I was speechless.
I know that blackmail is a common way to ensure a person stays loyal to you, but I had never had someone close to me blackmailed before.
This made me think.
What would I do if someone threatened to kill the professor to get to me?
Surely I would end them first, but what if they are holding him against his will, and I cannot get to him on time?
I can understand now, why people use such underhanded methods to make others succumb to them.
"Well, now that I know your situation, I can simply talk to the one in charge and buy you your freedom back."
"Habibi, you don't understand," he insisted, "they'll never let me go since I'm the only one left from The DOME Project."
"What do you mean professor?"
Prof. Antonio sighed and pulled at his hair in frustration.
"I was giving him hints," he told me. "Like I said, I didn't like the way they were treating him, so I thought of a way to set him free. I secretly showed him a map of the facility, telling him how to escape. I even told him how many people were guarding the place, their schedule, their areas... but I never thought that he would actually act on it..."
Prof. Antonio looked at me seriously, his face deathly pale.
"Aahmes... my DOME killed everyone in that facility."
"Then what happened?" I asked when he sat there staring at me.
"Don't you get it?" he looked flustered. "He literally killed everyone connected to the DOME Project. Twenty people in total! He secretly got rid of his suppressants like I told him to, and attacked the alpha guards. He then took their guns and killed everyone – even the women and beta personnel. Then he set everything on fire, including all the research we've done for the past five years."
"Yes, I understand that part. What I want to know is what happened after that?" I asked him again. "Besides, you have photographic memory. None of the data were actually lost, and it is obvious that all these came from that facility." I gestured at the four freezers in the room.
The professor stared at me wide-eyed, then smirked.
"That's right, and that was exactly what he had in mind. That's why I was the only one he left. In fact, he acted on his plan during my day off. I was surprised when I got there the next evening and saw him waiting for me in front of the facility."
The professor shook his head and sighed.
"'Surprise!' he said. It was all I could do to stash all this stuff in a refrigerated truck before he set the whole place on fire. But ever after that, we both knew that he couldn't just leave. He can't just hide for the rest of his life. That's why we decided to cut a deal with the company..."
"A deal?"
"He agreed to work under Universal Labs as a special 'employee', and not as a living specimen," he explained. "And since the accident was too big to hide from the main US branch, he was taken there and is currently working for the US Military. At least that's the last I heard about him."
"And you?"
"As you can see, they kept me alive as well," he said, shaking his head. "After all, I'm the only one left with knowledge about the DOME Project, aside from my mentor who was out of the country most of the time. They just kept us apart and forbid us from contacting each other."
"And that is why they decided to keep you here?"
He nodded.
"That's why I'm still alive. As well as my family who have no idea what I really did in Universal Labs, or what could happen to them if I don't follow what they say. That's why I can't leave the company. I can't even leave the country without their consent."
"But now, you have me," I told him.
The professor sighed even deeper, "And that's why I don't know if I should be worried or glad that you're with me. If those people find out what you are..."
"They cannot touch me. You know that I am not from this country."
"But what if they take you against your will?"
"Have you forgotten? They let your DOME go, because they knew they cannot control him. What makes you think that they can control me?"
He seemed to stop and think about that.
"Actually," he continued, "that's not the only reason why they let him go. They were supposed to kill him, but my mentor and a high ranking general in the Philippine army saw his potential, not to mention, the money they spent on the five year project. That's why they decided to compromise instead."
"A compromise?"
"They placed a neurochip in his head. That's the real reason why got him to obey."
"A neurochip?"
"Yep, one false move, and BOOM!" he answered, pointing at his own right temple. "And the same neurochip is in my head as well."
I stared at the professor in disbelief.
Does this mean that someone else owns Prof. Antonio? That someone is dictating his every move? Stopping him from acting on his own?
I cannot seem to imagine that he is already holding back with the way he behaves in the company.
Or is he like this because of his situation?
Is this his way of rebelling against the people who are controlling him?
"Haaay... Habibi, why don't you just make me some coffee?"
He made his way out of the narrow room and looked back at me.
"What? Are you just gonna stand there staring at me? Want me to lock the room with you still inside?"
"But professor, that neurochip..."
"Habibi, you are not to mention anything we talked about, ever again. That is highly restricted information that should never leave this room."
He proceeded to remove his scrub suit and dumped it in the trash bin outside the secret room. He then looked around the hallway as soon as he opened the laboratory door.
"Is there something wrong, professor?" I asked him.
"Are your men out here?" he whispered.
"Professor, as I told you, they are not allowed inside the property. I forbade them from entering, neither are they allowed to eavesdrop on us."
"You sure?" he frowned.
"Of course. My instructions were very clear."
"Haay... good, then..." he said with a sigh, "I thought I could never walk naked inside my room again!"
"Is this the reason why you have been quiet all day?"
"What else? To think you had four hashashins1 hidden away! Who knows when they might decide to murder me in my sleep?"
"They would never do that," I assured him, "in fact, I told them to look after your well being as well, particularly after that incident you had with Dr. Heathlow."
"Woah? Did you really?!" he looked excited. "I've always wanted to have my very own hashashins!"
"They are not assassins, professor, just bodyguards," I reminded him. "Now, about that cup of coffee..."
"Ah, that's right, I'm dying for a cup."
The professor acted the same after that talk in the hidden room. He went back to his normal crabby self when we returned to work. There was no more mention of the past, nor of the neurochip in his head, though I still could not help but think about it.
I caress the hair on his right temple as he slept soundly on his bed. There is a small round scar there where I think the neurochip might have been inserted.
If I am not mistaken, this is the same neurochip used by the company years ago, when they were still conducting top secret experimentation on dominant omegas in our country. It was developed by the US military and could be triggered by a unique microkey using satellite signals than can be sent anywhere around the globe. They were placed on the researchers to ensure their loyalty, but as far as I know, it has already been banned years ago, even before I joined the company. The neurochips were all removed and discarded after a unanimous vote from a confidential meeting of UN Leaders declared it as an inhumane torture device.
And yet, they kept a neurochip in my professor's head?
This thought made it even more infuriating.
For days now, I have been pondering who might have the professor's key. It needs a finger print for authentication, so only one person could disarm it – or trigger the bomb to literally scramble his brains.
I have my suspects; the top military personnel he mentioned, his old mentor from Universal Laboratory in the US, and Dr. Gonzaga, the head of Universal Laboratory here in the Philippines.
He never told me any names, though, and I know that he never will.
Yet I will find out who holds that microkey.
And I will take that key away from them soon.
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1Hashshashin - literally means 'hash eater'. A member of the Nizari Ismaili sect (1090 and 1275 AD), named after the Arabic 'hashish' (cannabis) since followers were reported to commit political murders while under the influence of the drug.