Adventure in the World of Crimes

2.14 Weighing Scale

"The number was a burner. It was already deleted."

Warren huffed upon reading Dale's message about the number who messaged him of his name, his real name that only a few knows. It had never put him to sleep, he even messaged the number back telling whoever it was that they must be messaged the wrong person because his surname was Valore and not Velmont, but the sender didn't reply anymore, earning another distress to the agent.

He didn't give his number to anyone, aside from the senior who got his number to his resumé.

Resumé.

Then it hit him. There was a possibility that someone had searched through his resumé, but if ever there had, his name registered there was Warren Valore, but the mysterious sender knew his real name, so it didn't make sense if it's one of these officers. He groaned and put his face on his hand in frustration. His real identity was involved so he was really getting frustrated with this.

"What's the matter?" The senior asked, sitting on his chair as he just got back from the cell for short chitchat to Ernesto Buenaventura, his secret spy, about what these night shift police had been doing at night. And once again, he was disappointed.

"Nothing, sir." He lied, putting his phone inside his pant's pocket, and took the already opened average bag of gummy bear on his desk. "What did you gather to your man?"

Senior Merit let out a disappointed sigh, crossing his arms. "The usual."

"The usual?" He asked in confusion. He had no single idea of what they were talking about, and this 'the usual' was making him confused.

"The usual, letting go of criminals in exchange for bribes, beating of the inmates especially on the second floor which they usually hear the laughs and screams. And they were requesting you to be back at night shift." He spilled, looking at the confused lad.

Warren pointed himself, "Why do they want me, sir? I didn't even visit them in those two days of a nightmare, I mean, night shift."

"That's because they were not being bullied when you were there. Maybe to appear as clean and good looking in your eye to recruit you, they didn't do anything to them in two days, they were cautious because you were there, but now that you're back in the morning shift, they were back in their usual habit."

"Are those ugly pigs scared of me?" Warren asked, feeling a little proud of himself as he could inflict fear by just breathing, especially more proud that those annoying officers were those who were scared of him.

The senior saw Warren's arrogant smirk, so he broke it. "No, they were scared of Sergio, not you. They could kill you with just one shot, they think of themselves higher than everyone else."

Warren snorted, he pulled his g*n from its bag and showed it to the senior. "That's simply because they have this, and the title 'Officer' before their names."

"Put that back!" Senior Merit told in alarm, pushing the g*n back to its gear. He hit Warren's head, "You could've mistakenly hit the trigger. Don't play with guns."

Warren amusingly looked at the senior, he had professionally handle a lot of guns in her training, and even now, if there's something he was good at aside from emptying a bag of gummy bears within a second, he could dismantle a g*n just as much. He was leading among the agents in terms of that.

"Sir, I am not Merit Junior." He said while chuckling, "But, yes, I'm sorry about that."

They were also taught about that by Hermes, telling them that the most heartbreaking situation and the situation that they should avoid was to kill an innocent man using the agency's g*n that everyone in, one reason why when they were just starting, the people they killed were those who were listed in the underground, those criminals, ex-convicts or never been jailed but kept on committing crimes no matter how many black envelopes from the agency were sent to them, the envelopes containing the warnings that they should stop or else they will forcibly stop them, were the only kind of people they were allowed to kill.

"Sir."

The two looked at Officer Gil who came rushing to their side, he had his phone in his hand and his face looked like he was about to show something intriguing, which he really did.

"What is this?" Senior Merit asked, furrowing his brow to see the pictures on the phone.

Warren looked at it as well, and his face turned into something like the senior upon seeing the picture on social media. It was Sergio Carpio, being awarded as one of the best Deputy Commissioner and even had the line of 'Proven Trustworthy instead of Guilty' on his introduction.

"That line is sickening." He remarked, and the two nodded in agreement. "He looked very pleased about that lie."

"Of course, he would. Lies has that power of relieving people's trouble, but for only a short time." Senior Merit said, pushing the phone to Officer Gil and massaged his head as if those posts from the central office of police where he was being awarded.

"You should've been there, sir. Don't you think?" Officer Gil asked, turning off his phone. "You are basically better than anyone else."

Senior Merit let out a giggle as he shook his head. "Recognition from the higher-ups boosts every officer's persistence, yes, however, I most prefer the recognition from the people I'm serving, which are the community. Not only in the eyes of the superiors I am good, but also in the eyes of the public. You guys should aim for it as well."

Warren looked at Officer Gil, he was smiling while looking at his superior, admiring the senior's view of his work, which was really admirable for Warren, or everyone else who knew him, so it was really a wonder why Sergio Carpio had gotten an award for the solved crimes which he employed with killing and framing the boys who deserved only to be jailed and not to be slain.

Senior Merit was the worker who loved his work, unlike the usual laborer who was working to flex, or because it was needed, the senior genuinely loved serving, the person who was supposed to be recognized instead of those who had two identities, the little to no good, and the dominant bad.

"I'll go do my work now, sir! I want to be like you." Officer Gil said, smiling and saluting at him to which the senior found delight at his words.

Officer Gil nodded at him, Warren nodded back, then he took his leave to go back to his desk. Yet, the glint in his eyes was not covered to Warren's hawk eyes though he had already turned his back.

"What do you think of your troop, sir?" Warren suddenly asked, glancing at the men who were working at their desks.

Senior Merit glanced at him and then to his men, "They're good. They follow me well. Why do you ask?"

Warren shook his head and grinned, stuffing his mouth with gummy bears. "They really follow you well."

The senior observed the gummy bear boy again, now in proximity, there was really something about this lad that was making him uncomfortable at the same time at ease in his presence, he didn't know how was that possible but it was his first time getting intimidated as if this newly graduate officer was his superior, so it amused him.

His gaze went down to his neck, tracing the silver necklace down to its pendant. He squinted his eyes, making a confused sound that made Warren suspended his gummy bears midway as he looked at the senior.

"Why, sir? Something wrong?"

Senior Merit furrowed his brow, moving his chair mear Warren as he took the pendant on his hand and carefully observed it, the pendant was the old weighing scale, like those of to represent justice, however, the other side had something eye-catching while the other had none.

"Why does this other part have a black thing and the other had none?" He vocalized, running his thumb on it that felt like a small brilliant stone but black.

Warren abruptly moved backward, realizing that he actually had a camera with him, the small camera he requested from Dale was still in him, he never had taken it off ever since it was delivered and it had completely left his mind that he was wearing a necklace, so the possibility that it caught the crimes of the night shift troop were high. He surely would have it checked by the agents, but for now, he had to think of another excuse.

He scratched his head, "It's a design, sir. I bought it like that."

"Oh," The senior let out, nodding, "You sure like this kind of design. Your shoes had the same."

Warren looked at his shoes, but they didn't have the same design as he said. "It doesn't have, sir?"

"No, not that. The white one."

"Ah, that," Warren just said. To tell the truth, it also had the same design on the insole so it was not visible. All his shoes had that small weighing scale design that symbolized justice as well as their agency. All his shoes were provided by the agency, they also have uniforms but they barely use them because they were usually in disguises, the only one with a different design but from the agency as well, was their cars. Hermes had this pure admiration for the detective fiction character, Sherlock Holmes, who always used pipe, and so after the design of the pipe that was on the agents' car's plate number.

"Uh, yes. I love... weighing scales." He lamely excused, followed by an awkward chuckle so he mentally smacked himself.

Senior Merit shrugged, moving back to his desk. "I thought you're a part of Themis Agency."

Warren coughed, surprised at what he said. He shook his head vehemently, "Of course not, sir. How I wish! I bet it will be cool to be part of that agency."

Senior Merit nodded at it, looking at him. "Right."