“One option could be giving it to him in installments,” suggested one of the team members.
“Agreed, we could use that approach. It will not only keep us in the dictator’s good graces but also motivate him to expedite our acquisition by wanting more payments. This seems like the best option,” said Felix, nodding in approval.
“So, are we planning to inform him that for every telecommunication company we acquire, we’ll be giving him 5 million dollars in installments? By the end of the process, we would have spent a total of 30 million dollars in bribes, including the initial 10 million we plan to offer at the meeting next week,” Berry asked Felix, seeking his opinion.
“Yes, that should work. There are only four telecommunication companies in the country,” Felix agreed.
“Now, let’s discuss the approach for bringing up the matter without upsetting him. We need to be precise and careful in our wording throughout the entire meeting,” Felix suggested.
“Agreed,” Barry said, “We don’t want to come across as pushy or threatening. Perhaps we can start by expressing our admiration for the dictator’s leadership and the strides he’s made in developing the country’s infrastructure.”
“That’s a good suggestion, but we need to be careful with our words. The dictator has done very little for the country, so he might think we are being sarcastic and trying to mock him,” Felix cautioned against using that compliment.
And thus they began to brainstorm for their approach during the meeting.
While all of this was happening, Nova was monitoring their conversation through their phones and taking notes on everything that was being said. She planned to report back to Aron once he was finished with his current task.
…….
After spending more than four hours collecting brain data from various households in Cambridge city communities Aron had finally finished all the people who were on the list.
Although Aron’s brain data collection task had been going smoothly, there was one instance where he entered a household and discovered the individual he was meant to collect data from engaged in sexual activity with their spouse.
As a result, he had to postpone the data collection for this particular household and move them to the end of his list.
Upon returning to the household half an hour later, Aron was surprised to find the professor still engaged in the activity.
Despite feeling proud of the man’s stamina, Aron had no choice but to wait for him to finish since he was the only person remaining on the list for Aron to collect brain data from in the Cambridge community.
During that period, Nova kept him company.
[Sir, Felix’s plan has gone successful] Nova informed Aron about the ongoing events on Felix’s side.
“So, when did they manage to set up a meeting with the dictator?” Aron asked Nova, curious about the schedule and how much time the team had to prepare for the meeting.
“They have a week to prepare,” Nova replied, not only answering Aron’s question but also answering the underlying meaning behind it.
“Have they already come up with a plan?” Aron asked Nova, his curiosity piqued about what kind of plan Felix’s team had devised.
[They are currently working on the plan,] Nova informed him.
Afterward, they continued to engage in small talk about various topics for about twenty minutes until the professor finally finished.
This gave Aron a brief window of time, during which the man’s wife went to the bathroom, allowing Aron to complete the collection of the brain data, which only took a few seconds for the initial reading.
As Aron finished collecting the brain data and was leaving the house, the professor’s wife returned, drying herself off with a towel while saying, “You’re not tired, are you? We have three more rounds to go.” passing right besides Aron, who was holding his breath, even though he knew he was invisible to her.
“Honey? Honey?” the professor’s wife called out when she didn’t receive a reply from him.
“What’s wrong with him? He usually doesn’t get tired unless he goes for a few more hours,” the professor’s wife wondered aloud as she covered her husband with a blanket. She noticed that he was sleeping like a baby.
“Haaah ” Aron breathed a sigh of relief as he successfully left the house without encountering any problems.
“I wish you all the best,” Aron said, looking back at the house before turning to make his way back to the hotel. He knew that his driver and rental car would be waiting for him there, ready to take him back to the hotel.
“How many people in the UK still need their brain data collected?” Aron asked Nova as he walked back to the hotel.
[754 people] Nova answered, making Aron want to jump from a bridge when he was reminded that he needed to repeat this for a few hundred times just in the UK alone.
After walking for some time, Aron finally returned to the University Arms Hotel.
That’s when he realized that he had told his driver he wouldn’t return until morning, so he decided to check in for the three hours he had to wait.
After completing the check-in process, he headed to his booked room. Once inside, he took off his coat, and laid down on the bed before falling a sleep.
……
Rina Rothschild manor.
Rina could be seen sitting in her work room, engrossed in reading a document on her computer while Ava presented her findings on the decrypted and analyzed backed up data .
Rina had been listening to Ava’s presentation since yesterday, as it was a lengthy one due to the extensive amount of data they had to go through.
However, despite the long duration, Rina did not feel tired at all because everything she was learning from Ava was valuable.
With the information she had now gained, Rina now had significant leverage over almost everyone in the family.
Despite having a wealth of leverage over almost everyone in the family, Rina didn’t rush to take any action.
She wanted to wait until she had heard everything from Ava, knowing that if Ava had made the presentation so long, it must mean that every piece of information was crucial. So she continued to listen carefully and take notes, waiting for the right moment to make her move.
As Ava presented, Rina took notes and asked questions to clarify anything that wasn’t clear
Rina sat there, absorbing all the information that Ava presented, until finally, at noon,
[With that, you are updated on everything I considered important from the analyzed data] with those words Ava finished her presentation.
After listening to the entirety of the presentation, she decided to finally start taking action.
She pressed the intercom button and called for her secretary, Chloe, who she knew was one of the only few people within the family who were clean.
“Yes miss” Chloe said after entering her office.
“Call Terry, tell him I have something to talk about with him.” She told his secretary to call for her head of security, the first betrayer she had to deal with.
“Yes” Chloe immediately left to go and call for Terry.
As she waited for Terry to come, she took another look at the leverage she had of Terry to ensure that their meeting didn’t go differently from how she envisioned.