Before Jurassic World

Chapter 6

Two hours and 10 files later I was utterly convinced if an incident were to occur on this island we were all going to die rather horrific deaths.  These guys weren't qualified to defend a Baskin-Robbins, much less an isolated island inhabited by prehistoric dinosaurs.  I settled my elbows on the table placing my head in my hands wondering how legally binding my contract actually was.  There were always legal loopholes, right?

"This doesn't look good," Hamada said, striding into the room taking a seat across the table from me.

I took a deep breath, counted to 10 and then to 20 before leaning back in the chair, crossing my arms over my chest.  I pointed to a stack of nine folders sitting to my left, "Those nine either need to be put on a boat and shipped out of here immediately or shot."  Personally, I was leaning toward the shooting option.  I pointed to the solitary file on my right, "That one might have what it takes.  Maybe."

"One out of 10?  Really, Jo?  They can't all be that bad."  Hamada was up and pacing behind the desk now.

"Listen, you asked for my opinion I'm giving it to you.  Those nine are not ready, will never be ready."  I tracked him as he made his way back and forth across the room.  "Did you know one of them was arrested for arson and still lives in his mother's basement?"

"What?!"  He stopped pacing, staring at me with his mouth open and eyes wide.  "That was in his file? How could we have missed that?"

"You didn't miss it.  It wasn't in his file.  He told me."

Hamada was speechless, utterly speechless standing in the middle of the room looking very much like a man who was questioning his life choices.  I knew the feeling well.

"Why would he tell you that?"  Now he was back to pacing.  "These guys went through multiple polygraph tests and interviews.  Why would he just volunteer this now?"

"That's not the only issue; two of these guys falsified almost everything in their file.  It's like a bad work of fiction," I told him, ignoring his question digging through the pile of folders.  Hamada stopped pacing, and leaned against the wall shaking his head back and forth with his hands on his face.

I felt bad for the guy.  "Look, I'm sorry.  I don't mean to make this harder for you than it already is, but you asked me to take a look and these are the facts."

"I believe you Jo.  It's just a shock.  I thought InGen was better than this.  Thanks for doing this, I'll let management know about the results."  He gathered the files in his hand as we walked out of the office making our way to my Jeep.

"I'm sorry Katashi, really.  I wanted them to not suck too.  Between the two of us I'm sure we can come up with a short list of people crazy enough to come here.  Just let me know if you need any more help."

"Sure, where are you headed off to?"

"I'm going to go see some dinosaurs," I answered excitedly, climbing into my Jeep.

I was slightly disappointed to find out Velociraptor paddock wasn't pre-programmed into my GPS, but I was able to get a general idea of where to go from some of the onsite security personnel outside the building.  According to them, the raptor paddock was located on a secure part of the island separate from the park itself overlooking the ocean.  I got the distinct impression not a lot of people ventured out there, and by the look on this guy's face he were convinced I shouldn't either.

"It's highly restricted access ma'am."  The rent-a-cop was eyeing me through my Jeep window with a doubtful expression.

"I wouldn't worry about that.  I have a permission slip."  I flashed my all access backstage employee badge tearing out in the direction the guard had pointed to for the raptor paddock.  The roads were mostly dirt, and it was relatively slow going with the twists and turns in the road weaving through the jungle.  No wonder Owen drove a motorcycle.  I'm pretty sure I could have walked faster than I was driving.