My Lost Soul

Chapter 8 - The Man of Truth

The office door closed behind Machida and Iseri as they entered his office.

"Do you need any help settling back in, sir,?" Iseri stood back at the door.

Machida reached into his desk cabinet and started rummaging inside," Well I do need you to listen to this with me."

Iseri speed walks towards Machida," Yes sir!"

Machida pulls out a flash drive and grabs his laptop," I planted a bug when I got stabbed. What I didn't understand was that I heard multiple voices inside, but only saw one actual person."

Machida opened the audio files from the flash drive on the laptop, "So I thought that if I can't rely on sight, the only intel I could get is auditory." He pressed play on the first file.

"Hey! Machida! Hey, wake up!" Uyama's voice could be heard in the recording.

Machida clicked his tongue," Let's not pay attention to that part."

He skipped forward a couple of minutes and pressed play.

A door shut in the recording," You need to be more careful, idiots," A familiar voice hissed.

"Sorry sir, we just got careless that's all," A voice whimpered.

"God, I'll lose my position thanks to-" The hissing voice was interrupted.

"There's no need to be so alarmed, the boss has already decided that we only need more protection, not more hiding. That's why I'm here." A calm voice got louder as they approached.

"Wait a damn minute, does that me-" The hissing voice was interrupted again.

"Yes, you've been stationed outside of the base of operations. This isn't a demotion, but it isn't a promotion either. You'll be assigned the task of spying on the witness."

The hissing voice scoffed," So what do I have to do then?"

"Simply monitor their actions. Reassure that they aren't necessary targets."

Machida paused the recording and sat back in his chair. Iseri's eyes were wide," Sir, what do you think of this?"

"I recognize the first voice, it definitely belongs to the person who stabbed me. If what they said here was made effective immediately, returning to the garage could be suicide."

Machida started to sweat as he ruffled his hair," But..."

"... It's possible that we, including Uyama, are in danger here as well."

Iseri furrowed her brow," Should I raise security levels and have special agents guard this Uyama, sir?"

"Yes please, as soon as possible," Machida sat back up in his chair," Try to be as vague as possible when relaying information."

"Yes, sir!" Iseri saluted him and ran out of the office, closing the door behind her.

There was silence in the room for a while.

"If you can hear me, don't try to sneak up on me again," Machida narrowed his eyes as he put the flash drive back into the cabinet," The same trick won't work twice." 

Back at Uyama's apartment, the doorbell was rung.

Uyama got up from the couch to open the door.

As the door opened he scanned the two people standing in front of it.

"So what do you want?" Uyama questioned.

"Hello sir, we're a part of the plumbing service of this apartment complex. We've received a notice that your toilet requires repair, would you please let us fix it today?" One man inclined.

Uyama lifted his eyebrow," Is that so?"

Uyama stared at the two men for a minute until he finally responded," Nah, but thanks. I'll fix it myself."

He started to close the door when the other man grabbed it.

"Please sir, we insist, there won't be any unnecessary repairs and there's no cost!"

Uyama rolled his eyes as he turned around, letting go of the door. He motioned them to come in as he sat back down on his couch.

As the two men entered the apartment room, Uyama snapped his finger at them.

"Sit down, boys," He ordered.

They both furrowed their eyebrows as they reluctantly sat down in the living room.

"So this is about that one guy in the parking garage, am I right?"

The men both looked at each other.

"So that guy never left us alone, did he? You think he could be in this room now? That he could be in Mr. Machida's office?"

They both started to sweat.

"Well, thanks for coming here, because now I know that he is indeed in this room. He's listening to us right now," Uyama brought a smug look to his face.

"Are you being serious?" One man leaned forward.

"Oh yeah, totally serious," Uyama stood up.

"Luckily, I thought something like this could happen," Uyama scanned the room and finally stopped in one corner on the roof," He's right..."

Uyama revealed a gun under his coat, quickly drawing it from his pocket," There."

The two men jumped up from their seats, their hands gravitating toward their guns.

"You can stop hiding now, there's really no use in fighting me." Uyama snickered as he pulled his phone out of his pocket with the other hand and texted someone.

Lucky guess.

Uyama's pistol moved following the invisible man's movements.

What the hell?

Uyama smiled deviously, " A guess? That's funny."

" The 'Man of Truth' don't guess."