Hearing him introduce himself, Chelsea couldn't help drawing a deep breath. It took her a long while to bring her emotions under control.
Clearly, the last meeting he referred to had been on the day the chip was stolen.
And the mysterious man who had shot out the Communicator after stealing the chip was none other than Mr. Jonas Wetting.
As though he hadn't noticed Chelsea's emotions, Jonas continued:
"Though it came as something of a surprise, I must still thank you for the gift you sent me a few days ago, Miss Chelsea..."
-A gift...?
Chelsea froze for a moment, then realized what he meant.
Suppressing her anger, she asked:
"What have you done to her?"
He had contacted her through Shiyu Ryoko's private communications channel. It wasn't hard to imagine what situation Shiyu Ryoko was in now.
"Miss Shiyu is doing quite well... please don't worry."
Jonas paused, then continued:
"Of course, for personal reasons, I may need to keep her here with me for a while."
At those words, Chelsea knew full well that Shiyu Ryoko had become one of his bargaining chips.
"You'd better think this through. What you're doing is no different from playing with fire. You'll only get burned."
A hint of menace crept into Chelsea's voice, but unfortunately, Jonas wasn't intimidated:
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
Seemingly unconcerned by Chelsea's threat, Jonas spoke with a trace of mockery:
"Perhaps you're the one who hasn't truly grasped the situation, Ms. Chelsea."
Chelsea couldn't help clenching her fist at his words, then slowly relaxed it.
Much as she resented it, she had to admit that he now held the initiative.
Using underhanded tactics away from the negotiating table had always been her specialty.
When the two sides weren't on equal footing, those tactics never