517 Not a Bad Man

"Damien…" Katherine called, looking at him with eyes full of concern. "This isn't looking good for Felix."

Placing a hand over hers, Damien nodded and took a deep breath. They wanted to avoid the media's attention, but it became too risky for them because of what happened. His jaw ticked when he remembered that they clearly told Felix to stand by, and yet he disobeyed his orders. However, as much as he hated that his words were ignored, he could understand why Felix did what he did. Now, he was all worried about the other.

It was the same for Katherine. She had already become close to Felix and treated him as her older brother, so the thought of her family being in a compromising situation—and now the possibility of him being labeled as a criminal—caused her heart to throb.

The laptop on the coffee table had been turned on the whole time. A few windows filled the screen, and one small window on the top right corner opened just as the laptop beeped—it was Styles calling through a video conference. His fingers danced on the keyboard as he spoke and gave them updates regarding what was currently going on in the hospital while simultaneously sending a few things on the laptop's screen.

"The media had already gotten the news about the senator's passing, so the hospital entrance is crowded. The reporters and journalists are trying to get a word from any of the medical staff or the family, but no one was willing to say anything. I guess this is a good sign for now…" said Styles.

Damien shifted in his seat and addressed Styles, "Have you done your clean up?"

"Yes. I have already erased Felix's traces being in the hospital, so they wouldn't be able to see anything through the security footage. However, I can only do this much… I've cleaned digitally, but there's nothing I can do about the people who actually saw him being there." Tapping his keyboard, a new window popped up on the screen. "There's a new broadcast just now..."

The team watched the laptop's screen intently, wishing for the best. The reporter mentioned that they were still trying to get an interview from the bodyguards and even the nurses. In the end, the reporter said that the real reason behind the senator's death was worth looking into. The family decided to have the late senator undergo an autopsy; therefore, the reporter promised that an official report would be given as soon as possible.

"This could be good news…" said Katherine. "Mixing the two substances is life-threatening and she was initially brought to the hospital because of that, so it was already highly likely that she would end up having a cardiac arrest. Surely, that would show as the cause of her death. That being said, Felix wouldn't be incriminated, right?"

Damien closed his eyes and hung his head low, rubbing his nape as he let out a small sigh. "He has to lay low for a while…"

"I'll keep an eye on the updates," said Styles.

...

Taking their focus out of the worrying situation, they talked about the next day's operation. In a nutshell, all they had to do was get in and get out of the lab without getting detected by any of the undercover guards from Shadow that would be guarding the area around Castle. However, even though the task would be quite simple, anything unexpected could happen, so they had to treat this trip with extreme caution.

An hour later, the sound of a vehicle arriving outside the house caught their attention. Noah and Felix entered through the front door and strolled towards the living room. 

Damien stared at Felix, their eyes briefly meeting before Felix lowered his head, evidently ashamed of what he did and couldn't look at the other straight in the eyes.

Walking towards the men who just arrived, Damien stood in front of Felix, and a restrained sigh escaped his mouth as he placed a hand on the other's shoulder and squeezed it. 

"I've disappointed you," said Felix, his voice low and bleak.

"We'll get through this." Damien held a hand out for a manly handshake, which Felix hesitantly took before the two gave each other a brotherly hug. It was apparent to see that no scolding was necessary and pure understanding was present. He considered Felix as one of his brothers, and at this time, family members need to support each other—blaming wouldn't help anyone.

Later, Styles called them over to gather around the laptop as another news report came in. There were two women on screen, one was the reporter and she introduced the other woman as a nurse from the hospital who wanted to keep her identity hidden. The nurse's face was blurred, her voice was distorted, and her name was kept as anonymous.

"Are you saying that this man did something to the senator?" asked the reporter. 

Waving her hands, the nurse clarified, "I'm not saying that. It's just… I found it strange, and it made me wonder what he was doing there pretending to be a doctor to get inside the room. Perhaps he could just be a really curious individual or a journalist who wanted to get a scoop first hand. I don't really know, but I don't think he was a bad person..."

"Why do you say that?"

The nurse spoke with her hands moving here and there to express her thoughts. "There was no one else in the room at that time apart from the senator and that man. And we received the call in the station because someone pressed the emergency button. If that man were there to harm the senator, he wouldn't have called for help. Even if the senator was the one who pressed the button, he would have fled right away before our team could arrive, don't you think so?"

"Do you think you can identify that man if you see him, or maybe describe him to the police for a sketch?"

The nurse thought for a few seconds before she shook her head and responded, "I cannot guarantee. I would have to try… Everything happened so fast, so I don't know how accurate I can be."

Listening to the interview, the group of people in the safehouse had mixed feelings. The outcome to this whole ordeal was truly worrisome.