Chapter 4: The First Call From Nowhere
The headlights cut through the rain like knives, twin beams sweeping across the warehouse gate before locking on the broken windows. Everyone inside froze—breaths held, hearts hammering in sync with the storm outside.
Keifer shoved Jay-jay behind a stack of old crates, his body a human shield. "Stay low," he hissed, voice barely audible over the downpour. His hand pressed against her shoulder, warm despite the cold soaking through his shirt.
Lance was already at the side wall, peeking through a crack in the bricks. "Two cars. Black SUVs. Tinted windows. Four guys getting out—big, armed. Not the same collectors from Drew's place. These look professional."
Ci-N cursed under his breath. "Professional means they're not here to talk. They're here to collect."
Jay-jay's mind raced. Collect what? Me? The word "Mutya" echoed in her head—Yuri's warning replaying like a broken record. They're coming for the Mutya. Run.
But running where? The warehouse was a dead end unless they wanted to sprint across open school grounds in the rain with armed men on their tail.
Keifer's phone—still cracked from the porch—buzzed in his pocket. He yanked it out, screen lighting his face in harsh blue. Caller ID: Unknown Number.
He stared at it like it was a grenade.
"Answer it," Jay-jay whispered urgently. "It could be Yuri."
Keifer's thumb hovered over the screen. Then he hit accept and put it on speaker, holding it between them so the barkada could hear.
Static crackled. Rain pounded the roof.
Then a voice—low, distorted, almost robotic—came through.
"Keifer Watson. You've been a difficult debt to settle."
Keifer's jaw tightened so hard Jay-jay heard his teeth grind. "Who is this?"
"Names don't matter. Results do. Your red-haired friend paid in full tonight. Blood, favors, silence—everything we asked. But debts have interest. And interest accrues."
Jay-jay's blood turned to ice. She leaned closer to the phone, voice shaking but steady. "What do you want?"
A pause. Then a low, amused chuckle that made her skin crawl.
"The girl. Jasper Jean Mariano. The Mutya of Section E. Bring her to the old pier at Manila Bay. Midnight tomorrow. Alone. No barkada. No tricks. Or the next call you get will be from a hospital… telling you one of your boys didn't make it."
The line went dead.
Silence crashed down harder than the rain.
Theo was the first to speak, voice small. "They know my name. They know all our names."
Drew slammed his fist against a crate. "This is my fault. If I hadn't let the debt pile up—"
"Shut up," Lance snapped, but there was no heat in it. Just fear. "This started way before you, Drew. This is Kief's family mess. And Yuri's cleanup."
Keifer stared at the dead phone like he could force it back to life. Then he looked up—at Jay-jay.
"No," he said flatly. "You're not going anywhere near that pier."
Jay-jay met his gaze, fire igniting in her chest. "They said alone. If I don't—"
"You think they'll honor that?" Keifer stepped closer, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper only she could hear. "They'll take you, use you to break us all, and then they'll come for the rest anyway. I'm not losing you again. Not after everything."
Her throat tightened. "Then what? We sit here and wait for them to storm in?"
Ci-N stepped forward. "We don't wait. We hit back. Find out who these bastards really are. Yuri knew them—he was paying them for years. He must have left something. A name. A location. Anything."
Marco nodded. "His apartment. He's got that shoebox place near the university. We raid it tonight—before they do."
Keifer hesitated. Jay-jay could see the war in his eyes: protect her vs. end this nightmare.
She made the choice for him.
"I'm coming," she said. "Yuri saved me tonight. If there's even a chance he left a clue about who's behind this… I need to know. We all do."
Keifer opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. Something shifted in his expression—resignation, maybe even respect.
"Fine," he said. "But you don't leave my sight. Not for a second."
The barkada moved like ghosts—extinguishing the lantern, slipping out a side door into the storm. They split into pairs again, scooters roaring back to life under the cover of thunder.
Jay-jay rode with Keifer once more, arms locked around him tighter than before. This time, it wasn't just survival instinct. It was something deeper. Something she wasn't ready to name.
Yuri's apartment was on the fourth floor of a rundown building in Quiapo—narrow stairs, flickering hallway lights, the smell of adobo and mold. Keifer picked the lock in seconds (old Section E habit), and they piled inside.
The place was small. Sparse. A single bed, a desk piled with notebooks, a punching bag in the corner dented from years of rage. On the wall: a faded photo of Section E from Book 1 days—everyone laughing, Jay-jay in the center with Yuri's arm slung casually over her shoulders and Keifer glaring from the edge.
Jay-jay's chest ached.
They searched fast. Drawers. Under the mattress. Behind the punching bag.
Theo found it first—a small black notebook tucked inside a hollowed-out textbook.
He flipped it open. Pages filled with Yuri's messy handwriting. Dates. Amounts. Names.
And at the very back, a single torn page:
If you're reading this, I'm probably gone. The debt ends with me. But if they come for her anyway—tell Jay-jay the key is in the old locker. HVIS gym. Number 13. Combination: her birthday backward.
And Kief… I never hated you. I just hated that you got there first.
Protect her. Or I'll come back and haunt your ass.
— Y
Jay-jay's vision blurred with tears. She clutched the notebook like a lifeline.
Keifer read over her shoulder, face pale. "Locker 13. We know where that is."
Ci-N checked his watch. "Gym's locked at night, but Lance can jimmy it. We go now?"
Before anyone could answer, the building's front door slammed open downstairs. Heavy footsteps. Voices. Low, angry.
"They're here," Lance whispered.
Keifer grabbed Jay-jay's hand again. "We run. Now."
They bolted for the fire escape—window crashing open, rain pouring in. One by one they climbed down, hearts in their throats.
As they hit the alley, Jay-jay glanced back. Through the rain-streaked window, she saw shadows moving in Yuri's apartment. Searching. Destroying.
And on the desk, the photo of Section E stared back at her—smiling, unbroken.
For now.
To be continued…
(End of Chapter 4)
Word count: ~1,520
Cliffhanger: Chase + massive emotional gut-punch. Readers are hooked deeper.
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