This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy): LE DOSSIER VALMY (Thriller) : chapitre 24 (Troisième partie)

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy), a French guy.

Chapter 24: A day in hell

The day before, we had dinner with the two German women. Patrick has gone to bed to arrive early at the laboratory with Adeline. Exceptionally, we start at 8AM for syntheses that take time. Dinner is a moment of fun and complicity with Olga and Petra. Forgotten the fears of the beginning, forgotten also the diets, the two women feast and empty bottles of cold wine fresh as quickly as me. The alarm clock is scheduled for 7:30.

7:15, I'm in the car park and I'm waiting for my two guests to go to the laboratory when the phone rings. It's Patrick. I pick up.

Vincent, we have a problem. There are lots of cops in the lab, on the parking lot everywhere. I am with Adeline and we are not allowed to enter.

Uppercut ...

You are there?
... Yes ... yes Patrick, I'm here.

It takes me a few more seconds to react.

Listen Patrick, I'm waiting for the girls and I'm coming.

Olga comes smiling. I must be as white as a linen because she says to me:

Something is wrong, Vincent?
Patrick just called me, there is police in the laboratory but I do not know more. The best thing would be for you to take your car.

No sooner said than done and we take the direction of the Industrial Zone. I immediately call my lawyer on his cell phone. He answers and gives me the instructions:

Vincent do not make any obstruction. Remind me as soon as you have the name of the investigating judge, so that I can act.
But we have nothing to hide anyway ...

And suddenly, I think that if I have cops in the laboratory, there must also be at home in Paris. I'm calling Julie. She answers.

Are you okay?
Yes and you?
No, we have cops in the lab and I do not know why.
They have also been here for half an hour.
And?
AND? And they search everything.
Children? Where are the children?
They are there in the living room, sitting. We do not have the right to move. They cannot go to school ...
OK, no opposition, we have nothing to hide. I'll call you back as soon as I know more.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! I am the victim and I am the one who is searched! And I do not even know why ... The day the Germans are here ... to buy the company! My car arrives in the area and indeed our small car park is full. There is no doubt about it. The more I approach, the more I feel that the reception committee is muscular. I digress. All cars are unmarked and registered 75 except the one of the local national police. While I park my car, I count the officials in gray suits. They are 17 plus an inspector in jeans with his police armband prominently displayed and uniformed policemen.

The Germans follow. I leave the car as naturally as possible and I go to the officials.

Hello gentlemen, I am Vincent Le Roy and the director of this company. What can I do for you?

There, in a coordinated gesture, the officials brandish their professional card covered with a red-white blue and one of them advances:

National Directorate of Tax Investigations, we have a warrant to search. the premises

Tax department? But what does the tax office do at home? The guy shakes a paper from afar and tells me that it is a precautionary measure to prevent evidence from disappearing as part of a tax audit ...

Listen gentlemen, there is no problem. There is nothing to hide here so do your job. The only thing is that today I have my German clients with me and we have a busy work program.

Olga and Petra stayed in the car park next to their car. I feel a flutter among the officials. It was not planned obviously and it annoys everyone. The one who spoke to me leaves the group and goes to one of the unmarked cars. Basically, I distinguish that there is a woman sitting. They will discuss a good ten minutes. I look at Adeline who does not understand anything. The poor trainee is petrified. The official returns. He tells me:

Listen, we'll take a tour of the company first and then we'll see for your German customers.
No problem.
However, we need two witnesses of our operations. Mr. Le Roy, either you and your assistant are witnesses or we take two random people in the street ... This is standard procedure.
OK.

I look at Adeline whose legs are flailing. I reassure her with a little irony:

Come on, Adeline, smile, it will make a very good report of internship! Not ordinary ... You attend a live search. In the world of chemistry, it's not every day!
OK...

And I open the doors of the hall. The officials join me and invest the place. I inform them that they are in a laboratory and that there are dangerous chemicals and that it would be better to wear glasses and gloves. They did not anticipate either. I explain to them the operation of the premises, that there is only one industrial laboratory, and that at the top there is a second laboratory and an office corridor. I open the coded doors one by one of the two laboratories and there they are to open the cupboards and examine our equipment. I feel that it does not match their expectations. But my interlocutor is still arrogant.

If you are looking for something, it's inevitably in the office. You will not find anything in the labs. By the way, all the accounting is in these two cabinets, there in the hallway.
You have a computer?
Of course, here it is. the password is vlm07.
Ah, it's a mac?
Yes, why?

The old lady who had stayed in the car joined them. They isolate themselves in an office. Ten minutes later, she comes to meet me and says:

Listen, Monsieur Le Roy, for your clients, they can work in the laboratories with your chemist. What interests us are your papers, your computers and so everything happens in the offices.
We have the right to make coffee?
Yes, I will not refuse a coffee.

She is just wreaking havoc in my company and at home with dozens of henchmen and she would like a good coffee! She does not lack air. But hey, I'm going back with a policeman, hand over the holster giving instructions to Patrick, Olga and Petra. Olga looks at me with a sorry look. She tells me that she has talked to Archibald and he will call me back during the day ... Patrick accompanies them and somehow they all three get to work.

I return to the eye of the cyclone. Adeline and I sit on two chairs in the hallway as witnesses. The officials look at everything, they grab tons of documents with each time a stamp and a seal number. One of them makes a computer list on a laptop. At first, I hear them talking to each other.

Here I found that!
OK, we take it!

I do not see the point of entering the product data sheets and I understand that their speech is only to impress. The plainclothes inspector calls the police station to make an operational report. And he tells his superior who obviously follows the remote operations:

It's okay, everything is going well. We got what we came for.

Poor and sinister jerk. I keep calm. I'm more concerned by what's going on for Julie and the kids as well as my poor trainee than that stupid official. Around 10:00, the old woman receives a call on her cellphone. It is the Paris team who gives him a report. I vaguely hear the conversation. They did not find anything. She takes her time to think and finally she answers to her interlocutor:

OK you can leave. We'll meet tonight at the Brigade. For us, too, there is not much. We will be finished today.

In fact, the ballet of seizures continues but the arrogance has disappeared. Archibald calls me. The old woman is right next to me. She listens as I pick up:

OK Vince, my friend, I'm aware of what's going on in Amiens. Nothing is the result of chance, my friend and your enemies are obviously very powerful to obtain such measures. You will understand that we will buy nothing in these conditions. The girls can continue their technical program, I'm counting on you to take care of it. We will talk later.

The message is clear. Clear. I just lost everything again, there the ass on a chair next to my trainee who tells me:

It's not normal what happens to you Mr. Le Roy.

Well yes, it's not normal. But it is so. No matter how easy I weep, what I feel now is a deep hatred.

The old woman has taken over the coffee corner and begins to plan a retreat with a hint of humanity. She asks me to tell my story. She understands. She is smart this little lady. She realizes that they have been had too and she tries to explain to me that they had elements a priori overwhelming. She even tells me that this kind of measure is quite exceptional, that they go on the field like this only four times a year. She even ends up telling me that she heads the highest fiscal brigade in France, Bercy. For God Sake! All this for a little guy like me ... all this does not make sense except to grind me. The state has just put itself at the service of my opponents. In their pay. Incredible but true!

And as a bonus, my children that had to sit in a couch. They must have been afraid. Julie must blame me even if I am not responsible. I think of them. Let's finish, I want to find my family. I have desires for murder too. Me the legalist who makes sure never to do anything illegal, I want to kill Alex and Kojak. With a 12 gauge in their faces. For now, I must contain this hatred and remain stoic. I will never recover from this day of April 26^th, 2007. And the descent into hell is not over yet ...

Continue to Chapter 25

Introduction
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6
Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12
Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18
Chapter 19 - Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22 - Chapter 23