Chapter 677
Emilia’s hands, which had been hanging at her sides, balled tightly into fists again.
William definitely wouldn’t make it within ten minutes. And if she handed over the research results, both she and Lauren would certainly meet their end.
She had to buy more time. But no matter how fast her mind raced, she couldn’t think of a way.
“Ms. Quill, are you stalling because you want me to send your grandmother to the afterlife first?”
A black–clad man with a buzz cut stood beside the masked man. After the masked man spoke, he stepped forward and once again pressed a knife to Lauren’s neck.
At this sight, Emilia’s fury overtook her, and she clenched her hands even tighter. Just as her nails were about to break the skin of her palms, the black–clad man holding her grandmother collapsed with a loud thud. Before anyone in the room could react, a team of people in specialized tactical gear rushed in.
The sudden turn of events left everyone stunned. The masked man had been caught completely off guard. Even Emilia, who was aware of William’s plan, was momentarily frozen in shock. She never imagined he could act this quickly.
The criminal organization had leaked Lauren’s location to humiliate William. But what they didn’t know was that William had already anticipated this move. And the moment their “surprise twist” occurred, he had swiftly adapted it and worked it into his original plan.
Emilia and William had wanted Lauren to remain completely unscathed and ensure that she would be completely safe. They had been concerned about a potential firefight and the risk of Lauren getting injured.
So, the plan was to strike only after she had safely returned to them . If not for that, William and his team would’ve stealthily infiltrated the place together with Emilia.
To maximize Lauren’s safety, they had changed their plan. Emilia would enter alone first. Then, once Lauren had safely returned home, they would strike. However, as a precautionary measure, they had retained their original plan as Plan B.
If they couldn’t get Lauren safely released back to them first, Emilia and William would take the risk and force their way in. After all, between a measured risk and a guaranteed disaster, the choice was clear. Except, this hadn’t been their original plan either.
Originally, if things didn’t go smoothly, Emilia would send out a signal. Only then would William lead his infiltration team in.
It would take time for them to infiltrate silently and undetected. After numerous calculations, they had estimated that the fastest this could be done was 20 minutes after she gave the signal. Yet now, it hadn’t even been three minutes since she had sent it.
When Emilia snapped back to her senses, William was already beside her. He had arrived so fast that it was inconceivable. So much so that in this situation, the first thing she instinctively thought upon seeing him was how could he have gotten here this fast.
As though reading her mind, William said, “Before you even sent the signal, my people had already discovered that the criminal organization had already learned about your breakthrough.”
Upon receiving this information, he had suspected that the criminal organization would directly demand Emilia’s research data. Thus, he had decided to move in and was proven to be right.
William truly was exceptionally capable. However, this criminal organization wasn’t weak, either.
Emilia and William had had Lauren under tight protection. So, for them to have silently abducted her under such circumstances, they clearly weren’t a force to be underestimated.
Additionally, a large team of people would create more activity and be easily detected. So, while William had brought top, elite operatives, their numbers were small. This made the team ideal for a surprise attack.
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However, the longer the fight dragged on, the more disadvantaged they’d become. Hence, after neutralizing the threats near Lauren and Emilia, William and the infiltration team immediately moved to evacuate while covering the two women.
Just as the group was about to retreat successfully, the very thing they feared most still happened. A sniper’s red laser dot appeared, aimed at Lauren.
Emilia lunged toward her grandmother in panic. As she did, a tall figure moved even faster and threw himself in front of Lauren.
Bang!
The man who had shielded Lauren collapsed to the ground with a thud.
“Mr. Ashford!” Emilia screamed.
Her eyes widened in shock and horror as she ran toward him with everything she had.