Eighth Chapter: Coded Message 1 and The Man

"That doesn't make sense."

I ignored Kristen, trying to remember when and where did I heard that word. Why does alexein sound familiar to me?

"I don't think that's the right way to get the code, though," Simon said, still deep in thought. "He always makes sure that no one can decode what his real message is."

"But if this is his journal, then I don't think he will make a decoded entry that he cannot solve in one look." Kristen fired back. "Renz prefers reading between the lines' messages, those too deep sentences that you wouldn't know the real message he wanted to tell unless you know. He always wanted to be reminded easier too. Remember his sticky notes when we were seniors in high school?"

"So you think alexein is the message in that entry?" I clarified, which Kriste quickly nodded. "What if you try the same thing you did in the first entry, Simon?"

Simon quickly browsed the pages back to the first entry, writing the first letter of each paragraph in a notepad he always has on the coffee table.

I S A W H I M

Our eyes widened, quickly understanding the message.

"It could be anyone else, right?" Kristen asked hopelessly and yet hesitantly, as we all know there could only be one person he was pertaining to if it was from a coded entry.

I look at Simon. "I don't know who the hell is this man, I hope you could give us a name, but it was only that crazy man, right?"

He nodded, eyes still big in surprise. "He would never tell you directly he saw him, it had been hard to talk about him the first time." He paused, contemplating while chewing his lips, then said, "I wish I could tell you his name but no one exactly knew his real name. He can be anyone else. And the FBI only managed to catch him because your father found out the latest persona he was using."

Kristen raised one of her brows. "Could be anyone else? What is he, a supernatural being? A magical being who can be someone as long as he wants? A shapeshifter?"

He shrugs. "I just know he is very good at disguising himself and creating new names so that he can go anywhere. No one actually managed to found out his real appearance as it was theorized that he was undergoing plastic surgery or using something to conceal his real appearance."

Kristen looks incredulously at him. "Didn't you meet him or something? You must have a clue who the hell is this man. He tormented you and still manipulating Renz as it seems!"

Simon seems to be at the end of the rope as his patience ran out. "I was a kid, Kristen! And I was his newest guinea pig, his newest soldier! His mask would always haunt me until these days but he isn't as dumb as FBI initially thought! It took years for them to catch him! It was my struggle why the other kids chose to attempt to escape! And I might have caught a glimpse of his real face but drugs can actually fuck up your mind really well! Sorry for trying to forget the man who almost made you a heartless soldier of a war that was about to happen that no one thought was coming except him!"

Then he walks out, anger screaming in his body movements.

Disgust started to coil in my stomach. I kind of have an idea of why they were kidnapped but to actually hear from Simon that they became lab rats of an experiment to make young soldiers of a war no one knew about, the hate I have for this mystery man is growing.

HE GROOMED THESE YOUNG KIDS TO PREPARE FOR A WAR?! AND WHAT WAR IS THAT?!

I cannot believe that even today, the experiments that created Captain America is still existing.

But then I notice Kristen, looking at where Simon left, thinking about something, like she is considering some important information she had just gathered or maybe trying to understand it as she cannot initially comprehend it.

"He's still keeping secrets from us, Lotte." She concluded, looking up at me.

I just muttered, "No shit."

"But he said an experiment that makes young soldiers for a war that was about to happen, right?"

I slowly nodded, confirming her thoughts.

"My father has an associate who happens to be an ex-CIA agent. He is my godfather and I remember him telling me an illegal operation they found and raided before he retired for good. It was based on London if I remember it correctly."

London? "I and my father once went to London for a case when I was young for a case." The timeframe fits with...

My eyes widened, looking at Kristen with an excited glint in my eyes that Renz sometimes joked as my detective mode. "The first time I encountered the word alexein was during that time. The word was always in Dad's case notes for awhile. I remembered him deducing it as a name, but he didn't know what was the name for. I never found out if he managed to find that connection."

She perks up with that. "That could be one of man's names or the name of the experiment! It could be the name of the organization behind the experiment!"

We decided to start searching while Simon is fuming somewhere. Kristen texted Franz and asked if he has any idea about it while I searched online for any possibilities of this organization.

I expected to find nothing if I'm gonna be honest with myself. But finding a lot of news articles associated with a technology company called Alexein? I don't know if we are on the right track for this.

If alexein is really related to that man, then why didn't he stayed quiet?

Then an article caught my attention.

THE MYSTERIOUS ARSON OF THE OLDEST FACTORY OF ALEXEIN: IS THERE REALLY NO FOUL PLAY?

By: Elton Khan