Duplus

Chapter 32

——Third Person's POV——

Light seeped in through the blinds and landed on the desk in front. Piles of documents were scattered on the polished wood and the room smelled of vanilla spray. The room felt like a tiny compartment on the last floor of the tall building, where the clouds covered the sun like waves of smoke emerging from the sides.

However, it was very sunny that day as the man sitting on the desk growled lowly, eye twitching as a ray of sunlight fell on his head.

"Did you know?" he started in his deep but unsettling voice that was creepily sweet. "I don't like the sun. Things tend to uncover under the light and it usually blows all my plans." He smiled at the tall and confident man in front of him.

"Indeed, Father." the man responded humbly.

The older man fumbled with the pen in his hand, twirling it between his fingers and looking at it as if it was the most amusing thing ever.

"It's nice of you to come all the way here, son." his sharp grey eyes shifted to the young man. "Any updates on that sneaky traitor?" his tone got cold all of a sudden and the man took a deep breath. He took a step forward.

"She... Ran away." a loud bang on the table caught him off guard. The old yet clever Father glared at him. "How could you let her escape? Weren't you enough for one little girl? I suppose you can't handle this matter anymore so I'll just hand it over to Lx3."

"No, no, Father. Please give me one last chance." He started to plead. "I slipped a tracking device on her but it gives no direction. I know where she resides momentarily but my sense tells me she's not going to stay there for long. If you allow me, I can take a few men and capture the traitors right away." He tried to argue.

Father shook his head, with a disappointing look. "I didn't expect you to be so short-sighted, Lx2. If you attack the area, our secret will be out like a fire and you know how important it is for those Muslim refugees to stay here until the experiment is complete." He continued. "What I think is, Lx16's host is still alive. She's moving this along, trying to find answers. You've been very careless this time, son." his voice held a hidden warning that shook even a man like Lx2 to the core.

He hung his head low and he nodded. "Forgive me, Father. Things are getting out of control but I assure you it won't take me long to get to the bottom of this. If her host is still alive and if both of these nuisances are trying to intervene, I won't hesitate to get rid of them the moment I see them."

Father cocked an eyebrow. "I'll hold you onto that." He said skeptically, but still making Lx2 sigh in relief. He felt grateful like a soldier had just been spared his life.

A short moment of silence was broken when Father spoke, "Tell me more about the correctional facility. How many successes so far?" he questioned, resuming his fiddling.

"About three. The experiment was conducted on four duplus in the past month and one of them couldn't tolerate the strong chemical. The three successful duplus are still being treated but it seems till now that they're getting used to it. In about a week or two, the medical faculty tell me that they'll be able to show us the results and hopefully, it will be pleasant news."

Father nodded knowingly, a smile lingering on his face that hinted at the thousands of secrets he was hiding. "I'd like you to hold the monthly meeting with Megmel's citizens tomorrow. There's something I want to share with them." He ordered, thinking about Allah knew what. Lx2 nodded quickly not daring to question any of his orders before Father added, "And oh, when you find Lx16, I want you to bring her to me. Before she dies, I want to personally see what one of my greatest creations looks like."