Hidden and Silent (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 19: Part Four

 Yuri did a double take at the wall across from the desk, oddly bare of shelving unlike the others and traced with tiny pieces of debris periodically lining the wall. They were miniscule. Insignificant. But Yuri's keen eyes picked up on the discrepancy like a hawk hunting for a mouse. Searching for every obscure sign and hint of rodential life for him to seize upon.

With quick strides, Yuri went to crouch and study the specks for a closer look.

The bits of dirt truly were scant. They hugged the wall like children fleeing to their mother, and Yuri suspected they were the remnants of a broom swooshing along this edge.

Of course, there was nothing particularly interesting about that. Of course, this room would be swept and cleaned, but what nagged Yuri were the bits that fit just a little too much under the baseboards, in the near imperceptible gap between the floor and wall.

It nagged at him.

Yuri stood.

He cast a glance over his shoulder into the room behind him and looked forward again. Both palms were placed on the surface and he applied light pressure to start.

Something was weird about this wall. It wasn't heavy like concrete. It wasn't concrete.

Click.

The wall shifted when Yuri pressed harder and sounds of gears rattled, the motion groaning in the walls. The whole section popped subtly out of place and moved backwards, dragging on the floor. Dark gaps appeared around the edges, slowly growing bigger until the wall stopped about two feet away from it's original position.

Yuri eyed it breathlessly.

He went to investigate.

The wall had retreated to reveal a secret room that was bigger than the office, leaving ample space for Yuri slip between the gap into the darkened room. He searched for a light and flicked the switch he found on the left from where he'd entered.

What Yuri found was another desk against a wall. On it, was a telephone with wires disappearing into the concrete wall drilled with a small hole, and papers strewn haphazardly over top. A small shelf with binders and files sat to the left of the desk and Yuri passed over it for the time being to pull out the desk's chair and sit. He wanted a quick look at what he'd found before he packed it all and lugged it back t the SSS.

He chose a leaf of paper that sat on top.

They were numbers. Scrawled with messy calculations and Yuri was immediately drawn to the two, definitively circled numbers that were the result of all of Kai's math, conveniently labeled.

'Expenses'. And 'Profits'.

This was an issue Yuri had noticed when the lab was taken down. Brook had eluded to the large amounts of money the labs made, and yet when Yuri's team confiscated everything, the math didn't add up. What they found was the bare minimum to operate a facility such as this, no records to suggest they had much more than that. Not kept at a bank under a pseudonym, personal safe, or anything and Yuri had wondered if Brook was wrong.

But here it was, clearly proving her right.

'Profits.'

If the director didn't have that money, who did? And what were they using it for?

Yuri set the sheet down and picked up another.

Now this was what Yuri had been expecting. A list of names and large, corresponding numbers attached to them. What he didn't expect were who those names belonged to.

Among them, Vincent Chad. A politician. A rich politician, and several others like him joined the list.

The people who were governing the country had known about these labs and were paying for their services?!

The paper crumpled in Yuri's hand and he fwapped it aggressively on the desk.

He picked up another.

And his anger quickly shifted to dread, freezing his heart and stilling his fingers.

'Location Four Expense Reports'.

Yuri stared horrified and blinked at it, willing it so say something else.