Bang!
Bang!
As the gunshot sounds roared into the air, Jungkook felt a weight fall behind him. He turned around and his face was frozen in total terror as soon as he saw what it was.
"Torin!" Snake shouted as he hurried towards Torin who had selflessly used his own body as a shield to block the bullets fired at Jungkook by Mr. Big.
"What the hell did you do, dumbass?!" Jungkook murmured erratically as he held Torin in his arms and checked on the wound on the side of the stomach where Torin was hit.
Torin laughed and murmured in between his breaths, "Playing hero, what else...? I'm such a great friend, right...? Nah, it's just a scratch, not even close to any internal organs... I'm sure of it. So, don't worry."
Torin had noticed that Mr. Big had pointed his gun at Jungkook when Jungkook was still busy fighting Draco. As he was just a few feet away from Jungkook, he quickly ran towards him to shield him without a second thought.
He smiled at Jungkook and was still trying to crack a joke, "Do you think I'll be a smiling ghost in this ship, Bro?" Blood had started to drain from his face as he was starting to get paler and paler because of the bleeding. And it was getting harder for him to talk.
"Stop talking nonsense and press on that damn wound harder!" Jungkook instructed Torin as he shot him a disapproving look. Torin quickly followed and pressed harder on his wound. Then Jungkook looked at Snake. "Go first! Get Torin out of here! He needs immediate medical care!" Jungkook commanded.
Snake quickly followed. "Contact! Snake to Base! Snake to Base! We've got a man down. We are heading to the south deck on the Ghost Ship! I repeat, we've got a man down. Immediately bring a medical team! Clear, over, out!" Snake shouted as he hurriedly moved towards the south deck of the ship. He had given the command post his location on the ship. He knew that their communication device which was also integrated in the contact lenses had already been activated as soon as their coordinates were traced and therefore his message would be heard and acknowledged by the Military.
After about forty seconds their aid arrived and Snake let out a long deep sigh as he said, "Hang in there, buddy! You'll make it!"
Torin laughed and with a stuttering voice he said, "Bro owes me his life now, right? I can request him anything from now on..." Snake narrowed his eyes as he muttered, "What a nutcase! You could die any moment now and you're grinning like that? How I wish I had a nutcase like you as my best friend!"
"Well I'm not just his best friend… I'll become his brother-in-law, soon!" Torin declared before he finally passed out.
"What?!" Snake burst out and shook his head… He was now sure that Torin would be asking a big favor from their General once everything was settled.
Back at the Ghost Ship….
Jungkook saw Mr. Big and Draco scurrying inside the ship towards the quarterdeck with Thea dragged alongside them, while Jeru was chasing after them. Jungkook then dashed to catch up with them.
There were episodes of gunshots coming from both Jungkook's and Mr. Big's men as Jungkook and Jeru ran after Mr. Big, Draco and Thea.
However, Mr. Big's men who were posted inside the ship had been alarmed as soon as they heard a series of gunshots from the upper deck outside. They rushed up to the deck only to see that their boss was being chased by Jungkook and Jeru. They then darted forward to attack the two. Thea felt her eardrums would soon explode from the blaring gunshots.
"Go! Just leave me here!!!" she shouted at Jungkook and Jeru when she saw them fighting Leon's men. Even though they both were extraordinary fighters, but they were clearly outnumbered. Thea didn't want anything bad to happen to them. She didn't mind being taken hostage by Leon as she believed that Leon still loved her, at least enough to spare her from death.
"What the fu*ck!?" Leon hissed as he watched almost all of his men who were protecting him fall onto the ground, one by one, as they were struck by Jungkook and Jeru.
Jungkook and Jeru were both men who had been caught in some kind of entanglement with Thea. One was from her past and the other one was from her present. It was as if both Thea's past and present had joined forces to bring him down.
"You, dimwit! How come you only have knives with you!" Leon shouted at Draco who preferred slashing than shooting.
There were several shots but how come those two were still standing and his men were the ones bleeding? 'What are these two?!' he brooded over the situation that was progressing right before his eyes. Nothing seemed to be going in his favor now.
Leon cursed as he immediately dragged Thea towards the escape route…"Call more men!" Leon instructed Draco.
But Jungkook and Jeru were fast. Jungkook caught up with Leon in no time. He then gave Leon an upswing hook to the jaw, while Jeru was going the knuckle with Draco. Jungkook quickly pulled Thea away from Leon and pushed her to the corner as he shouted, "Go! To the deck, now!!!"
Then he hit Leon once more and Leon's body flopped with a fleshy thud onto the ground.
"Ahhhh!" Thea screamed when two of Leon's men who had just emerged from the upper deck cornered her. Jeru immediately moved to her rescue. Draco was about to grab Jeru but Jungkook attacked him.
"Go now! Make sure Thea is safe!" Jungkook shouted at Jeru as he threw a punch at Draco.
"But how can I leave you here?!" Jeru shouted back after giving the last man a back kick. He turned around to see Jungkook was still exchanging blows with Draco.
"Backups are on their way! Just make sure you don't fail this time! Go now and protect her!!!"
Jeru was still hesitating, he wanted to go to Jungkook's aid, but Jungkook bellowed at him impatiently, "Dammit, Jeru! Move now and don't waste anymore time!!!"
Jeru quickly brought Thea to the upper deck… He could see the reinforcement troops not far from the ship. There was still an ongoing fight between their men and Mr. Big's men on the upper deck.
After a few more minutes, Jeru was able to secure Thea with Chin, then he looked at one of the soldiers and instructed, "General Jungkook is still inside! Follow me!!!"
....
The sun had risen. Lisa was wide awake, still waiting for Jungkook.
She couldn't wait any longer so she quickly prepared herself to go out and called John and Jim to bring her to the Military Base.
Inside the Military Base…. She was brought to the command center by one of the soldiers. She found her dad inside the room, giving orders to his subordinates. Everyone there seemed hard-pressed...
"What's going on?" Lisa hurried towards her dad and asked. "The team had taken control of the Ghost Ship. They are heading back to the dock now, with the Ghost Ship." explained the Field Marshal.
"How about Jungkook? Can I talk to him? I'll go with you now to the dock… Which dock is it?" Lisa asked in a row. She wanted to make sure that Jungkook was safe.
So she went with her dad to the dock….
While waiting at the dock, it came to her knowledge that Torin was injured from a gunshot wound and had been rushed to the hospital. Her heart was pumping fast as they informed her that they could not trace Jungkook's location with the tracking device.
"What do you mean you don't know where he is?!" Lisa burst out at the soldier.
With trembling hands, she dialed John's number and instructed him to track Jungkook using the bracelet she had given him. "Madam, we can't trace him. It's off and not working."
"Check again!" Lisa shouted in a frenzy. Field Marshal Chan couldn't bear to see the emotional state that his daughter was in. He tried to comfort her by holding her in his arms as he said, "Calm down Lisa… Let's wait… I'm sure he's just fine…"
Lisa was trying to suppress the tears that had sprung into her eyes as she waited for the reinforcement troops to go back ashore…'Don't cry, Lisa! He will return...' She kept mumbling to herself silently.
She held her breath when she saw the reinforcement troops arrive, only with Thea and Jeru, while Jungkook was nowhere in sight….
"Where is Jungkook?" she asked as she looked around among the soldiers.
Jeru met her eyes as he murmured, "We lost him…"
Lisa's staggered backwards as her knees instantly weakened. She almost fell in a heap to the ground if not for her dad who quickly caught her.
Did she hear Jeru correctly? Was her husband really declared missing in action? She listened to Jeru as he explained everything to her dad; how they had combed the Ghost Ship in search of Jungkook. But their efforts were to no avail. Mr. Big and Draco, his right-hand man, were nowhere to be found either.
Tears started to run down her pale cheeks as she whispered, "No way… He's alive right, Dad? I know Jungkook is alive… He promised that he will return home… to me..." She felt her heart sank to her stomach as her breaths shallowed. Tears kept falling from her eyes as she stared at the sea. She could see Jungkook's face. It's the only thing she could see…
She wished everything was just a dream… Yeah, this must have been just a dream... It was a bad dream and she needed to wake up soon.
The noise surrounding her became less and less distinct, and what looked like a black cloud pressed its way into her eyes...
'Lisa pull yourself together and wake up!'
******
Lisa had filed an indefinite leave of absence from work as she spent most of her time at the Military Base waiting for any progress of the search and rescue operation for her missing husband.
Field Marshal Chan let out a long deep sigh as he watched his daughter running around back and forth between the different divisions at the Military Base for any news regarding the search.
It broke his heart to see Lisa's despaired state. She was barely taking care of herself. Her face looked pale and haggard. Dark circles started to form under her eyes. She looked so careworn.
"My darling child, why don't you go home first and rest? I will call you if we have any updates…" said Field Marshal Chan as he hugged her and gently patted her back.
"No Dad, I will stay here! I want to be the first to know where he is…" said Lisa in a fatigued but firm tone of voice.
Chin was working together with the Military to advise them in matters related to Mr. Big, which was very critical for the success of the search and rescue operation. Her biggest concern was the possibility of Jungkook having already been killed and his body tossed into the sea. She knew that Leon, Mr. Big's real identity, would never leave any loose ends or liabilities. And Jungkook was surely a liability.
According to Chin's knowledge on how Mr. Big usually operated, he would always devise some sort of contingency plans in case things deviated from their original plan. So he had surely use one of these plans to escape. But the question was whether or not he had brought Jungkook along with him… Chin was not sure... Unless Jungkook could still be of any use to him, he would definitely have already been eliminated.
Lisa could not accept that. She could just sense, deep in her heart, that Jungkook was still alive. He may have been held hostage by Mr. Big, but she was sure that he was still alive.
The Military had joined forces with several government agencies and had created a special task force team to comb the vast ocean to look high and low for Jungkook's body. Tracking down Mr. Big's location was also one of their highest priorities.
"Dad, I would like to take the Special Force Qualification Course. I don't want to just wait around here like a damsel in distress and do nothing except wait for updates. I will join the search operation myself to retrieve my husband back as soon as you track Leon's exact location," Lisa declared firmly.
She was resolute. She was going to join the special task force team. And in order to do that without being a burden to the other members of the team, she would have to go through the Military Special Forces training.
She would search the whole wide world just to find him. Jungkook was alive… She could sense it. No... she knew it.
Lisa convinced herself that Leon had just abducted Jungkook to put him to good use. Any kinds of use. But she couldn't help but feel pain, as if her heart was punctured a million times over by tiny pins, at the thought of Jungkook suffering or being tortured by the infamously ruthless king of the underworld…
'As long as he is alive… Please, just keep him breathing...' Lisa prayed silently.
Field Marshal Chan let out a long, deep and audible sigh as he looked at the cold and unrelenting look on his daughter's face.
He knew her well. She had always been a stubborn girl, but this time she was even more adamant. And no matter what he would say, he knew that she had made her decision and she would never waver.
He looked away as a single tear squeezed out of his eyes upon seeing how brave and strong his daughter was.
.........
At Yang Hospital…
Torin had undergone surgery to treat the complications from his gunshot wound and had been staying in the hospital for two days now. He smiled when he saw Lyra sleeping by his side on a chair with her head on the bed.
He gently caressed her cheek as he cleared the loose strands of hair that were covering her face. Lyra moved and opened her eyes.
"You're awake… Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?" She asked him smiling. Torin had already been awake from the surgery a little while ago but had gone back to sleep as soon as the doctor gave him another anaesthetic to ease his pain.
"Hmm, I wanna eat you?" Torin answered jokingly but weakly.
Lyra unconsciously hit his shoulder. "Ouch!" Torin complained while acting hurt that made Lyra raised an eyebrow at him.
"I believe your wound was on the side of your stomach and not on the shoulder!" Lyra scolded. Torin smiled sweetly at her and said, "But the nerves are connected, so it hurts…"
Lyra pursed her lips and complained, "How can you still joke around after what happened to you? They had to remove one of your kidneys, Torin!"
She was so relieved to see that he was still able to joke around, but also miffed because she had been on tenterhooks waiting for him to come out of his surgery. Even now she could still feel a knot in her stomach at the thought that she could have lost him. There had been complications stemming from his gunshot wound, but fortunately the surgery had been a success, even though they had to remove one of his kidneys.
"Hmm, come here and stop sulking… Aren't you happy that I saved Bro's life? By the way where is he? Hmm I'm so excited to ask him for a big favor since he owed me his life now. What do you think should I ask first? Well, I plan to ask for your hand first, of course." Torin said. His voice was still weak and hoarse but his eyes twinkled excitedly.
Then his forehead creased when he noticed Lyra's sullen face as she just sat there silently without saying anything. Her eyes began to redden and tears were rolling down her cheeks.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Torin asked. He was alarmed by Lyra's reaction.
"What happened, Lyra? Is Bro alright? Did anything happen to him?" he asked, hoping to hear a different answer from Lyra...
Lyra's pursed lips opened and with a stuttering voice she said, "Bro had gone missing. No one knows if he's alive or dead…"
"What...?" Torin whispered in disbelief. He couldn't digest any of the words that Lyra had just said.
He grinned and said, "Stop joking Lyra. It's not funny, okay? I'm sorry… I will not joke like that again, so please call Bro now and tell him that I want to see him, so he can pay me the debt that he owes me now…"
Lyra must be just pulling a prank on him now, because he loved to tease and play tricks on her…
However, Torin's face paled when Lyra burst out in tears…"Torin, Bro is still missing!!!"