Chapter 336 - Mayor's Office (4)
Mayor's muscle strained when he said, "You imbecile. You have built two rooms over there?" asked the Mayor. "To observe the phenomenon?"
"Yes!" said Joshua very imposingly. "If you like you can inspect the place for yourself."
Doug Langston intervened, "Yes Sir. Joshua is on the verge of making a phenomenal discovery. According to him there is an animal whose behavior resembles that of a pterodactyl. Given a few more months, he will be able to get the animal out of the fog. He is unable to enter the foggy envelope because the last time he did, he almost lost his way."
Dawn broke into cold sweat. There was a knot in her stomach but she maintained a cold exterior only to look indifferent.
The Mayor narrowed his eyes. "A pterodactyl?" said the Mayor with anger and suspicion. This man has surely gone mad. But the fact was that Joshua was a renowned environmentalist, so he couldn't even deny what his observations were. "Whose permission did you take to build the rooms in an eco-sensitive area? Also by whose permission are you watching endangered species? Did you get it passed by the relevant agencies?" Also if he had built illegally on the eco-zone, then the Mayor was in trouble. Did this idiot think that just because he was so close to him, he would do away with the illegal construction? Not only that with Dawn involved in the whole situation, he couldn't do much but flip sides to Dawn. Her father-in-law was in his party. If he went against her or Gayle, she would make sure that the whole scandal gets leaked to the media and would go against him. The blood environmentalist had gone crazy. Worse—he kept him in the dark.
Joshua stared blankly at the Mayor. "Per— permission?" His mind stuttered as to why was the Mayor even asking about permissions. Weren't they on the same side? He looked at Doug who appeared completely out of sync. "I don't have anyone's permission but—"
"Then how could you go around constructing?" asked Dawn, hitting on the hot iron. She had to quash him now. She turned to look at Doug and added, "So basically you were sending money to fund his new project and not for the 'Go Green' project?"
Doug had a thin line of sweat on his eyebrows. He stuttered, "Endangered Creatures is part of th— the 'Go Green undertaking."
Dawn shook her head. "Right now your friend, Mr. Barker, acknowledged that these two are separate. Not only that, how is developing a park associated with discovering an endangered species?"
Doug said, "What I mean is—?"
Dawn listed her hand up for him to stop. "This whole situation reeks of fraudulent activities. If the media would get the whiff of it, all of you are going to be in a pathetic situation. Mr. Doug Langston, you have funneled Company's funds in a project that wasn't even passed by the Management. This means that you cheated the Company. And I would go to the extent of saying that you were double-dealing."
"Hold on!" Joshua shouted. "Stop blaming Doug. He had only been working in order to support my— I mean, nation's cause. You simply can't go on accusing people like this." Then he looked at the Mayor and said, "Sir, I would request you to please come to the eco-zone and check it yourself. Ms. Dawn went to the park yesterday and clicked these photos. I think she even saw the building, but she is denying it here. I suspect that she wants to stop our project."
Dawn raised her eyebrows. "Of course I want to stop, but not your project. I want to stop funding your project because it is not what we had signed up for."
"You can't do that!" Joshua croaked. He looked frantically at the Mayor. "Sir please you must come to the park with me only once," he pleaded as if his life depended on it.
Doug added to it, "Yes, Sir, please come and see our efforts." He knew that if he won't support Joshua now, chances are that Dawn would throw him out of the Company. However, if the Mayor would agree with them, he would be able to create immense pressure on Dawn and his position would remain safe.
The Mayor clenched his jaw. These two had put him in such a mess. The only way out he could see was if the rooms were there, then he would be able to plead the case with Dawn to let them carry their activities and then he would raze the construction quietly. "Okay! Let's go there now!" said the Mayor and rose.
Dawn started to pack her documents along with David and they got up to leave. She said, "I will be taking your leave Sir. I think we are now clear that my Company will not be funding the 'Go Green' project anymore."
"No!" Joshua stopped her. "You cannot leave. You have to come with us!"
"What for?" she asked.
"I think you should come with us Dawn," the Mayor said in a low voice.
Dawn pursed her lips and looked at David, who nodded. One thing was sure - the Mayor would not go against Gayle for some time. Not that he would remain quiet.
"Okay," she replied.
Joshua and Doug took the lead and walked past her as they followed the Mayor through the corridors of his office building. They were whispering things to him so that she wouldn't listen to them. Dawn smirked. She walked behind them along with David until they reached the parking area. The Mayor went to his car and Doug and Joshua sat in with him. A security car was on alert and it started behind them. However, what was interesting was that it was Dawn's car that was followed by a caravan of two security cars behind her.
They reached the eco-sensitive zone in an hour's time. On her way she checked more files and talked to yet another Vice President whose job she was planning to axe. Once things were done, she asked David, "How is Cecilia doing?"
"She is fine. I have brought her to my house and Rose is there. The child is very disturbed and I am shocked that she has developed a habit of smoking. Rose and I are going to help her out of it. She is a brilliant child, just not on the track."
Dawn gave him a faint smile. "I am sure with your efforts she would do just fine."
"Thank you Dawn," said David with a sigh.
When they reached the park, the guards followed them closely.
"Sir, the construction is only a few meters ahead," Joshua informed. "In fact you can listen to the beast's noise from the other side. I am going to free two goats for it, which will go into the fog and you will see how they never return!"
"What do you mean? I will have to wait for their return?" The Mayor quipped.
"No, no!" Joshua flushed. He became quiet and led the way. Others schlepped along.
They walked through the fog and Joshua guided them to the construction site. He came to a standstill. He pressed a fist in his mouth and his skin tingled.
There was no building. Not a trace, not even rubble that would say that it existed.
Others stood behind him with blank expressions.
Dawn asked innocently, "Where is the construction?"
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