ENDS

There was a gunshot in the air and soon enough everyone ran in haphazard directions to cover for safety.

“Othniel!? Othniell!?” Meredith yelled out as she tried to take cover also.

She crouched behind a shelf and was muttering silent prayers for the sake of her life and her safety. It wasn’t quite long before she felt a hand on her left shoulder and she jumped in fright but calmed her nerves after she saw it was the driver she had been looking for.

“What’s going on? How do we get out of here???” she asked as her lips and arms were trembling.

Othniel placed a finger on his lips and whispered a little shhh “follow me”

At first, she wondered where he thought he was headed but she wasn’t given enough time to wonder as he pulled her to her feet and ran into one of the dressing rooms.

The moment they were in, he jammed the door shut behind them and began searching the entire room for something.

“What are you looking for?” she asked in confusion.

“Something strong enough to break a wall”

“Why would you want to break a wa…” she wasn’t able to complete the statement when another gunshot sound resonated through the air.

Othniel decided to try ramming one of the mobile hangers into the wall repeatedly to see if it would work.

And it actually did.

He realized the walls were made of wood and not actual concrete so it was easier to break through.

Once a small hole was made, he lifted the chair in the room and threw it at the wall.

It brought the brittle walls to pieces and he was glad of the outcome.

“There’s a jeep outside waiting for you. RUN!” he commanded her and she didn’t delay in obedience.

As fast as she could hafer she ran out the broken wall and did see a jeep just down the store, she picked up her pace to get to it faster like they were going to leave her behind if she didn’t.

The moment the car doors opened she jumped in and the vehicle sped off as soon as she did.

It was then she caught her breath and realized who was in the car with her.

“Hunter? You’re organizing continental shooting parades now?”

“Meredith did you by chance overhear what your father’s plans tonight were?” Hunter asked her, hoping that maybe there might be a misinformation and they weren’t actually going to kill Iris.

“You know he’s my father?” she asked with a slight hurt to it.

She reminisced briefly on the night he had told her.

She still remembered how the crackles of the fireplace resonated around the room, how the mug of latte she held in her hands was a bit thaw, how the room was filled with picture frames of so many people he called his family.

And also, her family.

The way he looked at her when he narrated the tale. Like he was reciting African tales by moonlight to the little girl who was eager to hear.

‘I wouldn’t lie to you, believe me’

He repeated this to her over and over, she wasn’t sure if it was so he could successfully deceive her, or if he truly wanted her to believe the truth.

But somehow, she fell for the latter.

She spent the entire night crying, and spent the days fighting back tears.

Being lied to all your life and made feel like an outcast isn’t something one can find a reason to jubilate in.

She had just completed a series of tears in the bathroom before being told her father wanted organized a surprise shopping trip at eleven pm to make her happy.

And she put her fake face on to pretend it did make her happy.

Now here she is realizing that someone else knew she wasn’t a Reid.

“Yes, I did but…” he tried to explain to her that that wasn’t the trivial matter at hand.

“And you didn’t tell me? Does Iris know?”

“Meredith your father is going to have Iris killed in a matter of minutes if you do not chill and get things…” Hunter was once again cut in by the driver of the vehicle.

“We’re here.” The dark man in a suit said.

As much as he knew this moment was going to come, it still sends shivers into his spine because no matter how much he prepared for this… he was never ready.

“I’m sorry Meredith but I got to do this” he says and pulls out a gun.

“HUNTER WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?? HELP!! HELPPP!!” Meredith shouted and began banging on the door to escape.

“I won’t shoot you, just do as I say and we’ll be out of here.”

Then someone hands him two pieces of clothes from the back and the fear in Meredith’s heart grew because she hadn’t seen the men there till now.

Hunter takes one of the clothes and requests for her hands which she voluntarily gave so long as he promised to keep her alive.

Why she was trusting him? She had no idea.

He ties her both hands at her back and proceeds to use the second one to seal her mouth shut.

“Come with me” he commands and gently tugs her to follow him out his door with his gun in his right hand.

The moment both of them set foot on the ground, he points the gun to her head and begins walking forward to search the area.

As said earlier, the park was really abandoned, not a single structure in sight. Just trees and grasses.

As the wind blew their hairs across their faces, the cool temperature didn’t stop sweat beads from forming on their foreheads.

The bustling of the trees made it slightly hard to decipher noises in the area, but hunter believes Meredith’s sobs were part of the things masking sounds in his ear.

“shhh” he commanded her and once again she was cooperative with instructions.

Her silence made it easier for him to hear other sounds like the frogs croaking a melody somewhere he couldn’t point and the cries of someone else.

Sadly, he knew who that someone else was.

He gulped and held his gun tighter out of fear.

Meredith did assume it was to pull the trigger and flinched a bit.

“I won’t pull the trigger on you okay? I promise.” He reassured her as the both of them slowly tried to navigate their way around the plants to follow the direction of the cries.

The closer they got, the louder the cries and the more they heard another voice speaking.

A masculine voice.

Unfortunately, Hunter also knew who that was but he decided against making his presence known.

Finally, he was able to find the exact location Iris’s voice was coming from and he saw her laying on the bare ground in nothing but her underwear whilst Soldo spoke on a call with someone.

“Be quick.” Soldo said into the cellphone and ended the call after which the slid the phone into his back pocket.

He had a lit cigarette in his mouth which he puffed out some smoke into the air and stared intently at a weeping Iris.

“You could’ve at least covered her up” Hunter grunted angrily at the way he stared at her.

He wasn’t quite pleased.

The voice caused Soldo to turn with his gun first before he lowered the gun when he realized he was with someone else.

“Nothing you haven’t seen before, am I right?” He tried to make a joke out of Hunter’s complain and that only infuriated him the more.

Which was exactly Soldo’s plan.

“Was that supposed to be funny?”

“yes, actually but I see you’ve lost your sense of humor… or just your senses in general Hunter”

“Quit the games Soldo, you want me then here I am… leave her out of this.”

His statement caused Soldo to find amusement as he laughed like he had just heard a dad joke.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“Now what’s the fun in having you surrender?” he started and crouched in front of Iris, blowing a ball of smoke into her face “when I can actually hurt something worthwhile to you before killing you.”

“I swear to God if you touch her, I’ll shoot” Hunter growled and pressed the gun on Meredith’s temple causing her to shed involuntary tears.

“Be my guest dumbo, pull the trigger” Soldo stood tall to his feet “Pedro would make sure your little girlfriend here, your kid and the rest of your entire family would kiss the earth. So be my guest… shoot”

There was a moment of silence between the two of them and only crickets of the night could be visibly heard.

“Go ahead Hunter, shoot… I thought that’s what you wanted?”

Hunter couldn’t reply, he knew Soldo was right… anything he did to Meredith Pedro was sure to revenge.

After all its Pedro’s revenge that led them all here tonight.

“You know, I really thought you’d protect her more seeing how much you cared about her. If I had known about her years ago, I would have shot her the first chance I got with her”

“First Chance?”

“She dated one of my men, got intimate. turns out the whimp let his emotions get in the way and he couldn’t carry on the plan to find out who she was to you. Shot him on the spot. A real waste of my time.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying” Hunter said with confusion and expected a response.

This only caused Soldo to chuckle again “Shoot.” He commanded Hunter in regards to his original plan.

“This is a bait Soldo and you know me better than to fall for it”

Soldo turned to where Iris lay and forcefully kicked against her stomach that caused her to moan from pains and the impact of the trauma.

“WHAT THE FUCK!? SHE DIDN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING TO YOU!” Hunter yelled at the top of his voice with tears gathering in his eyes.

“That was for the hit she gave me back at your home, she really does put on a fight.”

Only when he said this did Hunter notice the bruises on Iris’s face and arms.

“Stop!” he yelled out hoping Soldo would actually listen.

“fulfill your words or I strike her again” Soldo threatened and he threw his finished cigarette butt on the floor and pulled out a pack from the front of his jeans.

“Did I miss the show?” another voice came into the conversation and Hunter didn’t recognize who it was but he could guess.

“Ah, Pedro… hunter was just about to shoot your daughter” Soldo said oh so casually as he lit another cigarette stick.

“Oh really?… let’s hasten the business, shall we?” Pedro says like they were two marketers trying to sell their gold.

He pulled out a gun from his coat and cocked it in Iris’s direction, ready to pull the trigger.

“NOOO!!!” hunter yelled but he was a bit too late before the sound of a gunshot rang in the night silence.

But it wasn’t Pedro’s gun.

Seconds later Soldo falls to the ground with his hand grasping his knee and yells of pain.

“I hate unnecessary drama” Mr. Reid says and fires one more bullet at Soldo, this time actually taking his life.

Hunter had never been happier at the sound of someone’s gun, Iris and Meredith on the other hand were terrified.

“I never expected to see you after all you’ve done” Pedro says to him with a fiery look in his eyes.

“Prisons never taught you anything and its very obvious.”

“If it taught me you aren’t my friend then I learnt more than enough.”

“I cut off my life from evil and if you decide to remain in the wrong, you’d be part of those cut off” Mr. Reid lowered his gun and looked to where Hunter and Meredith stood.

Meredith looked at him with eyes full of tears and he wasn’t sure if it was out of fear with all that’s happening or actual hurt towards him.

“With less boring conversations I am more concerned about what you told her?” Reid continued using his gun to point in Meredith’s direction.

“What else but the truth she needed to know?”

“I can bet with my balls Gonzalez that ninety percent of your story is a lie”

“Then your balls might be missing at the moment, do well to check.”

“So, you did well to inform her that every accident that took place in my home were of your attacks or that part is a lie?”

Meredith’s eyes slowly moved to the man who claimed to be her father and waited for his response.

“That part of this story was a bit unnecessary” he defended and clutched his gun tighter in his palms.

Reid chuckled ever so lightly then lifted his wrist to check the time on his watch “I could turn this to a death fight, but I know you well enough to have men hidden behind you so I’ll tell you this; You have approximately thirty seconds until an explosive behind you goes off and takes out every man you came out with and forty before the police gets here” he started “You should know by now that I make no hesitations in giving you to the authorities.”

Pedro’s eyes widened and he looked behind him to be sure his men had heard the information he just did.

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

“You have approximately twenty seconds to find out… so you can stand and watch, or you can follow the route behind me and save yourself.”

“I am not leaving here without my daughter.”

“fifteen…”

“Another number and I’ll shoot” Pedro roared in the dark night and pointed his gun at Iris.

The action made Hunter try to run forward a bit but Reid lifted a hand to stop him.

“If you shoot her, its very obvious that my boy over here would release his own trigger and we both lose or you can walk away and get to see her on days she pleases”

Right now, Reid was only trying to while away time till the cops came in, the time of agreement had been attained.

“You know she wouldn’t.”

“That’s left for her to decide and for you to pick a cell in a well-ventilated area”

“A ce…” Pedro started but was interrupted by the loud sirens of vehicles all around the area.

“Yeah you were right, I lied about the bombs”

“You son of a…” he exclaimed and was about to pull the trigger on Iris but Reid was two steps ahead of him and shot him directly on his thigh to destabilize him.

Pedro fell to the floor with a loud thud and groans as his weapon fell out of his grip on impact with the ground.

“And next time, if there would be anyway… try to recruit smarter men. Your crew re-strategizing only because I said there was a bomb is like falling for the oldest trick in the book. You don’t think I came here alone did you”

Put your hands where I can see them

Yelled the policemen as they invaded where they had gathered.

Reid’s men began exiting the bushes with some men either with their hands tied behind their backs or with guns pointed to their heads.

Hunter released Meredith from his hold and ran to where Iris lay, weeping profusely despite being gagged.

“Its okay, it’s okay… I got you” he said as he stretched his hands behind her to loosen the knots that held her captive and remove the clothing that had restricted her mouth.

After which he took off his shirt and immediately wore it over her before the police could get closer to where they were.

“you’re okay” he cooed into her ear as he pulled her in for a hug and she grabbed him tighter with each shedding tear.

She had never been so terrified in her life.

While she was still crying, Hunter caught sight of Mrs. Hao and Tai walking into the scene with his daughter and his heart jumped for joy knowing she was okay.

It almost felt like this was all over.

“I’m with Louisa” he said, hoping it’ll cheer her up and the statement caught her attention.

She lifted her head from his chest and looked at his face to be sure he wasn’t messing with her; it didn’t take long before Louisa spotted her mother and yelled out.

“mummy!” and raced to where her mom was seated on the floor.

She jumped into her mother’s arms and unintentionally, Iris began crying more heavily than she did before.

Hunter decided to give the both of them some space because he felt like he was intruding.

He turned around and saw Mrs. Hao staring at Meredith from a distance as the police asked her questions.

He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder that caused her to jump due to how unexpected it was.

“Do you want to meet her?” Hunter asked her and Mrs. Hao didn’t know what to respond to that question or how to.

She was a terrible mother who had abandoned her child in the face of danger.

Even if she wanted to meet her daughter, she wasn’t sure her daughter wanted to meet her.

This and many more thoughts were flying through her head that she hadn’t realized Hunter had left her side and walked over to where Meredith stood until she heard the sound of a slap that caused everyone to stare in their direction.

“That was for kidnapping me and pointing a gun to my head!” Meredith screamed at a Hunter who was rubbing at his cheek to numb the pain.

“I’m sorry.” Hunter apologized and he truly meant it.

“To hell with you.” She retorted and was in no way willing to let the incidence go.

“I wanted to introduce you to your mother.” Hunter says to her and that caused her to lower her stance.

Mrs. Hao had also heard the statement and developed a cold foot of double intensity than she had felt earlier.

“My mom?” Meredith asked unsure of what Hunter was saying.

Her father had supposedly told her that her mother had disappeared and no one knew of her whereabouts.

“Mrs. Hao?” He called out to the woman who stood only a few feet away, staring at the both of them while they had their little toggle.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the garden… Hunter’s dad stood and watched the entire scenery with pain in his heart because he knew what was coming next after this.

It was inevitable.

“Sir?” one of the policemen called out to him as he seemed a little distracted.

“Yes, officer Bent?” he replied, ready to focus again.

“Miss Claudette has been intercepted at the airport alongside another man known as the Mr. Lin you had described.”