Elixir

Chapter 34

The screen fell down and burst into shards. Helena slowly opened her eyes and realised that the bullet was hit at the screen to erase the evidence and the men ran away. She strained her neck to look around; her gun was taken by them and there was no trace of where they went.

The distant inaudible crunching of soil beneath a couple of footsteps became louder and she felt someone run closer to her and turn the chair around.

"Agent! Are you alright?" it was one of the squad C members.

Helena nodded briefly and let him untie her steel wired wrists that now bled because of the sharp friction and free her from the chair. She stood up bending low and placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath. The agent stood beside her and held her with a strong gaze. There were four more agents in the room looking around for traces. They searched the shed, ran across the entire area but found none of the three abductors.

"Nothing, sir. There are only truck wheel tracks heading towards the south but they merged with a tar road that disappears at the far end." One of them said.

Agent M29 stood up, straightening her spine and getting back to her regular active posture.

"There's only one option" she said, "We'll follow the south direction until it takes us somewhere."

---

It was a great relief for the Head to know that Helena was alive. His fists were tight as stone, and his teeth clenched with fulfillment but the very next moment, his shoulders drooped to know that the kidnappers escaped and the Anti wasn't physically present around.

"He spoke to me through a large screen that they destroyed" she reported grimly, "I couldn't procure the specifications of his location or his identity, nor of his abductors. I apologize, sir."

"We can't lose hope, agent. State your current plan."

"We're heading to the direction where they have seemed to be gone. We'll report the further details after we find clues."

The Head nodded and hanged up. A few minutes later, he received an arrival call from squad B. They were told to stay at the factory sheds for investigations and Shen was told to follow squad C.

"Thank you" Helena smiled at one of the agents who offered her a bottle of water. Her stomach felt expanded as soon as the cold liquid lined it from the inside, making her realise that she hadn't eaten anything since last night.

"It's almost 4:30 am" another agent spoke through his ear piece, "yes, we left from there an hour ago"

Helena was seated at the front seat next to the agent who drove the van. She inhaled a prolonged fill of air and put her head back. Her bruises were cold now, but the cut on her cheek still burned the same.

The van drove and drove, the trees became thinner and the barren lands took over most of what they could see. The sky turned lilac, it was about early morning now. Nothing else was seen. There were some houses lining the horizon.

"Seongnam" the driving agent said

Helena looked at him with abrupt interrogation

"We're heading towards Seongnam now" he replied after noticing her expressions, "do you think travelling like this would help us find them?"

Helena raised her head and looked outside at the growing settlements. There were old tiny houses around and thin population seen on the road. The air turned warmer and the clouds looked pink and fluffy.