Chapter 259: Cold Chain (11)

“Make oil...?” Abdul asked.

“Yes. All I have to do is split glucose with the correct process to make pyruvic acid, and then lengthen the carbon chain with a few dehydration reactions using transferases involved in post-translational modification. It will be difficult to purify, but I have a way to solve that, too.

“Instead of separating gasoline, diesel, and asphalt residue from crude oil by fractional distillation, we can develop a separate production process for each of them, which will increase the purification efficiency by reducing the cost of the fractional distillation,” Young-Joon said.

He added, “Additionally, the gasoline that can be produced based on biosystems can be of much higher quality than the oil produced in Saudi Arabia. We can control the octane rating, allowing us to limit the production target to high-grade oil that is not prone to knocking.”

“...”

“Would you like us to do that?”

“T-There’s a limit to how much you can threaten someone!”

Abdul Asham jumped to his feet angrily.

“It... It doesn’t make sense,” he muttered in a trembling voice. “If you really had such a technology, why haven’t you been developing it all these years? It’s the biggest cash cow!”

“Because I didn’t do science for the money,” Young-Joon said.

“...”

“But I don’t understand why you refuse to share information about Doctor Ref. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to do so. Were you involved in the terrorist activities?”

“What are you talking about?!”

Abdul shook his hands in disbelief.

“Absolutely not. I had nothing to do with that terrorist attack!” Abdul shouted.

“Then tell me.”

“...”

“Quickly.”

“... Alright. I will tell you everything I know and do as you say,” Abdul Asham said, sounding defeated.

He had mostly let go of his pride as a prince by now.

“But I’m warning you, Doctor Ryu, do you really think that you will be safe after telling the Saudi prince that you have that kind of technology and threatening him with it?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“This country’s best and biggest asset is oil, and anyone who can make that dirt cheap is going to have a lot of enemies, even if it’s not me. Somebody in Saudi Arabia could be after you.”

“Not now, at least. I’m merely a biologist and the head of a private company. Surely, I’m not going to do something like catching terrorists on my own.”

“What?”

“Doctor Ref is an international terrorist who attacked the GSC. Of course, international intelligence agencies like the CIA are after her.”

“Are you saying that you’re working with the CIA?”

“Wouldn’t it be odd for them not to contact me? I’m the one who stopped the GSC terrorist attack we just talked about.”

“...”

“The Saudis have good relations with the United States, unlike many other countries in the Middle East. Don’t create diplomatic friction and give the United States and other oil-greedy powerful countries an excuse to attack this country,” Young-Joon said. “How unfair would it be if the first country the international community attacks is Saudi Arabia, when the terrorist is from Palestine and her headquarters are in Egypt?”

“...”

“What was your relationship to Doctor Ref—I mean, Isaiah Franklin?”

“Phew... She was a woman I was briefly seeing,” said Abdul Asham. “I swear I didn’t know she was a terrorist. She said she had an international logistics business in the United States but fled here after her family went belly-up. She asked me to protect her. I’m still a Saudi prince, and as a ruler, I couldn’t just abandon someone in need, so I gave her a little bit of humanitarian aid to...”

“I said you had one chance left,” Young-Joon said.

“Damn it. She seduced me... Alright, we slept together a bit, but that was when I had gotten divorced and was very lonely. I couldn’t help but fall for it? And um... I’m a victim! I... I thought it was love...” Abdul said, sounding ashamed.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“But her family having gone belly-up was true. She asked me to help her put a ventilator on her dying business, and she needed about twenty million dollars. That was a lot of money for me to give out of my own pocket, so I took it out of Asham’s funds.”

“About four years ago?” Young-Joon asked.

“What? Oh, yes,” replied Doctor Ref.

She snapped out of her thoughts and smiled.

“We’ve arrived,” said the taxi driver.

“Thank you.”

Doctor Ref handed him the taxi fare with a bright smile and got off.

It was six in the morning, and she had arrived at a small park between a mosque and a Middle Eastern restaurant on the outskirts of Karpu.

‘I’ll swindle him this last time, and then I’m done with him.’

It was time to stop leeching off of Abdul Asham.

‘Yassir told me to be careful. They’re talking about the cold chain right now, and Ryu Young-Joon might come into contact with Asham, so I might get caught.’

But Young-Joon was supplying the cold chain to a small transportation company called Karpu. Besides, she was in Afula now, so it was unlikely she would be caught through Ahsam.

“Franklin!”

Abdul Asham waved from across the street, smiling.

“Asham. How are you?”

Doctor Ref waved back and started running towards him. But after a few meters, Doctor Ref stopped in her tracks, sensing the strange atmosphere. Asham was unusually nervous. His neck was wet with sweat, and this area was quieter than usual.

Doctor Ref quickly scanned the faces of the people around her. In any city, half of the faces in a particular alley at six in the morning would be regular. But every face she saw now was unfamiliar.

This was a controlled area.

‘I’m screwed.’

Doctor Ref sensed danger. She turned around immediately and began running in the opposite direction.

“Get her!”

Men who were disguised as citizens ran towards her from all sides.

“Damn it.”

Were they intelligence agents or detectives?

A guy who was reading his newspaper threw it away and began running. A couple on a date began running. A man walking his dog began running. Now, she realized that the dog was a military working dog.

‘How can it be exactly the same as the plot of some common spy movie, down to every single detail?’

Doctor Ref, who was running for her life, bumped into someone as she turned the corner.

It was Robert, the CIA agent.

*

—Operation complete.

Robert’s voice came through the walkie-talkie.

—We have secured the target.

Young-Joon, who was watching from the situation control room with the other agents, stood up.

“Can I see her?” Young-Joon asked the CIA agents.

“Of course.”

Young-Joon came down from the building and headed towards a large, black van. A young woman in handcuffs was inside, along with a group of intelligence officers.

“I heard you went to Afula. When did you coax Asham?”

Doctor Ref smiled bitterly when she saw Young-Joon.

“I purposely exposed myself in Jerusalem, finished my business, and quietly traveled to Saudi Arabia with the agents here,” Young-Joon said. “I think we have a lot to talk about. Shall we start with the polyomavirus?”