Hearing the commotion, the four men who were at the table stopped playing mahjong and stood up from their seats. With quick strides, they surrounded Debbie. The four of them looked sternly at her like dogs fighting over some bones.
Debbie was left with no choice. She had to fight her way out.
She knocked the storekeeper to the ground and sent him howling. She cracked her neck and was prepared to strike her next target. By now, the other four men could see that she was not an easy one to handle. One of them whipped out his phone and called someone. "There's a chick who knows Kung Fu. Send Herb and Ron over."
Hearing that more foes were coming, Debbie planned to run away.
She let go of the man she was grabbing, took an opportunity, and ran to the back of the store. She looked desperately for a backdoor. But there was no backdoor!
It was a bedroom that she recklessly ran into. When she realized where she was, she wanted to run out, but the door of the room was locked then by those men.
"Stay there. You can come out when you have decided to pay the money," a man said outside.
Debbie took her phone out of her pocket and wanted to call the police. Then another man's voice called out, "Call the police if you want. Nobody dares to mess with us, not even the police. I'm letting you keep your phone because I'm not worried about you calling the police."
She didn't buy it and called the police anyway. The police told her that they were on their way and would be there soon, but no one came even an hour later. "So these jerks were not joking when they said that the police didn't mess with them," Debbie muttered to herself in a hushed voice.
A minute or two passed and the men outside eventually lost their patience. They opened the door two odd-looking, bulky men who were more than two meters tall walked in and stood in front of her. One of them was chewing a betel nut. "Beetch, geewe me your purth!" the Betel Nut yelled.
But his pronunciation was so bad that Debbie couldn't make out what he had just said. 'Huh? What kind of language is that? What is he barking?' It took her a long moment to figure out that he was asking for her purse. Fumbling around her backpack, she took out her purse and handed it to the Betel Nut. "Here you go. See? I'm very poor. It was not that I didn't want that lucky peace buckle. The truth is that I couldn't afford it. I only have 300 bucks. Go on, you can open my purse and see it for yourself."
The Betel Nut sneered, "Whoo are you keeding? Open your moobile payment app and geewe me your fone!"
'Although he talks as if he had two tongues fighting, he isn't stupid after all, ' Debbie thought to herself.
She clutched her phone tightly. It was her only hope. She would never give it up to them.
Then an idea struck her. She clicked the Contacts button on her phone and tried desperately to intimidate her captors. "I have a very powerful background. The people I know will kick your asses if you dare hurt me."
However, the Betel Nut didn't seem frightened at all. "Call whooever you want. I weell wait and see whoo weell come. If one perthon comes, we meke $28, 000. If two come, we meke…er… it's…"
"$56, 000. If two people come, you make $56, 000," prompted Debbie. It was hard for her to watch the man being tortured by Math. Nonetheless, she found it silly and hid a wicked smile. "Gosh! I thought I was bad at Math."
She scrolled the call log back and forth, while her eyes wandered around the room. She was looking for an escape route. She had no intention of calling anyone, but her finger accidentally touched Hayden's number. When she realized it, the phone had already been connected.
The call was soon answered, but what he said was really disappointing. "Deb, an important conference is about to commence. Do you have something urgent to say? If you don't, then I have to go."
Somehow, Debbie wanted to see how he would react when he knew what was happening to her. "Yes, I do. Hayden, some people are trying to—"
"To what?" He didn't even wait to hear her out. "Deb, the conference has begun. I have to go. I'll have my secretary call you back later, okay?" Actually, Hayden indeed had a meeting, but it hadn't begun yet when Debbie called. He had lied because he was angry at Debbie hanging up on him earlier.
So he ended her call in a hurry.
It never occurred to him that since she had called at this really late hour, something awful might have happened to her.
The two men in the room grew more impatient. When the call ended, they snatched away Debbie's phone and said, "I don't believe that you don't have money on your phone or in your card. Come. I'll swipe your card and you'll input the code."
Then they searched out from her purse the card Carlos had given her. It was a premium Gold Edition Visa Card.
Before they could swipe it, Debbie's phone rang again. The caller ID said, Old Man.
Her hopes were renewed. After being disappointed in Hayden, she started expecting rescue from Carlos.
"I have to take that call."
The two men refused. "Hell with the call! Hurry and input the code now!" the other man demanded.
The man holding her phone ended the call with one slight push.
Debbie was provoked and didn't want to play games with them anymore. 'Why should I throw away $28, 000? There's only one way to find out whether it will work or not. I guess I'll just have to try.' As soon as they were out of the room, Debbie took several steps back and charged towards one of the men.
She jumped onto the man's back, strangled him with her right arm, and kicked him in the back of his knee. The man sank to his knees painfully.
The Betel Nut stretched himself a little and then swung his fist towards Debbie.
Debbie blocked his arm with her leg. It caused her excruciating pain.
The man on his knees stretched out his right leg to give her a sweep. Busy with handling the Betel Nut, Debbie failed to see the other man's leg coming. She fell hard on her back.
She got to her feet wincing, straightened her clothes, jumped in the air stretching her legs and gave the two men both a hard kick in the chest.
Then with the support of a table, she jumped up and swung her fist towards the Betel Nut's eye.
Nonetheless, she missed.
The Betel Nut grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back.
He then slapped Debbie across the face. When he was about to kick her, there was a knock, rather, a pound, on the door of the store.
The storekeeper, who was sitting in a chair while smoking, signaled the Betel Nut to keep the girl out of sight.
He obediently dragged Debbie towards the bedroom, holding her with a tight clench.
When the door was opened, a dozen fierce-looking men were standing outside the store. The head of them glimpsed the fallen chairs and broken showcases. His face darkened.
The storekeeper was overwhelmed and scared at the sight of such men at his store. Especially by their leader, whose presence was as intimidating as a demon's. In J city, few people were as distinguished as this man. "How can I help you?" the storekeeper asked politely with a smile.
Nobody responded. The man in charge walked into the store haughtily in his brand-new leather shoes.
The GPS on Debbie's phone showed that she was here at this store. 'Where is she?'
Carlos took out his phone and dialed Debbie's number again. Just as he had expected, her phone was heard ringing in the bedroom.
Right now, Debbie's mouth was covered. Through the gap in the door, she could see Carlos outside the room. She was so excited that she wanted to scream, but all she could make were grunts. The Betel Nut was covering her mouth so tight that she couldn't even breath.
Her phone was still ringing on the floor. When she saw the caller ID 'Old Man' on he screen,, she almost cried with joy.
He had come. For her!
Carlos glanced at the storekeeper, walked to the door of the bedroom at a steady pace, and kicked it open.
What he saw inside the room made his heart tighten into a knot. His face purpled in rage.
The girl was held on the floor by two men. Her clothes were a mess. Her face was pressed against the floor, her mouth covered. Her hands had been twisted behind her back.
