"Daddy!" The smile on Nicole's face disappeared when she saw the wounded Harry with blood on him. She let out a fearful cry.
On hearing Nicole's cry of concern, Harry forgot all the pain he was feeling, looked up and a sunny smile spread over his face. He said to her: "Good girl, Nicole! I'm okay. Daddy is here." He hugged her tightly in his arms. As much as he was worried about his life, he was more anxious if Nicole was safe. But in the next second, another shell penetrated his other shoulder. The sharp stinging ache made him sweat profusely and he winced in pain.
The fighter jets did a barrel roll formation in the sky and started to descend to get an easier target on the enemies. They spotted the location of the kidnappers and a fierce exchange of gun firing commenced. Within seconds, the kidnappers were slaughtered on site.
Several special forces soldiers jumped out of the fighter jets. They parachuted into the sea and gently took Nicole from Harry's arms. Noticing that Harry was heavily wounded, the soldiers took over and helped him to swim to the shore.
It apparently happened that the special forces soldiers received a notice as they were patrolling in a nearby location and immediately arrived to the scene with medics.
A dozen soldiers were sent out to search the ship to find Lola but found nothing and no one. Where did Lola go? The question remained unanswered.
When Harry and Nicole were rescued to the shore, the medics were ready to provide first aid on them.
Landon warmly hugged Nicole as she stared at her pale-faced father, whose shoulder wounds were being carefully attended to and dressed by the nurses.
"Nicole, do you know where your mommy is?", asked Landon in an obvious worried tone.
Nicole looked confused as she replied in soft, shivering voice, "The bad guy brought me here after he took her away! She's with that guy!"
Harry heard her words and looked at her attentively, saying, "Do you still remember the route on your way here?" He worried about Lola so much that he refused to be carried to the stretchers. Instead, he pressed on his dressed wound to stop the bleeding and stood with great effort.
"Mr. Si, you need to be sent to the hospital right now for immediate surgery. We need to remove the bullet shells inside you! Your body will be infected by the internal wounds!" The medics were shocked when they saw Harry move. He had three shells inside his body and it would be considered an imminent danger for him if those shells would not be removed in time.
He shook his hands and firmly said: "I will be dealing with it later. There are more important matters to attend to."
... The doctors were speechless. How could he just ignore his own well-being like that? What gives him the strength and guts to do that?
Nicole jumped hurriedly into Harry's arms, put her little hand in his face and lovingly looked up at him. "Uncle, did it hurt?" She stared at the white gauze on his arms.
Harry shook his head. Desperately worried about Lola, he continued to ask Nicole the important questions: "On your way here, did you actually see anything familiar, like some buildings? Or colorful houses?"
Nicole thought for a while and then exclaimed, "Yes! I think I saw our villa through the peephole!"
Her words made Landon uneasy. He thought to himself, "Could it be her?"
Harry noticed the old man's unusual look. Just as he was about to ask him, his cellphone suddenly rang.
Angie's extremely frantic voice spoke, "Tell Landon, Lola is in the hands of Lucy!"
Harry passed the message on to Landon. On hearing the news, Landon gazed into the deep dark sea and released a sigh of great sorrow. This nightmare had just got worse.
They had sent numerous searching groups for Lola and Nicole. No wonder their efforts to search every corner in A country has not produced any good result! All because the safest place was also the most dangerous place!
"Let's head home!" He heavily stamped his walking stick on the deck and held tightly onto his pocket watch.
Harry refused to be sent to hospital and insisted on going home with Landon. The medical team tried to deny him of his absurd request but they couldn't do anything to stop him. They all hurried to the villa.
As soon as they arrived at the Li villa, the case was entirely cleared.
Nicole and Lola were kidnapped by Lola's aunt. Meanwhile, outside the other villa of the Li family, the special forces soldiers already ready for combat.
The glass window of the balcony on the second floor was shattered to pieces. An elegantly-dressed lady stood on the balcony with a cigarette in hand. She inhaled the smoke deeply and then elegantly flicked away the ashes to the ground. Next to her was Lola, whose mouth was taped and hands tied up. It was like a dramatic scene from a movie except that this was real.
Wearing a bold red lipstick and dark eye shadow, Lucy Wei looked wickedly dangerous. An evil smile spread across her face, and Lucy looked at her sister-in-law with a smirk and said, "You actually have the guts to ignore your own daughter? How dare you kill my guys just to save the life of a mere useless child?"
With Nicole in her arms, Angie sternly shouted, "Lucy, I will give you the pocket watch. Now, let Lola go!"
It was this woman who kidnapped Lola more than two decades ago. Landon had her locked up in this villa and grounded her.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Cosset You Forever