#VIP ward - Ayodale City Hospital
"Who is there?" Dr. Juli saw a shadowy figure bending over Suho. Juli looked for the light switch, but before she could find it, the light near Suho's bed's headboard went out. She felt a sudden rush. Someone pushed her with force, and she fell to the ground.
"Who is there? Nurse? What did you do to the child?" She was desperately looking for her handbag. She had a torch. She heard the cabin door open and a set of footsteps running swiftly away.
A faint light from the partially lit corridor was entering through the door. There it was! The handbag! She quickly brought the light out and turned it on to look for the light switch.
There!
Dr. Juli vehemently leaped toward the switch and pressed all on at the same time. She did not even think about running behind the fleeing nurse.
All she could think of was Suho. She grabbed the curtain hanging around Suho's bed and yanked it to the side.
"Suho!" Suho did not respond. Dr. Juli almost lost her breath. The unimaginable thoughts crowded her mind as she quickly moved near the child and touched her cheeks lightly.
"Suho! My child! Can you hear me?" She moved one of her fingers near Suho's nose.
"Thank god!" She was breathing normally. Juli's legs gave away, and she dropped to the floor like a stone.
"Thank god!" Now that she was calm, she quickly reorganized her thoughts.
"Call the security, talk to the nurses, and find out who was on duty. Today I will stay here with Suho, not moving an inch until she wakes up." She pulled out her cell phone and moved to the farthest corner of the room.
"Hello? Yes, I am Juli, calling from the VIP floor. There was a suspicious-looking nurse doing something to a patient. Can you please check what was going on? I will report this to the hospital authorities now. Thanks."
Dr. Juli thought for a few seconds about who to call. First, she thought calling someone from within the incident committee would be better. But who should I call first? She dialed Ms. Kim, the young police officer she met at the Ayodale Oasis Hotel.
She cleared her throat, and the call connected, "Hello? Ms. Kim Eun Jeong?"
"Hey, Doctor! Yes, it is! What happened? I feel a rush from your voice!" Ms. Kim Eun Jeong spoke from the other side.
"Ah! Yes, officer. Something happened at the cabin of the child. Are you at your station or off-duty now? I am afraid I am disturbing you!"
"Hey! Calm down a little! Tell me what happened! It doesn't matter where I am! This incident is my priority! So, take a deep breath and tell me!"
Dr. Juli took a deep breath and collected herself. She calmly told everything to Ms. Kim Eun Jeong.
"Oh, my god! What is happening? This was already an alarming situation, but with this, the case has become even more serious! How can someone attempt to do something to a kid who just survived an incident like that?
She took a deep breath and spoke again. "Now, we know for sure that this was no accident. Someone was involved in this incident, and the kid is the witness to what happened. What should we do?"
"Then...do we tell the committee?"
"But the thing is, someone must have leaked about the kid's location, and only the people within the committee knew where she was! Should we really tell the committee? There is a mole."
"Then...?"
"hmmm.... I think we should meet first. I will visit you somewhere outside the hospital, okay? Let me know the most convenient place and the time. It is better if the location is near your workplace."
"Okay then... I will text you the time and location tomorrow."
"Doctor! Please calm down and take some rest. Best you sleep with the kid tonight. We meet tomorrow! Okay? Good night then!"
"Good night, officer!"
Dr. Juli was a bit relieved that she had talked to someone about this. She prepared to sleep in Suho's cabin. Half an hour of anxious thoughts later, she was finally able to fall asleep.
As she was losing her consciousness to her deep trance, she could hear raindrops hitting against the walls and windows. The monotonous sound was like a sleeping pill. The calming sensation forced her worries out of her consciousness and into the ether. The soon-to-be mom and daughter both slept soundly that night.
#Nordurljos Intelligence Agency (NIA) HQ
The next morning.
NIA HQ was in Ayodale, the capital of Nordurljos Kingdom. The HQ was very lively right from the morning. However, it was a bit more noisy than usual because of the terror attack on ULCC Liquid Gold at Port Emerald.
Officers were busy gathering intel and sending out commands to the assets around the country and beyond the border to find out the probable 'who's and the 'why's behind this terror attack.
Depending on the intelligence, it could either be an operation to eliminate the terrorist elements or call for a larger response.
There would be a meeting at 10:00 a.m. in the HQ. Important people within the agency and from outside would be there for updates on the situation.
At first, the officials will have to change into the clothes provided by the agency. No one was allowed to carry any electronic device or anything they could take notes on. The minutes of the meeting would be available upon request to the agency, with vital information redacted.
#The conference room
There were no windows in the room. There is only one heavy door. The conference room was created a few hundred meters below ground level. It was also built to be safe from any nuclear threat.
It was not easy for anyone to get in or out at will. There was only one secured line to communicate outside the room. There were no internet, Wi-Fi, or cable connections. There was no electronic equipment as well.
After the meeting, the effective shorthand scribes—who were also agency employees—compiled their notes into a report, which was entirely manual.
Then it would be given to the participants. After they finish reviewing it, the copies of the report would be collected by the agency and burned to ashes.
The main report goes to the archive of the agency. The archive was also like a secured vault, one level below the conference room.
At the archive, the report would then be machine read and digitized on the main servers located at various locations known only to a few people within the agency.
It was precisely 10:00 when the meeting began.