THE VERDICT.

'No, it can't be!' Oliver said to himself. 'Li Chang couldn't fight the surgeon. Who is this heartless beast? Now it's up to me to fight this war, no matter how dangerous it is. Many voices came to his head like an indistinct chatter. The voices were loud but not clear. He just held his head which was aching badly.

'What's this?' Oliver lost control of himself. He hurled objects around. His eyes were bloodshot and his lips were fidgeting. Oliver wanted to end it all, but he was not in the right frame of mind. He climbed up the window, and was about to jump, but Vanya walks in.

'Oliver...? Oliver, what are you doing?!' She screams, and Oliver regains his consciousness, and he returns to normal.

'Vanya, what happened?' Oliver asks.

'You were about to kill yourself by jumping from the window. Oliver, you scared the hell out of me.' Vanya says.

Oliver comes down from the window. He was still fidgeting. The room was a mess.

'Oliver, what's wrong?' Vanya asks.

'I think I've lost my mind, and my brain has developed control over itself. I hear those vogue voices. They come like a loud uproar.' Oliver says.

'I'm with you Oliver. Nothing will go wrong.' She says.

Oliver didn't really know what was happening to him. Was it insanity?

Anxiety grew in the city as another person was found dead, with his heart removed and put in a transparent zipper nylon bag. The dead person was recognized to be Vanya's former bodyguard, Wu.

  'What do the surgeon want with all this people? Why did he kill them? First it was Scorpion X and his gang, and now Wu.' Oliver asked himself.

Everything startled Oliver. Charles walks to the room.

'Hey, Oliver. What's up, dude? You look upset, what happened?' Charles asks, as he sat close to Oliver.

'I can't keep it to myself anymore; it's making me go mad! The serial killer, the surgeon, wants to get me. I think he's just using all these as a sign that he's in the US. He's after me, Charles.' Oliver breathes deeply.

Charles laughs. 'Oliver, you had that nightmare again? You're really funny.' But when Charles noticed that Oliver was dead serious, he stops. 'What did you say? Is the... Is... The surgeon after you?' Charles asks.

'I've something he wants.' Oliver reveals.

'Oliver, please, return it to him. Just throw it through the fence. He should pick it up, and let us be.' Charles says.

'You don't get it. For 3 generations, people have lost their lives just to protect what I am with. This can cause havoc in the world. This can cause the third world war, and it won't be funny. Millions of lives will be lost. I've to protect it with all my might. I think he doesn't know me yet, so it will perfect to hide.' Oliver says.

Charles couldn't close his mouth. His jaw just dropped.

'A serial killer who murdered Scorpion X as if he's the weakest man on earth, is after you? Do you know how tough Scorpion X was? He was as notorious as his name sounds. He killed for fun, but The surgeon killed him so easily. What should we do?' Charles says.

'I don't know what to do, I am confused. I just hope he doesn't know me.'

'I also hope so.' Charles says.

The senator was tried in court. The evidence was clear, but his main crimes were still hidden.

Vanya, and Oliver who was very happy that at last justice was being carried out, but he didn't show his excitement. Also Charles came along.

Senator Theodore was scared that all his crimes would come to light. His biggest nightmare is yet to come.

As the court proceeded. The state prosecuter stands from the counsel table near the bench, and walks to present the evidence to the court.

'My lord, this is a phone which a witness found. We've checked thoroughly through this phone, and we found out that this belongs to Kate Theodore. But the question is where's she? She was the one who videotaped this, and she was a trunk of a car. This video coincides to the date which Senator Theodore reportedly told his daughter that his wife was involved in an accident. The video was recorded at 23: 42 that day. So this leaves the court to wonder, when did she really get involved in an accident?' The prosecutor says, and sits back down.

'Suggestion, my lord!'

'Suggestion sustained.'

'We can't say that an accident can't happen few minutes before the next day, or even the next day. Time don't matter when an accident occurs. This video can be forged just to implicate the senator.' The Senator's advocate speaks up.

'We can hear them loud and clear. We have ran a voice recognition test, and we found out that this is the Senator's voice. His lips coordination matches every word that we heard; if this is fake that means the maker of this fake video is a genius. My lord may I call the first witness, Vanya Celine Theodore.' The prosecutor says.

Vanya walks to the witness stand.

The prosecuter walks to her, and she swears to tell the truth.

'Vanya... Celine Theodore, tell this honorable court the funny pretext which your father gave for the absence of your mom. Please, be truthful.'

Vanya stares at her feeble looking father. She was sad, but she just had to say what she knew about this matter. She stares at the lady prosecutor.

'At first, my dad assured me that my mom was safe, he didn't want to tell me anything about her. He later told me that my mom called with another phone number, and said, she had to travel to Singapore for an urgent meeting, I didn't believe the story. The last story he told me when my mom came back and she couldn't recognize me again, was that the Singapore story was a lie. He said that he wanted to give her a surprise, but she was involved in an accident, and I believed the story.' Vanya says.

'It's clear, isn't it? The senator gave this silly pretext just to avoid suspicion. The senator did something to her brain; someone who had such an accident had incurred no injuries except for her brain, why is that? Another witness is Dr. Marshal, Senator Theodore's friend and family Doctor.' The doctor walks to the witness stand.

Senator died severally in his mind. His secret was now open.

'Doctor Marshal, you'll surely lose your medical license if you reveal this to this court. It may be too late to change your mind if you begin. Are you ready to face the consequences?'  She asks.

'Yes, I am. I want to get rid of the guilt I have.'

'You may proceed; tell the court what you know.' She says.

'I've helped Senator Theodore a lot in ways that may appear unprofessional. In this case, I helped the senator to alter his wife's brain, which made her to forget most of her life's memories. Memories make us who we are. when we alter it, it completely changes us. I've some documents which the Senator personally signed. I know it's against my professional ethics, because of friendship, and the money he offered to pay me.' The doctor narrates.

'We can verify what he's saying by this document which has the signature of the Senator Theodore, and we also have the bank statement of Dr. Marshal which states the date which this happened, this was the previous day to the day Mrs. Theodore came back home.' The prosecutor hands the Judge the documents. The documents were signed on this same day the money was received from the Senator.

  'Suggestion, my lord!' The defendant says.

'Suggestion sustained.'

'I've some witnesses that can attest to the fact that the senator was in his guest house when this video was made.' The defendant says. He gives the judge the schedule of the senator.

One of the senators workers walk to the witness stand, after swearing he speaks the truth.

'I can attest to the fact that the senator was in his guest house that same night.' He gives the court a footage from the senator's room that night. The senator lay on his bed sleeping when he received a call from someone.  He jumps up, and he had worry on his face.

'No it can't be!' He said aloud. 'My wife, what happened to my wife?' He asks, and then he rushes out of the room.

The prosecuter smiles, as she walks in front of the court. She claps.

'The Senator's acting skill seems to have lose potency. Please, check the time this ingenuine  act was recorded. We can see is 2 hours late from the video of the Senator and a man recognized as Scorpion X. 'This is a pretense to divert us from the fact that the senator was with an assassinator.'

After all the evidence was brought before the court, the court ruling was adjourned. When the adjourned date came the Senator was imprisoned, and the once known Senator Theodore was impeached, and he became Mr. Rogers Theodore. He lost his reputation, and he was publicly disgraced.

  Vanya could only cry for her dad. She knew he was guilty as charged, but she still had a relic of love in her. It was impossible to help him now, because he was paying dearly for his sins.

'Our past sins have a way of hunting our present, and threatening our future. I promised my dad never get involved in any crime, and I must keep it.' Oliver tells Charles, who neither happy not sad for Senator Theodore. He's mind was clouded with the that a serial killer was after his best friend. He wished it was all a big lie, a joke, or something else but the reality.