15 Money is petty?

The extreme darkness and suffocation caused her to open her eyes groggily. She coughed and opened her eyes to the glaring lights overhead. Her head was throbbing with extreme pain. Then did she realized that she had banged her forehead on the kitchen counter when she lost her unconsciousness. She tried to sit up straight but found that her hands were chained to something behind. Her eyes were dim and hazy. It looked like there were ten of her feet folded below her.

Sara tried to shake her head clear. But in the process, she fell on the cold floor, hitting the wounded part of her forehead. She groaned with pain only to realize that her mouth was gagged. She felt frustrated beyond words.

How many times?! Last month, there were two assassination attempts. A car crash and head smash!

And now? Kidnapped!

Very well! She would have got a prize for being on the top of the hit list. ever mind, she already had a good prize on her head.

The car crash. Sara survived. Because her car was not something to be messed with.

The head smash. The opponent was too weak to even survive her fist.

Fine, abduction was crazy. They say, never treat your enemy with patience.

Ha! Not only they had the patience to tie her up with a molten chain supported by a thin mash net, they even got low to the point of using shock waves to bring her in. Why? Because it was too hard for them to break the first lines of security! Even a blind person can figure that out much less the Empress herself!

To bring down the Empress? In their dreams!

Sara lifted her head and shot a lazy look at both of her hands that were tied. The next moment, she peculiarly twisted her right hand and then with a light flick of her hand, the entire chain landed on the cold floor. She did the same with her other hand and within no time, both of the chains were lying beside her. She scoffed. Did they seriously think of tying her down with these boring accessories?! How foolish!

Sara, then swiftly brought her legs closer. She was wearing a pair of white sneakers. It looked like any other branded sneakers, but there were two tiny slits on the white soles. She jabbed her forefingers in both the soles and in no time two scalpels appeared in her palms. Immediately, she used them to loosen the screws on the shackles around her wrists. Within a few mommnets, her hands were freed from the shackles and she pushed back the scalpels back inside.

Since she had to be ready all the time, her shoes were specially designed to hide mini weapons, such as these scalpels.

"Impressive", a voice spoke followed by a low chuckle. Sara's head moved up to see where the voice came from. Her eyes fell on the camera propped up on a pillar, with a speaker next to it. Seeing that, Sara quirked up an eyebrow. So, now they wanted her to confront them directly? Provoke her? Fine!

[Interesting] Sara thought.

"Sara", the voice came back, interrupting her thoughts, "Let's play a game. If you can find me, I will let you go. But, there is a condition."

"Game and conditions don't go together", Sara spoke in an eerily calm voice.

A throaty chuckle poured in through the speaker, much to Sara's annoyance, "Impressive child of genius parents."

Sara's hands curled up into fists, but she managed to contain her anger. Whoever it was, they were deliberatly testing her limit by pushing her switches.

"Fine", the voice continued, "Find me. I will let you go with the condition on your head."

"Seems like you don't plan to let me go anytime soon."

"Truly impressive", the voice seemed amused, but it soon sharpened eerily, "Now get up and find me. Don't waste my time."

"Why don't you find me instead?" Sara was angry and amused at the same time as she stood, "You are wasting my time!"

"Don't snap back, girl!" the voice growled, the earlier amusing tone was gone, "Now find me."

Saying so, the only door in the room flung open. Sara narrowed her eyes at the camera, "What do you want?"

"Don't worry about money. I won't ask such petty things. I want something else."

"Money is petty?" Sara lazily cracked her knuckles, "What do you want?"

"We can discuss that once we meet", the voice was disconnected.