“It’s them!” James’s eyes lit up.
“It’s those two Chinese? They’ve come to save us?” Catherine was both shocked and overjoyed.
Elizabeth’s eyes flickered. She immediately stopped crying and tried to make herself as small as possible.
“Impossible!”
Old John was stunned. “We only moved against them last night. How could they already be here? That’s impossible!”
“BOSS! Footsteps outside the door!”
“Fuck!” Old John cursed, his face twisting ferociously. “Take cover! When they come in, concentrate all fire!”
He shouted the order, then personally untied Elizabeth from the post, dragged her to a corner, and hid behind an iron rack.
On the other side, his closest bodyguards did the same. They opened the neighbouring cell, hauled James, George, and Catherine out, and used them as human shields.
Catherine did not dare resist. James and George struggled briefly but were instantly smashed on the head with rifle butts, blood pouring down their faces.
“Sir! Miss!”
James could not help shouting. “I’m James! We met in Africa! We’ve been kidnapped too! When you open fire, please be careful… argh!”
Another heavy blow landed on his head.
The thug hiding behind him bellowed, “Whoever’s out there, drop your weapons and walk in with your hands up, or I kill this one right now!”
It probably would not work, but it cost nothing to try.
James had been excitedly calling out, but when he heard the man behind him, he froze, nearly in tears. “No, no, no, actually I don’t even know them…”
Not everyone was as brainless as Louis had been. After seeing what happened to James, both George and Catherine immediately shut their mouths.
Elizabeth, dragged into the corner by Old John, shot James a pale glance.
He had gone from meaningful silence to begging for help like an idiot. Whatever good impression he had once given her (warm, quick-witted) was now completely destroyed.
After all, a man who showed no backbone at the critical moment was hardly someone a woman could trust with her future.
…
Outside the torture chamber, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan were in position. Hearing the shouts inside, they exchanged a quick smile.
“Reinforcements from outside will be here soon. We can’t drag this out,” Lu Zheng said. “Getting pinched between two forces would make the performance harder.”
Lin Wan nodded. “Then let’s go in. I take left, you take right?”
“Fine!” Lu Zheng flashed an OK sign.
The next moment they moved, rifles raised, and burst through the door one on each side.
“Fuck! Open fire!”
“Shoot! Shoot!”
“Ah!”
Rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat!
Bang bang bang, bang bang bang!
Gunfire instantly filled the room. Seven or eight guns turned the doorway into a wall of lead.
Yet as Lu Zheng and Lin Wan charged, they made tiny pauses and twists, dodging every single bullet.
In the chaos the guards had no idea they had missed. They only knew two people had stormed through a kill zone of eight guns and were still shooting back normally.
Rat-tat-tat!
“Aaagh!”
Screams rang out, quickly turning to groans, then silence.
In less than ten seconds the gunfire stopped. Seven or eight bodies lay riddled with holes.
The only survivors were Old John and Elizabeth huddled in their corner, plus his three remaining men using James and the others as shields behind whatever cover they had.
Lu Zheng and Lin Wan ducked behind a sofa not far from the door, casually ejected their nearly empty magazines, and slapped in fresh ones.
The four gunmen heard the reload but did not dare pop up to attack.
“It’s really you!” Old John caught sight of their faces and nearly split his eyes with rage. “How the hell are you here?”
“That’s a strange question,” Lu Zheng said with a shrug. “Didn’t you have us kidnapped?”
Lin Wan’s expression was ice-cold. “Your men grabbed us from the hotel, stuffed us onto a yacht, and shipped us straight to your villa. If we weren’t reasonably capable and hadn’t seized a chance to escape, we would probably have ended up like those four.”
Old John: ???
That happened? My men actually succeeded in kidnapping you? And delivered you to the villa?
Why the fuck was I not informed?
“Not only that,” Lu Zheng continued, “we found all your criminal evidence in your office and bedroom. We know you kidnapped James and the others. So, Old John, your good days are over.”
At this, James and the three others lit up with joy. Lu Zheng’s words clearly meant they were here to rescue them.
Old John understood perfectly, so he hid himself completely behind Elizabeth. “How about we make a deal? You take these four away, give me back the evidence you just took.”
He spoke quickly. “You’re too strong, I admit defeat. Whatever you want, I can give. Two hundred million euros, wired right now!
“These four are all rich kids from the Eagle Empire. Their fathers have serious status, especially this girl, her dad’s a duke.
“I’ll give you a scapegoat. You kill him, rescue these four, and walk away with both fame and fortune. How’s that?
“Otherwise, even if you kill me and hand the evidence to Gaul and the Eagle Empire, what do you personally gain? And these four die anyway!
“This is win-win! You Chinese love saying win-win, right?”
His mouth spoke soft words, but vicious light glinted in his eyes.
Then he turned to Elizabeth and James’s group. “Once you’re out, don’t even think about revenge. Your families are no match for me. I can drag all of you down with me! Everyone walks away happy, that’s the real happy ending, yeah?”
As he spoke, he tightened his grip on his pistol. Sweat soaked the handle; his index finger was almost cramping from tension.
“With hostages and a fat offer, they should fall for it, right? Survive this, and next time I’ll just blow the bastards up with bombs!” Old John thought.
“Tsk tsk tsk. Your heir is a vegetable now. You can really swallow that?” Lu Zheng asked mockingly.
“I still have two other sons,” Old John said, feigning helplessness.
Lu Zheng and Lin Wan exchanged a glance. That information had not been in their files.
Illegitimate sons?
Well, well. Important intel. They had nearly wiped the family out incompletely.
“Thanks for that,” Lu Zheng said with a smile.
Old John: ???
Lu Zheng formed a hand seal. White Cloud True Qi wrapped around Old John and his three remaining men, forcing their heads out from behind the hostages.
“What!”
“What’s happening?”
Unable to control their bodies, the four panicked. Then they saw Lu Zheng and Lin Wan stand up and open fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four shots. Four bullets to the centre of four foreheads. Four corpses hit the floor.
James and the others, having survived, collapsed in relief. Before they could even thank Lu Zheng and Lin Wan, the sound of running footsteps echoed from outside.
Old John’s reinforcements had arrived.
