Chapter 190 - All in vain (1/2)
”Interesting,” said Bruce aloud during dinner as he was notified by the ShadowCard account of Balthazar's searches. He was having dinner alongside his daughter and her husband. She was talking about reduction in their personnel available as quite a big chunk of their organization has taken leaves to pursue the surviving members of the Nirbaadh pirates. Most personnel in security companies and even law enforcement were trying to get a hold of the bounties being offered by the Khan and Malik families.
”What caught your eye?” asked his daughter. She had been rambling about the difficulty she and D.i.c.k were having at ther company for the past few minutes, but Bruce didn't say a word. Usually, when he gets a message he would just reply and doesn't talk about it or say anything aloud. So, she her curiosity was spooked.
”A couple of hours ago, D.i.c.k created an account for the kid, Balthazar and I have set the system to monitor and report any activity on his account,” said Bruce. ”Just got the information that he had made a few searches using his account.”
”What did he want?” asked D.i.c.k looking up from his steak.
”The first search was expected by me. He wanted to look into this unknown man, Dave that he had been talking of since the attack on his station. No update on his name till now,” said Bruce. ”The second was kind of unexpected and recently made. In a few moments after the incident with the pirates. So, I find it very interesting. He searched for Ryan Rowley.”
”Ryan Rowley? The brother of Raymond Rowley?” asked D.i.c.k. ”What is the request for Ryan?”
”It is for his death. There have been three different bounties on it. Any idea on his situation? Looking at the timing of issue of the bounty and his relation to Raymond Rowley, I guess there was might have been something that happened in the family of those merchants,” said Bruce. ”We got anyone in contact with them?”
”Evelyn has someone monitoring them, since Balthazar had reported on them. She didn't believe the convenient way in which they had reported of the boys indiscretion and exiled out of the family,” said D.i.c.k as he put in a message to her and continued eating his steak.
”Wait, he put in a request for Ryan Rowley, but not a kill request. It was just for information or captured alive and in good health,” said Bruce.
”He wants Ryan Rowley too?” asked D.i.c.k surprised. ”Ryan is the patriarch's nephew. It will be a big scandal if he Rowleys are setting him up. I think we might have to contact the Blyths and I better contact Evelyn.”
”Evelyn just sent it to me,” said Bruce suddenly. ”Ryan had recently left the family alone without any security detail. There seems to be a rumor that there was a meeting in the family on the day of the incident and someone was exiled after the meeting.”
”She thinks it is Ryan Rowley?” asked Barbara.
”Yes. It certainly seems so,” said Bruce as he received another message. ”She is also surprised that we are asking for this information.”
”What are you going to tell her?” asked D.i.c.k.
”That someone has attempted an attack on him and reported that the mission is much more dangerous and requires an increase in the bounty to go ahead,” said Bruce.
”Is that even allowed? Wouldn't the president know?” asked Barbara.
”You know I could be the president, right?” laughed Bruce.
”I don't need to worry about those things. I am just updating it as a critical note vetted by me after one of my men took the assignment. Evelyn also accepted to vet it,” he continued as he updated the assignments posted for Ryan Rowley.
”Wouldn't it make it hard for people to accept Balthazar's request too?” asked D.i.c.k.
”Good way to prevent anyone from accepting it too. If killing the man was considered extremely dangerous, a bounty for him to be caught alive would be considered a lot more dangerous,” said Bruce. ”What I am most concerned is about the fact, the kid already is looking for things that were only privy to Evelyn. She just informed me that I was the only one apart from her and her man at the Rowleys to know about this. Does he have a network that is on par with her?”
”He could have contacted Balthazar on his own,” said Barbara.
”Improbable. Balthazar was indirectly responsible for his brother's death and seeing that Ryan was evicted on the day of the incident, I think he wouldn't be too interested in contacting the person responsible for it,” said Bruce. ”It doesn't make sense, but the other alternative isn't sensible either. What we have here is an enigma. I wan't someone on his tail.”
”That might be hard. He managed to overcome the Nirbaadh pirates and knights whom the entire alliance including us failed to make a definite move all this time. He would probably realize it. It isn't really the best option we have,” said Barbara. ”Moreover, I suspect the Blyths would also be having him tailed.”
”That's right,” said D.i.c.k agreeing with his wife.
”We will talk to Arthur tomorrow. I hope he has some information,” said Bruce. ”Let us leave it for now.”
As they were discussing about Balthazar, their person of interest was done with the account for now and decided to return back to his family mansion. He was in dire need of money to go through with his plans and he had recently spent a lot of it in the game and development of guild training environment.
He needed another source for money. This was an issue which had been troubling him for quite some time. To employ services of Herschel and also for the bounty, he would need a lot of money. He planned to take out some money that he earned from the dungeon entrance he owned at Blackrock Town, but he knew that it wouldn't be enough.
He had to find a better way and he knew that Robert would already be under scrutiny and currently Richard would allocate any funds for him. He didn't want to ask Winston as he would have to explain to his grandfather, the need for those and also it would attract attention that he didn't want.
So, he decided to call Bolena while travelling back to the mansion. After a couple of attempts, she responded to the call. ”Hi brother, how are you?” asked Bolena looking tired and a bit disconcerted.
”I am fine. What is wrong with you?” he asked.
”Nothing. Just work problems. How is your career? I heard that your posting might be affected due to the latest incident with those pirates?!”
”I got no idea. Where did you hear that from?” he asked.
”That man Rodrigo. He came to watch the demonstration along with your replacement, Sophia Martinez. They had a lot of doubts which made me real tired. Both of them actually have a decent knowledge of technology and it had been a long night due to that. I expected them to talk about costs and materials and the like, but she was very interested in the effects and possible changes that might occur in her soldiers physiology and other concerns for her men,” said Bolen. ”Took a long time to proper convince her.”
”Hmm,” said Balthazar nodding absentmindedly. He didn't want to talk about his crush to his sister. He didn't want to involve in any discussion that involved her.
”It wasn't like she was wrong, but we need a lot more testing. We haven't really tested the entire warframe with personnel to check the resiliency and other features. Moreover, to do that we need to have comprehensive medical facilities closeby for which we need to find proper location. These facilities should also be very advanced, and the equipment are to be very secure. Grandpa didn't even agree to provide this equipment to me at my lab. He says it is too risky and that I would need medical personnel with more experience in case of emergencies. That guy Rodrigo also told the exact words that Winston said. I am sure that gramps had put those thoughts in the heads of those guys.,” she continued with her complaining.
”And the worst part was that he has suggested that we find a place in the Asklepian city close to home. He is even suggesting a place near to the hospital. There aren't any decent ground or large spaces close to the city. He just wants me to get back. It would cost a lot of money and time for the company due to this setback. I didn't think that he would go so low for something like this,” she said in anger. It was clear that she was furious by Winston's attempts to relocate her to work close to home after she refused to leave BR-64 planet due to her work.
”Well, I guess so. He is the patriarch and he wouldn't have been able to hold that position, if he wasn't good at such schemes. He got you good,” mocked Balthazar.
”I didn't tell you all this so that you can mock me.”
”What can I do apart from that?”
”You can help me!”