Read Online Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - Free Book Online Page B

cleared his throat, "And when did this, ah, specimen arrive in your hands?"
        "Just today."
        "Today, I see. Today. I see. Yes." Hammond cleared his throat again.
        Grant looked at Ellie and mouthed, What's going on?
        Ellie shook her head. Sounds upset.
        Grant mouthed, See if Morris is still here.
        She went to the window and looked out, but Morris's car was gone. She turned back.
        On the speaker, Hammond coughed. "Ah, Dr. Grant. Have you told anybody about it yet?"
        "No."
        "Good, that's good. Well. Yes. I'll tell you frankly, Dr. Grant, I'm having a little problem about this island. This EPA thing is coming at just the wrong time."
        "How's that?" Grant said.
        "Well, we've had our problems and some delays. . . . Let's just say that I'm under a little pressure here, and I'd like you to look at this island for me. Give me your opinion. I'll be paying you the usual weekend consultant rate of twenty thousand a day. That'd be sixty thousand for three days. And if you can spare Dr. Sattler, she'll go at the same rate. We need a botanist. What do you say?"
        Ellie looked at Grant as he said, "Well, Mr. Hammond, that much money would fully finance our expeditions for the next two summers."
        "Good, good," Hammond said blandly. He seemed distracted now, his thoughts elsewhere. "I want this to be easy. . . . Now, I'm sending the corporate jet to pick you up at that private airfield cast of Choteau. You know the one I mean? It's only about two hours' drive from where you are. You be there at five p.m. tomorrow and I'll be waiting for you. Take you right down. Can you and Dr. Sattler make that plane?"
        "I guess we can."
        "Good. Pack lightly. You don't need passports. I'm looking forward to it. See you tomorrow," Hammond said, and he hung up.

    Cowan, Swain and Ross

    Midday sun streamed into the San Francisco law offices of Cowan, Swain and Ross, giving the room a cheerfulness that Donald Gennaro did not feel. He listened on the phone and looked at his boss, Daniel Ross, cold as an undertaker in his dark pinstripe suit.
        "I understand, John," Gennaro said. "And Grant agreed to come? Good, good . . . yes, that sounds fine to me. My congratulations, John." He hung up the phone and turned to Ross.
        "We can't trust Hammond any more. He's under too much pressure. The EPA's investigating him, he's behind schedule on his Costa Rican resort, and the investors are getting nervous. There have been too many rumors of problems down there. Too many workmen have died. And now this business about a living procompsit-whatever on the mainland . . . "
        "What does that mean?" Ross said.
        "Maybe nothing," Gennaro said. "But Hamachi is one of our principal investors. I got a report last week from Hamachi's representative in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. According to the report, some new kind of lizard is biting children on the coast."
        Ross blinked. "New lizard?"
        "Yes," Gennaro said. "We can't screw around with this. We've got to inspect that island right away. I've asked Hammond to arrange independent site inspections every week for the next three weeks."
        "And what does Hammond say?"
        "He insists nothing is wrong on the island. Claims he has all these security precautions."
        "But you don't believe him," Ross said.
        "No," Gennaro said. "I don't."
        Donald Gennaro had come to Cowan, Swain from a background in investment banking. Cowan, Swain's high-tech clients frequently needed capitalization, and Gennaro helped them find the money. One of his first assignments, back in 1982, had been to accompany John Hammond while the old man, then nearly seventy, put together the funding to start the InGen corporation. They eventually raised almost a billion dollars, and Gcnnaro remembered it as a wild ride.
        "Hammond's a dreamer," Gennaro said.
        "A potentially dangerous