66
The Game Changer
As soon as Sebastian got into the car, he picked up his phone. Since it was rare for him to be in such a hurry, it must have been urgent, so I remained still and just listened.
“Find out who that Canaris woman in the room earlier was.”
Sebastian didn’t use words like “urgent” or “immediately,” but Nakaban would have understood. He said that one sentence and hung up right away. Then he turned to me and checked.
“Do you know the Canaris woman?”
Of course, I don’t. I did see her face, but… Why is that woman important? Isn’t she just one of the security personnel? Seeing my puzzled face, Sebastian explained.
“That woman is the actual representative from Canaris.”
“What?”
No, why? How? On what basis does he think that?!
Is it because she’s a woman? If that’s the case, it’s a big mistake. There are so many women in our industry these days. Just look at the Security Bureau. The director is a woman, the person closest to being the next director is a woman, the promising candidate aiming for the position after that is also a woman… Wait, come to think of it, our company is male-dominated, so why are all the elites women?!
This is why there are rumors within the company that the director favors women because she’s a woman herself. Of course, that’s nonsense…
Or maybe it’s not. It could be possible if she’s protecting her lover, not because she’s a woman. But then again, it’s not like Nina Volkari lacks ability.
Sebastian quickly grabbed my chin, noticing that my thoughts were branching out.
“Focus, Armin.”
I nodded, looking into Sebastian’s blue eyes at his words. Then he quickly explained.
“That woman wasn’t armed. You know too. We only minimally arm the person being protected.”
That’s obvious. In the first place, someone in a position needing protection wielding a knife would only give the other side an excuse. And if we need to run while carrying them, it’s better to be as light as possible. Even giving them a gun, it’s not too late to hand it to them when I judge it necessary. Guns are items that need to be handled with a cool head. When blinded by fear, one might shoot friend or foe indiscriminately. As long as I think I can control the situation, the principle is not to give weapons.
Security personnel can’t do that. She must have been armed. Which means she was the one being protected. But how did Sebastian know that? It wouldn’t have been noticeable from the outside. It’s still early spring, so everyone was wearing thick clothes. That’s why I assumed the other side was armed and just let it pass. We were armed too, after all.
“When I demanded Layer be handed over, Layer stood up and my bodyguards flinched, right? So their side flinched too. It’s a kind of instinct. In a tense situation, you tense your muscles to be ready to move at any time. Having received protection all my life, I know that atmosphere well.”
“I see.”
“That woman didn’t move. She just calmly observed the situation.”
At that time, I was only looking at the other side from the perspective of protecting Sebastian. Was an attack coming or not? I was so focused on that that I didn’t think it was strange that the other side was calm. But at that moment, Sebastian had provoked them and then checked their surroundings.
“Which means,”
“Yes, Canaris really sent an executive. I’m not sure if she’s an executive or an executive’s daughter. They might be matching my rank, as I came as Michael Riegel’s son and representative.”
“Bullshit! What rank do they have to match!”
When I shouted, Sebastian burst out laughing. He let go of my chin and instead scratched it gently as if I were a puppy. What’s this, why are you doing this? Even when I tried to move my chin away, his hand kept following, so I yelled, “Ah, why!” and he laughed again.
“You really hate Canaris, don’t you?”
“Isn’t it crazy to like such insane bastards? How many bomb attacks have they carried out? They turn normal neighborhoods upside down, cause them to be blockaded, and then they just run away. Did they just run? They went to that neighborhood, spouted nonsense like ‘If you return to communism, glory will return to your neighborhood,’ caused chaos, and then what did they actually do? Bank robbery, that’s what. How many banks have those bastards robbed? They say the citizens robbed the banks? Don’t talk nonsense. How could citizens blow up bank vault doors? Can just anyone do that? They made a well-off city look like it had been bombed while robbing banks, and then they say the government responded harshly, that more people died than under communism. They don’t even think about the number of people they killed, those bastards!”
The blockaded Maderke quickly became an area full of barbarism. People formed groups, paper money became useless, and medical supplies, alcohol, and hygiene products like toilet paper became alternative currencies. Some people died because they couldn’t get antibiotics that would have been easily available normally. After creating such a situation, these bastards were robbing banks on one side. And while we were chasing the operation team that caused this unrest, the bank robbing team leisurely left the area. The blockade was useless. They used helicopters in the middle of the night.
There was circumstantial evidence that they robbed banks, but no physical evidence. In the end, the citizens of Maderke took the blame. It was really messed up. Canaris always did things this way. They were a group of psychopaths.
“They robbed banks?”
Sebastian seemed surprised by this, as if he didn’t know. Only then did I realize I had spilled confidential information. Ah, shit. Retirement is retirement, but this was something I shouldn’t have said. I snapped back to my senses. But what can I do now that I’ve said it? I rubbed my face dry and looked up at Sebastian with pitiful eyes.
“Please pretend you didn’t hear that.”
I want to receive my retirement pay…
Seeing my face, Sebastian laughed and said, “That measly retirement pay, I’ll give it to you.”
“No, your money is your money, and I want to receive the money the country is supposed to give me. That’s clearly different.”
At my words, he laughed again, finding something funny. Then he nodded, saying he understood.
Nakaban must be living in a long-snouted teapot made in the desert. How else could he find out all this information in just one day? The next day, Nakaban informed us about the identity of the woman we saw yesterday. Her name was Rebecca Dagoba. The surname Dagoba sounded familiar, and Sebastian explained why.
“Former Finance Minister Dagoba.”
Ah, that Dagoba. The former minister’s daughter?
“What’s Dagoba doing now?”
“University professor.”
“A Canaris bastard is teaching kids, how dangerous.”
My hands were itching. If I could, I wanted to grab Dagoba by the collar from the university podium and throw him into the Security Bureau. But I also understand the practical issues. If we dragged in someone like Dagoba without evidence, it would only backfire… Wait, why is there no evidence? The Security Bureau must have seen that woman yesterday. There was sufficient evidence!
“I’ll go right now and that crazy professor bastard,”
“Sit down.”
“Why, there’s enough evidence!”
The woman we saw yesterday looked to be in her early twenties at most. A Canaris executive in her early twenties? That’s laughable. Surely if we dig, there will be evidence! Seeing my face, Sebastian shook his head.
“Legally, they’re strangers.”
“…Why?”
“Rebecca Dagoba is an illegitimate child.”
Sebastian shook his head, saying we wouldn’t be able to prove the connection between the two, as even their names are spelled differently. Why not? A DNA test would settle it!
―But I also know. Without direct evidence against former Minister Dagoba, it’s too flimsy to drag in the former minister based on a woman presumed to be his illegitimate daughter being an executive. Even if we force a DNA test and prove their blood relation, if they claim they’ve lived without knowing each other, the Security Bureau will be accused of dragging in the former minister without proper respect, digging into his private life, and making the serious accusation of Canaris involvement.
We needed more direct evidence. As I was chewing my lip, thinking about how to take down this Dagoba bastard, Sebastian spoke.
“Nakaban, connect me with Director Dill of the Security Bureau. It’s time to change the conditions.”
Conditions?
Sebastian needs to continuously help the Security Bureau catch Canaris. That was the only way to save his entire family, including his father. They received amnesty for treason in exchange for cooperation. I don’t know the exact details of that contract, but I doubt the director would quietly let Sebastian go after just one or two instances of cooperation.
―Or so I thought.
Surprisingly, Sebastian’s call wasn’t much. Maybe because I could only hear Sebastian’s side.
“Director, I believe you’ve received the report on yesterday’s meeting. As Otto Layer has fully joined Canaris, the Security Bureau should now step back. …Yes, yes, that’s right. Of course, I know. …Yes. So, I’ll send you the answer key.”
“You currently have the question sheet, and I have the answer key as well.”
Ah, when making the contract for amnesty for treason, Sebastian must have given the director documents about Canaris’ internal information, saying exactly that. It seems he’s going to send the answer key for that today.
“Try to match the answers well and plan your moves. If you don’t want to miss the timing when I set up the game, you’ll need to dig more into that side rather than focusing on my side.”
I don’t understand what he means, but I thought the director wouldn’t just let it go. However, surprisingly, it seemed the director didn’t have much to say. Sebastian responded with “Yes, yes” a few times, then said “I’ll contact you again” and hung up. This meant that the director had agreed to Sebastian’s assertion that the Security Bureau shouldn’t interfere with his approach to Canaris.
This easily?
I had also received documents with the director when she received the internal information. But when we left, Nakaban had organized the documents, and they hadn’t asked for them back afterwards. So I had only skimmed the contents of the internal information, not read it thoroughly. What was in that content that made the director back down?
I thought I should read it once.
