Yuna halts her footsteps and focus on the noises around her. Behind the background of cricket noises, there is an unmistakable whining. It repeats in waves where the shrill whining will go on for a while and fades off for a few seconds before resuming.
"Wat sound?" Kaew asks, rubbing the goose bumps on her arms.
"Sounds like a dog. But where?" Yuna replies and starts to walk towards the metal barrier. Looking downwards into the dark, Yuna calls to Kaew, "I think it's from down there. Gimme the torch light."
"Yes boss," Kaew answers and scoots to the car.
Kaew comes running back to Yuna with a large yellow torch light in her hands and passes it to Yuna. Yuna turns the torch light on and shines it down the gorge.
"It's not as deep as I thought it is," Yuna mumbles and searching in the dark, she finally spots the animal, "Kaew, there! It's a puppy. I think it's hurt."
"Weh? Weh?" Kaew asks, excitedly.
"By the tree," Yuna directs the light to the animal so that Kaew can see it.
"Like hurt," Kaew frowns, saying.
"Do you think we should-," Yuna starts to ask.
"Yes! Car got rope," Kaew cuts her off with a yes and darts off to the car to remove a coil of thick canvas rope.
"Wow, your Thai friends really have everything prepared huh?" Yuna comments as she takes the rope and secures it to the metal barrier. Throwing the rope down the steep slope, the rope is just long enough to reach the bottom.
"Per-fect," Kaew claps her hands together, "Now yu go. I watch car."
"What? I thought you were going down!" Yuna gasps.
"No. Yu fight. If got bear yu fight. I no fight," Kaew reasons, punching her fists into the air.
"Yeah, right," Yuna talks back.
"Go! Go! Later snake eat dog!" Kaew ignores Yuna and pushes her towards the barrier.
"Fine!" Yuna climbs over the barrier and starts to descend the slope as Kaew shines the torch at her direction.
A quarter down, Yuna suddenly stops.
"Wait, you said snakes will eat the dog? I'm really scared of snakes," Yuna suddenly asks, feeling frightened by all the grass around her.
"Dun silly. No snakes. I say bear. Bear eat dog. Go!" Kaew reassures with a fierce note in her voice and Yuna resumes her descend.
With the guidance of Kaew's torch, Yuna quickly makes her way to the puppy who is now whining louder and louder in pain as it sees help coming. She reaches the poor puppy, squats down beside it and gently caresses the back of its head, soothing down the puppy.
"It's okay little fellow. I'll save you," Yuna coos to the black puppy as she tries to carry the puppy from the ground but it wriggles free from her gentle grip and limps back to the rock, licking it and gnawing at it, as though it is a little souvenir it wants to bring along.
"Come on, we don't need that. Let's get going before snakes come along," Yuna says pulling the puppy up. However, this time the pup has succeeded in grabbing the rock firmly between the little teeth of its jaws as Yuna lifts it, three strings wires follow out of the earth from behind the rock. Lifting the pup up, the wires tug the rock back from its mouth and the rock drops back onto the grass with a thud. Yuna takes a glance and notices the blue, black and orange wires.
"Wait, what is that?" Yuna mumbles to herself as she squats down to examine the rock and its wires, placing the puppy back down on its feet. The puppy trots back to lick the surface of the rock.
"Wires? This is some kind of device," Yuna mumbles to herself and tries to dig a little further into the ground with a stick she finds just beside where she is squatting.
"Faster! My hand tired!" Kaew's voice echoes from behind.
"Come down here! You need to see this!" Yuna shouts back to Kaew without turning to look at her.
"Yu sua no snakes?" Kaew shouts back.
"Just get down here now!" Yuna shouts and Kaew knows there is no saying no.
"Betta be good," Kaew complains to herself as she too starts climbing down the rope with the torch light behind her back. Deep inside, she is really scared about coming across a snake.
Kaew manages to reach the bottom rather quickly and trudges through the grass towards Yuna, who seems to be weeding out grass.
"Wat yu doing?" Kaew grumbles as she shines the torch down at the ground and immediately gasps.
Yuna has dug out the ground and unearthed the wires tracing them back into the tree. Having brought a combat knife with her, Yuna has even pulled out part of the bark revealing a metal inner.
"Look, the tree and the rock are not real. There's something hidden here. I'm sure," Yuna pants as she stands back up onto her feet.
"How yu find that?" Kaew asks, her eyes bawled out in surprise.
"I didn't. Little Tucker here did," Yuna replies with a smile looking down at the puppy who is now coiled beside her feet.
"Yu name it Tucker?" Kaew asks, narrowing her eyes disapprovingly.
"Yeah," Yuna nods.
"Old fashion name. I like Mimi, Lulu or Spiderman. Mo fun," Kaew disagrees.
"Too late. I already named it. Anyway, let’s focus on THESE," Yuna directs Kaew's attention back to the tree and the rock.
"Maybe rock like switch. Cut Y-ya. See wat ha-pen," Kaew suggests and Yuna finds that a rather good idea.
Yuna bends down and takes the wires into her left hand, not knowing which one to cut. The coloring system of the wires is weird and unlike what she has learnt in school or seen on television shows.
“Wat yu wait fo?” Kaew asks, picking the little puppy up to cradle it.
“I don’t know which one to cut,” Yuna replies honestly.
“Orange,” Kaew confidently replies.
Yuna turns to look up at Kaew with a skeptical stare and Kaew returns a confident nod.
Although still a little doubtful, Yuna still cuts the orange wire, since she herself has no idea at all at which wire to cut. The ground before them starts moving. Startled, they back up, staring into the ground with the torch light.
“How did you know it was the orange one?” Yuna asks.
“I dun no but orange my lucky kolor,” Kaew nods smugly.
Yuna’s jaw drops open hearing her say that but before she can snap at Kaew, the ground sinks down before them opening up into a square opening.
"Oh my God, it's a trapdoor. We opened the trapdoor!" Yuna gasps as she steals the torchlight from Kaew's hands and shines it down the hole.
"There's a staircase -" Yuna utters to Kaew as she carefully bends down to try and steal a look inside, "- and a tunnel."
"Yu go first. I watch Tucker," Kaew immediately suggests with a confident and firm look on her face.
"Oh no, you don't. We are going in together," Yuna glares at her.
"O-k, o-k. No need eye me," Kaew grumbles and places the puppy back onto the ground.
"Tucker, yu stay. We go see see," Kaew instructs the little puppy and as though it understands, the puppy lies down on its stomach and lets out a loud 'hmmpphh' through its tiny nostrils.
They both have their guns ready in their hands and Yuna, with the torch light in her hand, takes the lead down into the dark, cold and spooky tunnel. Once down, the tunnel remains dark and chilly. Flashing the torch around the tunnel, they can see that it is well built and maintained. Right at the end of it is a metal door.
The moment Yuna cut the wire back then, she has shut down the tunnel's lighting and security system. What they do not know is that having cut the wire, a security breach signal is sent to Chin's com and he is soon to be on his way.
They cautiously clear the tunnel and standby beside the metal door. Placing one ear onto the metal door, Yuna tries to listen for any sound of life behind that door but Nikki is asleep from exhaustion and all they can hear is the sound of crickets from outside the trapdoor.
Yuna looks down at the shutter and signals Kaew that she is going in.
Kaew nods and aims her gun to cover Yuna from behind. Kaew slowly and quietly opens the shutter for Yuna. Yuna has learnt a thing o
r two from all the police dramas on television, and with the gun in her right hand she locks her torchlight holding left hand under her right wrist, kicks the metal door open and shouts, "Don't move! I have a gun!"
"Oh God!" Yuna cries as she realizes what they have stumbled upon - a victim. Like a ghost, a withering brunette woman with pale white skin drained of color sits restrained in a metal chair with her eyes shut from the glare of the torchlight.
From inside the cell, Nikki is startled to a wake as the door crashes open with a woman's voice shouting a warning. Blinded by the glare of white light Nikki cannot see who it is but she knows help has arrived.
"Please save me before he kills me! Please!" Nikki croaks her cry for help.
Knowing they are alone, Yuna and Kaew dashes over to the woman to help free her. Kaew takes over the torch and Yuna starts trying to pry open the lock-less clamps of the metal chair with her combat knife. The clamps are just too secure to budge.
"No use," Yuna finally announces after a few seconds, panting hard from her efforts.
"Don't leave me here..." Nikki starts to sob, panicking that they will leave her, "...He will kill me if he comes back."
"There must be a switch somewhere. Let's look for it," Yuna says and shines the light around the cell. As she looks about the room, Yuna finds the light switch and tries turning it on but there is no power supply.
"Hir got!" Kaew suddenly calls out to Yuna, pointing to something on the back of the metal chair.
Yuna quickly walks over to examine the switch, which is actually a lever with a black rubber handle. Yuna shoots Kaew a troubled look as the lever actually looks like an electrical switch.
"Wan try?" Kaew mutters, unsure herself if they will electrocute the woman if they pull the lever down.
"Lady, the only switch in the room is this lever on the back of your chair. But it looks like one that belongs to an electric switch -," Yuna explains briefly to Nikki, wanting to seek her permission but Nikki cuts in.
"Just do it. I rather die trying," Nikki immediately says.
"O-k, one, tu, tree-" Kaew counts. Nikki closes her eyes tightly, clutching at her chair tightly, her face scrunched into the tensed frown, ready to be electrocuted. It is better than to be gutted alive. On the count of three, Kaew pulls the rubber handle downwards.
Ching!!
The clamps snap open!
"Yes!!" Kaew and Yuna cheer and Nikki opens her eyes, glad that she is still alive.
Shaking from malnutrition and fright, Nikki gets up from the metal chair with the help of Yuna and Kaew.
"Can you walk?" Yuna asks. Nikki nods.
"Let's go. Kaew, clear the way," Yuna instructs as she helps Nikki onto her feet and clamber back out the tunnel.
Kaew, with the torchlight, leads the way and cautiously climbs back up the staircase. She carefully pokes her head above ground and she is more than glad to be greeted not by the killer but little Tucker.
"Kost clir," Kaew signals that the coast is clear as she dashes above ground and sweeps little Tucker off the ground as she does so.
With Yuna and Nikki clambering up the stairs, Kaew sticks Tucker into her tank top with only its head sticking out from her collar. Kaew then swiftly climbs up the rope like a monkey with Yuna watching her, amazed.
Once up by the metal barrier, Kaew shines the light at the duo to guide their way and just as the two women are wondering how they can lift Nikki up, Nikki looses balance and falls onto the grass beside her, accidentally hitting her fingers onto the hidden rusted ladder.
"Wait, there's something here," Nikki croaks meekly, exhausted from all the running and dragging.
"Kaew! Flash the light this way," Yuna instructs and Kaew immediately does so. Yuna parts the long grass on the steep slope aside and she sees a sort of rusty metal rail the size of the canvas rope. She parts the grass further and sees that it is a ladder!
"There's a ladder here!" Yuna immediately helps Nikki over to the ladder and pushes her up while Nikki uses all her little remaining strength to climb up the almost vertical ladder.
Watching the feat, an idea sparks in Kaew's mind. She swiftly unties the rope from the metal barrier and drops one end down the ladder. "Tie her. I pull. Yu push," Kaew shouts to Yuna.
Yuna quickly does as told and ties the rope around the woman's chest under her armpits. Securing the loop, she gives Kaew the cue to pull, "One, two, pull!"
Yuna pushes with all her might while Kaew pulls with all her strength as Nikki edges up the ladder in a slow crawl. After what seems like an eternity, they finally manage to make it up to the highway. Panting and seriously exhausted, they sit down by the roadside to take a five seconds breather, but they cannot afford more rest.
"Come on, let's go!" Yuna drags everyone back into the car to find Tucker excitedly waiting for them. The two women lay the mysterious woman onto the back seat while Tucker curls up within her leg room. They then hurriedly get back into the front seats.
Yuna starts the engine, does a screeching u-turn and speeds back home. She floors the gas pedal and they zoom off into the dark back towards their dangerous hideout opposite the killer's home. Yuna and Kaew both know that having breached the facility back there, the killer will be on his way to wipe them off the surface of the earth. They must be fast to evade his chase.
"Are you... the police?" the woman croaks from the back seat.
"No," Kaew answers.
"Who are you then?" the woman continues to ask weakly.
"Long stoli," Kaew replies.
"Who are you?" Yuna asks in return.
"Nikki... Nikki Portman," the woman answers.
"Why did he take you? What do they want from you?" Yuna continues to probe as she speeds the vehicle back out from the highway into the smaller city main roads.
"He took me hostage... to make my husband their killer," Nikki cries, her already hoarse voice breaking apart.
"Who is your husband?" Yuna asks further.
"Zach Burrow," Nikki replies.
"Not in pat-ten..." Kaew utters, "Mus be replace-man!"
"Are you taking me to the police station now?" Nikki asks starting to feel skeptical towards the women's questions.
"Not yet," Yuna replies flatly.
"Who are you??" Nikki asks starting to panic, "What are you going to do to me?"
"Re-lax! We jus save yu o-k? Not kill yu. We go back safety onli tell yu hoe stoli," Kaew turns around to assure her.
Hearing that, some relief warms up to the traumatized woman. She stops asking questions and closes her eyes to the comfort of knowing that she is temporarily safe and before she knows it, she has dozed off on the back seat, curled up like a kitty cat.
Yuna continues to speed through the silent city streets into a two-lane road only to see a single headlight racing towards them from the opposite direction. Speeding pass each other, the women manage to catch a glimpse of the killer on his super-bike. The racing vehicles cross paths and race off in opposite directions, disappearing from each other's rear view mirror. The two women's hearts skip a beat, hoping that the killer doesn't turn around and come after them.
Chapter 41
India: Thursday, 20th November 2:03 a.m.
Ada places her palm over the side of her throat, closes her eyes as she thinks, "I need to see you now. At the shooting range."
The message is immediately transmitted to Zero's chip, buzzing within his palm now. Zero is in the midst of dreaming. The tickling buzz in the middle of his right hand wakes him from his sleep and he lazily raises it to his ear. "I need to see you now. At the shooting range," Ada's voice echoes into his ear canal.
Hearing her heartbroken voice, Zero springs up immediately into a sitting position. He flips the cozy comforter off his body and instructs, "Lights." His room immediately lights up and he hops out of bed, slipping into his sneakers before waving his hand for the door to open.
Wearing only a white tank top and a long, gray cotton pajama pants he dashes off to the pod and travels to
Level 02. With quick steps, he hurries into the shooting range only to see that there are two other people practicing. Ada is nowhere in sight. He turns around and exits the shooting range and is about to send Ada a message when someone taps him on the shoulder from behind. Zero turns back and sees Ada giving him a cold, hard stare. She is still in her uniform and it looks like she has never slept for ages, her face so pale and the rings around her eyes so dark. Everything she used to have - the confident laugh, smug smile, playful stare are all gone. Everything about her now seems lifeless, except for the loathful gaze in her eyes.
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