Bound by Bullets and Vows

CHAPTER 9

SINCLAIR’S LABORATORY

The laboratory was silent except for the low hum of machines. Mag-isa lamang si Reese sa loob ng isang pribadong silid habang ang ilan ay nasa kabilang silid. The room was only intended for her. Pinagawa ito para sa kaniya ng kaniyang kapatid noong eighteenth birthday niya bilang regalo.

Nakatayo si Reese sa gitna ng kaniyang workstation. Wala siyang suot na silver mask. She already disabled the camera inside her workstation. She looked up at the blue glow of holographic schematics suspended in the air. Her gloved fingers moved, pulling data, rotating models, stripping components down to their core functions.

On the screen was her latest design.

The weapon was a compact adaptive rail sidearm, no larger than a standard handgun, designed to be modular with its internal systems capable of switching output modes depending on the situation. It was a non-lethal suppression with precision penetration.

Efficiency over brutality.

It was designed for protection.

Bumuntong hininga si Reese at sandaling napatitig sa disensyong ginawa. She adjusted the power-routing mix, narrowing the margin by a fraction of a percent. Too much force and it would overheat. Too little, and it wouldn’t disable reinforced armor.

Maalala niya na minsang sinabi ng kaniyang ama na ang pinakadelikadong armas ay ang armas na nakakamatay agad kundi ang klase ng armas na pakiramdam ng mga tao ligtas itong gamitin ngunit nakakamatay kapag nagkamali ng paggamit.

And as a weapon designer, she refused to design anything like that. That kind of weapon was pretentious for her.

Reese saved the schematic under an encrypted partition, accessible only through her biometric signature. Even Alaric didn’t have access—not yet.

Weapons were easy to build for her, but it was the memories she couldn’t disarm.

And temptations in this world are inevitable.

HOURS LATER, Reese sat in her office with Artemis reporting to her.

“How was it?” Reese asked.

“Young Lady,” umiling si Artemis.

“Then tell me what you have found out.”

Mahinang napabuntong hininga si Artemis saka inilapag ang tablet sa lamesa, sa harapan ni Reese.

Reese stared at the tablet for seconds before pulling up the surveillance grid of the industrial sector where he had last been seen alive. Time stamps scrolled smoothly at first—delivery trucks, idle workers, and those lights flickering during nights.

Normal lang naman ang eksena sa footage para kay Reese.

Too normal.

Nang nasa ibang bansa siya, sinubukan niyang imbestigahan ang kaso ng kapatid niya pero hindi siya makagalaw ng maayos, because she hid her identity. But now…

Her fingers froze when she noticed something. Sandali siyang napatitig sa footage bago siya nag-zoomed in.

The time says 02:13 a.m.

At nakita ni Reese ang nangyari. The footage jumped. Not frozen and not corrupted.

It really jumped.

Reese’s hand stilled. She rewound the feed, narrowing the window second by second. And there she saw it—a clean skip of forty-three seconds. 02:12:58 jumped suddenly to 02:13:14.

“No random failure foes that,” she said and looked at Artemis.

“I’ll ask Ezra to trace it, Young Lady.”

Kumuyom ang kamay ni Reese habang nakatitig sa footage. “Do it,” she said in a cold voice. “And I’ll also do it on my own way.”

Artemis bowed her head and left Reese’s office.

Reese overlaid the system logs, cross-checking timestamps with server access records. And she found out someone had entered the system locally. And whoever it was, was connected to the murderer.

Her jaw tightened beneath the mask.

The time of death of her brother wasn’t missing because it hadn’t been recorded. It was missing because someone made sure it couldn’t be found.

Sumandal si Reese sa kaniyang swivel chair. Napatitig na lamang siya sa pader ng kaniyang opisina.

They said her brother’s death was an accident, but she knew better than anyone else. Pinatay ang kapatid niya. The reason—she knew it was connected to weapons. Pero hindi niya alam kung anong weapon ‘yon. She never asked before about her brother’s project. She was focused on her studies that one morning; her brother’s death was all over the news.

Ipinikit niya ang mata at nahilot ang sendito.

Reese took a deep breath before opening her eyes. Mabilis na gumalaw ang kamay niya. She tagged the deletion signature because she knew that her brother hadn’t just died. He had been silenced.

She closed the file, encrypting it under a separate layer—one even deeper than her weapons work. This wasn’t data meant to be shared. It’s only for her. Dahil sa mga oras na ‘to, ang sarili lamang niya ang dapat niyang pagkatiwalaan.

Whoever had done this had resources, access, and confidence.

Ang nakakuyom na kamay ni Reese ay lumuwag nang marinig niya ang pagtunog ng cellphone niya na nakapatong sa ibabaw ng kaniyang lamesa.

It was Alaric.

Bahagyang kumunot ang nuo ni Reese at nagtaka kung bakit tumatawag ang lalaki.

She swiped to answer the call. “Hello.”

“I need to ask you something,” Alaric's voice came through.

Reese tilted her head slightly. “Go on.”

“The wedding ring,” he said. Sandali itong napatigil. “Anong gusto mo?”

Reese’s fingers are tapping on the table, paused. “I’m not picky,” she replied evenly. “Just pick whatever makes you sleep soundly at night.”

There was silence on the line.

Kapagkuwan nagsalita si Alaric. “That’s not an answer, Ms. Sinclair.”

“It is,” she countered. “You’re the one who has to present it. You’re the one they’ll watch. Choose something that convince them and you’re comfortable.”

A faint exhale reached her ear. “You realize most people have preferences.”

Nagkibit ng balikat si Reese. “You know that most people aren’t us,” she said.

Natahimik ang nasa kabilang linya.

“Ayaw mo bang makita?” tanong ni Alaric.

Reese considered that. The weight of gold or platinum, but she’s not materialistic. The expectation and the symbolism tied to permanence she’s never been allowed to define for herself.

“Hindi,” sabi niya.

“Reese, just tell me what you want.”

Reese closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “A simple ring.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Alright. I’ll handle it,” sabi ni Alaric. “You won’t have to think about it.”

“I already don’t,” Reese replied.

Pagkatapos ng tawag, nahilot na lamang ni Reese ang sentido. Originally, she thought, Alaric wouldn’t care about this kind of thing, but she didn’t expect he would personally ask her about the wedding ring.

Nagmulat siya ng mata nang marinig may kumatok sa pinto ng kaniyang opisina.

“Young Lady.” It was Artemis.

“Come in.”

Artemis entered and placed the folder on her table. “Young Lady, these are the documents you ask me to prepare.”

Kinuha ni Reese ang folder at binasa ang nakalagay sa context.

Pagkalipas ng ilang minuto, tumango siya. Kinuha niya ang sign pen saka ito pinermahan. Now, it was just Alaric’s name who doesn’t have sign yet.

These documents are her dowry for Alaric and will be handed to him after the wedding.

“Do you trust him that much, Young Lady?” Artemis asked, curious.

Hindi agad sumagot si Reese at umiling. “I don’t know, Artemis,” sabi niya.

Her eyes stared at the gleaming logo of the company at the wall. “I don’t know… if I should trust him or not.”

But it is better to be vigilant.