It was past 4 pm when Jorge and Miles arrived at the crime lab and found Lyca seated in the waiting area. She seemed disappointed and signaled her arms that it was too late.
"Too bad, the results were flagged," Lyca fumed.
Jorge groused, "Why?"
"Looks like the fluid we sent is part of a top-secret program."
"Did they say who?"
Lyca chided, "The HQ policy says the system automatically flags anything that contains traces of unusual chemicals. They cannot release the result."
Miles could not contain his disgust. "What is it doing in the doctor's office? Dr. Molina did not mention anything about its secret origin."
"We shouldn't be talking here," Lyca warned. She discretely heads for the door. Jorge and Miles followed suit.
Outside, Jorge suddenly stopped near the police car.
"Can this be the actual reason for the burglary at Dr. Molina's office? And the other missing files were just distraction?"
Miles shouted."Oh, god!"
Lyca and Jorge looked at Miles. In his hand is the empty bottle they took from Colonel Riva's apartment.
He guessed, "Are we talking of the same fluid Colonel Riva drank before that leaped of fate in his apartment?"
Lyca took the bottle from Miles' hand and examined it.
"What the f_ck is this?"
But Jorge and Miles had no answer.
Jorge fretted, "We better go. As much as we want to go deep, Dr. Molina's is the only one that can answer all questions. We got to go straight back to him."
Jorge tried to call Dr. Molina from his cell phone inside the car, but the one that responded was a voice recorded message.
-----
That same day Doctor Molina was seen inside the BEB building. He entered the service elevator and swiped his ID card, where the elevator automatically gave him access to the building's secret floor. The elevator stopped at the 22nd floor, and when the door opened, he was met by Bob Lenel in his usual dark business suit.
"Welcome back, Doctor Molina."
Bob shook his hand and immediately led him to the conference room.
"How's everything going?" Doctor Molina asked.
He stared at the cardboard model of the new BEB building that will rise in Palindrome Drive.
"The contract was signed."
Doctor Molina was a bit sarcastic. "Did you find the REAL Henry De La Vega?"
Bob took two glasses of wine and poured a generous amount of Johnny Walker. He gave one to Doctor Molina, which he gulped in one sip.
Bob faltered, with his answer, "Yes."
Doctor Molina quizzed him. "When do we break ground to start the construction?"
"Soon. There's one problem, though."
"What about?"
Bob Lenel showed the picture of the old house at Palindrome Drive.
"It's occupied by an old woman who says she has the right to the Palindrome Drive."
Doctor Molina badgered. " There are like 10 people that invested billions in establishing a groundbreaking business, and you are afraid of an old woman? How odd to hear that irritating news."
Bob assured him, "Our legal team is working on it."
"Maybe what you should admit the guy duped you. What did you do with that fake Henry De La Vega anyway? You know, whoever he is-he deserves a painful death!"
Bob cleared his throat. He failed to answer, but Doctor Molina was right. The Henry De La Vega poser needed to die.
"Is the conference ready?" Doctor Molina asked.
"Yes, they are all connected online. "
Bob opened the wall monitor where the faces of the Board Of Directors can be seen. Some of the faces were superimposed with an avatar to provide anonymity.
Doctor Molina addressed the Board of Directors about the progress of his research.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my research has now reached the final stage of testing. We might have a product that can be sold to the top richest people in the world and give you back your investment in a short time."
Doctor Molina was interrupted by an older man with an oxygen mask on his mouth. His voice was deep and domineering.
"When you say final stage, what do you mean?"
Doctor Molina spoke slowly, "The purified ether work just as I envisioned it. The final tests involve sending a group of people."
"In the past, you mean?" One of the old faces hummed.
"Yes," Doctor Molina replied.
An old female voice asked another question. "How do we know someone truly went in the past?"
Doctor Molina was taking notes of the question.
He replied, "The process of validation is long, but the evidence is analyzed using psychoanalysis. But recent progress made includes taking something from the past and bringing it back."
"How can we exactly pull him out of the past? Is there a button to press?"
Doctor Molina chose the correct word to say. He doesn't want his audience to get confused.
"The travel back in time naturally decayed. The shortest is 4 hours. The longest takes years."
The audience murmured in unison.
An old man with round spectacle asked, "Have you by any chance sent anyone in the wrong time?"
"Time element is already perfected thanks to a lot of people who participated early in the test. Proper titration of purified ether is the answer. Recent observation also indicates that element 115 to the percentage of ether gives a good result regarding the exact time one has to travel. We can now make a time travel capsule at our disposal! To answer the question, if we sent anyone in the wrong period? Yes."
Again the audience murmured.
The older man with the avatar again asked another question. "How do we market our product?"
Doctor Molina was sure of himself.
"If Elon Musk wants to build rockets in his quest to travel to Mars, our product doesn't need to go further in space. What we need is the raw material out there in Palindrome Drive."
Doctor Molina took out some red soil encased in plastic from out of his pocket.
Bob's eyes grew wide as he held the soil in his hand.
"Is this the raw material?" he gushed.
"Yes, extraction of this raw material produced the world's most purified ether."
One of the old faces asked, "And it is underneath Palindrome Drive?"
"Yes. Lots of it. Other than establishing the new BEB Building, we need Palindrome Drive to give us the raw material. But more importantly, the BEB Building can be transformed into a hotel that will offer a staycation to the past. BEB building is about the product Elon Musk should be doing- interdimensional travel instead of Mars travel. People will line up to check-in and hope they can stay there. Forever. We have the key to bring them back. In terms of prison! We can offer our product to the government. Instead of putting rogue people in cages, we can exile the criminals, delinquents, dictators to the extreme past where they will find themselves in a desert to die of thirst or, at worst, cannibalized. "
Everyone murmured.
"What are we doing then?" Said one of the old female faces. "Let's make this product work by making it plentiful. I want to try it myself."
The others joined her. "Me too!"
A shadow lurked from one of the conference area's crevices as Doctor Molina stood up to gather his things. The conference ended without a hitch. Doctor Molina went out of the conference room and back to the elevator without saying a word. Bob Lenel was left inside the room, frozen stiff, his mouth wide open, and in front of him was Rey Lima.
Rey grinned from ear to ear. "Some freak show you got here?"
"Who are you?" Bob Lenel asked.
"Rey Lima, 1098675, that's my police badge number if you don't know. You people are sick! Do you know that? Now, thanks to all of you, I learned what this is all about. I am one of the early guinea pigs of this research by Doctor Molina. It's painful, if you may ask. It made me crazy as f_ck! Ooh...today, everything becomes clear as water."
Bob felt threatened, "I am calling the police!"
Rey laughed. "You are looking at one."
Bob was about to run when Rey grabbed him. The two landed on the floor, and Rey squeezed both his arms and legs around Bob. It was a short struggle as Rey easily broke Bob's neck, instantly killing him. Rey loosened his grip and at once stood up to compose himself. Bob's eyes and mouth were wide open when Rey looked at his body on the floor. Then he casually left out of the conference room as he heads toward the elevator door.