Chapter 758: Chapter 760: Vireness’s Clue
"Your lips are dry, take a sip of water, chief."
Luo An smiled, turned around where Vireness couldn’t see, took out a bottle of [Antidote], poured it into a cup, then added some water into the cup before handing it to Vireness, saying with a smile:
"It’s uncomfortable, but it’s lucky that the poisoning was discovered early."
"That’s true."
Vireness took the water cup and drank a few sips, a bitter smile emerged on her face:
"At least I survived."
Before Luo An’s visit, Vireness took the opportunity to ask the doctor whether the poisoning would have any sequelae.
The doctor said that he was not sure at present, and further observation would be needed. Currently, the focus should be on injecting medication and resting, and she must not leave the hospital in the short term.
After some small talk, Vireness got to the point, and asked in a deep voice:
"Mr. Clement has given you this case, hasn’t he?"
Luo An nodded, and Vireness let out a sigh of resignation:
"As expected."
There were many talents under Mr. Clement, but given the special circumstances of this case, there were really not many who could be trusted by Mr. Clement and were capable of investigating it.
Vireness was injured and hospitalized; Luo An, who was outstanding in intelligence, political maneuvering, combat abilities, and other areas, instantly became the only suitable choice.
Taking a deep breath, Vireness’s pale face was very serious, she said solemnly:
"Luo An, this case is special and unlike any other you have handled before."
In the early stages of Polonium-210 entering the body, there are hardly any palpable sensations, making it difficult to detect. By the time you feel dizzy, nauseated, and start vomiting, you have already missed the best time for rescue and stepped into the countdown of life.
Furthermore, only a small amount is needed, as tiny as a speck of dust, to poison someone, and the particles released by small doses of Polonium-210 are not easily detected by Geiger counters, making food, water, and even air blown out by air conditioning very dangerous.
The reason Vireness was discovered in time this time was purely luck.
She was leading a team to investigate a laboratory related to nuclear science, and during the introduction of Polonium-210, they did a test for Vireness and her team members, then discovered that Vireness had been poisoned.
At this point, Vireness lowered her voice and added:
"Besides Polonium-210, there are also internal issues; you must be extra cautious and pay close attention to the details."
Vireness had been thinking back and reflecting on when she might have been poisoned while she was being rescued.
The doctor indicated that the test results showed she had been poisoned less than 10 hours ago, so Vireness carefully reviewed her experiences over the last 10 hours.
Food, water, places she went, things she touched... Vireness went through everything thoroughly and seriously, but in the end, she didn’t find anything abnormal.
No abnormality was the greatest abnormality. All the items Vireness had come into contact with had also been accessed, more or less, by the other agents she led, but in the end, only she was poisoned, and the rest were fine.
To be able to poison so precisely, Vireness seriously suspected that there was a problem with the agents she led.
This mission was also top-secret, and except for Mr. Clement, FBI Director Robert, only a few high-level officials were aware... Vireness seriously suspected that even some people at the top might be corrupt.
"I understand, chief."
Luo An nodded solemnly, he had also noticed these issues.
The folder Mr. Clement had handed to Luo An earlier showed that due to the special circumstances of this mission, it was not advisable to draw attention, thus the agents Vireness chose were temporarily and randomly selected and drafted.
The agents had originally received notice from their superiors that they needed further training; it wasn’t until they left the Washington Headquarters and arrived at a location randomly chosen by Vireness that they learned of their specific assignments.
Having read through all the information, Luo An became extremely vigilant about his superiors on the same day and secretly sent a message to the other agents in the special investigation team, asking them to be extra cautious in the next few days.
At the same time, Luo An also had Mona secretly contact several hospitals and laboratories related to nuclear studies, planning to check his health every 12 hours during the investigation of the case.
Knowing that Luo An had made preparations and arrangements, Vireness nodded with satisfaction and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Polonium-210 is extremely hard to defend against, and she was very worried that Luo An would end up in bed like her.
Vireness even thought that ending up in bed would be the better outcome; what she truly feared was Luo An not even having the chance to make it to a bed.
Taking the water cup and filling it up again, Luo An passed it to Vireness with a smile and comforted her with a few words before asking:
"Chief, how far have you gotten in the investigation of this case?"
After Blue-eyed Roy’s death, Vireness had already led a secret investigation for over a week, and it was impossible that they hadn’t found any clues.
Luo An had already sent Mona and Chenier to retrieve the related investigation files for the special investigation team, but some things are not spelled out in documents and can only be understood by asking those involved.
Hearing Luo An bring up business, Vireness became very serious and said gravely:
"The autopsy results show that ’Blue-eyed Roy’ only had two wounds:
One was at the heart, stabbed by a sharp object, with the killer even having twisted it to widen the wound.
The other was on the throat, slashed with a blade, causing the blood to flow back into the trachea, and ultimately resulting in suffocation."
Luo An frowned slightly upon hearing this:
"This doesn’t seem like the work of one person?"
"That’s right."
Vireness gave Luo An an appreciative look, with a subtle flash of admiration in her eyes, and continued:
"We quickly found the people responsible. ’Blue-eyed Roy’ wasn’t just an ordinary guy; while being killed, he also managed to kill the two people who assaulted him.
Both perpetrators were criminals sentenced to over fifty years, one named Owen and one named Davis.
Their weapons, one used a sharpened iron spoon of unknown origin, and the other a piece of an iron knife, again from an unknown source.
As for why these two wanted to kill ’Blue-eyed Roy,’ we couldn’t find any leads; nobody came to visit them in the short term either.
We suspect that the mastermind behind contacting the two and instructing them to kill ’Blue-eyed Roy’ is either a prison guard or another criminal in prison.
The prison system is a self-contained entity, and this case couldn’t be investigated openly, so for the time being, we’ve hit a wall on that lead in the open.
But in fact, I’ve already bribed a guard named Danny, who’s provided a lot of information, the specifics are in one of my notebooks; you can check it out later."
Luo An thought carefully and memorized all the information in his mind, then asked:
"What about polonium-210? Have you found anything, Chief?"
Hearing the word polonium-210, Vireness’s face instantly grew grim; she took a deep breath and spoke earnestly:
"I’ve obtained, through various channels, a list of nuclear experiment labs within the Federation capable of producing polonium-210.
Most of the nuclear labs are well managed, and the whereabouts of radioactive materials can be clearly traced.
However, some labs are in complete disarray because of private enterprise investments, with many of their fuel processing methods not even meeting standards.
Especially on the Federation East Coast, certain nuclear experiment labs supported by investments from the Illinois Nuclear Energy Company have the most severe violations!"