The sound of the explosion made Miss Griselda scream in fright that she ducked, covering her head. There’s confusion outside the car as she heard people screaming at the top of their voices. She couldn’t tell whether they were screaming at each other or at what just happened.
She lifted her head and saw a cloud of dust and smoke in front of her. It’s difficult to see what’s going on. She looked through the window beside her in the back seat. The person guarding the car still stood there. But judging by his body language, he didn’t know whether to run or just stay there. She looked to the other side and the other man guarding the other end, however, had his gun raised, ready for whatever might come. Miss Griselda now started to panic. She still can’t get out even if she were to make an attempt.
Meanwhile, a few feet away from the car’s rear, hid Kevin in the bushes in a squatting position. He could see the two men guarding the car. He already analysed the situation and knew whom to attack. All he was waiting for was the signal.
Rhénee, with her gun raised, walked into the cloud of smoke. She could already spot two men coming towards her, also with their weapons raised. Before they were given the chance to aim, she quickly fired at them each with a single shot. With the men down, she continued to move forward. With the gun in one hand, she reached for a flare gun at the back pocket of her jeans. She raised it up and shot at the sky. A small red flare shot up like a little firework. She quickly drops the flare gun and makes her way towards the trees for cover before anyone notices where she is.
Kevin saw the flare, and he knew that’s his cue to advance. He could already hear some men head towards it aside from the two men guarding the car Miss Griselda is in. He slowly approached the car, going for the man who had his gun raised. As soon as he is out of the bushes, Kevin slowly stood. The man still hadn’t noticed that there’s anyone behind him. Without much delay, Kevin pointed the gun at the man’s back and fired, alarming the man on the other side.
Miguel heard the shot and for a moment, he’s scared out of his wits, trying to figure out what’s going on. The shot came from the other side of the car. Before he could even draw out his gun, someone came behind him, and he felt something hard press upon the back of his head.
“Don’t move if you want to live,” came a man’s voice behind him. “Drop the gun.”
“Okay, okay,” Miguel surrendered as he did as instructed, dropping the weapon onto the ground. The stranger came over to kick the gun away.
Miguel heard the car door open on the other side and there’s someone there telling Miss Griselda to get out. This isn’t good, Miguel thought. Should he do something to try and stop them from taking her? But he doesn’t have his gun, and he knows the person pointing the gun behind him wouldn’t hesitate to shoot.
“I got her,” came another male voice behind Miguel.
“You go on ahead to safety as planned,” came the man who pointed the gun to Miguel’s head.
Miguel heard footsteps behind him fade away as whoever was with Miss Griselda took her straight into the bushes by the side of the bridge. He felt the man behind come up to him to grab the collar of his shirt.
“Walk ahead and don’t do anything funny,” said the man. Miguel could feel the nozzle of the gun on his back.
Miguel did as ordered. It’s then that he realized that he’s being dragged into the cloud of dust and smoke in front of him. Most of his comrades were still scattered, trying to find where their enemies are. It’s pretty clear that Rhénee might even have an army for all they know. Miguel couldn’t help but feel overpowered. How many of them were out there?
A few bodies came towards him, guns pointed. Miguel wanted to shout out to them not to shoot him, but the man behind him drew out his gun and shot them. Miguel looked on in horror at his fallen comrades, hoping that some of them were only injured. But he could barely see them move in this cloud of smoke. Miguel had been used as cover, and with all the smoke, his comrades couldn’t see the man behind him.
“Move,” the man insisted bringing back the nozzle of the gun on Miguel’s back. Miguel hesitated, but did as instructed.
Greta was the one who threw the grenade that caused the explosion earlier while she hid in the bushes. She lifted herself a little to see the chaos she had created. The enemy were all running around in a frenzy, trying to regroup and find the perpetrators responsible. Greta was a long way off, but she had to keep her guard up in case any of them came heading in her direction. And despite the distance and the tall trees, she threw the grenade so well, that she aimed for the desired spot. She couldn’t help but give herself a pat on the back for that.
Rhénee soon appeared from the side of the bush to join Greta.
“Nice work, Greta,” said Rhénee.
“Thanks,” Greta turned to Rhénee. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“No.” There came a sound of gunshots in front of them.
“Could that be Malcom?” Greta asked.
“Let’s wait for his signal,” Rhénee now fixed her eyes upon on the ruckus in front of her.
Miguel continued to be led at gunpoint. He now realized that they were heading for the bushes. He wished he could give a shout-out, but if he did, the man behind him would shoot him.
“Wait, stop moving,” said the man. Miguel did as instructed. “On your knees like before.”
Miguel did exactly that, and it was then that he heard his female comrade shout out in the smoke, calling to anyone out to help. Miguel could tell she’s just nearby, but he can’t say anything.
Malcom had his gun still pointed at his enemy’s head when he reached for his pocket to pull out a red flare gun. He raised it up in the air and immediately pulled the little trigger, the red flare lighting the air above. He then looked down at Miguel.
“You’ve been a big help, Miguel,” he said. “I’ll let you live this once.”
Miguel can’t believe that the man knows who he is his. He quickly turned to see the man’s face. However, Malcom quickly swung the hand butt of the gun squarely on Miguel’s temple that Miguel fell onto the ground, unconscious.
Malcom started to back away and into the bushes, quickly firing shots all around to mislead the enemy of his presence. He made his way into the forest and hoped that Greta and Rhénee had seen his signal.
“There it is,” said Greta when she saw the red flare shoot up in the sky.
“That’s our cue,” said Rhénee as she went for the bag on the ground. She took an explosive grenade and with quick movements, she stood up, pulled out the pin, and setting her sights to where the cars are, threw it in that direction. An explosion took place soon afterwards. Greta looked on as a huge flame erupted from where Rhénee had thrown the explosive device, knowing that grenade hit one of the cars as expected.
“Bulls-eye!” Greta muttered.
“Come on, we have to go,” Rhénee said as she held Greta by the shoulder with the bag in the other hand. “That will keep them distracted for a while.”
Greta stood up and with Rhénee still holding her arm, they began to move away from the scene by the bridge, going uphill with the trees around them as cover.
“What’s happening?” Eugene asked as he couldn’t fathom what is going on at the bridge.
He heard Miss Marie scoff and when he turned to look at her, he couldn’t help but feel that she had a sinister smile on her face. One of the cars by bridge caught fire and that frightened Eugene a little. He heard men calling out to each other, and he wondered how many are injured. To make matters worse, there came gunshots after the first explosion. It was difficult to see what was going on with the cloud of smoke and flares.
“What’s going on down there?” Eugene asked Miss Marie.
“A showdown between two groups,” she answered.
“There are two groups? Did a drug deal or something go wrong?”
“It wasn’t a drug deal. They wouldn’t have used explosives unless they were the police or the SWAT team.”
“Then what was it? Something tells me you know what’s going on down there.”
Miss Marie now turned to look at him. “Now isn’t the time for me to tell you that. But you’ll know soon enough.”
“And Miguel? If he really is down there, wouldn’t he be one of the injured? He might be dead.”
“I don’t think so.” Miss Marie looked at the huge fire by the bridge. “He has a funny way of surviving even when he isn’t the strongest or the smartest.”
“Well, I haven’t seen him. So he might not be down there after all.”
Miss Griselda chuckled. “That’s because the other group has made it hard with all the confusion they’ve pulled off in just a short amount of time. I can’t help but say they’ve left me impressed.”
“You talk like you know who this other group of people are.”
“Of course, I do. And you’ll come to know them very soon.”
“I think we better leave,” said Eugene. “We can’t stay here a second longer. We might run into the other group, and they might shoot us.”
“Oh, don’t worry, they’re completely harmless. And they aren’t such a big group.”
“If you say so.” Eugene couldn’t help replay the scenario. One of the car’s lights went on and there stood someone in front of the people by the bridge. Could it be that same person who caused all the ruckus? And if it is a small group like Miss Marie had put it, then they were strategic to pull off such a feat in such a short space of time, hopefully with them suffering less or no casualties at all.
“What were they doing, if it wasn’t a drug deal?” Eugene asked.
“They were getting something back,” said Miss Marie. “And I think with that explosion, they were successful. Negotiating wasn’t part of the plan, it seems.”
“I wonder what it was.”
“You’ll know soon enough. Now, if you really want to know if Miguel was down there, you and I better head home.”
“How is that going to determine it?” Eugene was confused.
“You’ll see. Let’s go. Show’s over.”
Miss Marie started to make her way out of the forest, towards the road. Eugene looked down at the burning car at the bridge. He could still hear people calling out to each other. I hope most of them are alive, he thought. Before he turned to follow Miss Marie, he thought he heard someone shout out a name so loud, that it froze Eugene to the core. He might have heard wrong. Yet, somehow, he knew that he wasn’t hearing things.
“Where are they?” Miss Griselda asked as she looked at the dark forest before her. She and Kevin had managed to get away and were waiting for the others by the car packed in the forest.
“They’ll be here soon,” Kevin tried to calm her.
“What if they’ve been caught? That move you planned was very dangerous.”
“I know, but we did it to save you. They’ll be here. I know they will.”
“I hope so. But what if they’re lost?” She now held Kevin’s shoulder. “You’ve to find them, Kevin.”
“They’ll find their way here, I know they will.”
Miss Griselda sighed in frustration and looked up at the trees before she heard something. Kevin, who leaned against the car, heard it too and soon raised his gun. The sound came again, and they heard the sound of running feet. The figure in between the trees came into view and Kevin stepped in front of Miss Griselda for protection.
“Kevin?” came Malcom’s voice as the dark figure approached them.
“Malcom, it’s you,” Kevin couldn’t help but feel relieved.
“Miss Griselda, are you okay?” Malcom turned to look at her.
“I’m fine. Am more worried about Rhénee and Greta. Where are they?”
She didn’t have to worry as they heard a pair of footsteps coming from the other side. Kevin and Malcom quickly held their guns up, just in case it doesn’t turn out to be Rhénee and Greta.
“Goodness,” said Greta, who sounded out of breath as she and Rhénee appeared from behind the trees. “I actually thought we weren’t going to find you guys, and we would end up lost.”
“I told you to trust me, didn’t I?” Rhénee asked, also out of breath. “We better go before they find us.”
Miss Griselda came towards Rhénee and Greta, pulling the two into a hug.
“You didn’t have to save me like you did,” she said. “You could’ve been hurt.”
“We weren’t going to negotiate with them,” said Rhénee. “We had to take you back no matter what.”
“We can continue this friendly reunion in the car,” said Kevin. “This place isn’t safe for any of us.”
Everyone agreed, and they all made their way into the car with Malcom taking the driver’s seat and Kevin at the front passenger seat. Rhénee, Greta and Miss Griselda went in the back. As soon as they were settled in, Malcom started the car and slowly drove out of the forest and back onto the road. He made a sharp U-turn and drove all the way back to their town at a high speed.
Rhénee can’t believe what just transpired and couldn’t wait to get back to the house. But Miss Griselda was right, anyone would’ve got hurt. She looked around to see if everyone else was okay. She hoped they weren’t hiding any injuries. Likewise, she would have to check on every one of them just to be sure.
Sophie suddenly came round Rhénee’s head, set her paws on her shoulder to jump onto Rhenee’s laps. Rhénee forgot that they left the cat in the car. As she scratched the back of the cat’s ear to keep calm, she made a mental note not to forget their prisoner, who might still be unconscious in the boot of the car.
The man in the bushes turned away from the scene of the burning car with his cell phone on his ear, walking away. The line he was trying to reach rang for a short while until Sinclair picked the line.
“What’s happening?” Sinclair asked.
“I should’ve had a video camera with me,” the old man replied. “You’ll not believe what these kids managed to pull off.”
Sinclair is silent for a minute. “Was it dangerous?”
“Of course. They put up quite a show, though. If I tell you that it ended with a car exploding, you wouldn’t believe me. Rhénee is Emelda’s granddaughter, for sure.”
The old man heard Sinclair scoff and imagined him with a sinister smile on his face.
“Tell me,” said Sinclair. “And don’t leave out any details.”
ns 15.158.61.18da2
