Deadlock || ᴠᴍɪɴ

Chapter 7

“A big congratulations to you. I’m sure Nathan would be happy,” Jimin said with an affectionate smile as he clapped Bob Willer’s bony shoulder.

“Thanks, Jimin. If it weren’t for Nathan’s advice I wouldn’t have been able to get out on parole. Will you tell him I said thanks?”

Willer pulled a photo out of his breast pocket and showed it happily to Jimin. In the photo was Willer’s plump wife and his two mischievous-looking sons. Jimin was so familiar with the photo now that he felt like he could recognize them if he saw them coming down the street. He felt like he would probably say, “Hey, how’s it going?” to them without even thinking.

“This is Jesse, and this is Steven.”

“I know. And your wife, Anna, right?”

“Yup, that’s Anna. I finally get to go home to my family. I can’t wait to taste my wife’s cooking again.”

“Well, you haven’t got long to wait. I’ll be on my way, then. I’ll pass the paperwork onto Nathan.”

“Thanks, Jimin. I’ll give Nathan my proper greetings next time.”

Jimin smiled as he left Willer’s cell, but as soon as he set foot out into the gangway, his face hardened and a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

Bob Willer was not Corvus, either. He was an average joe you’d find anywhere. He had worked himself to the bone for his family until one day he was suddenly fired from his job at an automobile parts factory. He had gone to the plant manager to beg for a reconsideration, but had been cruelly rebuffed. Letting his anger get the better of him, Willer had blindly grabbed a nearby wrench and beat his manager to death. Although he was guilty of his crime, he was no evil man.

Willer, one of the names on the list of suspects, had come to Nathan asking for advice on what to say to the parole board when they called him in for the interview. Jimin took full advantage of his position as Nathan’s assistant to approach Willer many times. From the outset he had a feeling that Willer was probably not Corvus. And in the end, his hard work had indeed gone to waste.

The days wore on without any significant lead on his search for Corvus. Jimin was feeling a sense of panic setting in, but diligently continued to investigate the suspects. Although he used every trick in his book to get close to them, hoping to catch of a glimpse of their true identity, it was hard for him to pass judgment based on what he could gather from casual conversation. Although Jimin’s senses were sharp enough to sniff out a drug dealer with some observation, a terrorist leader – that wasn’t so easy. Corvus was the kind of cunning man who hadn’t even revealed himself to his own group. No one could even name what ideology or stance underpinned Corvus’ incitement of acts of terrorism.

But Jimin knew that he had to start somewhere, and that was narrowing down the list of suspects. With his gut instinct as his only weapon, Jimin patiently went on to eliminate one, and then another, from the list. Twelve suspect were whittled down to five. Henry Galen was one of them. Jimin’s conviction grew stronger by the day that Galen was probably the one he was looking for.

Although he knew people would find it strange, Jimin felt there was no other way but to ask Tonya directly about whether Galen had a burn scar on his back. But Tonya was usually surrounded by a gaggle of sisters, and it was hard to catch her alone. In the rare occasion that she was, she was always accompanied by a burly-looking Chicano who acted like a sort of bodyguard.

Jimin was walking toward the central building, completely at a loss of what to do, when he spotted V and Nathan coming from the opposite direction. They seemed not to notice Jimin as they went out on the grounds into the setting sun. Jimin nonchalantly gazed at them through the window.