Project LOKI ③

Chapter 43: The Last of Augustus VIII (The Date)

"What did you tell him exactly?" he asked next.

Napasipsip muna ulit ako habang iniisip kung saan sisimulan ang kwento. Pagkababa ko sa aking baso, I took a deep breath and told him what happened last night.

"Lorelei? Alistair? Are you still there? What's in the notebook? Is it too shocking that you two have lost your voices?"

"This is strange. Augustus is smiling at me. Anyway, are you two still there? What's in the notebook?"

Alistair and I were still in the Clarion office that night. Paulit-ulit ang tanong ni Loki. Kung pwede niya lang siguro kaming puntahan, pinuntahan na niya kami. But he couldn't. He needed to keep the entire Clarion staff in the grand hall. He had no choice but to trust us.

"Lorelei—"

I hung up the call and exchanged stares with Alistair. Tanging ang paghinga namin ang narinig ko sa tahimik na kwartong 'yon. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it felt like minutes.

I already knew that Luthor is connected to Moriarty. He already revealed that damning secret to me noong nag-beach kami. But Alistair doesn't know. I thought of telling him when he asked me the other day, but I decided not to. I chose to keep my word to Luthor, that I should tell no one about his secret.

"Lori," Alistair whispered. "I don't wanna trust what's written in this notebook, but there are photos and screenshots of footages that support the idea that Luthor is one of them. Kapag nalaman ni Loki ang tungkol dito—"

"What do you think we should do?" tanong ko. "Dapat ba nating sabihin kay Loki ang tungkol sa nakasulat sa notebook?"

My initial thought was to not tell Loki anything. Kaya nga hindi ko siya sinagot kahit paulit-ulit siyang nagtanong. I also don't want the idea of not telling Loki to come from me. Gusto ko munang marinig ang opinyon ni Alistair. Baka pareho kami ng iniisip.

"The information here is still unverified," sagot ni Alistair na napatingin sa notebook. "This might be part of Augustus' trick to divert our attention or to destroy our trust on Luthor. Alam nating dalawa kung gaano ka-sensitive ang relasyon ni Loki sa kuya niya. His perspective of him is biased. So once he finds out that Luthor might be one of them, imagine what can happen."

I nodded. "Mas gugulo ang relasyon nilang dalawa. Augustus might be trying to plant doubt in Loki's mind kaya niya iniwan dito ang notebook na 'to."

"Then does that mean na—"

"Augustus might have already suspected that we might try to infiltrate their office and check his desk," I finished. "That's the only explanation kung bakit ang notebook na 'to na tungkol lang kay Luthor ang nandito."

I was really expecting something more about Moriarty, not one of his generals.

"I suggest that we don't tell Loki anything muna," sagot ni Alistair. "Augustus is expecting us to find out about Luthor's alleged connection to Moriarty once we read this notebook. If we tell Loki now, we are playing right into his hands. Hindi dapat tayo sumayaw sa tugtog niya."

I felt somehow relieved. Alistair had the advantage of not knowing the truth kaya nakapag-isip siya ng mas rational na decision. From his point of view, Augustus was trying to derail our investigation and damage the already damaged relationship of Loki and Luthor.

"If that's the case, we should keep this information to ourselves muna," sabi ko sa kanya. "Loki or anyone shouldn't know about it."

"So what should we tell him?"

Lumabas na kaming dalawa ni Alistair. I hid the notebook under my clothes. I don't know if this is Augustus' only copy of his so-called evidence, pero mas mabuti nang mawala ang hawak niyang baraha laban kay Luthor.