DECODE

CHAPTER 12; Perfect Weapon [Part 3]

ASHER

My mind is in total chaos as Zay and I are approaching our school tonight. Silver asked us to meet him there. It was after he called us earlier telling us that he's the one behind the note left in the crime scene earlier and him being the Spider. I don't know but I cannot believe it. I cannot bsorb the idea of Silver being the Spider that we are  chasing all along. But the idea of him being the real Spider makes my blood boil. I cannot help but to be angry of being a fool that was played all this time.

We reached our school and immediately go inside of the place. The gate is open, and we found no one stationed at the security guard's post. I did not bother to think and mind that thing anymore but immediately marched toward the place Silver told us to meet him. We immediately went to the garden and reached it in no time. No one interfered us. And that is good. No one will interfer our confrontation with Silver.

When we arrived at the garden, it is silent. Only the breeze can be heard as well as some crickets around the area. It is dark also. Only the moon is the source of light in this place. And we found no Silver there. Where is that guy?

"Where is he?" Zay asked beside me. I can hear from her voice that she is wondering as well as alert about our current situation.

"Who knows? I'm sure he's somewhere here. Silver!" I called out to the garden. I looked around to see if I can see him but I found no one. I alerted myself even more for we do not know what might happen next. But I started to wonder if it is just a trap or something. If it is, then we must be very careful.

I felt a vibration inside my pocket. I took out the phone and answered the call. It came from Silver.

"Where are you?" I asked. I can't help but to boil in anger whenever the idea of him being the Spider hit me. I cannot believe that all this time the man in near me is the one who I am chasing with. It sucks!

"Well, I can see you from where I'm standing. It seems both of you are in rage. Why? Are you furious because you failed to noticed my facade?" he said mockingly on the other line. We tried to look around to see where he might be, but we found no one around the garden with us.

"Where are you?! Show yourself to us, you criminal!"

"Actually, I changed my mind. Maybe our meeting face to face as Spider and my playmates can wait until some other day. Perhaps tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or any other time. For the meantime, let me play with the two of you." he said on the other line. I froze upon hearing that. I told Zay what Silver told me. But before we could ready ourselves, I felt something hit my right leg.

"Argh!" I screamed as I fell to the ground. That is when I realised that a pocketknife was stucked on my right leg. I immediately pulled it out of my leg.

"Are you alright?!" Zay asked as she aid me to stand up. I can hear from her voice the terror and fear. I smiled at her.

"It's just a scratch. But we need to get out of here. The devil owns this place. We need to flee from now."

We are just about to run when bottles shattered around us, near us. Someone are throwing bottles to us and we can't do anything but to hurry for our safety. We hastened to the gate of the school and leave its premises. We sat on the pavement as we catch our breaths from that encounter.

"That was close." I said as I stretched my wounded leg to see how much blood was lost. Zay sat beside me, and she can't help it and started crying.

"Why are you crying?" I asked. She's sobbing so hard and she seems in distress. This is the first time I saw her like that I can't help but to have empathy for her.

"T-That was a close call for us. We nearly died there. I-I feel like I'm in real danger e-earlier and I don't know what will happen to me if we didn't get out of that place soon. I-I'm scared." she said in between sobs. Tears continued to roll from her eyes, and I can't help but to hug her.

"I'm sorry I can't give an end to this thing right now. I'm sorry I put you into that situation. But what else can we do? We cannot do anything anymore. The only resort we have is to end this by putting him behind bars." I said to her. She looked at me. I smiled at her and nod.

"He might be cunning, but we are in the right side. And the wrong never won against the right." I said with a reassuring smile upon my face. And then, I was so relieved when I saw her nod and smile at me.

"Good. That's what I want to see. Now, can we go to the hospital? It seems I lost an amount of blood already. I feel dizzy." I said. She was alarmed by what I have just said and immediately call for a cab while I sit on the pavement and wait. After a while, a cab stopped in front of us and helped us to go towards the hospital.

Along the way to the hospital, I can't help but think again about the thing that happened to us earlier as well as the progress of the case. Based on our nearly death experience, we can now confirm that it is Silver who is the real Spider. That previous encounter at the school's garden says it all. But I wonder why did he confess? Why he himself confessed it already?

My train of thoughts was interrupted when we arrived at the hospital. Zay helped me out of the cab and we go inside the hospital where I am attended by a nurse. Zay followed behind and soon I'm inside a room.

"I've called Inspector Mar already. He said he's on his way." I told Zay as I put my phone back to the small cabinet adjacent to the bed where I am lying now. I was just attended by a nurse who immediately treat my wound. I am now stable and just need my wound to be healed..

"What are we going to do now?" Zay asked. She's sitting beside my bed. I can see that she's tired of all the happenings that happened within this day.

"For now, I would recommend you to rest. You need that. But let's wait for Inspector Mar for I asked a constable from him to come here so that someone will escort you home for security purposes." I told her. She nodded and sat beside me.

Until this time, I still cannot believe the progress of the Spider case. Every revelations are hard to digest, especially knowing the fact that the very man we are chasing is so close to us. It made us look like fools and pathetic.

"I can't believe that Silver is the Spider. It did not even struck me possible that it can happen." Zay spoke beside me.

"Even I cannot believe that he is the Spider. That the cunning criminal we are chasing is just near us, around us, and with us. But at least now, we already know who the Spider is. We just need to pin him down." I said.

"Do you think that would be easy?"

"Honestly, I believe it would be the other thing around. It will be a much more tougher case than the initial cases we have. It will be hard to connect him to the cases that we solved with him. Anyone will think that is absurdity, to pin him in a case that he himself helped to solve. It will be hard to convince people to believe us. And so far, I don't have any idea how we can win against this cunning madman."

"So, you're saying that we can't turn him over already even though we already heard him confess?" she asked. I nodded.

"Sadly, we don't have any record of his confession. So the only thing we can do is to wait for another opportunity to pin him. But at least we already know the person whom we will focus on. I just hope we can stop him in his plans. I believe that knowing him as the Spider is not enough to win this game. He still has minions that are loose who can make havoc anytime, in just a single signal from him. We still need to know all those people connected to him. And until we paralyzed him in every way that he can move, he can still execute his plans and crimes before our eyes." I answered.

Silver is the Spider, the most cunning evil that is lurking in our campus. And yes, I don't know what are your plans and tricks under your sleeves, but I will not let myself to be the defeated one in this battle. This time, it's not about just the cases anymore. It's about me and you. And I will win this fight, I promise that.

"Asher, what happened to you? I came immediately when you called. What happened to the both of you?" Zay and I turned towards the door where we saw Inspector Mar already standing there. Beside him is one of his constables.

"Inspector, we have progress in the case of the Spider. We already know him. But first, let your constable there with you escort Zay home. It's for her security." I said immediately. Inspector Mar is still wondering but he answered yes to my request and the constable and Zay readied immediately to leave the hospital. I bade Zay my goodnight and she left. The inspector and I were left in my room.

"What is this thing you are saying about progress in the Spider case? And what happened to you?" he asked. He sat beside me as he talk to me. I straightened my body and sat on my bed.

"We already know who the Spider is. And he's very close to us. The cunning evil is very close to us, inspector!" I started. His brows knitted upon hearing my words. But still, he allowed me to continue.

"The Spider confessed earlier. And he is Silver. Yes, Silvester Vernon. The third member of our club. He is the Spider. He confessed to us earlier when we are solving as to what really happened to the arsenic poisoning of Raymark. He called me on my phone and there he confessed. He asked us to come and meet him in the campus' garden. He told us he will see us there but it turned out to be an ambush. Someone threw a pocketknife to me and it struck me in my leg. Bottles were thrown to us also. Zay and I immediately left that place for our safety. But one thing is for sure, Silver is the Spider. And he seemed in control of everything that is happening inside our campus."

"Do you have any record of his confession?" the inspector asked. I shook my head.

"Unfortunately, I failed to have any record on that. That's why I called you. I want to know if you can do something about that? I know the operating company of telecommunications always have records of those kinds of calls. I'm sure they have record of that call. Can you help me to acquire that record so that we can use it against Silver, against the Spider?" I said. Inspector Mar thought for a moment and after a while he spoke again.

"Well, yes. We can do that. But the thing is, how can we prove that it was him who called you? It can be other person. He can also throw the sim card he used to call you as if he never used it and live with a whole new phone number which will surely not help your case. That alone can't be really a helpful evidence for this case. And if you failed to prove anything with that, surely, he can use it against you." the inspector said.

"You are right. The heck! Screw it! I cannot do anything!" I cursed. I tried to think of other ways so that I can turn Silver over to the police, but all of them are dead end. There's no way I can pin him to the crimes.

"Are you really certain that he is the Spider you are after? How certain are you?" asked Inspector Mar. I fell silent. Yes, how sure are we that Silver is the real Spider? It may be that he was just blackmailed by the Spider to do that to confuse us in this case. And if so, then Silver would be in really great trouble since he was held by the Spider and commanded him to act as him. That will mean that Silver is in the Spider's hands.

Argh! This is getting crazy and confusing! It's being a mess again!

"It's a mess inspector. I cannot think straight anymore. I don't know what to think anymore." I confessed. A part of me really believe that the call was real, that Silver is the real Spider because of that call. But a part of me ask how certain am I about that thing. We did not saw the Spider earlier when we went to the campus. That can be the Spider's scheme. And if I will follow the line of reasoning that Silver isn't the Spider but he's just forced by him to do that, then that means Silver is in the hands of the Spider. Argh! What is this?!

"Maybe you should rest for now, Asher. Nothing new will come inside your mind because you're exhausted. Take a rest. And tomorrow, we will start investigating Silver. We will run a background check to see if he could fit in this Spider entity." the inspector said. I nodded and bade him goodbye. He immediately left the room promising that he would help me in this case. I was now left inside my ward alone.

What should I do? What should I believe in? And what will be my next step? This isn't the usual thing anymore. I need to be more cautious on what I will do next. For now, our primary suspect is Silver. I don't know what will happen next, but I need to keep up and catch that man for this madness to stop. The devil is cunning, but no criminal can escape from his crimes. No one. Everyone were caught by justice. And I am sure, I will certainly catch this Spider soon.

×××××

I did not go to school today because of what happened last night. My wound isn't healed yet and my parents told me to take a rest. They already know what happened, and they're the one who fetched me out of the hospital last night when Inspector Mar left. Now I'm here alone inside our house since they all left for work. I allowed myself to be entertained through watching my favorite tv series.

My attention was diverted when I heard a knock on our door. I immediately stood up and went to the door to see who is the one knocking. I opened the door and was surprised to see who the person standing in front of me is.

"Good morning, Asher. How are you?" Silver asked with a grin upon his face. I can't help but ball my fist upon seeing him.

"Why are you here?" I asked. He chuckled.

"I'm here to discuss some matters with you. And I don't feel like talking here. Why don't we go inside and talk in there? You can also call some police officers to imprison me, but make sure that you can prove all the accusations you will throw against me." he said looking intently at me. I just looked at him intently, too, wondering what he is up to this time. I opened the door for him and he entered our house. He sat on one of the couch and I sat across him looking and watching intently in his every moves.

"I know you are wondering if I am really the Spider or not. And I'm here to clarify that thing." he said. I didn't speak so he continued.

"Well, fortunately, I'm the Spider. No joke, no mocking, and with full honesty, I'm the Spider. And I'm here to tell you something that I know can really help you in this case." he said as he tap his leg with his index finger.

I did not say anything. He smirked.

"It is a challenge for you. And if you win, I'll stop this madness of mine." he said seriously. I just listened to him as he continue talking.

"Simply, outsmart me and I'll stop. I'll even turn myself in the hands of the police. Just outsmart me. Hurt my pride, hurt my ego. Show me you're better, then I'll stop this madness. This is the final stage of our game. If you fail, game over for you. If you succeed, game over for me. What can you say? Isn't it a fair deal?" he said as he smiled in front of me. I did not speak.

"It is a deal then. We already have an agreement. You outsmart me, and you win. I outsmart you, and you lose. Remember, this is the final stage of our game. It is now all or nothing, life or death for each one of us. I'm excited to play with you this last game."