Chapter 79: The Accident

"There was an accident."

"Is everything okay?"

Jiyo shook his head. "They're dead," he said softly.

"All of them? Certainly not all of them?"

Jiyo nodded, taking the coffee from the Strict Man's hand before he threw it away. "As far as I can tell. Given the circumstances, it's pretty hard to be sure. "

"Jesus. What happened?"

"As usual, the boatman arrived at five o'clock, to pick up the crew and take them ashore. When he came here, no one was waiting. Anyway, he hung out for ten minutes or so, then called the security from the intercom down to the pier." Jiyo paused, frowning in concern."Would you like to sit down, Mr. Gustilo? "

Benjamin nodded in annoyance. "Just keep it up."

"So, after no response on the intercom, I was stuck here to look around."

Jiyo waited for his boss to finish his coffee again before continuing, hoping that the man would sit down before he fell down.

"And?"

"Right. So I didn't see anyone at the table and couldn't get an answer to his buzzing. It was not dark yet, so the lights were not on and the place seemed deserted. Its long and short, he thought we would close the project and never bothered to tell him. Apparently I went straight to HQ and gave them the right conversation. They tried to contact the island, but also couldn't raise anyone, so they reached out to Security, who eventually contacted me to find out what could have happened."

"Reaching the surface," Jiyo drank his own coffee and swallowed it well before continuing, "I can't raise the table here, or anyone on the satellite phone. It just seems weird. How everyone is suddenly out of contact like that. So I jumped on the copter and went here to take a look."

"And what did you find?" asked the Strict Man with a hardened voice.

Jiyo Kael left behind the table to be accessed by his boss and the screens. "The one on the right at the end," he said.

Benjamin Gustilo looked at the CCTV screens and collapsed into the chair with a crash as if he had lost his breath.

"Is that what I'm thinking," he asked, barely hearing the voice.

"I'm scared, Mr. Gustilo."

"Bring me down. I want to see them for myself. "

"I don't really think that would be a good idea, Mr. Gustilo."

Benjamin's eyebrows met his nose and he slowly raised his head from the study on the CCTV screen. His eyes became blurred and Jiyo Kael saw how blood filled his face, the tiny capillaries standing up.

"Sorry?" he growled.

Jiyo Kael realizes the mistake he made and he tries to make up for it. "I just can't guarantee how safe it will be down there, sir. You've seen what they can do."

Walking into the elevator, his boss shouted. "What is the door code?" he said.

Walking over to the keypad, Jiyo Kael dialed the number and stood up when the elevator doors opened. Following his boss inside the car, he watched it press the 'Down' button. His fingers were no longer trembling, in fact, as the minutes passed Benjamin looked more like his former self.

"I left the light on," Jiyo Kael said as they exited the elevator, "to keep the little bastards in The Hole."

The Strict Man just nodded and walked out of the corridor. Jiyo Kael has to hurry to keep up with him.

Jiyo Kael opened the door of The Hole and turned around. "Be careful. There's glass all over the floor. Some of the shelves seem to have collapsed."

Mr. Gustilo carefully selected his way over piles of dark earth and glass from a broken breeding tank, walking towards the bones piled up in a corner. He knelt beside them, knees trembling with effort. Picking up a large femur, he hovered over the tip of his finger.

"Look," he said quietly, almost as if talking to himself, "it's already stripped. No blood, no tissue, nothing. And look here," he continued, handing the bone to Jiyo Kael, who clicked on his nail with some beautiful indentations. "Like a big rasp brought here." Dropping the bones, he suddenly dipped his hand into the pile, scattering them in all directions, obviously looking for someone.

Jiyo Kael couldn't be sure, but it looked at him as if the Strict Man was picking up some things from the pile. His boss had turned his back on him so he couldn't see what he was doing like that. Getting up, Benjamin walked into the pit in the middle of the floor and looked over, staring intently at the sticky mess.

Bending down, he grabbed his arm just above and moved it sideways, dropping whatever he got in his hand into the pit.

Something moved under the crusted surface, following his movements. Jiyo Kael was about to run and pull his boss away from danger, but the Strict Man faced him, with a big smile on his face.

"She did it, Jiyo Kael," he said, admiration clear in his voice. "She really pulled it off. Damn it, she said, she would. I never believed she would do that."

Jiyo Kael approached all the rest of the project staff and squatted bones, just as his boss did. When he came down here alone, he didn't want to hang out. Now he was curious.

Picking up on what looked at him could be an ulna, or it could be a radius - he had difficulty remembering his biology lessons as a child - he saw the joint missing at one end. It looks like it was attacked by thousands of small creatures. Poking the rest of the skeletons, he saw the small bones missing. The phalange is it? There is such a thing.

The Strict Man was on the other side of the pit, looking at some glass tanks on a wall.

Jiyo Kael felt that coldness on the back of his neck - a sign that there was nothing like it. It served him well in the Special Forces, which saved his life more than once. Jiyo rubbed his neck, wondering what was bothering him. He walked down the corridor, looking up and down.

"Hey, Mr. Gustilo," he called for a moment, "come and see this."

Benjamin found his PA kneeling on the floor, the lights above reflecting off from his head. His nose almost touched the tiles as he closed his eyes in the corridor. He stood up, took off his pants and headed to the floor. "Look at yourself," he said.

Kneeling, Benjamin looked up. He could just see the long scuff marks on the tiles as if something had been pulled along the corridor. He stood up and shrugged as if to say, "So what?"

"They were all gathered in the corner when I came down here," Jiyo Kael said.

Benjamin nodded. "You're saying they were dragged somewhere and eaten. Is that it?"

"There is no doubt about it. Many bones are missing. If I came after half an hour, I don't think we would have found anything."

Benjamin slammed the door to The Hole and nodded. "I think I saw a canteen farther down the corridor. You can make me some coffee. We need to talk."

Jiyo Kael followed the Strict Man's back as he hurried down the corridor. It was as if he had suddenly come to life, all signs of his fatigue were gone. Jiyo Kael shook his head, went to the coffee maker and opened it, took two cups from under the counter.

Slowly smoking coffee in front of them, the two men looked at each other. "It was a bloody incident and a mess," Benjamin said.

Jiyo Kael just nodded. Words are unnecessary.

"All right Jiyo, I will give you my decision directly. It could be the end of everything I've built over the years."

Hand raised as Jiyo Kael began to speak, Benjamin shook his head. "No, let me finish." He thought for a moment. "I've been with you for a long time, you know what's involved here, the thousands of jobs that will be lost in case it comes out. I can't let that happen. I really can't."

There was a long silence as the two men sat and thought about it. Jiyo's brain was roaring. Everything he has now, everything he has been in the last three years, is because of the faith the Strict Man has placed in him. He always admired his boss, marveled at the long time he put in, and how he was able to come up with new investments and projects to keep the organization growing year after year. Now all of that is threatened. But this is a huge thing to hide.

"I really need your help here Jiyo Kael," the Strict Man said quietly. "If this horrible accident comes out I'll be done."

He sat quietly for a moment, and looked at his PA, his eyes glued to him. "These people know the risks of working here on this project. That's why I looked for people without families when I hired them, and I paid them a lot of money."

"Even though, you can't cover up the deaths of six," Jiyo Kael said.

"With your help, I think I can. I have an idea," he said quietly, "but it'll depend on whether I can bribe a senior Civil Servant. I have something in him that we can use to ask him for help."

"Us?"

Ignoring Jiyo's comment, Benjamin pushed. "Our biggest problem here is the six missing staff. How to account for the fact that there are no corpses to be buried," he said.

Jiyo let himself a small smile at the repeated, 'we'.

"Go on," he said. "So, here's what we're going to do."

Jiyo Kael listened carefully. The Strict Man seemed to have thought of everything, covering every base. He seemed to have fixed everything before they entered the laboratories. He must have admired Benjamin's quick thinking.

Jiyo Kael is uncomfortable about covering up the tragedy, but it is an accident and no one will suffer, except his boss if the newspapers, and the media find out what happened here.

Jiyo Kael finally nodded in his agreement, pushing the suddenly cold spot on his neck in the back of his mind.

XXX