CJ Cameron

"Let me give you some free advice. Don't mess with CJ Cameron. She's tougher than I ever was."

—Bill Lynch on CJ

Doctor Cassandra Jane 'CJ' Cameron is a well known herpetologist and veterinarian who was invited to write an article on the Great Zoo of China, and became embroiled in the dragon incident there.

She is the main protagonist of The Great Zoo of China.

History[]

Early History[]

As children, Cassandra Jane Cameron's father often took her and her younger brother Hamish camping, and taught them many survival skills and how to speak Mandarin. CJ's mother would give her daughter the nickname of Chipmunk.

As she grew up, CJ became the student of herpetologist Bill Lynch, and under his mentoring became a world-renowned herpetologist, specialising in various crocodile species. At some stage, she started doing freelance work for National Geographic under Don Grover, doing full articles on herpetology-related stories, such as a documentary she did with Lynch on alligator vocalisations, and CJ occasionally had her brother accompany her as a photographer. On occasion, CJ also worked with Go "Go-Go" Guan in studying the eggs of crocodiles, enjoying his outgoing and gregarious nature.

During her time working at the San Francisco Zoo, CJ went out on a date with fellow herpetologist and vocalisation expert Ben Patrick, however she was disappointed because all Patrick had talked about was himself, and did not invite a second date. She eventually became engaged to a man named Troy.

While in the Florida everglades doing research near an enclosure, CJ witnessed a young boy get snatched by a bull American alligator, and dove in to save him. Though she quickly got the boy free and threw him to the shore, the bull alligator burst from the water and snatched her head in its jaws, tearing the left-side of her face open as it dragged her underwater. As the alligator began its death roll to suffocate her, CJ managed to reach a pocket knife on her belt and started stabbing the alligator in its underbelly, continuing to do so until the bull died. Exhausted and in shock, CJ fell comatose as help arrived, and was quickly taken to hospital.

Waking up two weeks later, CJ found that while her jaw had been reconstructed and her left eye repaired, she had been left with several scars on the left-hand side of her face as a result of the attack. As soon he saw her injuries, the horrified Troy abruptly ended their engagement and abandoned her.

As a result of the incident, CJ transferred to the San Francisco Zoo's veterinarian department to avoid constant work with crocodiles and alligators, but in spite of this, she maintained her status as one of the world's leading experts on large reptiles.

Around mid-February of 2014, CJ learned that Lynch had died while in China in what was being claimed as an accident with a light aircraft.

The Great Zoo of China[]

A few weeks after Lynch's death, Grover called CJ to request that she go to China and write an article on a new zoo they were building, and though she initially refused, Grover informed her that the Chinese had asked for her specifically and that Lynch had originally gone to China to write the article. As a condition, CJ requested that Grover let her take Hamish as her photographer before she agreed.

A week later, CJ and Hamish spent a night in Hong Kong before Na escorted them back to a blacked-out private plane at the airport, where they met the New York Times reporters Seymour Wolfe and Aaron Perry. While waiting for the final guests, CJ agreed to an interview with the CCT reporter Xin Xili, but was perplexed as Xili simply established that CJ was one of the world's foremost experts in large reptiles and yet wouldn't be much longer. Once the U.S. Ambassador Kirk Syme and his chief aide Greg Johnson arrived, CJ and the others were then flown on to their unknown destination.

Upon landing at a remote airport, CJ's group was introduced to deputy director Zhang, Politburo member Hu Tang, and Colonel Bao, the latter of whom noted her relationship to Lynch and expressed sadness at his death. As they approached their destination, Tang presented to CJ and the others the truth of what they had come to see; living, breathing dragons contained within the Great Dragon Zoo of China. Quietly fascinated by the truth and-yet annoyed by the deception, CJ joined the rest of the group as they moved to the amphitheater for a presentation/demonstration. CJ listened with interest to the explanation about the dragons' physiology, history and discovery, admiring the yellowjacket dragon Lucky and interrupting with her own observations and questions, but also noted the group of red-bellied blacks being defiant to the training they had obviously been put through.

As she continued on the tour, CJ took in the explanations of how the dragons were contained within the zoo and dissuaded from approaching the guests due to the ultrasonic shields within the wristwatches they had all been given, and learned that Patrick was working at the zoo studying the dragons' vocalisations. But the more she observed, the more CJ realised how truly dangerous the dragons were, and when Tang pressed to see if she had any questions, she decided to deflect and wait to ask the most crucial question. After standing up to defend electrical engineer Li from his foreman, CJ was briefly reunited with Go-Go during lunch, and began noticing that Johnson was not what he seemed.

As the group's lunch concluded, CJ asked Tang her question; how many people had been killed by the dragons? When Tang questioned why she would ask this, CJ pointed out how clearly the dragons had evolved as an apex predator and that the need for the sonic shields on the buildings, vehicles and for the people was proof that they had been attacked before. Though Tang claimed that there had never been any fatalities, CJ didn't believe him but did not push the issue as they proceeded on with the tour. Not long after noting an oddness about an emperor red-bellied black flying near their cable car and asking Zhang about the number of dragon eggs in the original nest, CJ and the rest of the tour group were suddenly attacked in their cable car by a group of red-bellied blacks that had torn out their own ears to bypass the sonic shields.

Scarcely avoiding the ferocity of the red-bellies' attack several times, CJ took the lead as the group fled to the Admin Building, and found herself harassed in particular by one of the princes from the earlier show she nicknamed Red Face, getting her shoulder injured before getting to safety. As Johnson helped to see to her wound, CJ reflected on how much more intelligent the dragons were than the Chinese had given them credit for before realising that the red-bellies had been waiting for the 2:00 fuel run, and saw more of the dragons approaching the building with the trucks and cable car in their claws. Fleeing back into the waste management facility as the whole building was assaulted, CJ prepared to join the group in a garbage truck before noticing Lucky and her handler Yim being harassed by the Red Face's gang. Upon seeing Lucky pine for Yim after Red Face killed her, CJ decided to intervene and rescued the yellowjacket, picking up Yim's earpiece and setting one of the princes' head on fire with a gas can, before driving after Hamish's appropriated garbage truck.

Setting Lucky free from her cage once she had driven far enough away, CJ struggled to fend off the attack from the red-bellied black princes - including Red Face, the one with a now melted face and Smiley, having Hamish crush the latter within his garbage truck - as she and the rest of the group fled to the Nesting Centre. When guards at the Nesting Centre refused to comply to Zhang's demand to let them in, the group instead headed into the Birthing Centre and through to the VIP area, briefly spying Go-Go and Patrick and evading harm from more red-bellies, an ugly brown dragon and an eastern grey prince before the Chinese troops secured them and started fighting off the rogue dragons.

As the group rested from the ordeal, CJ overheard the reports being made to Bao and his debate with Patrick regarding the dragons' recent digging habits. Speaking with Patrick, CJ inquired about his vocalisation research on the dragons and tried to point out that the zoo's reputation would now be ruined due to the incident despite his belief that the Chinese would recover. Once Tang returned and announced the tour over, CJ and the other American guests were led away, believing they would be returning to Hong Kong, but instead found themselves being driven by Captain Wong to a swamp to be executed, along with Go-Go, in order to keep the incident from becoming public. After Perry was killed, CJ learned that Lynch had suffered a similar fate, and so she and Hamish improvised a flamethrower from the hairspray and lighter in their complimentary packs to surprise their executioners. Though they all fell into the swamp, CJ convinced the others to not move while the Chinese troops panicked and were killed by the saltwater crocodiles.

Deciding to find a way to contact the outside world for aid, CJ and the others headed for the Casino Hotel, and along the way CJ pressed Johnson on his skills and demeanor, with Johnson revealing that he was a CIA agent investigating the presence of thermobaric bombs at the zoo. After jumping into the water to avoid an assault from the Chinese, CJ fended off one of the saltwater crocs that tried attacking her, and once the swamp dragons had taken out the Chinese troops, began heading to Dragon Mountain instead. But as Go-Go revealed the hybrid nature of the swamp dragons, they were confronted by more Chinese troops, leading CJ to realise that they were tracking them via the ultrasonic shields in their watches. As more earless red-bellied blacks attacked the soldiers, CJ, Johnson and Go-Go were separated from the others on the path leading into Dragon Mountain, and CJ warned her brother's group to remove their watches before they split up.

While making their way up the fire stairs, CJ saw a map of the zoo's electrical cable network and realised that the dragons had been digging at the power lines and traced the source back to the Admin Building, with her and Go-Go determining that the red-bellies were attempting to cut the zoo's power and bring down the inner electromagnetic dome as a part of an escape plan. After meeting Li in the cable car station and fleeing from the purple royals into the revolving restaurant, CJ's group was once again confronted by Chinese forces, at the exact moment the main power cable was severed, allowing the red-bellies to begin assaulting the restaurant. After CJ hid Johnson in a dumb waiter when he was injured until she could return for him (surprising herself by kissing him impulsively on the cheek), and after Li was buried in rubble and Go-Go killed, CJ fled onto the mountain's cliffs in an attempt to escape Red Face's gang. When she was cornered, however, CJ was stunned as Lucky appeared and urged her onto her back, flying the herpetologist away to safety before she blacked out.

Waking to find herself among Lucky's clan, CJ was prompted by the yellowjacket prince to change the channel on Yim's earpiece, and was astounded to discover that Patrick had invented a program that translated a dragon's vocalisations, allowing her to understand Lucky. As she began getting used to the system, CJ learned from Lucky that the red-bellies were trying to release a pair of master dragons, escape the zoo and awaken a second, larger nest of dragon eggs. Knowing she couldn't allow a plague of dragons, CJ asked Lucky to help her fight the red dragons, which the yellowjacket agreed to do.

Returning to Dragon Mountain, CJ found Johnson missing and Li still alive, as well as Patrick within a truck the dragons had thrown into the restaurant. Explaining what she had learned to Patrick, CJ demanded to know how she could stop the super class dragons, with Patrick reluctantly telling her of a special training unit that could detonate an explosive inside a dragon's head located in the Nesting Centre. Arming herself as best she could, CJ set off for the Nesting Centre with Lucky and Li, taking advantage of the red-bellies' freeing their masters to try to retrieve the detonation unit, only for the code Patrick gave her to the safe to not work. After the other master dragons were taken out, CJ saw director Chow Wei, a couple of Communist VIPS, and the little girl Minnie she had met earlier, get offered up to the super red-bellies. Rushing in with Lucky, CJ managed to rescue Minnie and then swooped down into the original nest, then watched as Lucky was injured killing Melted Face and injure Red Face in a joust.

With the rest of the red-bellies off to start bringing down the second electromagnetic dome, CJ tended to Lucky's wounds and removed the chip that kept her from leaving the dome. As CJ and Li discussed the possibility of repairing the main power cables if the red-bellies destroyed them, Hamish got in contact over the radio, and as he spoke he gave CJ the idea to let the red-bellies destroy the first set of generators and then repair them, as the dragons would not be able to conceive humans being able to fix something they had destroyed. Asking Hamish and Syme to help defend the generators at the airfield until they were done, she, Li and Lucky headed to the Worker City and waited for the red-bellies to finish their work before moving in with a cable repair truck. Despite some harassment from a number of grey emperors, CJ and Li were able to restore the main power line before the greys could escape, but Hamish soon reported that two red-bellied emperors and the superking had escaped the dome in the few seconds the dome was gone.

CJ and Lucky then proceeded to Crater Lake, where the nest was located beneath an old nickel meteorite. After taking down the two emperors - with Lucky being injured again by the second - CJ set a trap for the superking that set it on fire and allowed her to shoot it in the head. CJ then used her remaining grenades to destroy the eggs and collapse the tunnel into the nest, ending the threat, and then proceeded to help Lucky as best she could. Once Lucky was able to stand, they started heading back to the Great Dragon Zoo in order to gather up the survivors and flee from the Chinese before they could re-organise. Patrick interrupted the radio call between CJ and Hamish to ask that she help him escape as well, but before heading to meet him at the Main Entrance Building she went to retrieve Minnie and remove the deterrence chips from the rest of Lucky's clan.

When CJ met with Patrick, however, she realised too late that he had sold her out as Bao, Tang and a few soldiers appeared to surround her and Minnie and tased Lucky, in order to safeguard his career and future reputation. Following a brief aside as Red Face returned and mutilated Tang's face (forcing Bao to mercy-kill him), Bao taunted CJ with the truth that he had allowed Lynch's brutal death, but before he could execute her, Johnson interrupted over the comms to warn that he had armed one of the thermobaric bombs and set it to detonate. Using the distraction to reach the pyrotechnic controls of the amphitheater's stage, CJ was able to catch Bao off-guard and began grappling with him, eventually dropping him over the side of the building. She was then faced with Red Face, and CJ finally managed to end the tenacious red-bellied prince's pursuit by throwing a live grenade down the dragon's throat. After Lucky had broken Patrick's back, CJ, Minnie and Lucky went to collect Johnson, learning that even he couldn't cancel the detonation now. Joined by the rest of Lucky's clan, they proceeded to pick up Hamish and Syme, and with the yellowjackets carrying them, managed to escape the thermobaric bomb's range as it destroyed the zoo and killed off all of the remaining dragons.

Encouraged by CJ, the yellowjackets island-hopped across the Philippines and dropped off the other survivors en-route, as the herpetologist led them to a unpopulated island so that they could live in isolation. CJ spent the next several weeks living in an old naval station alongside Lucky's clan, but by the time Hamish, Johnson and Syme came to check in on her, CJ had decided that it was time to leave the yellowjacket dragons be, but that she would look for a new job in Darwin so that she could continue coming to to visit Lucky's clan every now-and-then. As they were preparing to leave, CJ agreed to go on a date with Johnson, and soon bade Lucky goodbye, promising to return.

Within the next month, CJ took a new, senior job at Kakadu National Park and began taking flying lessons so that she could pilot a PC-12 that Syme had helped her acquire. In the following months, CJ continued seeing Johnson, while occasionally setting off to visit the yellowjackets for a few days, always seeming faraway-but-content whenever she returned home.

Personality[]

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Skills[]

Expert Herpetologist: Resulting from her career, CJ is one of the world's foremost experts in large reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators, including their physiology, behavior, and evolutionary history. Even after taking a step back from herpetology following the fight with the bull alligator, CJ's skills were still regarded high enough by the rest of the world, which played a part in China's decision to invite her to the Great Dragon Zoo of China for her expertise. Even after only a short period of observation, CJ was able to quickly and accurately note several of the physiological capabilities of the dragons ahead of some of the details their guides offered, and recognise them as the most lethal predator to ever walk the Earth.
Trained Veterinarian: After the fight with the bull alligator, CJ re-trained as a veterinarian, being able to competently assess and handle the injuries of various types of animal as she started working in the San Francisco Zoo's veterinary department. This skills allowed her to properly treat Lucky's injuries resulting during the Dragon Zoo incident, and even carefully pop out the eyes of the yellowjacket dragons in order to remove the microchips in their heads.
Bilingualism: CJ is fluent in other languages beside her native English, being able to at least read and speak Mandarin with little effort, thanks to her father teaching her the Chinese language when she was young. This skill was well known enough that China thought her ideal when they decided to bring in a respected herpetologist to examine their zoo, though most of the staff at the Great Dragon Zoo spoke Mandarin around her without realising that she could understand what they were saying, and even Tang, Zhang and Bao forgot that CJ could understand what they were saying when speaking Mandarin.
Accomplished Marksman: While not formally trained in the use of firearms, CJ was able to pick up and use several weapons during the incident at the Great Dragon Zoo in order to defend herself from both the dragons and hostile Chinese troops. Her aim was accurate enough to hit even the larger dragons in their vital points such as their eyes.
Accomplished Dragon Rider: Without prior training, CJ was able to mount onto Lucky's back and secure herself while the yellowjacket prince flew, utilising the dragon's ability to fly to aid her during her attempts to stop the red-bellies from escaping and proliferating outside the Zoo.
Trained Pilot: After the incident at the Great Dragon Zoo, CJ began taking flying lessons, and within a month became qualified and skilled enough to pilot a single-engine turboprop aircraft from Darwin to the Magellan naval station with ease.

Equipment[]

Weapons[]

Pistols: Standard 9mm handguns that CJ used a couple of times during the incident at the Great Dragon Zoo. The first she borrowed from Johnson and used to spark alight a ruptured fuel leak to set a red-bellied black dragon on fire before it could attack her group. The second she wrestled away from Wong during their fight but soon relinquished to Johnson.
Glock: A pistol that Johnson gave to CJ to use to defend herself as their group fled from the Administration Building, using it in conjunction with a half-full can of gasoline to set Melted Face on fire, and to help repel the dragons during the ensuing escape to the Birthing Centre.
MP-7: A German-made submachine gun that CJ took from a dead Chinese trooper to aid her efforts in trying to prevent the dragons from escaping the zoo. The MP-7 was also crudely fitted with a M79 pump-action grenade launcher, which she primarily used to destroy the eggs in the second dragon nest.
ROKS-5 Flamethrower: A Russian-made flamethrower which CJ armed herself with during her efforts to keep the dragons from escape the zoo. CJ used it to startle the master red-bellied black dragons and set the superking alight at the second nest after leaking some of its propane onto the nest's floor.

Vehicles[]

Pickup Truck: A pickup truck used by the Great Dragon Zoo to transport the small prince-class dragons when they are injured, one of which CJ appropriated to flee from Red Face's gang while towing Lucky with her. After a brief stop during the chase to let Lucky out of the cage, CJ abandoned the pickup to jump onto the garbage truck Hamish was driving.
Pilatus PC-12: A single-engine turboprop passenger aircraft that CJ bought second-hand from the Australian Flying Doctor Service in order to fly from Darwin to the yellowjacket dragons' home by the abandoned Magellan naval station in the Philippines.

Other Equipment[]

Ultrasonic Shield: A Chanel-designed wristwatch containing a sonic-emitting device, used to keep dragons from attacking at the Great Dragon Zoo of China. CJ wore it during the tour of the Zoo and during the initial attack launched by the red-bellied black dragons, and continued to do so when the Chinese first began attempting to execute her and the other guests, until CJ realised they were able to track her through a GPS transmitter in the watch and took it off, despite the risk of being attacked by dragons.
Dragon Vocalisation Translator: An earpiece which provides translations of certain dragons' unique vocalisations. A device grafted onto the dragons' heads and wired directly to into their larynx and brain picks up the subsonic vibrations and grunts used by dragons to communicate, transmits it to a database containing precise interpretations of hundreds of the vocalisations, and then transmits on to an earpiece. This process also works in reverse, allowing Lucky to understand CJ's words when she speak into the earpiece, although only if CJ uses simple sentences comprised primarily of nouns and verbs instead of complex sentence structures.
Ultraviolet Glasses: TBA.
Complimentary Fanny Pack: TBA.
Armoured Jacket: A motorcycle-styled leather jacket, originally owned by Yim, which CJ took from the dragon handler's truck to replace her own damaged jacket during the red-bellies' attacks across the Zoo. The black-and-yellow jacket provides additional protection during flights, due to the kevlar woven into the spine section and the additional padding in the elbows.
Battlefield Display Unit: An iPad-like device used by senior Chinese troops at the Great Dragon Zoo of China to monitor the locations of the numerous dragons, which CJ took after a Chinese captain was killed.
Chinese Commando Helmet: TBA
Flame-Proof Suit: TBA.

Relationships[]

Ben Patrick[]

While they were both working at the University of Florida, Patrick - a handsome man popular among the students and faculty - asked CJ out for dinner. However, she was severely disappointed because the only thing Patrick talked about during their date was himself, and afterwards they never ended up going out again. When they met years later at the Great Dragon Zoo, CJ and Patrick were civil towards one another, though CJ still found him to be a narcissist and couldn't figure out if he was expressing sympathy for the alligator attack she'd been through or the loss of her good looks. Furthermore, Patrick had no problem selling her and her companions out to the Chinese, all for the sake of his prospective career, and only offered a bare apology for doing so. After the tables were turned and the Zoo was set to be destroyed, CJ told the critically-injured Patrick that he had chosen his side and left him behind to die, not having the time or interest in forgiving the sell-out.

Troy[]

A man CJ was once engaged to be married to, but whom broke with her immediately after seeing the scars on her face following the alligator attack.

Greg Johnson[]

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Trivia[]

Like most of the other leading characters of Reilly's novels, CJ has a defining feature; in this case, the crisscrossing scars on the left side of her face caused by an American alligator attack.
CJ is the first solo female main protagonist to appear in any of Reilly's novels.
- The first main female protagonist of Reilly's novels, Elizabeth I, shared the role of main protagonist with Roger Ascham in The Tournament.