The Science of Spying (Erityian Tribes, #4)

Chapter 27 : Conclave

"Any lead about her?" a worried voice asked.

The other one heaved a sigh. "None," he said.

"Now we have one more problem."

"But if this reaches him, all hell will break loose."

I felt guilty after hearing that from their conversation. It's been three days since I 'died' and as expected, my team and other agents tried to track me. It seemed like Ulysses had already anticipated it so he got rid of all my devices and gave me new ones. Like this one.

Three days ago, when he told me to read his journals, he also gave me a listening device that would serve as one of my senses after my fake death. He went to Von and Dale since they wanted to consult him regarding that woman who looked like my mother and after some time, I could hear their voices.

"We got this recording from the Technology Department and while we were assessing our agents, a woman was caught on the camera—a woman who looks exactly the same as Lace," said by a voice who sounded like Dale's.

"Hmm . . . She definitely looks like her," sabi naman ni Ulysses, "but it feels like she's a different person."

"Right?" Sigurado akong si Von ang isang 'yon. "Something isn't right. It's as if she turned into a completely different person. Maybe she's not really Lace?"

A completely different person, huh? Just like Ansel Choi. Ayaw kong isipin ang bagay na 'yon pero habang tumatagal ay 'yon lang ang posibleng paraan. Natatakot ako na maging totoo ang hinala ko.

They talked about their missions and several cases so I chose not to listen to them. Mas gusto ko pang malaman kung ano na ang nangyari kay Jett matapos ko siyang iwan sa building na 'yon. A zweite was hiding on that place and along with Raven, they predicted our movements. Excluding the murderer who was caught by that Senshin, one of the remaining four must be a Nox member.

I grabbed a blank paper from the file holder and wrote down the members I know, as well as their classes.

Dritte – Olive (x), Dim (x), Spider (x), Ink

Zweite – Jade, Raven, Pitch, Coal

Zuerst – Ansel Choi

So far, these were the Blacks I had encountered and those with x-marks were either killed or brought to Shima. Ink managed to escape when we lured him and Dim using Spider. Jade was gravely injured by Cliff when I was captured while we ran into Pitch in Nightfall. On the other hand, Raven and Coal were included in the chatbox that Cliff sneaked into before and a while ago, I searched for Ben Santos' wife. It turned out Raven was known as Cara Villega, a successful businesswoman. Lastly, Ansel Choi, the zuerst who was captured by Liev and my mother's team specialist. Just like Kiyoko, who was turned into a modified Erityian because of circumstances, he possessed different shades of red eyes with his memories erased.

I was staring hard at their aliases and pondering over the incidents until I fell asleep.

***

Ni hindi ko alam kung ilang oras na ang lumipas nang magising ako. Walang kahit anong orasan dito pero dahil maliwanag na, siguro ay tanghali o hapon na. My stomach growled and as if on cue, Ulysses came out of the kitchen with two bowls of noodles.

"Eat," sabi niya saka niya inabot sa akin ang isa.

"Thanks."

Tahimik naman kaming kumain at ramdam ko ang sakit ng katawan ko dahil sa posisyon ko nang makatulog. Ni hindi ko man lang siya naramdamang umuwi pero mukhang 'di pa siya nakakatulog.