Red Block
She hurried down the corridor toward the room area, chasing a rumor: a maid had been caught with several units of NE-47 in her room. Supposedly, she was the only one who knew where they were kept.
Apparently the new maid, Veronika, was once again at the center of the problem. The Lucille case had already been shocking; that she ended up in the very room where the drugs had been hidden was truly troublesome. There had been no good moment to remove them from that room and relocate them… until now.
The red-ribbon maids had been summoned so the caught addict could expose the others. At that moment, the Red Block was almost entirely deserted. It would only take a few minutes to move the stash into another empty room, before deciding on a better hiding place.
The lock clicked open after inserting a master key. She had to hurry to…
—Uhm… I was expecting to recognize you, but you don't ring a bell.
No, impossible. She wasn't supposed to be here. They had caught the addicted maid, they should all be there, especially her.
—Let me guess… —she mimicked a frightened face— oh no, she's not supposed to be here! —she barely held back a laugh.
She shouldn't know why she was here.
—My apologies, I thought this was the perfect time to clean the room.
—Oh, in that case I think you should clean this —she kicked the box full of NE-47 toward her.
She already knew it was hidden here! Then it wasn't…
—We didn't catch anyone. Well, not yet at least —she smiled maliciously, rising from the bed and coming closer.
—It was a clever idea, actually. Taking turns among several to smuggle out the NE-47; even more impressive to use the vouchers, handed out for breathing, from CN-09. This was the only way I could think of to draw you out. Surely it was too difficult to entrust the hiding spot to anyone else.
Red Block: cleared area
Anna, accompanied by guards, approached from behind the corridor door.
—I told you it would work —said Veronika, holding the maid's shoulder to keep her from moving.
—It was bound to happen anyway. This only pushed it forward a day or two at most —Anna replied.
—Days you didn't have —Veronika answered with mocking tone.
Vera, the guard, stepped in and restrained the maid, gagging her.
—I'll leave the heavy work to you —Veronika smirked, flexing her nonexistent bicep.
As she lifted the maid onto her shoulder, Vera replied:
—Impeccable work, Kensington.
Almost everyone left the room, except for Veronika and Anna.
—You know, Anna, I've got a question: what is CN-09? Ilse didn't seem the least bit surprised when so many boxes of it were taken from the pharmacy.
—That's because they're contraceptives. The maids are given daily doses.
—What?
—Good work, Kensington.
Anna left the room before Veronika could even ask anything else.