Rembrandt Must Die

RMD XVIII

"Sir Rembrandt, your father's secretary, Mr. Phil, is on his way to your office right now." Dinig ko galing sa intercom.

"Ask him to come in."

Nanatili akong nakatutok sa laptop ko at sinusubukang magpaka-busy by reading the individual progress of the recruits under my district. Tumayo ako nung bumukas ang pinto ng office at iniluwa ang secretary ni Razael.

Bahagya akong yumuko nang magtama ang tingin namin ni Phil, tumango naman ito bilang tugon at nilagpasan na ako. I've seen him more than twice but I just can't shake the feeling of familiarity.

He was in his mid-40's just like Razael, which was evident with his gray hair and wrinkles. Napailing na lang ako sa palaisipan na yun at dahan-dahan naglakad papunta sa door habang yakap-yakap ang laptop ko para lumabas.

"Where are you going Ms Sevierre?" Tanong ng magaling kong amo. Dahan-dahan akong napatingin sa kanya at sinubukang ngumiti.

"Outside for you to talk in private." Tugon ko.

"Ah no, I'm just here to hand out the papers for Cortana project." Lumipat naman ang tingin ko kay Phil na nagsalita. "Please, stay seated." Dagdag niya sabay lahad ng kamay sa upuan na kung nasan ako kanina.

"You heard him." Sabi ng amo ko na saglit na sumulyap sakin bago makipagusap kay Phil. Psh, sungit.

Bumalik ako sa upuan ko at binuksan ulit yung laptop ko, minasahe ko yung sentido at nagpakabusy ulit.

"Oh, and by the way, Razael wants to see you this afternoon at the Palacio." Dinig kong sabi ng secretary ni Razael na ramdam ko ring napatingin sakin.

"Why sa Palacio pa? Isn't he in his office right now?" Tanong naman ni Klyde. There are times that I am glad na merong dysfunctional relationship si Rembrandt at Razael dahil madalas na iwas ang anak niya sakanya, but not this time, I need to be there.

"There were some faulty wires in the smoke detector that went off last night, so to make the long story short your father's office is drenched in water." He went off right after he excused himself.

So... that was on me; oh, I mean one of my people.

I received an intel that Razael was going to arrive this morning, and based from what I learned, they usually keep his office closed when he's out of the country or basically when he's not around but they make an exception every once a month to clean his office before he arrives, and that was yesterday.

I took the opportunity to send some people na nag-undercover as cleaners to search the area for any evidence of slush funds and corruption or even the slightest evidence that will unravel the truth.

As it turns out, the office was spotless. Who am I kidding on that? Razael may be evil but I cannot deny the fact that he's meticulous for documents or data like that just lying around. Nagawa nga niyang mamatay tao tatay ko at sirain ang nanahimik naming buhay without paying for it or at least be considered as the person behind all that. So I had to think, to improvise a plan.

That's when it hit me: every time Razael comes back from a trip, he would always call his son and set a meeting for them too at his office pero that wouldn't be possible now, since I staged his office. Napagalaman ko sa ibang employees that Razael doesn't show up at public places very much. He despise hotels, restaurants and the likes kaya he makes it to a point na every country na pupuntahan niya, ay may bahay or condo at the very least sila. And in this country nothing beats the Palacio de Alferez.