An abandoned factory sat in the suburbs outside of Channing.
Several fierce-looking men lounged inside with beer and snacks.
They all surrounded a girl who was tied to a chair. Her tear-streaked face came to view - it was Queenie.
Those men belonged to a gang of outlaws.
The leader was Cobra, who was also the caller from earlier.
Another man with a pockmarked face approached Cobra, "Boss. Will Penny Smith really give us the money?”
Cobra narrowed his beady eyes and chuckled, "Who cares? With those murders in Channing, we have to be on the road anyway. We'll take her daughter with us if she fails to pay. We can easily get a million or two, selling that pretty girl to some elite brothel."
A few men sniggered wickedly, "Smart! I heard that many wealthy men have a fetish for virgins. I'm sure she'll make us rich."
Cobra kept an impassive smirk on his face as he glanced at Queenie.
After intense crying and struggling, Queenie's face was messy. Yet, there was still a hopeful look on her face. She warned, "My dad is very powerful. He won't let you get away with this!"
Cobra snorted, "Oh, yeah? If he's that great, how come he's not here saving you?"
The moment Cobra finished his mocking, he heard a voice, "I'm right here!"
Cobra and his gang shot up nervously to look at the door.
They saw two figures walking towards them.
One was Nathan and the other was Penny.
Colin had ordered his teams locate Queenie immediately after receiving Nathan's call.
Those units, which consisted of a few thousand people, got to work immediately.
They filtered numerous data before sending over the gang's information and location to Nathan in less than ten minutes.
Cobra did not expect to be found shortly after he called Penny.
Queenie's face lit up, "Papa! Mama!”
Penny's heart broke when she saw her daughter in such a state, "Queenie!”
Before Penny could dash towards Queenie, the pockmark-faced man dragged Queenie to him and laid a dagger on her neck. He threatened, "Stay where you are!"
Penny froze and implored in a shaky voice, "Okay. Whatever you say. Please don't hurt her."
Apparently flustered, Cobra squinted his eyes, "Well, well. Look at you. I wasn't expecting any guests. What did you do to my men outside?"
Nathan did not care to answer. Instead, he shot a sharp look at the pockmarked-face man, "Release her if you want to live. This is your last chance."
Cobra and his men shared a look and cracked up as if they had just heard a ridiculous joke.
Cobra turned around to stare at Nathan, "Sure. We can let her go. What about the ten million I asked for?”
Nathan mellowly stated, "I have a few hundred million with me. I hope that you don't find that overwhelming."
Cobra sneered, "There's no such thing as too much money. If that's the case, I have my ways to launder it without leaving a trace. We can live comfortably off it."
The pockmark-faced man noticed that Nathan and Penny were empty-handed, "Cobra, don't fall for his game. We're already on the run anyways. We might as well kill the man and take the babe.”
He sized Penny up with a lewd smile,
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Salute to the General