Chapter 50: Wiped or Created

It was late when Ian signed the contract with the twins. He had already instructed his staff to have each hostage sent to a local hospital to be treated for their injuries if any. Fortunately, other than the men who were presumed dead, the other hostages were not mistreated. The twins had used tranquilizers and red dye to trick the hostages into believing that they would be shot and killed.

Ian felt their plan had been a good one. If they had killed anyone or made their takeover public, Ian would not have been able to let them off. Otherwise, he would have every local gangster trying to interfere with his businesses. Before Ian had entered the warehouse, he already knew that the two men who were supposedly killed by the twins before, had died in a car accident. Before their families could be notified, their bodies were stolen from the morgue and used to force the Lee Group into action. He knew that Mills would not have hesitated in killing anyone, but Milo showed great foresight and wisdom in not allowing his sister to have her way. If Drax was serious about this woman, he would have his work cut out for him.

With a few quick calls, Ian had the twins' identities wiped. They retained their names, but their family history and background had been completely rewritten. It was extremely important for the twins to keep their names, because of their reputation. In the future, Milo could use his humble origin as a steppingstone into politics. Everyone loves an underdog. Likewise, Mills could continue to keep her ear to the underworld and keep any future enemies at bay. Ian planned to send her twenty or thirty well trained men to help her with that feat.

Monetary compensation was made to the several families who were held hostage and they gratefully accepted it in exchange for their silence. The Lee Group paid its employees well, but in Sani, prices were not fixed or regulated. From one day to the next, a bag of rice could triple in cost. This led to extreme poverty all over the nation, and ultimately led to high crime rates, with most political figures in the pockets of one or two criminal enterprises. Things of this nature were common, and the Lee Group employees had no complaints. They would not have had any even if they received no compensation.

It took Ian an additional three days to settle all the matters in his own factory, while Mills and Milo began importing the raw materials needed to start mass production. It would probably be another six months before a functional prototype was developed but, in the meantime, he did not want Milo to grow idle. The man was a brilliant weapons designer and if he could focus solely on work, Ian was confident he could step away from Sani and leave him in charge of both production facilities.

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Back in Pan, Luna sat in her study composing questions for Mina. When Mina was first brought to the hospital, she had sent someone to pull up information about the girl, but her record was clean. There was nothing suspicious about her at all, and that alone was suspicious. At the time, Luna had not known what happened between the woman and her brother, so she did not want to look any further into Mina's background because she was unsure on how to proceed.

As a woman, it was clear what had happened to Mina and it looked as if her brother was the one who had done it. After getting both sides of the story, that only differed in perspective, Luna felt even more strongly that both she and Ian should approach this uncharted territory with extreme caution. She explained to her brother that he should not investigate Mina at all so that they could both remain neutral. It was very possible that the girl was also a victim, and it would be a shame to not at least figure out who the real culprits were so that Mina could also have some form of justice done on her behalf. It was after all, the girls dying wish.

Luna knew that Ian was ready to kill the girl if Mina blinked too slowly, but she quickly put the idea out of his mind at least for a time, by reminding him of other possibilities. What if the goal were to have Mina killed by Ian? What if someone had a video of the girl entering Ian's suite but no video of her exiting? Would that not be worse for him? Right now, the girl was worth more alive. If someone came forward with evidence against her brother, they could just arrange to have Mina seen in public and perhaps even make a statement. Based on Mina's behavior thus far, it seemed as if the girl would cooperate with whatever she was asked to do so long as it did not involve her family.

Luna had her own reasons for not looking into Mina as well. She did not want to go into the test with preconceived notions about the girl. Just as identities could be wiped, they could also be created. If she made her questions based on the information they collected about the girl, it could possibly lead to her asking the wrong questions. It was rumored that less than one percent of the world's population had the ability to fool a polygraph test. The possibility, no matter how slim, could not be ignored. Thus Luna, like Ian, did not read Mina's file. Neither of them would be influenced by outside sources.

Typing away, Luna noticed the phone on her desk light up. Ian was calling. Whenever Ian was stressed or calling about work, he would skip the pleasantries in a conversation. This situation was no different.

"I'll be back in the country tomorrow," he said. "Have you prepared the questions?" Luna assured her brother that she had been taking the Mina issue seriously. Lately he had been extremely standoffish, and it worried her. She could tell her brother was feeling guilty, but she did not know that she was wrong about why he was feeling that way.

Over the phone, Luna told her brother that both he and Mina were scheduled to have their blood work done in the morning. If the drugs were out of Mina's system, she could be given the Polygraph the next day. Ian made a sound of affirmation and ended the call.

Both Ian and Luna were not idiots. Mere months after her brother exposed the predatory nature of several big shots within the company, he was forced into becoming a predator. It was a terrible punishment to both he and the woman involved, as they both claimed to have been taken advantage of by the other. What they were after right now was facts.

Luna called Dr. Bell to inform him that she would have blood drawn from both individuals in the morning. As always, he was happy to hear from her, and his voice on the other end of the line held a hint of longing, but Luna ignored it. She had always been thrown off by this man and now was not the time to allow her emotions to get the best of her. The conversation was cut short and she continued with working on her questions for Mina.

Luna decided she would first ask Mina simple questions about her basic information. This way she could establish a pattern. Then, she would get into more complex questions such as her relationship to Mr. Mike or Adley. Mina would need to be tested twice, and some questions would be repeated on both tests.