You have quite the backbone

13th May, 2023

For Sigret, today marked her first day of work. She came up on time for her work and sat on her chair where the woman she had kidnapped always sat. She was able to get a clear glimpse of the Director's office from the other side of her cubicle.

A neighbouring coworker approached her as she was sitting in the armchair and said

"Hey Sandy, did you finish filtering the audios from those calls of the Saudi princes. We learned that some of them are attempting to aid Tehran while also stealing from us."

"Saudi Arabia? When did that assignment got assigned to me. I spent the entire week working on China's spy balloons."

"The spy balloons are in past now. It has been months and those fuckers are still silent about it. Apparently NSA will salvage away all the parts and try to decipher it themselves. Ordered us to take our hands off those things. Can you believe them? We were the ones who found those damned balloons at first and now they are just taking away our own child. Fuck those NSA bastards." He spoke while exhaling rapidly. His large amount of belly fat made his laboured respiration noticeable even through his baggy hoodie.

"How many times have I told you, Tommy? Don't become emotionally invested in a task. You need to socialise my man." stated Sigret. Rather it was Sandy for Tommy. Tommy and Sandy were both high level analysts so both of them knew what was going on with each other. Sigret, too was flawlessly able to imitate Sandy's actions.

"Sandy, you know that is not possible. I followed your advise and joined the gym the week before, but the guys there gave me death glares." Tommy spoke in an unhappy tone. Though US had taken great strides on the platform of body positivity, a massive section of the society still didn't fat people with good eyes. Sigret also gave Tommy her usual "sympathy face," despite the fact that she didn't care. She was only thinking about maintaining a close eye on the Director while also being careful to avoid being discovered. Even though she could easily flee if she were discovered, doing so would undoubtedly alarm Mr. X, and she was in no way willing to put the situation in danger.

"If only the TARDIS could journey through time to the conversation between this Director and Mr. X. Since the TARDIS has been cut off from its fuel source, the Eye of the Harmony, the nucleus of a black hole, it is currently unable to travel through time. When we can, we need to switch out the power source for a different nucleus, but in the meantime, we can only use it to move through space because it can do that without any problems. And of course, my master wouldn't mess with time. At least not right now." Sigret groaned as she considered various strategies for dealing with the predicament.

———

There were only Robin and Myrene at home because Myrene had departed for a covert mission a day prior. As Frayer had arrived yesterday and had been dispatched by Vanguard and Blackrock to keep an 'investor's' watch on the trials, Myrene would go to see the trials for herself. Both of these companies desired an account from the bottom up of what was happening as the second phase approached.

The investors were not pleased with the price after Frayer and Buckley already reaffirmed the agreement that Robin had made with Labcorp. However, Frayer also mentioned that the financiers might succeed in their endeavours in other ways. The trials served only to maintain a innocent face in front of the public and prevent any future outcry. They were aware that the medication could treat anything when it was first brought into Labcorp.

They had therefore experimented with the drug in various methods before they learned this. Was the medication able to restore organ function if someone had ever lost one? Well, the response was no, at least from the animal trials. It was impossible if an individual lost an organ they had, that is, if the damage was 100%. Only when the harm was 90% could the drug begin to heal. Therefore, the heart, kidneys, and other replaceable parts were no longer relevant. However, the liver was a unique case. One of the miraculous organs of the body, the liver could even develop on its own from a small portion.

And so, with the aid of this drug, they were able to smuggle it and make more money because if someone was caught with it on his body, he could continue to make additional livers that could be sold on the black market to people who had liver conditions that couldn't be treated, like jaundice, cancer, and other internal diseases. A 90% liver could be readily replaced. The body could make the other 10% by itself.

The same applied to bone marrow as well. Robin wasn't really shocked because he already knew that the residents behind the glass gates would surely do evil things with the drug. He would, of course, never permit such atrocities to occur. Smuggling or drug theft of any kind would be severely prohibited. One or two bottles of the drug being stolen were acceptable. However, if a smuggling ring was involved, they would be busted as soon as possible.

The only thing he wanted to do was throw these individuals into a pot of boiling water to drown them, but he knew that would only cause more chaos than peace. Few more months and then it would be all over.

Since he was alone, he naturally invited Cathrin to his house to "hang out" since Myrene had departed with Frayer for the trials. Even though he did more than just 'hang out', it was mostly to prove to Cathrin that he had no other relationships with Myrene or Sigret.

It goes without saying that Cathrin arrived with excitement, and the two of them enjoyed themselves. (A/N : I am not very good with such scenes, so I would rather not embarrass myself by writing them. If anyone wants to add, you are welcome to do so).

Later that night, after Cathrin left for her work with Twitch, Frayer showed up to his home to say that the investors, were gearing up. They would first try their hand and steal some medicines in Malaysia itself. Even though Labcorp had hypothesised that it might be possible, the investors wanted to be certain after conducting a real trial.

"Sir, I haven't been told about when they will attack but they will do so in a week." stated Frayer.

"We are aware. They aren't very smart when it comes to dishing out such orders." said Myrene. Any action the investors desired to take was already documented in audio, visuals, and even bank bills that had been routed through fictitious entities.

"After some of them spent time in prison, didn't they learn anything?" This puzzled Robin. The previous FDA chief was put behind bars by Darkstar, and one of them was even on death row because the prosecutor was actively pressing for the execution of all those who had been killed on the other's orders.

Frayer simply responded while shaking his head.

"Malaysia will only serve as a test to determine whether you are still as dangerous as you were before. Due to their excessive greed, some investors don't really care who lived or perished. Forget about their coworkers; they might be brutal to their own family."

Robin just shook his head. Even Frayer was like that, but he at least had a bottom line and was only alive right now because he had a bottom line. He actively sought out the kid that his wife had harmed and positioned him for life in Europe after that incident with Robin at Princeton. He was doing everything in his power to change because he feared for his life.

In an effort to correct his previous errors and assist those he had purposefully harmed, Buckley was also making every effort.

"Let them come. I will send everyone to the sea. Even their corpses won't be discovered. Of course, those who don't deserve to die will be put in prison." Robin stated carelessly. He was starting to lose some of his sensitivity to the loss of human life. He had undoubtedly come a long way because he wasn't as upset when someone died as a result of him as he once was.

Frayer trembled but nodded in agreement. He was confident that Blackrock and Vanguard would continue to lose investors, giving him the opportunity to gain more favour with real players. After the second disaster, both companies would actively connect with Robin, and he could serve as both a mediator and an introducer.

Before Frayer stepped out of home, he couldn't help but look at Robin with pleading eyes and said.

"Sir, is there any hope for my wife. I am really sorry for what we have done and I will do anything to have my wife back in my life."

Robin who was about to leave for his room, stopped and looked at Frayer.

"You are saying this even after when you know that she would divorce you after giving her lost years back?"

---

Read 20 chapters ahead on my p@treon.com/thelighetdghost