Chapter 90: Consequences
Chang's wrists and shoulders ached horribly by the time the truck had stopped, her wrists felt almost rubbed raw from the chafing materials.
She had been bouncing and jostling around in the back of the truck as they sped through the night. If not for being bound tightly to the truck she feared she would have been thrown from the bucking vehicle long ago. Through it all she kept her eyes fixated on the way from which they came as the wind whipped across her face.
She had tried to talk to the girl tied up across from her, but was reprimanded when she tried and didn't try to do so any further
A long dust plume trailed after them like a tail before settling down as they came to a stop lightly squeaking. The men left the engine still running after they stopped, the red lights of the brakes illuminated their surroundings, showing a small squat building to their right.
A light came on from inside the building, responding to the growl of the engine outside. One of the men got out and cut the rope of the young woman bound across from her. She was dragged into the building by the man, who then came out by himself a minute or two later.
Once he hopped back into the truck and they continued on, tires scritching against the ground as they shifted gears and sped up, quickly taking them away from the area. Further into the unknown. Chang slammed into the side of the truck as they started up unexpectedly adding to the layering of bruising she already felt.
Chang felt fear stabbing her in her heart repeatedly, wondering where they were taking her.. Or what they were going to do to her. . She wanted to ask but dared not to, these men had already made it very clear that violence was an easy means for their solutions.
'Where are they taking me? Where did they take that girl?
'Am I going to die?' That thought hit her like a ton of bricks.
'No. No. I dont want to die. Mom. Jian. Somebody please help me..' She curled her shoulders forward and hung her head low concealing a couple of silvery tears.
'Jian where are you? Save me, please.'
----
Liang JianAmal sent the guard back to the palace, to bring fresh reinforcements. He also sent him with a message to Hao Jin Ying to follow him and to bring "that."
Liang JianAmal was now riding again, following the tracks of the vehicle that led from the house. Even if this didn't lead to Chang, this was already far more than suspicious enough. He sorely hoped that it did though, so much time had already been lost.
The tracks led him further south and to the east slightly, into the wilds.
----
After what felt like an eternity the truck rolled to a stop in the middle of what looked liked any other spot they had passed. Dawn was just starting to throw back the curtain of night, the sky just blushing a lighter shade of lilac to her left, behind a row of massive mountains.
Chang wearily hung from her wrists, blankly looking at the scrubby and sandy hilly area. As they had traveled the grass had given way to mostly sand, and hard packed terrains of what looked like mud. Plant life had lessened to just a few scraggly small trees and sparse bushes. The whole place looked inhospitable and unwelcoming to her.
'Wait are they going to kill me and dump my body here? No! No!' Chang started to panic as they stopped in the middle of nowhere.
The man who had grabbed them, and taken the other woman into the building; came around and tried to cut her bondage and drag her out of the vehicle. After he cut the ropes restraining her Chang started to freak out and clawed savagely at the man's face, while screaming. He stumbled back and she threw herself out of the truck and started sprinting, heading back the way they came.
Her breath came out ragged as she ran with all she had, terror fueling her steps. She hadn't made it for than a few hundred feet when she was tackled savagely onto the hard ground.
Chang screamed and flailed, clawing at the ground desperately, trying to get away; a firm hand had her ankle in a firm grip though. The back of her collar was seized along with some of her hair, which now hung mostly loose, disheveled, and she was dragged unwillingly back to the truck.
The man who she had come to realize was probably the leader sneered at her before backhanding her on her right cheek.
Chang tasted blood in her mouth from the hit, and it felt like her cheek instantly swelled up to the size of a baseball. She saw stars swimming before her eyes, and depended on the hand holding her collar to keep her up. The man then grabbed her chin forcing her face up as he inspected where he struck her.
"Hmm good, dont want to mess up that pretty face of yours, we wont be able to make as much if we do. Can't leave marks on you.." The man smiled at her evilly before continuing trying to impress his meaning into her. "At least ones that buyers could see."
Chang felt herself growing cold realizing there were things worse than death.
Chapter 91: Rescue
Liang Jian Amal kept riding through most of the night, walking the animal as he had to. He was walking the animal, at the moment, frustrated by his slow speed as he was driven on. Dawn had just started to break and he saw a plume of dust start to appear behind him.
'At last, they finally catch up.'
Liang JianAmal continued on, waiting for them to catch up to him, unwilling to stop and wait. He had to keep moving. He couldn't stop.
A couple of Mahindra's and Jeep AAVs came roaring up to him first. The calvary was a little further behind carrying the main force of the national guards, which had mobilized on his orders. The vehicles came to a stop before him the men's faces grim, each armed carried a saber on his left, an AKM, a Marakov Pistol on his right hip, as well as an Ari B'Lailah strapped horizontily to the back of their wide belts.
They were fully armed and dressed in tan camoflauge as he had instructed the guard to tell them to be after the gruesome murders. After last night, the disappearances over the last month, as well as the movements within his uncle's compounds; Liang JianAmal felt that it all pointed to something large-scale being in set into motion. They needed to be ready for whatever lay at the end of this tunnel.
----
Back in the palace Li Hua sat with Hakim Al-Hassan , as the latter tried to comfort the former. She had sat awake all night waiting for Jian to return with her daughter.
Initially she had been sitting near the main gateway from the palace to the city. After having stood there until exhaustion, watching, waiting, Hao Jin Ying and Hakim Al-Hassan had persuaded her to come inside, as there was nothing further they could do.
LiHua sat on the padded couch in the salon, counting and recounting every tile in the wall and ceiling, trying to distract herself from her trepidation.
Late in the night a spent guardsman returned to the palace with a message for Hao Jin Ying, who then rushed off, dragging the half dead man with her by the shoulder pads of his uniform. Li Hua instinctually had wanted to follow and do anything she could to help, and tried to stand to follow, Hakim al-Hassan stopped her though. He placed one large hand over the two of hers that were gripped together as if in prayer.
"My hafid will take care of this. Trust in him."
"I just feel so useless, my baby is out there somewhere. She's all that I have.." Li Hua started to weep again as the sun rose illuminating the halls.
"Dear one please don't weep, you must be strong and take care of yourself otherwise what will little Chang say when she sees you in this state? Come now dry your eyes, you should eat something as well." He gave a motion to one of the maids who stood in the corner in attendance and she flurried off to the kitchen.
----
Liang JianAmal left his horse for one of the calvarymen to take care of as he hopped into the back of one of the trucks, bracing himself against the side framing. He grabbed a pistol and one of the Ari B'Lailah's, from the full set of equipment that was brought for him as well.
He had been trained by the national guard of the republic of Lahat growing up and was familiar with all the weaponry, as well as how to handle himself in a fight if needed. He worried about the tracks growing fainter and wearing away and so joined the vanguard, wanting only to continue on as quickly as possible.
The tracks continued on taking them into sandier area through hills and scrub brush. The morning sun illuminated the sparse countryside, seemingly devoid of life except for the plant matter.
As they were continuing on a glint caught the corner of Liang JianAmal's eye, right before rapid gunfire rang out, ripping through the truck to his left causing it to flip. One of the shots hit the driver of the vehicle he was in and tore through the front of the engine. The vehicle slowly crawled to a stop, as the force that commanded it to go had been snuffed out.
From the other truck flipping, a giant cloud of dust and sand rose into the air disrupting sight, and the shots stopped. All the men in the vehicle got out and hid behind the truck, opposite from where the shots rang out.
Liang Jian Amal motioned and called out for the other two trucks to pull back as they started to circle around.
Liang Jian Amal tried to scout through the dust their enemy. They needed to pinpoint where those were coming from. There was no doubt now they were on the right track.
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