Chapter 12

Atsushi, with a grin on his face, was sitting in the back of the car, together with his wife and daughter. They drove to Dejima, Atsushi's best friend, whom Atsushi hadn't seen for ten years, already.

He had asked the boss countless of times, if he could visit his friend, but the boss always had refused, explaining that Atsushi had to working on the drug. Atsushi wasn't a fool, however. He knew that the boss feared that Atsushi could blurt out about what he had been doing, so far. Fortunately, Atsushi only wanted to see his old friend, nothing more; he said it to the boss, at least.

Dejima, most likely, would be angry with him for not giving signs of life. Well, he sent him a card, after he had married with Elena, but that was it. He had thought of writing a letter to Dejima, but he would have to omit so many details that there would be almost nothing to write about.

After thinking through, Atsushi had decided to tell Dejima about the organization's goal. He was his best friend and Atsushi had never kept secrets from Dejima, before. Of course, he would have to ensure that the boss would not find out about it otherwise he and Dejima would be dead.

Atsushi smiled under his nose, imagining Dejima shouting at him and call him insane. Indeed, he had been insane, and he was about to become even more insane.

He glanced at Elena who was looking through the window. Even though, Atsushi couldn't see her face, he knew she had been angry at him, at the boss and at the rest of scientists.

Elena had been furious when she'd found out that the boss had wanted the drug to be tested on people. She had been even more furious when Atsushi and other scientists had approved it.

The drug still wasn't finished, however, they were closer to complete it, at least, Atsushi thought that way.

He understood Elena's indignation, but they had to find out whether the drug would work or not, and results coming from tests on mice might not be the same as on people.

Atsushi sighed.

Please, let it work.

"Daddy, are you all right?" Akemi looked concerned at him.

"Yes, I am, don't worry." He ruffled her hair.

Atsushi noticed Elena smiling, yet her eyes showed sadness.

"How is searching going?" the boss asked.

"Perfect," Pisco responded as he passed sheaf of papers to the boss.

"And you have not talk with any of those people," the boss stated.

"No, I haven't, just like you asked me."

"Good. I see you did a great job with your searching; you even went outside of the city."

Pisco's face brightened up.

"So, have you found a group of people who could assist in the research?" the boss asked.

"Yes sir, I have. There is a group of homeless people consisted of five wandering on the streets of a city next to ours."

The boss had ordered Pisco to search for homeless people whom they could use for the experiments. Nobody cared about homeless people and thus nobody would notice their disappearance. Pisco's task had been, at first, to gather information about them: their gender, approximate age, where they usually stay and their daily routine.

The group that Pisco had chosen included an old man, two middle aged men and two teenage girls who couldn't be more than fifteen.

Considering their difference of age and gender and the fact that they always were together made them a perfect people to this test.

Most of the homeless people that Pisco observed, either hung out by themselves or just in two, in addition, they were similar age and the same gender, most of the time. Atsushi and Elena needed a group of different people to test their drug on.

"Perfect. I want those people here by tomorrow." The boss ordered.

Atsushi and Elena were coming back tomorrow. Poor them, they would have lots of work.

Elena looked at two men without much of interest, while Atsushi's face showed irritation.

"Daddy, you should let know Dejima-san about you visiting him, so he knows about it," Akemi lectured his dad.

Elena shook her head. Only Atsushi could visit his friend who had been living in a different city without ensuring that his friend actually would be at home, at time of his visit.

"I have something important to tell him. Will he be back tomorrow?" Atsushi asked with a hope in his voice.

"Unfortunately no. Dejima should be back in a week. Well, you can stay here until his return," one of the men suggested.

"I have only time until tomorrow, you know job." Atsushi threw a glance at window.

"Let me to introduce myself. My name is Ukihiko Saitsu and I'm working together with Dejima and with Imai, here." He pointed out at the man standing next to him.

"Hello, I am Tetsuo Imai." He pulled out his hand which Atsushi shook.

"Nice to meet you both of you. Like I said, I'm Miyano Atsushi and I lived with Dejima before and here is my wife, Elena and a daughter, Akemi."

Both Imai and Saitsu shook Elena's hand. Elena nodded slightly.

Imai kneeled in front of Akemi. "You have a beautiful daughter."

"Oh thank you." Atsushi smiled.

"I'm sure you're all hungry. Please come in, I will quickly prepare something." Saitsu showed them a way to the living room.

During a dinner, Atsushi talked about science and different projects that he had been involved. Fortunately, Atsushi found different topics to discuss about, so he could avoid talking about his job. He glanced several times at the window.

Of course, the boss wouldn't leave them alone. Elena bet he had ordered his men to observe them. They had been in the charge of the science project and yet the boss didn't trust them completely. Well, they knew in which city, they had been working in, at least. The boss could be paranoid, sometimes. The boss had kept in secret from some of his members, in which city, they were. Even Atsushi hadn't know and when he had found out, he had to swear that he wouldn't tell anyone.

The boss was so cautious that it seemed that the boss wouldn't make any mistake. However, Elena wished that this would change.

"Erena-san, is everything all right?" Saitsu asked.

"Huh? Uh-huh." Elena didn't say a word since she came here. Her mind had been too much occupied with thoughts regarding the organization and its crazy ideas to meet its goal.

Pisco cleared his throat as he stood in front of five people, who were just eating something that looked like old rice with vegetables.

"What do you want?" The old man asked challenging.

"I want to offer you a job, all of you." Pisco voice sounded as casual as he would talk with his clients whom he had been sold his cars.

The old man and two other men, who looked in their thirties, chortled unlike two teenage girls who stood in the back. The youngest looking girl was hiding behind the older girl.

"You know instead accepting your job offer, we can just steal your wallet," one of the middle aged man suggested.

Pisco smiled as he responded, "It's bad for you that I don't have much money on me, right now, and even if you steal these money from me, it would only last you for a two or three days. Of course, I would accuse you and you all would end up in a prison."

The three men clenched their fists, but it seemed that Pisco didn't notice it as he continues and tone of his voice didn't change a bit.

"If you accept my job offer, I will guarantee you place to live where you can eat, sleep and take a shower." Pisco wrinkled his nose. "Basically, you will have a place to stay, in return you will work in the organization, in which I work for."

"What job is it?" The older girl asked, observing Pisco, attentively.

"You will work in the science lab and don't worry about your lack of knowledge, the scientists working there will explain you everything."

"And what are we supposed to do in this science lab, mouse autopsy?" The old man sneered.

"Like I said, before, the scientists working there, will explain you everything. I'm not a scientists, so I cannot do it," Pisco said.

"Why us? We are just bunch of people living on the street, you could hire better people than us." The older girl appeared to be suspicious, but Pisco doubted that it would be a problem to fool her.

"The organization doesn't care about a social status. They just want employees who will give what the best from them. Besides, the boss feels sorry for people like you and the boss simply want to help."

"And how much mo-"

"Why are we should trust you?" The older girl interrupted the middle aged man who grunted.

"Because, I'm offering you a better life and what most important, I'm giving you a choice, and of course if you agreed, but you won't like the job or the living conditions, you can always leave. However, the boss and I will be thankful, if you first tell us about your concerns, so we can make your living at the organization as comfortable as we can."

None of them said a word. Two middle aged men exchanged their looks, the older girl focused her eyes on Pisco, while the younger girl hold her arm tightly. The old man looked at his shoes as he hoped that they would give them an answer.

"I will give you time until tomorrow midday. I will come back here, tomorrow and hopefully I will get a positive answer from you," Pisco said.

When, no one asked any questions, Pisco left them.

Fools.

The boss had ordered Pisco to make those homeless people to come voluntarily to the organization. Of course, if being nice wouldn't work, then Pisco was allowed to use a hard way.

Fortunately, it seemed that it wouldn't be necessary.

Elena, Atsushi and Akemi left Dejima's house around eleven in the morning. They had spent a good day, at least, they could rest. Sometimes, Elena wished that he could work far away from the organization, so no one could control her.

"It was so much fun," Akemi chirped.

Akemi indeed had lots of fun of hiding Imai's and Saitsu' stuff and seeing their frustrated faces, when they tried to find their stuff. Elena had to admit that she had been amused. Of course, she scolded her daughter for it.

After long journey, Elena hoped that she could rest on the sofa. Unfortunately, one of the men, who drove them back to their home, informed them that they needed to go to the organization, while one of them would take care of Akemi.

Not seeing another choice, Atsushi and Elena said goodbye to Akemi and they got back into the car.

Seriously, the boss wouldn't give them a minute to rest. They might work for the secret organization, but they still had their rights.

Elena and Atsushi looked surprised when they saw Pisco in the hall, who instead telling them to go down to the lab science, he brought them to one of the bedrooms, where five people had been waited.

"They are scientists whom I talked about." Pisco pointed out at Atsushi and Elena.

"He's Miyano Atsushi and she's his wife, Miyano Elena." Pisco introduced them.

"Wow, if I knew my boss would be so beautiful, I would say yes right away." One of the men approached Elena and kissed her on her hand.

However, Elena seemed not notice him as her eyes wandered towards a girl sitting on the bed. She looked very thin and Elena could see a fear in her eyes.

Elena came closer to this girl, who moved backward.

"Don't be afraid," Elena smiled at her. "What is your name?"

She didn't responded, at first, only made few mumbling sounds. After the older girl encouraged her to say her name, the younger girl murmured, "My name is Moriko."

Elena felt a pain in her chest when she thought that she would cause lots of pain to this girl and to the rest of these people.