the vaudeville crime

vaudeville #20

STELL'S P.O.V

as soon as the phone call ended, i proceeded to the living room to take justin's things from his suitcase. i'm not an expert on computer investigations but as a chief detective who spent a decade on this job, i have definitely learned some techniques on tracking a phone. josh saw what i was doing and i explained to him what happened before he proceeded to helping me out.

beads of sweat started forming on my forehead as the tension in the room grew bigger while i continue to attempt to find justin. after almost 30 minutes of tracking, the device started beeping and there it was, we found him!

"hurry, let's go." i said and josh and i immediately went out of the apartment with bulletproof vests and weapons around our waist. some people were glancing at us as we made our way down the parking lot to drive away and save justin.

damn, all this time? we had no fucking idea! i can't even believe that this is true.

"anong balita kila chief villanueva?" josh asked as i turned the car around a corner, my hands started trembling a bit as i glance at the tunnel from afar.

"i don't know. hindi na niya 'ko in-update mula kanina."

i stopped the car. the darkness of the evening brings a certain type of cold tonight. may it be because of the tension, the fear, the frustrations starting to pent up, i don't know anymore. the moon illuminates the road infront of us, creating an eerie feeling which sends shivers down my spine. i breathed and pulled out my hand gun before glancing towards my partner who did the same thing.

"ready?" i asked and josh nodded in response. "let's go."

we carefully walked through the tunnel, too careful from making any loud sound. not even our footsteps can be heard. only the sound of water dripping from the high ceiling and dropping on the metal walls can be recognized. cars would pass by every 10 minutes, echoing through the tunnel's walls. some of the lights were flickering and some were even completely out.

"chief, dito." josh said and pointed towards a little hallway at one point in the tunnel. at the end of that hallway was a door which says "electric voltage. keep out.", signifying that it was an electrical room. i went infront of josh, slowly opening the door. it creaked a little but we were able to get in. there was a tarnished metal ladder needed to get down on the basement and that's when i realized that it was underground. if the tunnel wasn't creepy enough, this basement was horrifying. the smell coming from the dirty canals was astounding. some florescent lights barely hung on the ceiling and some of the electrical wires almost touched the little water puddles on the floor.

at the end of the hallway, there were two paths leading on two different directions. "i'll take the right, chief." josh said and started walking away. "hold on." i stopped him and took a knife from my pocket. "take this. just for a countermeasure." i held his wrist and placed the knife on his hand.
"be careful, josh."

"paano ka?"

"i can handle myself. we should be back here in an hour with justin, okay?"

".... okay... we'll do this. for justin."

"don't die, josh."

he chuckled. it's what we've been saying to each other for the past ten years on every mission that we went through. "don't die, stell."

i nodded and proceeded to walk away, carefully taking glances everywhere, and watching each step i take.

the killer could be anywhere. we have to keep our focus.

i made different turns, walked on dirty paths, and checked on every corner of each rooms to know if justin was there.

i did a few more walks and as i entered a room, a dim light was lighting the center and then there was justin, sitting on a wooden chair while his hands and feet were chained together. his mouth was covered with a duct tape and a blindfold was covering his eyes. justin's body was trembling because of the cold since his body was wet and so is the chair and the floor under him. there was a drum filled with water not too far from him and some electrical wires, indicating that he had been tortured.

"jah.. justin..." stell whispered as he removes justin's blindfold. he shook his shoulders, trying to wake him up. the younger groaned when stell removed the tape covering his mouth.

"s-stell.... anong... anong g-ginagawa mo... dito...." justin's head hung low as he tries to breathe and talk to stell. he was too weak to even move but he wants to warn the older. the danger is near.

"ililigtas ka namin ni josh. aalis na tayo dito." stell said as he struggles to take the chains off of justin's hands and feet.

"stell... stell, listen..." justin tried to speak, still catching his breath. but the older couldn't hear him and was too focused on what he was doing.

"fuck naman." stell cursed under his breath, realizing that it wasn't worth it. there was no way he could remove those thick chains with his bare hands.

stell started to move around the room, looking for something and fortunately, he found a bolt cutter sitting on one corner of the room. he walked back to justin whose eyes suddenly widened in horror as he stares behind stell.

"sa likod mo!" stell immediately turned around to see what it was and suddenly, a man hit him with a steel rod on his face, causing him to fall freely onto the ground.

"stell! no! 'wag mo siyang sasaktan!" justin tried to plead as the man got closer to stell.

stell coughed, spitting out some blood as he tries to crawl to get his gun that was on the floor. the man chuckled and stepped on stell's left thigh to which made the latter shout in pain. he held the detective's hair and pulled his head up so that he could stare in his eyes. he grinned... a really creepy one.

stell felt dizzy and his vision started getting hazy as the heaviness on his eyelids increased. he watched in terror as the man infront of him held out a taser from his pocket, waving it infront of his face.

"p-paulo...?" stell whispered but loud enough for the man to hear. the latter chuckled before putting the taser over stell's chest.

"close enough, detective. my name's pablo."