These gangsters, however, weren't as dumb as they seemed. They were professionals who knew how to track the two boys by following the trails they left behind.
After about ten minutes, they found themselves deep inside the forest.
At a fork in the path, Boswell grabbed Damian's hand, huffing and puffing to catch his breath. "Damian, let's split up.
Remember, when the coast is clear, get back on the road and wait for me there."
Gasping for air, Damian nodded to show that he knew what the plan was.
Boswell started to worry about his brother when he sensed a hesitation in Damian's expression. "Damian, are you okay?"
Damian swallowed and answered, "Don't…worry. Just go… I can do this…"
"Well, just try to remember the rules of surviving in the wild Dad taught us!" Boswell gave his brother an assuring pat on the back. On the afternoon some time ago, Matthew didn't go to the company, but stayed at home with the four children.
As Colman mentioned some primeval forest, Matthew took the chance to teach them the survival skills in the wild. Back then, Matthew thought that he would have to coax them into listening to him, but to his surprise, the children gave him their undivided attention and listened to every instruction he gave them.
Luckily the kids were all gifted with good memory as they were able to catch all of the important information, even though Matthew only explained it to them once. Perhaps, that could explain why the four of them could speak so many words, even though they were only three years old.
Damian nodded his head with confidence. He didn't speak a word, because he had to conserve his strength.
By then, the gangsters had already caught up to them. One of them shouted, "They're over there! Hurry up!"
In a panic, Boswell pushed Damian away and shouted, "Run!"
Without wasting another second, Damian ran down the path on the right. What he didn't know was that Boswell didn't run. He stood exactly where he was and didn't move.
When the gangsters were close enough, Boswell made a face at them and taunted, "Come on, catch me if you can!" The brave boy was trying to lure their chasers away from his brother so that he could be safe.
His arrogance infuriated the gangsters even more. One of the men, rested his hands on his hips, struggling to catch his breath. "Barry…go ahead and chase that one. We'll go after this one here!"
Barry could hardly speak as he wheezed and coughed for air, but he had no choice but to run after the boy. He carried on the path where Damian disappeared.
The two brothers, now divided, ran in different paths hoping to lose the gangsters in the forest.
This unfortunate circumstance, however, was an opportunity for them to show that they were, indeed, the descendants of the Huo family.
Meanwhile, Erica had stopped in front of a house just as the man on the phone had instructed. She pushed open the door of the car and got out with a sense of alert watchfulness.
The front door of the house was wide open and Erica could see the two bedrooms and one living room from where she was standing. As soon as she reached the door, Erica smelled something strange. She couldn't tell what it was, but it was utterly ghastly.
She shouted, "Boswell? Damian?"
There was pin-drop silence and nothing moved, almost as though the house was deserted.
Fearing that she was walking into a trap, she looked around more carefully. Suddenly, her phone started ringing. It was the same unregistered number. Erica answered immediately, "Hello?"
"Go inside the house in front of you!"
Erica looked around, but she couldn't see anyone. She wondered how the man knew where she was exactly. "Sure, I'll go inside, but where are my sons?"
"Your sons are tied up and gagged inside that house. Why don't you go and have a look!"
Erica walked into the house without hesitation.
As soon as she entered the living room, the call got disconnected. Her phone rang again. This time it was Matthew. "Where are you? I've arrived at the suburb. There are a few houses in front of me. Are you in one of them?" he asked anxiously.
"Yes, someone asked me to come here," she answered.
"Well, don't do anything. I'll be right there!" he ordered.
However, Erica was too worried about their sons to wait for Matthew.
The place looked like no one had lived there for a very long time. The only occupants of the room were a few pieces of broken furniture that had gathered multiple layers of dust over the years.
Unfortunately, Erica had no idea that when she entered the house, someone sneaked up from behind her and threw a burning match at the wall just outside the house. As soon as the flame made contact with the wall doused in gasoline, it caught fire, roaring wildly as it threatened to consume the house.
Within the house the fire spread with ease, turning the once pretty first floor into a maze of flame. Black smoke billowed up and there was no alarm to sound.
Matthew stopped his car right in front of what seemed like a towering inferno. His heart sank almost instantly. His mind, occupied only by the thoughts of his wife and children, forced a scream out of his mouth. "Rika!"
Just as Matthew burst into the house valiantly, much to the surprise of the two people inside the house now, the arsonist came out and shut the iron door behind him.
Crack! The familiar sound forced Matthew to turn around and watch helplessly as someone locked him inside. It was made clear to him that he had just walked into a trap.
In spite of everything, he decided to look for Erica and the children first. After all, he had to make sure that they were safe and sound.
Erica was rummaging around in a bedroom, but she still couldn't find the boys.
"Rika!"
As soon as his voice entered her ears, Erica ran over to him and grabbed his arm. "Matthew, the boys are not here!"
Matthew held her in his arms and looked around the shabby house. It was only then that he realized that the only two windows in the house, which were originally made of wood, were both sealed with steel from the outside.
"Rika, we've fallen into their trap." Their enemy had used the children as bait to lure Erica here.
Every time, before anything bad could happen to Erica, Matthew would show up without a doubt. This time their enemy trapped them both inside a burning house, sealed off all the exits and let them burn to death.
This meant that the boys had to be in some other place.
Matthew took out his phone and dialed Carlos' number. "Dad, something bad happened, but Rika and I are together. We haven't found Boswell and Damian yet." Carlos already knew what had happened to the boys, but even though he was on the way, he was still far away as he had received the news a lot later than his son did.
Carlos' eyes darkened when he heard about the boys. "I'll bring the kids back home. You make sure Rika is safe."
"No, Dad. Listen, you have to send help here first. The house we are in is on fire. Gifford should be near Y City. I'll call him and ask him to find the boys," Matthew said.
"Okay, call Gifford now!"
As soon as they both hung up, Carlos started making phone calls, asking his friends for help.
Matthew called Gifford and told him what had happened. As soon as Gifford heard that his sister and two nephews were in danger, he left his work behind and started taking action.
There was no way Gifford could keep this from Wesley, so before leaving, he left a message to Wesley's phone, explaining what had happened.
As soon as Wesley saw the message, he took the first flight to Y City.
When Sheffield heard the news, he was still shopping with his daughter. As soon as he got off the phone with Matthew, he quickly sent Gwyn back to the Tang family first, and then took people with him to look for his nephews.
With more people helping them, locating the boys would be quicker and more efficient. Knowing that he and Erica couldn't leave the house for the time being, Matthew also asked her to inform Harmon and Joshua to take people to look for the two children.
Meanwhile, Matthew looked around the room for some sharp objects he could use to pry open the door or the windows.
Unfortunately, their enemy had foreseen this and had made sure to leave nothing of use inside that house.
The smoke billowed black across the room, filling Erica's lungs as she fell to the floor. The coughing was instant as were the tears that washed over her eyes.
