With a pull of the trigger, Daniel ended his life. His blood and brain spewed out. It splattered on the ceiling, windows and Yang Yi's legs.
Yang Yi was stunned. He honestly didn't think it would end this easily for Daniel. After all the calamity he had brought on the team and the deaths he caused, Daniel simply killed himself. He died on the spot. There wasn't really any pain in the process for him.
Kate clenched her fists but said nothing. While they now had one less issue to think about, they didn't feel satisfied or encouraged by what happened. Instead, as the three continued to drive with the company of a corpse, the sense of despair they felt only grew stronger.
"How did they find us?" Kadipur asked fearfully.
Yang Yi responded quickly. He shouted in exasperation, "Our phones! Kate's phone! Fucking hell, we were tracked!"
Yang Yi suspected something like this might happen, which was why he was especially upset by the fact that he didn't prevent it. The hitman would have noticed Kate's phone. He would have known her number, as well. Yang Yi didn't say anything at first because he thought the chance for it was too low, but now they were facing the consequence of his negligence. It appeared that he had underestimated the resources their enemy possessed.
Yang Yi thought to himself, Fucking hell, it has only been two hours since we found out about Mr. Jones's death. We're already too many steps behind whoever's after us.
As Li Fan's words of advice flashed in his mind, Yang Yi took a deep breath and tried to get rid of any unnecessary thoughts. He then said, "Throw out the phone, but don't do it right now!"
Yang Yi quickly realized the contradictory nature of what he said. He rephrased, "Our phones may reveal our location, but we can't just throw them out now! We have to throw them out somewhere that nobody can find them! Where's the sim card?"
Before Yang Yi managed to take his phone out, Kadipur shouted. "Watch out!"
They were surrounded again. There was one car coming to block them from the side and another one came from behind. It seemed that the hitmen were trying to capture them alive. It was as if they needed to interrogate Yang Yi and the rest to prevent any further intel from leaking.
Despite the pursuers' effort to trap Kadipur, a civilian car in the other lane forced them to stop driving alongside Kadipur. So, instead, of having one vehicle pressuring Kadipur from the right and another from behind, the one in the right lane was forced to change lanes and follow the car chasing Kadipur from behind.
Kadipur had the option to change the direction of the car since the hitmen could only follow behind him now. He turned the wheel and drove into a narrow alley before accelerating. He planned to end the chase here. He continued to race through the alleyway, then quickly turned in to an even narrower path. It was about the width of the vehicle itself, but Kadipur managed to make it through before the hitmen could spot them. He switched the car's lights off and headed towards an open area.
After driving through a complex route, Kadipur finally lost their pursuers for good. As he got out of the car, Kadipur pointed and said in an unsteady tone. "Get out… and walk from here. Turn right at the second… alleyway and you'll arrive at the main road. It's just near the Thames River..."
Yang Yi grabbed for the gun, which was still in Daniel's hands. Kadipur attempted to stop him from doing so, "Don't take the gun. He was the one who ended his life. If you take the gun, you'll become responsible for his death."
Yang Yi stopped even though he had already laid his hand on the gun. He thought about what Kadipur said. After a few seconds, he decided that he didn't need the gun.
Kate left the car and headed towards Kadipur, who didn't seem to be able to move at all. She said in a soft but hurried tone, "We need to be quick! What are you doing?"
Kadipur pressed a hand to his chest and answered painfully, "I'm going to die…"
It was way too late for them to have realized, but there were two gaping holes in Kadipur's body. One in his abdomen, and another one in his chest. Despite the fact that blood was pouring out of his wounds, Kadipur spoke firmly, "Take your things and go now. I can still hold on a bit longer. I'll go distract them, you guys leave…."
The two waited for him to finish, but he stopped moving before he could speak his final words. Yang Yi grabbed Daniel's backpack and ran to the back of the car to get his luggage.
Kate said wistfully, "Kadipur has also died. If we want to survive, we should leave this place. Let's not waste his death."
Not that she was in much better shape than him. Her body was covered in blood and she wasn't even able to walk straight.
"You've been shot too?"
Kate looked down towards her lower abdomen, then replied, "Yes, I've been shot."
Yang Yi clenched his teeth in frustration since he didn't even have any strength to even complain. He had really lost all the help he had. After suppressing the pain in his stomach he unwillingly helped Kate walk by putting her arm around his shoulder. They headed towards the direction Kadipur pointed out to them. Just like he said, after they took one more turn, they finally saw the main road which was covered in street lights.
Yang Yi realized that he needed to change his outfit because it was covered in Daniel's splattered brain and blood. He quickly stripped off his T-shirt and pants before opening his suitcase to grab some clothes. He then bandaged Kate's gunshot wound with a towel and put one of his shirts on her too.
Yang Yi took out some essentials and packed them into a small bag. He didn't put the small bag in his suitcase. He carried it on his shoulder. Then, with one arm around Kate and the other carrying the suitcase, Yang Yi began to walk.
Before he even took a step, Kate stopped him by asking, "Where do we go?"
"I don't know…"
Yang Yi was just as clueless as Kate, at this point. There was no shelter they could go to. There was no one they could rely on at the moment. They were supposed to walk the main road like Kadipur told them, but they didn't have a destination.
As she clung weakly onto Yang Yi's body, Kate apologized unexpectedly, "I'm sorry, Ross. It seems that you were right. We are going to die. We should've looked for a comfortable way to die instead of setting ourselves up to fall into the hands of those people."
"I don't want to die, so let's just… walk first." Yang Yi tightened his grip on Kate's arm and started walking. Yang Yi searched for any hint of hope that might remain for them as they continued down the street at an unbearably slow pace.
Yang Yi thought about the contact list Li Fan gave him, the same one that was originally meant to be passed to him by his father. John was the only one on the list who replied, but Yang Yi thought that the experience he gained over the last few days was enough to show that the list was not completely useless.
Yang Yi took out his phone and recalled a series of numbers. He typed them on the keypad and waited for the call to reach the number's owner. After a short while the call was picked up, Yang Yi said without waiting for the other side to speak "I'm looking for Mr. Phillip. I'm the son of James Yang. I'm currently in need of immediate assistance."