Estella could hardly get over what the anonymous call told her last night. She was not sure if the recent caller was the same person with the first one. But both calls were intriguing, accusing Dr. Alvarado of two grave crimes. The first one claimed that the doctor caused the outbreak in Subangdaku which Estella nearly believed already since Dr. Alvarado was always absent in other circ.u.mstances related to the outbreak. And now, the esteemed man was accused of being involved in the disappearance of Jamie de Jesus who had been missing for days already. The call did not directly say that Dr. Alvarado kidnapped the boy. Yet, Jamie was supposedly kept in the doctor"s facility which implied that Dr. Alvarado was involved in one way or another.Estella could hardly slept that night, bothered at the malicious things she had been told. Sonny had already gone home when she received the call and so when they met the following morning, she immediately told him about it.
"And you believe it?" Sonny asked when she had finished sharing the incident. They were moving through the morning traffic on the way to the isolation camp, their first destination for the day.
"Honestly, yes. I don"t think the allegations were circ.u.mstantial. There must be some truth to them."
"I just find it hard to believe that Dr. Alvarado could do such evil."
"Yes, I also find it impossible at the beginning. But signs point at him. I also feel that the outbreak and the boy"s disappearance are connected and now, the doctor"s name comes up."
"Remember when you told me you have a gut feeling that Loduvico"s absence and Jamie"s disappearance are also connected? If that would be true, then Dr. Alvarado is the mind behind all the happenings in Subangdaku."
"The outbreak that got many people sick.... Loduvico"s sudden disapperance in the midst of his popularity.... Then a boy vanished after being supposedly healed by Loduvico...."
"And Dr. Alvarado was behind them all? Why?"
"At first, I thought it was because he is looking for the cure. With the opening of his facility, his first step to obtain cure is to take samples from the person everyone is now calling as patient zero."
"And Loduvico?"
"He healed patient zero. How he did that is a good research work."
"But if Dr. Alvarado. caused the outbreak, why would he go through a lot of efforts in finding the cure?"
Silence.
"I can"t answer that, Sonny. That part got me always thinking but I still could not find the answer."
"Well, let"s keep our eyes always open. We really don"t have any concrete proof of any of these wild theories and accusations."
"I know, Sonny. It"s scary if they would all be true."
By then, they had reached the isolation camp in the school. Immediately, they disembarked and did their follow-up reports. They also visited a few clinics that morning before heading back to their office and ate their lunch. After doing some office works, they changed into more formal clothes. They would be attending the inauguration and they should also look decent along with the guests. By three, they headed to Silverio Alvarado Medical Suites.
*****
Mang Tomas could not sleep the other night after his terrifying dream. It was too real that fear and pity overwhelmed him so that his mind became restless. He found it hard to find peace in his heart. What if his dream was really true? What if Loduvico was indeed suffering and needed some help?
In fact, his life became less peaceful for the past few days. The sudden outbreak burdened him, especially when he was arrested and detained for allegedly violating the local ordinance. Thankfully, a concerned citizen came to the rescue and testified that Mang Tomas was not gathering people during the crisis. He was simply preaching in the streets without inviting people to come near him and form a large crowd. It took a while to convince the police about Mang Tomas" innocence and yet, he was released very soon. He thought he could finally relax but then the dream came which totally bothered the old man.
By seven, Mang Tomas woke up from an intermittent sleep. He felt groggy but he could not afford to be weak and be infected with the outbreak diseases. He left lonely. When he ate his breakfast of egg, hotdog, rice, and coffee, Mang Tomas could not avoid to remember nostalgic memories of his wife and kids. Then his eyes went wide and his body froze when he remembered something else. He had some visitors last night before darkness covered the entire district.
Two kids had appeared before him yesterday when he opened the door of his house. Mang Tomas had actually no interest to open the door when he first heard the knocks. But then the pounding on the door became louder so that in the end, he succ.u.mbed to the demand of the knocks.
"What are you two doing here?" one of them answered.
"We need your help, Mang Tomas."
Mang Tomas loooked at them long and hard. He knew about them. He knew there were four of them and seeing only two of made him curious.
"What happened to your two friends?"
"We will fetch one friend after this. However, the other one has been missing for days already. I think he was kidnapped and kept somewhere"
"Where is that?"
"In the new medical facility by Dr. Alvarado."
Silence.
"So why are you here? What do you need me for?"
"We can"t do it by ourselves. We need some grown person."
"Uh-uh. What are you planning to do?"
"We will rescue him."
Mang Tomas was dumbfounded.....