The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1001

"We had it under control, Ves. The risks were manageable and we easily achieved our objectives." Leland soothed the recovering mech designer lying limp on his bed inside a military hospital.

"Getting shot in exchange for alarming the Mech Corps doesn’t sound like a good deal when I was only one step away from death! Is this how Flashlight treats their own people?!"

"It’s not easy to join our ranks, Ves." Leland shook his head. "It’s not that easy to join our ranks. You have to show you are willing to do whatever it takes to further our goals. I’m happy to say that your dedication to the agency so has been more than satisfactory. As long as you do your part in feeding the investigators from the Mech Corps the information we want them to obtain, I’m sure they’ll move on it with the highest priority."

"It all comes down to the mission, does it?" Ves sighed. "Fine. I’ll play along, but Flashlight better compensate me for what you’ve put me through!"

"Relax, Ves. We aren’t in the habit of treating our own people poorly. I’ll be sure to write a glowing evaluation of your performance and cooperation as soon as this mission comes to an end."

While Ves was inordinately pissed at Leland and Flashlight for being so cavalier with his life, there was no point in falling out with the powerful agency. The simple rational calculus was that it benefited him more if he remained in their camp than if he decided to cut ties with them out an emotional fit.

As Ves should be under strict guard, Leland couldn’t stick around for long. He left the hospital room in the VIP section shortly afterwards.

Minutes later, a military police captain followed by some aides entered the room. "Mr. Larkinson, I hope you have recovered sufficiently to answer some questions. Right now, it’s eighteen hours since you’ve been shot, but our investigations are still very much ongoing. You help and insight may be crucial to figuring out why you’ve been targeted."

Ves smiled sardonically at the clueless people sent by the Mech Corps to question him. They had no idea of Flashlight’s involvement.

While he could have spilled the beans on their plans and their attempt at his life, what would that get him? Not only would he become a persona-non-grata to the powerful intelligence agency, the Mech Corps might not even be able to protect him from their inevitable reprisal!

If there was one thing Flashlight hated the most, it was becoming exposes!

Therefore, Ves kept Leland’s intentions and mind and planned to spin a tale that aligned with Flashlight’s goals. "You’re in luck, captain, because I have a pretty good idea who wants me dead."

Ves proceeded to reveal his mostly truthful observations of an alarming scheme to smuggle out military hardware from the KNG’s Mosville Complex!

In order to push the Mech Corps into taking a harder stand against the Kadar-Neyvis Group, Ves also sprinkled some exaggerations in his tale. He painted the Mosville Complex as a rotten place where a lot of improprieties happened beneath the surface.

"This is very unsettling news, Mr. Larkinson." The military police captain said with a severe frown. "It is especially alarming to hear that a veteran chief technician is at the heart of this scheme."

"It’s not just Chief Errel Nyquist who’s conspiring against the Mech Corps for the BLM. I’m certain that Carl Stoddard, the mech designer sent by the higher-ups of the company to supervise the Mosville Complex is a part of this scheme as well. I’m just a liaison mech designer, but I immediately managed to uncover this criminal conspiracy after a week of visits! It’s impossible that a mech designer who’s been stationed at the complex for a year is blind to the misdeeds that happen there!"

Hearing that immediately made the expression on the captain more severe. "Are you certain of your allegations?"

"Unless he’s the most incompetent mech designer in the Republic, which is extremely unlikely given that the KNG spent a lot of effort in raising him, he is sure to be involved!"

No one except other mech designers and those in the technical profession could call him out on his exaggerations. Even if Ves hyped up the threat, he could still be forgiven considering that Stoddard really ought to be on top of the happenings at the complex.

Right now, the investigators sent to hear Ves out all took in the damning accusations with utmost seriousness.

"Although almost a day has passed, we’ll act quickly on the information you provided to us. WIth any hope, the BLM moles working at the Mosville Complex haven’t cleaned up the evidence as of yet. We’ll immediately take Chief Nyquist and Mr. Stoddard into custody. With any hope, the ringleaders haven’t gone to ground for long."

Ves nodded. "Be careful of boobytraps and sabotage. I can’t tell whether the Mosville Complex is rigged to blow, but I also found some other irregularities at their Ansel Complex. You should take every mech technician into custody and test them out whether they’re under the influence of a performance-enhancing substance supplied by the BLM. I’ve seen many of my classmates back on Rittersberg being ruined by the same stuff, so I know what I’m talking about."

"Thank you for informing us, Mr. Larkinson. Rest assured, we will inform the highest authorities on top of this case of your testimony. For now, your duties as a liaison mech designer are suspended for the time being. Just focus on recuperating for now. You have done us a great service for surviving this heinous assassination attempt on your life. Further merit will surely be in store for you once we follow up on your allegations."

After answering a few more questions, the military police captain quickly left to act on the explosive information. Ves waved them off from his bed and wished them good luck in their follow-up investigation.

Considering that the BLM wasn’t responsible for the hit on him, there was a good chance that Chief Nyquist and his accomplices hadn’t wiped out the evidence or gone to ground yet. Eighteen hours was a long time for them to erase their tracks, so Ves hoped that the Mech Corps truly took his words seriously as Flashlight hoped to achieve with their outrageous stunt.

"Goddamn Leland." He cursed again.

Ves idly patted his chest and pulled against the collar of his hospital gown to see the damage with his own eyes.

It looked better than he expected.

From what he heard, the burned, vaporized and damaged portions of his skin and flesh had been removed and replaced with flash-cloned tissue.

Ordinarily, this was a difficult and intensive procedure that also took a lot of time, but evidently the military hospital prioritized his emergency treatment and pulled out all the stops to bring him back into a condition where he could talk.

Perhaps Flashlight also pushed the Mech Corps into prioritizing his treatment in the background. After all, the intel he gathered would only be actionable for a short time. The longer it took for him to wake up, the greater the chance the moles at the KNG cleaned up their acts.