128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Seven: The Protection Programme | Part 2

"Hey, you! Stop there!" Matthew shouted at the intruder as they dashed away.

The intruder was masked and wholly clothed in black; black jacket, black boots, and black pants, so he could not see who it could be. Just as Matthew almost caught them, they pulled a hatch hidden in the grass, slipped into an underground passageway, and locked it, escaping to an unknown place.

"Damn it! I lost them!" he cursed angrily. Just then, out of their cabins came Daniel and Emma.

"What was all that noise?" Emma asked.

"Wait, why are you both sweating? The intruder was running, so they would have had some perspiration on them," Matthew said in suspicion of them.

"Intruder? I was doing Zumba!" Emma retaliated against Matthew's assertion.

"And excuse you, Matthew! I just took a shower, like I always do at night!" Daniel grumbled.

"Whatever the case is, we're locked in," Matthew sighed as he turned back to face the locked entrance gate of the manor.

"What?" Daniel and Emma screamed as they found it hard to believe that their situation was a repetition of the previous unfortunate events they had to go through.

"What's the commotion about?" Mason asked as he walked over towards them, together with Madison.

"The manor is locked from the inside!" Emma revealed to them, shaking fearfully as she tried to process the bad news.

"What?" Madison questioned puzzledly.

"Julian said he saw someone placing locks on the main exit. It's likely that they are among the five of us here," Daniel explained.

Just then, a cabin door creaked open to reveal a figure in the dark. An exhausted Megan stepped out of the cabin, walking down the steps and clasping her head. "What's going on here?" she questioned them.

"Make that six," Daniel corrected his sentence.

The six of them looked around and stared at each other, although Megan was the only one who didn't quite understand the "staring contest". It was hard to believe there was a mole.

Just then, Matthew blatantly lifted his finger and pointed it at Madison. "It was you!" he indicted furiously.

The whole group gasped in unbelief, shocked by the accusation.

"What? Why me?" Madison retaliated.

"You should have made it harder. It's so damn obvious; the intruder was about your height, and I saw their hoodie slop down slightly, revealing a patch of syrup-brown hair!" Matthew accused.

"Hey!" Emma stood up for her. "Look at my hair! It's also syrup-brown! How can you accuse her? Shouldn't you be accusing me too?"

Daniel then also stepped forward. "I have gingerbread-brown hair, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in the dark! I should be a suspect, too!" he added.

"Fine! Then you all can be suspects!" Matthew howled before stomping back to his cabin.

"I'm so sorry about Matthew. He should have some proper respect for a kind officer like you," Emma comforted Madison.

"It's okay," Madison sobbed as she walked away miserably, fighting back the tears that were about to roll down her face.

Daniel and Emma then confronted Matthew. "Hey! What the hell was that attitude?" Daniel scolded.

"Yeah, she works so hard to care for us! Don't you think she deserves some respect?" Emma chided.

"I have no idea what the heck is going on with you!" Megan added angrily to the group rant.