The Science of Spying (Erityian Tribes, #4) | Published under Pop Fiction

Chapter 11 : Spider's Web

We reached the end of the hallway and it branched out into three more routes. Considering what had happened earlier, we decided to map this building together and plan our next move after consulting with Jett and Naia.

'Let's go here first,' sabi ko at naglakad ako sa right hallway. Sumunod naman sa akin si Cliff.

Habang naglalakad kami ay may nakakasalubong kaming Blacks. Some of them gave strong impressions and chances were, they could be high-numbered viertes.

Bigla naman akong nakaramdam ng sakit sa likod ko. Damn that Spider. I wasn't able to react when he attacked me. Kiyoko was right. We shouldn't underestimate these guys or else, we'd be in danger.

'We need to be careful from now on,' biglang sabi ni Cliff. 'There's still one more dritte lurking around here and I don't want that to happen again.'

'I know,' sabi ko naman. 'I won't let my guard down again. Ink, right? Siya na lang ang hindi natin kilala sa mukha.'

'Yeah. I wonder what their ranks are among the drittes.'

'That, we don't know yet.'

We continued walking until the narrow hallway broadened into a dome-shaped space with three identical doors. The Black we were following entered the middle room so I decided to get into the left one while Cliff chose the room across mine. Pagpasok ko ay saglit akong napatigil dahil mayroong tatlong tao sa loob. They immediately stopped whatever they were doing and looked at me suspiciously.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The guy with the nose-piercing glared at me and the other two eyed me with distaste.

I immediately scanned the room and saw the large monitor they were looking at a while ago. The displayed site was familiar and I realized it was the Death Index, the same site Nigel and Cliff discussed a while ago where they could track and eliminate anyone who were written there.

"Hey! Are you listening?" tanong ng lalaki na malapit sa monitor kaya napatingin ulit ako sa kanila.

"Ah. Sorry, I was lost," I said with an innocent expression.

"This room is for Eleven to Twenty only. State your number," sabi naman ng isa pang lalaki.

Nilibot ko naman ang paningin ko sa kwarto. The room looked like a lobby with a dark theme: maroon couches encircled the huge circular wooden table at the center, black lockers occupied the right side while monitors were placed on the left, and dim lights completed the gloomy ambiance.

"Twenty Four," I replied.

"Then get out. Go to your own chamber."

"Oh, right. Yeah, thank you."

Tumalikod ako at lumabas sa room na 'yon. When I got outside, I checked the door and wall if there were any details for this chamber, and I saw its name—Chamber 11. So he wasn't lying.

Naglakad ako palayo para tingnan din ang ibang kwarto at nakita ko ang division ng numbers. Even the drittes had their own system.

Papasok na sana ako sa kwarto kung nasaan si Cliff pero napatigil ako nang may marinig akong pagbukas ng pinto. When I turned around, I saw one of the guys a while ago leaving the room but he immediately stopped when he noticed me. Coincidentally, Cliff also left the room so the guy glanced at himOur eyes met and before he could say anything, I went inside the middle room.

I was expecting several Blacks inside but nobody was there. It seemed like the Black we followed earlier didn't stay long. Napangiti naman ako dahil sa nangyari kanina. That guy . . . he looked at us, and that was his biggest mistake.