CHAPTER 490: RAID THE ABODE (5)

Marvin’s heart sank, his eyes glued on that path to freedom, but knowing very well that any single action from him would earn him a one-way ticket to the netherworld.

"Going somewhere?" came the low, mocking voice behind him.

The voice was unfamiliar. It was rough, rasped from too many years of smoke, maybe a few hard drinks, drugs, and cruelty. A guard, but not one of the lazy ones. This one... this one sounded like he enjoyed his job, just judging from the glee detected in his voice.

Marvin, still on his belly on the ground, didn’t dare move. The cold of the gun’s nozzle against his neck was like ice burning into his spine. He could feel every grain of dirt beneath him, every thorn embedded in his palms. It would have all been worth it, only if he had not been caught.

Like Brianna and all the other workers, Marvin knew the consequences of trying to escape, as no one had succeeded in this venture ... ever! Marvin had thought that he’d be the first person to do so successfully. It turns out that it was just his wishful thinking.

"Thought you could outsmart us?" the guard whispered, then delivered a swift kick to his side. Pain exploded in his ribs. "You think we don’t know? We let one run every now and then. Keeps the rest of you hopeless. Hahahahahahahaaaaa..."

Marvin tried not to groan, but the ache clawed up his throat. The guard’s chuckle was low and joyless.

"Hey, you should have seen the hope and joy on his face, thinking he’s out of here..... Heheheheheheh....."

From the shadows, a second figure emerged .... another guard, hefty and short, with an iron-banded club. The first one spoke again, louder now, for effect.

"Let’s drag this hero back. The boss’ll want to make an example. And this one," he jabbed the barrel into the man’s temple, "looks like he’ll scream really nice."

Marvin’s heart sank even more.

How had he missed that two guards were tailing him? Was he so out of his body that he had missed this? The whole thing made him feel like the biggest fool that ever lived.

And as they yanked him up, twisting his arms behind his back, he saw it briefly through the trees: the breaking dawn, pale gold on the horizon. So close.

Yet now, impossibly far away.

Marvin did not resist. He braced for the pain. He knew what came next. How could he not, when he had seen it happen to others who dared to hope?

’Did that girl give me away?’

A thought briefly flashed in his mind, but he dismissed it. He knew it was no one’s fault that he had been caught, but he couldn’t help but let his mind wander a bit, by trying to place the blame on another.

The guards were already dragging him back through the underbrush, muttering to each other about what they’d break first.

"I want to try his legs first!"

"Naaa, let’s do his arms! I love the sound of breaking bones...."

"Why do you say so? What about the ribs? He’s going to die anyway...."

Then the unexpected happened. It looked like that night and the subsequent dawn were turning out to be very eventful.

A deafening blast tore through the silence of the approaching dawn. It was not from a weapon, but a siren. It was shrill, foreign, and unmistakably official. A second followed, echoing through the trees.

For a moment, the three men were stumped for varying reasons.

"What the ... ?" one of the guards barked, yanking Marvin upright as a shield instinctively as they all froze.

From beyond the tree line, a voice roared through a megaphone, amplified by magic or tech ....it didn’t matter. It was just so loud that the guards were sure that it echoed on the whole island.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM! THIS IS A RAID!"

"R-a-id!" It took a few short moments before the two guards understood what was happening. But how could that be? Their place was as secluded as could be, and most of the native islanders did not even know of them, so how was it possible? The sirens were unmistakable, though. It was all around them. Lots of men in covert uniform ....

One of the guards reached for his two-way radio as if to send info to the base, but the unmistakable sound of a gunshot shouted, making him scream!

Marvin dropped to the ground instinctively as the radio was shot out of the guard’s hand, destroyed instantaneously.

"I will not repeat myself! Drop your weapons!"

Panic spread like fire between the two, and they could not even mask it.

The birds and other small animals around shrieked into the sky and on the ground as a line of black-clad figures emerged, methodical and precise .... The police, or something like it. Not island enforcers. These were outsiders. This was the most surprising for the two.

Marvin, still on the ground, blinked. He couldn’t believe it. Was this real? One of the guards cursed, spun to run, dropping his gun in the process, but he was immediately knocked flat by a stinging flash of light from one of the officers’ staffs.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!" He screamed and thrashed on the ground, from the impact of whatever had hit him, at the same time, his partner, who was directly next to Marvin, dropped on the ground, his face buried in the sand.

Marvin gaped. This was the man who was acting all high and mighty. With his thick tall frame, his trembling frame was baffling, but Marvin was not in a frame of mind to think of this. Was he saved? Or not?

"Don’t move!" an officer yelled at the thug, then kneeling beside Marvin. "Are you hurt?"

Marvin couldn’t even answer. All he could do was nod slowly, shakily, as the bun he’d traded the salve for was smashed to the ground, but that was the last of his worries in that moment.

Behind them, more guards who had rushed out upon the commotion were tackled to the ground, the field swarming with shouting and commands. Somewhere in the distance, a loud explosion signalled the destruction of something major .... perhaps one of the illegal storage huts, Marvin thought as he dropped his head to the ground, exhausted.

He was getting out alright, but he was not sure if he was really free.

One thing was for certain: the island that had been long forgotten and hidden was no longer secret.

***

The first sign that something was wrong in the camp was the animals’ chirps, which suddenly went quiet. Brainna, who was still leaning under that big tree, eyes void of emotion, had the first reaction; her eyes flickered, and she sat up slowly.

"The birds are not chirping," she mouthed, hearing the little birds screech as if alarmed. They rose suddenly from the trees as if startled awake by the unknown.

"Are you having nightmares like me?" Brianna whispered and then leaned back against the tree. She was tired ... truly tired!

It was then that she heard the piercing wail of a siren that sliced through the dawn air.

This sudden sound made her flinch, wincing as her hand hit the tree trunk. A few girls, who were just stepping out of their huts, looked up, startled. The guards, however, panicked. And that alone told her everything.

Something was happening.

A second sound followed, closer and louder, making them all look up ... choppers! There were a couple of them circling around from the top. Then a booming voice rang out in an authoritative and crisp voice... far more than any of the voices belonging to the guards.

"THIS IS A RAID. DO NOT MOVE. I REPEAT.... THIS IS A RAID! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!"

Brianna’s heartbeat slammed in her ears.

She scrambled to her feet, confused. Hope .... it stirred, uninvited. It was dangerous, but that was all she felt at this time.

Brianna’s heart swelled for the first time in months!

She’d learned not to hope. But then she saw them—figures in black swarming the far edge of the field, not cloaked in cruelty like the guards, but armoured in purpose.

Someone screamed as men dropped down from the sky. The choppers’ sound was deafening, but to the workers there, that was the sound of freedom!

The guards fired off a shot into the air, but it was met with blinding flashes, stuns, and equal gunshots. In just a few short moments, they had no choice but to drop their guns, raise their hands, and some lay flat on the ground. One by one, they fell, shackled, yelling curses that no longer held any power.

Her eyes widened as the guards’ and her captors’ empire crumbled in minutes.

A pair of black-clad officers sprinted past her toward the main house. One of them stopped, glanced at her.

"You ... are you hurt?" the woman asked.

Brianna tried to speak. Her voice wouldn’t work. So, she shook her head, even though it was a lie.

"Help is here. Stay down if you can. We’ll come for you." The officer rushed off again. Brianna’s eyes brimmed with tears of gratitude....

’I can go home again....’

She smiled through the tears and the pain, as she was not sure where home was anymore. She felt that her parents had betrayed her. Despite this, but could that hope hold? That remained to be seen.

___

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