Hunt Down Rose

Chapter 1: Paradox (Part III)

“Yes sir they are.”

“And it seems like they have done it more than half a dozen times. I’m surprised Galvez gave you access to all of this shit.” He added.

“He did… But the reason why I called you is that you have your own way of sorting information out…’

“Speaking of information, what kind of information are they selling anyways? Is it about the project 30 years ago? I don’t see any relevance to involve these people. I’m sure they have enough money to buy a stamp and post a letter or an email to their recipients.”

“I don’t frickin know!” He replied to me. Obviously he really doesn’t have a clue.

“On the other hand, the information that I have is limited here. If you really want the rest of it, you might as well visit the company responsible for these.”

“So that company still exists evidently?”

“Funny as it seems yes, it does. However they changed the name twice in the past ten years for unknown reasons. Interesting that this company was only created by a certain honcho related to the former weapon cache here in this country. ”

“So what’s the name?”

He started typing, “Hmm… Here it is Aero security services. It seems they have trained guards inside the facility so you’ll be having a hard time.”

“Give me every bit of information that you have and I’ll do the rest.”

Having roughly 12 hours in the clock, I immediately fixed my personal items to be used later on.

“My, my. Looks like you haven’t lost your touch on these missions.” He replied while I’m on the middle of cleaning up.

“You sure you won’t ask me if I can hack the database for you?” he further explained in a rather mocking approach.

“No, I’m already used to your response.”

“In any case, I’ll be giving you some notes on the do’s and don’ts so be aware.”

“If that summarizes our plans later, I’ll just have to spend some time preparing then. So please continue with your grieving.”

“And to make this a little more exciting, get your skills ready for we’ll be busting our way at midnight,” I explained to him with amusement.

“Midnight? Hey, you serious!?”

“You might as well sleep early.”

“I just spent my first 6 hours of the day sleeping!”

“And it’s because of that damn rabbit, no wonder you never get a date.”

“Shut up! If that’s the case then you better not be dozing off when I call you. I’ll be turning the buzzer on your earpiece if you don’t get there in time!”

“Of course I’ll go in time. How the hell, do you expect me to get inside without being compromised?”

“I know! Just enough with this fancy talk, review the things that I’ve given you, it might be of help somehow.”

“I will.” I said to him as I closed the conversation, placed my phone on the shelf in front of me, and started using some of my standard clothing. I laid my phone on the medicine cabinets and went back to what I was supposed to do with this corpse in my workplace.

Before I forgot, I greeted my first patient on one of the carved stone slabs that I have. Each one is parallel to each other and in the center of the wide room I have near my dental chair. Cabinets and drawers are full of medical equipment such as syringes, pumps, chemicals, nitrogen tanks, and most importantly blades and surgical knives. 

Wearing my lab coat I started getting his records for further analysis." Mr. Salvador, A pleasant day to have you as my guest." I said to him though I would expect no response from this one. According to his papers, he died because of severe bleeding, a cut using a knife hitting his throat. Common forms of death here in this country. Since murders are often done at home with kitchen utensils opposite to the way I see it on books and movies, expectations are really argumentative in ideas about how to kill or how to live in special types of situations. 

Before opening his stomach, I immediately placed the pump from 4 distinct blood pathways, the throat, neck, pressure points, and most importantly on his vital organs. Also, I have to take off some of his decomposing carcasses. Though not in the advanced decomposition stage, it is still required to take off any unnecessary organs that can increase its chance. Writing off my deductions at the same time reading my case files or handouts, this case is actually about the death of the billionaire’s father Armando Yun.

A week ago the case of his son was already settled because it was his mistress who took the blame for his death, or so that’s what they presume. She doesn’t seem to cover up anyone except his son maybe, but the reason behind her lies is still unknown to me. The files state every single detail as described in the crime scene. And very interesting that he has a burnt down pacemaker, a newly made one but it's useless now. The ignition emitted by something caused the pacemaker to erupt contributing to organ failure. But it isn't the main cause of death. It's as if the killer enjoyed seeing this soul suffer until his last breath.

The problem lies not within the evidence but with the history of what has happened during martial law. The pacemaker was also said to have been implanted after the revolt, leaving him in a state of coma due to his stroke. Doctors concluded that an immediate operation was needed to prolong his life. As of what I have now, neither his medical records show no fail nor any obvious blemishes. It’s a clean slate according to his attending physicians even until now. Tracing it would only waste me some time without any concrete basis to stand on but there is surely something about that pacemaker that bothers me more than the way he was slashed.

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       The crime scene was on Mr. Yun's bedroom. As stated by the new evidence everything was only a setup to frame Ms. Anne. Plus I've generally considered reading some of the people involved around the case starting off with three of my major suspects. Mr. James Calvin, an entrepreneur s***h business partner of his son Amadeo Yun with two functioning establishments. He has a bar in manila named after the gorgon Medusa, branched with a call center on one of his major offices. He has been with Amadeo ever since they were in college, tournaments on fencing and other related competitions. You could say these guys are formidable rivals and he has the advantage to do the murder all on his own. The next one we have Udyr Hassif, the baker of Mr. Armando Yun and adopted son of the family.

Ever since Udyr came into the manor, things started to take the rough road for the two siblings. Their quarrel has been quite a problem especially in financial handling. According to some reports, Udyr gained more shares on their father's business rather than Amadeo Yun himself. It gives him the right for redemption in order to gain the rest of the family's money and power. If he is the culprit, the question now is why? These are my thoughts so far. I'll have to solve it by means of elimination. Burning some time wouldn’t be necessary since I only have a week to pursue this case.

After doing some recap on the folder I've finally set my goals both long term and short term along with my analysis with this dead body. Having some of my notes fixed on the desk, I transferred Mr. Salvador's remains to the body rack, dragged it towards the elevator for the funeral setup. Going up the ground floor I immediately saw one man distinctly different from the others. A guy wearing a pale blue jumpsuit with a long beard, and a hat complimenting his head came to my direction. 

Then he approached me "I hope my customer is fine and well." 

"Don't expect a lot from my expertise. Though I got every bit of information for the post mortem. The only thing you have to do now is the chemical analysis of some of his tissues because some of them seem to be dismembered or burnt down." I replied to him, noticing his patch saying “Berto Funeral Homes”. He must be the service crew for the morgue.

"I'll see to it then. Gotta update you as soon as I get this one groomed." He replied as if he is doubting my expertise.

"Suit yourself" 

"Sure thing kid. Also, someone in the help desk wants you to go in Mr. Galvez's office. He just sent a word for me to relay since I was bound to meet you."

"Who is it?"

"I don't know but you need to get your ass there." leaving the place with the body of Mr. Salvador while tugging his unusual beard.

With the feeling your actions are vulnerable to someone blocking your plans, I expect Mr. Galvez to give me some problems as the case goes along starting off with this so-called journalist. If he still insists on that deal of ours I would literally have no choice but to manipulate her actions for the rest of the case. It's the only way I could settle with the next series of events. Without any hesitation, I walked immediately to his office on the second floor of the building. Passing through a lot of people greeting me good morning when it's obvious it isn’t a good one to consider. Mrs. Sanchez busy again in her post typing the dental records of the past victims and criminals while drinking her coffee. The employees running like a pack of ants rinsed with water, carrying folders that I find irrelevant from their designated tasks. Close to the door, I smelled a familiar scent though I can’t seem to remember who. But from the distinguished aroma of Lavender, I could say it is a woman of young age. I entered the room and there, I saw Ms. Melissa talking with a rather gloomy mood to Mr. Galvez

"Thomas, Thomas," he said with some kind of disappointment

"I expected you to cooperate with Melissa earlier and that is a clear order."

"Your orders are not reasonable enough to give me a partner especially on such an important and fragile case. Do you even understand the working hazards of being close to me? We are dealing with people with real guns and not pellets.”

"This isn't only about you Thomas. This is a part of her assessment as an employee, not to mention you contacted the Russian medical hospitals with their curriculum. You seem to be inquiring on their training and facilities. Your job is just to assist her, not to send her to some sort of suicide mission. I think you can handle that pretty well am I correct?"

"Do you even think that I’ll be tamed just because I need your signature for my studies? It is quite a despicable thought. "

He stopped for a while thinking deeply, one of the most iconic gestures in this department wherein he gives his final verdict in a certain situation.

Then he proceeded 

"Ok, you can have whatever you want once Melissa is done with her assessment with the case you are holding. You can perform all the operations and access some files only if both of you will work together as a team on this one." 

"Am I clear on that?" he said to me with his smile once again

Without any other options, "Yeah sure, keep my word then. Only in this case would I consider this request of yours. I can't seem to find any good ideas on why you keep on pursuing her in this case. It’s much safer for her to work in the backlines similar to what you are doing right now. "

"Are we clear on this?" He disregarded my words and tried to nail the coffin once and for all…

I said yes. Without even answering my question it proved to me something is wrong definitely here.

"Well she is a close relative though, but it's you that I'm worried about."

Opening the door "Don't worry about me, you should be worrying about the legal office regarding the information that we have.” I said to him pissed off with the despicable situation given to me, leaving the place with my so-called partner summoned in front of me earlier. She looks disappointed with that exchange but I think she understands why. It would’ve been better if she stayed inside the office rather than stick close to me.

It is already 12:00, everything is well prepared for my little game and the only thing that's missing is a pawn. Focusing on my plans tomorrow I should have Ms. Melissa carry my files for me since she seems to be the working type of personality in her everyday living. Speaking of survival I can distinctly hear her footsteps getting closer, and closer again with her perfume clogging my nose.

There she approached me "I hope we can get together sometimes Thomas." Smiling to me as both of us walked to the ground floor onward to the old elevator.

"Since you will be working with me, I should explain everything to you in detail."

"Just make it simple though."

"Why? Can't understand straight information with simple variables? "

"Hey! It's not like that."

"Then what?"

"I received orders and some quite interesting facts about you from Mr. Galvez. I want to have a little bit of training on what you do, I mean not precisely what you do but it is on how you write your notes systematically." Typical Galvez… He’s trying to dump all of his s**t on my tab.

"Can't you write by your own?"

"I can but not as accurate as you do."

Inserting my hands on my pockets; "I don't know if that is a compliment or something else."

"Of course it is. " giving me a mean look. "You are the only guy that I know who hates being complimented on certain stuff."

"Beats me." I said to her walking towards the center of the hallway ignoring her words.

There she began to feel the weird atmosphere, with the cold air going through your skin, hearing scratched wood from the doors as I continued on my way. She is holding on to my sleeve like a little girl afraid of the dark. Can't imagine I've been partnered to a beginner. However, I should get her trust before I skip into conclusions. Better have concrete ideas and facts before she takes a step and invades my workspace.

With only a few steps I reached the lever for the lights. Switching it on, everything slowly illuminates from room to room down to the crypt door. She finally let go of my arm at last leaving a few crumple marks on my clothes. We entered the crypt seeing her eyes look from corner to corner from this wide area of dissection. The place still isn´t clean due to my last patient. There she sat on one of the slabs I´ve used. I might as well not tell her the entire scenario of my procedures or she might freak out entirely…

 "Is there anything you want to tell me or explain to me at least before I leave this place." She said brushing her hair with the cold smoke coming out of her mouth.

"Well, only a few things." Showing the case folder over to her…

Sitting on my dental chair "We should have some stuff clarified before you leave. My boss referred you to me with only a few boundaries. First, once you have been summoned you should immediately come to me for it is an urgent request. Second, be aware of my actions and blend in well. It's not that hard to follow unless you have any further questions. "

"How does the order being aware mean anything on my account?"

"I prefer working alone so if you want to learn, learn to adjust."

Combing her hair she placed the folder inside her bag "If that is all then I guess it's time to leave. Besides, this place is giving me the creeps. " 

"Meet me here tomorrow at 9:00 am sharp."

"Does it really have to be in here?"

"No more arguments please, I'll be seeing you here and that is final."

"You sound like my dad whenever I’m being told to buy Pandesal..." She replied to me walking towards the entrance stomping those annoying shoes as she continued mumbling. Factually speaking, “I am not like your dad for Pete’s sake.” I said to myself as I try to recall the instances where I was left at graves deep of a task in segregating last year’s annual reports. I think, he finally has someone to do it for the department, which saves me the riddance of shredding paper.