He was at a disadvantage with his blindness, and now was not the time for wisecracks.
“Anyway, you broke our rules, Thomas. And that means you die.”
The two thugs started to stride toward them, and Thomas was backing away while explaining, “Look, it’s a misunderstanding. He’s blind, see? He saw nothing, and he wont expose your secret-’
“Whatever!”
They were carrying baseball bats, and one of them darted toward Thomas while the other started toward Diarmuid.
Diarmuid could see a silhouette approaching but could not pinpoint how he would attack.
But at the very last moment…
Bang!
The thug who was about to attack Diarmuid froze and turned toward his partner to see that he was bleeding from a gunshot wound on his chest before dropping dead on the ground.
What?!
Left in such shock that Thomas had a gun, he did not attack Diarmuid but instead quickly reasoned, “Let’s talk about this! Don’t forget, we have your son!”
However, Thomas knew that his son would be killed if he allowed these two to return, and he did not hesitate to kill the other thug.
Bang!
The other thug stared in disbelief at his chest, which was pierced by a bullet too.
Even so, he threatened, “Your son won’t live if you kill me…”
Thomas could not care less. He quickly pulled Diarmuid along to somewhere quiet surrounded by tall grass.
It was the perfect hiding place-they were completely out of sight once they dropped to a crouch.
Thomas quickly passed Diarmuid his phone, having kept it on silent mode to avoid drawing attention when it rang.
Thomas could not care less if Diarmuid could actually help him just then, and he told Diarmuid everything.
“They have my son Michael,” Thomas explained. ‘My wife and I were forced to work for them, and they’ll find the bodies soon. I need to go back and save my wife, so you contact your family and ask them to save you.”
Thomas was quite sharp too-worried that Diarmuid could not see and tap on the right numbers, he redialed the number Diarmuid called the last time.
“Be safe,” he said and left with the gun.
As soon as he was gone, Abigail was calling out urgently from the other end,” Diarmuid? Diarmuid?”
Diarmuid raised the phone to his ear and spoke with composure, “Calm down and listen to me, Abigail. Ask James to track the location of this phone before coming. Don’t come alone-things might get dangerous around here, so be very prepared.”
“There’s no need to worry, though. I’m fine,” he added to assure Abigail.
Abigail grabbed Stan, who was sitting right next to her, and relayed Diarmuid’s message.
“Hurry!” she urged.
Stan promptly turned on the tracking equipment they had in the car, which they had brought to find Diarmuid.
Abigail’s fingers were clenching on her phone as she asked with a worried, quivering voice, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Diarmuid replied very quietly.
Just then the receiver cracked with static from the wind.
Abigail asked, “Are you outside?”
“Yeah,” Diarmuid said.
Beside Abigail, Stan was frowning-Diarmuid’s signal was too weak and the data was coming in very slowly.
Abigail kept staring at the screen while continuing to speak with Diarmuid, “Stan is tracking you right now.”
On the other end, Diarmuid could not see, and he had no idea how much battery Thomas’s cell phone had left. Abigail would not be able to reach him if it ran out of juice.
Even so, he calmly replied, “Yeah.”
Zachary, who was driving, “Still can’t get a fix yet?!”
“Soon!” Stan exclaimed.
Earlier, they were heading to the next search point, but since they still had no idea where Diarmuid was, he did not know if they should keep driving or stop.
Meanwhile, Thomas’s cell phone was beeping, indicating that it was running out of battery.
Abigail was sweating from anxiety because she heard the beeping too.
Even if Diarmuid did not say it, she knew that things were bad.
Just keeping the call connected like this would deplete the cell phone’s battery!
The beeping could be heard again after around ten minutes, and Abigail could not help snapping, “Still not yet?”
Before Stan could speak, Diarmuid said, “Calm down. I think it’s just because the signal is bad from my end.”
He knew that he was deep within the mountains with barely any cell signal -the tracker was not slow because of Stan’s ability.
However, Abigail was not complaining-she was simply worried after hearing the beeping, that Diarmuid’s phone would run out of juice.
What if they failed to find him?!
Stan was sweating all over his brow, and his throat was dry.
Fortunately, Diarmuid was keeping it together and not getting flustered despite the danger.
“Alright, done! It isn’t far from here!” Stan cried suddenly.
Abigail sighed heavily in relief, but the call ended before she could speak- Diarmuid’s phone had run out of battery.
Stan showed Zachary the location then and said, “Turn, turn! This is where we have to go!”
Zachary glanced at it and said, “We can only turn after a few miles up ahead.”
“Fine, fine, just hurry!” Stan urged, and he quickly called James for backup!
Once James answered, Stan told him everything and said, “We’re heading there right now, but it might be dangerous, so bring more people if you can. I’m giving you the location now-hurry!”
“Got it,” James replied.
Once he hung up, Stan started to search the web for details about that location, but it turned out to be an isolated location without anyone around.
“Could Mr. Althoff be captured by bandits?” he mused.
Zachary rolled his eyes. “What year is it? Also, Dunesia is a safe country. There won’t be any bandits.”
“Why don’t you take a look?” Stan scoffed. “Mr. Althoff was calling from up in the mountains, and the phone wasn’t his either. Who do you think those people would be? Savages?’
Zachary ignored him, realizing just then why Diarmuid kept James around while leaving Stan in Franconia for some time.
The man’s head was empty!
Stan had no idea what Zachary was thinking, and he actually clapped Zachary on the shoulder, saying, “Why are you being quiet?”
Zachary kept his eyes fixed ahead. “I have nothing to tell you.”
“Aren’t you curious?” Stan asked.
“Not really,” Zachary replied.
They would find out everything once they rescued Diarmuid. What good was speculation?
Stan pouted. “You’re no fun. I’m just trying to kill time. The mood is somber if we don’t talk, y’know?”
As he spoke, he glanced behind at Abigail, who had worry written all over her face as she stared out the window, her knuckles clenching and her palms sweating!
Stan sighed and urged Zachary, “Drive fast now.”
“I am,” Zachary replied, shooting him a look-he was driving a car, not a plane! They were certainly not flying!
Stan huffed. “What, do you think you’re the only one in a hurry?”
“Stop being annoying,” Zachary growled.
Stan shot back, “Look who’s talking.”
Through it all, their car was streaking along the flat road at top speed, and it felt slow no matter how Zachary floored the pedal.
Everyone inside could not wait to reach Diarmuid right then!
However, they soon ran out of gas and had to make a stop to refuel before returning on Diarmuid’s trail.
It was Zachary’s turn to snap at Stan just then. “You said it’s close! We’re nowhere near even after we used up a full tank!”
“It’s the car!” Stan retorted coolly. “It’s a gas guzzler-it really isn’t that far away!”
Zachary asked, ’Then why would you pick this car?”
“Because it’s fast,” Stan answered.
Zachary rolled his eyes and actually cursed, “Sh*t!”
Stan was speechless. “Watch your language.”
Zachary did not respond and simply jammed his foot on the gas pedal, pushing the car to 110 miles per hour!
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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