Unpredictable

Chapter 2

When the helicopter didn't land a safe distance away from the uncovered digs, Alan, Ellie and I began to panic.

While Alan ran towards the landing chopper to get them to shut down the machine that was blowing sand all over the place and damaging the skeleton, Ellie and I ran to cover the historical site as fast as we could.

"Cover the site!" I yelled, just reaching the area.

I pulled the tarp over the fossilised bone as fast as I could with the help of some of the other volunteers. We tied it safely down to make sure it wouldn't fly off when I removed my hands.

After the dig was secure I stood up and strode over to Alan and Ellie's RV, angry as ever. Honestly, who would be so stupid?!

I practically jumped up the couple of stairs and all but yanked the door off its hinges in my haste to yell at whoever was stupid enough to land so close to a site like this.

"Alright. Who's the stupid fuck who-" I was cut off by my uncle who raised his hand in alarm, silently telling me to shut up.

"Ah, this is Lyanna Summers, my niece and one of our best paleontologists," Alan said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

"Lyanna, this is John Hammond," he said with an edge to his voice that stressed that I needed to be nice to the man before me.

"Oh, I said, realising who the elderly man was. "Oh my god, I am so sorry about how I behaved just now," I apologised hastily, shaking his hand.

John Hammond was one of our main funders of our digs. He pays us $50,000 a year which is how we keep our projects from becoming bankrupt and essentially abandoned.

I noticed that the old man had opened the bottle of champagne that we had been saving and I frowned.

"Would you like a drink?" He asked me, raising the bottle and smiling. Without waiting for an answer, John fussed around the kitchen, getting me a glass of the sparkling liquid. I took in his appearance. He was wearing mostly white which I thought was a bad idea because it wouldn't be long until his white clothes would be stained a light brown from the sand and dirt.

"I'm sorry about the dramatic entrance," he apologised, interrupting my thoughts and handing me the glass, "but we were in a rush."

"I've read your book, Lyanna. It was very thorough and informative," Hammond continued without waiting for a reply, lifting a finger off his glass to point at me.

"I aim to please," I smiled, unsure of where he was going with this.

"Yes, well, let's get right down to business," he paused, taking another sip from his glass. Behind me, I saw a flash of Ellie's blonde hair. I hadn't realised that she had joined us.

"I like you. All of you," he paused to look at the three of us individually.

"I own an island off the coast of Costa Rica. I've leased it from the government and during the last five years I've been setting up a biological preserve of sorts. Really spectacular. Spared no expense," he smiled wide, showing us his yellowing teeth.

"It makes the one I've got down in Kenya look like a petting zoo. And there's no doubt that our attractions will drive kids out of their minds," he exclaimed excitedly.

"What are those?" Alan asked.

"Small versions of adults, honey." Ellie sarcastically whispered to him in answer. Alan gave her a look before turning back to John.

"We're planning to open next year but that's if the lawyers don't kill me first," John chuckled.

"I've got a particular one at the moment who's being a thorn in my side. He represents my investors. He says we need outside opinions," John shook his head irritably.

"What kind of opinions?" I asked, crossing my arms and taking a sip of my drink, becoming more interested in the old mans rambling by the second.

"Well, your kind, not to put too fine a point on it," he shifted his weight.

"Let's face it, in your particular fields, you are the top minds and if I could just persuade you to sign off on the park, give it your endorsement..." he trailed off.

"I could get back on schedule," he finished.

"Why would they care what we think?" Ellie spoke up. At that I raised my eyebrow.

"Yeah, what kind of park is this?" Alan added. They were both good questions. Ones I had been wondering myself.

"It's right up your alley," John said softly, a knowing smile growing across his cheeks. That peaked my interest. Up our alley? We're paleontologists... up our alley are dusty bones and fossilised remains...

"Tell you what. Why don't the three of you come down for the weekend? I'd love to have the opinion of an extra paleontologist as well as the two of yours," he said, gesturing to the three of us.

"I've got a jet standing by at Chateau," he explained, jumping onto the bench behind him and pouring himself another glass once he was seated.

"I don't know. I mean, we just dug up a new skeleton..." Alan trailed off.

"I'd fully compensate you by fully funding your dig..."

"This is a very unusual time too..." Ellie added.

"For a further three years," John finished.

I turned to Ellie and Alan and seeing the hesitant but excited looks on their faces, I knew that Hammond had won them over. Money is an extremely powerful persuasion tool.

They began to jump around and laugh excitedly. Ellie turned and gestured for me to join them.

"Oh no. I'm not the hugging type," I tried to reason. She didn't listen though and she brought the both of them to me. I chuckled hesitantly and joined the group hug.

After the excitement dissipated, I escaped the tight hold that the two of them had on me and turned to Hammond, who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"When's the plane?" I grinned.

Updated on the 19th of July, 2015.