Falling for Oz

Introduction

Mitch's POV...
Jamie paces the laminate floor while I sit in a black chair in the room we have been left in. Some French guy contacted us and Jamie managed to drag me to Tokyo. Great... I'm stuck in a foreign country, with no way of getting home, hungry and tired. At least there's water. With a deep sigh, I pour myself some crystal-clear water from the immaculate jug as I absent-mindedly listen to Jamie natter on. The French guy returns with two people, but I only manage to catch their names, before my phone starts ringing. I smile apologetically as I press the green button on the screen.
"Mitch! It's Trevor! How ya doing, mate?" A familiar voice blares through the speakers.
"Fine. What do you want? I'm kind of busy at the moment." I mutter.
Trevor tuts. "Your dear sister and I need you to come over. It's urgent."
"Can it wait a few days, I'm in Tokyo?" I pinch the bridge of my nose and peer out of the window. "How urgent is it?"
"Very. This morning our Lion cubs tried to attack El through the fence. It's not normal for them. She's hand raised these guys since they were a couple of days old."
This catches my interest. "What? Lion cubs tried attacking, Eleonora? Tell her that I'll be over as soon as I can. Thanks, Trevor."
I end the call and slump back into the chair next to Jamie. She glances at me and raises an eyebrow, asking a silent question. I ignore her stare as a blonde woman walks in and the meeting commences.

"The five of you are here because your suspicions over the last few weeks are correct. You are all aware of the lion killings in Botswana and Los Angeles. But there have also been a series of dog attacks in Slovenia." Delavenne begins.
"And in Japan, hundreds of bats swarmed a plane and brought it down into the ocean." Jackson interrupts.
Jamie throws me a 'told you so look'.
"In Jakarta, three Sumatran rhinoceros turned over an SUV belonging to a family of Norwegian tourists. The rhinos waited for the family – father, mother, two children – to exit the vehicle and then trampled them. In Wuppertal, Germany, six brown bears came out of the Kothen Forest, making their way to a playground in mid-afternoon. The massacre that followed left seven children dead and another fourteen injured."
He allows us a moment to gather our thoughts before continuing.
"Taken individually, each of these incidents can just be seen as a horrific, tragic event. I believe they are evidence of something else."
"And what is that, exactly?" Jackson asks.
"The global pandemic your father believed was about to emerge. It appears it has arrived."
This time I ask a burning question.
"Sorry, his father?" I point to Jackson.
"Professor Robert Oz."
I pinch the bridge of my nose in disbelief.
"We're all here because you believe that the scientific theories of a notorious crackpot are now coming to pass?"
Jackson's bulky friend glares at me.
"Watch yourself, scrawny."
"Mitch Morgan, as advertised-"
I cut Delavenne off, already fed up with what I am hearing.
"This is all very interesting and definitely disturbing, but none of this proves anything. Certainly not the coming of the animal apocalypse."
"That's why I had Monsieur Alves bring the five of you together." He looks around at us all. "Something is most assuredly going on out there. All we want is for you to figure out what it is. Before its too late."
He gives us some instructions about what we need to do, and before he leaves I get his attention again.
"I have a condition." I don't wait for him to speak. "My sister, Eleonora, joins us. She is an animal biologist and I got a call from her friend about some lion cubs trying to attack her."
Everyone seems interested at this, so I keep explaining.
"She can help us. Please, let me visit her and tell her what is going on." I plead.
Delavenne nods.
"I shall organise for you to get the first flight to where she lives."
I stand up and thank him. Without any other words, the five of us file out of the room, ready to begin our adventure. First stop: Inlet, New York.