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Chapter : 276
It was absurd. It was irrational. It was, in every measurable way, completely ridiculous. But it was also, against all odds and logic, exactly how the 13th Unit operated. And somehow, it worked.
Sayma followed behind the others, already mentally cataloging the areas of the laboratory they had not fully searched during their first visit. There had been several sections that they had only given a cursory examination, and the hidden journal proved that the facility held more secrets than a surface-level sweep could reveal.
She hated that she was starting to believe in the paperback. It went against everything she had been trained to value: evidence, methodology, peer review, replicable results. And yet here she was, preparing to launch a second investigation based on the plot of a three-copper romance thriller.
Then again, she thought, adjusting her glasses as she climbed into the cart, maybe that was the entire point. Maybe the best investigations were the ones that refused to follow the expected path.
Maybe the truth was not found in the obvious places, but in the margins, the gaps, the spaces between the lines of the official report where nobody thought to look.
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The morning sun cast long shadows across the dusty road as the 13th Unit rattled back toward Carrion's abandoned research facility. Ken sat in the back of the cart with his feet propped on a crate, reading a mystery novel by the bouncing light.
Naomi glanced at him from the driver's bench and shook her head. "We're conducting a serious investigation. You could at least pretend to prepare."
Ken flipped a page without looking up. "I am preparing. This book has a secret chamber in chapter twelve. Very educational."
Naomi sighed and decided not to argue. Experience had taught her that reasoning with Ken was like arguing with a stubborn cat. You either won and got scratched, or lost and still got scratched.
Iris sat rigidly beside Naomi, her violet eyes fixed on the horizon. The princess had barely slept since Ken's wild literary deduction the night before. The idea that Carrion's murder was tied to a conspiracy weighed on her like a stone cloak.
She had spent the early hours composing coded messages to her most trusted informants in the capital. If treason was truly at work, she needed allies who could move quietly through the corridors of power.
"If Ken's deduction is correct," Iris said quietly, "then we are not just solving a murder. We are unraveling treason. And traitors do not leave evidence lying around for anyone to find."
Naomi nodded grimly. "That's why we need to tear that lab apart. If there's more hidden inside those walls, we find it before the conspirators have a chance to destroy it."
Behind them, Laxmi leaned against the cart's side, arms crossed and clearly annoyed. "I still think we should have brought more people. Six of us searching an entire facility is ridiculous. We'll miss things."
"Seven," Zinia corrected from across the cart, not looking up from her notebook. "Risa is meeting us there. Princess Iris requested her specifically."
"Risa?" Laxmi raised an eyebrow. "The healer? What's she going to do, bandage the dust bunnies?"
Zinia snapped her notebook shut with a sharp crack. "If we encounter dangerous substances or contaminated samples, we need a medical expert on site. Not everything can be solved with fire, Laxmi."
"Most things can," Laxmi grumbled, going back to scowling at the passing scenery. She was not in the best mood. Sayma had spent the entire previous night deciphering Carrion's first journal.
She had emerged looking like a ghost, muttering about something called Devil Flour. Nobody knew what that meant yet, and Laxmi hated not knowing things almost as much as she hated being told fire wasn't the answer.
The cart lurched to a stop in front of the crumbling facility. The building looked even more depressing in daylight than it had during their first visit. Shattered windows stared down like empty eye sockets.
The front door hung off one hinge like a drunk leaning on a lamppost. Weeds had pushed through the cracked front steps with an enthusiasm that felt almost aggressive. The whole place radiated abandonment and neglect.
Ken hopped off the cart and stretched dramatically, his arms wide and his back popping in three places. "Home sweet creepy home!" he announced, tucking his mystery novel into the inner pocket of his navy blue suit.
Risa arrived a few minutes later on a separate cart, her pink hair tied back with a white ribbon. She carried a leather medical bag that looked almost as big as she was and wore a determined expression.
That determined expression lasted exactly three seconds before she tripped over a loose cobblestone and nearly face-planted into the dirt. "I'm okay!" she squeaked, her face turning bright red as Ken caught her elbow.
"The ground is very uneven here," Risa added quickly, dusting off her knees and clutching her medical bag tighter.
"Sure, blame the ground," Laxmi muttered with a smirk from the doorway. "Classic move."
Iris gathered everyone in the main hallway and laid out the plan. Her voice was calm and authoritative, cutting through the morning chill like a blade. "We conduct a full secondary sweep of the facility."
"Our first pass was too cautious, too respectful. This time, we tear through everything. Floorboards, bookshelves, walls if we have to." She looked at each member of the team in turn.
"Sayma believes Carrion hid something critical inside this building. Something worth killing for. We are going to find it."
The team dispersed through the facility with grim purpose. Sayma and Zinia took the main laboratory, where the most sensitive equipment and chemical samples had been stored. Laxmi and Naomi headed for the back offices.
Iris started on the upper floor storage rooms. That left Ken and Risa to sweep the ground-floor corridor. Iris had paired them deliberately, balancing Ken's unpredictability with Risa's steady medical knowledge.
In the back office, things went sideways almost immediately.
Laxmi and Naomi stood in front of a heavy metal desk in what had been Carrion's personal office. Three locked drawers stared up at them like a stubborn challenge. Laxmi held a small vial of corrosive acid between her fingers.
"One drop and the lock melts like butter," Laxmi said, tilting the vial toward the keyhole with theatrical precision. "Clean, fast, elegant. The Laxmi way."
Naomi grabbed her wrist firmly. "Are you insane? The acid will seep through and destroy whatever documents are inside the drawer too!"
"Not if I use exactly the right amount!" Laxmi protested, trying to pull her arm free. "I've done this a hundred times!"
"You once melted an entire table trying to open a jam jar!" Naomi shot back, tightening her grip on Laxmi's wrist.
"That jar was defective! And the table was ugly anyway! It was practically a public service!" Laxmi yanked her arm free and glared at the red-haired warrior.
"We are not destroying potential evidence because you have the precision of a drunk rhinoceros!" Naomi grabbed a thin metal lockpick from her belt and held it up like a weapon.
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