CHAPTER 172: THE TUNNEL

"Hey, baby."

Charlotte’s eyes broadened in utter shock, glinting.

"What the..."

"We don’t have much time. We gotta go now."

There, standing right in front of her, was Jayden, the man who had actually sent her on this mission.

At first, she began to wonder how he had got here, and how he had even managed to get in after the lockdown.

She couldn’t get herself to think straight, but she wasn’t seeing past the fact that Jayden was here, and he had saved her with ease.

She quickly rushed out as he grabbed her hands and led her out.

Still stunned, she kept staring confusedly at him, even though he was only focused on getting out at that point.

But however it was, it was way better than getting caught and killed.

She couldn’t even be glad enough that he had shown up to save her, but she still had to know how.

How in the world did he do it?

******

Jayden led Charlotte out of the room as they rushed towards a different hallway that headed to the other exit of the building.

"I came across here before. There is no way out," Charlotte quickly said.

"Nah, there is," Jayden responded without turning back as they continued moving.

And truly, when they almost reached the other exit, they appeared before an escape underground door.

Charlotte was running so fast that she couldn’t notice it in the first place, and if she did, she wouldn’t even have tried to go through it without knowing what to expect or where it led to.

However, Jayden was already taking her through it as he opened the round metal door and told Charlotte to go in first.

Charlotte took the ladder down without hesitation, and when she landed, Jayden did the same.

It was not until they were about to close the metal door that a couple of armed men rushed over from the near distance.

Tarr! Tarr! Tarr! Tarr! Tarr!

Before they could realize it, gunshots rained at them, but thanks to Jayden’s swiftness and some luck, they happened not to get hit.

"Go go go!" Jayden ordered Charlotte to move as they ran through a dark tunnel.

"This leads to the river. We should find a boat as soon as we get there," Jayden told Charlotte as they rushed out of the tunnel.

"How sure are we?" she asked, gasping as she sprinted.

"We should hope," Jayden hesitated before responding.

With a sigh, Charlotte shook her head. "How did you manage to get here, though? You risked everything."

Jayden scoffed at her. "No, I should be the one asking you if you got the passcode."

Charlotte suddenly halted at that question, turned to him and smiled.

"Why do you think they are chasing after us?" Charlotte asked.

"I don’t know... I killed their men?" Jayden shrugged slightly.

Then Charlotte gave him a wry smile, which he already understood.

They both exchanged weird smiles before continuing to dash out of the tunnel.

She didn’t have to say it directly... Jayden already knew that she had succeeded.

******

"Damn it! They are getting out. Notify the Alpha Team to surround everywhere, including the river. The tunnel leads there."

Commander Ilyan shouted at the top of his lungs, ordering the men as they rushed out.

Some men took the tunnel, while the others followed the exits, all in pursuit of the criminals that had invaded the Defence Unit.

He soon got a call from the walkie, as he grabbed and picked it up.

"What am I hearing?" The voice of the stern president sounded on the other end.

"We... We are..." Commander Ilyan paused as his hands trembled.

"We are going to capture them, Mister President. You have my word on that," he finally spoke.

"I assigned you to guard the Satellite Base, and now you let some unknown criminals hack the systems? Do you know what that can cost us? Do you?!" Liam bellowed.

"I... I am truly sorry..."

"Don’t be sorry yet. You better find them, get the passcode back, and bring them alive to me. Or else, you won’t be sorry enough when you lose your entire family."

The call was cut at once, and Commander Ilyan was left speechless there in the hallway.

The part about his family’s lives being at stake made his heart tremble, and soon he rushed out of the building, his face turning red.

’I won’t let anything happen to my family. I won’t.’

With that strong promise to himself, he stormed out.

"SWAT Team Depot order! I need fifty figures from Beta Team! Over!" He grabbed the walkie and spoke.

"Roger that!" The responding voice echoed almost immediately.

Ilyan rushed down to the compound, where he ordered every officer to rush to the riverside.

"Guard the west and north bank. Make sure nothing alive gets out of there. I repeat, make sure nothing alive gets outta there!"

The Alpha Team, as expected, were the most skilled, but you wouldn’t dare underestimate an addition of fifty from the Beta Team.

Whatever it was now... It was only a matter of time before Jayden and Charlotte realized that they were cooked.

******

They soon broke out of the tunnel, arriving at a bushy end of the river.

Jayden stared around and noticed nothing, before urging her to charge forward.

It was only a matter of seconds before they noticed a group of the SWAT team men approaching, guns pointed at them.

They turned at once, and then there was another group coming from behind.

In the other direction was another team as well, and they realized that they were all surrounded.

"Freeze!!! Your hands over your head, drop your weapons!"

Jayden’s jaw dropped.

Charlotte’s mind was beaten by the fact that she was still caught anyway.

But at least, she believed they tried, and it wouldn’t be any worse dying with the love of her life today.

The men began to approach, and soon even Ilyan was there.

"You are going to die screaming, criminals."

Both Charlotte and Jayden were still in their masks, so they didn’t know who they were.

The Shadow Mask was out of effect, but the main mask was still on, and Jayden was wearing the SWAT attire, which had a face mask.

They were very close to getting them handcuffed, until suddenly....

DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM!

DAK-DAK-DAK-DAK-DAK-DAK-DAK!

Countless shots from the skies left the place in chaos, and up on the chopper was another savior from nowhere.

"Sweethearts, get in before it gets ugly down there!"

.

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[A/N: Golden Tickets, please! Thanks!]