A few hours later, when it was about 11:45 am, Larry came back to the office from getting some reports. "Okay! We have more reports on the reactions. There is still some skepticism, naturally."

"Well, we did expect that, remember?"

"Yeah. Out of the 20 million people that inhabit Amarkia, about three thousand or so have cancer." Yeah, I thought. Including my girl's aunt. My possible future aunt-in law. If there is such thing as that.

"Three thousand? Really? Well…I guess it's better than thirty thousand."

He laughed. "You got that right. And well…let's just wait, Spiny. Let's just wait and see what happens. The next few hours will be crucial."

I nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. I can't take this suspense much longer."

We continued working in silence. Then, about halfway through lunch, Larry got a phone call. I had no idea who it was calling him. He was on the phone for almost an hour. But he didn't give a single clue as to who it was. "Okay, thanks, bye."

"What was that? You were on the phone for almost on hour."

Larry looked downright concerned. "Well, that was our Minister of Foreign Affairs."

"What did he say?"

"China and Russia launched cyber-attacks on us."

"They did what?!"

"They launched cyber-attacks to try to hack into our systems and shut down our security so they could send in agents to steal the medicine. They weren't successful. We caught the virus in time and destroyed it. They aren't too happy about it and are threatening us with brute force."

I lay back in my chair. I sighed.

"We've started stashing the medicine up as of an hour ago and we have trucks delivering it to where there are the sickest patients. Of course, if they have very advanced cancer…well, they're basically goners."

I felt my eyes get teary. "You mean…"

He nodded and sighed. "It's cruel, but…the medicine isn't going to help them, so why waste it when others could use it?"

I shrugged. "I know it's the best way but…"

Then the image of Lilia's aunt came back into my mind. "Larry, I don't know if what I'm going to ask you is legally right. But in my heart I know it's the right thing to do morally, ethically, and humanely."

"What is it?"

"Lilia's aunt is sick with leukemia. I don't think she's a lost case, but she's very sick. The doctors said that she has only weeks of life. I think she can be helped."

Larry looked hesitant. "I don't know Spiny. I mean, it might not save her. And that might be needed by someone else."

"Larry…please, try to put yourself in my place. Or in Lilia's place. What matters now is that they have at least one last glimmer of hope. Why kill it?"

He sighed. He thought for a good, long while. "All right. Go ahead."

I nodded. I got my phone and called Lilia. "Lilia?"

"Hi, Spiny! We just saw the news!"

"Good. Where are you?"

"We're going to visit my aunt at her house. She insisted on going home. She's still sick but she's very happy."

I took a deep breath. What I said next would in a way, determine whether she lived or died. "Okay, I want you to listen to me and listen carefully. I'm only going to say it once." I tried to sound as serious possible.

"What is it, Spiny? What's wrong?" She sounded scared.

"Just listen to me! The minute you get to her house, pack up all her things and bring her back home."

"What?!"

"Just do it, will you?! Get her things together and bring her back to the Palace. Get inside, and make sure nobody sees you. And don't tell anyone where you're going, what you're going to do, or where you're going."

"Okay, I'll tell my dad."

"Good. I'll see you this evening. I'm going to be very busy today. I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and looked at Larry. "I know it's going to be okay. I just know it is."

He nodded. "I'm sure it will." At that moment, the fax machine beeped like crazy. Larry ran over to it. He grabbed the paper as it was coming out. When he read through it, he muttered, "Oh, my gosh!"

I stood up and walked over to him. "What? What happened?"

"Something really bad."

"What?"

He sighed. "Incident report. One of our trucks was delivering the medicine. They were going through one of the towns and three cars appeared out of nowhere and started shooting at the driver."

"Oh, no!"

"The truck swerved suddenly and a few bottles of the medicine came loose and crashed on the road. The car drivers also threw grenades at the truck. Fortunately they missed the truck and instead they blasted the asphalt on the road. A unit of guards appeared and fired back at the cars. They went up in flames. Fifteen casualties and as of the moment, no arrests have been made."

I collapsed in my chair and put my hand to my face. "Oh, no."

"They're going to be escorted by army vehicles now. All of the trucks. And just to keep things safe, the homes of the people who are sick will also be guarded. A few people who are receiving the medicine have gotten threatening phone calls and even aggressive comments on Facebook and Twitter accounts."

As if on cue, a message beeped on my computer screen. I'd gotten a new message in my email inbox. I opened it. I didn't recognize the address. It had very ugly emoticons. An angry face, a devil face, a gun, a skull, and even a tombstone. It read, "If you give the stuff to your loved ones instead of us, you won't ever kiss your girl or your family ever. So say goodbye now!"

I stared at Larry. "Now what?!"

"I don't know. But I'm ordering a helicopter to escort every truck too. I'm not taking chances. And I'm telling the guards at the Palace Gates to stay on Alert Level 5. The highest one. And also, we're going to perform autopsies on the bodies of the 15 who tried to steal the medicine. Then we'll know if they belong to any criminal organization."

"I have a suggestion."

"What is it?"

"I want it to be announced that we will use lethal force when delivering it to those who need it. And if anyone tries to sabotage or steal it, we will use authorized lethal force and we won't need to make a formal arrest."

"Sounds good." He'd barely finished when the phone rang. "Hello? Yes, what is it. What?! Where?! Okay, I'll tell him."

I was getting really scared now. Everything and anything was happening. It was all happening so fast. Too fast. The pressure was mounting heavily. "What's happening?" I said.

"Three more cars that were involved in the shooting escaped. They're being chased into a field of crop. They've got two police cars and three army trucks on their tail." The phone rang again. "What? Huh?"

"What is it?"

Larry turned to me. "There was an explosion. One of the cars blew itself up trying to blow up the police car. But it didn't work. The two men in the car died. Two of the others have turned themselves in and the four others were caught and arrested. They're being taken to be interrogated."

A feeling of great relief came over. "Well, that's good to hear. And if they don't want to talk, just give them the Third Degree."

"Spiny, you do know that torture is illegal."

"I wasn't referring to torture. I meant something more like scaring them. You know what I mean?"

"Oh, oh! Yeah, I know."

We spent the next few hours giving order to the police and military forces. We also gave specific orders to the ones delivering the medicine to not stop for any reason in the world. Then, at around 4:57 pm, Larry stood up. "Okay, Spiny. We now know the identities of the ones who made the attack."

"Let me guess. It was people from the pharmacy companies?"

"Yes. They'd sent agents to try and destroy the medicine."

"Hmm. What do you think we should do?"

"I already thought of that. As of now and for the foreseeable future, the government will take absolute control of all the medical and pharmacy companies. They are now government property."

"That's a good suggestion. That way we can get the message out that no one will get away with something like that."

"And we've been getting requests from several people that we place the medicine on the market."

"On the market?!"

"No, not on the black market! I mean, put it up for sale, you know? Most of them are doctors or owners of hospitals."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I said. "If the medicine gets into the hands of pharmacies, they're going to charge tens of thousands of dollars."

"Yeah, I know. That's why we decided to take control of the medical and pharmacy companies. So now the government is the only one who can distru…uh, I mean, distubi…uh, I mean, distribute the stuff."

I stared at him. "What's the matter with you? You're so nervous that you can't even twist your tongue. You haven't played a practical joke on me all day. It's not like you."

He sighed. "I have good reasons to be nervous."

"Yeah, I know."

"And you know, I've also been told that many of our guards have been offered bribes in order to have access to the medicine."

I didn't like the sound of that. "Um, but, none of them have succumbed to the bribes, right?"

"No, of course not. All of them report all bribes to us. And in order to protect them and their families, we never reveal their personal information. And since they all wear the same armor and all, it's hard to identify them."

"Those are good measures," I said, agreeing.

Larry's desk phone rang again. "Yes? When? Do you which ones? Yes, I'll tell him now. Take care." He hung up and looked at me, very worried.

"What is it?"

"The US, Germany, the UK, Russia, China, Japan, Australia, and France have all begun massive operations to copy us and make the cure."