Never Judge

"Adolfo, we need something from you." Miguel said in a much more serious tone.

"What is it?" Adolfo asked. "I don't have a lot of friends, and I would do anything to help those that are." Adolfo said with a shrug.

"Now I need you to be honest." Miguel said as he looked at Adolfo with a serious expression.

Adolfo nodded. "I give you my word." He said. Cedric could sense the sincerity in his tone.

"I'm sure you had other features built into that camera that only you can access. What are they?" Miguel asked as he looked Adolfo directly in the eyes.

Adolfo hesitated for a bit, it seemed he wasn't sure if he could tell Miguel and their companions.

"Uncle Adolfo, you promised." Little Emilio said as he looked up at the man with his adorable eyes. The kid knew how to use his looks to his advantage, he always did it to his aunts and grandparents. Only his dad seemed immune to his cuteness.

"Yes it does." Adolfo said in surrender.

"Well, what?" Ian said in a demanding tone. He knew Adolfo and he was aware that the boy rarely completed his statements.

"He's on edge. It's about the mother of his son, so I'm sure you understand." Cedric said with a sigh. Even for Ian the tone was quite harsh. He didn't want to drive Adolfo away so quickly.

"I understand." Adolfo said with a weak smile. "Well, dad would be furious with me if he found out I told you, but that prototype I gave you is equipped with some ultra sensitive audio recording, heat sensors, and well night vision cameras."

"That's it! That's perfect!" Miguel said excitedly. "Do you think it can hear what was being discussed in another room?" Miguel asked.

"Yeah, probably. As long as the room wasn't some bunker, yes it could." Adolfo said with a nod.

"Nicole's office isn't sound proof, her assistant can even hear things outside if you spoke loud enough." Ian said with a nod. "I'm sure Adolfo's tech managed to pick the conversation up."

"I wouldn't be too excited though." Adolfo said in a shy tone. Cedric could see he was worried about something.

"Are you worried that your tech didn't work?" Cedric asked Adolfo. "If that's it then don't be worried. We know it was highly experimental and there is no guarantee that it would work. We won't blame you."

"Yeah Adolfo." Miguel said with a nod. "As much as I wish the tech you installed in the camera worked perfectly, I won't blame you if it didn't."

"It's not that, I'm a hundred percent sure that my camera worked without any issue. That's how confident I am in it" Adolfo said with a sigh. "The mic is so sensitive that it would have picked up most of the noises in the vicinity. Even if you said that the area it was installed in was an extremely quiet place there are still some sounds that we don't normally hear that the microphone could have picked up. So in order to get to whatever sounds or conversation you wanted to hear I still need to develop the program that will filter out all the ambient noises and lift each vocal signature." Adolfo quickly explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Ian asked as he threw a worried look at Adolfo.

"It simply means that it's not magic." Adolfo said, shaking his head. "It will take me a while to develop the program, then I need to test it. After that when I do finally get the program to work I need to run the audio clip through it. I'm not sure as to how long it will take but I promise you it won't be done in a day, especially with tech this experimental. Plus you guys will need to factor in the legal repercussions with what you are asking me to do. What if the person she was talking to files charges against you guys? So you really need to consider this."

Everyone was silent for a while as they absorbed what Adolfo had just said. 

"It's our best option." Cedric suddenly said. "A few hours ago we didn't even think it would be possible to hear what went on in Nicole's office, no we have a shot."

"Cedric, if Nurse Jen is truly involved in all of this, Alexi will be heartbroken, again." Miguel said with a worried look on his face. "Alexi had gone through enough when Ilya Carpio died, and now knowing that he had taken a leap of faith for, played him. Whatever her motive, maybe Alexi will be at the losing end of this. His heart will break."

"It's better than letting him suffer with a woman that does not love him and may possibly harm him." Cedric said with a sigh. "I still don't understand how she could have gotten a vial of Natalia's serum."

"Maybe, Natalia can check the tapes in her lab." Miguel suggested. 

"She did, last year." Cedric said with a sigh. "She found nothing."

"Cedric, if I may?" Adolfo asked shyly. 

Cedric simply nodded at him in reply, urging him to continue speaking.

"It's possible that the tapes were tampered with, I can take a look." Adolfo suggested.

"Someone already took a look at it last year." Ian said with a shrug.

"Trust me Ian, I can catch a tampered video no matter how good the other party is." Adolfo said with a grin.

"Let him give it a shot." Cedric said. He was liking this more confident version of Adolfo. "I'll give Natalia a call, she's also quite curious about the whole serum incident a year ago."

"I have another problem." Adolfo said, reverting to his shy self.

"What's up?" Cedric asked.

"Well, with work and what you need me to do, I don't think I can do it that fast." Adolfo explained making Cedric, Ian, and Miguel laugh.

"Are you being serious?" Cedric said in between laughs.

Adolfo looked confused as to what Cedric and the other men were laughing about.

"Move Adolfo under the CEO's office. Give him an office there as well." Cedric told Mae who nodded and smiled.

"If you need anything Adolfo, tell me or Dave. We'll get you the equipment you need." Mae said with a wink.

"Yeah, working for the boss means unlimited budget." Dave teased making everyone laugh.