Chapter 107 - I will never chase anyone else

Ayu lifted her head in surprise. Boss was...laughing? 

Did he even know how to laugh? 

"Oh Ayu..." he sighed between laughs. 

Things had been far to stressful for him. Today, he even had to dodge that Lim princess. And now his assistant was begging him not to leave his wife and chase her. 

Looking at Ayu's still confused expression, he shook his head and decided to explain. 

"I would never chase anyone else, except Madam. I was in an awkward situation today, where I had to protect her identity. That's why I used our phone call as a decoy." 

His explanation satisfied Ayu. She always took his words at face value. 

Her cold, calm composure returned as if she had never been fl.u.s.tered at all. 

She quietly picked up the file she had dropped earlier. 

"Here you go boss, we found yet a few more facial recognition matches on Victor Tachibana. He has been active in areas with suspicious activity." 

Shen flipped through the file. There were screenshots of pictures caught on CCTV cameras, and street cams or other video storage devices over the years. 

There had been a lot of programming and processing that had gone into the careful identification of Victor Tachibana. 

He had managed to keep a low profile and a hazy identity. But now, Shen had begun piecing his identity together. 

"Officially, boss, no Victor Tachibana actually exists. He has no police record, nor has he ever been fingerprinted. His residence on his official ID is an empty apartment and there seems to be no real employment or educational history. He is a ghost." Ayu reported. 

The first picture was from Country A, twenty years ago. 

He was shorter and much younger looking. He was pictured with a man older than himself. The man was fairly skinny, and his face was very blurry. 

It was impossible to run facial recognition on his facial features. But something about Victor Tachibana's companion in the image made Shen's skin crawl. 

Worse? There was even something familiar about this man. 

"Talk to me about this picture. Any activity in the area on that day or within that week of this appearance?" Shen asked. 

"Yes, actually. Something quite drastic." Ayu replied gravely. 

"What happened?" Shen asked, his curiosity growing. 

"A couple working on a very secretive case in Country A's government's cyber department lost their lives in a house fire."

"An accident?" 

"Apparently not. Which is why I thought it was significant enought to report to you. News articles and reports don't report anything suspicious. But I believe that the circ.u.mstances of their deaths definitely was." Ayu thought out loud. 

"How so? Were they in possession of some inflammatory knowledge for the case they were working on?" Shen probed. 

"Nobody knows what they were working on. That's what was suspicious. I actually called some of our contacts in Country A's government's trade department. They were working as a junior analyst in the foreign security department that time, so they should have had some information. But nobody knows a thing." 

Ayu's information got Shen thinking deeply. 

Ayu continued. 

"The camera footage of Tachibana and his companion was taken a few hours before this house fire, within three kilometers from their house." 

Shen's attention snapped back. 

"Ayu, what about the other sightings? Were there any such events that took place." 

Ayu sighed. 

"Yes, boss. That's precisely why there is a pattern. I believe it will lead us to his identity and affiliation." 

"What were these events?" 

"Fourteen years ago, an assassination of the Chief of Army Staff in country N, eleven years ago, parliament bombings at the capital of Country I, ten years ago the assassination of a troublesome militia chief in our own Country J and three years ago, another assassination in Country P. He was caught on camera, vaguely, around these times and incidents in each country, close to the location of the event." 

As Ayu finished, Shen's mind was fixated on a pattern. 

"Tell me about the assassinations. How were the targets assassinated?" he asked. 

"Sniper." 

Shen slammed his hand down on his table, startling Ayu. 

"Like I thought, he's extremely dangerous. There has been far too many snipers showing up lately." 

Ayu thought for a second about what her boss had discovered. 

Of course! A sniper had tried to assasinate Madam and then a sniper had also tried to shoot Shen from the Yinan Industries rooftop. 

"Boss, does the sniper who tried to kill madam and the sniper who was shot dead by madam have something to do with Tachibana or whoever he works for?" Ayu asked. 

"Probably. It's very likely. The sniper who almost killed Lina wasn't found, but we found the body of the sniper who was aiming for me." 

"It's unfortunate that the dead can't speak." Ayu lamented. 

"But we still have his body" Shen said, thinking to himself. "Run an autopsy on his body and inform me of anything noteworthy." 

Ayu nodded and walked out of the room. 

But Shen stopped her, remembering something. 

"Ayu-" he said, sharply. 

"Yes boss?" 

"Any leads on Shao?" 

Ayu's face fell. She had felt utterly useless on that front, even with James at her disposal. 

"I'll take that as a no." Shen said, resigned and disappointed. 

**********

-- at the Lim family villa --

The princess of the villa, Lila stormed into her house with an expression that was as bloodthirsty as it was distraught. 

Her heart was breaking. 

Shen Moshi was already married?! To who? Who could have possible been a better candidate? 

And did her father and brother do nothing?! She had been waiting for three whole years! 

She stormed into her father's study. 

There he was, buried in his little notebook, writing one of those idiotic stories of his. 

"FATHER!" she screamed, with indignance and rage. 

Her poor old father jumped in his chair. Her voice betrayed a tantrum he knew was coming on. 

He must appease her before she went wild. 

"Lila, dear! You're back from the fair!" he said, indulgingly smiling at his precious daughter. 

She had his late wife's stunning features, but not her calm temperament. 

"Father! How could you!" she screamed, tears threatening to fall. 

"How could I what, dear?" he asked worriedly, walking over to embrace his daughter. 

"How could you allow Shen Moshi to get married to someone other than me?!" Lila's tears finally fell freely, her knees crumbling below her.