ONE

“Put your goddamn hands down,” the man declared as he pointed the muzzle of his gun at my nape. I couldn’t notice him approaching. There was no sound of his footsteps or even a rustle when he opened the window of my room. I could have noticed him if he had made even a little sound, but there was none. He caught me off guard. It seems that he is a well-trained assassin, but who sent him anyway? I don’t remember offending anyone.

“Hands up, motherfu*ker! It’s game over.”

I slowly pushed my computer away and secretly pushed a button under my keyboard. I slowly turned my body to face him. He was masked and heavily covered in fabric to conceal his identity. “Who are you, and who sent you?”

“You think I am dumb enough to answer your question?” the masked man asked.

Figures. But it would be enough time to buy me some time.

When the ticking beat dominated the area, I immediately got down and covered my head. The arrows that were covered with poison randomly pierced through his body. Head, hands, his face, it was all over him. The arrows are also all over the room, and it is too risky to spend even a little time inside. I had a hard time arranging the trap, but it was all worth it. It saves me every time.

I ran out of my room with my computer after making sure that everything about me and my identity was concealed and erased. I have to be careful about leaving a clue, even if the ID I used in registering for the room was fake. Who knows? Maybe some genius will just show up out of nowhere and track me down.

After getting out of the building, I immediately got in the car that was parked in front.

“You fine? I heard the alarm. Some must have tried to kill you again.”

His name is Noah. He became my partner after joining the organization. They needed a computer genius, and I wanted someone who could help me find my parents. It was a win-win offer, so I decided to join them. But it has been almost three years since I joined, but they still have not given me any clue about their whereabouts.

“I’m fine, dude. They wouldn’t be able to kill me if they kept on sending some novice.”

“I bet they will send you some more. There will be someone in their agent who’s skilled enough to kill you.”

“Are you actually waiting for me to die?” I asked.

“What I am telling you is you ought to be more careful now that they have your eyes on you. We can’t lose a talent like yours, you know?”

I nodded my head and looked at my laptop. I already transferred all the data and encryption to it. I hijacked the Congressman’s computer system to investigate. By this, I can track down their transactions without sending spies, only for them to get killed afterwards.

The financial transactions show a small sum of money being transferred to a different account. They were only small amounts, but if they added the transferred amount and the remaining balance in total, that costs a large sum of money that even a diplomat like him won’t be able to gain even if he works different jobs without sleep in his lifetime. What do the Filipinos call these kinds of people? Magnanakaw at gahaman. Mga buwaya.

I organized some of the footage in one of their systems. They have deleted it, but the good thing is that I managed to recover it in time. I’ve been monitoring them for over two years now, so I can’t waste even a single evidence. We have to take him down as soon as we can before he even runs for a higher position. That could only mean that he would hold more power, and we can’t give it to him.

The anonymous account that I created three years ago, with over a hundred followers, gained a lot of attention lately. People were waiting for my posts and updates to feast on. That must be why they kept on sending people to kill me. Of course, they would never let me walk alive after tarnishing their reputation.

With a satisfied grin, I leaned my back against the backrest. A deliberate tap on the space button and a decisive press of Enter uploaded the deleted footage. It was a playback about one of his murders. If one weren’t wise enough to use their brain, they would conclude that it was just a scripted murder documentary, but that was a real crime scenario. It depicts some gruesome scenes with bodies covered in blood, and victims strangled with cords.

I resumed the uploading of the footage, unbothered by its disturbing content. It was like my rage for the people drove me to keep on uploading it even if the system kept erasing it. I did not stop until the footage got uploaded by a lot of people.

The chilling footage shows one of those people who went missing only to be found dead in his apartment a few days ago. A crude slipknot of an extension cord was hanged around his neck, the office chair overturned, and a poignant handwritten apology from his wife on the desk lay bare a trove of potential evidence for a suicide case, but that was only the first half of the footage.

A lot of viewers showed their shock through the comments and posts after watching the whole footage. It just dispelled the news of the man’s suicide. The revered political figure who was admired for his views, missions, and wisdom, was now seen taking an innocent life with his own hands, leaving the viewers in disbelief.

“SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO DEFAME ME.”

I was surprised by the absurdity of the swift response from the diplomat. Only the Congressman can do that, claiming to be framed even after the people witnessed the actual murder footage. What surprised me more was the blind supporter who unquestioningly believed the diplomat’s denial and totally overlooked the evidence. Why do people like this exist? When it is proved that they are being deceived, they will just turn a blind eye to it and eat whatever the person feeds to them. The foolishness is on a whole other level.  

I immediately uploaded the deleted article that I recovered. It was about the Congressman’s misdeeds. Tragically, the journalists and reporters involved in making those articles met a grim fate. Their attempt to retaliate was silenced by those powerful families.

After their death, the articles and journals were banned and deleted. The articles contain the information that will wake the citizens from arbitrarily advocating for their supported politician; however, it seems that these people’s stupidity has surpassed the highest level. They disregarded these facts and believed claims that lacked evidence.

                “You think that’s enough to seize them down?”