Chapter 840: Cornered

The small pickup truck slowed to a crawl. Fiona Linton looked up and saw a barricade set up in the middle of the street. It was a heavy steel plate bristling with spikes. Behind it stood several mercenaries with their guns trained directly on the approaching vehicle. Clearly, they had been waiting here for quite some time.

At that moment, Fiona felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. She wondered just how many of these mysterious mercenaries had infiltrated the area. If this intersection was guarded, did it mean the others were locked down as well? And would Daniel Hayes and his men still be able to get in safely?

Taking continuous deep breaths, Fiona forced herself to calm down. The pickup continued to decelerate, but it never came to a complete halt.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"We have two choices," the bodyguard replied. "One: turn back, find a new place to hide, and wait for rescue. Two: ram right through them. The tires will blow out, we’ll lose control of the truck, and our lives will be at serious risk."

Fiona fell silent. She wondered why there couldn’t be a third option. Both choices put them in mortal danger, so what were they supposed to do? Were they just going to give up? If they stopped, would they be killed on the spot, or taken hostage to threaten Chloe Reed? Neither scenario offered a good way out. Gripping her seatbelt tightly, Fiona’s mind raced for a countermeasure.

"I’d vote for option two," the bodyguard added. "Ram our way out."

Fiona said nothing, her brows tightly knitted in conflict. After hesitating for a long moment, she finally spoke. "I’m making a call."

The bodyguard was taken aback as she instructed, "Back the truck up first. Take it slow. Wait until I finish this call before we decide."

He cast a glance at her. "Doctor Linton, do you have a plan?"

Fiona didn’t answer. Gripping her phone, she dialed a number purely from memory. As much as she hated to admit it, and as badly as she wanted to forget it, that specific string of digits was branded into her brain. No matter what, she just couldn’t erase it.

She pressed the call button and waited for the other end to connect.

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

After three long rings, the call connected. Amidst a chaotic symphony of artillery fire and howling wind, a man’s lazy drawl came through the speaker. "Who is this?"

Closing her eyes briefly, Fiona said, "It’s me. I’m back in the country, in Breyburn. I’m currently trapped by a squad of mercenaries, and I don’t want to die. Name your price. How much will it cost to save my life?"

"Hah... If it isn’t the great Doctor Fiona." The voice on the other end took on a teasing lilt. "Your status isn’t exactly ordinary, you know. Your life is definitely worth a premium."

Fiona tightened her grip on the phone. "Just name your price! Cut the crap!"

"So fierce," the man replied, feigning a grievance. "I’m thinking of a way, aren’t I? You have to give me a little time, right?"

As he spoke, the roar of gunfire echoed in the background again. Clearly, things weren’t exactly peaceful on his end either.

Fiona pursed her lips, refraining from provoking him any further.

About five seconds later, his lazy voice drifted through the line again. "Let’s bundle it with what you owe me from last time. A hundred million."

"What?!" Fiona gasped. "What do you mean, ’bundle it with last time’? What happened last time?!"

The man chuckled softly. "You slept with me and ran. Did you plan on just sweeping that under the rug? My body is a temple, you know. Countless people have offered good money to sleep with me and I turned them all down, yet you managed to score. Shouldn’t I be compensated for the physical damages?"