Neil gave him a stare, pointing that one of the "janitorial" employees was within earshot and curbed his smile. They reached the office of head lab tech. Dr. Martin Zckowitch was a middle-aged person who was assigned to the Shanghai consulate last month. As Jack opened his mouth to apologize to him to call him into the office this late hour, Martin greeted him with a surprisingly high enthusiasm. Looking at Jack's surprised look, Neil mouthed him, "These guys never get good cases here."
Jack, still being a nice guy he was, "Sir, I am sorry to call you at this late hour. It is quite urgent as we have two dead bodies and no arrest." He removed the plastic bag containing burnt documents from the storage locker and placed it on the table. Martin frowned as Jack spread lots of ash on his desk. Jack realized his mistake but ignored Martin's frustration. He continued, "The contents are critical documents from the company we are investigating. Can you recover these half-burnt documents?"
Martin looked at the documents carefully. He then proudly puffed his chest and said, "Yes. If we glue these papers to support, then we will soften them with damp air. The steaming has to be done slowly and carefully since most of the burnt documents are hygroscopic. They absorb moisture -"
Jack interrupted Martin, "You miss being a professor, sir?" Martin, without realizing he was being cut off for talking too much, replied, "Yes. How did you know? I used to teach the University of British Columbia."
Jack smile at him, "Just had a feeling. Thank you, Dr. Martin. I will await your findings."
They went into the residential complex in the consulate. Looking at the marble flooring, yellow chandeliers, designer wallpaper, Jack thought he had just entered some luxurious hotel. Emily's room was on the second floor. But she had been called into the conference room on the first floor to chat with Jack.
As they reached the meeting room, Jack stopped Neil, "I would like to do this alone if that is okay?" Neil agreed with no protest.
Jack entered the conference room. Emily was sitting there in her nightgown. Jack saw her and remembered how beautiful she was. The purple satin gown she was wearing was not going to help him focus. Jack was trying hard to avoid any eye contact with her. He wanted to get over the fact that he was attracted to her. Jack looked at the security guard standing in the corner of the room, "We are okay here. Can you give us some privacy?" The guard left the room.
Jack sat down on the chair across Emily. She was looking at Jack, completely bewildered. She was waiting for Jack to say something. But Jack could not find the perfect start to the conversation. Jack was feeling smitten, guilty, awkward at the same time.
Emily finally said, "Hi Jack, can you tell me why I was awakened at 1 AM and brought into this interrogation room". Jack's awkward feeling took the lead in his mind. He tried to smile, "It is a conference room, not an interrogation room. And the stay here looks good."
In his mind, he was referring to the plush interior of the residential complex and trying to curb his guilt of putting Emily under house arrest. But Emily was enraged at that sentence. She got up quickly and started shouting at Jack, "Do you think I am having a vacation here? I am stuck inside the room, twenty-four hours with no cell phone, no internet, no contact with the outside world. It is not a hotel where I can order food of my choice. Just because I have a king-size bed and fresh towels every day, does not mean that I am having fun here. Thanks to you. You did not even think of checking on me in the last two days? I am sitting here going crazy, not knowing what is going on with the investigation."
Emily was shouting so much that guard came running back in. Jack raised his hand and gestured him to leave the room. Jack thought Emily's venting might help him feel better and focus on the problematic conversation he was going to have with her.
Jack stood up and went around the table toward Emily. He put his hand on Emily's shoulder and said, "I am sorry, Emily. I know you are miserable. I promise you this is going to be over soon. Please sit down. I need to talk to you."
Emily calmed down and sat down in her chair. She was still breathing more oppressive than usual.
Jack passed the glass of water to her. He sat down in the chair next to her and looked straight in her eyes, "Emily, can you please tell me the conversation you had with Dr. Chung just before he was murdered?"
Emily broke eye contact with Jack and looked down, guilt evident in her eyes. She instantly said, "I told you that I was not convinced that Dr. Chung would meet me the next day, so I went back to him. I talked more about his work during the MERS outbreak and convinced him to help us during this outbreak."
Jack took a deep sigh and looked down in disappointment. He had hoped Emily would tell him the truth. He had felt that Emily would trust him as he would reciprocate easily. He looked at her with a pleading look, "Emily, please, can you please tell me the truth?"
Emily was looking at Jack with confusion and fear. She was trying to study Jack's face.
She carefully replied, "Jack, this is the truth. I am not sure what you want me to say?"
Jack pleaded again, "Emily, I need the truth, please. I know. I know Emily."
Emily was now looking at Jack with complete fear. Her mind was in denial and did not want to believe that Jack could have discovered her secret. Her heart was beating even louder. She stammered, "What do you know?"
Jack pulled up an email from Ed on his laptop. Emily was looking at the screen in complete shock. Emily's personal information, as clear as crystal, was displayed on the screen. Jack started reading the email, "Dr. Emily Rogers, born on 22 April 1988 in Winnipeg. Father's name Mr. Robert Rogers, a pharmacist who owned local pharmacy. Mr. Rogers passed away from skin cancer a few months back. Mother's name, Lyla Rogers, a secondary school teacher."
Emily was now looking outside the window in guilt. She knew where Jack was going with this information. But she kept quiet. Drops of tears were rolling down her cheek. Jack was now not reading from an email. He was looking at Emily and talking from his heart, "Lyla is a loving mother. Isn't she? She raised you with an unconditional love, made you the woman you are today. She kept you safe from the world distractions. She taught you discipline, she taught you toughness, she taught you independence".
Emily was now visibly sobbing but still looking out the window. Jack took a deep breath and continued, "But she was not your birth mother. Your birth mother was Catherine Rogers, Robert's first wife. Catherine passed away in an accident when you were two years old.
Emily looked at Jack and started crying, she was weakly requesting Jack, "please stop, please stop."
But Jack continued, "Also Robert Rogers was not your birth father. Catherine Rogers was briefly married to someone else. The marriage lasted only six months. The marriage was broken because of a workaholic and an abusive husband."
Emily suddenly stood up and yelled, "STOP."
Jack also stood up, placed both his hands on Emily's shoulder, and looked in her tearful eyes, "Dr. Chung was your birth father."
Emily turned around to avoid looking at Jack. Her heart was filled with sadness and embarrassment. She had put her strength behind hiding this fact.
The room was silent for the next ten minutes. Jack was observing Emily, who was just looking out of the window, thinking something. Emily looked at Jack and took a deep breath, indicating she was ready to tell Jack the complete truth.
"Yes. Dr. Chung was my father."
Chapter 19
Emily just sat on her chair, looking mislaid. She had not said a word for the last fifteen minutes since accepting the fact that Dr. Chung was her birth father. Jack was giving her time to process the revelation.
It was pin-drop silence in the room when Jack's phone hummed. It was his 5 AM alarm. Emily looked at Jack, her eyes were pleading for some comfort. Jack silenced his phone and went close to her. He embraced her into his arms. He did not realize it, but Emily's complicated family and her recent loss made him feel closer to her.
Without knocking, Neil entered the room and saw Jack and Emily hugging tightly. He
coughed to break them up. Jack was annoyed at Neil for interrupting. He snapped at Neil, "What happened?"
"Dr. Zckowitch has some important updates for us. He has figured out the contents of burnt documents."
Jack unwillingly got up from the chair and started rushing after Neil. He stopped at the door and turned to Emily, "I will be back soon. If you are feeling okay, can you go through the documents on the table? They are in Chinese, see how much you understand. If not, I can arrange for a translator." Jack was pointing to the documents he recovered from the archived department of Wuhan Pharma.
As Jack started rushing out the door, Emily asked him, "Hey Jack, what about me? Am I still a suspect? You know why I lied about the meeting with Dr. Chung. Am I free to at least go in the garden and breathe some fresh air?"
Jack gave her a big smile, "I will have Neil send the orders of your release. I still want your expertise in this investigation. I really want to understand the reason behind your father's murder." Jack immediately regretted saying the last sentence. He thought it was too early to use the word "father" and "murder" together in front of Emily.
Jack joined Neil in the hallway. Neil looked at Jack, puzzled, "Father? Emily is the daughter we were looking for?"
"Yes, I will explain later," Jack dismissed the conversation.
Dr. Zckowitch had a more satisfactory smile like the first time he greeted Jack and Neil. His face was showing off pride. Jack smiling at him, said, "Dr. Zckowitch, you are fast. So, what do you have for us?"
Dr. Zckowitch either knew he had the power to lead the discussion, or he was just happy to have executed some exciting task. He started with the methodology of his findings again. This time, Jack listened patiently. Jack did not want to cut off the person twice in less than three hours. He was definitely snoozing off. Finally, Dr. Zckowitch came to his findings. Jack's focused readjusted itself.
Dr. Zckowitch turned his attention towards the projector screen, "So this document is a sales memo dated 10 January 2020. The memo states that the new vaccine is under development for a novel strain of the virus and will be ready for launch in February 2020. The vaccine is going to be sold as a cure and prevention vaccine. The geographical targets are some rural parts of China, western Asia, Europe, and North America. The estimated sales for this vaccine are going 35 million across the globe."
Jack looked at Dr. Zckowitch, "What does cure and prevention vaccine mean?"
"Most of the medicines are designed to cure the disease. The vaccine is designed to prevent the disease. From the statement in the memo, this particular vaccine is meant to do both. Assuming it works, it could probably be a brilliant idea."
"The second document is an email dated 23 November 2019 from Dr. Chung to Mr. Lee thanking him for an invitation to a party at his Hong'an cottage. Dr. Chung has thanked Mr. Lee for an opportunity with the company and is glad to be part of a prestigious project called Robin Hood." Dr. Zckowitch giggled at the mention of Robin Hood. He was expecting Jack and Neil to understand the joke in his mind and return the chuckle, but Jack was concentrating on the slide. Neil was yawning.
Being let down, Dr. Zckowitch continued, "Hong'an cottage of Lee family is very well known. It is considered a private office for Mr. Lee, the chairman of Ziyuan Group. Mr. Lee is known to throw parties and hold informal business meetings for the company guests."
Jack thanked Dr. Zckowitch, who was puffing his chest in pride. He started walking with Neil towards the residential complex to continue his discussion with Emily. Jack subconsciously had decided to ask Emily out after they go back to Canada. After their hug a few minutes earlier, Jack was confident Emily would say yes.
Jack was thinking about the information from Dr. Zckowitch. He suddenly remembered his promise to Emily about permitting her to go to the garden. He turned to Neil, "Can you inform security that Emily can visit the outside if she wants to?"
Neil took out his phone and sent a text.
Jack was again thankful to Neil for his unwarranted trust. He asked him, "What is your opinion of the sales memo?"
Neil casually replied, "Wuhan Pharma knew that this virus existed and predicted on the outbreaks and the havoc it would cause."
"But how could they know in November of 2019 when the first outbreak was reported in December of 2019. It might be a stretch, but I think Wuhan Pharma is responsible for the outbreak."
Neil frowned at Jack. He said, "You have been after the company since you arrived—your theory about being followed, the man with the tattoo of Lee's family crest. We have no evidence of foul play here. Pharma companies globally have been known to develop new vaccines regularly. This must have been just another vaccine that they developed to prevent some changes in influenza viruses."
Jack was annoyed at Neil. He thought Neil emphatically denied the possibility of foul play. There were two murders, suspicious emails, and the tall Asian man with the tattoo of Lee's family crest, who Jack had fought near the storage locker. He knew Emily would believe him. Emily would not label Jack to be some conspiracy theorist. Jack thought maybe he would find some definite proof in the archived documents he found at the lab.
As they were walking towards the residential complex, Neil got a call from Sarah. Ed had analyzed the deleted data he downloaded from the Wuhan Lab server. They turned back to go to the office section. As they entered the conference room, Sarah and Ed were already waiting for them on Skype call.
Ed jumped directly into the conversation, "Hello fellas. This is good news, bad news situation. I was not able to recover the complete data as the server is very well protected. I go snooping deeper, it would alert the company about the hack."
"Jack, what risks do you see in alerting the company, that they might be under investigation?" Sarah asked.
Jack thought for a moment, "I don't think we should alert the company further. I am sure Mr. Lee knows he is under investigation. We do have some files recovered from the archives department, and I think Emily would be decoding them as we speak. If we hit a wall, we can talk about hacking again."
"How was your conversation with Emily? Jack, I want you to know, I believe Emily has nothing to do with Dr. Chung's murder. But as of now, she is the last person to have met Dr. Chung before his death," Sarah said, choosing her words diplomatically.
Jack nodded in agreement. There was a tense silence in the room.
Ed, very uncomfortable with the awkward silence, decided to lighten the mood, "We did find some new information from the deleted data on Dr. Chung's laptop. One of them is lots of adult videos. I have a newfound respect for Dr. Chung." Ed was grinning.
Sarah quickly snarled, "Ed. This will be your first and last warning. If you talk to anything other than the topic at hand, I will come to your house right now and shoot you. I won't even have to explain it to the commissioner."
Ed's smile turned into an expression of fear. He adjusted himself to look more professional. He continued, "Unfortunately, we could recover only two emails from Dr. Chung to Mr. Lee. I will paraphrase them now, but you will have the complete emails in your inbox soon. In the first email, dated 23 November 2019, Dr. Chung is thanking Mr. Lee for an invitation -"
Jack completed Ed's sentence "for a party at Hong'an cottage."
Ed and Sarah looked at Jack with astonishment and little annoyance. Jack quickly explained, "We found the half-burnt printed copy of that email in the storage locker. In fact, Dr. Zckowitch just recovered the contents of that email five minutes back and showed them us."
Ed continued, "The second email, dated 14 February 2020, we found was from Dr. Chung to Mr. Lee, expressing his reservations about the project. Dr. Chung has been meticulous to not name the project, but we can safely assume it is Robin Hood. Man, that name cracks me up." Ed started laughing alone.
Sarah coughed loudly. Ed stopped laughing and continued, "Dr. Chung has further complained that the project has blown out of proportion, and if the details leak out, it will damage his reputation. Dr. Chung then has asked to meet Mr. L
ee to discuss new terms of his contract."
Ed stopped talking, hoping for a reaction from his audience. Sarah and Neil were looking at Jack. Jack was lost in his thoughts and much to Neil's annoyance, suddenly started pacing in the room. After five minutes, Neil turned to Sarah, "I hate it when he does that."
On hearing Neil's annoyed voice, Jack came back to his senses and realized that everyone was waiting for him to speak first. He calmly said, "The date on the second email is a week before the transaction of one million yen. The only conclusion I can draw from this is, they knew we would try and hack their server. So, they deliberately left these two emails unprotected. Very smart."
As Jack went back into his thoughts for a moment, Neil snapped at him, "You surely have an explanation for these two emails. Care to share with the group?" Jack nonchalantly replied, "The company wanted us to believe that Dr. Chung was responsible for some unfortunate mistakes in this project. They want us to think Wuhan Pharma covered his mistakes, and Dr. Chung was paid for his silence. When Emily and I almost convinced him to return to Canada, they killed him to save face. "
Sarah quickly responded to Jack's thoughts, "Jack, there is a possibility that one of Dr. Chung's experiments caused the outbreak, and maybe Wuhan Pharma did cover it to save themselves from global scrutiny."
Jack was not happy with Sarah's lack of support, but he decided not to take on a dispute with Sarah.
Sarah continued, "Ed, can you hop off the call? Neil, can you give me and Jack some privacy?"
Jack knew what was coming. Sarah was about to impart the words of wisdom on Jack. Sarah took a deep sigh, "Jack, I do not want to rub your past on you." Jack bitterly replied, "then don't."
Sarah ignored Jack's insubordination. She was adamant about getting her message through to Jack. "Jack, I do not want to remind you that this is your second chance and maybe a last chance with the department. No one has got a second chance so fast in the history of RCMP. You are a bright kid. I do want to see you throw away your career for some kind of witch hunt."
The Hidden Agenda Page 10