Charles arrived at the animal shelter 30 minutes after the breach had occurred. He did not expect that Jared would do such a thing. He did not expect Jared to save money to pay for the DNA tracker for his dog, nor did he expect Jared to risk committing vandalism. Yes, Jared was reckless, spontaneous, and a bit rebellious, but doing something against the law? He usually would have thought twice about that.
"Any clue where the target went?" Charles asked.
Remi, his assistant answered, "He's heading south, according to the CCTV."
Charles's gaze followed the road leading to the southward. Where had he gone? The space station was to the northeast. Or was this just a trick? Whatever Jared's next move was, it was better to secure isolation.
"Remi, call Flaggot of BattleLion and tell him to arrest Jared Gauthier once he returns. Have him ambush Jared while he's sleeping. That way, he won't have any chance to escape," Charles commanded, and his assistant immediately went to work.
"Mr. Richmond," Charles called, addressing a cop with big muscles. The cop tapped his boots, ready to take the order.
"Inform the security at the space station that we have a fugitive. Also, call the administration and have them place a bounty on Jared's head, with a 100,000-credit reward, taken from my own account," Charles ordered.
Once his assistants were on their tasks, Charles stood in the middle of the road, looking southward, narrowing his eyes. He was determined not to let Jared get away. How dare he defy him? Charles would make Jared beg for forgiveness, and there would be punishment when he was captured! Jared would beg for mercy.
Charles activates his decive, a device strapped on his left inner arm, he open a DNA tracker and track Jared's location on GPS. The man is in secluded area surround by forest 20 km from the animal shelter he breached in.
What is he doing there?
Charles might be brilliant, but Jared is not an idiot. Charles might know Jared's habits, predict what he would do, and anticipate his choices. But he missed something: Jared also knows his mind. So, he didn't go to the Space Station, and he knew not to return to BattleLion. Jared knows that Flaggot is on good terms with the law, and Charles would use him to capture Jared.
Jared had been in this exact location before to capture a bounty. One of his fugitives ran to a deep forest where he hid his trooper pod beneath the forest cave, with waterfall as the entrance, and a secret door at the top as the exit door. Jared confronted the fugitive there, but the fugitive escaped after deciding not to use the trooper pod and opting instead for a motor chase. Jared knows the pod is still there, hidden inside the waterfall.
Charles wouldn't know this place. Even if he tracks Jared's DNA, he can't guess what Jared would do.
Jared feels lucky today; he finds the pod keys on the table, covered in dust. He presses the activation button to power it on. An aggressive hum fills the air, and another button is pressed to open the canopy. Jared enters, and Herman follows without thinking twice.
Once he inserted the key to power up the pod, the buttons on the key now deactivated, making it impossible to open the pod's canopy if he accidentally pressed the wrong button.
"Are you ready, buddy?" Jared asked Herman, who tilted his head curiously, smiling from ear to ear. Herman seemed to know exactly what they were about to do. He barked excitedly and licked Jared's face, as if to clarify that he didn't care where they went, as long as they had each other.
"I don't know where we're headed, but we'll travel as far as we can... far enough for the DNA tracker to lose its signal." Jared gripped the wheel. The hideout detected the pod activation and opened its clamshell roof, clearing the way for the pod to lift off.
With high speed, it soared into the air, breaking through the blue sky and heading into outer space.
Charles's DNA tracker blinked, notifying him that Jared was making a significant move. When he checked the tracker, he was shocked to see that Jared was no longer on the planet.
"What?! How?!" he growled, staring at the sky, where he saw a faint white line heading toward outer space, marking Jared's trail.
Charles rushed to his car. "All units, prepare for space pursuit!"
He then drove to the nearest space station, heading for the intergalactic police station and leaving his post on Alayan.
Charles hit the gas at full speed. He drove like a madman, almost hitting other cars and causing accidents. It wasn't just about anger or feeling his authority being challenged.
The memories were still fresh in his mind.
When he pointed his gun at Jared's head, his hand had shaken, and his breath had shortened. He tried hard to cover up any emotion showing on his face.
"Do it!" Jared had challenged him with a bold voice. His face was calm but determined. He looked at Charles as if his life meant nothing. However, Charles just couldn't pull the trigger. He was too proud to lower the gun but didn't want to kill Jared. He needed him in his life.
"Why are you so demanding? Why can't you understand me just a little bit? Why is everything never enough to you?!" The words echoed in Charles's mind, trying to spill out of his mouth. However, nothing came out.
Jared moved Charles's hand from his head to his heart. "Here, shoot it here. Pull the trigger, and it's all done. I'll never get out of here, just as you wish. Do it!"
Jared's scolding broke Charles's mental state. He stepped back, on the verge of breaking, but Jared must not see it fall—his tears.
"You know what?" Charles shook his head and withdraw his gun. He waved his hand in defeat. "… Just go."
"Adieu," Jared said, waving two fingers from his temple outward before entering the trooper pod he was about to steal from the police station docking bay. He closed the canopy—just like that—heartlessly throwing away everything that had happened between them, as if it all meant nothing.
Charles could only watch as the fire from the pod's boosters lit up the void, and flew away, disappearing into the darkness. Finally, he let the tears flow. Of course, he couldn't let anyone, especially Jared, see it. Because once they started falling, it wasn't rain—it was a waterfall.
The chase was still ongoing. Charles hurriedly traveled to the space station, strategizing his next move to catch Jared.
"I made a grave mistake in the past by letting you go. I should've hit you in the face with that gun and knocked you out! I've worked hard to make sure you failed most of your bounty missions... interfering with your pursuits so you'd keep failing and finally realize you're useless out there. Then you'd come back to me! And now, now that you're in my grasp, you're going to walk away from me again? Don't think for a second I'm going to let that happen!" Charles growled as he parked his car in the lot and hurriedly entered the space station.
He knew Jared would try to get out of reach from the DNA tracker, but whatever he used had its limits. It needed fuel. He'd have to stop somewhere, and that was probably Charles's only chance to catch up with him before he truly lost his first love forever.