Silly Bride

Chapter 221

having their lights on, it shouldn’t be difficult.”Winnie nodded. “Let’s go.”As they continued to move forward with their bodies hugging the wall, Greta reiterated, “Ms. Garland, if anything untoward happens, you should ignore me and run for it.”“Mmm-hmm.”After making their way forward, they soon arrived at the first room that was lit.Unexpectedly, the room door was suddenly opened from the inside. Following that, a woman walked out slowly from it.At the sight of her, Winnie and Greta instantaneously hugged the wall and froze.After a splash was heard, the woman returned to the room.When it dawned upon them that the woman just came out to dump some water, the two ladies breathed a sigh of relief.It wasn’t until they heard the noises from the room again that Greta whispered to Winnie, “Ms. Garland, did you get a good look at the woman? Is she the person you’re looking for?”“No.” Winnie was extremely certain. “Although there’s only one room left, we cannot let our guard down, for the people I’m looking for might not even be inside.”Maintaining the highest levels of vigilance, both of them arrived at the next room and hid underneath the window.Not wanting Winnie to show her head, Greta pried open the window and took a peek herself.Soon, she ducked back to the ground and reported, “This is the place, Ms. Garland. The person you’re looking for is here. However, I only saw the young lady whose leg was injured.”Winnie broke out a frown. Why is Rachel alone? Did they lock Granny up someplace else?However, under those circumstances, there was no time to dwell upon the question. “Let’s go in.”Greta immediately pulled out a hairpin and began lockpicking the door.Unfortunately, her technique left a lot to be desired, as the door remained unopened a minute later.Winnie knitted her brows. “Do you not know how to do this?”The anxious Greta was already covered in sweat. “This isn’t my forte compared to marksmanship.”Letting out a gentle sigh, Winnie took the hairpin from Greta’s hands. “Let me do it.”No sooner had she spoken than the knelt down beside Greta and pried the lock open in less than thirty seconds.When a click was heard, Greta scratched her head awkwardly and murmured, “That’s really impressive, Ms. Garland.”Winnie acknowledged her with a faint smile before gently pushing the door open.Just as she stepped into the room, she saw a wooden club as thick as someone’s arm bearing down upon her face.Caught by surprise and with Greta blocking her retreat, Winnie had no place to dodge.However, the pain she was bracing for never transpired, for Greta’s hand had suddenly reached out from behind to shield her.At the same time, Greta’s other hand grabbed the neck of the person wielding the club.“Greta, stop! Granny, put down the club!”It turned out that the person hiding behind the door in the ambush was none other than Jacinta.When she saw that the intruder was Winnie, the shocked Jacinta took a moment to regain her senses before putting down her club.By then, Greta too, realized they had found Winnie’s grandmother.“Winnie!” Overwhelmed by delight, Jacinta almost forgot to keep her voice down.“Shh!” Winnie, with her lowered voice, reminded, “Granny, not so loud.”Nodding in acknowledgment, Jacinta swiftly locked the door and closed the curtains. After that, she led Winnie and Greta into the room.However, instead of following them inside, Greta hid behind the curtain and kept watch.Holding Winnie’s hand, the teary-eyed Jacinta sat her down at the table. “Winnie, why did you come here?”Winnie tightened her grip on Jacinta’s hand in an attempt to comfort her. “Granny, I’m here to take you home. You must have suffered a lot.”In a choking voice, Jacinta replied, “Actually, I’m largely all right but Rach’s condition isn’t good. After being shot in her leg, she only had her bullet removed today. During the entire journey here, she fell into a daze after being stricken by a fever. Despite taking some fever medication, it was of no help at all. Also, the doctor here isn’t serious about treating her.”When Winnie glanced at Rachel, who was lying in bed, she could see how the latter’s face had reddened from the fever.The frown on her face deepened. “I’ll take her to a proper doctor once we get out.”“How are we going to escape?” Jacinta was brimming with concern. “Not only does the rule of law not apply here, but they’re also armed. Can we really escape?”“Of course!” Winnie reassured Jacinta with a smile. “Can’t you see how successful we were in infiltrating this place? Hence, we naturally have a plan to escape. Also, there’re men waiting outside to receive us.”“However, given Rach’s condition, she won’t be able to walk, making it very inconvenient.”“Don’t worry. There’s always a solution to every problem,” Winnie replied calmly. “Look, there’s two of us here. Greta is really strong and will have no problems carrying Rach.” Jacinta let out a sigh. “I guess there’s no other choice. I’m sorry to have given you all this trouble, Winnie.”However, Winnie disapproved of victims blaming themselves. “This has nothing to do with you, Granny. Zyon was the one who started it all.”Despite opening her mouth to speak, Jacinta held her tongue when she decided to continue keeping the secret.After throwing the groggy Rachel a glance, she looked out the window. “In that case, when are we leaving?”“A few more hours later.”Winnie explained,“When everyone’s sound asleep at dawn, we’ll use the opportunity to slip out. But for now, it’s too risky to do so.”“Sure.” Jacinta nodded. “We’ll do as you say.”Time trickled by painfully as they waited.By the time it was three in the morning when everyone was sound asleep, it was Winnie and her companions’ chance to slip away.Carrying Rachel on her back, the agile Greta led Winnie and Jacinta as they attempted to sneak out.They had to first go back to the way they came from before scaling the wall where the banana plantation was.Just when they were about to enter the banana plantation, a gunshot rang out in the air, followed by a second and a third.Despite being momentarily stunned, Winnie and Greta increased their pace.Winnie began to worry. “Can it be that Captain Manfield and the others have entered?”“Impossible,” Greta replied resolutely. “There’s no way they would do something suicidal like this. Something else must have happened between the Horton family’s men. The more chaos there is the better, for it’ll make our escape much easier. Nevertheless, we should hurry up. If they were to come here, we might be caught by a stray bullet.”After humming in agreement, Winnie picked up her pace with Jacinta in tow.Little did they expect someone to be shooting at them the moment they entered the banana plantation.Fortunately, the dim light of the moon prevented the shooter from getting a good aim. Hence, no one was hurt on their side.Greta cursed under her breath, “There must be someone else trying to escape who has gotten to our position ahead of us.”Since Winnie and Greta were unarmed and they couldn’t tell how many enemies there were in the banana plantation, they had no choice but to back off. It didn’t help that they had an elderly and an injured person with them.Unfortunately, during their retreat, they ran into the Horton family’s men.Given that a shootout was ignited by the emergence of a traitor, the men in pursuit were going to shoot first and ask questions later.Therefore, Winnie and the rest had no choice but to dive to the side. Unfortunately, Greta’s leg was hit by a bullet.“Oh no!” Greta exclaimed. “Now that they have turned on all the lights including that of their cars, it would be impossible to escape tonight. If we force the matter, it would only mean certain death. Thus, we have no choice but to take both of them back.”While Winnie fell into deep thought, Jacinta immediately suggested, “Winnie, both of you should hurry up and escape. I’ll take Rach back to where we were, so just leave us. As long as you’re out, we’ll still have hope.”“That’s right, Ms. Garland.” With her leg wounded, Greta’s movement was now hindered. “Your grandmother is right. Let’s get out first, as tonight’s mission is a failure. It will be bad if they were to conduct a search later and don’t find your grandmother in her room.”No sooner had Greta spoken than two men came running in their direction.When Winnie turned around and saw them, she instructed Greta, “In that case, you should take them back. I’ll distract our pursuers.”“No, my priority is to keep you safe. There’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight.”“With your leg injured, you’ll just be a burden if you come with me. Besides, in your line, aren’t you supposed to just follow orders? Now, stop wasting time and get going!”Seeing the logic in Winnie’s words, Greta nodded before running ahead.As for Winnie, she ran in a different direction while creating a diversion. Before she knew it, she had managed to capture the attention of their pursuers.Nonetheless, due to her unfamiliarity with the area, she quickly ended up running back to where she came from.Although she had managed to lose the two guards previously on her tail, she didn’t expect to see them right after she turned a corner.Left without a choice, she lowered her head and fled in the opposite direction.While she was running, a large hand suddenly reached out from the darkness and forcefully pulled her in.Worried that she would scream, the person who grabbed her covered her mouth tightly.Before she knew it, a suppressed male voice rang out beside her ear. “If you want to live, do as I say. They’ll be coming soon, so play along with me.”For some strange reason, Winnie found the voice oddly familiar but just couldn’t remember where she heard it before.Before she could clarify what to do, her two pursuers arrived.One of them cursed, “Where’s the person? I just saw the figure just now. How did he disappear just like that?”“D*mn it, all this chasing is killing me. Once I find him, I’ll definitely break his legs, as he does fly like the f*cking wind!”Their voices caused Winnie’s brows to furrow tightly.As the sound of their footsteps kept growing louder, she knew they would notice her if they came any closer.It was at that moment the man lowered his head abruptly and kissed her.Truth be told, it wasn’t technically a kiss, for his hand was still covering her mouth. To be precise, he was actually kissing the back of his hand.As he began making smooching sounds, he ordered Winnie, “Work with me!”Winnie immediately understood what was needed and reciprocated with a sensual moan.The amorous