Echo quickly pulled up other footage and saw that Ryan and his group were already on the second floor.
Ryan walked with a cold, determined stride, while Dean, behind him, wore a stiff, pale expression but was forced to smile.
Echo knew right away that someone had tipped Ryan off-it was time for him to leave.
As for why Ryan was making his move now and what legitimate excuse he had, Echo didn’t care anymore. All she knew was that if she stuck around any longer, Ryan’s men, who didn’t recognize her, might send her to meet her ancestors.
Not wasting any time, Echo grabbed the recorded tape and slipped out, heading straight for the torture room. That woman didn’t deserve to die just yet.
In the torture room, Echo slid in through the slightly cracked door, wearing special glasses she had grabbed from the surveillance room.
Through the glasses, everything was crystal clear. The men and women were still frozen in the same sex positions she’d seen before, and Echo was left speechless.
“What the hell’s going on? Why did the power go out?”
“No idea, but it shouldn’t be out this long. Could something have happened? That Dark family boss isn’t someone to mess with.”
“Damn it! If I find out who’s behind this, I’ll kill him. Hey, make sure you pack up your stuff. Once I get out of here, I’m throwing some stuff at the Dark family guys. If I don’t take a few of them down, I won’t be satisfied. Damn, they’re really pushing us around, acting like our boss doesn’t exist.”
“In the left corner, in that box. Yeah, take down as many as you can.”
Echo had just reached the woman with the broken arm when she overheard this conversation. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she slipped over to the corner.
Using her thief skills, she easily opened the box without much effort. When she peeked inside, she was shocked-it was full of the same stuff she’d encountered in that field of poppies before. At least ten of them.
Cursing under her breath, Echo emptied the box into her bag.
“Who’s there? Come out!” The slight noise she made had tipped off the people inside, and they started shouting.
Echo didn’t even bother dealing with those men. She hoisted the unconscious woman onto her shoulder and squeezed back through the door.
The eerie calm that followed was the calm before the storm, and Echo knew it.
The surveillance room had already fallen into Ryan’s hands, so she didn’t need to avoid suspicion. Dragging the unconscious woman behind her, Echo hurried toward the back of the Pensax building.
Time was money, and if Ryan found out she had helped someone he didn’t like, there was no telling what kind of torture awaited her.
After making sure the woman was safe, Echo sprinted toward the main entrance, where Ryan was likely to show up. She couldn’t afford to get on his bad side.
At the same time, Ryan walked out with an icy expression. He hadn’t seen Echo for a while, and his face grew darker. He hadn’t made a move, so Dean wouldn’t dare harm one of his people, and there was no way Echo would run off. But where had she gone?
“Mr. Ryan, we can talk this over, you see-”
“No need.” Ryan coldly cut Dean off with a wave of his hand.
Talk things over? He didn’t have the patience for that. The only reason he came today was to claim Dean’s territory.
The idea that Dean had the nerve to invite him here was a joke.
Standing at the entrance, Ryan’s expression grew colder as he scanned the scene in front of him. He mentally gave her twenty seconds. If she didn’t show up, he wouldn’t hesitate to act.
Twenty seconds passed.
Without a word, Ryan started walking toward his car.
The snipers and all his men were already in position.
He’d given her time, and if she thought she could play games under his nose, she’d better be good at running because he had no use for someone who wasn’t.
Suddenly, with a screeching halt, Echo came barreling out of nowhere and stopped right in front of Ryan’s car, clutching onto the closing door and gasping for breath, unable to speak.
She had barely made it in time-one more second and the place would’ve turned into a battlefield. She wasn’t ready to die yet; she still had plenty of life left to live.
Ryan shot her a cold look, his eyes full of displeasure.
Every extra second increased the risk of being discovered-not danger, just annoyance. Ryan wasn’t afraid of danger, but he found these small matters incredibly bothersome.
He shifted slightly to make room for her, but before he could say anything, Echo threw herself into the car with a loud thud.
Just at that moment, from the top floor of the building, two men Echo had knocked unconscious earlier suddenly woke up and screamed in panic, “The Dark family has invaded! They stole our data!”
Pensax wasn’t tall, and their dual shouts through the loudspeaker immediately alerted all of Dean’s people.
With a sudden lunge, Echo practically landed on top of Ryan and shouted, “Drive!”
She always timed things precisely, enjoying the thrill that came with a bit of pressure. It made things more exciting for her. She’d calculated everything down to the last second, so there was no time for hesitation now.
The car door slammed shut, and Hawk and the others, having heard the broadcast, quickly made hand signals as they jumped into the vehicles.
In an instant, gunfire erupted from all directions. Ryan’s men and Dean’s crew started shooting at each other at the same time.
Dean, who had been escorting Ryan out with a fake smile plastered on his face, now dropped the act, angrily pulling out a gun and shouting, “Ryan, you’re ruthless! The Street family won’t let you get away with this!”
Before Dean could even fire, Cobra had already drawn his weapon and shot him right between the eyes, leaving Dean’s gun unfired.
Gunfire echoed from every corner.
Echo, pressed against Ryan, winced as the deafening sound filled the air. The noise made her chest hurt-her injury still hadn’t fully healed.
Frustrated, she shouted, “Drive! What are you waiting for?! Why aren’t we moving?”
“The tires are blown! What the hell did you get us into?” Hawk cursed through gritted teeth.
Echo’s sudden arrival and the shouts from Dean’s men had completely wrecked their plan.
What had she done now?
The person who replaced her to drive for Ryan was Hawk. He could handle four wheels just fine, but three? That was definitely trickier.
As Echo shouted her questions loudly, Hawk fired two shots at the people rushing out of Pensax, all while grabbing the seatback and shifting over to Cobra. “You drive,” he said in a low voice.
At the same time, Cobra fired a few more shots outside the car, and then moved to get out. With the tires blown out, there wasn’t much point in driving anymore.
“Shit, move over,” Echo cursed.
She pressed down on Ryan’s leg, flipping herself past Hawk’s side, and even before she sat down, her foot hit the clutch. Hawk slid over next to Ryan, and Cobra quickly pulled his hand back, firing off a few more shots in Echo’s direction.
The whole thing happened in seconds, like they’d practiced it a thousand times.
Echo slammed the gas pedal down hard. She yanked the steering wheel, and despite having just three tires, the Cadillac roared to life, spinning forward.
Echo leaned her body to the right, making the car follow her lead with expert drifting techniques.
With just three wheels, she managed to get the car moving at high speed.
Cobra and Hawk, still firing their guns to protect Ryan, both shouted in unison, “Nice driving!”
Echo scoffed, “Duh, you have no idea how I mastered this back in the day.”
The Cadillac shot out of the heavy gunfire, and all three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“I don’t care how you mastered it, Echo, and I don’t want to know. All I care about is that you disobeyed my orders.”
The furious voice came from the back seat, and Echo’s head buzzed as she realized just how deep in trouble she was.
“Mr. Ryan, I-”
“Boom…”
Before she could finish her sentence, a massive explosion rocked the distant Pensax building. Flames shot into the sky, lighting up the night.
Echo was left speechless.
The firepower was unreal. What kind of arsenal did Ryan have? He was so brazen, so fearless.
As the explosion echoed, the Cadillac officially died. Getting it this far on three wheels was already a feat.
Echo had never driven a three-wheeler before, but when survival was on the line, you didn’t get to pick.
Now, no amount of flooring the gas was going to help.
Echo threw up her hands and turned to Ryan with a raised eyebrow, saying, “I’m out of options.”
You can’t outrun death when your ride gives out-she was human, not a miracle worker.