novelSusiti Chapter 85 Testing the Waters
Chapter 85 Testing the Waters
Dr. Joseph Warren sat in his office, the Boston street scene gradually becoming bustling outside the window, but he heard nothing.
His fingers unconsciously tapped on a human anatomy diagram, on which the course of arteries and veins was meticulously depicted in red and blue ink.
Samuel Adams and his radical friends saw Boston as a free city in need of liberation.
Warren doesn't see it that way.
In his eyes, the city was a sick person.
A seriously ill patient.
Its body is rotting, and the source of the rotting is in the governor's mansion that overlooks the entire city.
He himself, along with Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and others from the Sons of Liberty, were physicians attempting to excise this rotting tissue.
Samuel is the operating bell used to wake patients, loud and sometimes jarring, but indispensable; Hancock is the expensive tonic that sustains the patient's vitality with money.
He himself is accustomed to seeing himself as the real hand wielding the knife. Calm and precise, he must clearly see the direction of every blood vessel and nerve before making a cut.
Recently, a new, undiagnosed tissue appeared on this body.
An Eastern businessman surnamed Li.
After listening to Samuel's almost fanatical description at the secret meeting, Warren did not feel excited like the others; instead, he felt a chill in the Boston wind.
Is a man who can transport munitions in the belly of a fish, make a pirate queen bow down, and manipulate the Royal Navy at will a potent medicine, or an even more dangerous germ?
Strong medicine may be able to bring the dead back to life, but if the dosage is slightly off, it can become a deadly poison. And pathogens, on the other hand, will silently devour newly growing healthy tissue.
Warren decided to personally investigate this "lesion".
But he didn't intend to go directly to their door like Samuel did, which would only show him what they wanted him to see. He needed to create an unexpected moment, a window to observe their true reaction.
……
Two days later, an elegant black four-wheeled carriage slowly made its way along the dirt road leading to Oak Bay Estate. The afternoon sun filtered through the sparse oak leaves, casting dappled shadows on the road.
Joseph Warren sat in the carriage, his leather suitcase filled with various medicine bottles and surgical instruments on the opposite seat.
"This is it, John," he said to the coachman.
The coachman reined in the horses and stopped on a gentle slope about a quarter of a mile from the manor gate.
This is a corner with a wide view, offering a good view of most of the manor entrance, while maintaining a safe social distance.
Warren alighted from the carriage, pretending to inspect the horse's hooves.
The driver then quietly took a wrench from his toolbox and, using an extremely tricky angle, pried open the axle connection of the left rear wheel.
A crisp "snap" sounded.
"Oh, damn it! Sir, the axle is broken!" the driver cried out dramatically.
Warren frowned as he walked over, crouched down, and began to examine the area. He glanced around warily out of the corner of his eye.
Everything was quiet, except for the rustling of the leaves in the wind.
However, less than half a minute after the accident, something unexpected happened.
On the ridge of a field not far away, two farmers who were weeding straightened up. They didn't rush over to ask anything, or even glance in their direction.
One of them raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead with remarkable ease, his fingers tapping rhythmically on his brow bone. The other bent down to pick up his straw hat from the ground, and as he put it on, the brim tilted slightly to the left.
Then they bent down again and continued working, as if nothing had happened.
Warren, whose observational skills were equally impressive, began to feel uneasy.
These two men were not farmers at all, or rather, their identity as farmers was merely a disguise for their role as sentries.
Their actions just now were clearly a well-trained set of warning signals.
It seems that from the moment he stepped into this area, the manor's defense system had already enveloped him like an invisible net.
Li Wei is reading an English book about metallurgy in his study.
Fiona walked in without saying a word, but placed a small black chess piece in the northwest corner of his desk.
This is an alarm.
The black stone represents an external visitor, and its location in the northwest corner suggests that the visitor is from downtown Boston and their identity is unknown.
Li Wei's gaze remained fixed on the book; he simply asked in a normal tone, "Level?"
"Twisted axle, staged accident. Observer, not attacker." Fiona's voice was cold. "Most likely, they're after us."
"Let Finn's men handle it?"
"No." Li Wei closed the book and tapped the table lightly with his knuckles.
"Finn is a hammer, used to crack walnuts. What's coming now is probably a needle trying to gauge our strength. Sending the hammer will only break the needle, or we'll end up hurting ourselves."
He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the immobilized carriage in the distance.
"Go," he instructed Fiona, "take two of your best actresses with you, and bring the first-aid kit and toolbox."
"Remember, you're not the intelligence chief; you're a well-trained but kind-hearted housekeeper. Go ask that 'gentleman in distress' if he needs any help."
"Yes, sir."
Warren was discussing "countermeasures" with his coachman when a small, exquisite servant's carriage drove out of the manor.
A young woman in a dark dress stepped off the carriage, followed by two maids carrying suitcases.
The woman was young, with delicate features, and her expression carried just the right amount of concern and politeness. She walked up to Warren and gave him a flawless curtsy.
"Good day, sir. I am Fiona, the butler of Oak Bay Estate. Our master saw your predicament from the window and sent me to inquire if you need any assistance. We have a mechanic who can repair carriages and can also send a carriage to take you back to town."
Her voice was gentle and polite, just like that of a housekeeper in any wealthy household.
"Thank you for your kindness, miss." Warren removed her hat and returned the greeting. "It's just that the axle is broken. My coachman can handle it, but it will take some time."
As he spoke, he subtly observed the other person.
Although the woman named Fiona had her eyes lowered, Warren could sense that three-tenths of her attention was on him, while the other seven-tenths was on the carriage and the medical case behind him.
She seemed to be assessing the weight of the box, and even trying to discern the unique scent of iodine and various herbs wafting from the gaps in the box.
Clearly, everyone in this manor could be a node for intelligence gathering.
"Sir, are you alright? Would you like to rest at the manor for a while? My master would be happy to entertain you," Fiona asked with concern. A maid behind her stepped forward and opened a first-aid kit.
"No, thank you," Warren declined. "However, I do need to get back to the city as soon as possible. One of my patients needs a special medicine that only I can prepare."
He patted his suitcase. "All the materials are in there. We can't afford to delay."
This is a reason that cannot be refused.
Upon hearing this, Fiossang immediately expressed his understanding and offered again to send a carriage from the manor to take him, but Warren declined again, citing the inconvenience of disturbing him.
He needs to stay here and needs more time to observe, but he can't let himself get caught up in the other party's observation circle from the very beginning.
Fiona did not insist, but gracefully instructed the servants to leave some water and food before returning with her entourage.
The coachman began "repairing" the axle with a clanging and banging, while Warren, under the pretext of taking a walk, strolled around the neighborhood. He wanted to see if he could find a flaw.
He walked to the fence of the manor, where an elderly gardener was pruning a clump of roses.
The gardener had gray hair and a face full of wrinkles; he looked like an ordinary old man who had spent his whole life working on the farm.
Warren decided to try his luck.