Wednesday morning.
Inside the special envoy's office at the Intis Embassy.
After his secretary had seen out a Loen diplomat who had come to negotiate, Mr. Owen sat back down.
He took a sip of coffee, then picked up his pen and continued drawing at an unhurried pace.
A moment later, the secretary with a thin mustache returned to the office. He shut the door and said quietly, "Mr. Owen... Calls in the Loen Parliament to punish the culprit and demand an explanation from us are growing louder. It's even become one of the Conservative Party's bottom lines... If this goes on, I'm afraid the New Party will stop holding them back on this matter..."
"Tell them we're conducting our own investigation in Intis and ask them to wait another week or two... I'm sure Loen's prime minister can manage that much." Mr. Owen sipped his coffee, apparently unconcerned.
"Loen has already had MI9 slow its investigation... But even so, two weeks is the limit.
"If we can't give them a satisfactory answer by then, war isn't impossible... At the very least, there'll be a proxy war in the colonies, and it won't be a small one...
"And we aren't ready. If a proxy war does break out, you'll certainly be implicated," the secretary warned.
"Don't worry. I've already arranged the necessary people back home. As soon as the right opportunity comes, we'll move against the Sari Family!
"Next week's year-end meeting will be an excellent opportunity.
"With the fate of his entire family at stake, our dear chief military attaché will have no choice but to take the blame." Mr. Owen smiled.
"Next week... I'll do my best to buy us that long." The secretary nodded, then hesitated before asking, "Mr. Sari seems very fond of his granddaughter... Why