Chapter 251 Correspondence
Short on weapons and personnel, they had no idea if Nadya was dead or alive. Now, they faced the risk of Wallace and his men barging in at any moment – Leah had never met with such a dangerous situation before.
That very moment, thoughts flooded her mind, and she recalled what Lola told her. Despite it all, she didn’t have the slightest bit of regret saving Daisy and Nadya. Instead, she felt guilty that her insistence had plunged Lola into the precarious situation she was in.
Lola’s jaws were clenched, and with indignance written all over her face, she knew there was no point complaining now. She squeezed the dagger in her hand and hissed, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You don’t want to know what will become of you if you’re caught. The best thing for us now is to die together! Dying beats getting caught.”
Leah felt a chill run down her spine, but she nodded anyway. With trembling hands, she shoved some gunpowder into the flash pan.
Another loud gunshot rang outside the door; everyone inside the torture chamber held their breaths for what was to come. Nevertheless, Wallace and his guards didn’t force their way in.
Leah realized that the guards must have come across someone else. Before the whole thing started, the entire team split up – this meant the group in charge of causing a commotion had returned. Among them were the remaining maids and a good number of well-built male slaves who had joined in halfway. When they saw Wallace and his guards surrounding the torture room, they immediately stormed into action.
Leah and the others in the room didn’t let the opportunity slide. As the chaos brewed, they made their way out of the room, led by a male slave with a pitchfork in hand. She rushed to where Nadya had fallen and found his chest smothered in blood, and he was no longer breathing
Her chest tightened with grief. Fewer and fewer of her brothers and sisters were still alive and breathing. Even so, there was no time to grieve. In a few minutes, another two slaves were shot dead. Wallace and his men reloaded their guns. Leah knew that they had to leave right now, but Lola, the one leading the pack, suddenly stopped. She stood where she was, frozen in place. Then, when the others caught up, she handed Daisy over to another maid.
Leah followed Lola’s gaze and saw that she was staring at Wallace. There were flames raging in her burning eyes. Other than the sole instance where she showed her scars, Lola never talked about how she got them or who did it to her, but by how she glared at Wallace right now, Leah had a good idea.
“Don’t do anything stupid. They have five guns with them. Even if you kill them, you’ll probably get killed yourself!” Leah pleaded.
The others were way ahead of them now. Lola hesitated for a moment. Suddenly, without so much as a warning, she grabbed the gun in Leah’s hand, aimed at Wallace, and pulled the trigger. With over meters between them and no training, Lola naturally missed. The bullet deviated from her target and hit the arm of another guard.
Grimacing with frustration, Lola understood that was no time to ponder over anything. Just as they were about to leave, Wallace was done reloading, and he began shooting again. Leah watched in horror as a bullet tore through the cheek of a maid running toward the both of them. Then, the group hastily retreated with the wounded, and Wallace stopped pushing forward since there were only five of them. One of his men was also shot in the arm. They wouldn’t stand a chance against a mob of famished and tormented slaves.
As a result, Wallace had to let them go, watching on in vexation as the slaves disappeared into the night.
Meanwhile, Laeli was already the gate of the manor with the carriage. Cauchy and the few colored men had all hailed from different places – there was a sailor, a fisherman, and even a slaughterhouse owner – they all had one thing in common – all ex-slaves that either escaped or joined pirates, subsequently regaining their freedom.
The similar horrors they all shared caused them to sympathize with their own people, where they were all brought to the plantations against their will. Cauchy even established a secret organization to grant assistance to the plantation escapees. So, when Laeli approached this organization with the plan in mind, they readily expressed their willingness to help. Since they were all employed and had proper jobs on the island, their faces were covered tonight to avoid retaliation.
With Cauchy taking point, they swiftly eliminated the guards at the gate.
Then, as if on cue, Leah and the others arrived. Laeli was taken aback by the number of people with her. When the chaos broke out, he knew that a massive riot was about to happen, but upon seeing the group, he realized that there were a lot more people than initially planned.
Thankfully, they prepared two extra carriages in the event of such a situation. For good measure, the slaves in the stables also sneaked out two of Malcolm’s carriages amid the chaos.
However, the guards were catching up to them. Cauchy and his men jumped down the carriage and shouted to Laeli as they took cover, “You go first. I’ll buy you some time. I’m not a slave of this manor. We’ll just get to somewhere secluded, and once we get rid of our cover, then they won’t be able to recognize
us.”
Another slave, a sailor on a pirate ship, exclaimed, “I am a crew of the Lion. If they touch a single strand of hair on me, they will face my brothers’ revenge!”
This wasn’t a time for formalities. It wasn’t just the manor’s guards, but their reinforcements were also approaching fast. Laeli nodded at Cauchy and his people as a gesture of thanks. The appointed time was here, and although some had still not arrived, Laeli could wait no longer. He pulled the reins with all his might, and all six carriages carrying the slaves broke through the night toward the direction of hope and freedom.
Zhang Heng didn’t go to the beach. Instead, he chose to stay with Anne and Carina and waited for news of the operation. He had done everything he could. Now, the rest would have to depend on Laeli. Of course, Zhang Heng didn’t bet everything on the gladiator and was prepared in the case of failure on Laeli’s end. This, however, made things slightly complicated. Apart from that, Zhang Heng also noticed that Carina seemed a little absent tonight.
“Didn’t you rest up in the day?”
“I… I couldn’t really sleep,” Carina stammered as she managed a smile.
Zhang Heng handed a cup of coffee to her. She thanked him and accepted the drink. Just as she was about to say something, the messenger came running in.
“Captain! Mr. Billy has received the group! Jackdaw is already leaving the port! They also wanted me to give you this,” the man panted as he took out five letters from his coat.