Chapter 44: Dead Man's Switch XI (The Wild Card)

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A/N: This is the last part of Chapter 44 and my 11th update in a row! 

PLEASE DON'T POST ANY SPOILERS AFTER READING THIS UPDATE!

PLEASE DON'T POST ANY SPOILERS AFTER READING THIS UPDATE!

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LORELEI

"THE DANGER had passed," Maggie said. "Or so it seems."

Monday came, two days after the unfortunate murder of Sir Ephraim Quirino, also known as Augustus' switch.

After we escaped from the crime scene that night, we went straight to our apartment at mabilis na nagpalit ng damit. We discarded the clothes that we wore, just a safety precaution. Loki's original idea was to burn our clothes, but we decided to bury them instead. Starting a fire might attract unwanted attention and make us look more suspicious.

It's still a mystery to us kung sino ang courier na pumasok sa apartment na pumatay kay Sir Ephraim at ipinalitaw na suicide ang nangyari. What's more baffling was the fact that he stole the laptop, external hard drive and phone of the deceased. As Loki deduced, whoever that person was, he knew very well that Sir Ephraim was in possession of some blackmailing materials.

The switch may have been turned off, but the danger lingered. We don't know kung sino o kung ano ang gagawin ng kumuha ng box. Would he be using the materials in there to extort money? Would he be releasing the materials to the public? Would he be keeping them in his collection as some sort of souvenir?

From Saturday night until Monday morning, Clark High was so calm. Walang scandal na na-expose, maliban sa mga boluntaryong umamin noong nakaraang linggo. That must be why Maggie claimed that the danger had passed. But I don't think that it had.

"May mga kakilala ako na hindi nakapagbayad sa switch sa loob ng deadline na ibinigay niya," Maggie added. "But nothing happened. Maybe Sir Ephraim changed his mind? Maybe he realized that messing around with people's secrets was a bad thing?"

Oh, yeah. Only the four of us—me, Loki, Jamie and Alistair—know that Sir Ephraim is dead. We haven't told anyone yet about it.

"Or maybe something happened to him," Rye said, his back leaning against the wall and his arms crossed. "One of his targets might have tracked him down and decided to run over him. Posible naman 'yon, 'di ba?"

That's one theory we could entertain. And the most likely suspect at the moment is someone in M's organization. Maybe Stein ordered one of his minions to find the switch. But something's still off to me. Pakiramdam ko, hindi involved ang kanyang organisasyon sa pagpatay kay Sir Ephraim. I can't put a finger on it at the moment.

"Kumusta pala ang paghahanap n'yo sa kanya nitong weekend?" tanong ni Maggie na napatingin sa akin at kay Alistair. "Meron bang development?"

Sa aming apat na nakakaalam ng nangyari sa apartment ni Sir Ephraim, kaming dalawa lang ni Alistair ang nasa execom office ngayong morning break. Meron pa kasing tatapusing assignment si Jamie habang si Loki naman ay... ewan kung bakit wala siya ngayon. He might have been slacking off in their classroom and forgot about the meeting.

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