Standstill (Erityian Tribes Novella, #3)

10 : Confrontation

"What did you say?" I asked, appalled at Hiroshi's confession.

"At least, we can use that now," he said in defense.

According to him, he placed a tracking device on Kana's sickle to monitor her activities after he got suspicious of her. That was how he knew she went after us a while ago.

"I wonder who's Yutomu," Hayate muttered.

"Based on her expression earlier, it must be someone from her past," Hiroshi remarked.

"And that AA must be Ariel Andrada," I added. "But is he an Erityian?"

"There are no records about him. He's just tagged as a terrorist and an underground dealer."

We fell silent as we followed Hiroshi's tracker and we had to increase our pace because she was getting way ahead of us.

My mind drifted away as I recalled our first case and how Ariel Andrada was mentioned as one of the suspects. He was caught on camera in the same place where the thirs victim died, but his case was immediately forwarded to FBI and CIA because of his records. In addition, most of his murders were executed through explosives, thus, reducing the probability of him being the serial killer.

Wait . . .

If that was the case, then maybe . . .

"Do you think Ariel is connected to the second case?" I asked and that got their attention.

"What do you mean?" Hayate returned.

"He's known for his adherence to explosives," I explained, "and Doras was the murderer's supplier. But she died before we could ask her anything."

We shouldn't have told the Senshin officer in that station to put her under a house confinement. We were given permission to question her while being detained but we realized that Shinigamis might come for her or us if something went wrong and being in a restricted space with a lot of humdrums wouldn't do us any good. Since they didn't have enough evidence to put her in jail as the murderer's associate besides his statement, we requested to put her under a detention in her apartment so we could freely ask everything.

"I see," Hayate commented. "She must have been talking to Ariel to know where she could get those materials."

"Odd," Hiroshi added. "What did she know for her to be pursued and killed by an internationally wanted criminal?"

"Maybe something about his identity? His whereabouts?"

"But why does he know the Erityian way of writing?"

Muli kaming natahimik nang itanong 'yon ni Hiroshi. It would be better if he was an Erityian. At least, this would stay inside our race. However, if it turned out that he was a humdrum who had some knowledge about us, this could result into a messy disclosure.

Napahinto kami nang huminto rin ang tracker na nakakabit kay Kana. We were about thirty meters away from her and she was checking her surroundings.

I could feel the bloodlust from her, just like when she saved me from a Shinigami before.

'She's hunting,' I said. 'I can feel the faint presence of the Black Dimension. Someone's coming.'

Hiroshi and Hayate immediately reached for their weapons. We observed Kana's actions and followed her the moment she moved again.

Bigla namang tumunog ang device ni Hayate kaya napatingin kami sa kanya ni Hiroshi.

'What's that?'

'A message from Ryuu.'

'Ano na namang pinagawa mo sa kanya?'

His expression hardened after he saw the message that he just received. He looked at us with a troubled face and that meant some serious concern.