When she noticed the smell of blood in the air, Dorothy’s heart immediately started beating wildly. She rushed over and clambered towards Credence. Her eyes were trembling as she approached his face, only to find his long, charming eyes were closed, as blood gushed out of his mouth.
She quickly reached out her hand to check his heartbeat.
Seeing the sticky blood in her palm made her realize that Melanie must have pierced a vital part of his heart. No wonder he flopped over and fell unconscious right after climbing up. He didn’t even have time to catch his breath. He wasn’t even breathing right now.
“Credence, you are not allowed to die. Do you hear me?”
Enduring the intense pain in her heart, Dorothy reminded herself to calm down. She searched his pockets, but she couldn’t find his phone. He must have lost it during the fight.
She kept searching and found a lighter.
Using the weak flame of the lighter, she slowly got up from the grass and staggered towards the nearby armored car. She remembered there was a spare mobile phone inside. It might still have enough battery power for her to call for help.
Suddenly, Dorothy heard the sound of a helicopter sweeping across the air.
She thought that she must be imagining things.
The pain and her tears must have blurred her vision and hearing.
Who on earth would come to such a remote and uninhabited area in the middle of the night?
Suddenly, she saw a bright light shining down on her.
A vigorous figure swooped down from the light like an arrow. He stared at her and shouted, “Dorothy, is that you?”
When she heard the man calling her name, Dorothy looked up and saw a very agile man above her. He jumped down from the helicopter using a long rope then ran towards her. As he ran, he shouted, “Tell me, where is Credence? Where is he? Is he alright?”
Aside from the helicopter, the surrounding area was quiet. There weren’t any sounds of fighting or gunfire. If Melanie wasn’t dead, then she must have escaped.
He looked at the dead bodies that were scattered everywhere, noting that only Dorothy was alive. It was obvious that something had happened to Credence. If he wasn’t dead yet, then he wouldn’t be far from it.
Marvin’s heart started to burn from anxiety. Had he not fallen for that trap, he and his men would have arrived in time to help Credence destroy Melanie once and for all.
From the looks of it, he was too late.
Recognizing her rescuer, Dorothy felt extremely relieved, exhaustion then overcame her. Her knees immediately turned jelly as she fell to the ground. She tried to raise her head, but only managed to raise her hand to point towards Credence’s direction. She looked at Marvin and whispered, “Credence, is over there. He’s passed out… Mr. Jules, hurry, you have to save him, take him to the hospital.”
Before she blacked out, she heard Marvin shout out in anger. She saw him rush towards Credence, picked him up, and strode towards the helicopter.
Under the light from the helicopter, she saw Credence clearly. He was bleeding very badly, his clothes were soaked crimson red.
So much blood was flowing out of him, would he be able to survive?
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her heart. It was so intense that her vision went dark. She couldn’t see anything or hear anything. Her limbs went weak, and her body fell backward like a crumbling wall.
She suddenly stopped breathing.
“Dorothy, wake up!” Marvin’s roar almost shattered the mirrors in the helicopter.
…
“Why hasn’t Dory woken up yet? Is the baby in her womb all right?”
“You knew that Melanie would pull a sneak attack to assassinate them at night, you knew she was going for Dory, how could you still let this happen?”
“Marvin, Jonathan, speak up! Answer me! Have all of you gone dumb?”
“I’m telling you, if anything happens to Dory, I will ruin the two of you and your families! And Credence, that d*mned b*stard, I’ll f*cking kick him until he wakes up.”
Juelz rushed over to the city hospital when he heard the news. He waited outside the emergency room for over three hours, but Dorothy still hadn’t come out. He was so angry that he let out such a loud roar it shook the entire emergency ward.
“Juelz, can you please get a hold of yourself? We know how powerful your lungs are, but this isn’t the best use of it, ok?” Jonathan’s brain ached because of Juelz’s shouting. He squinted his eyes and retorted. “What’s done is done! What’s the use of shouting like a madman right now?! Credence and his wife have already discussed this. It’s not up to Marv or me to call the shots.”
“Besides, Marv is still injured. He went out of his way to save them, to the point he got hurt. Not only did he not get a ‘thank you’, he even got cussed out by you. What the hell? Where’s your conscience?”
Juelz was caught off guard and was left speechless. His handsome face was dark, it was darker than the night sky. He lifted his foot and kicked the wall hard, a loud smack echoed throughout the corridor.
Marvin was distraught by the two noisy men, and it made his wounds even more unbearable. He gave a sudden kick at Jonathan and said. “F*ck, when will you shut up?”
Jonathan felt annoyed as he rubbed his butt in pain. “Marv, I was speaking up for you. Yet you f*cking kicked me! Didn’t you say that we were brothers? I’m really disappointed in you!”
Marvin didn’t even bother looking at him. He really couldn’t understand this blathering idiot.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps could be heard coming from the corridor. Two plain-clothes men in black ran over to Marvin and gave their report, “Mr. Jules, Melanie did indeed fall off the cliff and down into a canyon. We found her body, but it wasn’t in one piece. The fall broke her body apart. This is the only evidence we have on her.”
Marvin furrowed his eyebrows. He took it in his hand and carefully studied it.
It was a small emerald carved into the shape of a bat. It shone brightly as it reflected the corridor lights. It was so intricate and lifelike, it looked like it was about to spread its wings and fly away.
Marvin was completely focused on the emerald. The man in black continued, “This emerald carving is a symbol of the organization that Melanie was in. Only high-level agents of importance have this.”
“Good, continue investigating and find the identity of the leader of this organization.”
“Yes, Mr. Jules.” The men in black saluted, turned around, and strode away.
Jonathan had no interest in the emerald carving and only glanced at it briefly. He looked up and stared straight at the red indicator light hanging above the door to the operating room. His casual expression turned serious.
Dorothy and Credence were in separate operating rooms which were next to each other.
Time passed, almost four hours had gone by, but no one had come out yet. The suspense would drive anyone up the wall.
Juelz, on the other hand, was greatly interested in the emerald statue the moment he saw it. He hooked his slender fingers in his trouser pocket.
This looked really familiar.
His brain spun fast. Where had he seen it before?
Juelz closed his eyes and kept searching through his memory. He was especially fixated on the image of the bat. He was sure that he had seen it somewhere before.
As he was lost in thought, he mumbled vaguely to himself. It was mostly unintelligible.
Enduring the pain on his shoulder, Marvin leaned over and leaned in closer. He frowned and hear Juelz, “That’s right, the office, Father, the safe… I saw it there once.”
“Juelz.” Marvin alerted Juelz then spoke in a deep voice, “You said you once saw this in your father’s safe, how long ago was that?”