A Replacement Bride

Chapter 202

"This is the signal. Strangely enough, I got interrupted halfway through my tracking process, which makes me wonder if that's the signal from the national satellite." Xavier turned on his laptop and pulled up a satellite image as soon as he entered Katherine's room.

"This is the signal. Strangely enough, I got interrupted halfway through my tracking process, which makes me wonder if that's the signal from the national satellite." Xavier turned on his laptop and pulled up a satellite image as soon as he entered Katherine's room.

After that, he went on to tell Katherine the location of the signal he managed to track.

Soon, Katherine took a quick look at the image before she grabbed a chair to sit on and rapidly typed on the keyboard. A few moments later, she realized it was indeed like what Xavier said earlier when her tracking was hindered by some unknown interruption. With a pair of furrowed eyebrows on her face, she stared at the monitor screen for a few moments and tried a new command prompt. About 30 seconds later, she pushed the 'enter' button, whereupon countless codes started rolling upward on the screen until it stopped on one of the lines.

As she stared at the line of codes for a while, Katherine deleted everything in the desktop background and shut off her laptop before putting it away.

Needless to say, Xavier was curious to see her reaction, not knowing what was going on at all. Thus, he curiously asked, "Wait, what? What did you see? Did you track it? Who was the mastermind? Come on, say something. Tell me what's going on. Don't cut me out of the loop."

"You have nothing to do with this business now. Leave the rest to me and go. If you continue to be involved, you're going to find yourself in danger soon enough." Katherine gave Xavier a glimpse and patted his shoulder.

Despite Xavier's confusion, he could tell from Katherine's serious look that she was not kidding at all. Thus, he decided not to press on with his question. When he walked out the door of Katherine's room, he saw Joaquin still in his trance and was prompted by his curiosity to ask, "Hey, buddy. What's on your mind that's making you so spaced out? Is there something wrong?" However, his question was only met with Joaquin's glacial eyes.

In response, Xavier awkwardly rubbed his nose. "Why is everybody behaving in a strange manner now? None of you seem like you're going to tell me anything. Fine, I'm leaving now. See you, Grandma. I'll catch you up soon, Noah." Xavier walked away as soon as he finished his words.

After a few moments of silence, Joaquin finally decided to walk into Katherine's room. "Do you have anything to tell me?" Katherine looked up at the man as soon as he entered the room, having noticed his disturbed look ever since he spoke to Beatrice earlier.

Joaquin sat down on the bed. "I don't know where to begin. Fine, it's nothing important anyway. There is something bigger behind Beatrice, and I have already told Jeremy to find out more about whoever that is."

"They are not going to find anything," Katherine responded bluntly.

Joaquin gave Katherine a confused look. "You know what Area Seven is capable of and what it's all about. So, if there is someone or something that we can't find out about, that means…" Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

"What if we're dealing with someone who is working in the national government? What do you think Area Seven is going to find?" Katherine put down the items she was holding and gazed at Joaquin seriously.

"What do you mean? Are you trying to say that the person who tried to lure you to Ewing Factory with your father's kidnap works for the government? But why would they do that? Everybody knows your identity, and everything you're researching now is at the country's disposal, although they charge partly

for the patent. For that, your existence brings no harm but good to the country. There is no reason for them to do this to you." Joaquin was puzzled, thinking Katherine might have just overreacted because he simply couldn't see why the government would try to kill her.

Nevertheless, Katherine only smiled in response. "Well, the country's interest is, of course, their utmost priority, but that doesn't mean they would sacrifice their personal gains as well. Think about it—believe it or not, there are some people who value their own self-interest more than the country's out there. Therefore, these are the people you're going to investigate because they possess the power to create an impact beyond your imagination."

Hearing the lady's point, Joaquin went completely silent, unable to refute Katherine because he couldn't deny the truth that Katherine had just stated. Well, that means whoever is plotting against Katherine is not someone from the outside but rather someone among us, not to mention his or her high status.

"What's your next move?" Joaquin looked at Katherine as he could tell from her expression that she already knew who was the mastermind.

Katherine curled her lips upward and replied coldly, "What do you want me to do? Isn't it clear that whoever is behind this wants what I have? He's already made his move, so all I can do is just go back. Haha. He doesn't deserve to get his hands on it."

When Katherine finished her words, Joaquin suddenly had a bad feeling, knowing how well the development of the new medicine she brought back to the country had turned out due to the positive test result. Although it hadn't been fully launched into the market, he believed a mass production of the medicine could bring a huge amount of profit and was convinced that was the motive of whoever had just tried to plot against Katherine. Considering the potential danger the situation could bring, Joaquin

was worried that Katherine would destroy her research and the medicine should she become desperate because the patients would be the ones who suffered if that really happened.

"What’s your plan, Katherine? If you know who's behind this, tell me. I'm sure I can do something with my power as the person in charge of Area Seven." Joaquin didn't want Katherine to rush into a wrong decision and end up ruining her life's work.

Nevertheless, Katherine didn't answer the man's question but instead went on to turn on her laptop and inserted several combinations of different numbers. Moments later, Joaquin heard his phone ringing and answered the call, only to hear Arthur's angry bellow. "What is Area Seven doing? Was it so hard for you people to protect one woman? Do you have any idea how important Katherine is to the country? How could you let anything happen to her?"

"Mr. Walton?" Joaquin asked while looking at Katherine, who was calmly sitting beside him.

"Who the heck just tried to plot against her? I want you to bring your men with you and destroy the culprits along with every last one of his accomplices now! This is unforgivable! How dare they target Katherine! Let me tell you one thing—Katherine is an important asset to our country, so her safety is our utmost priority! Do what you need and make an example out of these people! I want no one else to even think about doing any monkey business! If anyone ever dares to try any silly move, I want them all to pay for it with their careers! These people really have nothing else better to do, don't they? Can't they think of spending their time more wisely?" Arthur was so angry that Joaquin felt as if he was scolding him right in front of him.

In fact, even Katherine, who was standing far away from Joaquin, could hear the angry man's voice. However, she chuckled in amusement as she couldn't help but find Arthur's reaction adorable, deeming it a beauty of Cechirus despite the traitor that lurked among them.

Meanwhile, Joaquin had no idea what Katherine had done to alert Arthur, but he believed something big had just happened, judging from the angry phone call Arthur had received. Therefore, he immediately agreed to Arthur's request and hung up the call a few moments later, whereupon he stared at Katherine with confused emotions written on his face.