Chapter 17: Danger

Zarah decided to go back to the campsite. While she was on the way, someone tugged her hand.

She looked to her side and saw the frightened face of a young girl. She did not look like one of the natives. Her face was covered with stains and her hair was disheveled.

"What's wrong?", she crouched down and asked her.

The young girl was about to warn her but the next second, she screamed, "Argh!"

The next second, Zarah suddenly felt dizzy. She looked behind her and she saw an ugly bearded man grinning at her.

Before she could move, everything around her turned black.

Xavier made his way back to the campsite two hours after six. However, he stopped when he felt that something was off.

He reached into his back pocket and grabbed a knife. He cautiously walked to the camp and there he saw many unfamiliar men with high-caliber firearms surrounding the camp.

He looked at his watch and pressed the crown which would send a distress signal to his subordinates nearby.

Just as he came out behind the trees, he heard a clicking sound behind him and he could feel a cold metal on his back.

Xavier turned his head to look behind him and saw a man pointing his gun with an evil grin on his face. He was shorter than him by a foot yet he had a well-built body and the confidence that he could take him intrigued Xavier.

Xavier saw a black skull tattooed on the right side of his cheek and his eyes turned cold.

Xavier was confident that he could knock him down but decided to not be reckless with his movements.

"This knife belongs to me now." He arrogantly confiscated Xavier's knife. He also started searching Xavier's body for any weapons but failed to find another weapon other than the pocket knife.

"Move!" The man arrogantly ordered him.

As he walked to the campsite, Xavier saw some of the tents were flipped upside down.

Some men were busy collecting the valuable belongings of the campers.

Xavier was brought to the vacant space near the makeshift kitchen where he saw most of the male campers and tribesmen being gathered. Their hands and feet were bound by iron cuffs which were connected to an iron chain. They had bruises and blood on some parts of their body. A sign that they showed resistance.

The man who brought Xavier pushed him to the ground and grabbed him to cuff both his feet and hands.

After putting him in cuffs, the man whistled and he joined his group and continued their treasure hunting activity.

"Master Xavier!" Cali called Xavier after he left. Cali's left eye was closed due to swelling.

He was badly beaten by the bandits.

"Cali, what's going on?"

"The Black Skull Bandits took over the campsite and held everyone including the entire tribe as their captives. They killed my father, too." Cali said in pain while pointing at the dead body not far from them.

"Where did they hold the others as captives?" Xavier asked.

"Some were brought to my father's house in our village. The others were brought to another location. I heard their leader telling his people to appraise the women and children tonight so they will be ready for the client's viewing tomorrow. Master, I feared that they'll sell them to human traffickers."

Cali slowly crawled towards Xavier and he grabbed his hand in desperation, "We have to save them." Cali knew that he was in no position to ask this from Xavier. However, he was willing to do anything for the sake of his people.

Someone from the group started speaking, too. "If you're very capable, help us save our wives and fiancés. They have already killed the Chief to instigate fear."

Xavier listened to everyone's cry but he remained silent while looking at the dead body.

He could not act recklessly as he was not done assessing the entire situation.

"How many bandits are there in your village?" He asked Cali who was now coughing with blood.

"Around twenty including their leader. Some of them pretended to be campers, too." Cali managed to answer.

Xavier nodded and urged Cali to stop talking and reserve his energy.

He had already sent the distress signal and so all he could do now was to wait.

Ten minutes later...

While the bandits were having a good time, they saw a group of five men entering the campsite's main entrance with their camper's backpacks behind them.

They thought that they were additional campers and so they paid less attention to them. The leader then asked a few of his members to disarm or confiscate their belongings.

However, before they could even do so, they heard a gunshot and one of the bandits fell to the ground.

The new arrivals were Xavier's men who came in response to the distress signal he sent.

The bandits were caught off-guard and had a late reaction. When they were about to use their rifles, a bullet was already coming at them.

A young and masculine man went to Xavier's side and bowed down to him.

Cali knew the identity of this man.

"Boss!"

"What took you so long Brian?" Xavier coldly scolded him.

"I sincerely apologize Boss. We tried our best to respond to your distress signal as fast as we could." Brian and his men were unfamiliar with the mountain's terrain. That's why it took them longer to reach them. Brian and his team stayed at the second checkpoint.

"Do you have the keys to these damn iron cuffs?" Xavier asked and Brian showed it to him.

There was only one key and if Xavier's guess was right, this was the master key to all the iron cuffs.

Brian immediately unlocked the cuffs as soon as he heard the impatience from Xavier's voice.

In less than a minute, everyone saw how Xavier regained his freedom back.

"Give me your spare gun," Xavier said and Brian gave it to him. Xavier then continued, "Uncuffed Cali first and let him free them. When you're done, follow me."

Xavier left immediately after he said his instructions.

With a gun in his right hand, he marched and started shooting the bandits. With each shot he made, his eyes turned colder.

Brian successfully freed Cali and told him, "Bring your strongest warriors who feared nothing even death. We have to help the boss." Then Briand addresses the rest of the male captives, "We need volunteers who're willing to die just to save everyone." He then removed his bag and showed a variety of guns.

"Grab one and help yourself." He continued.

The four others gathered around Xavier to protect him while they were shooting the rest of the bandits.

Xavier then pressed another button on his clock and the next second, he heard a cry coming from the riverside.

The man who was holding his knife died when it exploded.

Xavier walked toward the tribe's village and hoped that Zarah was there. Two men followed him. As soon as the bandits in the campsite were all killed, Brian, the volunteer, and Cali's brave tribesmen followed Xavier to the village.

He was hoping deep inside his heart that Zarah was there. The anxiety in Xavier's heart grew stronger with every second that he was not with her. He felt guilty for leaving her alone. He wanted to find her as soon as possible.

As soon as the bandits guarding the village saw them, they immediately started shooting.

Even though Xavier's side was outnumbered, he and his men managed to defeat them. They also managed to keep one hostage while they were scouring the entire village to save the captives.

Xavier led his men very well. They managed to free the captives inside the village.

As soon as the gunshots stopped the cries of the women and their children replaced them.

Xavier looked around the freed captives and patiently waited until they gathered in the open ground.

The last captive being set free was Cali's mother. With the help of his people, Cali managed to stand up and hugged his mother.

Cali then told his mother about his father's death and all they had now were each other.

"She's the last captive, Boss," Brian informed him.

Xavier went into their captivated bandit member and grabbed him by the collar.

"Where is your leader? Most importantly, where did you bring the rest of the captives?!" He asked coldly which brought a chill to everyone's spine.

Xavier asked as none of the bandits they killed inside the village described a leader.

However, the man only grinned and said, "Kill me, I won't say anything."

"Master, I think, they've already reached the foot of the mountain by now," Brian said. Xavier grabbed Brian's collar and pulled it tightly.

"Did you meet them on the way up?" He asked and Brian could only answer him with a yes and no. "No, we did not Boss."

Xavier angrily pushed him and Brian dared not to fix himself.

In frustration, Xavier killed the man. He said he'd rather die and so Xavier granted that wish.

A sudden thought came into Xavier's mind and in a haste, he looked at the campers and saw that they were wearing their tracking device.

He had this tracking device.

He ran back to the campsite and looked for his bag. If Zarah didn't remove her watch, then, there's a way to track her.

After he found his bag, he grabbed the last mini pouch inside and grabbed his basic phone. He used it to call Chris.

Chris who was working on something on his computer received his call and was shocked to see that Xavier used his basic phone to call him.

"Master Xavier! Thank goodness, you called. Do you know how worried I am?" Chris said but he was immediately shut by Xavier's chilling voice.

"Zarah's missing. I need you to help me find her."

"What?! What happened?"

"The Black Skull Bandits took her. She'# wearing the Mt. Zaltana's camper tracker."

Chris needed not to be told as he immediately went to business as soon as he got the information he needed.

"Okay."

Chris took him a minute to tap on the server and located Zarah's tracking device so was Xavier's location.

"Master, are you sure that she's lost? His tracker said that she is two hundred meters from where you are standing."

Xavier immediately asked Chirs where he saw Zarah's signal and asked for directions.

Xavier ran to the location but he was disappointed to see the tracker but not Zarah.

"Give me everything that you could find about Black Skull Bandits."

Xavier cussed and he immediately decided to leave the mountain and asked Chris to send his helicopter. He asked Brian to stay behind to make sure the freed captives won't tell the authorities about this.

No one should know that they existed.

Forty-five minutes later, the helicopter arrived and Xavier boarded it. He grabbed one of the earphones and started talking to Chris.

"The Black Skull Bandits was founded ten years ago by Charles the Great."

"Is that his name?"

"No. It's an alias. I can not find his real identity as details about him were nonexistent." Chris answered while reading the information from his computer.

"What about their base?"

"Found it."

"Where?"

"Ten miles from Mt. Zaltana. Master, I know you're worried about Zarah but you have to think very carefully. They're a strong group." Chris reminded him.

Chris was also worried about Zarah's safety but Xavier's safety was their topmost priority.

Chris could only utter a prayer that nothing would happen to Zarah and that she would be found sooner.

"And you have to be careful. If the enemies knew that you went to Black Skull Bandits' base to find her, they might see her as your weakness and would put her in great danger even more."

Chris was right. However, Xavier knew what his priority was.

That was to save Zarah. She should not be in this situation if not for him. He should take full responsibility. He'd think the rest later.

***