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Chapter 442: Setting Up A Crime Scene

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When the voice finished, the first round of pain on him came and there was a snap that came from his finger joints as something was pulled out.

He screamed in pain but on the first note of it, the man’s hand came from behind and shoved a wet towel on his mouth. He could only muffledly cry.

“You might be able to hide this thing from those machines in the ports… but you can’t escape my Cortana’s scans.”

When the man finished, a different pain came from his neck and after another snap, something was pulled out from it.

“Alright, that’s done.”

He heard something being washed from behind as he panted and cried. The pain of it was something.

After the creaking of another chair, what he heard next were the sound of zippers being pulled into a close and backpack being placed on top of one of the carton boxes in the room.

“I’ll be confiscating these things.”

The man laughed over his towel-blocked mouth as he spoke of something. The man cam beside him and he tried to look him up… only to be blocked by the metal slab on his temple. He cursed.

Is this man calculating everything?

He felt despair. The man seemed to have known that their devices are laser encrypted with all their fingerprints. He tried to ask who he was but there was the towel on his mouth.

“Don’t worry. You won’t know who I am.” Rex said with great disdain, “I am not stupid enough to let your eyes burn my face in your memory.”

His eyes went wide. He even knew that skill?!!

In the modern era of today, the cops’ technology to handle a crime scene is really scary to the point that even the victim’s last memory could be seen to identify the last scene or person(s) they saw just before they died. For trained individuals, this was a skill —a last moment revenge for their killers.

After he heard the words, he heard the shock of electricity flow from his arm and then followed by a pain that came from his back before he completely blacked out. The last thing he saw was the sight of his two buddies slumped on the couch, bleeding as if they were shot by a gun.

He also saw their hands and necks wounded.

He thought then —even if you perfectly cover your tracks, this common trait of all the victims is still a lead for investigators… hehehe… urgh…

Those were his last thoughts and “sight” before he died. The room was a mess, as if it was a surprise raid and then a robbery.

*****

Rex cleaned the place and took away their firearms as well as their equipment. After he meticulously made it so that everything looked like a robbery and not an interrogation, he used their own guns to erase the signs of his finger on their deaths.

There was a minimum struggle in the entire room and the basin of water and tools were cleaned, and made sure that there were no ‘signs of blood’ on every one of them.

Only after 30 minutes was he satisfied and left the floor after making sure that no one was watching.

“It was a mistake to buy a bike.” He murmured as he tied the box on the back. “I should’ve bought a car, damn it.”

Just who would’ve guessed… he killed four people and straightforwardly bought an expensive bike in cash and yet still cursed that he should’ve bought a car instead?

If normal people would hear this, they’d hang their selves in shame and regret for being alive.

Rex decided to go home and postpone his plan to visit his old house.

*****

The next day, the news that four people were killed in a supposedly business apartment spread and the news covered it, linking it to the campaign of the President against drugs.

Their room was a mess and their things were all ‘searched’ violently. There were clear signs of the people that attacked here was fast because there was close to no struggling on the victims.

The one on the door died with a knife on his neck.

The two on the couch died with two bullets on their necks and chests as well.

And then the last one, looking like he wanted to run and jump in the window as he was shot at the back and left there dead.

There are clear signs of some things being gone.

Boxes were emptied and bags were opened. The four dead’s personal effects were also gone and the messy rooms were also clear signs that the robbers knew what they were looking, and that the personal effects were just an added reward.

What baffled the tenants of the building is that no sounds were made.

Investigators pointed out that the people behind crime were professionals and knew that using a gun without a silencer will alert the surroundings.

This was a business building for small businesses and while it was so, the fact that the room is used NOT in the way it was registered was a clear sign that what these guys were doing is illegal. So there was the angle of ‘underground rivalry’ to be seen in this case as well.

While the avenue was still filled with cars and the usual day of the common folks, an inconspicuous grey sedan had parked not too far away from the crime scene.

Rex wore a hat as he looked at the reporters and the police teams with indifference.

He made his way to the two other locations nearby.

After thirty minutes, he came out with three back packs and a box full of ‘stuff’, before he drove at the last location and spent 40 minutes before he left with two bags and two boxes.

He left the scene and went home without anybody noticing him. He made sure that all cameras and all angles he could be seen were naturally angled so that his face couldn’t be seen.

But to make sure as well, he wore a disguise as he ‘edited’ his face using make up.

In fact, the sedan he used weren’t bought but was ‘borrowed’ from somewhere.

He brought back the cars and did the same act of changing cars three times until he got home and settled everything.

Then, he didn’t waste time as he drove back the last car where he ‘borrowed’ it and used his bike to get back to an area not too far away from where his old subdivision was location.

Everything happened in an entire day’s job.

[Boss, it’s a call from Amanda.]

‘Patch it through.’

The video call connected and Amanda was pouting as she ‘glared’ at Rex.

Rex had a face of helplessness, “Don’t worry, I’m just finishing a few things.”

“I’m going to the mall to buy some stuff.”

“Then I’ll come later.”

Her angry face never eased only until this moment and she looked beautiful no matter which face she showed him.

Rex felt warm with her ‘angry’ reminder and so he smiled back, “I’ll be faster.”

She chuckled, and ended the call with a tucked out little tongue.

Rex laughed, shaking his head. He was already parked on an area behind his subdivision and from this point on, it was superspy time.

*****

Black jacket and stretchable fashion jumper pants, black shades, and rubber shoes; his outfit wasn’t something for an office.

And yet when the guards of the building saw him get close, their profiling camera detected him as an important part of the office —an executive!

“Sir that is not proper attire for office work…” said an upright-looking security personnel. Even they were wearing ‘formal’ attire for their job.

“Today I am in a good mood so I don’t want to.”

Rex smugly said. There was the arrogance of a young executive on his tone.

This is manila and 90% of manila is urbanized with the 10% being either parks or part of executive villages and subdivisions with expensive lands that entitled them to have luxurious ‘greenery’ areas.

One of those ‘above average’ but close to being an ‘executive subdivision’ is Rex’s old neighborhood.

From all four sides of its 300 hectare land were the tall condominiums and corporate towers.

A winding artificial river snaked across these condo buildings and chopped a part of the subdivision on the northwestern side.

Usually, the boundaries of the buildings and this subdivision were fences from the building side’s parking lot. But it just so happens that all of those fenced sides of the parking had the river on the other side —which made this strip impossible to be wet since he had no time to re-prepare himself for he still had to go straight to the airport.

Two days from today was The Conclave and they have planned to make a bonding tomorrow as soon as they arrive in Sweetzerland —which means that they have to take the flight today.

There is only one entrance to the subdivision and because he doesn’t want to show his face to the unfamiliar security guard by the entrance, Rex had no choice but to go through these sets of buildings in order to get across the subdivision’s walls.

And to make things difficult for him, the only side that connects their subdivision to these buildings had four Corporate Towers for private companies on them… in a row.

Even if he hacks into their database, the guards in there won’t recognize him which meant that there was a chance that he might attract trouble.

Consequently, because of the crime nearby, there was a heightened sense of alertness on the guard details so every unfamiliar face was scanned and is interviewed carefully.

Good thing, a fifth building attached to the mall just happens to be at the very edge of what connects the subdivision to the corporate areas so he still had a chance. After a careful deliberation, a plan was made and so his forged identity as a Young Executive came to be.

“Sir. Even if you’re in a good mood, please make an observation. It is against our protocols.”

Rex’s face changed as the guard insisted. Then he faced the security officer straightly which scared the other office workers and made the other guard details frown. It was a face off.

“Have you seen my designation?” Rex was in a hurry and he was really angry at being stopped at the gates.

The guard reread the designation and he grimaced at the words “Executive Management” written in a few bold letters. Even the office ladies who took a sneak peek at his profile all had smiles at their lips as they looked at this gangster.

Executive Management means even if they were Security Details meant to safeguard their building and maintain order, Rex still had an authority to kick an eyesore like him just for personal reasons.

Before things became troublesome, a supervisor-looking woman in high heels walked in and made a direct apology to Rex who smiled at her and only bid a male-version flirtatious look.

The guard detail retreated and apologized as Rex boarded the elevator, followed almost by females with good smells and varying figures.

In just moments, the elevator was packed full and 80% of them were all women.

Rex casually ignored the deliberate ‘bumps’ some of the more daring women gave his arms. Even if he backed off at the far back, there were still those daredevils who triangle formation-ed him, giving a more direct approach that they wanted a night with this Young Executive who seems to be a bachelor and a bad boy in one.

“Don’t look back. There is a camera here.”

The girls giggled silently.

“I’m good with cameras. Contact me tonight?”

“Girl, you’re already married. Give him to the single ones okay?”

“You are married and you already have a kid. I am the only single and ready to mingle here. Leave him to me and I will tell you what happens later.”

Rex felt helpless hearing these three friends’ loud teasing using him as a cushion. Still, it didn’t mean that he didn’t enjoy their company. Even those that were listening also laughed at the three’s antics.

“Oops, my floor.” Rex said with slight regret. “But if I have time, I’ll come and look for you girls so make sure to leave your schedules open when I call.”

Siva made a motion that he saved their contacts as he stepped out of the elevator and winked at them.

Even as the elevator closed, there were the sound of giggles and the low ‘bastard’ of the few men. He just ignored it all.

There were 60 floors in the building and he was in the 25th —it was too high. He only needed to get out of the building on the backside, to the parking area, and then jump off the wall and he’d be done.

He should have gone out of the elevator sooner but the lower floors don’t belong to this newest company that recently just started in this building.

This entire floor and the four others above were theirs and his designation was here as well.

“Stairs.” He’d long planned it out.

He didn’t waste time and jumped off the stairs as he ran like a wind down in a minute.

Then he turned into the ground floor and darted off in haste towards the back —the supposedly Executive Parking Space— which he should have come from.

At the exit, the guard detail greeted him. “You’re back so quick, sir?”

“I was only here to pick up my keys. Good thing I have my assistant to help me.” Rex said with warm smiles that the excuse was bought no matter how much doubt the guard detail had.

Rex passed through without hesitation.

Not too far away, the guard detail that received his threat earlier had narrowed eyes as he watched his back disappear in the exit. He wavered at first but after a few moments, he darted off after Rex and made his buddy at the entrance look and shout at him.

“Just hold on the line for a sec.” he shouted back.

When he went through the exit, he immediately had a bad feeling. There were only five vehicles in the Executive Parking Space and so he radioed in.

“Exodus, this is Alfa Two, come in. Over.”

{Alfa Two, this is Exodus. What’s your Mike?}

He hesitated for a moment then said, “I just want to ask if there was any Voltron that left your Door for the past five minutes. Over.”

{Ah, negative on that Alfa Two. There wasn’t a part or a wheel of a Voltron that exited in the last hour on my watch. Over.}

The guard grimaced. “Are you sure?”

{Affirmative.}

“If so, then we may have a situation.”

A commotion broke out of the radio channel.

As soon as the words came out, another voice was heard on the radio. Since this was their security-only channel, all personnel was connected to the supervisor earlier —the pretty lady in high heels.

{Alfa Two, this is Paragon. Why did you leave your marker? What situation are you talking about? And whose Voltron are you asking that left the Capital?}

The guard’s voice was urgent, “Paragon. I’ve had the feeling that something wasn’t right with that Young Executive earlier. I haven’t seen his face in this building before. He went up the lift and went down in almost the same time he went up and then exited the building through Alfa Three’s Door. I tried to follow him just to make sure but just now, I didn’t see him in the Alfa Three’s exit.”

{Chief. There is only one exit and entrance for Alfa Three’s Door.}

{Chief. Alfa Two has always been sharp in his memory so there’s a chance he’s right about this.}

{Chief…}

{Chief!}

The commotion broke out and just then, one of the voices came with an urgent news.

{Paragon, this is Bee. I just checked our cameras and there’s something weird here. Can you and Alfa Two come here please?}

The situation was worsening.

After the lady ‘Paragon’ in high heels and Alfa Two came to Bee’s nest and with the stacks of holo-TVs that indicated different angles of the cameras in the building, they saw one of the main screen play a [video] of not too long ago.

When they finished looking at the video, everyone in the room was aghast. Is he a ghost?

The cameras caught the interactions but there was no person the people involved were talking to. It was as if they were talking to a ghost… especially in the entrance and elevator. Anyone that will see this scene would feel their hairs standing on ends.

“This is a serious case. Call the Blue Caps. Now.”

When their Paragon spoke, no one moved. They were still horrified at the ghostly apparition in their own video files.

“What are you doing?!! HURRY!!”

“But Chief…”

“What are you hesitating for? We’ve been hacked!”

Everyone in the Hive was shocked. “It’s hacking?!!”

The Security Chief, their Paragon, was sure of it for fate declared that Rex just had to encounter a Pioneer of all possible places he could’ve met one.

“Of course it is hacking, what else? This is clearly done by a high level Battle-AI.”

Everyone in their office knew that their Chief was a strong player but they never would’ve imagine that she was aware of what a Battle-AI —all the more is a High-Level Battle-AI— could do. A few Bees in the room were also players of RPG: Terroa but not all of them are aware of what a Battle-AI is adept at, aside from knowing that they’re organizers for their lucky owners.

This is the first many of them even heard that the legendary Battle-AIs of two years ago was capable of hacking into real-world technologies. Isn’t this a breach of technological etiquette?

It was scary to think because there are many kinds of criminal things such a possibility could entail.

“What are you dallying there for?! Move your ass!”

As soon as the words came out, they immediately understood the gravity of the situation. This was a case for the Blue Caps —the Police— to solve.

*****

Of course, by the time they realized it all, Rex had already crossed the wall and ran his way through their subdivision, into the back of their house, and sneaking at the garden of the house at the back of their home to face the wall that separated him and his old home.

With two wall kicks, he landed on their house’s old backyard and after suppressing the building sense of nostalgia, he immediately started a deeper scan.

His forehead lit up and a golden eye appeared. If a pair of eyes could see it, they’d think that a jacket-clad Immortal from the movies have just landed on a backyard and is staring at the house intently.

Of course, a ‘deeper scan’ meant using Cortana’s maximum scan capability which involved her using all of her hardware’s capabilities.

After using the usually invisible scanning lasers, a report was delivered to Rex and he made a sigh.

Cortana did not detect any changes in the house’s Net Ports and there seemed to be no bugs in it.

“I’m home.” He weakly said.

The bungalow in his memories was intact because of the efforts of their caretaker. It seems that the house was properly taken care of from the outside.

But just before Rex thought that it was alright, he immediately stopped the thought. Isn’t this odd?

“Why is the Net Port still active? Cortana, hack into the network and scan for history.”

[Scan Complete. Logs present. A locked hardware was available inside with a High-Encryption security programming. I can hack into it but I will need time. This kind of security encryption in the hardware is a little bit of a hot rod to me.]

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Is this trouble or.....

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