Samuel rested his gaze on the disappearing horizon line as he admired the panoramic view through the laminated glass forming his office wall. The incessant incoming calls had finally died, but he knew it was but a brief reprise at best. He rubbed his fingers across his forehead, found it dry to the touch.
Did I make the right call?
Maria had prepared the group briefing well. She brought him up to speed the latest update on his quarantined team and their condition. On why it had to be done, and why discreetly. The sensitivity of Radian's other pursuits meant they had to thread carefully on impromptu publicities He was going into the session providing full transparency combined with the need for confidentiality Samuel was positive he could glean from the family members.
Please don't. Not yet.
He recalled glancing at Maria realizing she wasn't privy to the words he heard. The seminar room was buzzing with hushed chats between the few people she had invited. A few he recognized, others no but he could guess who they were. Names from emergency details written within the respective personal files of his staff.
His staff. He had responsibility to care for their wellbeing the best he could.
The whole incident had perturbed him but not so much as he lets on to even Maria. Part of the reason why he had been chosen to lead Radian was his knowledge and experience in dealing with the oft center. The unknown. The supposedly supernatural. But the way Syafa was discovered caught him by surprise.
There was nothing in his brief on the newest staff whom Saari had taken under his wings to be, well, different. And yet, Maria's image which no one else had seen made Samuel rethink his position. And his curiosity.
"Are you sure about this, Datuk?"
It was a question he had never heard Maria asked when he requested for the use of the para-military facility located deep within a hidden location. Samuel did not answer, and he knew she didn't expect one either. The question was more of a prompt. For a rethink. To the day of briefing the family members of his incarcerated team, Samuel was beginning to doubt if the incident had anything to do with Syafa. That she, too, had lost all memories of the minutes as did the rest was not lost on him. There was really nothing special about her. Nothing.
But he still needed to be certain. Under pressure, the young woman could perhaps reveal her true self. Instead, Samuel had received disconcerting feedback from his monitoring team about his man, Saari. Of an increasingly incandescent behavior.
Is it the confinement? Or something else totally?
Saari had long been someone he trusted with running the Department with cool heads. Admittedly, Syafa had been the fly in that ointment. Samuel heard worrying levels in whispers of coziness between mentor and mentee. Office romance wasn't something both men had entertained, and in the Materials department, every member was family.
Immersed in worry, Samuel was feeling again the suffocating effect of a spacious, yet empty office. He occupied easily one third of the tower's 19th floor. Early when they started the company, Samuel had welcomed the extra breathing space. No longer did he not have the buffer against businessmen and their agents dropping in unannounced. Alone, the silence forced Samuel to listen to every strand of his thoughts.
He stood up to the glazed window and allowed his gaze to rest below at tenants leaving the tower on the dot as the working day ended. Just like Samuel, many had to endure lengthy drives to finally reach the comforts of their homes.
The room was carpeted wall to wall and sparsely decorated except from a colorful jigsaw painting of several elephants. Samuel often wondered if they were in a stampede. He disliked the vibrant colors as the painting stuck out like an appendage between the main door and the glass wall. A cup of coffee, white and long gone cold, sat lonely on a glass-surfaced table. A stack of files lay idle on the right side. The cover of the topmost file opened to reveal of dossier of one Dr Saari Lankasari. An unopened laptop sat on the left.
A soft buzzer broke the silence, a softer voice filling the void: "Datuk. Ministry on the line. Do you wish to take this call?"
"Yes, Maria, but please put them on hold a few seconds more."
He slid into the comfortably ergonomic leather chair. Closing Dr Saari's file, Samuel breathed deep, cleared his throat.
"Okay, Maria."
"Great, Datuk. Patching the call through."
A slight uncertain pause, then: "Hello Datuk. How are you?"
"Hello Shamsad. As well as I could ever be, given the circumstances. So, what can I do for you?"
A laughter boomed at the other end.
"For me, nothing. For the Minister…. Well, let's just say a little bird spoke about your using your influence to secure a Mindef facility for Radian's use. So far, no one has caught wind of it, but the Minister feels he should be kept in the loop," said the caller.
"Oh. That. It's only temporary. A task which needs to be out of sight, Shamsad. I need a closure before any report could explain this sufficiently."
"The Minister trusts nothing untoward is happening, Datuk? One which could bring bad press to him and the Ministry?"
"God forbid, Shamsad. I will be the first to pull the plug if before anything remotely troublesome were to occur. Please assure Tan Sri he has nothing to worry," said Samuel.
"Noted, Datuk. He said Radian would have to foot the cost of the round the clock monitoring. I assumed that's necessary?"
"Most definitely, Shamsad. On both counts."
Without which Samuel would not have known about the team member standing erect at night watching the others sleep.
"Hmm…. We will assist where we can. Do drop me a call if you need anything, Datuk. Anything at all. Any indication as to how long more the facility is required, Dato?"
"I can't really say. My team working on-site is due to report in soon though. We'll know by then if an extension of time is required," said Samuel. He was beginning to feel agitated with the prolonged line of questioning. Obviously, someone was cozying up to the Minister by leaking such information.
"Be frank with me, Shamsad. We've known each other for a while now. What is this about?"
"We've received reports of monitors picking up small bursts of subliminal energy surges at intervals from within the bunker. They were so miniscule your team wouldn't have been able to pick them out, Datuk."
Samuel tapped his fingers on the table at this information from his liaison attached with the Ministry which funded their operations. Grants which raised a furor amongst the more critical segment of the population. Especially of the rumored experiments on energy conversions Radian was undertaking.
"Intermittent burst?"
"Not really. More akin to radio broadcast, Datuk, albeit more erratic in transmission. Controlled, if I could describe it so."
Another stunner. Controlled means exactly one of the scopes of Radian's main objective in its setting up. The involvement of sentient beings.
Did these coincide with the timing of the skirmishes the team is having, wondered Samuel.
That would make sense. Someone amongst them… The outsider, perhaps?
"I think we would have to decide post haste on the project. Does he know these facts, Shamsad?"
"He doesn't fully understand the implications of such."
"Which is?"
"… You're experimenting. Using government's facilities and funding. Something that could turned out as detrimental to everyone concerned."
And there it was out plain.
"Point noted, Shamsad. I will let you know our decision within the week."
"Pleased to hear so, Datuk. I'll break this to the Minister when you deem it appropriate."
"Appreciate that, Shamsad."
Samuel ended the call and sat staring into mid-air, wondering what was really happening in the bunker and if his daughter would come out untouched.