Erica simply swallowed the piece of steak whole and drank a mouthful of water to bring it down. As she stood up in a hurry, she grabbed the two boys and said to the other bodyguard, "Watch over them, I'll be back!"
"Mrs. Huo, please, I can't let you get out of my sight…" Before the bodyguard could finish his words, however, Erica had run out of the restaurant almost instantly.
The bodyguard sighed, standing beside the two confused boys and called the police first before he informed Matthew what had happened.
"Did the bad guys take my brothers away?" Adkins asked the bodyguard.
The bodyguard didn't know what to say to them, so he nodded and said, "Boys, I've called the police. They'll bring them back soon, I'm sure. Right now, I need to bring you two back home because I need to ensure your safety first."
Although the two brothers were worried about the safety of their brothers and mother, they knew that they were too young to be of any help, so they obediently followed the bodyguard out of the restaurant.
When Erica came out of the restaurant, she saw the other bodyguard rushing out of the alley nearby and chasing after a minibus that was speeding away.
Her intuition told her that the children were inside that minibus. Without wasting another second, she found her own car and jumped into the driver's seat. She pushed down the accelerator and sped after the minibus.
Just then, her phone rang. She controlled the steering wheel with one hand and found her phone with the other. It was Matthew. She answered the call and put it on speaker. Then she threw it on the passenger seat and apologized guiltily, "Honey, I'm sorry. Something happened to the kids!"
Erica felt as though it was her fault as she had failed to watch over the kids properly. If only she had taken the boys to the bathroom, none of this would have happened.
Matthew had already left the company. He drove out of the parking lot as they were talking. "Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. I've spoken to the bodyguard. This was all a premeditated plan. I have my people on this, don't worry. Just tell me where they are heading."
Holding the steering wheel tightly with both hands, Erica took a few deep breaths, adjusted her thoughts and calmly said, "They are now heading for Abby Road. It is a silver gray minibus without license plate number. I'm following them. They are turning to the Spring Road now."
"Okay. Be careful. Don't drive too fast. I've already asked someone to locate them," said Matthew.
"Okay! They turned a corner again. Now they are driving towards Sunset Road. I've taken a turn to Sunset Road as well." Erica skillfully controlled the steering wheel, and kept stepping on the gas, putting a distance of almost ten meters between her and the minivan.
About ten minutes later, the minibus drove into a suburb and then suddenly disappeared from the road after taking several turns.
Erica broke down in tears. There was only a row of old houses in front of her. There was no road on the left and an endless rice field on the right.
All of a sudden, she received a call from an unregistered number. She ended the call with Matthew and answered the phone calmly. "Hello."
"Erica Li? Your sons are with me." A young man's voice came over from the other end of the line, which sounded strange to Erica.
Erica slowly stopped the car and stifled her throbbing heart. "What do you want?" she asked.
"Have you seen the houses ahead of you? Keep moving forward!" the man ordered.
Erica looked around, but there was no one around. "Okay, I'll do as you say. Just don't hurt my children. I can give you as much money as you want!" she said hurriedly.
"Stop talking! Go forward first!" the man said impatiently.
"Okay!" She started the car again and drove ahead.
Meanwhile, the boys' hands were tied up and their mouths were sealed with tape, but neither of them cried or made any noise. They lay on their sides in the back seat and listened to the phone call between the man and their mother.
There were two other fierce looking men inside the minibus with them.
The minibus finally stopped at a deserted forest. Rolling his eyes, Boswell tried to attract the attention of the people in front of him.
A man turned around and screamed at him angrily, "What are you doing?"
He clamped his legs tightly. "Mmmph…"
The man tore the tape off his mouth mercilessly. "Ouch, it hurts!" Boswell cried.
Damian grunted in anger and the tape on his mouth was torn off too.
"Uncle, we need to go to the bathroom. We are going to wet our pants!" Boswell said.
Damian nodded in agreement. "We were just going to the bathroom, but that aunt took us away. We haven't had time to pee yet!"
It seemed as though they were the only ones there, apart from the mountains that stood tall around them. The gangsters saw no reason to doubt them as they were just children. Besides, they were in the middle of nowhere. Where could the boys run to if they were allowed to pee? He quickly untied the ropes and sent only one person to follow the two children out of the minibus.
After getting out of the minibus, the two brothers looked at each other and came an agreement without saying a word. As they were in no real hurry to pee, they looked around, carefully observing their surroundings and finally walked towards a small intersection at the same time.
The gangster behind them shouted, "Why are you dawdling? Hurry up!"
The two brothers were so frightened that they stood by the road and began to pee.
"Let me do it," said Damian in a low voice.
Boswell took a look at the leaf Damian was aiming at. The shape of it was similar to that of a lotus leaf, except it was not as big in size. The leaf was about the same size as an adult's face and now it was filled with a lot of urine.
After tidying up his pants, Boswell turned around and glanced at the minibus. The two men who had been sitting inside the whole time also got out of the minibus. They stood by the door of the minibus, smoking and glancing at them from time to time.
Suddenly, an idea came to Boswell. He shouted at the gangster in front of him, "Uncle, what's that behind you?"
The gangster looked back in confusion and found nothing.
When he looked back, however, his face was met with a splash of something liquid that had a strange smell.
"Hahaha!" The boys burst into laughter, and the sound of their giggling voices seemed to be fading into the distance.
Before he could remove the leaf from his face, he heard another man shouting, "Barry, the twerps are running away! Hurry up!"
Barry Wang cursed and looked at the leaf on the ground with a long face. He finally understood what it was. "Damn it! How dare you throw pee on my face! When I catch you two little rascals, you'll be sorry…"
Thwack! Barry Wang received a hard blow to the back of his head. The two men who were smoking beside the minibus rushed over, while Barry Wang was still standing there, scratching his head.
"Fuck! You're an idiot, Barry! Hurry up!"
"Okay!" Barry Wang followed the two men and ran into the forest.
Suffice it to say, the two brothers were very cunning. They knew that they should run along the trail in the forest so that the gangsters wouldn't be able to catch up to them by the minibus. They might have inherited this from Erica. They ran as fast as they could, scuttling through the forest quickly. They knew that as long as they kept off road, the kidnappers wouldn't be able to come after them in the minibus.
If they had taken the road, the gangsters would have caught up to them in no time.
Fortunately, they had lived in Tow Village before, a place fortified by mountains in the south, west and north. This wasn't the first time they had found themselves inside the woods which was why they didn't feel frightened or lost.
