Investing in the Future

Chapter Sixteen

"Uncle Harry!" a familiar voice squealed.

Harry turned and bent down, scooping the boy off the ground, tickling him.

"No Uncle Harry!" he wriggled wildly, and Harry laughed, settling the five year old on his hip.

"Are you trying to escape your lessons?" Alan asked his son as he walked up and Charlie pouted.

"Ah, I see, I'm just a way to get out of lessons," Harry pouted, and Charlie shook his head, hugging him. "Alright squirt, get going." He set him down and he ran off down the hallway. "Does he ever run out of energy?"

"Never," Alan admitted and they both laughed. "How are things with Masrani?"

"He's...enthusiastic. Very much like Uncle John in the whole 'spare no expense' attitude. We've got enough set up now to begin putting the animals into enclosures to ensure they work but...I'm not so sure on some of his hires for InGen," he shrugged.

Uncle John had died a few months after the mess with Ludlow and in accordance with his will, Simon Masrani had been given Hammond's share of the company. Hammond hadn't wanted to push even more responsibility on him, so he was still the second largest investor but with Masrani in control. He missed the man who had become an Uncle to him over the years but in most ways, he thought John had made a good choice in Simon. None of the rest of his surviving family would have been a good choice, except Tim who'd still been in school and was now at University. While Lex had the brains, she wanted nothing to do with dinosaurs after the mess at the Park and he could understand that. He was hoping that once Tim graduated he could be coaxed to work on the islands, either in the Reserve and therefore for Harry, or at the Park, likely with InGen.

"What do you mean?" Alan asked as they headed for the helipad since they were due on Isla Sorna to meet with some of the scientists currently there.

"Well, he's promoted Henry Wu, remember him?"

"I do, don't remember him liking you all that much. I've seen a few papers since the park, he has kept up his work in the area."

"He's brilliant, no doubt about it. It's his ethics that worry me. We're pretty sure his work was involved in that incident back in '98." And hadn't that been a nightmare and a half!

Some idiot had illegally bred a few new species and tried to slip them onto Sorna; Ankylosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Corythosaurus, and Spinosaurus. The company had still been somewhat in chaos after John's death and a scientist had managed to slip their work through the cracks, they just hadn't realized how much Harry had tightened security on the island after the Ludlow affair. In the end, they had checked the animals over thoroughly before carefully introducing them to the island, it wasn't fair to euthanise them, they'd done nothing wrong after all. The Ceratosaurus couldn't compete with the other two big predators or the raptor packs so kept to themselves on the other side of the island. The Spinosaurus was very different from what science was finding out about the species and was obviously very heavily altered genetically. It also did not get along with the T-Rex's. They'd had to put a ward across the island to keep the two species apart.

"Is he the only worry?"

"The InGen Security Division," Harry admitted as they boarded the helicopter and put their headsets on. "It appears well on its way to becoming a private army and the guy in charge, Vic Hoskins...he kind of reminds me of a mix of Fudge, Dumbledore, and someone scarily competent."

Alan just stared at him, that was a very strange mental image. "And they're in charge of park security?"

Harry nodded. "We've got some of ours there too, it's my land after all. We made sure everything magical was set up before they arrived though since they're all non-magical and none of us trust them enough to let them in on that. If he gives any trouble I'll appoint Amelia as my rep on the island," he grinned, and Alan laughed. It was a great plan, the ex-Auror and Minister would be able to keep him and his people in line.