February 1st, 2027.
"What the hell happened? Dr. Villanueva is missing? For six days?" Michael exclaid as he heard the news from Juliet.
"Yes, Mr. Reyes. And there has been no word from him since. We've tried reaching him in his cell, at ho, even his regular spots, but nothing."
Michael paced back and forth in his office, his mind racing with concern for his valuable employee.
"This is serious," he said, stopping abruptly. "What about his colleagues? January 25th, isn't he supposed to be in a eting with them?"
"According to one of his team, after the conclusion of their eting, they all go ho. That was their last interaction of the day," Juliet answered, double-checking her digital notes.
"Have we talked to everyone who attended that eting? Maybe soone noticed sothing off, or maybe Dr. Villanueva ntioned sothing that seed inconsequential at the ti but could be a clue now."
Juliet confird, "I've interviewed most of them already, and I have a couple more to speak with by this afternoon. No one has reported anything unusual so far, but I'll press for more details."
"Well…Juliet, I thank you for this information but I think the job you are doing is for law enforcent," Michael said. "Speaking of which, have the police been inford about Dr. Villanueva's disappearance? What's their take on this situation?"
Juliet nodded. "Yes, Mr. Reyes, the police have been inford. They've started an investigation and classified it as a missing persons case. They are currently gathering CCTV footage from the area around his last known location and interviewing potential witnesses. However, they haven't co up with any leads yet."
Michael rubbed his temples, feeling the weight of the situation. "Okay, keep in close contact with them. I want updates as soon as they have anything. In the anti, let's enhance our internal efforts. Can we check Dr. Villanueva's email and phone records for any anomalies?
Maybe he received threats or unusual ssages we aren't aware of."
"Absolutely," Juliet agreed, making a note on her tablet. "I'll get our IT team on it right away to retrieve all communications from the past month. We'll look for anything out of the ordinary."
Michael looked out the window, his gaze distant but thoughtful. "I think I know why he was kidnapped."
"Is it because he works on a dipod?" Juliet replied. "That's highly possible but what could he give to the captors?"
Michael shook his head. "Not even Dr. Villanueva knew about the full technicalities of dipod. He managed operations, not developnt. But maybe they think he knows more than he does, or perhaps they're trying to get to us through him."
Juliet's expression grew more serious. "If that's the case, we need to consider the possibility of an inside threat. Soone who knew enough about Dr—No, I don't think it's an inside threat. Dr. Villanueva's role is known to the public."
"Shit…this is really what happens when a technology so revolutionary is introduced to the world."
***
Two days later, February 3rd, 2027.
"Mr. Reyes, the police are here to see you," Juliet announced, poking her head into Michael's office.
Michael straightened up from his desk, his expression turning solemn.
"Thank you, Juliet. Please, show them in," he replied, ntally preparing himself for the conversation.
Monts later, two police officers entered his office. One was a detective he recognized from previous etings—Detective Abarra and Sandoval.
"I thought I'd never see you two again," Michael chuckled.
"We didn't expect it as well," Sandoval replied.
"So, what happened to my shooter?" Michael asked. "Did you discover anything about the shooter who tried to kill ?"
"Unfortunately no, Mr. Reyes but we are not here to discuss your shooter. We will talk about your employee, Dr. Villanueva," Detective Abarra answered.
"So are you saying that you are not working your very best to find my shooter?" Michael asked again.
"We are working very hard to track him down, Mr. Reyes but so far we have no lead. He is like a ghost but we will not give up."
As much as Michael wanted them to stop their investigation because he had already taken care of it, he couldn't. Because that would be very stupid of him to admit to anything that could implicate him in any illegal activities.
"I appreciate your efforts, Detective. Let's focus on Dr. Villanueva for now. What have you found?"
Detective Abarra shuffled through so papers he had brought along. "We've been reviewing the CCTV footage from around the area where Dr. Villanueva was last seen. Unfortunately, we found that several caras that could have given us clear visuals of the incident were deliberately disabled."
Michael's brow furrowed in concern. "Disabled? Do you think it was tampered with as part of the abduction?"
"It's highly likely," Detective Abarra continued. "The pattern of tampering suggests that soone wanted to create a blind spot at the ti Dr. Villanueva disappeared. We're treating this as a planned and preditated act."
"That's alarming," Michael replied gravely.
"We also interviewed the parking attendant and the guards at the ti of Villanueva's out but they said they couldn't rember anything as they were knocked down by soone. They are still in the hospital as we speak."
Michael leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk as he absorbed this new information.
"I understand, we can now tell that this isn't sothing done by soone who has an issue with Dr. Villanueva. They wanted him because he is part of sothing important," Michael said.
"Like being the head of operations of the dipod?" Detective Abarra said.
"Yes, that's most likely. It's not always clear in the business world. So would resort to underhanded tactics to gain an advantage over others. I'd say that they kidnapped Doctor Villanueva because he works on dipod, a technology that, as you all know, cures cancer.
You know how many big corporations would be affected if a technology to cure cancer exists right?" Michael continued, his voice growing more firm as he spoke about the potential motivations behind the abduction.
"Yes, Mr. Reyes. The economic impact would be imnse. Pharmaceuticals and treatnts are big business. A cure could disrupt major markets. It makes sense that soone might go to great lengths to control or suppress such technology."
"Exactly," Michael agreed. "But I don't care about who is doing that, I care about bringing Doctor Villanueva back. Find him at all cost, detectives."
"We will, Mr. Reyes."
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