Chapter 25- Strings Unraveled
Saphir had been staring at the screen for hours and he could feel the tension building up on his neck. Usagi had mentioned to the lab people that Demande had an advisor named Wiseman, but he had no idea who that was.
So, he kept his eyes on his superior. Who could be giving orders?
He widened his eyes and sat up straight when he saw Demande pulled out a cell phone from the drawer. He quickly put on the headphone and turned up the volume. Something wasn't right here. They haven't been able to restore cell service, despite sacrificing a lot of men trying to get the communication tower back up.
"Hey, so I stopped myself before I could make things worse." Demande spoke to the phone. "What should be our next step?" He nodded as he listened, while jotting down some notes.
"We have eight people on standby. They were friends with Usagi and they would make perfect test subjects. Yeah...yeah...okay...one of the kids is related to Usagi. Should we use her too? ...Good point...I will talk to Dr. Mizuno tonight."
Demande hang up and then walked toward his cabinet. He opened the doors and stared at whatever was inside for a good ten minutes. Then he closed them up again. Before leaving the office, he put the cell phone back in his drawer.
Saphir glanced at his watch and then back at the screen. Demande would be making his rounds around the compound for about an hour. Time to get Elsa. He needed to see what was in that cabinet and the contact number on that mysterious cell phone.
The hallway leading to Demande's office was dark and quiet. Elsa made her way down stealthily. She checked the surroundings again before fishing out the back up key from her pocket. Thanks to Saphir.
The lock made a loud click and Elsa held her breath. Her heart started to thud now. If she was caught, she would be charged with treason and she would face a very ugly death.
She slowly moved inside and then closed the door. Elsa shivered in the cold, dark room. Even though she was all alone, she still darted her eyes around, checking periodically for shadows in the hallway.
First, she went to the mysterious cabinet. Elsa took a deep breath and turned the handle on the door. A light flicker on and the inside was illuminated. Elsa's mouth dropped open and once again, she could feel hair standing on the back of the neck.
Inside the cabinet was not a secret stash of weapons, or booze or documents. Instead, it was a shrine dedicated to Usagi. There were several pictures Elsa took during the surveillance trip, some new ones he took after Usagi was in the compound, and medical documents from Dr. Mizuno. Elsa spotted a small briefcase in the back. She opened it and immediately regretted it. Inside was a small vial of blood and strands of long blonde hair.
"What the hell..." Elsa muttered.
The earpiece inside Elsa's ear boomed with Saphir's voice. "Demande cut his rounds short. He is heading back to the office…He is about 10 minutes away…Hurry."
Elsa snapped out of her shock and quickly closed the briefcase and then the cabinet doors. She walked over to the desk and searched through the drawers.
She found the cell phone and clicked it on. A picture of Usagi came on as the wallpaper and Elsa shuddered. She clicked on recent calls and found it empty. That was when she noticed that the phone indicated at the top corner that there was no cell service.
"Get out now. Get out now..." Saphir's warning boomed in Elsa's earpiece.
Elsa placed the cell phone back and pushed the drawer shut. Just as she was about to exit, she could hear someone walking down the hallway.
It was too late to leave now. The soldier looked around, desperate for a hiding spot. Finally seeing one, Elsa crouched down behind the armchair in the corner of the room.
A millisecond later, Demande strolled into the room and sat at his desk. Elsa held her breath...
Click. The phone was being turned on again, and then followed by Demande's voice. "Wiseman, I think we should get more people for the testing phase...well these girls would do fine but I feel like they might rebel soon. I should strike first..."
Elsa felt her heart stopped.
"Yeah, Usagi would be crushed, but she might finally turn to me. I will get Rubeus to do it...yes, Earth will be ours." Demande laughed as he continued to talk to a phone that wasn't connected.
At this point, Elsa finally understood. The fate of humanity rested on a lunatic...