Do I Know You? (2)
Fem looked at her brother, fished out a key from her pocket and tossed it to him.
"Go first. 3D!"
Vhan hurried to Fem's apartment having caught the key. 3D? What was that? Nevertheless, he walked to the building where he saw his sister go in and out the previous weeks. 'Ahhh! That's third floor room D! ' Vhan snapped inwardly as he was about to enter the lobby where the guard was scrutinizing his rugged figure.
Back in the street, the drunk man caught the woman that she struggled to free herself from his grip. She kicked the man and run to hold Fem by her waist. Some people who were standing seem not to care as they hurriedly rushed on their way.
" Do I know you?" Fem dudged aside to evade the woman, but the woman threw herself to Fem holding her by the waist while her feet slumped on the ground. Fem looked down on the woman and balled her fists so as not to hold the woman who was hugging her waist.
"Please George, don't let him beat me like this. Get me away from this animal!" The woman seemed to be confused.
"Ha! George? Is he your husband or your other man?" Fem asked as she forcefully tried to unhook the woman's arms.
The drunk man approached and yanked the woman by her shirt.
"Get lost here man! I'm going to teach this slut a lesson!" The man growled at Fem aiming to punch her face.
"No!" The woman quickly stood up and held the drunk man's arm stopping it from reaching Fem's face.
Fem took this opportunity to step back from the two. She seemed to deduce the real situation and pondered whether to use her phone to call the police or borrow someone else's. Of course, she could not just carelessly give away her phone number especially to the police, right?
She looked around to see some of the onlookers. "Can some of you call the police! Don't just stand there!" She tried to shout but she could only speak in a modulated male voice afraid that her voice might squeak into its natural sound.
Seeing the situation was like a lover's quarrel, Fem shrugged her shoulders and left.
Fem found her brother eating her leftover from the seafood restaurant when she got back to her apartment. 'This glutton! All he does is eat and eat!'
- At Mark's study -
"Major, the lady wasn't the one who signed the slip. It was the other man with her!" The cashier called Mark upon seeing the three costumers leave the parking lot.
"What?! How could you fail like that? Didn't you follow my instruction?" Mark roared in disappointment.
"Major, I did, the lady was not as simple as we thought. She must have sensed something unusual." The cashier said in defense.
"Okay, got it." Mark's suspicion grew all the more as he thought how elusive that lady is.
He was certain that she was the lady in the WangCargo Express Office. He had been observing her in her office for the past month through his secret device and never expected to see her in the restaurant tonight.
Mark was sitting in his car when he saw the three people leave. He instructed Wilman to follow the car until the place where the lady will be dropped. Mark drove to his apartment after seeing that Wilman had gotten himself a cab.
Wilman tailed the three until he saw the lady alight at the corner of Zenith Street. He waited until the lady entered the building apartment then approached the guard on duty.
"This is South City police conducting investigation. May I have the cctv of this building for the past month!" Wilman presented her police ID and the mayor's permit for random raid of suspicious establishments.
The guard hesitated but the policeman warned him about obstruction of sworn duty.
The guard immediately called the the land lady whose room was just in the ground floor.
Rose came out and immediately allowed the guard to pull the cctv record.
Wilman thanked the land lady and went back on his way. He called his boss on his way while Mark on the other end was calmly waiting for the thing.
That night upon getting hold of the cctv footage, Mark watched it with all focus on the lady's demeanor and time of departure and arrival. He also noted the lady's apartment number. There was nothing suspicious in her exit and entry though. Her routine was normal. She usually stays at home on weekends only goes out on a jogging attire late afternoons. She had no visitors so far nor did she knock on her neighbors doors.
Mark texted Percy.
[Mr. Wang, your current assistant manager, what's her name and from where is she?]
Although it was already late at night and he didn't expect any immediate reply, Percy's reply actually came just after some minutes.
[Major, that's Ms. Marianne Rizzo from South City. Is there any case concerning the company that she did not handle well?" Percy was rocking his baby to sleep while his mind flew to the South City company branch.
[No, sorry, I just asked. I just happened to see her around today. That's all. Thanks." Mark was a a very courteous person to those who have no bad issues with him.
...
At Arevalo's mansion in B City, Dave has just received an intel report about Greg's children. Dave knew all the rest of Law's history but since he left the place almost three decades ago, he had no time following up or hearing anything from Greg's family.
Apparently, Greg has biological 10 children and three adopted ones. Maggie, the first child had gone abroad and had only came home twice within eight years. The second child, Leonore, married in Eastern Province. Grace, the third one is taking care of her baby at home. Neighbors all say that the baby's father was a married man and left Grace in their boarding house when she was pregnant.
Michael was the fourth one who was supposedly Greg Junior but Mary Law named him Micheal after the warior angel because he fought his way after those female siblings. Then when he was four months old, Ysabel arrived and Michael still have to compete with his own mother's milk. Hence, Michael the warior angel and Ysabel the queen. The two were registered as twins and thus were considered 'The Fourths'.
Ivan was given birth during the time Greg and Mary Law's marriage was on the rocks. Some people accused Greg of having an affair with a neighbor's wife while they made up stories that Mary has gotten pregnant after she went home to visit her parents in the Western Province. Those gossips however didn't last long since there were no witnesses or evidences presented. In the end, it was Greg's envious cousins who made up those stories to destroy Greg's reputation.
The sixth was Esterlyn whom they call Trell. She was the extreme opposite of Ysabel. She was a quiet chubby baby that was adored by all. Then came what Greg expected to be his junior son, the seventh child. Mary Law would always complain that the child inside her womb would often move so suddenly that sometimes takes her breath into a halt. Greg ofcourse expected that the baby would be an energetic boy only to hold a kicking pinkish baby girl. In his disappointment, he asked one of his bachelor buddies to be the god father of his 7th child who in turn gratefully accepted and named the baby Femie after his fiancee died tragically.
Niel came three years after Fem. He was followed by Blessy who was born during the strongest typhoon in history of P Country. George was adopted when Blessy was one year old. He was actually Greg's nephew's son but he registered George as his own. Hannah was the youngest biological child. She is more like a younger version of Fem but was much more spoiled in every way. The last child is Charmaine who was left by the eldest daughter before she went abroad. She was an ambitious young lady who always dreamed of going abroad. When she was training as a caregiver, she had hooked up with her instructor who easily denied what happened between them. Maggie left her daughter in her parents' care not knowing what to do. In the end, Greg could only swallow his anger and disappoinment of his first child and act as a father to his grandchild.
On the other page of the intel report, Dave learned that Michael has been growing his woodworks and carving shop at the Western Province and his transactions were mostly directly from loggers of the province.
Ivan graduated a valedictorian of his class in high school but was never seen by his parents after that. It was suspected that he had joined a rebel group which at the time of his school days have been actively recruiting members young people from villages and even in schools. Fem was also constantly being followed up by the group even after Ivan disappeared.
Dave stopped reading the report as his mind had already formed a conclusion. From experience, he knew the operation system of the rebel groups. However, there are so many factions of the rebel groups and his problem was which faction did Greg's son belong.
From Mark's previous call, Greg's missing son could have been the one frequently contacting Niel. Those rebel factions in the South were known to be the most notorious of all rebel factions. They extort money from business firms, deal with illegal drugs, burn establishments that don't comply with their demands and kidnap foreigners and high profile visitors for some huge ransom. According to P Country's National Security Bureau, the price for each rebel faction commander when caught alive is 15million bucks. They were considered terrorists and number one public enemy.
Could it be that Ivan is a rebel commander? This, he has to talk to Greg about . There's also a strong possibility that his supposed daughter-in-law joined her brother! If not, why was she never seen even after thoroughly combing the whole place where she could have gone?
- Back to Mark's Study -
It was already past 11:00 at night and Mark was wide awake in his study. He had just called Wilman to thoroughly investigate the numbers that have contacted Niel.
Mark was trying to link everything in his mind when his phone rang with his grandfather's call.
"Mark, there's something I need to talk with you about." Dave paused.
"Speak, Grandpa." Mark said shortly.
"Did your girlfriend ever mentioned about any of her brothers to you? Ivan in particular. Ofcourse you should know about the others." Dave asked in a worried voice.
"Ivan? Never heard of him. Fem never mentioned about him. I just know Niel. Anyway, what about that Ivan Law?" Mark asked as he held his pen drawing what seemed to be a connection of random dots.
"I just received this intel report which states that Greg's fifth son Ivan Law disappeared upon graduating high school. It was suspected that he joined a rebel group who had been recruiting young people in the northern schools and villages back then. Now, the most important thing is, even after searching for your girlfriend for more than a month, its impossible not to have a trace of her. I suspect and there's a strong possibility that she could have joined her brother in the mountains." Dave patiently explained with his hoarse deep resounding voice.
"Grandpa, do you think I need to talk to Mr. Law about this? Do they know about this?" Mark was not sure whether he would suspect the Law couple for hiding their daughter from him and conniving with terrorists or just inform them and ask for their help.
"Just do what you're supposed to do. But if possible, spare the brat. You know how much is upon his head." Dave ended his call.
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