[Present Time]

THUD!

Rus quietly dragged a person behind one of the containers and looked around. He had been dealing with as many enemy soldiers as possible — and as quietly as possible.

That was what Ashley told him to do, after all.

"Fuck." He slumped onto the floor, resting his arms on his knees.

He glanced at the person lying motionless beside him, closing his eyes and cocking his head back. A long exhale escaped him as he recalled his conversation with Ashley.

He should’ve stopped helping her the moment he realized that once this was over, she would shift her focus to them: him, Khan, Warriyo, and Nelek. Just thinking about it made his head throb.

"Why... did we even listen to her in the first place?" he wondered, knowing they normally would’ve never done something this reckless.

But the answer wasn’t much of a mystery.

At the back of his mind, he knew it was because of Khan’s condition. Had it not been for that, there was no way they would’ve gone along with this woman’s plans. They wouldn’t have worked with her at all. If anything, they were confident they could’ve come up with a better plan than this.

"Don’t think about it for now," he muttered to himself. "We’re already in too deep."

If his colleagues were successful, they would already be in Dominion by now. It was too late for Rus to turn back since he, too, was already trapped on this ship with her and countless enemies.

"How does she plan to take all these guys down?" he wondered as he reopened his eyes and glanced at the unconscious person beside him. "Never mind. I’ll just have to... fight with her for now."

Helping her was the only way to gain some leverage here. Perhaps, if he assisted her enough, they would be spared.

It was foolish to even think about mercy at this point, but he had nothing else left to cling to anymore.

Their boss — the person who came up with this plan and forced this mission onto them — had already planned to bury them tonight. Khan was toeing the fine line between life and death. And they had already gotten trapped in Ashley’s madness.

So, holding onto something foolish, as ridiculous as it sounded, was the only thing keeping him moving forward.

"There’s no point dwelling on it," he told himself. "She said if she’s satisfied with the outcome, she might let us go."

Might.

But never mind that.

Just as Rus recalibrated his thoughts, a loud frequency echoed throughout the entire ship. Even where he was, he ducked and covered his ears.

Then came her voice.

"Ahem, ahem... this is the newly appointed captain of this ship..."

Slowly, Rus looked up and listened to every bit of nonsense she was saying.

"Fuck," he breathed out once more, scoffing. "Why the fuck did she tell me to take down as many soldiers as possible and prepare a getaway boat if she’s just going to fucking announce that she’s as free as a bird..."

Then, he trailed off as his brows furrowed, thinking about their location and where the captain’s deck was positioned. Their current location was practically coast-to-coast across the ship.

"Is she drawing everyone over there... to clear this side?" he blurted out, gazing at the unconscious man beside him.

The realization hit him like a bucket of ice water.

No wonder there were fewer people in this area compared to the sections he had sneaked through earlier. Rus froze for a second before quickly shaking his head and slapping his own face to pull himself together.

"Don’t mind her!" he yelled at himself, grabbing the soldier’s rifle and getting to his feet. "A boat — we need a boat."

With that thought in mind, Rus proceeded with her plans.

Her plan, after all, was simple. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

At least, the one she told him.

Rus only needed to quietly take down as many soldiers as possible and prepare a boat for them. Why? He had no idea, aside from the obvious conclusion that they would use it to escape.

Deep in his heart, he knew there was something else in her mind that she hadn’t told him because it wasn’t necessary for him to know. That was all she needed him to do for her, and that was all he intended to do.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

As for how she would make her way from the captain’s deck to this area?

That would be her problem to figure out.

*

*

*

Meanwhile, at the port...

Members of Dominion searched every nook and cranny. They already knew Ashley was no longer there. However, Lucian’s orders were clear.

Everyone involved would be dealt with.

They rounded up the members of the Knights Gang — who had also been searching for Ashley and her abductors — into one place. Once the gang members realized Dominion had arrived, they stopped resisting after witnessing Dominion deal with those foolish enough to fight back.

Gin and Vodka, who were among the people tasked with supervising the ground operation, stood a short distance away as they inspected the people lying in pools of blood.

"It’s definitely a massacre," Vodka murmured, eyeing the lethal gunshot wounds littering the bodies.

To him, though, the scene looked strange.

The corpses weren’t merely scattered around — they were clustered far too closely together, as if they had all been ganging up on someone before tragedy struck.

Vodka turned to Gin, who was listening to a report from one of the men who had just approached them.

Gin glanced at Vodka. "The guys who were chasing the Madam’s abductors killed themselves."

"Huh?"

"When they realized they were surrounded, they killed themselves before we could do it," he clarified, snapping his eyes toward the bodies. "These guys were definitely from the Knights Gang, but the third force..."

A deep exhale escaped Gin’s mouth. "Vodka, I don’t want to jump to conclusions yet, but this feels oddly familiar. Remember that... thing involving that traitor Patrick?"

Vodka slowly nodded, having thought of the same thing.

Just like tonight, the ambush orchestrated by Patrick had also involved a mix of local gangs, mercenary groups, and newly formed organizations.

What they initially expected to be a simple abduction turned out to be far bigger than any of them anticipated. Ashley’s abductors, being hunted down by both the Knights Gang and another group willing to die rather than be captured, told them one thing clearly.

Whoever was behind this wasn’t just some simple organization.

Gin huffed as he turned his eyes toward the ocean.

"Let’s just hope they bring her back first," he muttered. "Then we deal with the rest."