Hideout Hunt

When Aling Crising stepped in the open gate of the villa, several police cars were parked. Some of the officers were talking with Jiro, while the others were occupied by the search.

“There she is!” Jiro announced when he saw the old lady. “Where have you been?”

“I went to the market, Sir,” she replied. She even showed the basket of goods she bought.

“At this hour? It’s eight in the evening.”

“I’m sorry, Sir. Ma’am Airi said she wants sinigang for dinner. But upon checking and finding that I don’t have enough ingredients, I decided to rush to the market.”

“And what took you so long? You should’ve asked Mang Lanong to drive you.” Jiro combed his hand through his already messy hair. “Airi is missing! When was the last time you talked to her?”

“T-this afternoon, Sir. At around five.”

“She’s gone! She just left her luggage and phone here. If she didn’t have her phone with her, I wouldn’t be able to track her location.”

Aling Crising pretended to drop the goods she bought and bellowed. “I’m sorry, Sir. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left.”

As she was breaking down, an officer approached Jiro. Aling Crising recognized him as one of their most trusted officers.

"Sir, it would be hard to find her, knowing that there are only a few of us here. It would take time for the others to  arrive if we call for backup. I think we need to work with the local police.”

“I don’t think they would accept the case since it has only been three hours since she disappeared. We can only file a missing person report if it has been twenty-four hours since the disappearance.”

“What is your family name for if you can’t use it to find your one true love?” the officer teased. The officer happened to be Jaypee. He even winked at him.

Jiro brushed off his teasing and asked the old woman to stand up before walking away with the officer.

‘Hmp! That’s it. Panic all you want. If only you could see your faces now. It’s nothing but a magnificent sight,’ Aling Crising told herself.

*

Back in the study room, Jiro, with Merry, Zai-zai, and the officers, discussed the matter at hand.

“I don’t think she ran away,” Zai-zai said. “I mean, she planned because of the luggage. But why would she leave them there?”

“It’s possible that she’s just within the villa, hiding,” Merry said.

“That can’t be. The villa has non-contact infrared thermometers, thermal imaging cameras, and specialized thermal array sensors. We can easily detect where she’s hiding.”

“Maybe she planned on leaving but then decided that she just needed to walk by the beach to clear her thoughts.”

“You know that she’s not the type of person to breach her contract, right?” Jiro asked. “Her contract clearly stated that she’s not allowed to go out without my permission or without a companion… which should be—” He stopped mid-sentence when a phone call interrupted him.

He stayed on the phone

“They found a hint!” Jiro rushed out of the study room and went straight to his monitor room.

Jiro ordered the guard to review the footage. Utter shock registered on their faces when they saw what happened.

“That old hag!” He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "I knew there was something seriously wrong with her all along."

The footage revealed how Aling Crising seemed to hypnotize the guard before approaching Airi. They saw everything, as the area that Airi thought was a blind spot wasn’t really a blind spot. Though the CCTV wasn’t working in that angle, some plants still had some micro lenses installed.

Jiro took out the phone from his pocket and dialed a number. “Come here this instance. We’re in the monitoring room.”

*

Jiro’s furious face greeted Mang Lanong.

“Do you know any of this?!” he yelled, making the old man twitch in fear.

His trembling body almost made him collapse as he shook his head.

“You don’t know what your wife has been up to all this time?” He rushed to the old man and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

“Hey, Jiro! Take it easy.” Jaypee stopped him from doing more. “Let him talk.”

Jiro let go of him.

“I’m sorry, Sir,” Mang Lanong started. “When your parents took us in, I had the purest intention of serving you. You know that I was sincerely grateful when this job was offered to me. I thought my wife also felt the same way.” He burst into tears. “I didn’t know that she still planned on hurting you.”

Everyone in the room was stunned and baffled about his confession.

“What do you mean by still?!”

The room fell silent. Only their in-sync heartbeats boomed in their ears. Anger, agitation, and anticipation accumulated in the tense atmosphere.

“She was also the one who kidnapped Ma’am Airi seven years ago, the night of your graduation. I mean… she hired goons to kidnap her since they couldn’t get near you.”

“I knew it!” Jiro blurted. “I knew something was off when she was able to convince my parents to take her as a maid when we have several maids in the mansion.”

“I’m really sorry, Sir. I tried to stop her several times. When we were given a source of income, I believed she had changed.

“Mang Lanong, you were the one who found Airi, right? Or was that another scheme to infiltrate my family?”

“It wasn’t a scheme, Sir,” the old man said. “When I found out what she did, I helped Ma’am Airi escape. I just pretended to have found her by the roadside, though.”

“Why is Aling Crising doing this?”

The driver was about to respond when his phone rang. He showed the caller ID to Jiro.

“It’s Crising.” He put his index finger to his lips. Everyone didn’t dare make a sound. He pressed the button to put the phone on loudspeaker. “Hello?”

“Are they still busy looking for Airi?”

“Yes.” His voice was a bit shaky.

“Good. No one will notice if I leave.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the hideout! ” she bragged. “For sure Bimbo and Bambo are almost there. I’ll just meet them halfway.”

He didn’t answer right away.

“Are you listening?” Crising asked. “You need to come here ASAP. Just commute.”

“Okay.”

Jiro rushed to the door, ordering others to follow him.

“Hey, wait!” Jaypee stopped him. “What are you in a rush for?”

“I need to save Riri NOW!”

“Are you out of your mind? Operations like this one need planning, not a knee-jerk reaction. Do you want to repeat the mishaps of seven years ago?”