle three of them.” He called back to her as she struggled to catch up without slipping. “Though I’d rather it doesn’t come to that.”

“You may have to-“ Lizzy gasped, mock-dramatically. “-recruit!”

“Hope not. I’ve been lucky, the Team I ended up getting.” Muldoon admitted. “Never expected to get along with, let alone actively like any of you.”

He about-turned so abruptly that Lizzy misjudged her steps and had no choice but to collide head on to keep from swerving off the edge of the algae-covered boardwalk. He caught her around the waist as Lizzy huffed in surprise.

Muldoon didn’t even sway at the impact, so familiar with the shape of her. “Especially you…”

Lizzy wondered if he was also still thinking about Lori’s suggestive comment. Or if he was planning on doing anything about it.

”Even Tom?” She asked dazedly, spouting the first unfortunate words that entered her head. She could picture Arnold eye-rolling and dry-heaving if he were to snoop on them now, images blown up fullscreen on his monitors for the entire workforce to see. “Not just a pretty diversion if things go sideways?”

Muldoon looked down at her sternly.

“Don’t say things like that.” Then, somewhat reluctantly: “Yes, even him.”

”Would it kill you to mention it once in a while?” She asked quietly.

He only stared at her, and Lizzy persevered.

“He has a problem with male authority.” She didn’t have the guts to utter the words father figure.

“So; I’d like to point out, do you.”

”You know what I mean.”

She could see it, crystal clear. Muldoon couldn’t, not yet.

Tom’s past life, why he was that way, made Lizzy desperately sad. She’d already found her own mentor, someone to stick the broken pieces back together stronger than before. Tom’s mentor, standing in front of her now, remained unwilling. “He trusts you. Can’t you see he so badly wants your approval?”

“Suppose.” He was turning sullen, approaching blood-from-a-stone territory, and Lizzy backpedaled in a hurry.

“I’m not asking you to call him son, play catch in the yard and take him on fishing trips!”

“I should bloody well hope not!” He looked horrified. “It’s still asking a Hell of a lot, Armstrong.”

“Even if it’s me that‘s asking you?” She looked up from under her eyelashes, in a way she knew he found disarming.

Rico’s accident had put her on edge, worrying about things left unsaid in case the worst should happen.

”Hmm…think about it.” He finally said begrudgingly. “Don’t get your hopes up-“

The radio crackling surprised them both.

“-uldoon?” Muffled, no doubt by the perpetual cigarette. “-rmstrong? Come in, for the love of Christ-“

Arnold.

“We’re here.” Muldoon didn’t hesitate to answer, reflexively dropping his hold on Lizzy in case of prying eyes.

“-ig trouble.” The engineer was hurrying, not waiting to start talking until after he’d pressed the call button. “-uge. They’re maaaaad.”

“Why? What’s happening?”

“-need to get back to base…-better hope to God you find Regis before they do.”

“Why?” Muldoon and Lizzy looked sideways at each other. “Who’s they?”

***

”Mr Hammond, I have a, er-“ Regis fumbled nervously with the telephone handset. “-an angry mob situation.”

“Oh, really?” His employer sounded only mildly concerned.

”They know about the deal with that Rico kid.” Ed hissed quietly, trying to remember if he’d locked the office door in his panic. “Operation Backhoe.”

“I am in my car-“ Hammond replied tersely. “-en route to collect my daughter from the airport. This is not a good time, Regis.”

“But-“

“You are public relations. This is your job.”

“These are not the public! These are a bunch of very pissed-off animal hand-…hello? Sir?”

Regis was on his own.

They were drawing closer, he could hear lots of cursing in various different languages, and overriding them, loudest of all, a women’s Scottish brogue.

Oh Christ, no.

Hanmering fists on his door.

“Open up, Ed. We just wanna talk.” Baker’s level voice held a lot more venom than usual.

“Go away!” He yelled back, somewhat childishly.

”Why’d you cover it up, pal?” Armstrong demanded.

Kennedy followed suit. ”Yeah, why’d you lie, brother?”

Regis had a hunch that pal and brother weren’t to be taken as friendly terms. At least his life insurance policy was pretty damn watertight, from the looks of things they’d be paying out soon. Death by misadventure.

His boss had abandoned him, and the only way out was through a crowd of angry colleagues.

You got this, Eddie-boy.

Customer service was his niche. He had faced down plenty of entitled middle-aged women in his career. He could do anything. Time to pacify the brands and pitchforks.

“Okay, folks-“ He spread his hands wide, begging forgiveness as he opened the door. “I can explain.”

***

”Right, let’s make this quick.” Muldoon strode into Regis’ office, with only a cursory nod in Wu’s direction. “Remember, we have a funeral to get to.”

It was in fact a memorial service. The funeral itself had been in Portugal, already missed by several days due to management’s erasure, but the animal handlers decided they wanted to remember Rico in their own way regardless.

Muldoon didn’t agree with funerals. For him, it never make the inevitable goodbye any easier, just prolonged it. And he’d attended far too many in recent years. A stark reminder that he himself was getting on a bit. He had less friends above ground than a decade previous. But his team wanted him there. Lizzy wanted him there. His presence mattered.

That was why this end-of-day “urgent” meeting had wound him up so much. A few more minutes and he was in danger of being late, something he couldn’t stand, not at the best of times. Certainly not now.

“Oh, that’s still going ahead? Uh-“ Regis stammered. “I wasn’t planning on-“

“You’re going.” Muldoon ordered bluntly. “Least you can do. Find a clean shirt and get down to that beach.”

Regis nodded mutely and avoided eye contact.

“This better be good news, Wu.” Muldoon quickly got back to the reason he’d been summoned.

“Seven bouncing baby velociraptors are being delivered to you tomorrow.” Wu announced. Then, somewhat condescendingly: “Congratulations!”

Muldoon could already envision the animal handlers taking the news rather poorly, seeing it as an insult to Esteves’ memory. Stiff upper lip, and carry on. Get back to work.

”Seven?” He frowned. “Were we originally planning on that many?”

”Dr Ruso’s department seems to have had a long overdue stroke of luck.” Wu clarified. “A higher than average number of juveniles survived the last incubation cycle.”

”Out of how many viable embryos?”

Henry Wu cast his eyes to the ground; Muldoon shook his head in exasperation. “You don’t know?”

How many had hatched and suffered before finally succumbing?

“Ruso has the numbers.” Regis waved a hand.

Numbers. Was that all they were reduced to now?

”And another thing, that paddock you’ve had built is far too small for seven juveniles, plus an unexpectedly big one. Is it too late to change the itinerary?” Muldoon criticised, scanning the blueprint on the desk, looking for any labels that indicated a perimeter large enough to house eight (eight?!) adult raptors. “Can’t we move them straight into their permanent enclosure?”

He couldn’t see one. Maybe it was unmarked?

Regis and Wu exchanged a glance.

“That is their, er…permanent residence.”

“You have got to be joking.” Wu looked unhappy, Regis was grinning sheepishly. “That’s a holding pen at best.”

Straight up cruelty at its worst.

InGen hadn’t bothered to consult him. It somehow felt personal, this time. Muldoon wasn’t one to network, ever, but didn’t they know who he was?

He sighed deeply and ordered. “Get me Hammond, now.”

***

Muldoon had seen some remarkable things in his lifetime, but the animal handlers clamouring for Ed Regis’ blood while he wrung his baseball cap in his hands was one of the ugliest.

Baker was telling everyone within earshot he lied, he lied to us over and over.

The handlers began demanding to know what had really happened, Regis had cowered before them, then finally lost his marbles and yelled for quiet.

Why didn’t you tell us?

There followed directly from the mouth of Regis some convoluted; and, Muldoon suspected; untrue in parts, though he couldn’t prove it, tale; about how InGen hadn’t wanted word of the incident getting back to the investors, the paperwork (folks, honest to God, the amount of paperwork, you’ve got no idea) of a foreign worker being injured on a privately-owned island but kicking it- er, passing away on the mainland…

Regis had talked for a long time. Until the anger had subsided and the grief had taken over for his audience. Nobody was level-headed enough to question him further, coming to terms with the notion that whatever he said couldn’t change the cold, hard fact that Rico was dead.

That night had been all sorts of messy, Muldoon recalled. Nobody had really known what to do, himself included. Richardson had vanished, and was no use whatsoever.

Armstrong had been struck practically mute, Baker had a constant stream of tears for hours, soundless crying until raw tracks had been worn into her face. He’d finally convinced her to go to bed for Christ’s sake, pretending to ignore that Kennedy had quietly followed her.

He’d wanted nothing more than to disappear, hide from all of them, even Lizzy, with a bottle of the highest proof he could lay hands on because he couldn’t do this again.

The sports fan would have a tough job getting his respect back, not that he’d had much to begin with.

Especially when he said things like-

”That’s not possible.”

Sensing trouble brewing, Wu had quickly excused himself from the office. Meanwhile, neither Regis nor Muldoon was all that happy about being left alone with the other.

“Why isn’t it possible?” Muldoon ground out.

“Time with the family, I’m afraid. Mr Hammond simply cannot be disturbed this week.” Was the infuriating reply.

Regis was assertive, for once. The lad might be somewhat wary of him, but the trembling of his voice meant that he was clearly more afraid of the park‘s creator.

Although, there was another who was capable of making him sweat bullets…

Muldoon very deliberately reached for his radio and pressed down the call button with a crackle.

“Armstrong?” The ginger head jerked up in alarm, remarkably like a meerkat. “Stop whatever you’re doing and come to Regis’ office.”

”Okay, okay, fine!” Ed looked pained, reaching for the phone. “Please, don’t let her in here.”

His eyes darted to the door, windows, ceiling vent, as if he were afraid of any potential entrance Lizzy might suddenly jack-in-the-box from.

”That’s better. And Regis?” Muldoon waited a few moments until he was certain the US mainland number had been input. “Radio was on the wrong channel. She didn’t hear.”

Ed’s mouth fell open in surprise. But it was too late, the phone was already ringing, and with a click, Hammond’s housekeeper answered.

His mind went blank, his entire vocabulary far out of reach.

“Go on.” Muldoon urged.

Ed considered hanging up before it was too late, then reminded himself that the park warden was actually there in the room with him, and readily had access to a shotgun, and a Lizzy.

So he meekly whispered Mr Hammond please.

“Very good.” Muldoon nodded.

“Hello?” Impatiently. Then irately. ”Hello!”

“H-how are you, John?” Golly, he was sweating in places he didn’t even know he had. “It’s Ed.”

“…who?”

Was he serious?

”Ed R-regis. From Jurassic Park, sir.”

”My grandchildren are here, dear boy.” This time around the moniker didn’t sound quite so sincere. “Twice in one week, Regis? Really? Can’t you handle a bunch of zookeepers?”

”Mr Muldoon wants to speak to you, sir. It’s-“ Ed glanced up. “-quite important.”

The park warden nodded reassuringly again, mouthing very important. He straightened up from leaning on the wall and began to stalk slowly around the back of Regis’s desk. Ed tried to swivel his chair to keep him in view, but quickly ran out of telephone cable.

“I told you how to handle Muldoon.” Hammond was beyond exasperated. “Just keep the bottles stocked and he won’t bother you. Not unlike you’re bothering me now.”

“Uh…” The urge to mutter I’msorrysirwon’thappenagain and slam the phone down before scurrying off to hide was unbearable.

“That’ll be all, Regis.” Came the voice from behind him. “Move.”

***

“That is brilliant.” Lizzy exclaimed.

She found Muldoon’s threat of setting his dog on Regis hilarious.

“He’s scared of me. He’s terrified of you.” He had told the story to cheer her up after the memorial, when the news of seven raptors arriving the very next day was not well received, as he’d expected.

“Move.” She mimicked his stern tone and faintly began to chuckle. The relief and finality that follows the wake began to wash over her. Awkward jokes to break through the gloom.

Lizzy was still hurting, and would be for a long time.

“Drink?” Kathy had brushed her elbow, as she turned to follow the rest of the crowd to higher ground. “Food?”

She’d refused.

“It’s what he would have wanted…” Kathy had murmured softly, trying for humour.

Lizzy just shook her head and her friend gave a sad smile before taking Tom’s outstretched hand and letting him lead her away.

She stayed on the beach long after everyone else had left, sitting cross-legged with her toes buried in the sand, watching the waves roll in and wash back out again until horizon and water were merged, the same exact shade of inky blue.

Goodbye, Rico.

When she’d finally stood up and turned around, Muldoon was just there, still waiting patiently to give her a lift back.

She trudged bare-footed up the beach and slumped into his arms.

“Sorry, love.” He muttered against the top of her head. “I ended up running late.”

Blame Regis.

“At least you made it in the end.” Lizzy said simply, just grateful he’d shown. More effort than some.

Hammond’s absence had not gone unnoticed and would not be forgotten, nor this time forgiven.

On the beach at sunset, Kathy had sang in Portuguese, accompanied by Tom’s guitar, her voice rising like a siren over the soft crashing of the waves. Isaac had stood to give his part of the eulogy, faltered while his shoulders heaved, and Lizzy had gently taken the notes from his hand and read out his words, as well as her own.

She was both sad and grateful to have closure. Mostly, Lizzy just missed him, found it unbearably hard to believe she would never see his face again. Just a kid, someone for whom the awe of dinosaurs had truly never got old, the same childlike wonder on the day of his death as of his arrival to the island.

Gone.

“But I hope your tardiness was worth it.” She shrugged off the last of her remorse, trying to find herself again. “Good news?”

“Not really.” He filled her in.

”Seven?!” She was horrified.

”I, hm-“ He had debated telling her the full story when she was less fraught. No point. “-may have played all my cards in one go.”

”What do you mean?”

“I threatened to leave the park, and go to the press about what’s happening here.” He turned to look at her. “I wasn’t bluffing.”

“You-“ Lizzy shook her head and blinked. “I’m sorry, what?!”

”I think Hammond knew I meant it.”

“Oh.” Lizzy’s expression plummeted. Quickfire shock, worry, then anger. “I didn’t realise that leaving was ever seriously an option for you.”

“I said I felt responsible-“

Lizzy’s stomach dropped from sickening heights.

”Do you, for real?”

Why would he accept any form of blame? Why hadn’t he told her he felt that way?

“Of course not-“ Muldoon replied too quickly. “-we all wish that night had played out differently.”

Lizzy felt his fingers tighten on her hip, and wasn’t sure if she was in the place of a subconscious Scotch glass or the stock of a gun.

“Kinda seems like the sort of thing you should have talked to me about first.”

”Seems like the sort of thing you should trust me to handle.” His hand fell away from her side. “I’ve known Hammond for a very long time. You need to make everything seem like it’s his brilliant idea. He gets the hump if it’s your idea.”

“Uh-huh.”

”I do know what I’m doing.” She was hiding her face, resolutely staring downwards. “Lizzy?”

“Yeah?” She was tired, and it took all the fight she had left to not turn her shoulders and face away from him.

“He compromised. I’m getting weapons that will actually stop a dinosaur in its tracks. About damn time.”

Surely, that would brighten her otherwise terrible, getting-worse-by-the-second day?

“Compromised…” She fixated on the word. “Are telling me you asked for more and didn’t get it?”

Muldoon paused. “The raptors won’t be getting a bigger paddock. Not anytime soon.”

”Well, at least you got what you wanted.” She murmured bitterly. She might need Lori’s help with welfare requirements sooner than expected. “Screw what I want.”

“Listen, I want the best for these animals too.” Enough of the hiding, she would bloody well look at him. “Do you have any idea how concerned I am about integrating twenty-three-oh-eight with the younger ones in such a small space?”

“It’s an ethological nightmare.” Lizzy agreed, her voice flat. “I honestly have no idea how we’ll do it safely. I don’t think we can.”

“Tomorrow’s problem.” He shrugged. “And it will definitely be a problem.”

They both stared out to sea, listening the the water, the seabirds, and the sound of Lizzy’s nostrils flaring as she angrily breathed.

“You could have come with me, you know. Left. Back to Africa.” He said gruffly.

Lizzy blinked. Back? With him? Like…together?

”Oh-…it’s not that simple-“ Her voice was gentler. She reached up and tugged at her own hair in frustration. “I can’t just go. Hammond’s funding the elephant project, back in Namibia.”

Muldoon’s daydream of having Lizzy move in with himself and his daughter was raptured away. He had let himself hope too much.

Her research was in danger of drying up. If dinosaurs existed in captivity who would care about wild elephants when a couple of years down the line they could just make some more?

Extinction was no longer final.

“They really can’t lose that funding.” She explained. “They only get it if I stay here.”

She was thoroughly wrapped up in InGen’s web. A financial decision that had seemed like a godsend at the time but now only made her ties to the company that much harder to sever. Muldoon wondered if her lawyer man had taught her well enough, if she had read her contract in full before she signed the dotted line, or if things were about to get messy indeed.

“Sod it. I bet they’d rather have you than the money.” Tomorrow’s problem. “I know I would.”

“Stop it.” Half-heartedly swatting him away, she was only pretending to be mad, now. “Oh, please. They couldn’t wait to see me out of Africa.”

Peace at last. Muldoon smirked. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

”How many of them have called me, hm?” She demanded. “Or wrote?”

“Well, none. Because you aren’t a soldier gone off to war.”

“Feels like it sometimes.” She reeled off her long list of injuries in her head, not even counting the emotional damage she’d incurred.

And yet, Lizzy wondered, if she was truly free to go, would she really want to leave? She might not be able to return.

No, not yet.

At least, not by myself.

“I can think of at least one person who misses you.” Muldoon added.

”At least one.” She quoted. “Great. That’s…great.”

They stood, watching the stars appear one by one, the odd meteorite whizzing overhead through the clear skies, sauropod lowing and the odd Tyrannosaur rumble echoing over the island.

”But would you go? If you could?” He asked, somewhat awkwardly. “…with me, I mean?”

Lizzy quashed her eyebrow-raise. As if he still doubted her feelings towards him after all this time.

”I would.” A no-brainer really. “Of course I would.”

***

“Weapons, Robert?” The Animal Supervisor sniffed. “Getting rather Lord of the Flies in here, isn’t it?”

The ever-present, ever-demoralising Richardson. Always a joy to be in his presence.

Muldoon recalled a particularly unpleasant conversation with Armstrong’s main antagonist, tacked on at the end of yet another pointless meeting that could have been a memo.

“Isn’t Elizabeth a little above you, education-wise?” Gammon-faced Richardson was belittling as usual. “Remind me, what’s your doctorate in again?”

The portly man really couldn’t resist trying to draw a reaction out of him every chance he got.

“Well, is she beneath me or is she above me, which is it?” Muldoon made the mistake of entertaining his drivel by replying. “Make up your mind.”

“No need to snap, Robert! I’m just saying it's a bad idea to get involved with a woman who has more letters after her name than you.” Richardson preached smugly. “They start having opinions. Thinking for themselves.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Muldoon shrugged. “All I’m hearing is you still can’t control her, and you don’t like it.”

“Neither can you. That one does what she feels like.”

“At least she respects my orders.”

“When it benefits her!” Richardson countered. “She’ll get what she wants and then drop you, mark my words.”

”Then she’s playing a very long game.” He pointed out. “I’m not sure L-…Armstrong has the patience.”

Nor the capacity for such a detailed lie.

“Ask yourself, what does she see in you, apart from the salary and benefits?” The man just wasn’t letting it go. “And more importantly, what do you see in her?”

Sometimes she does seem too good to be true…

Nope, we’re not doing that. Not today.

”None of your business.”

”Go on. There must be a reason, and it can’t possibly be as stereotypically bland as ‘her mind’.” Richardson had noticed his hesitation, and his tone was loaded with disdain. “I genuinely can’t understand why you’re so useless when you’re around her. You let her get away with murder, Robert-“

”I wasn’t paying into my pension-“ He muttered.

”What was that?” Richardson interrupted.

“I wasn’t planning on living long enough to need it.” He said uncomfortably, though he’d gone with something factual. “But my feelings on the matter have recently changed.”

“My God, that’s nauseating. I suppose there’s ways of getting them to be quiet. At least she’s decent-looking, though that won’t last.” Richardson dismissed him.

Muldoon felt his patience running out exponentially. “Watch your-“

“You’d do well to not get caught doing anything…untoward.” He interrupted smugly yet again. “If I catch you I’ll have no choice but to report you to Palo Alto, and Hammond. Something I will take great pleasure in doing.”

“Nothing to catch.” Muldoon grunted.

”Good. Remember; InGen can separate you, quite easily. I hear she’s wanted over on Sorna.”

How was everybody hearing things all the time? Who ran the Nublar gossip column?

Face it, probably Arnold.

“And they’re even stricter about visitors over there.” Richardson prodded further. “Restricted access for conjugal visits.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Muldoon shook his head. “Nobody’s moving to Sorna, and I told you, nothing to catch.”

“At least it’s a warm body.” Richardson hesitated, savouring the moment. “That’s probably good enough for you, given your circumstances.”

Muldoon didn’t have the words or the ability to hold his temper any longer.

He chose to leave the room before he did anything rash. Not that he’d regret it, but because Richardson would likely never recover from what he had in mind.

***

Thanks for reading!

I always choose the chapter titles/songs very carefully. I originally picked Fado Português by Amália Rodrigues, a beautiful sad song which is the one I imagined Kathy sang on the beach, but The Clash seemed more meaningful/ominous from Muldoon’s point of view. “If I go there will be trouble, if I stay there will be double”.