Nil: The Lost Brother

Professor

"Just cutting off the internet connection would have been enough, wouldn't it?"

As soon as Yusuf entered the house, he asked Nil for her phone, tablet, and computer, and shut them all down.

"We don't know what kind of technology they have. Our electronic devices might still be monitored even without an internet connection."

"They knew what was discussed at the café, not to mention they listened to my conversations with my family."

"This is serious. We need to be very careful. I found two phones and a tablet for us, old devices but secure enough for our purposes. Let's conduct our research using these from now on."

"Alright. What about this 'trace' you mentioned? That's what matters right now."

As I said, it's just a trace. We can track it, but we shouldn't get our hopes up too much. They have contacted a professor living in Aydın. The man is obsessed with conspiracy theories. He constantly shares posts on social media. He mentioned on Twitter that he will soon have interviews with a few journalists. Mustafa replied to his tweets and asked a few questions, so those journalists are probably the ones connected to Mustafa..."

"Great. Let's call this professor and find out when they are meeting."

"Won't you tell me how the interrogation went?"

"As you can guess, it went as expected. They didn't take us seriously, but at the same time, they threatened us with death. It seems like they fear us finding something other than Mustafa. They constantly told me to drop the investigation. If Mustafa didn't have a chance to reach out to me, they would have killed me long ago. And also, it felt like..."

"Like what?"

"The man who interrogated me was a bit strange. He spoke as if he wasn't human, as if he belonged to a different species. Or maybe I got too caught up in all of this..."

"If it's a powerful organization, it's natural for them to be arrogant. They probably see themselves as superior."

"It's not like that... It was something else, an indescribable form of arrogance."

Nil's gaze drifted into the distance, and deep inside her brain, this incident had already left a mark.

"Anyway, let's call that conspiracy theorist professor."

"Okay, I'm dialing the number."

Yusuf dialed the number and put the phone on speaker. It rang for a long time, but there was no answer. Nil asked him to try again. As the phone rang again, Nil stood up and opened the curtain. The car and the agents at the beginning of the street were gone.

"The agents are gone. Maybe going to talk worked."

"Let's hope so. Still no answer, let's try again in a while."

Just as Nil was about to speak, the phone started ringing. It was the professor calling. Yusuf quickly answered the phone and put it on speaker.

"Who is this?"

"Good day, professor. This is Ali. I'm calling from Denizli. I'm one of your avid followers. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Ali, thank you. How can I assist you?"

"Professor, I've been reading all your posts on social media. You recently mentioned that you will have an interview. When can we read this interview? Which newspaper is it from? Do we know the journalists? I got so excited, sorry for bothering you, but I wanted to find out right away."

Yusuf played his role so well that even in this tense atmosphere, Nil couldn't help but smile. She was on the verge of laughter. Yusuf also smiled and made a gesture to Nil, indicating her to stay quiet. The professor's tone revealed a sense of pride.