LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - SEASON 2 CHAPTER 57
After a few more minutes, the roaring sound had started again, indicating that the tournament would soon recommence.
Leon did not intend for his best fighters to get ki||ed. Tonight was just a chance for his best fighters to prove themselves. If they were truly the best of the best, then they would go far in the tournament. If they couldn’t prove themselves and ended up dead instead, then he would be more than happy to be free of those worthless duds.
Drey stood up to go to the restroom with Lieutenant Jang, who had now disguised himself as one of Drey’s men. They were escorted by two of Leon’s men. He would proceed with plan B at the earliest opportunity with Jeru’s approval.
As soon as they reached a blind spot where Lieutenant Jiang had a CCTV camera covered, Drey swiftly and discreetly made an attack on the two men. Drey and Lieutenant Jiang then immediately changed their clothes into the guard outfits that were worn by those men and hid the men’s bodies in a corner where the view was obstructed.
Drey and Lieutenant Jiang’s objective was to infiltrate the control room where Drey could hack into the ship’s mechanical system.
Back inside the arena, two of Jeru’s men had gone out when the spectators, including all of Leon’s men, were all too engrossed in watching the climax of the current match. It was Cobra inside the ring.
But Draco had noticed that two of his men who had gone to escort the other two guests to the restroom were not back yet. On top of that, he noticed that Jeru was also missing two men by his side.
“He had noticed,” Lana silently commented to Janus, who was sitting beside her. She saw Draco talking on his Bluetooth headset with a suspicious look.
Drey could hear that Draco was calling out to his men, who were now lying unconscious in one of the corners of the ship. Lieutenant Jiang, who was well trained at voice imitation, immediately answered his call.
“Boss, I will bring these guests to the infirmary, because they are not feeling well,” he explained to Draco.
Lieutenant Jiang had been studying those men’s speech mannerisms and the way they spoke to Draco through their communication device, so he managed to mimic them well.
They needed to buy more time so Keira signaled one of Leon’s men who was standing near her to relay her request to Leon. The man quickly did as he was told.
Leon had a broad smile on his face upon hearing the old lady’s special request and the amount of money that she was willing to spend in order for her request to be granted.
For the next fight, Leon did not tap his screen to trigger the random selection. He went to the center of the ring instead and announced Keira’s special request to the audience through the microphone.
“One of our very special guests here has offered a generous amount of money so she could pick the particular fighters she would like to see next, instead of letting them be picked by the machine.”
Then he shouted, “What do you say? Shall we grant her this request?”
Thea crumpled her face. She knew what Leon was up to. He was not asking the audience to leave the decision entirely to them. Why wouldn’t he accept the old lady’s request given the amount of money he would be receiving from it? There was no way he would let go of this money-making opportunity.
He was announcing it to the audience in order to let them know that such a thing is possible too. And he hoped that more guests would ask the same request in exchange for some hard cash.
Keira also knew about this, but they did not have any other choice but to go to this extent. She was well aware of the risk of Zach being requested to fight again by some of the other guests.
But of course, she would not allow that to happen. She already signaled for Lana to put in the next request, immediately after her. She had brought tons of money for this and she would spend every single dime of it to make sure her husband is safe.
As expected, the bloodthirsty crowds cheered in agreement. Keira picked two fighters whom she noticed were closed to the man called Sting who had lost from her husband. These people were obviously not good people. They were barbaric fighters who were in it only for the ki||.
‘Let those bloodsuckers fight against each other!’ she thought.
The fight ended and Lana quickly followed after Keira and made the request. Leon’s face brightened. Lana was allowed to pick the fighters for the next match.
‘Hang in there…’ Keira wanted to comfort her husband.
“Three more hours,” Jeru murmured. If they were lucky, back-up would arrive in three hours.
Lana was allowed to pick the fighters for the next match, and just like Keira, she chose two fighters whose eyes reflected their thirst for blood and their desire to ki||.
And true enough, the fight was savage. She had to control herself not to vomit on the spot. The fight had finished and ended in an extremely violent way that the face of the fighter who had lost was no longer recognizable.
Keira was also horrified at the sight before her. She could not understand how the crowds could enjoy watching a spectacle as violent as this and call it entertainment. She had been sheltered her whole life, and even after having reported news from some dangerous areas, she still couldn’t grasp the extent of the world’s cruelty.
She was disgusted. She must let those ruthless fighters fight and ki|| each other.
She made another request but panicked when Leon turned her offer down, saying he would give the other guests a chance to pick some fighters as well. To her horror, the next requested fighters were Zach and a man called Cobra.
“That man seemed to be close with Zach,” Keira murmured. Jeru noticed it too. Zach indeed seemed to be close with the fighters whose alias are ‘Cobra’ and ‘Pretty Boy’.
Keira was still trying to stop the match by offering a higher bid so her wish would be accommodated first, but Leon merely apologized and said, “Madam, I’m also anticipating this fight, so let me grant you your request after this match.”
Leon had indeed been anticipating for Zach to be picked by a guest for another round inside the ring. He wanted to see Thea get nervous so she would beg him for Zach’s life.
Jeru held Keira’s arm, signaling her to let it go because if she didn’t, it would only make Leon suspicious and it might compromise their position. Keira was left with no choice but to accept.
They still had several hours of waiting, but hopefully, Drey would succeed in penetrating the control room and in hacking into their system so they would get tracked faster.
“That Cobra seems like he’s a good fighter,” Jeru heard Keira’s whisper nervously.
She did not want Zach to fight either Cobra or Pretty Boy because they seemed to be close with Zach. They had probably bonded with each other during their hard times in this ship together, and she couldn’t stand the thought of Zach having to end the lives of the people whom he had grown to be close with. He would undoubtedly be devastated.
Zach and Cobra gave Riley a meaningful gaze and he seemed to understand and nodded. “I guess this is it then,” Riley sighed loudly.
If things didn’t go in the way they had intended to, for example in situations where they were forced to fight each other, just like now, the three of them had come up with a plan to die fighting the bad guys instead of ki||ing each other. This way they could at least keep their dignity intact.
It was not only their fight. It was also the fight of the rest of the fighters who were there against their will and had fallen victims of this deceit and brutality. Half of the fighters had discreetly decided to ally themselves with Zach, Cobra, and Riley.
Then Zach gave Jeru a quick and meaningful glance as well. Jeru nodded and instantly signaled his men. Zach and him had been communicating secretly through some special codes that they had learned in the military. It was comparable to Morse code but was more unobtrusive, using various body language, as it was specifically designed for special ops soldiers when missions call for them to communicate with each other without notifying the enemies.
When Leon’s men were about to assist Zach and Cobra towards the ring to fight, Zach and Cobra seized their weapons in one swift move. Riley quickly opened the locked area so the fighters who were on their side could escape and help them fight Leon’s men.
Jeru shouted “Now!” His men instantly attacked Leon’s men nearest to them and grabbed all the weapons they could use for the battle.
The guests panicked and were all over the place, trying to get out of the arena as soon as possible because of all the fightings and $h00tings inside. It was utter chaos.
Keira immediately made her way to Zach, while Jeru dashed towards Thea.
Draco protected Leon while shouting, “Boss! We have to move to a safer place.” Leon cursed and headed towards an escape route while dragging Thea along with him. “Fu*ck, fu*ck! How did this happen!? Stupid fu*cking system!” He kept on cursing as he ran with Draco towards another exit.
Keira was fast and already at Zach’s side with Lana and May closely tagging behind her.
“Why are you here!?” Zach scolded her as he pulled Keira closer behind him. Keira creased her eyebrows and pouted her lips like a sulky child as she retorted, “Why else would I be here? To bring my husband back, of course!”
“What? That’s Keira? Your wife?” Riley interrupted as he pulled a gun from one of Leon’s men whom he had just knocked down. Then he added, “You were hallucinating about her? Oh man, General, you like old ladies?”
“Riley, it’s not the time to be joking around! Be alert! Come here and back me up. We have to get out of here!” Cobra chided him as he exchanged fire with Leon’s men.
Zach cursed when he saw Jeru chasing Leon by himself. Keira saw it too, so she said, “Go and follow him.”
“No! I will stay with you!” Zach sternly refused. Keira turned to the man called Pretty Boy and grabbed the handgun he was holding from him and said, “Go pick up another gun, Pretty Boy… I’ll take this one.”
Then she turned to Zach and ordered him with a smug smile on her face, “Fine, since you don’t want to follow them, then follow me instead!” Zach was caught off guard by his wife’s bossy stance while she was holding a gun in her hand, but he quickly followed his wife who had run towards Jeru’s direction.
Zach cursed as he caught up with her and immediately held her hand. “Dammit, Keira, why are you so stubborn?” he grumbled as he led her to follow Jeru who was running after Leon who had dragged Thea along with him.
“Well, we can’t let Jeru fight that evil man alone. Besides, I know what’s in your mind even if you don’t say it,” Keira responded.
She was beaming on cloud nine as she looked at her hand that was being held tightly by Zach. She was ecstatic to finally feel Zach’s warm hand on hers again. Then she turned her gaze to Zach’s sturdy back in front of her as they were running together.
It really did not matter how dangerous the situation they were in right now. As long as she could be together with him like this, nothing else seemed to matter…
Oblivious to all of the stuff that was happening inside the arena, Drey, who was still inside the control room, was busy executing his task.
70%…
He was tapping his feet as he waited.
80%…
He would look around his surroundings every now and then to make sure that no one was watching him. He felt like one of those spies in a spy movie. He was really nervous to see all of the men inside the control room, who were completely armed with their guns. He would surely be toasted alive if he got caught. He cursed internally.
He was so close to sending out their signal. His eyes widened when he heard the conversation between Leon and his men from his Bluetooth headset. He could also see what was happening inside the tournament deck on the monitor.
It was a total chaos. Everyone was firing at each other. There was nothing he could do now but wait until the signal was sent. In the meantime, he hoped that their team would be safe.
95%… ‘Oh please… Move faster!’
99%…
“SENT!” Drey declared, confirming that the signal was sent.
Lieutenant Jiang, who heard Drey’s confirmation from his Bluetooth earpiece, quickly went back to the tournament deck to help Jeru and the rest.
Drey also went outside the control room discreetly to wreak havoc as he smashed one of the fire alarms to ring it.
Everyone inside the ship panicked as soon as they heard the sound of the alarm. Those who were not in the know thought that the ship was on fire.
It was said that humans were, by nature, selfish creatures. And it could indeed be seen in the chaos that currently took place in the ship. It was amazing to see how quickly those people adopted the phrase ‘Every man for himself’. They were all just trying to save themselves without regard for others.
Lana, May and some of their men were tailing behind Zach and Keira, together with Cobra and Riley. Cobra said he knew a way out, so he was the leader of the group.
Suddenly, Riley pinned May down from behind to save her from a gunshot that was aimed at her. She turned her head around to stare at Riley who was quick to grab her gun and shot at the men behind them.
“May, move!” Lana shouted. May jolted back to reality. Riley looked at her and said, “Go now! I’ll block them from behind.”
“Oh-h… O-Okay…” May stuttered as she quickly got up to her feet and moved towards Lana and the rest. She looked behind at Riley, who was now engaged in single combat with one of Leon’s men as his gun had probably run out of ammunition.
For the first time in her life, May felt like a damsel in distress who had just been saved by a hero.
“Don’t dieeee!!!” she called out dramatically to Riley, who had to pause a bit upon hearing her shout and was left befuddled.
……
On the other side of the ship, Leon headed towards his underwater escape route. But to his surprise, it was sealed. Drey had already hacked into its system and secured its entrance so it was no longer possible for Leon and his men to escape through that route.
Drey had already taken precautions that Leon would probably have the same escape plan in this ship with the one in his previous Ghost ship.
“F*uck!” Leon hissed when they could not open the door. “Boss, the speedboat is our only option now. They had infiltrated the systems! Nothing is working!” exclaimed Draco.
“Sh*it!” Leon cursed as he pulled Thea closer to him. This was why he should have kept some things manually and not only relied on technology! They were about to board the speedboat when Jeru suddenly attacked him.
Leon’s gun dropped onto the ground when Jeru assaulted him with some strong punches. “You bastard! You will end by my hand!” Jeru angrily roared as he punched Leon repeatedly.
Draco signaled his men to take Thea away from his boss’s side while he was going to save his boss from Jeru’s fury…
“Jeru!” Thea shouted when she saw Draco was about to attack Jeru from behind. It was too late. Jeru couldn’t dodge it and that attack had dropped him to the ground.
By that time, Zach and Keira had already arrived at the scene. The two of them managed to free Thea from Leon’s men. Zach was still fighting two of the men while Keira pulled Thea away from them and said, “Go find a safe place to hide.”
Keira then ran to her husband’s aid and fought one of the men bravely.
But soon Draco managed to seize hold of her…
“Bring that ?îtçh!” Leon shouted. He had already boarded the speedboat with one of his men. Draco followed and tossed Keira into the speedboat
Jeru managed to get up to his feet and quickly picked up his gun to $h00t at them but stopped when Leon pressed a knife against Keira’s throat. Things happened so fast and the speedboat started to make its way towards the horizon, but Zach suddenly jumped into the sea and got hold of the rope that was still connected to the speedboat.
“Zach!” Keira shouted as she watched him being dragged by the speedboat through the open sea.
“Cut the fu*cking rope, idiot!” Leon shouted at Draco.
Keira took the opportunity when Leon was distracted by Zach and she swiftly grabbed Leon’s hand, which was still pressing a knife on her throat, with one of her hands and rolled his knife arm downward and pinned it to her chest.
Then she blocked his knife arm with her shoulder so he wouldn’t be able to move it across and cut her. Keira aimed her other hand’s fingers towards Leon’s eyes.
However, Leon was stronger than her. She did not succeed in holding him in that position for long. She tried to turn around to face him, but Leon tightened his arm on her neck. So she bit Leon’s wrist as hard as she could. And as soon as he loosened his hold on her because of the bite, she quickly rotated herself out of Leon’s grasp.
After releasing herself from Leon’s hold, she turned to face him and gave him a sharp front kick at his jaws. Leon stumbled a few steps backwards and fell on his rear to the ground.
Draco who saw his boss being attacked turned back to his rescue. Zach moved even faster to reach the speedboat when he saw Draco retreating from cutting loose his rope to go to Keira.
Draco almost got to her when Zach, who had gotten into the speedboat, charged at him from behind. Leon who had gotten himself up to his feet again, and was now furious by the fact that he just got keeled over from her kick, tried to grab Keira again. Keira had anticipated his move so she nimbly darted away to avoid him.
The other man who was navigating the speedboat set it to an automatic pilot and proceeded to pull out a gun to help out Draco and their boss.
The sound of roaring thunder suddenly filled up the darkness of the night as Zach continued to battle Draco and Keira continued to move around to evade Leon’s attacks. And then the other man with the gun pointed his gun to Zach and Keira saw it.
“Zach!” she shouted and Zach timely made a turn and Draco ended up getting shot in the head instead. Blood was gushing out of his head and his body plummeted to the ground.
Zach bolted towards the man with the gun and with one rapid move, he took the gun away from him and pushed the man into the sea.
The weather was now stormy and the sea was getting rougher. The speedboat swayed choppily and it made Zach drop the gun.
The gun rolled along with the movement of the speedboat. Leon saw an opportunity, so he quickly left Keira and ran towards the gun to pick it up. Zach did the same.
Leon reached the gun first and was ready to fire the gun at Zach, but Zach speedily grabbed his wrist and fought hard to steadily turn the gun that was still in Leon’s hand to point towards its holder instead.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!