DECODE

CHAPTER 11; Uno

ASHER

I'm sitting alone inside our clubroom, pondering about the things that happened these past few days. I noticed so many things, and now, I began to draw conclusions from them. But despite of all those things, I still cannot comprehend what I noticed. Am I in the right track? Am I in the right path?

I reclined to the backrest of my chair as I try to turn and flip over the theories in my head. About the drug case two weeks ago, there's something that is off. How did that happen? Why is that person became part of it? How did he became one of the victims? How?

And what about the last week happenings? The prank. There's something wrong there. Something isn't supposed to happen happened. And it drives me nuts. What does this all mean? Am I nearing to something? There's only one conclusion I have in my mind, but a mere speculation isn't enough to finish such arguments. I need to gather evidences just to provide the truth out of these facts. But still, how nasty. I can't help but to boil in anger.

I closed my eyes as I tried to sooth myself from the thought. At least at this moment, I finally established a definite lead in this case. But, I need to be more careful. I don't want to waste my lead because of my carelessness.

As I ponder about the happenings that I noticed these past few days, a knock echoed inside our clubroom. My eyes darted towards the door. I waited to see who knocked as the door slowly opened. And a man, stepped inside. My eyes narrowed upon looking at the man who entered our clubroom.

This guy is someone I don't know. It's the first time I saw that face inside our school. He has a blonde hair, and a pair of keen eyes. He is as tall as I am. He has a smile upon his lips when he faced me. But the most intriguing of all in his demeanor is the color of his eyes. They're different in colors, but matched his aura. He stood in front of me, eyeing me in a way that irritates me. What's wrong with him?

"How's the day, Asher?" he asked. His voice is cold but overflowing with confidence. And that irritates me more.

"Who are you? And why are you here?" I asked. He walked towards a seat in front of me. He reclined on his chair and crossed his legs as he answered me.

"Aren't you wondering why I know you while you don't know me? That does not strike you strange?"

"Well, actually that's normal since everyone in this school knew about our club. And I'm the president of this club, so no wonder, most of the people here know me but I don't know them in return. So, again, who are you? And why are you here?" I repeated. He laughed all of a sudden. What's wrong with this man?

"Well, honestly, I'm here to tell you something. And I'm sure it will pique your interests. Do you have any drink here? Soda, juice or what?"

"Sorry, we don't have any drink here. If you want something to drink, you can go to our cafeteria first and just return here with your drink to discuss your matters with me." I saw him smirked.

"Now I see what caught his attention to you. You're really something, Asher." he said which made me look at his eyes directly. He just smirked at me.

"I don't know what you are saying. But please don't waste my time here. Tell me the things you want to tell me because I have more important things to do, and honestly, I don't have time to chat with you unless you are a client of our club. Spill it now." I told him. But honestly, this guy caught my attention. And I should not let my guards down with this guy.

"Hayst, so impatient of yours. Honestly, I want to spend more time with you. You know why? Because it will be the first and the last time that I will ever talk to you." he said as he lean closer to my desk. He smirked at me again. I just ignored him, but still, my curiosity was stirred up by that.

"I don't care. Just tell me what you want from me. Or else, you can leave now." I said at his face again. And he laughed again.

"You really have a strong personality. Now I know why he is so caught by you. Now, I know what he saw from you that caught his attention and made you his playmate." he said. And again, he referred to someone again he called 'he'. And I wonder who that 'he' is. But most of all, I really wonder what he is talking about right now and what is the reason he's here, messing with me.

"Well, okay, fine, I will tell you the reason I'm here. It's because, I want to play with you. I want to play with the best player in the web." he said, grinning at me. I was taken off guard the time he said that. I saw the excitement in his eyes and I'm sure he's enjoying this. But, what does he mean by that?

"What do you mean play with me?" I asked. And now, he really won this round. I saw his victorious smile upon his face. Mas lalo lang akong nairita.

"Finally. Anyways, that game is pretty fun. And I know that you're in for that game. That's just a pretty easy game to play. But cost so much so you better do your part very well." he said. I became more confused after hearing that remark.

"What do you mean?"

"Later this afternoon, someone will be murdered. Someone will die. And I'll confess it now, I'm the one behind it. But, can you really prove that to other people, especially to the police? Can you, our greatest detective?" he said with a smirk. I was frozen upon hearing his remark. What did he just said?!

"No! You can't do that!" I said and he just laugh.

"I can, Asher. I really can. But you? Can you solve my case to you? This would be perfect. And this would be amazing." he said as he stood up from his seat. I can't control myself but I need to restrain myself from doing something to him. Who knows, it's just his plan. To let me hurt him and then do something against me and use my attack to him against me?

I watched him as he walk towards the door of our clubroom. Who is he? And, what's his real purpose here? Is he serious about what he told me?

"By the way, call me Uno. I'm the first eye of the Spider." he said and he left. And I was left frozen upon what just happened.

Uno...the first eye of the Spider? Who is he really? But on top of those things, what is his plan? What will he do next? Is he really gonna murder someone? Screw this! He is driving me nuts!

The door opened again and this time, it's Zay and Silver entered our clubroom. They seemed to be in a hurry. What is it this time?

"Asher! You received it, too?" Silver asked as he come to me. Zay followed him.

"What are you saying?" I asked. He showed me his phone. It was a text message.

"Read it." Zay said and I did. The text message run like this:

Dear students, don't come any closer to the Chemistry Laboratory. There's an explosion that's gonna happen there. Stay safe everyone :)

I was left confused upon reading the text message. What does this mean? Is there a bomb in that laboratory? If so, that would be a very dangerous matter!

"Did you tell this to the faculty? Do the faculty know this already?" I asked the two of them as I stood up. They nodded.

"Yes, and in fact, they're calling the police now. The council were controlling the students already. The classes were also stopped because of that." Zay answered. I nodded and we all went out of our clubroom. I need to see that laboratory. I wonder if it is the Spider's doing or if it is that Uno's doing. But, I think it is not Uno's doing. He said he will gonna murder someone, so it's not him. I wonder who did it.

We reached the Chemistry Laboratory and all of the faculty members were there as well as the council. They tried to stop us to go there but when Leon saw us, he let us in. I saw also the owner of the school, agitated while telling his subordinates to call the police.

"What happened so far?" I asked to Leon. He shook his head.

"So far, no explosion happened. But we can't come near the laboratory. Who knows there were booby traps around it that can trigger the bomb inside it." he said. I looked at him.

"You already knew where's the bomb planted in there?" I asked, eyeing him. He shook his head.

"No. But obviously, it's hidden somewhere inside the lab, since we don't see any bomb around here. Common sense." he said.

"Just trying. Who knows you're connected to it."

"What the–?! Do you think I'm a psycho to do that?!"

"Everyone can do that. Just looking at all the possibilities. Besides, that's what I do, that's what we do. Anyways, do you have any facts about this case so far?" I asked him again. He shook his head again.

"Besides that we learned that every student received the same text message, we know nothing at all."

"You all received the same text message?" he nodded. My mind fell on deep thought about hearing that piece of information. They received one single text message, at the same time? I took out my phone. And there, I saw it too, the same text message Silver showed me earlier. Hmm...that's strange.

"Sir Orson, the police force are here already!" we heard a teacher called. And we saw Inspector Mar and his team marching towards us. I see that they also brought some special units with them. I am sure that they are bomb specialists. We also saw many students crowding around us, trying to see what will happen next. The council is trying to contain them and restrain them to come closer.

"Someone reported us that there's a bomb in here so we immediately come here to aid and rescue." Inspector Mar said to the owner of the school. The latter nodded to the inspector.

"Y-Yes. The students reported the thing on us. They told us that they received a text message that a bomb was planted in the Chemistry Laboratory. It's close the whole time since the teacher in charge of it is participating a school contest. No one really can enter the lab since the teacher in charge of it was is not around. That's why we're so troubled also by hearing the news from the students. Kindly help us please." Mr. Orson said to the inspector.

"Okay, we'll check the scene immediately. But for now, we ask for your cooperation with us. Do not let anyone, even yourself to be close to the laboratory so that we can prevent unpleasant things to happen. Order students to be distant, as much as possible from the laboratory while we do our jobe here. Officers, let's do our job now!" Inspector Mar said. We obeyed his order and we distanced ourselves from the laboratory while the inspector and his team started to inspect the Chemistry Laboratory.

"Do you think there's really a bomb in there?" I heard Silver asked. I shrugged.

"Who knows? But it's better this way. It is better we employed the police here to be sure. We cannot risk such a big casualty, especially a big number of lives that might be at risk if ever there really is a bomb in there." I answered.

"Do you think the Spider is connected to this?" Zay asked this time. I shrugged once again.

"I don't know. No one knows. Unless, he said so, we can't confirm that thing." I answered. We all watched the examination the inspector's team is doing. Honestly, I also wonder about that thing. I wonder if the Spider is connected to this bombing scheme?

After a few while, the police succeeded already in opening the door of the laboratory. It seems that they found no booby traps put around the lab for they entered it casually. We watched them as they immediately search the whole laboratory for the bomb. Every corners of the room was searched by the police. But, a few minutes passed already, but they found no bomb or anything of the sort. What does that mean?

"Mr. Orson, I think, it's just a joke. A prank. A bombing prank." the inspector said as he walked towards us. What does he mean?

"What do you mean, inspector?" the head of the school asked.

"We found no bomb in the laboratory. We found no booby traps or anything strange around and inside the laboratory that might endanger anyone. I think, the bomb threat is a fraud. Do you have any idea as to who might be the person who spread the news about the bomb?" Inspector Mar said. Silver, Zay and I looked at each other. All of us can't believe what's the result of this event.

"This bomb threat is a fraud?! How maddening! We don't have any, even the slightest idea as to who spread that fake bomb threat, but, we will assure you, we'll investigate this mattet and we will turn over to you whoever did this. I understand that bomb threats are punishable by law, right? Then we will surely hand over to you whoever is behind all these things." the head of the school said furiously. I can see the anger in the faces of all the faculty members, as well as the council members. Well, it's really outrageous. That's not a good joke.

"I think, everything is settled here. Thank you for your immediate calling for our attention about the matter. We do hope we helped your school." Inspector Mar said, nodding at us. But still, I have this feeling that it's not finished yet. I still have the feeling that something's about to go up anytime soon.

"Thank you, inspector. I will investigate this matter and see who is the person behind this fake bomb threats. We will hand them to you for action. I'm sur–"

"KYAAHHHHH!!" we are all frozen upon hearing the shrill scream from a woman. Silver, Zay and I looked at each other upon hearing that scream. Even the owner of the school and inspector stopped talking upon hearing the scream.

"It's near." I said as I try to find where the scream came from. After a few moments, they started to run around a certain spot. We immediately went in that spot and tried to see what's the cause of the commotion.

"H-Help...m-me..." my eyes widened in shock upon seeing a man crawling on the ground, full of blood. His white uniform was now covered with crimson blood. But the more surprising thing of all, is when I recognized the man who's down on the ground now.

"U-Uno...?"

×××××

We're all shocked about the next happenings after the fraud bomb threat. We found someone lying on the ground, full of blood, and the thing is, I know him. The next thing happened shocked us also.

Uno was now in the ambulance, and was taken to the hospital already. But now, we're inside another classroom and in front of us is a grievous scene. This was discovered by another student.

A lady was lying on the floor of the room, in a pool of blood. She seemed to die because of so much lacerations upon her body. But the most nagging thing of all is the writings upon the whiteboard of the room. It was written in blood, and it seemed also written by someone's finger. The writing says:

Decode club, the challenge is on. Catch me if you can.

-Uno.

What a daring guy he is? But I wonder what's his plan? What's inside his head? What happened? And what's his scheme this time?

"Do you know anyone named Uno?" Inspector Mar asked us. Everyone shook their heads except me. I nodded.

"You know someone, Asher?" Silver asked.

"Yes. I just met him earlier today. And, yes I know his face. I can describe him to you. But yes, you won't believe me even if I tell you. Let me solve this case, and let me reveal to you who that Uno is." I said to them. Leon spoke.

"You know him already. You don't need to solve this anymore since you said you already know the guy we are finding here. You just need to tell us who that guy is and we will take him already. We know that you want to solve this case, but we should supply the immediate justice we can get. That is why, you just need to tell us who this Uno is and everything is cleared already." he said to me.

"What's the name of the victim that was sent to the hospital?" I asked. Inspector Mar answered me.

"Well, based on people we asked that know him, his name is Alvin Nuary. He's a senior student here. Graduating. And in fact, he's from this class. And this lady is his classmate also. Her name is Marie Flores."

"You see, our man here uses codename. We need definite proof for this case, not just mere speculations. Forgive me, I failed to record our conversation earlier for if I did, this would be easy. But for now, let's start the investigation. As you said, we need to supply the immediate justice for the victim." I told them and started looking around the crime scene. I ignored their remarks and started doing the thing I needed to do.

I examined the body of the victim. According to Inspector Mar, her name is Marie Flores. I can see evident lacerations on her body. Stab wounds cover her that may be the cause of her death. She was stabbed in every area. It seemed the culprit stabbed her in rampage.

"It seems that the culprit has a grievious hate towards the victim." Inspector Mar remarked. I nodded.

"I agree. But I wonder why? I wonder what's the connection of the victim and the culprit and what happened between them that lead to this. Did you found the murder weapon already?" I asked.

"Yes. My team now is trying to find if there were fingerprints on the knife used. But is it true that you already know the culprit?" Inspector Mar asked. I nodded.

"Yes. And in fact, I anticipated this already. But what surprised me is the execution of it. Cunning and creative."

"I want to know more about it, Asher." he told me.

"Yes. Of course, I will tell you later. But for now, let me finish my investigation here. He challenged me earlier to catch him. And I will not let that guy defeat me on this." I told him as I look at the writing upon the whiteboard. The writing was just the same level as my eyes. I smirked upon noting that piece of information.

I walk around the room, trying to find more clues about this case. I try to figure out what's more in this case. I try to figure out, what's the catch of this scheme of him.

"Asher, look here. Look at this." I turned to Zay who's looking at something on the floor. I came near her and see what she's looking at. My eyes sparked upon seeing an evident footprint upon the floor. The footprint is directed away from the body.

"This footprint is so evident. What can you say about this footprint?" I asked Zay.

"Well, it seems, it was so obvious. Aside from that the owner seems going away from the body, I don't know anything else." she confessed. I chuckled.

"Well, for me, this footprint says a lot. Like, the owner of it is a man, based on it's size. And whoever left this footprint was in a good health, for this was imprinted so obviously, meaning, he's walking away the crime scene normally. It is not from the man we saw earlier, since we all saw him bleeding. If this was from the same guy, this must be faint, or weak. The footprint must not be so evident if it came from that guy that we saw bleeding earlier, and at most, there should be some blood with this footprint. Come with me." I told her. I walked outside the classroom. Zay followed beside me.

"Well...if my theory is correct, we must see it very soon–oh, it's here! Look here. See these blood drops here? I'm sure, this came from the guy we saw earlier. What can you say?" I told her. She just nodded at me.

"Well, something still bothers me. Why does there's only one footprint inside the classroom? And, if the victim and guy earlier was in the same room, attacked by the same person, this blood and footprints don't add up to anything. They're vague." she said. I smiled at her.

"Well, in fact, there's nothing vague. The footprint tells us everything already. Well, for me, it tells everything already, for I know already who's the culprit from the start. But you will know it, too, soon. Now, it's time that we pay a visit to the guy earlier. Let's go and meet Alvin at the hospital." I said.

×××××

We arrived at the hospital after a few minutes. I'm with Zay and the Inspector and we all went to the room of Alvin Nuary. And we're just in time for the person we come for were already awake. He let us talk to him.

"Alvin Nuary, I want you to tell everything you know about the case. It will help us to solve the case easier. We need your cooperation." Inspector Mar said to the guy in front of us. I just look at him sternly. He is good in acting, huh.

"O-Okay, sir. I'll answer everything as long as I can." Alvin or Uno answered.

"Tell us everything that happened in that classroom." I said. He looked at me. And I'm sure, that look has something to tell. Something like hello.

"I-I'm just in our classroom earlier, together with my classmate, Marie. Because of the bomb threat, we all went outside the room. But after a while, we all went back to our classroom since our classroom was a bit far from the laboratory. We thought we're safe there even the bomb exploded. B-But we are wrong. Someone entered our classroom with a knife and started attacking us." he narrated. I looked at him as he deliver his story. And yes, it cringe.

"I tried to fight back but he is so strong. I have no chance fighting him on my own. He easily stabbed me on my body, here, on my stomach. That is the reason why I failed to fight him anymore. He attacked Marie next. He savagely stabbed her to death. After that, I saw him wrote in the whiteboard. I have no idea as to what he wrote on the whiteboard because I acted as if I am already dead. And when he left, that is the time I went up to call for help. I first, try to see if I can still save Marie, but, it is too late already." he said. He looked at us all. And I can say he's trying to sell his story to us. And I just stare at him.

"Where did you fall down when the culprit stabbed you?" I asked.

"I fell down under the white board. Just beside where Marie was." he answered. I look at him and he just look back at me.

"Now, we know what happened. Can you tell us what does the man, who attacked you, look like?" Inspector Mar asked.

"There's no need to do that, inspector. I already solved the case." I told them. They all looked at me. I saw the surprise in the face of Alvin.

"R-Really? H-How? And who attacked us? Who killed Marie and almost kill me, too?" Alvin asked. I smirked at him.

"Well, I solved it because of your story. I'm so gratified hearing your story Alvin. It made my job so easy." I told him. I saw the shock on his face. And I enjoy it so much.

"Well then, who's our culprit? Can you lead us to him?" the inspector asked. I glanced at Zay. She's also waiting for my response.

"Well, we don't need to go to him anymore. Because the Uno that we're finding is already in front of us." I said as I look directly in the eyes of Alvin Nuary, who introduced himself to me personally as Uno.

"Hello Uno, the first eye of the Spider." I said. I saw the surprised look upon his face.

"Checkmate."