Brack gave Spencer a quick nce, "I''ve heard there''s something fishy about Ben."


    Dr. Ray''s brow furrowed slightly at this. "So, Brack, have you sent someone to nab him?"


    "Do you think I''d be dumb enough to spook him?" Brack chuckled softly. "A senior researcher who''s been with the institute for seven or eight years? You think he''s got no one backing him?"


    "So what''s your move now?" Dr. Ray asked, turning to him.


    Brack settled into the couch, "Has he shown up at the institute yet?"


    "I''ll find out." Dr. Ray walked over to make a call on the direct line.


    Brack nodded in response.


    Swanson, observing from the sidelines, thought for a moment before sitting across from Brack. "Brack, with these new developments, shouldn''t we let Adler go?"


    Brack''s eyelids twitched a bit. "Why rush? We haven''t caught Nick yet, and there''s still a lot to verify."


    "Honestly, Nick''s out of the country right now," Swanson repeated what he''d told Spencer earlier. "I can''t spill the beans about the international project—it''s top secret."


    "How convenient, leaving right now?" Brack was never one to buy into coincidences.


    Swanson offered a calm smile and handed Brack a paper from his document bag. "Here''s a travel log. You can check it in the system."


    Brack paused, took it, then ryed a series of numbers through the earpiece on his cor.


    Swanson listened, his eyes slightly lowered. He wasn''t sure about the log''s authenticity—it was something handed to him after he agreed to help Mirabe''s


    side.


    In under two minutes, Manuel,


    having received the call, rushed into Dr. Ray''s office. He nodded at Brack before focusing on Dr. Ray, looking skeptical, "Dr. Ray, did you say Ben''s the one who took the documents?"


    Dr. Ray nodded softly. "Some surveince footage from that night has been recovered. Ben''s the main suspect."


    Though he didn''t outright use Ben, he was almost sure of it in his mind.


    Manuel instinctively defended Ben. "We were talking all night, then went to theb and bumped into the thief. Ben even fought him off."


    "What if they were partners?" Dr. Ray asked, ncing at Manuel.


    "Why would an aplice wreck something he worked so hard on?" Manuel began, then suddenly paused.


    He remembered that after the drugs


    were destroyed, Ben''s reaction wasn''t as upset as his or the other professors''. When theputer data was reported lost, Ben quickly produced a handwritten version.


    He had noticed some discrepancies in the datapared to the original but was


    more focused on recreating the drug, so he didn''t dwell on it.


    Later, thanks to that manuscript, the


    sto


    new drug was recreated pretty easily, and it was Ben who


    suggested testing it on humans right


    away But this new drug was quite different from what they originally developed.


    The more Manuel thought about it, the darker his expression grew.