Chapter 45
Cat and Mouse
Sharine was sitting in the room, her lip ached. She frowned and looked at the bunch of men just standing brainlessly outside. She rolled her eyes and was too embarrassed to be captured by those losers.
The men didn’t interrogate Sharine and Kevin. However, they were looking at Sharine repeatedly, talking to themselves. One of the men walked toward her and asked something about the cave and the stone, but it was more out of curiosity rather than the interrogation. After a while, Sharine realized that those men were mercenaries and furthermore it was the same men whom she saw in the forest when she first arrived in this island.
They carried military rifles, similar to the one they use in jungle. Sharine smelt a rotten fish from the wooden box in the corner.
“Hey Kevin?” whispered Sharine.
“What?” said Kevin, quietly.
“Do you know who is living inside the cave?” asked Sharine.
“No,” muttered Kevin.
“Is it easy to find the underground tunnel?” said Sharine, frowning.
“Yes, the metal floor is very visible. It is just hard to find the right room,” muttered Kevin, grunting with a discomfort as blood hardly went through his finger.
“Why did they set up the traps around the caves then?” said Sharine.
“… Catch a deer?” said Kevin.
“Yes, Kevin, they are catching a deer,” said Sharine, angrily.
“I’m not sure…” muttered Kevin.
“Tell me more about those creatures,” asked Sharine.
“Well, you can think of them as beasts, only much stronger and stupid. Normally they are hard to kill it with guns. Personally I’ve never seen it before, but according to Glock, it looks abominable, and has a horrible smell…” said Kevin.
“Does the hunters’ club have any rules concerning caves?”
“Oh yeah, that reminds me, what the boss says about some of the caves are dwelled by the people from Cassandra. But I don’t think that’s accurate as most of them dwell inside particular rooms in the underground.”
“Cassandra?” Sharine choked.
“Why? Have you been there?” said Kevin.
“Are they under Veron?” asked Sharine, quietly.
“I don’t know, who is Veron?” muttered Kevin.
“Never mind,” said Sharine. Sharine stretched her muscle, her arm started aching. She grunted.
“Hey Kevin,” said Sharine, with a serious tone.
“Yeah?” said Kevin.
“… Are you sure that the underground tunnel is built by Ricky Guido?” said Sharine.
“… I mean… yeah, that’s what I’ve heard…” said Kevin, unsure. Sharine’s face got darkened.
“What is wrong?” asked Kevin, little frustrated that Sharine is holding back the information from him.
“Nothing,” Sharine muttered.
They could hear the men cheering. The men were playing cards games and drinking a bottle of whisky at the table. But few hours later, the men gradually became anxious and unsettling. Sharine was far away but she was able to recognize some words, ‘late,’ ‘profit,’ ‘the customer.’ A moment later, one of them walked up and the door creaked open. There were three huge men in military uniform stood on the doorway.
The men who just came in glimpsed at Sharine and Kevin. They smiled gently at the mercenaries who were annoyed at him. However, when one of the three men gave a black suitcase, their grim turned into smiles. The mercenaries exit the room. The man among three, who looked the oldest walked up to Sharine and Kevin, his eyes dangerously beaming at them.
“What do you want?” said Sharine, looking at the man.
“We were looking for those who dwell in a cave, our intelligence said those rocks indicate some sort of location,” said the man.
“Actually it is our first time seeing it,” muttered Sharine.
The man stared at Sharine and sighed.
“I’m Tim, special investigator concerning the foreign relation. We are trying to find scientists from Cassandra. We received some disturbing report regarding their work inside the cave,” said the man.
“Uh huh, yeah, we can’t help you,” snapped Sharine.
“… Are you from here?” said Tim. His eyes glared.
“No, we are survivors from the ship which sank in a southern sea few days ago. But we end up here,” said Sharine.
Sharine looked at him carefully; he seemed like he lived here long enough, judging from his features. She knew he was telling lie to them about foreign relation, but he didn’t seem like the bounty hunter either. She was curious, narrowing her eyes trying to figure out.
“We already know about the incident. You guys were foolish enough to travel close to the island,” said Tim, his face got rigid. He looked at Kevin who stayed silence. “So, you guys are from Cassandra?”
“Indeed,” grinned Sharine.
“Do you work under Veron?” asked Tim.
“Exactly an opposite," said Sharine.
Tim was looking at Sharine suspiciously, but looking at her wounded arm, he decided to go on with her story. He got up and went near the window, and wheeled around at them.
“Ok, I’ll let you go,” said the gentleman, leaving Kevin and Sharine dumfounded.
“Really?” muttered Kevin confused.
“Yes, I’ll let you go,” said Tim, without smile. His eyes were beaming dangerously. “Release them.”
One of the bodyguards walked toward them, pulled out his knife and cut the ropes for Kevin and Sharine. They were looking at Tim strangely with puzzled look. But Tim just went out the door along with his bodyguards.
It took a while for them to realize that they have been set free. After a moment of silence, Kevin suddenly grabbed Sharine’s hand and burst out the door, as if he was worried that he might change his mind. They were running in the forest for a while. Sharine coughed, tried to catch a breath.
“Hold your horses, dumbass,” Sharine breathed deeply, her back arched over, spitting on the ground.
“Sorry,” said Kevin.
“We can’t go back to village,” said Sharine.
“Why not?” asked Kevin.
“They are playing cats and mouse, we can’t just go back, they will follow us,” said Sharine.
“I don’t think they are following us,” muttered Kevin, looking back at the forest. Sharine silenced and showed him her muddy shoes.
“Oh, yeah, foot track. But we will use a mine cart…” mumbled Kevin. Sharine shook her head, breathing deeply.
“It will be bad if they caught us in the underground,” said Sharine, coughing. “We have to lead them to the cave. Near that location, we can enter the tunnel.”
“All right…” said Kevin, concerned.
“What is that stone signify anyway?” said Sharine.
“I thought it was about practicing sorceries and voodoos,” Kevin scratched his head.
“Let’s find out shall we?” said Sharine, started walking.