Echo had no idea how unlucky she was. The very night she left, Ryan came back.
The Dark family’s staff didn’t dare ask where she was going, but that didn’t mean Ryan wouldn’t. As soon as he found out she was gone, and with Tiger being such a pro in the computer room, it didn’t take long for him to track her down.
And to make matters worse, she had the audacity to cut off communication. It was impossible for Ryan not to be furious. So, even before she arrived in Hong Kong, Ryan’s orders were already coming down.
Honestly, it was hard to tell if Echo was clever or just incredibly foolish. She thought of everything, even avoiding the Dark family’s private jet, and tried to sneak in undercover, only to trip up right at the starting line.
After hesitating and thinking it through over and over, Echo finally figured it was better to fess up early. If she couldn’t keep this a secret, she needed to admit her mistakes. That was the only way to handle things with Ryan.
She quickly opened the communication channel.
Before she could say anything, Ryan’s cold voice came through, “Come back.” It was like a blast of icy wind in the middle of summer.
Echo forced a bright smile and said, “Hi, Boss!”
Ryan’s tone was serious, “I’m giving you one day to show up in front of me. If you don’t, I’ll kill her.”
Hearing that, Echo clenched her teeth. As she suspected, Ryan knew everything.
After a brief moment of silence, she said softly, “Please, Boss, you know I just want to find her. I’m not trying to do anything else. I didn’t plan to take her with me. I promised I’d stick with you; I wouldn’t go back on my word. But she’s hurt, and I’m worried. Just let me find her, and I’ll come back. You can deal with me afterward, okay?”
Unintentionally, her tone had a hint of pleading and a touch of sweetness.
Against someone who knew everything like Ryan, trying to hide wouldn’t work. She’d initially wanted to buy some time, but if that was gone, resistance wouldn’t do any good. Echo had seen how powerful Ryan’s methods were; if she couldn’t get ahead of him, the only option was to comply.
Hearing her quiet plea, Ryan’s murderous intent eased just a bit, though his voice remained icy cold. “I’ll say this only once.”
Echo tightened her grip on the steering wheel, sensing that Ryan’s tone had softened a little. She took a deep breath and continued, “Boss, you know Skye means a lot to me. You don’t really want to harm her. Just let me find her, please?”
At first, she thought Ryan was really using Skye to threaten her. But after nearly twenty hours of flying, it dawned on her that Ryan didn’t actually intend to do that. If he wanted to use the Dark family’s resources, why was he only issuing the lowest-level search order now? He clearly didn’t care about that. To him, she was just one person. If he found someone useful, he’d keep them; if not, he’d discard them without a second thought.
For Ryan, that wasn’t a hard choice at all. His casual mention of Skye was just a way to exploit her weakness, and he never missed an opportunity to use that against her.
Listening to Echo’s soft words, Ryan felt his anger slowly fade. The fury he had felt from thinking he was betrayed diminished as Echo’s attitude of taking responsibility shone through. He knew all along that Echo was just reckless, not truly disloyal.
He said firmly, “Come back.”
Echo felt a bit wronged by Ryan’s resolute tone and stayed silent for a moment before finally responding.
Ryan’s words were commands; she could be stubborn, but Skye would definitely end up in Ryan’s hands first, and it wouldn’t be Ryan who suffered.
She reluctantly said, “Then can you call off the pursuit on Skye? What if those people hurt her by mistake?”
Ryan let out a cold snort and replied, “That’s your own doing.”
Hearing Ryan’s anger, Echo’s suppressed frustration bubbled up. She slammed her hand on the steering wheel and shouted back, “Why can’t I look for Skye? I’m the sixth leader in the Dark family! I can’t even make this small decision? I’m not you… ah, what the hell?”
Before she could finish her outburst, she suddenly spotted a few cars tangled up ahead, speeding straight toward her. They looked completely out of control.
Echo hadn’t noticed at first, but now, with them only about twenty meters away and both sides moving at crazy speeds, her heart dropped. She quickly slammed on the brakes, spinning the car around.
“What’s going on?” Ryan’s voice turned serious and urgent as he sensed trouble.
Bang!
A bullet shattered the windshield, and the sound of wild gunfire rang out.
Echo’s expression shifted in an instant. She quickly yanked the steering wheel, but the road ahead was blocked by three cars that were all tangled up; there was no way through. The screech of tires echoed as she left white marks on the pavement.
In a rundown rental car that hadn’t been modified, even someone as skilled as Echo couldn’t dodge the crazed assault. The car she was in collided with one of the others, sending her spiraling uncontrollably toward the outer edge.
“Damn it!” Echo gritted her teeth and quickly adjusted the steering wheel.
The junky rental was making it hard for her to use her skills effectively, and the powerful push from behind kept her from gaining any speed to break free.
Glancing at the cliff and beach just off the side of the road, Echo frowned. How did she end up here? She was so focused on talking to Ryan that she hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going.
The car scraped against the guardrail, creating a shower of sparks, and she could hear gunfire behind her-not overly intense, but definitely threatening. The car was becoming harder to control, and a gust of wind blew in a sharp odor through the window. Based on her instincts and familiarity with the vehicle, she realized the fuel tank had been punctured.
“What’s happening? Talk to me,” Ryan demanded, clearly hearing the sounds of crashing and gunfire on her end. His expression turned grim, worry evident in his tone.
“Car crash, shootout, leaking fuel, explosion,” Echo replied quickly and succinctly, her gaze chillingly calm.
She had never faced this level of trouble in a car before. Looking at her vehicle wedged tightly against the guardrail, she knew she couldn’t open the door. Glancing ahead at the upcoming turn, she realized that at this speed, her only option would be to crash and hope for the best.
Echo acted fast, releasing the steering wheel and gas pedal. She kicked open the car door without a second thought, not caring what would happen to the out-of-control car. Grabbing onto the roof, she twisted her body and climbed on top in one swift motion. Without hesitation, she launched herself off the roof, leaping toward the beach and cliff below-her only way out.
She tumbled down the steep, but not-too-steep cliff, curling herself into a ball to minimize injury. Before she even hit the sand, a deafening explosion erupted behind her, followed by one blast after another in rapid succession. It was like a bizarre fireworks display on the quiet morning beach.
“Echo! Talk to me! Are you okay? Answer me!” Ryan’s voice came through the comms loud and clear despite the chaos, laced with tension and worry. It was masked beneath his usual cold tone, but Echo could still hear it. She had no time to reply, though.
Pain shot through her body as she hit the sand, but she exhaled with relief. Lucky she was fast-if she’d survived everything only to die here…
“Echo! Say something! Do you hear me?” Ryan barked again, his voice sharper this time.
“I hear you,” Echo muttered weakly, sitting up and shaking out her arms.
She checked herself over-nothing missing, just a whole lot of soreness-and gave Ryan a half-hearted reply.
Ryan seemed to let out a subtle sigh of relief on the other end.
Sensing an opportunity, Echo grumbled, “Boss, I don’t think I’ll make it back in a day. I’m sore all over.”
There was no response at first. Ryan’s silence mirrored hers-after all, tumbling down a twenty-meter cliff hurts like hell, and she wasn’t lying about that.
After a long pause, Ryan’s cold voice came through again: “Stay sharp.” With that, he ended the call.
A grin crept across Echo’s face-he’d given her the green light.
Then came two gunshots, followed by the sound of bodies hitting the ground.
Echo snapped back to attention, realizing that if she could make the jump, others could too. This wasn’t a death-defying fall-those chasing her would’ve calculated their odds just as well as she had.