Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Immediately he aimed the muzzle of the revolver at the woman's shoulder, successfully hitting the target as she carried Amanda's body without difficulty, sprinting toward her. The woman turned around, still carrying Amanda, taking her revolver out of the socks she was wearing.

'They found us. Get her out of here. Hurry!' the woman asked the two men in the van to immediately replace the woman to carry Amanda's body.

'Give me back the girl! Right now!' Raymond ran, dodging the woman's shot which knocked the van away. He briefly shot the tires of the van but growled in annoyance at the missed shot. The van has moved away from his sight. In his heart, he cursed Verdict who should look after Amanda. Where was that damn man?

'This is Mr Simon's order. You better step back.'

'That should be my line,’ Raymond pointed his revolver at the woman's head, which was also pointing the revolver at Raymond's head.

An unfavourable situation. He could not catch the van, and the chances of winning against the woman were slim. With luck, he could kill the woman. A little late, his life will fly.

'I've heard everything about you, Raymond Cooper,' the woman grinned—in contrast to the maid outfit she was wearing right now—as she stepped forward toward Raymond as she continued to point the revolver at her. 'My orders don't just bring the girl. But also carry you.'

'It's crazy if you think I'll just go along with you,' Raymond immediately lowered his head, dashing to avoid the woman while firing the bullet into the woman's arm which he managed to avoid.

'Yes,' the woman grinned. 'As a bonus for finding me and injuring my shoulder, I will tell you my name. Vera. My code name is black cat.'

The woman named Vera immediately threw away her weapon, replaced it with a dagger tucked under the collar of her arm, running towards Raymond. He had no intention of throwing away the weapon like the woman did, avoiding her attack.

'Why are you targeting Amanda?'

'Is there a need for a reason?' the woman cocked her head slightly, threw the knife straight into Raymond's left shoulder—the same place as the woman earlier—before he could dodge. 'Mr Simon is interested in that girl. Don't worry, this girl named Amanda will become Simon's favourite child. You should be grateful.'

Raymond grimaced, pulling the weapon from his shoulder. His blood slowly stained his clothes, but he did not care. He played with the knife, then he quickly threw the knife to distract the woman from the shot that was aimed at the woman's heart. He looked satisfied as he saw the woman hooked with the throw of the knife, oblivious to the shot that had hit her heart.

'Great…' said the woman, clutching her left chest where she had been shot. 'I didn't even notice. Even though Arnold can't beat me.'

'Arnold? So, you—'

The woman laughed. The woman's eyes bulged, looking pleased with the change in Raymond's expression. 'Precisely. I killed him. Do you know what his last wish was?'

'I don't want to hear,' Raymond approached the woman, preparing to fire the bullet back at the woman.

'Don't touch Raymond Cooper,' the woman laughed again. 'But you innocently took your own death! I feel sorry for Arnold. His struggle was in vain—'

'I said shut up, you bitch!!' Raymond growled, unable to hold back his emotions any longer. His hand moved quickly to pull the trigger, spewing out the bullet several times until the woman's body did not move at all. 'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!'

He continued shooting at the motionless body until the bullets ran out, leaving behind a pool of blood that littered the ground around the woman's body. He threw the revolver away, clutching his left shoulder which was aching more and more. His feet kicked the woman's body, away from him, dirtying the ankle boots he was wearing which he ignored.

As he was about to kick back the woman's body while a hand suddenly pulled him back away from the woman's corpse. He turned his head to find Hazel locking his movements.

'Stop. She is already dead.'

'But she deserves it! Let me kick her one more time!'

'I said stop!' Hazel did not put on a calm face like she always did, gripped Raymond's wrist and locked his movements. 'Let her go. The one you should be worried about is Amanda.'

'They have already taken her away,' Raymond lowered his head. 'I failed…'

'Not really,' Edward walked after Hazel, carrying Hazel's laptop, smiling at him. 'Thanks to you, we managed to tuck in the drone without making them suspicious.'

'When?'

The man did not answer his question, asked Hazel to release his grip and hand the laptop back to the owner. The man's eyes turned to his left shoulder. 'Calm yourself. Everything will be alright.'

'How could I do that!?' Raymond pushed Edward's body away from him. 'Amanda has been taken away. Where's Verdict? What did he do until Amanda—'

Edward tugged at him, kissed his lips before he could finish talking, then glanced at Hazel, who was standing behind Raymond after moving his lips away from Raymond.

'No problem, right?'

'As long as he's quiet,' Hazel walked into the house, with Edward who was carrying him, not even giving him a chance to push the man's body away.

***

Raymond shook his shoulder where Edward had just stitched up the wound, who was now inserting the medical kit (which he did not understand when Edward brought it and how he had been able to sew the wound so well), holding the gun Thyme had just given him.

'Don't move too much. I'll need to take off the stitches later.'

'I know,' Raymond observed his new gun, then looked at Thyme who was leaning their back near the entrance to Raymond's room. 'So this is your plan? Let Amanda be kidnapped?'

Thyme shrugged their shoulders and walked over to Raymond. It was difficult for him to describe what Thyme was thinking because their current expression was hard to guess. 'Knowing you wouldn't agree, so I did it without your knowledge.'

'Indeed,' he glared at Verdict, who was as confused as he was. He found the man groaning while holding his left hand. 'You know that plan, too?'

'No. I don't know at all,' Verdict lifted his collar, showing his bandaged left hand, although his injury was not as bad as last week. 'If I know, why would I let myself get hurt, even though I just got out of the hospital?'

His gaze then turned to Edward, who was now whistling while avoiding his gaze. It was certain that Edward knew about Thyme's plan, too. Hazel? The woman was still the same as before, focused on her laptop screen while occasionally muttering and eating snack bar food, not glancing at him for a bit.

Raymond rose from his seat after putting on the new clothes Edward had prepared, grabbing his smartphone in his pocket. 'Too late. They must have started the transaction by now.'

'Not really,' said Thyme, walking out of Raymond's room, calling one of the men who were at the door of Raymond's room, then whispered to the man who immediately ran away from them. 'The person I sent to infiltrate managed to make them delay the transaction time. The car is ready. We're leaving now.'

'Don't think I like your method of involving Amanda,' Raymond walked over to Thyme.

'You underestimate Amanda. She's a lot stronger than you can imagine,' Thyme threw down the keys to the car, which Raymond swiftly caught. Beside Thyme, there appeared several of their subordinates who followed them, complete with their weapons. 'We finish this game now. Are you ready?'

Raymond fiddled with the keys to the car he received while clutching his still aching shoulder, discouraging Thyme from asking any further questions. 'You are the leader. I'll just follow the lead.'

***