Chapter 25: A Deal with the Devil

Ted was panicking when he woke up. At first, he thought he was bleeding but realized that it was ketchup. He couldn't move as there was an exaggerated amount of duct tapes tying him, which could easily immobilize three full-grown adults.

He glanced across the kitchen, hoping to find anything which he could use to break free. It was clear that no one knew of his awakening. He struggled to move, but the chair which he was tied to was very stable. No matter how he threw his weight around, the chair won't move.

"Are most Royals involved in drug trafficking?" A chillingly familiar voice was heard.

Ted tried to clutched his bound fist to calm himself down. He couldn't see Seeker as he was positioned in the corner, out of view of the other people in the other room.

"Not all. But most of the top Royals are. The status that they carry allows them to move around Phil-Pangea easily without being suspected of anything."

Alean Cipril was pretty calm now. She no longer panicked or answered in fear as the interrogation continued.

"How do you get the drugs? It's hard to fathom how drugs could ever enter this country with its security detail." Charles spoke angrily.

"I've served in the military, and I know how the measures are taken to ensure that no drug comes in! It's basically impossible to import drugs into this country!"

"My dear Charles, remember what Sherlock Holmes would say? 'Eliminate the impossible and all that's left, however improbable, must be the truth.'" Seeker imitated with a British accent.

"The reason why I believe the school is the central hub for distributing drugs is that it is the perfect place with the perfect hideout to develop these drugs." Seeker smiled.

"But Zeek, I've seen the news. The drugs that the government has managed to confiscate are all foreign-made!" Meryl recalled several news reports.

"Think, Meryl! General Cipril is part of the government! It would be easy for him to make such claims, and the government, along with the masses, will easily believe that these drugs were foreign-made! But let me ask you this, exactly how did they determine that it's foreign-made?" Seeker smiled.

"I don't know. It was very technical when it was explained on TV."

"Exactly! Most won't bother to examine it. And people who might want to examine it would have to go against the array of experts that were paid to say it was foreign. Those people left with the guts to study it are weird people who spend their days reading conspiracy theories and the like. And these people are rarely taken seriously."

"So it really is made in school…?" Meryl was dismal. The school that she loved so much had such a background.

"It's the perfect cover. In fact, this secret never managed to reach the light even up to the great wars. Blaming foreigners for bringing drugs into this country served as a convenient claim, especially in this era, dubbed the Age of Distrustful Nations. By simply blaming foreign or international corporations, the ongoing bandwagon mentality of rage against foreigners easily pushes the General's secret agenda. Even if General Cipril produces a claim that the foreign corporations who are being blamed could prove wrong, who would the masses believe in; the foreigners who could cause another war or the people in charge of defending this country?"

Meryl was silent. It really made sense.

"Who are you?" Alean finally asked.

"How do you know all this? We were sure that no one could trace things back to me!"

"I know. Bravo Miss. Bravo." Seeker applauded.

"Leading the trails back to Professor Yun. Poor guy. He's your fall guy, correct? You probably have his kids kidnapped or something to that extent. Hence, small-time drug dealers like little Cliffy here would point at the Language Professor interrogated."

Cliff sat in shock. He knew drugs circulated on campus, but the reach was more than what he had expected.

"Who are you? Are you with the PUI?" Alean had a calm demeanor as she asked.

Seeker smiled and admired Alean's courage and adaption to the situation.

"Let's just say I had a glimpse of the future and know these things, Miss. So let me check if I'm right. The school, under the great cause of education, would request the very ingredients necessary to make these drugs. Of course, to avoid suspicion, the ingredients are all provided by your loyal partners who coincidentally are the parents of many Royal students."

Alean nodded helplessly.

"Woah! So the Royals are all drug pushers?" Lynd was surprised. Was that Royal girl who tried to flirt with him in on all this?"

"Not all. It would be too suspicious. But I would say most of the prominent ones are." Seeker stared at Alean to confirm. Alean gave another helpless nod.

"Oh. Lynd, bring Ted back here. He's awake. And Meryl, Shut the recording. We've gotten enough from her confession."

Alean was surprised. Wasn't Ted already dead? She stared at the room where Lynd went off to,

"MMMMHHHHH!" A muffled shout could be heard on the other room. Lynd ran and dragged the bounded Ted back.

"He's alive!" Charles was relieved.

"Of course. I never killed him." Seeker immediately went and punched Ted in the stomach. It looked very relaxed. However, Seeker's fist was reaching deep into Ted's stomach. Alean felt as if her stomach pained as she recalled Seeker's harassment.

"But the blood!" Cliff shouted in surprise.

Seeker stood and slashed the knife and, at the same time, squeezed the sachets of ketchup, which squirted out.

"It's a good thing that this particular brand appears very similar to blood." Seeker smiled.

"YOU TRICKED ME!" Alean shouted in anger.

"Oh shut up, will you!" Seeker suddenly delivered a powerful slap on Alean's unguarded face. Lynd controlled his urge by clutching his fist.

The fear, along with the painful slap, silenced the teacher once more.

"We have recorded every detail of our talk. Think of the headlines. 'Heroes of Today' candidate, Dr. Lindmitt, unmasks Pangean Nations' biggest drug cartel!" Seeker motioned to form an imaginary banner.

"If this tape gets out, your father would be finished. The credibility of Charles isn't something to be underestimated. The media will kill your father, and the government will be forced to investigate it. Not to mention the unknown responses of all the corporations connected to your drug exchange. No matter what, your father's empire will easily crumble."

Alean glared angrily at Seeker.

"I'm sure you know that the best course of action is to follow whatever I say."

"So you're not going to kill me, nor do you seem to have any intentions of exposing my father. Then what is it that you want?"

"Oh, goody good response! As expected from the General's daughter. Your calm bearing proves that you are more than a foot soldier in his schemes. I bet you're probably one of the big shots in your father's team. You're right. I have no intention of exposing your father."

"Wait. We're not going to expose them?" Charles asked in surprise.

"Of course not. I did want too at first, though. Her family has always been a bane to mine. In fact, my dad had several close calls with General Cipril's goons. That's probably why you hate me. Right, Miss Cipril?"

Alean glared angrily. There have been occasions when Detective Chris Carlean meddled with their operations that it nearly exposed everything. Every time this would happen, Alean would then be tasked to fix it.

"You see, earlier today I realized that the General was cooking something big when good ol' Principal Decker here revealed his bias and fear towards Alean. I was sure he was connected." Seeker patted the unconscious Principal.

"Principal Decker, you do realize that pretending to be unconscious won't work with me." Seeker whispered on Jonathan's ear. The latter could not help but shiver. However, he chose to continue in his exposed façade of pretending to be asleep.

"You see, when I realized that if Principal Decker himself was involved, then the drug trade in our school wasn't just an ordinary small-time branch which is used to sell drugs to students. Principal Decker's adamant reactions and decisiveness to immediately obey Miss Cipril demand with blind faith indicated that they clearly had a boss-subordinate relationship."

Alean glared angrily towards Jonathan. So he was the one who spilled the beans.

"So, you had this hunch and decided to pound all three of them?" Meryl asked in sarcasm.

"Of course not. I was sure of my guess. Miss Cipril's colorful experience was the last piece that allowed me to deduce their schemes. Let's review her life story. She has worked around the country, always accompanying her father to wherever island or region he is assigned to. She's a natural genius who even managed to attain her Master's Degree at the young age of 24. Yet despite all of these, why did she decide to work as a teacher in our school? She could have worked in the military. But no, she took a very drastic change in occupation." Seeker gave a scrutinizing stare at Alean.

"She had everything. The looks, the brains, the charisma, and capabilities. And once she masterfully countered my own schemes to legitimate my gambling crusade, I was thoroughly convinced that her father wouldn't leave this talent unused for his empire. She's definitely a critical piece in his plans."

"So you figured that my father had something big going on in this school. Bravo. But who are you really? If you're not PUI, then what are you?"

"I already told you. A kid who glanced into the future." Seeker shrugged casually. After that, Seeker moved with incredible speed and slashed the duct tapes and ropes that bounded Alean's right hand.

Alean was shivering in fear. The slash was so sudden and so close to her skin that she thought that her hand was halved along with the duct tapes. She immediately yanked her hand free from its bondage to the chair's armrest and quickly examined it.

"Monster." Alean gazed in fear. No ordinary human could pull this off. Even the soldiers she trained with did not have the same expert control that Seeker has handling a knife. A regular kitchen knife couldn't cleanly cut through layers of duct tape like that. And what was even more amazing, Seeker knew when to stop to leave the skin unscathed.

She looked in fear at Seeker. The same chilling sensation returned. Her hands were shivering. She knew that Seeker could easily kill her. In fact, Seeker could probably easily handle most of the 'monsters' that she has met in the course of accompanying his father.

"So, are you ready to listen? I don't enjoy having a deal with the devil, you know. The effort one must put is too taxing!"

"What do you want from me?"

"Not from you, Miss. From your father. I want to make him my money-making puppet!" Seeker grinned evilly.

Alean was shocked at Seeker's demand.

"So you're not only going to expose them, but you plan to actually take control of his empire!?" Cliff couldn't help but interject now. It was just too absurd. Just when he could calmly relax as he thought that Seeker was some sort of secret police spy sent to shut down a drug cartel, it turned out he was a worse hooligan who was greedier than the General!

"This is crazy!" Cliff appealed to Charles.

"Oh, right. That was the plan, huh." Charles sighed as he recalled the plan.

"Wha-what?"

"Brilliant Zeek!" Meryl commended. Cliff, however, was getting more frantic.

"I didn't expect that we could easily take control of a drug cartel this easily!" Lynd smiled.

The three were rejoicing. Their plans were quickly moving forward.

Poor Cliff felt as if his world has ended. He had witnessed a deal made with the devil. But in Cliff's eyes, the devil was definitely not Alean Cipril.