Her hands shook, her breathing shortened and her head filled with adrenaline. Yana slowly started to calm herself down as she wiped the blood away that got onto her.
Before the guy passed out, Yana had asked him if he still wanted to fight but he begged for his life. There was no trace of hatred or malice. Yana successfully subdued him.
She viewed the splatters of blood on the tree before dragging the man behind her to her previous spot. Her body felt dull and lifeless, her heart was beating slowly now.
Yana couldn't falter at a small obstacle like this. Soon, in the future, this might become her daily life and worse things would happen.
Yana picked up her belongings before she stepped out of the forest, still dragging the mean guy behind her, into the field of view of the other guy. In the brief second his eyes widened, Yana charged at him. The adrenaline that left her, once again flooded through her body.
Training her body to the point where she could go from 0-100 or from 100-0 in an instant, was extremely beneficial and worth it.
Not even letting the tattoo guy catch on, Yana slammed him against the wall before she raised her leg and spun, kicking him with full force face down. The impact was so great that his head bounced off the ground and back again. He instantly passed out. The commotion must have alerted Sam already yet Yana, at a normal pace, entered the house and looked around.
There was no one on the first floor. At the very back, on the right side was a staircase out of stone. They were on the second floor and as Yana thought, Sam's voice echoed through the place, "Damn, what happened outside? That bitch isn't answering too!"
Sam was very distressed while different noises appeared. Seli. Although Sam kidnapped her, he didn't seem to harm her. Yana walked with light steps, not making any sounds, to the staircase and looked up. The staircase led to the second floor without revealing anything but the cement wall. Yana couldn't see what was going on.
Since Yana couldn't use much force on Sam like with the other two men outside because she couldn't leave evidence of her harming the suspects, she had to be more cautious. But making Yana go out of her way and kidnapping Seli, Yana won't be gentle with Sam.
Footsteps appeared. Sam was pacing the floor up and down. It was obvious that he was very anxious. The plan didn't work out and he was pushed into a dead corner to meet his demise but he couldn't go down so easily!
Sam made another phone call. This time to his boss. If Yana said he should just kill the hostages, this obviously meant that the hostages didn't work. Sam had to make sure to get his boss' approval before getting rid of them.
If Sam was honest, he didn't know why his boss and the others were so eager to eliminate Yana and get ahold of the orphanage, more importantly, the land where the orphanage was.
In the first place, if it was so precious to the higher-ups why didn't they just deal with it personally instead of using small fires?
Sam has climbed up the business ladder for a while and through his silver tongue and sharp wits kissing up to everyone, he was able to develop a good sense of judging people as well as figuring them out. Even though the plan said they wanted to build a money laundering place underneath the orphanage, Sam was sure that the higher-ups didn't plan something as tame as that.
Something more dangerous would be built there. Something about the land and the location was attractive. Its secretive and abandoned place yet so close to the centre of a metropolitan city was perfect. Sam felt like he got close to the answer he wanted but in the end, he pulled back at the last second. If he pried closer, he would really die.
While Sam was hesitating to call his boss, Yana already made it halfway up the stairs and stopped. Since the staircase was open, she could check out the second floor from the stairs. Yana's eyes swept quickly across the floor. Then she pulled back and crouched down so she wouldn't be seen.
The second floor was laid out exactly like the first floor. There was nothing but a few stone columns. At the far back, on the right was Sam on the phone while Seli tied up, hunched in a corner. Her hair was messed up and her petite body curled up in fear.
Yana calculated the distance. It would've been more convenient if they were right where the staircase was, making it easy for Yana to sneak a surprise attack but being so far away would give Yana away once she tried to approach them.
Sam would discover her easily. Although Yana could just kick him down or overpower him, she wanted to exert her strength as little as possible.
Yana walked down the stairs again and remained on the ground floor. She had to get Sam to come to her. Yana didn't bother to think further. She opened the front door and then with a heavy BAM shut it. The loud noise caused the whole house to vibrate for a bit.
Then she opened the door and BAM.
For a third time- BAM, before she rushed and hid underneath the staircase.
Anyone on the ground floor could see her, because underneath the staircase was nothing but an open space yet someone who came down would not be able to spot her.
Yana picked out the thin, long cloth from her bag and waited until Sam finally made his way down, "Hey, where are you two? Can't you use your voices? Or is there someone?"
As Sam's lanky legs touched the ground, he saw a shadow out of his eye corners rushing to him but it was already too late for him to react.
The cloth slung around his neck. Sam scratched at the cloth strangling him but to no avail, instead, he was kicked in his knees and brought down to the floor. The next second, a cold voice breathed freezing wind into his ears and numbed his whole body, "You only have one option, follow me quietly and surrender, ok?"
Sam has underestimated her. A lot. The soft fabric of the cloth was actually turned into vicious steel under her command.
This female was too scary. How was she able to use something so harmless to deal such damage, physically and mentally. Sam felt the intimidating aura pressing his whole body down and wanted to surrender. But if he did, only a worse fate awaited him.
His boss wasn't a nice person. Sam couldn't fail. Yana saw that he had no intention to surrender. His struggle got even wilder. Yana was tempted to kick his head into the ground but that would only leave a bruise, so instead, she put her feet onto his back and stretched him away from her while she pulled him by the neck.
"You'll really die," Yana's voice held no emotion.
Tears formed in Sam's eyes. He indeed felt he was going to die. His head swirled with pain and numbing breathlessness, and he was ready to pass out any second. Sam had no choice but to pretend.