The Great Pretender

Chapter 36: Herstory

Kamila

He didn't tell me right away. Instead, he pulled me to the casual bathroom of this safe house. Where we both showered and cleaned up. Pagkatapos noon ay nilinis ko ang kanyang sugat sa balikat. He still wouldn't tell me about it, he said that we can talk about it later on. I no longer put up a fight, instead ay nagbihis na lamang ako matapos kong linisan ang kanyang mga bullet wounds—and yes, I know the aftercare of bullet and other type of wounds because come on, I've been shot and hit multiple times in places where there are no nearby hospitals. I'd be dead in infection a long time ago, kung hindi ako marunong.

Thankfully, he has a bag of medical supplies from the van, that's why I had a bandage to wrap around his wounds. After I was done doing that, he wore the clothes that I stole from him, at habang nagbibihis naman ako ay nagtungo siya sa couch area ng safe house. Paglabas ko sa walk-in closet ay naabutan ko siyang naka-indian seat sa harap ng coffee table.

A small smile formed on my lips when I saw a pint of rocky-road ice cream and apparently, he re-heated my leftover pizza from the other day. Thank the universe for the small microwave in the kitchen.

Mabilis naman akong naglakad patungo sa kanya at agad na umupo malapit sa coffee table. I reached for the plate of pizza and took two slices, I handed him one while I took a big bite on mine.

"You're wearing my dog tag." Nakangiti niyang sabi matapos niyang ngumuya. I am wearing a sleeveless and low cut top kaya kita niya iyon.

I couldn't help but look down at the cold silver necklace around my neck.

"Yeah, been wearing it since I stole it from you," He chuckled softly. "Kinailangan ko lang na hubarin kanina dahil I was supposed to be an 'escort'." Dagdag ko.

He shook his head when he remembered about the misogynistic piece of shît club owner.

"Bakit walang pangalan 'to?" I curiously asked after I took another bite of my pizza. There are only one letter and two digit numbers in his dog tag. I was in the military so I have one too, but I have my given DOB, government name, and social security number on it.

"I was a secret agent and if ever we're caught, we must not be identified by the enemies.

Even if they use facial and fingerprint scanners on us, they won't know who we are or where we came from, because we have a protocol for that. So assuming that we're caught by the enemies and tried to scan our prints, they will still get nothing because W-1716 already put a false identity on every database the moment that they confirm that we're in the hands of the enemies." Sagot niya. "At kung makatakas man kami sa nakahuli sa amin ay maa-identify pa rin kami ng org through that one letter and two numbers etched on the dog tag. Any bookstore can scan that and they will immediately know who we are."

I hummed softly. Hm, his says D-44.

Napakunot naman ang noo ko sandali nang may ma-realize ako sa sinabi niya.

"Wait, a bookstore?" Takang tanong ko. "Don't tell me, that's where..."

He nodded and smirked.

"It's an outpost of W-1716....it's a legit bookstore pero may opisina sa ilalim."

Nanlaki ang mga mata ko. That's honestly cool and smart dahil walang magsususpetya doon.

"And that's where I got these." Sabi niya at itinuro sandali ang kanyang balikat at brasong may bandages.

Imbes na sumagot ay tumango lamang ako at tuluyang sinubo ang natitira kong pizza. He finished his pizza slice too bago siya nagpatuloy.

"...Matapos mo akong iwan noon sa bahay at oras na magising ako ay agad akong nakatanggap ng tawag mula kay Brimley. He told me that they've launched a manhunt for you and I was the one leading it," Napalunok siya. "It was honestly tough to hear and I didn't wanna go because there is no way in hell that I would lead them to find you....but then an idea came into mind...and that is since hindi pa nila alam ang koneksyon natin, I can technically still 'work' for them in a way that it would benefit me, kasi pwede kong gamitin ang resources ng organization para mauna kitang mahanap."