Ch.63Correction) Suspicious Aircraft! (3)

#063

The next morning.

Since it was the last day of his three-day shift, Dexter was wandering around looking for Jesse to spend some leisurely time together.

-Vrrrrr….

Dexter felt a longer-than-usual vibration from his pocket.

As the vibration continued in his pocket, Dexter, who usually kept his phone on silent with only vibration, realized it was a call and took out his mobile phone.

‘A call at this hour?’

Since it was quite early, Dexter checked his phone and saw that the caller was indeed Himena. He answered the call from a corner of the prison.

“What’s with the call so early in the morning?”

-It’s extremely important. Are you busy?

As Himena’s serious voice, which he had never heard before, came through the phone speaker, Dexter’s voice also became grave.

“No, I’m not busy. What’s going on?”

-Professor Chris and his group, along with the gang leader Hector, have been found dead.

“What did you say?”

Dexter was stunned to hear that Professor Chris, an alien from the Succubus planet, and Hector, who had provided information related to the Captain, had died.

“But… wasn’t OSA supposed to be managing them?”

-Only until they extracted all the information. It became difficult to keep protecting them within OSA, so they were sent to Guantanamo Bay detention camp a few days ago.

Dexter shook his head in disbelief as Himena casually mentioned Guantanamo Bay.

“Guantanamo Bay? Were they such serious criminals?”

-It’s OSA-related. I guess the higher-ups thought the most secure place in America would be better.

When America declared war on terror, terror suspects were detained at the U.S. Naval Base prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Due to its ambiguous status—neither clearly Cuban territory nor American territory—it can be considered the worst detention facility managed by the United States.

It’s not even comparable to the medium-security facilities 3 and 4 at Honeygood Correctional where Dexter works, and even maximum-security prisons, known as Supermax, can’t stand shoulder to shoulder with it.

“Guantanamo Bay is one of the most heavily guarded places… how did they die?”

-They were fine the night before, but when they didn’t wake up in the morning, they checked and found them dead with their eyes closed… The gang leader’s autopsy revealed a heart attack. As for Professor Chris, we have absolutely no idea what caused his death.

“Hmm. Well, OSA doesn’t have much information about the Succubus planet, right?”

-That’s right. All we have is the fragmentary information you provided last time and what we learned from Professor Chris.

Himena sighed regretfully.

‘Let’s say Hector, being human, could be secretly killed through covert operations, but what about Professor Chris and his group?’

It wasn’t poison, radiation, or an implanted bomb that exploded inside their bodies.

“How was Professor Chris detained?”

-They kept him in a special case and monitored him in the basement of Guantanamo Bay.

“A special case?”

-It’s a rectangular hexahedron. They say he never came out of the case except during meal times and rest periods.

Dexter tried to formulate a plan to kill the three as if he were a hitman, an assassin, but he was stumped from the start by the fact that they were imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.

He tried to think a bit further, but his head was throbbing.

‘There’s simply no way.’

Guantanamo Bay is inside a U.S. Naval Base.

It was difficult to imagine a method to break through the strongest soldiers and surveillance systems on Earth, kill the three people using methods undetectable even by OSA technology, and then escape unnoticed.

‘Then that means they were tampered with before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay….’

If it happened before the transfer to Guantanamo Bay, it would mean that someone inside OSA was behind it.

‘Surely there couldn’t be a spy inside, could there?’

It was completely baffling.

-Hello?

Himena, who had been waiting patiently while Dexter was lost in thought, finally spoke up.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something. Anyway, thank you for letting me know. Please tell me if you get any new information.”

-Alright. Oh, and we’re still meeting tomorrow, right?

‘Tomorrow?’

As Dexter pondered Himena’s question, she raised her voice when he didn’t respond again.

-Hey, do you really not remember?

“Ah, right… I said I’d treat you to a meal. What would you like to eat?”

Dexter’s voice betrayed his embarrassment, as he hadn’t realized until Himena pointed it out.

-Tsk, I guess it wasn’t even on your mind?

“Of course not. My head’s just been complicated with the investigation lately, but I remembered.”

As life returned to Dexter’s voice, Himena cleared her throat once and said quietly:

-If you take me somewhere weird, I swear I’ll kill you.

“Somewhere weird? Like, a strip cl—”

-Yes, that kind of place! If you take me to some place claiming it’s a dinner show, I’ll kill you.

“Do I seem like that kind of insensitive guy to you?”

-It’s not about being insensitive; I’m sure you’d want to see me flustered.

Dexter shook his head at Himena’s direct accusation.

“I think we should stop seeing each other. You’re reading my mind now?”

-Unbelievable. Anyway, I’m serious—if you mess around, you’re dead.

With that fierce warning, Himena hung up first, making Dexter chuckle.

“I should think about what to eat tomorrow in advance.”

Since this was his first date-not-date since returning to Earth, Dexter was somewhat nervous.

‘Maybe I should ask Senior Dan?’

Dexter pondered as he set out again to find Jesse.

* * *

Pyramid Lake in Nevada is a lake larger than most cities, frequently visited by local residents and anglers from other regions.

On this lake, someone was leisurely enjoying fishing from an expensive fishing yacht.

“What happened with Summerin?”

The person wearing a large straw hat to block Nevada’s intense sunlight was casting a fishing line from the back of the yacht.

The man standing beside him carefully answered.

“I’m sorry, but it failed.”

“Why?”

“OSA noticed during the experiment leak.”

The person roughly reeled in the fishing line and lamented.

“…What a shame. That experiment would have thrown Las Vegas into chaos.”

“Yes, unfortunately that’s how it turned out.”

“But some earthlings did suffer, right?”

“Yes, if the experiment had proceeded properly, Las Vegas would likely have suffered significant damage.”

“How regrettable. Well, was the long-range hologram transmitter properly removed?”

“Yes, we retrieved it before being detected.”

“All that effort just to make the form visible, tsk.”

The man bowed his head as if deeply regretting the failure.

The person cast quickly over the water surface and said:

“Can’t be helped. What about the Guantanamo matter?”

“We cleaned up neatly.”

“That’s some consolation at least.”

Seemingly satisfied with that operation, the person placed the fishing rod on a stand and said:

“Our new friend does good work.”

“It’s all thanks to ‘The Wanderer.'”

As the man bowed deeply again, the person waved his hand as if embarrassed.

“That’s an old title.”

Just then, the fishing rod on the stand began to move on its own, and the person immediately grabbed it and started reeling.

“Looks like a cutthroat trout. What if it’s a big one?”

“Butter-grilled would be best, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, let’s try cooking it that way.”

After concentrating on reeling, the person finally landed the fish, but a smaller-than-expected cutthroat trout came flopping up.

“Smaller than I thought… how many inches would you say?”

“About 7 inches, I’d say.”

“Not much to eat then.”

The person removed the cutthroat trout caught on the lure hook and immediately threw it back into the water.

“I thought we had taken care of everything, but it seems OSA has recruited someone remarkable. Who could it be?”

“It’s someone you know.”

The person, who was casting the fishing line again, flinched upon hearing the man’s words.

“Someone I know?”

“A civilian named Dexter Hughes.”

As soon as Dexter’s name was mentioned, the person pressed down on the straw hat once more and said:

“…What action is OSA taking?”

“I hear they recently made him an honorary agent.”

“An honorary agent.”

The person slowly reeled in the fishing line and said:

“It seems like he’ll interfere if we leave him alone.”

“I think so too. Shall we deal with him?”

The person shook their head.

“Attempting to handle him clumsily would only heighten his vigilance. It might be better to leave him alone for now and focus on other projects.”

“Yes, understood.”

When the man responded respectfully, the person reached out toward him.

The man habitually handed over a bottle containing a dark red liquid, and the person immediately began drinking directly from it.

After gulping down the somewhat viscous dark red liquid, emptying half the bottle, the person exclaimed with satisfaction.

“Ahh!”

Then, returning focus to fishing, the person casually remarked:

“Aren’t you curious? Why I’m doing all this.”

“My only concern is ensuring the success of your plan.”

As the man responded respectfully again, the person cast the fishing rod once more and said:

“You’re no fun.”

“I apologize.”

“That makes you even less fun.”

Speaking as if offended, the person began to reel in the fishing line again.

“Think of a more definitive way to throw Las Vegas into chaos. Without OSA knowing.”

“Understood.”

The person watched the lure slowly approaching and said:

“I hope we catch a big fish.”

* * *

Three guards in the staff area were engrossed in conversation.

“Date course? Watch a movie, have dinner, take a short walk to help digestion, then have some drinks at a bar with a nice atmosphere, and if the mood is right…”

Dan followed with suggestive hand gestures.

Dexter looked at Dan’s sly smile with exasperation.

“Do all dates have to go in that direction?”

“Hey, that’s the purpose of dating, why be so formal? Andrew, what would you do?”

Andrew, who had been listening to Dan and Dexter’s conversation, pointed at himself and said:

“Me? Well, I’d have a nice meal, invite her home, sit together on the sofa watching a movie, then slowly start touching her body…”

As Andrew also began making the same lewd hand gestures with a grin, Dexter put his hands on his hips in disbelief.

“Come on, guys. It’s technically a date, but it’s not really a date.”

“What do you mean it’s a date but not a date?”

“A date is a date.”

Dan and Andrew nodded in agreement with each other.

“I mean, she’s a woman I’m friendly with.”

“Is she pretty?”

“Yeah, she’s pretty.”

“Then you obviously need to snag her.”

“So if she’s pretty, I should just snag her?”

“Isn’t that obvious? You don’t have a girlfriend.”

Dexter couldn’t answer Dan’s question straightforwardly.

The moment he admitted that Dexter the guard was deeply involved with Jesse the inmate, he’d be fired from the prison.

“…Not at the moment.”

“Then you need to snag her!”

“Unlike your face, you’re a complete novice at this. Hey, that woman’s probably wearing matching underwear, expecting something to happen.”

“Right, she’s secretly hoping for it.”

Dexter’s head spun from their joint offensive.

“Alright, alright. I’ll do my best, but in return, recommend me a restaurant.”

At Dexter’s surrender, Dan grinned and said:

“I started working as a guard in Las Vegas when I was twenty-three. Out of a hundred guys who became guards at that age, very few are living as well as I am with a good marriage.”

“And?”

“How did I get here? I rejected weird women, sent away clingy ones… Of course, I married my wife because she got pregnant. Dexter, hand me a cookie.”

When Dexter handed Dan a cookie from the desk, Dan took a bite and said:

“As the host of Honeygood Correctional’s married social club, I’ll teach you everything about dating from A to Z.”

Dexter couldn’t help but exclaim at Dan’s confident statement.

“Wow.”

“Impressive, right? Now, assuming you’re meeting during the day, if you move slightly away from the Strip…”

Dexter lost track of time as he received dating tips from the 10-year marriage veteran.