Chapter 242: The Stream

Shortly after LiMe and Rui escape,the ambulance driver finishes his phone call with his wife. Breathing heavily he takes his sticky hand wiping himself off with a small towel. Satisfied he smirks, “Ahh..you little slut… I am going to fuck you so hard when I get home.. Be wearin that little black nightgown I bought ya ” He tosses the dirty towel onto the passenger seat then zips up his pants. Wanting to hurry home he looks at his watch , yeah..those fuckers should be here any minute.

Two black SUVs pull up behind the ambulance and four muscular men dressed in black suits get out. The ambulance driver jumps down out of the front seat looking around for the male nurse.Where the fuck did he go to have a cigarette? He looks around, all there is the goddamn forest. Thinking maybe he returned to the ambulance he bangs on the back door. “Get the woman out, you are switching cars.”

One of the men from the SUVs gives the driver an annoyed look.Speaking German he barks, “Hurry up asshole, we got to get the fuck out of here. The plane should be ready to go.”

When the male nurse doesn’t answer the impatient driver opens the door, What the hell! He sees the male nurse slumped over and no one else inside.He nervously jumps into the ambulance and pushes the male nurse’s shoulder thinking he is knocked out.”Hey man, what the fuck happened?” When he exerts pressure the lifeless man falls off the seat onto the floor. The ambulance driver gasps, the motherf****r’s goddam neck is broken! What the hell is going on!  His eyes are wide and all the color drains from his face knowing he needs to face the four intimidating men waiting to take the woman.  FUCK! I will be lucky if they don’t kill me on the spot!

Sweat is pouring down his forehead but he realizes he can’t delay the inevitable. He grits his teeth and the hops down out of the ambulance. “ The man and the woman escaped, Hugo is dead. They can’t have gotten very far, no other cars passed by and all the area is covered in forest. The woman is injured and they couldn’t have more than a ten minute start.”

When he hears they are gone the leader of the mercenaries who is smoking a cigarette leaning on the SUV rushes forward grabbing the ambulance driver by the neck. Holding the burning cigarettes close to the driver’s eye about to press it down he angrily growls, “How much did they pay you to fuck us over.”

The mercenary doesn’t believe there is any way an injured woman and an arrogant doctor could kill a ruthless killer like Hugo then escape without the ambulance driver’s help.

Feeling the heat from the cigarette’s ember coming closer to his eye the terrified driver begins to cry and stutters “No.. you got me wrong… no way would I do that. I know a dead man can’t spend money. Ya gotta believe me, I don’t know how the fuck they killed Hugo. Maybe the little lab rat has superhuman strength. Isn’t that why your boss wants to run experiments on her body? That’s it! She is a trained killer with superhuman strength! You should have sent more men.”

“…” The mercenary forcefully presses the burning cigarette on the ambulance driver’s forehead then let’s go of his collar. While the man is screaming he pushes him down to the ground, “ You better hope we find them or you and your entire family are dead.”

The driver holds his head and sobs, “Don’t hurt my family!” He pleads, “I swear I didn’t fucking help them!” The driver points to the ambulance, “If it was me I coulda just drove away why would I wait! Listen, I have done some tracking, they couldn’t have gone far I will help you search the forest. ”

The mercenary ignores him and takes out his phone, “I need a helicopter. We are by the forest 7 km outside Bergamo.  I need you to locate two people who escaped into the woods.There is nowhere to land in this area so when you have their coordinates send them to me. I will capture them. Don’t kill them. I need them alive,well the woman anyway.”

He is confident they can find LiMei and Rui. Looking out at the expense of forest he raises his eyebrow, they really have nowhere to run.The only problem is, it will be getting dark soon, will they survive the night if they are not quickly found. He narrows his blue eyes staring at his phone. The more perlexing question is should I alert the boss Subject 456 is missing .He points to the two men standing by him. “Let’s split up the three of you, go to the North, I will search towards the South with —- and the driver. He thinks it is more likely the woman and the doctor would head away from the direction of Bergamo.

LiMei  and Rui reach a large rushing stream at the bottom of a hill. LiMei can’t help but smile,  I told you we would run into a stream. She lightly taps him on the shoulder, “You must be tired, put me down.”

“Not tired.” He is enjoying feeling of LiMei pressed onto his back and the light smell of jasmine on her body.”We can rest after we go down the stream for a while.” The sky is starting to get dark and he doesn’t want to stop while there’s still some light.

“Really I can walk by myself, you don’t have to carry me.”

” You could get sick if your wounds get wet.”

“Are you thirsty?”  LiMei reaches into the pocket of his suit jacket she is wearing and pulls out a bottle of water. Reaching over his shoulder she hands the water to him.

He takes the plastic bottle from her small soft hand, after having a small sip he puts the cap back on the bottle. Rui doesn’t want to worry LiMei but thinks they should conserve their water in case they can’t get to the farm before nightfall. It would be difficult to find their way through the forest in the dark,so they might need to find a place to sleep.

Rui is concerned she must be weak and in pain being jostled around as he carries her through the forest. Having to use her strength to hold onto me must be very tiring…she feels too thin..“How are you feeling? When we get further away we can stop, I can check your injuries then.”

“Okay.” LiMei Is concerned he will discover that she is healing too quickly but has no idea how to dissuade him from checking her injuries. She isn’t experiencing any pain and it feels as though her injuries are almost completely healed. Her only hope is that  they can be rescued before her unusual ability to heal is discovered.

Rui steps into the stream and his body stiffens from the freezing cold temperature of the water. LiMei hugs him tighter, realizing how uncomfortable it must be moving through the cold water while carrying her on his back, “Thank you.”

Rui chuckles,“You don’t have to keep thanking me.”Continuing moving as quickly as he can through the water he ignores the numbing pain from the chilling water that is permeating his bones.

LiMei feels guilty he got dragged into this mess, “You wouldn’t be in danger if it wasn’t for me.”

Rui is extremely angry that LiMei is in danger especially after all she has been through recently. “Well, It is Nikolai Narlalov’s fault, not yours.” Chronus must want to use LiMei to pressure that maniac for some reason but why do they believe she is important to him? Rui wants to ask her what she knows about Nikolai Narlalov and  the people who are chasing them but decides he can wait. He has a lot of questions he would like  LiMei to answer.

After they move further downstream the sound of voices can’t be heard anymore but Rui doesn’t believe they have stopped looking for them. He doesn’t want to frighten LiMei but he is well aware of how powerful the Chronos Consortium is, it is one of the most feared organizations in the Underworld. If it really is Gunnar Hedwig who wants to capture Li Mei with his unlimited resources in a short amount of time there will be a helicopter to scan the forest and experienced trackers hunting them down.

Ru notices across the stream there is a small wooden building that almost blends into the forest. The windows look boarded up so it probably is deserted.He decides it would be a better place to spend the night than trying to reach the farm, it is less conspicuous and wouldn’t be easily seen from the air in the dark. The question is how deep is the stream. The water is rushing fairly fast which would indicate it is shallow ,should I risk getting  LiMei’s wounds wet.I think that crossing the stream be the best choice.

“LiMei,we need to cross the stream. Can you see that small wooden building? I think that would be the best place to stay until I can get hold of my men to come pick us up.I’m not sure how much further the farm is that I saw as we were driving along the highway and I think they would look there first.The only problem is I’m not sure how deep the stream is, I need you to hold on to me tightly.Tuck your head under my suit coat you are wearing so if the water splashes it doesn’t get your bandage wet. ”

“Okay.” She obediently  covers her head completely with his gray suit coat, enveloped by his distinct masculine scent she has a strange feeling. I should feel nervous being pursued by those mercenaries but for some reason I feel safe with Qiao Rui. When we get to that wooden shack I am going to ask what our relationship is. I need to know..Is the handsome man my target or a member of the Black Sky. He seems unusually calm and focused considering how dangerous the situation. Not to mention  the cold-blooded expression on his handsome face when he killed the mercenary in the ambulance.He didn’t hesitate for even a moment. Maybe I will be able to regain my memory if I have more information.