Bovian Image - 6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Four hours later, Mei was out of surgery and settled in the intensive care unit. SarEr assured by the nurses that she had the best doctor, took Xiao Wei to sit with her daughter. Once that was done, he stepped out to talk to the doctor in-charge with Zun beside him.

“Why did it take so long?” SarEr asked the tired doctor.

“I was removing shards of wood that damaged part of her left lung and it wasn’t an easy process. She lost a lot of blood at the scene. We’ve managed to stabilize her, and we’ll keep a close watch on her. I can’t say anymore at this point.”

“There is hope, right,” SarEr asked. “She’s pulled through surgery, what are her chances?”

“She’s holding on tight. The splinters were too many but we’ve fixed the damage. Our main fear is infection, so she’ll remain in the intensive care unit. We’re going to keep her comfortable and watch her for the next twenty-four hours.”

SarEr thanked the doctor and led Zun away from Mei’s room. They managed a few feet before Zun broke down on his shoulder. He held on tightly soothing Zun as he cried.

“SarEr, she has to make it, for my mother.”

SarEr prayed for a miracle, he hadn’t read hope in the doctor’s eyes, but it didn’t matter. He was going to make his own hope. He spent the next few hours moving between Xiao Wei, who remained by Mei’s bedside and a private waiting room where Zun sat staring listlessly out the window.

SarEr made sure they both ate and was about to go asking for the doctor when his cell phone beeped against his hip. He paused in the hallway, his gaze on the caller ID.

It was Han.

SarEr hadn’t given the man much thought since he’d left the estate earlier. He should probably have called Han and told him what was going on. He answered the call on the third ring.

“Where are you?” Han demanded into his ear. “The entire estate is in chaos. No one saw you leave, where are you hiding?”

“I need help.” SarEr started. “Something happened today—,”

Before he could finish, pain exploded behind his eyes. He gasped and crumbled to the floor.

***

“SarEr,” Han shouted into his phone but all he got was a beeping tone. He hung up and dialed again. SarEr’s number was engaged.

“The call was too short,” the tech guys from security informed him.

“Activate his tracker,” Han ordered not liking the way SarEr’s call had cut off.

He should have had someone watching him at all times.

“Where is Jiro? He was supposed to get back to me about Zun Lee’s whereabouts.”

“Boss, there was an incident in town. The Lees’ are at the hospital. Jiro went to find out what is going on.”

“What incident?” Han frowned.

“Mei Lee was assaulted this morning. No one knows who did it but she was rushed to the hospital.”

“Why am I finding out now?” Han roared as he rushed out of the security room.

If SarEr had found out, he would have gone to the hospital. Three men followed him down the stairs to the front door.

“What time was this incident?”

“Around nine in the morning, the neighbors say they saw the ambulance parked at the hair salon.”

Han cursed under his breath as he got into the black SUV that rolled up to the stairs. They needed to hurry; he had a bad feeling about this.

***

SarEr jerked awake groaning as pain lanced through his head. It was dark and he lay on his stomach on cold concrete. It took him a moment to realize that he had a black hood over his head. He moved to remove it but his arms were tied behind him.

“SarEr,” Zun’s voice penetrated the cloud of pain. “SarEr, are you alright?”

“Zun,” he groaned as he rolled over to his side and tried to sit up.

His heart was pounding in his chest. They weren’t in the hospital anymore. The last thing he remembered was talking to Han on his phone.

“You’re alright, thank God.” Zun’s relief when he sat up eased his panic a little. “Don’t struggle so much, we’re in a utility closet. There is a shelf above you.”

SarEr turned his head toward Zun’s voice. “You’re not hooded. Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” Zun sighed. “I’ve been trying to figure it out. My mum is still out.”

“Your mum,” SarEr gasped. “Xiao Wei is here too?”

“Yeah, they hit her pretty hard. I’m a little worried, she hasn’t moved. Do you know who they are?”

The person trying to kill him, he thought with a pang of fear.

He didn’t have a clue, but why attack Xiao Wei and Zun? They had nothing to do with his family.

“Can you reach me?”

“No, I’m handcuffed to a shelf.” Zun jiggled metal against the wood. “I think you can move though. If you crawl closer, I can take off that hood for you.”

SarEr didn’t hesitate. He slid on the floor in the direction of Zun’s voice. It wasn’t that much of a distance; he got to his knees and stood up slowly. He leaned as close as he could against Zun and the hood came off.

He blinked a few times in the dim light. They were in a utility closet full of cleaning chemicals, sponges and rugs. Zun turned to show him Xiao Wei braced against the shelf. Her hands tightly tied to the shelf above her. Her clean pink dress had a patch of dirt at the front.

“We have to get out of here.” SarEr looked around the room hoping to find something to cut off the ropes tying his hands. “Did you see who took us?”

Zun started answer, but the door opened stopping him.

SarEr gasped when he saw Jiro Nang walk in flanked by four men. SarEr stared at the men behind Jiro. All of them were bald headed, dressed in black suits and wore black gloves on their hands. Assassins for hire. His father’s business friends often used them to handle matters.

“Why are you doing this, Jiro?” SarEr asked.

Slow anger burned, as the need to rush the bastard filled every inch of him.

Mei was fighting for her life because of this bastard. When he got home, he was going to have Jiro fired and arrested. He was going to get justice for Zun.

“I’m going to bury you for this.”

“If you had stayed away, this wouldn’t involve you. You just had to meddle, didn’t you? If you hadn’t shown up at the hospital, no one would have known what happened,” Jiro accused. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You made my job easier, thanks for that, Prince.”

“What do you mean by make your job easier? After what you did to Mei, you don’t have a job. I’ll make sure of it. You should be getting ready to go to jail,” SarEr warned.

Jiro sneered.

“Where is the proof? The girl in hospital has been taken care of, now all that’s left is her brother and mother, and then… you. You are so naïve, even after all you’ve been going through lately. You still haven’t figured it out yet.”

SarEr’s gaze narrowed. Cobra in his bathroom, shots in the garden, the attempts on his life were inside the estate. Eyes wide, he stared at the man standing before him with a very sickening smile.

“I’m going to clean Mei’s situation up. It will be like it never happened,” Jiro said wickedly. “As for you, my dear Prince, your purpose is much bigger than these peasants. You’re going to help me deceive your father or you’re dead.”

“Never,” SarEr said, his gaze on the three men behind Jiro.

He was sure Han had activated the tracker they’d injected in him after the incident in the garden. He just needed to stall until Han got here. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“There won’t be a hole big enough for you to hide if you do kill me. You know that, right?” SarEr taunted moving away from Zun and taking a few steps closer to Jiro. “My father will have your head.”

“It won’t matter in a few minutes,” Jiro said and nodded to his men.

They grabbed his arms and dragged him out of the utility closet. SarEr struggled against their rough treatment as they went into a short dark hallway. They stopped in a small living room with a monitor on a desk.

Behind him, he heard more struggles and Zun and Xiao Wei were suddenly thrown onto the floor beside him. Zun managed to get on his knees placing his body over Xiao Wei’s protectively. Xiao Wei jerked awake. She sat up when she realized men holding guns surrounded them. She reached for Zun with a small whimper.

Jiro stood beside SarEr holding a gun.

“Time to make a choice, SarEr Nan,” Jiro said, pointing to the computer screen.

SarEr recognized his father sitting at a table in a restaurant. SarEr didn’t know the man seated across his father. He looked at Jiro with a frown.

“Your father’s life or the two peasants kneeling beside you,” Jiro elaborated. A waiter holding a wine bottle appeared at his father table. “That wine is laced with enough epinephrine to kill your father in seconds. You have two minutes to decide SarEr.”

***