Madam Escaped Again, Sir (Lillian Hawkins and Eric Walker) novel Chapter 453

“Yes,” Tom confirmed with a nod. “Using the scraps of fabric and footprints you and Miss Reed left behind, I led the rescue team on a search. We happened to run into a villager who had a doctor in tow and I went up to them, asking whether they’d seen you and Miss Reed after showing them your photos. Surprisingly, the villager informed me that the both of you were put up in her home and she was bringing the doctor to attend to your injuries.”

Only the heavens knew how overwhelmed with relief Tom was when he saw the lake at the bottom of the mountain.

He knew that the trajectory of the fall from the cliff would be a straight line, based on the person’s weight, unless there was a landslide or a strong gust of wind that manipulated physics.

As such, when he came across the lake, he knew for sure that Toby and Sonia were still alive. Following that, he asked the rescue team to search the surrounding area for any trails or clues that Toby and Sonia could have left behind.

Sure enough, the team eventually found the fabric from her cloth. At that point, Tom was sure that she had intentionally left behind the fabric. From there, he traced their path to the cave where he came upon Sonia and Toby’s clothes, but they were gone.

It was then that he realized he was too late; Sonia and Toby had already left, so he urged the rest of the team to search the area surrounding the cave. At last, they managed to uncover footprints that led them to the missing duo.

After having heard the explanation, Toby slowly nodded in comprehension. “I see.”

Tom went on to add, “When we found you, you were running a high fever. If the villager hadn’t asked a doctor to attend to you in time, the fever might have...”

The fever might have caused some serious damage. Tom had left this unsaid, but Toby more or less picked up on it.

He gave Tom a withering look and drawled icily, “The villager might have found me a doctor, but Sonia was the one who saved my life. She carried me down the mountain in time before you and your team arrived; heaven knows how long that would have taken.”

Upon hearing this, Tom opened his mouth and closed it again, suddenly at a loss for words. He knew Toby had a point. If Sonia hadn’t found the villager in time, Tom and the rescue team would have arrived to find Toby delirious from the fever.

He distinctly remembered the villager telling him that Sonia was carrying Toby on her back when she asked for help. Toby had already passed out by then and she was so drained from carrying him that she collapsed in exhaustion.

At that moment, Tom finally understood why they had only found a single set of footprints on the mountain trails.

“I’m sorry for having spoken out of turn, President Fuller,” Tom admitted sheepishly and apologetically bowed his head.

Toby waved his hand to brush this incident off “Have you thanked the villager who helped us?”

“I have,” Tom answered.

After humming in response, Toby added, “There was a driver who helped us as well and I’d like to thank him for it.” With that, he recited the license plate number to Tom.

The moment that Tom took down the number, he asked, “President Fuller, how exactly did this driver help you?”

“He gave us a lead on how Sonia had been taken up the mountains and he bravely stopped Declan and his henchmen,” Toby explained with a small smile.

“I see,” Tom acknowledged with a nod. “I’ll have someone look for him after this.” “Speaking of which, did Declan and his men get caught?” Toby pressed, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

A rueful Tom shook his head and reported, “I’m sorry, President Fuller, but he escaped. The chopper that he boarded apparently had aviation clearance to fly out of Seafield, but ours took off from the helipad atop the company building at the very last minute, so we couldn’t make the arrangements to fly out of Seafield. All we could do was watch Declan abscond in a plane out of the city.”

One could easily drive around the country as long as it did not involve international border-crossing, but the same couldn’t be said for flying. There had to be an aviation clearance for all flights into and out of a specific city or a district. If the aircraft wasn’t authorized to fly out of Seafield, then the military could be deputized to shoot down the said plane.

It was something that Toby was naturally well aware of, so he did not blame Tom for failing to go after Declan. He merely pressed his lips into a grim line and asked darkly, “Does that mean we’ve lost track of Declan?”

“Yes,” Tom replied stiffly. “I’ve been trying to look into his whereabouts for the past few days, though; I have dispatched our men to Westsanshire and even contacted the military there, but it seems that Declan’s aircraft didn’t enter the Westsanshire airspace. My guess is that he flew out of Seafield and headed somewhere else, but the location is still unknown for now.”