Project LOKI ③

Chapter 50: The Final Equation VI

Marahan akong umiling. "It has something to do with Math, he said."

I wasn't a fan of that subject kaya wala akong ideya kung ano'ng technique na tinutukoy niya. Maybe we could ask for Sir Jim Morayta's help? Ang kaso, hindi ko alam kung saan siya sisimulang hanapin. Masyadong maraming tao. Well, pwede kong tawagin ang pangalan niya sa mic.

"Nabanggit din niya 'yong strange ascending order ng numbers," dagdag ni Jamie. "Excuse me—There must be a way kung bakit mula sa number one, nag-skip sa four at five. Tapos nag-skip sa nine at fourteen."

Huminto sa paglalakad si Alistair at lumingon sa amin. He must have had his eureka moment because his eyes widened and his face brightened. He looked like he had figured out the secrets of the world.

"Loki said that we should pay close attention to the numbers, right?" he began, touching his chin. "Sa unang tingin, nakaka-confuse kung bakit nag-i-skip ng number ang killer. Pero kung i-a-add natin ang nauna o preceding na dalawang number, makukuha natin ang kasunod nito."

"Ang unang victim ay one habang ang kasunod ay four," I recalled as my eyes squinted at him. I was trying to do mental math. "There's no way we would have known na si number four ang isusunod niya. Baka may mali sa computation?"

"The killer had to start somewhere, so he chose one and four as the first two numbers," Alistair explained. "If we add them up, we get five. If we add four and five, we get nine. If we add five and nine, we get fourteen. And so on."

Naningkit ang mga mata ni Jamie, marahang napapatango. "'Di ba Fibonacci sequence ang tawag diyan? We'll get the next number by adding up the two numbers before it?"

Alistair nodded. "Kaya nabanggit ni Loki na Math ang favorite subject ni Stein. It's no wonder why he'd choose this pattern for his victims."

"So that's how he knew that Herminia is gonna be next..." I muttered. "By adding the numbers of the latest victim, which is fourteen, and of the victim before him, which is nine. Fourteen plus nine is twenty-three!"

"And the person who's at number three is Herminia Mancha!"

Lumawak ang ngiti sa aking mga labi at ramdam kong nagliwanag ang aking mukha. We figured out the pattern so we could finally put an end to this nightmare!

"After Herminia, who's gonna be the next victim?" I asked.

"Twenty-three plus fourteen is thirty-seven so..." Alistair looked sideways at our friend who has retentive memory.

Jamie shut her eyes for a second and opened them suddenly. Naghiwalay ang kanyang mga labi at akmang may sasabihin, pero bigla siyang napahinto. Her face that lit up became worried again.

"What is it, Jamie?"

"Rye Rubio," her voice cracked. "He's gonna be the next, next target."

"What?!" Nagkatitigan kami ni Alistair. Out of all people in the list, I didn't expect that Rye would be targeted. The first question that came to mind: Why him? Stein mentioned that he's gonna target the bullies and the predators. Was Rye secretly one of those? Alam kong nagyoyosi siya noon, pero hindi naman siguro sapat 'yon upang i-judge siya.

How big was the possibility that we might be wrong?

"Following the pattern, after Rye, the next target will be Idoya San Miguel, sixty, then Roman Fregoso, ninety-seven," Jamie enumerated, raising one finger after another. "Kung gusto natin silang iligtas mula sa panganib, pwede natin silang papuntahin sa isang lugar at bantayan doon!"

I thought that was the best way to deal with this problem, so I was inclined to agree. But I realized it was not. "Kung gagawin natin 'yan, madi-discourage ang minion ni Stein na ituloy ang kanyang plano—"