Chapter 27 - The diversion (2/2)
Humayun was in a similar situation. His suit was melting, and the liquid was burning at a very high temperature. He was bent over the tub and trying to catch the crystalline cube as it fell into the tub. So, he had the liquid fall all over his suit. He tried to pull it off but couldn't do so as the part that covered his hands and face were melting down. He could hardly see because of it.
Harry who managed to avoid the same situation because of the force field on his suit helped Humayun to quickly pull his own burning suit off.
Kevin was the one who was in the best state. He successfully managed to jump out of the bathroom door before the liquid splattered all over. He immediately passed on a message that a fire was setup in the building and empty the air through the vents, evacuate the hotel and called in the fire fighters.
About 15 minutes later, the fire was subsided by the efforts of the fire fighters. The fire burnt the entire bathroom and more than half of the room. It also spread to the adjacent room through the hole that was made when the toilet exploded.
The mission was a total failure. Humayun had serious burns on his hands and his torso and was rendered unconscious because of the pain. He was transported to the nearest hospital. Wilhiem had almost instantaneously completely evaporated within the liquid and William had been burnt to death with most of his body turned to ashes.
A large part of the room was also burnt, and they couldn't find anything useful. The communication devices of both the Burns brothers were missing. So, they couldn't even get find out their location history of the previous day as it still hadn't been uploaded to cloud.
Harry understood that both William and Wilhiem were entirely used as a diversion and immediately contacted Arthur. Arthur quickly pulled in Albert, Bruce, Yassin and Balthazar into the call.
”So, both of them are dead?” asked Bruce.
”Yes. Both the Burns brothers' bodies have been burnt unrecognizable. Even Humayun was put out of commission by the fire. It was meant to take care of most of us. If not for Kevin recognizing the scent of something sweet mixed in the blood, the result would have been way worse,” said Harry.
Bolena who was listening into the call along with Balthazar was very shocked and horrified on finding out how the attack was made on the Burns brothers and the way they chose to set up the trap. But then she suddenly realized that the chemical that can be burnt in an almost oxygen free environment would be something that could be monitored closely by the alliance.
”Some that is inflammable in an environment with very low oxygen would be a very closely monitored chemical by alliance authorities and wouldn't be easy to procure in secret with ease,” she said to the people in the call.
”She has a point. Can we get any details on the fire accelerant used?” asked Bruce.
”Kevin is working on it. But by his expressions, it doesn't look like we are going to get any results quickly. All he could tell us that the liquid was some kind of benzene derivative,” replied Harry.
”I can help speed up a bit. You told us that the liquid was in the bathtub, right? Could you ask him to run two tests which I send? There are only few such chemical used in the industries and labs here and I can help reduce the possible number of it sources and the exact chemical from database we maintain,” said Bolena.
”You have a database of what the other labs and organizations use?” asked Harry confused. Only high officials in the alliance chemical regulatory would have that.
”No, but we keep a track of the competition and we have contacts among the various suppliers. It is just good trend to keep a database of it based on them.”
”I will provide you the contact details of Kevin. He is our expert on all things related to fire and demolitions,” said Harry sending the details to Balthazar via the call app.
Within an hour Bolena managed to narrow down the chemical. But it made her more nervous as the only labs which procure the chemical within the cit and the neighboring ones is Apropos labs.
She immediately informed them about her finding, and this cause another turmoil among the group.
”Where would the chemicals be stored in the complex?” Albert asked Bolena.
”It would be in the lane 7 cold warehouse C near section 13 of the lab complex. I can lead you there if required or have someone lead you there,” answered Bolena.
”Have you informed someone about the incident or the chemicals in the lab?” asked Albert.
”No.”
”OK. That's good. Do not inform anyone of it and stay here. Let us deal with it.”
He immediately broke up from the call and contacted Lily and Lila regarding the issue. They quickly started moving through the record of the lab video. In a few minutes, they called back.
”The video in the lane in the warehouse has been disabled for half-an-hour yesterday. We didn't find anyone unlogged access of the during the rest of the video. We observed the video of the entire warehouse and the areas near it around the time when the video was disabled and narrowed down to two people who might have accessed the chemical during that time,” said Lila.
”Never needed explanation of how you did. Just give me the names,” asked Albert.
”Dr. Seinberg and Dr. Winkle. We have their location from their badges. Dr. Winkle is currently in the lab and we have signaled Jordan to go to her location. Dr. Seinberg isn't in the location shown by his badge. We are looking into his location right now. Sean found his badge quite close to where you are. Sending his image. Look out for him,” said Lily.
”DOCTOR BOLENA! WHERE ARE YOU?”
They heard a short brown-haired man wearing a lab coat and goggles running into the cafeteria. He looked hysteric and was sweating.
”You can stop looking for him, I think I see him approaching us in the cafeteria,” said Balthazar.
Note:
* High frequency blade - A high-frequency blade was a sword reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonating at extremely high vibration frequencies. This oscillation weakened the molecular bonds of anything it cuts, thereby increasing its cutting ability.