CHAPTER 57: FAST AND UNEVEN

The job of protecting Kiet and his sister wasn’t even the kind of assignment that could be given to just anyone in the first place. Protecting an omega and his sister, who weren’t from their unit and, on top of that, worked under the orders of the wealthy elite, was something that, no matter who Taras assigned it to, would first be questioned.

Maxim, though stubborn enough not to lift a finger without getting answers to his questions, was still the best man for the job. However, first, without a doubt, he needed that answers. So, he was now showering Taras with questions.

"Why should I protect an omega who satisfies the loins of old parliament members?"

"You’re getting stranger by the day, Tar."

"What’s the deal? Why is this omega worth protecting?"

"Who exactly is after this omega?"

Before Taras could continue ignoring the questions, there was a knock on the office door, and someone walked in holding a piece of paper sealed inside a plastic bag.

As Taras looked at the preserved paper and the person who had brought it with anticipation, the newcomer smiled. "Taras, we managed to collect blood, saliva, and semen samples from the paper. The blood sample may not be enough for a DNA match, but saliva is a very strong bodily fluid for DNA testing. We also detected microscopic traces of skin."

A silent smile spread across Taras’s face, but the look in his eyes didn’t suit the expression, a smile like that belonged to someone with ill intentions. As Maxim glanced at the paper now in Taras’s hands, he asked, "What’s this?"

"I’ll explain," Taras replied, without taking his eyes off the person who had brought the report. That person went on, "If you already have an idea whose DNA might be on the paper, then our identification process will be much faster. Do you have anyone in mind, Taras?"

"Of course," Taras said, turning his gaze this time to the thin stream of smoke rising from the cigarette in the glass ashtray.

Whoever he had in mind, Maxim thought, they were in serious trouble. If Taras had gone so far as to investigate semen and saliva samples, then this person had to be important.

"The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, his son, and probably... a few businessmen who share private sector property tenders with the Minister," Taras said.

The moment he listed the names, Maxim’s eyes went wide, and he shouted. "You... are you serious! Where... how did you find this paper?"

"I didn’t find it," Taras said. His cigarette had gone out without him taking a single drag, yet as he looked at the dead butt, he didn’t feel a shred of regret.

Normally, he always thought of wasted cigarettes as a loss, especially since in the outskirts they were one of the hardest goods to obtain and smuggle from the center. But now, with the image of Le An handing him the paper of his own free will replaying in his mind, the desire to smoke hadn’t even stirred inside him.

"If you didn’t find it, then how did it get to you?"

Maxim pressed again, taking the paper from its bag and reading the words on the small piece of a drug leaflet. "This is a medication prospectus. There’s nothing important written on it. Besides, anything touched by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and all the ministers is practically destroyed. And both the Ministry and GAC buildings are full of esper-power-suppressing sensors. How the hell did you get in?"

Taras smiled at Maxim as if to say, I’ll explain. But for now, he couldn’t allow the DNA investigation team to learn everything.

"If this paper carries the DNA of the people you mentioned, then it’s a very strong piece of evidence, Taras," the other person said. Taras nodded.

As Maxim had said, the GAC and ministry buildings were highly secure places even espers couldn’t bypass, and ministers, parliament members, and all important figures were so meticulous they left not a single trace behind.

No dirty business had ever strongly leaked out until now.

That was exactly why this overlooked piece of paper was so important. It was an exception.

How had Treasure managed to keep this paper despite Tracker? Or maybe... because he had cried so much and resigned himself to being powerless, they had simply let him keep it, thinking whatever?

Taras smiled again at the thought that, despite all impossibilities, this paper had somehow absurdly ended up in his hands, in the hands of someone planning disaster, and lifted his head.

"So, is there any information about the medicine named on the paper?"

"Methoterole. There’s no such drug on the market. Most likely something produced before release, so we have no information," the newcomer replied. "If the part of the paper listing the active ingredients hadn’t been torn off, maybe we could’ve found something."

"No problem," Taras said. "The DNA matches will be enough. Send the list of names I mentioned to the intelligence team. Have them send me the results."

The other one took the evidence back and left the room. A short while later, after they were alone again, Taras turned to Maxim, who had his arms crossed, tapping his boot heel against the floor and watching the dust scatter beneath it. Maxim asked.

"This omega and his sister you want me to protect... the paper is related to them then? Did they swipe it from the place they work?"

"No," Taras said. "The personal belongings and bodies of the special room staff are searched every time they enter and exit."

Maxim shook his head, mulling over the answer, then suddenly fixed his gaze on Taras’s unusually relaxed face. "Did you find the paper while rummaging through Treasure’s room, then?"

Taras’s brows rose at the thought, not at all pleased. "Rummaging through his room?" he murmured, but Maxim pressed on heatedly.

"Well, well. So Treasure also receives service in those private rooms, huh? Or... hey, could it be that he has some kind of relationship with one of those people you listed?"

"Wait- don’t tell me that omega is with Treasure? Even if he is, why would you protect-"

"He’s not with anyone."

Taras cut him off, irritated by Maxim’s endless guesses. Lighting a new cigarette and drawing in the smoke with a thirst that felt as if it could quench something deep inside, he told Maxim everything, one detail at a time.

The mocking astonishment on Maxim’s face at first turned into something more serious, though still tinged with surprise. "So... Treasure handed you the paper with his own hands?"

"Yes," Taras said, putting out his cigarette in the ashtray.

"And in return, you promised to protect that omega and his sister."

"I didn’t promise. Since their testimony would also be useful, we would have needed to protect them anyway."

"But you asked him what he wanted in return, and you spoke as if you would protect them because that’s what he wanted..."

"..." Taras stared at Maxim with a questioning look, not yet grasping what he was getting at. Maxim’s face was not quite troubled, but still had a dullness to it.

"What is it?" Taras finally asked.

Maxim shrugged. "Did you... maybe tell him the truth about the attack? That you were the one who saved him, not the one trying to kill him?"

"No," Taras said. The question stirred an unease inside him that he hadn’t even realized he’d been avoiding.

"And yet he gave you that paper... Even knowing what you’d do with it?"

"Yes," Taras said. "What happened during the attack... changes nothing. He gave me the paper because he’s accepted that without obeying me, he can’t survive," he added. "He has no other choice. Whether I’m the one who tried to kill him or the one trying to protect him, the result is the same."

"He’s in the palm of my hand."

"..." Maxim stared at him, feeling as though he had just glimpsed the darkest part of Taras’s soul, and, unsettled, looked away. "Nothing... really changed, then?" he asked, watching how not a single muscle in Taras’s large frame twitched.

Taras answered with a question of his own. "What do you mean?"

"Forget it," Maxim said. "Whatever you’re doing to Treasure, it’s working. That’s what matters."

Then, as an idea suddenly came to him, he lifted his head, hesitating for a moment before parting his lips to test it.

"When the scandal blows up in the end, it’ll be explosive. If we can get more information from that omega and his sister, the rest will unravel like a loose thread," he said first.

Taras nodded. Maxim went on slowly, deliberately, without a care.

"Every name whose DNA is on that piece of paper will be dragged into the scandal, and they won’t be able to recover their image before they’re completely ruined. In the end...

"Hah, I can’t even imagine the look on Treasure’s face. Let’s see who’ll parade his face around like a badge of honor after that."

Up until that last part, Taras had listened with eagerness and agreement. But as soon as Maxim began speaking about Treasure, the victorious and driven look on his face froze.

Listening to words that sounded as though his next actions had already been decided for him, time seemed to stand still.

Maxim ignored his reaction, smirking as he looked at him mockingly. "What? Treasure’s DNA must be on that evidence too, right?"

"..."

"He’s practically handed us the chance to tie his name to this VIP room and omega trafficing scandal. We’re not about to throw that away, are we?" Maxim asked.

Something sharp stabbed into Taras’s chest, bringing a deep ache. The blatant truth, that Le An’s DNA could also be tied to all the other events, had never even crossed his mind until now, and the clarity of the idea numbed him.

Yes, they could do it. In fact, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Treasure, of course, naturally, was one of those people, and he deserved to be brought down and destroyed along with them.

And yet... not a single word left Taras’s lips to agree to it.

Maxim stared at the rigid, tense form of a man whose unresolved feelings looked ready to burst out of his body. The thought of losing Treasure from the palm of his hand had done this to Taras’s heart.

Fast and uneven.

He had no problem letting Treasure believe he was the one who’d tried to kill him, and he felt no pity using him. But when it came to letting Treasure slip away...

The darkness in Taras’s eyes now, born of the thought of losing him, was deeper, fiercer, and more chaotic than when he’d spoken of revenge. As if the first thing in the world he wasn’t ready for and would never let go of... wasn’t vengeance at all, but Treasure.

Maxim’s lips parted in surprise when he saw the black shadow that seemed to spread across the whites of Taras’s eyes. "Tar-"

The shadow strained either to consume Taras entirely or to spill out of him. Taras closed his eyes for a moment against the cold sting within them, then opened them again.

"You okay?" Maxim asked, regret creeping in for having pushed him maybe too far.

"Nothing," Taras dismissed, forcing the shadow back inside. "First... we wait for the DNA matches, then..."

He couldn’t finish. He didn’t know. Even if Maxim’s suggestion was the smartest move... he didn’t know what decision he would make. In all his time holding authority, this was the first moment he didn’t know what decision to take.

Treasure would be thrown into the scandal. Or...

Treasure would be kept out of it.

Neither sentence left his lips for a while, stubbornly refusing to accept that he had to decide.

Maxim, having already taken the answer from his hesitation and expression, spoke to close the matter. "Tar, let’s talk about this later-"

"Taras!"

The office door swung wide open, and one of the unit’s main building guards rushed in, looking slightly roughed up and out of breath.

"Taras, the Awakening movement representatives are here. There’s a convoy of Awakenings waiting at one of the unit’s border gates. They want to meet with you. They’ve roughed up a few of our people at the border."

"They said... they’ve made it clear you owe them a sit-down and they want to talk about Treasure."

At the mention of Treasure, Taras’s scattered focus returned. He nodded, absentmindedly.

The Awakening had been late in coming to him.