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Underneath her clothes

On the first floor of the bank building, Allen was waiting for Ryan's orders after he had let all the hostages escape. His team had also tied up the knocked out robbers who were guarding the first floor. Just then, he heard a sob and followed the voice. A teenage girl was crouching under a counter with her head hidden inside her arms.

"Hey… why didn't you escape?"

Allen gently approached the young girl and crouched down beside her.

"I was …. I was too scared to move." The girl said between her sobs.

"You should go out. It's not safe in here"

Just as Allen was going to help the girl get up and escape, he heard footsteps coming down from the stairs.

"Stay here. Don't make any noise. I'll come back for you later"

Allen said to her in a whisper and prepared to get up. However, the girl pulled the sleeves of his shirt with all her force and looked at him with eyes full of fear.

"I…" Although he wanted to convince the girl again, he gave up on this idea as he did not have much time. He still needed to lead his men.

He took off his vest and helped the girl wear it.

"You won't get hurt if you're wearing this. Trust me. I'll come back for you"

The girl nodded with teary eyes.

After a moment, the voice of a robber was heard.

"Put down your weapons or I'll shoot him"

The seven robbers came down with their leader at the front, holding the manager as his cover and also pointing a gun at his temple.

"Let us leave"

"Let them leave" Ryan's voice came through the transceiver.

Allen's team made way for the robbers and they left on their vans taking the manager and the bags of cash with them.

"Don't follow us"

The leader roared before their van sped off.

"Lieutenant Jones will stay here and take care of the hostages. Lieutenant Rogers and I will follow them," Ryan ordered and got on his car.

Although Ryan said 'follow' he did not rely on the sight of the car but on the reports on the footage of the traffic cameras so that the robbers would not realize they were being followed.

After driving for some miles and reached a secluded area without being followed, the robbers kicked out the manager from their car and sped off again.

After getting that report, Ryan ordered some of his men to pick up the manager and raised his speed.

Although the speed of the two vans was not slow either, Ryan still caught up with them.

Ryan controlled the steering wheel with one hand and started shooting with the other hand. He knew that he should at least hinder them before his officers arrived.

Even with the speed he was driving, he still managed to shoot one of the back tires of a van with his first try. The van evidently slowed down and Ryan got ahead of the van. Just before the robbers started to shoot at him too, he shot at the front wheels. The van made a screeching sound and stopped completely. With that, he left them for his officers to handle and try to catch up with the van in front.

It was more difficult this time because the robbers in the van began shooting at him as soon as his car got near them.

Still, Ryan did not give up and rammed the back of the van while taking cover behind the steering wheel. Because the robbers were shaken by the impact, they stopped shooting at Ryan for a moment and he used this tiny moment to shoot at them. This time, his bullet got through one of the robber's head via the back window.

Another set of gunshots went off. It was not only from the robbers but also from Allen's car that just caught up with them.

Although his aim was not as good as Ryan, he still managed to shoot one of the back tires after wasting several bullets.

The robbers realized that they could not run away anymore and stopped the car across the road. They came out as soon as the car stopped, took cover behind the car and started shooting at the two detectives. When they focused solely on shooting, Ryan and Allen could not dodge their bullets while driving anymore. They also had to stop their cars in the same way and took cover behind them.

The two sides continue the shoot-out for some time until Ryan shot at their van's engine, making the van explode. The other officers had also arrived at that time and captured the robbers.

With a triumphant smile, Ryan walked towards Allen who was leaning against the side of his car. But his smile disappeared as soon as he saw the red spot on Allen's chest.

He called for an ambulance immediately before pressing on the wound.

"Where the hell is your vest?" Ryan roared.

"I gave it to a beauty," Allen joked in a weak voice with a faint smile on his lips.

"Aren't you supposed to be the brain of our department? Why the hell are you being stupid for? You could have stayed at the bank. I could ask Shelly to come with me"

"I thought I was tougher than this. I guess I overestimated my own skills"

Allen chuckled.

The ambulance arrived moments later and Ryan followed behind it, leaving Shelly to take care of the after math. As soon as they arrived to the hospital, the doctors started transfusing blood and tried to stop the bleeding. However, Allen was in bad luck that day.

"We don't have any free operation room"

Ryan's face darkened.

"Then, shouldn't we transfer him to another hospital?"

"We've asked around. They don't have any free operation room either."

Then, the doctor pointed towards the TV which was broadcasting about the collapse of an office building in city X, reporting over 60 causalities.

"What about transferring him to a hospital in another town?"

The doctor shook his head. "He won't make it in time"

"Then, what are we supposed to do?" Ryan was trying his best to remain his cool.

"An operation room should be free 4 hours later. We'll continue giving him blood and try to stop his bleeding. If he could survive these 4 hours, he would have a chance. But I'm sorry to inform you that you shouldn't have high hopes."

The doctor left Ryan's side as soon as he finished. He was still busy with other patients from the building collapse.

Ryan took a deep breath to clear his head. Is waiting all he could do?

Suddenly, a pair of clear blue eyes appeared on his mind.

'Isn't she a doctor?' He became elated.

'But would she help?' They were clearly on different sides of the law. However, Ryan could not give up without trying. He took out his phone from his pocket and called a number.

"Hello," a clear voice sounded from the other side.

"Allen got shot and the hospital had no operation room…" Before Ryan could finish what he was going to say, Vivienne interrupted.

"Come to Anios through the basement two. Don't bring anyone else," she said and then hung up the phone.

Ryan 'stole' the unconscious Allen and a wheelchair from his ward and drove to Anios as fast as he could. He found a man supposedly waiting for them in the underground parking. He helped Ryan put Allen on the wheelchair and led them to an elevator. He pushed the number 4 button without even getting on the elevator. It was clear, he was not following them.

As soon as they got off the elevator on the fourth level, Ryan could hear the sounds of guns clocking and noticed that he and Allen were their targets. He raised both his hands and tried to explain. But before he could say any word, a pale thin figure appeared from which seemed like an operation theater.

She gave an 'I knew it' look towards the guns and raised a fist into the air for their owners to see. The owner of the guns retreated back into the shadows after seeing her gesture.

Then she ordered a nurse who appeared behind her. "Prep him"

Then she turned back to walk back into the room.

The nurse came over and took the wheelchair from Ryan who was standing still like a statue.

Yes, he was standing still just like that even after the nurse left the hall with Allen. It was not because he was scared witless by the guns' threaten. It was not because his friend nearly lost his life. He already knew that Allen would have hope as long as he could get into an operation room. It was not because he was overwhelmed by the series of events that happened today either.

It was purely because of the sight he just saw. Vivienne always wore clothes which covered most parts of her body. But he never gave a thought about what she was hiding under those clothes.

Just a moment ago, Vivienne appeared in front of him wearing a scrub suit that surgeons wore with her hair kept under a cap and her face covered with a mask. On her white arms and neck, which were rarely exposed, were ugly scars of various shapes and sizes. They were so numerous that there was not a piece of normal skin between them. Such a sight could make even a grown man cringe in terror.

Although Ryan possessed great mental fortitude and what he was feeling was not fear, he still became stiff after seeing those horrible scars. Although the woman disappeared in a flash, the sight was entrenched on his mind.

Ryan felt as if a flame was burning in his chest and that burn made it hard to breathe. He did not clearly understand what he was feeling. 'Is this sadness?' He asked himself. Then he remembered that he felt this same way when he lost his mother.

'But why?' Was he feeling sad for the woman because of the pain she had to go through? How did she survive through all this? How could she still laugh like a kid after that? Countless questions appeared on his mind.

Only after closing his eyes for a few moments did he regain his composure. That was when he realized that his trembling fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles had turned white.

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