Chapter 213: In Danger
L city is close to the southwest, and Warren is familiar with jungle and mountain warfare, but has hardly ever been on a mission in the desert.
If there was no conspiracy, Lindsey didn’t believe him.
Bruce waited for Hector to reach him and spoke tiredly, “Lindsey, call command and tell them to send a vehicle to get these men back while we continue our search for Warren.”
“Should we give this to them to take back and study, or should we use it first?” Hector pointed to the camouflaged thermal curtain on the ground, an excited light floating in his eyes. “I heard it’s on the black market for ten thousand dollars a set.”
“Let’s use it first, our country’s official desert combat gear is no worse than this.” Bruce pursed his lips and took the sat phone from Lindsey, contacting the operations command centre.
Waiting for command to confirm his bearings, he handed the phone over to Lindsey while he and Hector worked on the camouflage insulation curtain to cover the military jeep.
When he was done, Bruce thought of the three killers he had accidentally captured and instructed Lindsey to turn on the video camera, following which he woke up the knocked out killers.
“You said earlier that you were willing to tell me the name of your employer.” Bruce played with the silenced pistol seized from him and curled his thin lips in pleasure. “Now you can say it.”
“I can’t tell unless you promise to let me go.” Eric changed his tune abruptly. “As a thank you, I can also tell you what happened on this desert a few years ago.”
“Mr. Eric, you’re out of your mind.” Bruce took the gun and moved to pick his chin up brutally. “Who do you think you are to make an offer to me.”
On the side, Lindsey sniffed and couldn’t help but crouch down as well, extending her index finger to poke Eric’s leg bone a few times. “Since you’ve been hired to come and kill us, you should know that I’m an ordinary citizen, they wouldn’t dare hit you, I would.”
Bruce was so impressed with Lindsey’s approach that his eyes widened in disbelief before the words of praise could be uttered.
Bruce hadn’t expected Lindsey to move so quickly, and when he looked at Eric’s pained expression, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud with pleasure.
Putting the snatch away, he grinned as he took Lindsey’s hand in his and said, “I’ll show you how to make the other guy die and still not see the wound.”
Lindsey smiled back, her clear eyes shining brightly. “How it should be done, you say.”
“First this.” Bruce took her hand and followed, squeezing Eric’s right hand and lifting it, breaking the fingers off one by one, with a compassionate lecture. “Break them first, and if he won’t talk, we’ll put them back together and break them again.”
Hector, who had stepped aside, shuddered in disbelief at Eric’s pig-killing howl and stepped back in silence.
It was better for him not to take part in something so atrocious.
Lindsey pressed on without looking at Hector, a sweet, innocent smile on her face. “I’m a girl, it’s not nice to hit people like that.”
She says it’s not a good idea, but she hits harder than Bruce.
Breaking Eric’s ten fingers, she clapped her hands in mock surprise. “Oops, I broke them all off by accident, let me help you put them back together, okay.”
Bruce, also infected by her excited look, grabbed Eric’s hand and pretended not to understand how to connect his fingers.
Eric howled until his voice broke and his whole body looked as if he had just been fished out of the water, dripping with cold sweat as he begged. “I’ll say it, I’ll say it right away.”
“Okay, you go first.” Lindsey withdrew her hand and looked at him with a straight face. “If what you say isn’t satisfactory, I’ll consider breaking your toes as well.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he heard Bruce chuckle, “What’s the point of thinking about that?”
The next moment, Eric collapsed into the sand, panting raggedly. His face, smeared with yellow grease, was crumpled in pain.
Lindsey frowned and slapped Bruce unhappily, “What’s your hurry, if you get him killed there’ll be no more fun.”
“It won’t be dead, it’ll take a few hours for the command car to get here, we’ll take our time.” Bruce patted her reassuringly. “I know what’s in my heart.”
Eric howled for a while with his mouth open in snot and tears, and spoke again in a deflated voice, “I’m only the most junior of killers, and if I don’t finish the job, HQ will send someone more powerful.”
“Oops, there’s still HQ.” Lindsey’s mouth said this, but her heart was worried.
Bruce was noncommittal, just his face sinking as he waited for him to follow. “And then there’s.”
“The employers are a couple from H. That’s all I know about the specifics.” Eric breathed raggedly. “But my colleague, over three years ago, set fire to one of your H soldiers in this part of the desert.”
“What are you talking about!” Bruce stormed instantly, intuiting that he was talking about Ransom. “Where is the body!”
“Twenty kilometres from here into the desert hinterland, the famous Devil’s Desert, where I heard they were dumped.” Eric was startled by the lurid, murderous aura emanating from him. “I didn’t take the assignment, that’s all I know.”
“Why are your colleagues burning H soldiers!” Bruce was furious and grabbed him by the neck with surprising force. “Say it!”
“Just let go of me while I think it over.” Eric struggled, his pupils dilating.
Lindsey had never killed anyone before, but she had studied nursing and saw that Bruce was about to kill Eric, so she stepped in to relieve him.
Bruce hesitantly withdrew his hand, the anger in his eyes seeming to burn him out. “He’s supposed to be talking about Ransom.”Text © by N0ve/lDrama.Org.
“Uh …” Lindsey flinched, remembering the old days when Terence had taken a long knee at The Corfield family, and closed her mouth with difficulty.
Eric’s neck sagged, he took a deep breath of the dry, compelling air and broke off to tell what he knew.
It was an unwritten rule among international assassins that they did not take commissions from within H, nor did they take commissions that required them to enter H territory for assassinations.
He had recently lost a lot of money in Vegas, which was why he had taken up this commission. According to the rules, he would either have to run away or keep quiet if the mission failed, but he hadn’t expected Bruce and Lindsey to be so sick.
At the same time, he could almost foresee that the pain he suffered today would be repeated in the future by other colleagues.
Having said what needed to be said, Eric whirled and passed out, falling into infinite darkness.
Bruce, too, was tired, as if all his strength had been drained from his body, and he fell to the side in a daze.
Lindsey took the water bottle, unscrewed it and gently handed it over. “Have some water to calm down, we have to continue the search for Warren this afternoon, and now that we’re here, I’ll stay with you and find Ransom too.”
“Mmm.” Bruce took a sip from his water bottle and leaned into her wearily. “I’m having a hard time.”
“I know.” Lindsey rubbed his ear soothingly, “As a soldier, you know more about the mission than I do.”
Bruce’s spine stiffened and he immediately shot to a sitting position, gazing far into the vast desert.
It was after 3pm when the command vehicle arrived in their area.
In the yellow sandy desert hinterland, the military jeeps raised a thick cloud of dust and mist, like a dragon of fire ready to burst into flames, as they approached.
After the handover, Bruce pulled Lindsey back into the vehicle, greeted Hector with a short rest and then began a carpet search.
It was getting dark, the sun was setting on the other side of the horizon, and the wind was blowing with a chill.
Lindsey’s legs felt like lead with every step she took and she had to let Bruce carry her back to the car park.
“I don’t know if we’ve heard from the other squads.” Lindsey said breathlessly as she slumped on his back, “The water on Warren, I don’t know how long it will last.”
“They’ll be in touch via satellite phone if there’s any news.” Bruce walked slowly, thinking that this hellhole would kill him to stay a day, and whether Warren was dead or alive was anyone’s guess.
Hector was exhausted and nearly deflated as he trudged back to the car.
After drinking some water, Bruce took a compressed biscuit out of his pack and chewed on it.
Lindsey, not one to be fussy, bites into the wood chips and struggles to eat.
It was getting darker and darker, and the temperature was getting unbearably cold as a full moon crept into the sky.
Bruce finished nibbling on the compressed biscuit, took out his map and looked at it, saying, “Let’s take a break while the visibility is still good at night and drive on.”
“Good, the daytime temperatures are killing us.” Hector agreed with his suggestion, “I’ll drive later, you guys rest.”
“That’s fine.” Bruce nodded, grabbed his canteen and took a sip of water, pulling the warm blanket out of the back seat and handing it to Lindsey, “Half an hour’s sleep, get to the next destination and we’ll keep looking.”
Lindsey took the blanket in silence, swallowing hard the compressed biscuit in her mouth. “As you wish.”
A few moments later, the car continued on in the darkness, Lindsey leaning into Bruce’s arms, her eyes staring blankly out the window.
As she was about to fall asleep, a sudden cry of fear was heard from Hector. “No! There’s a tornado!”
Bruce instantly came to his senses and wrapped his strong arms around Lindsey’s waist as he looked out of the window with furrowed brows.
The wind was whipping up the yellow sand, blotting out the full moon in the sky and changing the colour of the earth. The sand was pounding against the windows and the smell of death was overwhelming.
Gritting his teeth, Bruce growled at Hector as he tightened his grip. “Speed up and drive forward!”
“Got it!” Hector strained his nerves and pushed the throttle to its maximum.
“Bruce, we’re not going to be buried in here.” Lindsey struggled to sit up, her heart clutching his waist in panic. “Is there any way to get out of the way?”
“Don’t be afraid, we’ll be fine.” Bruce pushed down his fear, his eyes alert as he stared at the roiling yellow sand.
The car was already going at a good speed, yet it was as slow as a snail’s pace compared to the wind at the centre of the vortex.
Dark clouds soon covered the entire sky, and the carriage began to shake from side to side as it could not withstand the tremendous suction.
Hector gripped the steering wheel with both hands, his cold face slowly clouding over with a thick haze.
Lindsey gripped Bruce’s hand unconsciously, her face bloodless.
“Turn around and drive under the nearest dune.” Bruce calmly watched the approaching tornado and held Lindsey close, shielding her in his arms as best he could.
“Okay,” Hector gritted his teeth and took control of the car, driving hard towards the nearby dunes.
Not long after the car came to a halt, a huge whirlpool swept past a dozen metres away.
The car shakes violently and the thick sand instantly buries them.
The sound, which hurt their eardrums, hovered for a long time before dissipating, yet the carriage, as a whole, continued to descend. The feeling was as frightening as riding in a lift, but suddenly the power went out.
“Get down and put your hands on your head.” Bruce sensed that something was wrong and immediately took Lindsey out of her seat and embraced her until she crouched down into the gap.
Fortunately the descent gradually slowed and eventually stopped.
The windows were full of sand and the carriage was so dark that it was impossible to tell whether she had been buried by quicksand or had fallen into a sand pit.