Chapter 2

Ten years later…

“Looks like you benefited again from your magic stethoscope,” Allison told Vindicta, smiling.

Vindicta just smirked then sat in front of Allison at the dining table. She used the stethoscope to open a safety deposit box. She needed that tool, which was supposed to be only for doctors, to crack safes. “It's late; why are you just eating now?” she asked Allison.

“If you must know, I am monitoring you,” Allison replied sarcastically.

Allison was her partner. She made sure no CCTVs had captured her during her transactions. Allison was also her human GPS. She was the one teaching her the way out if problems arise.

“Where is the flash drive?” Allison asked her.

She handed her the flash drive she stole from a journalist. That was a job from the mayor of their town. She was working for him for the past few months. He was the only one who was brave enough to show his identification from all of their clients. Roma was the one transacting to the mayor. It was her role in their group.

“What is inside that flash drive?” Vindicta asked Allison.

“I don’t know. You know that we can’t ask, right? Roma wanted you to erase everything on this journalist’s computer. Are you sure that you deleted everything?”

“Of course. I deleted everything, even on his laptop. I also checked his cellphone, I didn’t see anything suspicious. There are no more gadgets in his room.”

“I also checked his phone. You’re right, there is nothing suspicious there,” Allison agreed.

While the poor journalist was sleeping, Allison hacked his phone. That was Allison’s specialty.

“So, I’m done with my mission. I am going to sleep.”

“Yeah, I think it’s better for you to sleep already. You’re making my eyes hurt more than the radiation from my computer. Can’t you change your outfit’s color? Are all your clothes black?”

“You should know the answer, you are the one ordering my clothes online,” Vindicta replied then laughed. Black skinny jeans, a black hooded jacket, and her inner blouse were black too. Her shoes were black, of course. She meant to do that so she can hide easily.

“Don’t you have plans socializing outside this place, Vindicta?” Allison asked seriously before Vindicta completely got out of her sight.

“Aren’t we just the same?” she asked Allison too. Vindicta did not wait for Allison’s answer, she quietly walked out and got to her room.

She laid on her bed but her mind was far from sleeping. She thought about her life for the past ten years. In that long period of time, she has not let anyone in her life. Why would she do that?

There was no good person outside that place. Everyone had motives. Everyone was judgmental. That was the very reason why they have a lot of clients, right? Because no one was trustworthy in this world.

How can she sympathize with anyone? No one has ever shown her sympathy. No, there was one, Roma. Roma was still a mystery to her. She had not seen Roma’s face until that very moment. She didn’t know why she was still being mysterious around her but she was not curious anymore.

With the nature of her job, she had learned not to be curious anymore as long as she was not hurting or killing anyone. Whatever the clients wanted; she would do it if the price was right. It didn’t matter who it was or what was the motive. She was there for the money. It was that simple.

All of her earnings were deposited in a bank, she was barely using it because she didn’t need anything luxurious. She was donating some of her money to charities, not because she cared but because she didn’t have to use that money.

Whatever she saved will be used for her retirement. She won’t forever do that job, of course. She will get old. The time will come when she can no longer jump from walls or run as fast as a horse. Maybe she will just buy a property in the province and live there alone.

Vindicta closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She forced herself to sleep which she hoped she didn’t do because she had nightmares of her parents’ brutal death. Maybe after she got her revenge for her parent’s death, she can stop being Vindicta, after all, that was the true reason why she was doing all that.

***

“Vindicta?” Kyle asked his cousin, Ramius. Ramius was telling him a story about a black-ops agent named Vindicta who was Mayor Simon Lizardo’s disciple. This Vindicta, according to Ramius, was the Mayor’s, and all the politicians in his party, cleaner. That was why no one could ever uncover their dirty laundry.

“That story seemed like a TV series,” Kyle told his cousin.

“It is up to you if you will believe me or not but you have to be cautious. There were some people looking for this Vindicta because if I’m not mistaken, there were a lot of people from the high society that’s using her expertise. One more thing, you will be competing with one of Lizardo’s allies, it is not impossible that they would do something for you to concede,” Ramius advised.

Kyle will run for the mayoral position in their town, Aldemar. The former mayors of that town were from their clan. Everything changed when Simon Lizardo came into the picture. The people of that town liked Lizardo for reasons he didn’t know. He knew that guy destroyed their family’s reputation even if he never admitted it.

After Lizardo’s first term as a mayor, he let his wife run for the mayoral position and she won too. After his wife’s term, a member of his family ran until Simon can run for the mayoral position again. They kept doing that cycle so no one could get Aldemar from Simon’s hands.. Everyone knew that even if Simon was not the official mayor of that town, he was the one making all the decisions and whoever was in position was just his dummy.

Aldemar has become more modern under Simon’s leadership but despite that, the town has become corrupted too. Aldemar was a usual province before. But now, it was as if there were way more casinos there than in Manila, the capital city of the country. Prostitution has become a problem too.

Simon has become stronger because he was supported by the rich and powerful people in that town. Powerful people were destroying the lives of Aldemar’s people because of the illegal businesses there. That was the reason why Kyle wanted to be the next mayor of Aldemar.

He promised his late grandfather that he would get Aldemar from Simon’s hand but besides that promise, he really wanted to clean the town from the people who were polluting it. He went abroad for a few years but his heart was still at Aldemar.

He was born and raised at Aldemar but studied high school in Manila and he went abroad to study Economics. After graduating from his course, he went back to Aldemar. Because he didn’t have plans to run for the mayoral position during that time, he built his own business in which his parents supported.

He thought of a business that he could get close to people, after that, his name got an impact on the people of Aldemar. He built a big market in Aldemar. That was not a usual wet market that was unhygienic and smelly. When it came to cleanliness, De Dios Market was number one in Aldemar.

He didn’t expect that he would think of expanding his business. Later on, he built De Dios Market’s branches in the neighboring towns. Now, he also has groceries. He bought some properties too for mango and vegetable farming.

He became closer to the people because of his businesses. They were actually the ones pushing him to run in the next election. That was hitting two birds with one stone. He became richer, and now he was closer to reaching his grandfather’s wish without looking like a traditional politician.

“I don’t have anything to be scared of, Ramius,” Kyle told his cousin. “I haven’t done anything wrong so why would I be wary of them? No one can destroy me, even that Vindicta. And honestly, she doesn’t seem real.”

“She’s real. I have proven that,” Ramius said seriously.

“What?”

“I became interested in this Vindicta so I emailed her. There is a website where you can see Vindicta’s e-mail address, a private site. You will pay already upon opening the site. She is really cunning. I tried to transact with her a few months ago.” Ramius took out something from his bag, it was a brown envelope.

Kyle looked at Ramius like he was asking what was inside that envelope. “Pictures of the things that you can see inside Lizardo’s office.”

“What would you do with this?”

“Nothing. I can’t think of anything that she will do for me. And all I just wanted was to prove that Vindicta really exists.”

“So, did you meet her personally?” Kyle asked while scanning the pictures Ramius handed him.

“Nope. We only communicated through emails and phone calls. She emailed me when she had the photos. She showed me the proof that she was done with the job I asked her to do. After that, she called to tell me where to bring the payment. She was using a voice-changing app, her voice was different every time we’re talking on the phone. After she got the payment, she instructed me to go to another place. You know what did I get?”

“What?”

“Baggage number from a grocery store. That’s where I got those photos,” Ramius told him. Disbelief and amusement were evident on Ramius' face.

“Wow,” Kyle said while laughing. “Cool, huh?”

“You have to believe that these agents are real. Honestly, it has been a few since I had a transaction with Vindicta but I am not telling you only until today. I even asked her for one more job for me but she refused. I tried contacting her again but I can’t reach her. I don’t know why she refused, I offered her a lot of money.”

“What job is that?”

“I want her to spy on your rival. It is better to be safe than sorry.”

“You are overthinking. And you are the one who told me that this Vindicta is Simon’s ally. Stop with your nonsense, Ramius. Even if that Vindicta was real, I don’t need her to win the election.”

***

“Kyle De Dios,” Vindicta was nodding her head while looking at her new subject on one of Allison’s laptop’s screens.

Right after she woke up, she received a call from Roma. Roma gave her mission for the coming month. That mission was worth millions of pesos that was why she accepted it without questions.

“Isn’t he handsome?” Allison asked. She was behind Allison so she cannot see the latter’s facial reaction.

Vindicta just nodded. She was not fond of good-looking guys. Wrong. She was not fond of men, of all forms, at all. She won’t be moved even if she was faced with the most handsome man in the Universe. Love and men were just not for her. Those will just make her life complicated.

“How can I destroy that man?” Vindicta asked, more to herself than to Allison.

Allison tapped a black folder on the table. “Those files got everything you need to know about Mr. Handsome. Honestly, I think you will have a hard time finding holes in this man. His records are clean. His credentials are spotless. Did Roma tell you that you need to work close to this man?”

“Yes. I am actually unsure of this mission.”

“You’ll be a few million richer, how can you be unsure?”

“Disguising is easy but doing that for a long duration of time, I doubt it.”

Allison handed her another folder. “That’s all you will need. The key to your new apartment is there too.”

“What? I need to move?” Vindicta grumbled. Roma didn’t say anything about her moving out.

“Just in case, they run a background check, we won’t have a problem. You can still come here anytime you want.”

Vindicta checked what was inside the folder, there was a resume and all the requirements she needed to land a job in De Dios’ company. “Veronica Ruiz? Can’t you think of something creative?” she asked Allison, laughing. She just felt like Veronica didn’t suit her.

“Your nickname will be Roni. Cool, right?” Allison said with pride. “You have to remember all the information in there. This will be our biggest project this year. We won’t be handling big projects after this according to Roma. I think she is getting tired.”

“We won’t starve to death even if we don’t work for a few years,” she said, not a bit worried.

“And what are we gonna do? I hate being idle for too long.”

“Maybe we can travel around Asia. We can have a lot of things to do with the money we have,” she suggested.

“Fine. Go, study everything in that folder. I have to go to my store, my orders have arrived.”

Allison has a small convenience store in front of Calvento. Calvento was the street where they were located. No one was living there except them, she was not even sure if anyone knew about that place in Aldemar because that place was like a ghost town. Allison opened a store in front of the street because only there were people walking by. No one dared to come inside Calvento.

Allison’s store was an honesty store. She was selling anything that came to her mind. Allison just made that store for her orders online. She didn’t care if anyone steals from her store or if anyone purposely gets the wrong change after buying. The most important thing for Allison was the store’s address for the deliveryman to find her. All her transactions were pre-paid so the delivery man just leaves her orders inside the store as she instructed. Allison was that weird and maybe she was weird as Allison because she was living with her for the past sixteen years.

The honesty store has CCTV in every corner so Allison can see what was happening in there twenty-four-seven. She also knew who was not honest with her customers. If someone stole from her store, Allison was getting revenge in another form. Sometimes she was even used to getting revenge.

Vindicta studied the disguise that she had to do after Allison left. She has to apply for the secretarial position. She needed to work as close to Kyle De Dios as possible. Being her secretary was the closest she could get.

Allison handed her a box when she returned from her store. “Brand new cellphone for a brand-new life,” Allison teased her.

“I don’t need this.”

“Of course, you do. Your number is private, that is only for me and Roma. You will save the numbers of the new people that will come into your life as Veronica in that new phone so that after the mission, we will just throw that away. Make yourself ready, later you should go to your new apartment and buy the things that you need for your disguise. Your mission will start tomorrow.”

***

“Am I hired?” Vindicta asked the HR officer in front of her.

“Yes, Miss Ruiz,” the officer said, smiling. They haven’t talked for five minutes and now she was hired. Her gut feeling told her that it was Roma’s doing. “You will start today. The position you’re applying to was vacant for a week now. Your desk will be on the third floor of this building.” He handed her a paper. “Just give this note to Mr. De Dios.”

Vindicta nodded then stood up. The building has only three floors, not extravagant for a huge company. Maybe it was true that Kyle De Dios was a simple man. Based on the information that Allison gave her, Kyle was loved by the people of Aldemar, especially by the poor. They were even the ones who pushed him to run in the upcoming election.

Vindicta went to the restroom first before meeting Kyle. She had to make sure that she looked normal. She shook her head while looking at herself in front of the mirror.

She was wearing floral blouse and white slacks. She looked decent but a little conservative. She let her hair hang loose, she was not used to it so she was a little irritated but she had no choice. That was needed to hide her earpiece because just in case Allison or Roma was calling her, she can answer quickly. The earpiece has a built-in microphone. A tiny device with extraordinary functions. Allison made that; she was a genius when it came to modern gadgets. She applied a thin layer of make-up and wore round reading glasses with a golden frame. She found the glasses cute so she bought them. It has no grade.

Vindicta took a deep breath. “Your name is Veronica Ruiz,” she told herself while smiling in front of the mirror. Roma ordered her to smile all the time. She has to look friendly. Kyle should trust her quickly for her to her job easily.

She checked the place after going out of the restroom. She checked the locations of the CCTVs. That was always the first thing she did when entering an establishment. “Did you hack the cameras in here?” Vindicta whispered Allison was on the other line. Her earpiece was activated. When the earpiece is activated, they can talk as if they were just calling from a phone. Allison can also track her location when the earpiece was activated.

“I did. I saw you already, wave for me,” she teased her.

Vindicta shook her head, smiling, then went straight to her target. Vindicta knocked on Kyle’s office lightly. She smiled. She can come inside that office without knocking on the door but she was not Vindicta now, she needed to act like a normal human being.

She can even climb tall establishments without a ladder, she perfected that stunt in the past few years. She fell and failed a lot of times. There were times that she almost failed a mission but as time went by, she got the hang of it.

“Come in,” said a baritone voice from the inside.

She can only see Kyle’s side view from where she was standing. He was doing something in front of the computer. Maybe he was reading something very important. While he was busy, Vindicta looked around his office to check the locations of the CCTVs. To her surprise, there was no CCTV in there. Did that mean that there was nothing important hidden in that room? “Good morning, Mr. De Dios. I’m Veronica Ruiz, your new secretary.” She walked towards him to let him see the note the HR officer had given her.

Kyle slowly moved the swivel chair to face her and Vindicta straightened her back because of shock. She was shocked because her heart skipped a beat. “What is this?” she asked herself.

“Hi, Miss Ruiz,” Kyle greeted her with a smile. “Welcome to the company.”

Vindicta smiled a little then nodded. She was still bothered by her reaction towards him.