ALDUB: Treasure of the Hearts

Maine Escapes (Part 9)

Maine opened the purple folder and found an old map. She opened the journal and learned that it was her lolo's diary. She brought the journal and the map to her room. She left the laptop and the box on top of her lolo's table. She started reading the journal on her bed. In her lolo's journal entry, she learned that her lolo discovered the treasures when she was still young girl. She learned that her parents died protecting the map of the treasures. She now realizes the danger and importance of protecting the treasures from the treasure hunters that might take interest and hoard the treasures for their own. She can't just entrust this secret to anyone, or she'll endanger their lives or hers in the process.

To protect the secrecy of the project, her lolo avoided putting a lot of details in computer files. Instead he made encrypted texts to hide the details of the project. He hoped that Maine can decipher and decode the clues using the skills he taught her. He wished that Maine can quickly decipher the clues and be able to follow the trail he made to find the treasures. She fell asleep reading the journal.

Maine was awakened by the noise she heard. Slowly, she went out of her bedroom and follows where the noise is coming from. It was leading to her lolo's office! Then she heard the conversation between men.

"Nakahanap na ba kayo ng clues?"

"Itong laptop lang na sa loob ang kakaibang kahon. Baka nasa kuwarto nya o nasa kanyang apo yung iba." The other man said.

"Sige, halughugin nyo ang taas ng bahay. Ikaw, puntahan mo muna yung kuwarto ng apo nya. Itali mo muna baka makatakas. Baka kailanganin natin sya sa paghahanap ng kayamanang itinago ng lolo nya!"

Maine went back swiftly to her room. She took hold of the baseball she's keeping and positioned herself near the door of her room. When the hired man went inside her room, she hit him hard on his nape and he lost consciousness. Maine pulled him inside and closed her door. She quickly tied his hands and feet. She immediately took her lolo's journal and the map and put them in her back pack bag. She wore her pants and put on her jacket and cap. She is thankful that she is used to being on the go. She always readies her back pack bag because she knows that she might need to go anytime. She went to the windows and opened them.

When the hired man tasked to take care of Maine was taking so long, Sam decided to follow him together with the other hired men.

They found out that the door was closed. One of them kicked it hard to open. They saw their fellow guy with his hands and feet tied. One of them untied him. They saw the open window and realized that Maine got away. Sam saw her picture in a frame. He showed it to the other men and ordered some of them to run after her. She might not be too far yet.

Sam ordered his men to abandon the place. The grand daughter has escaped and might have a chance to call the police. They took some of her lolo's stuffs and her picture.

When Maine saw that all of them were gone already, she came down from the roof. She knows that they might catch up with her when she runs especially that it's at night and she is not familiar with the place. So she fooled them into thinking that she ran away. Instead, she climbed up the roof and hide. Good thing she took gymnastics lesson in high school so she didn't have a hard time climbing up the roof. She realized the people interested in the treasures are aggressive. She checked the house and found out that they took her lolo's cell phone and laptop even her picture frame. They will probably look for her. She is not safe here anymore.

Maine went to the kitchen and prepared some food to eat. Maine thinks that she will venture in an adventure of a life time so she has to be prepared physically and mentally.

Now that they have the laptop, she can't decipher the encrypted clue. She remembers some of its content but not all of them. She needs to think of another plan. She recalled what her lolo said. If she ever needs help, she can go to Alden. Then it hit her, if they have the laptop and they weren't able to catch her, their next target will be the person her lolo contacted. It is Alden! They might not know the password for now but knowing that they are desperate to get hold of the treasures, it will only be a matter of time before they can unlock the password.

She ate faster and put some of the remaining sandwiches inside her bag. She needs to get to Alden before them. She's been waiting for a chance to meet her childhood best friend but not in this kind of situation. She was not able to contact Alden even during her lolo's demise. Now, she has to race against time to save Alden, if only she knew his number. They took her lolo's phone even before she could guess Alden's number among those nameless numbers in his lolo's phone. She searched the location of University of Cavite where he is teaching according to the email she read. But she can't make a call to the university since it is still dawn. She rode a taxi going to Cavite. She has to save Alden!

To be continued...