Chapter 728 Taking Action During Midnight
When Uncle Jasper finished talking, he stopped his pacing and thought for a while before he continued talking again, "Well, I'll find a solution. If it doesn't work, then I'll get a car and transport them to town. There are collection syndicates. Although the price is lower, that's not a concern now."
His words made Aunt Emma turn pale and tremble with fear.
However, she did not dare to face her callous husband, so she bowed her head and kept quiet.
The light in the room was only put out in the middle of the night.
The next morning, everything went on as usual.
Clarissa and Nora did not get much sleep the night before, fearing that something might happen.
It appeared that Clarissa was correct in that Uncle Jasper would not make a move as soon even though he found out that they were not who they seemed.
But, some things did change.
From that day on, they were not allowed to have dinner downstairs.
They could not even go downstairs, much less go out.
Uncle Jasper gave a ridiculous excuse.
He told them, "Last night there were rumors of bandits in the village. The bandits are ruthless. They steal, kill, and rape. You are vulnerable as you are not locals. It's safer for you to stay in your room."
"You can see that there are only us—two old people here. We won't be able to protect you from intruders."
Instinctively, Nora frowned and wanted to refute, but Clarissa stopped her.
Clarissa feigned fear with a shocked face and covered her chest as she replied, "Really? Are there such outrageous bandits? Oh my, I have heard that in the rural areas, the bandits are a law unto themselves beyond the reach of the government. They commit crimes with impunity. So all this is true. Oh my, that's scary!"
Her play-acting was so funny that Nora could not stop her mouth from twitching.
Luckily, Uncle Jasper and Aunt Emma fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Uncle Jasper gave an exaggerated nod and declared, "Yes, they are that ruthless. So, it's best that the two of you stay in your room and don't go anywhere. Aunt Emma will send you your meals."
With a grateful look on her face, Clarissa replied, "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
After saying what he wanted to say, Uncle Jasper left.
Aunt Emma gave Clarissa a penetrating stare but did not say anything and went about her chores.
Then, Clarissa pulled Nora back to the room.
Back in the room, Nora asked in a low voice, "What are you up to? They are lying through their teeth. They locked us in the room and forbade us from going out."
Clarissa smiled coldly and replied, "Of course. Otherwise, why would I play along with them?"
It was too confusing for Nora to process. So, she asked,
"Clarissa, what in the world are you thinking?"
Clarissa sat there, cupping her chin, and laughed sarcastically,
"It's nothing. I think someone has come looking for us. That's why the rush to take action and the big change in attitude."
That pumped Nora up, and her face lit up.
"Are you saying that the president's search party has reached here? Well, you've been missing for so many days. They should be here by now."
However, Clarissa's face was gloomy, as she replied,
"It's not them."
"Ah? What?"
"If it's them, they would have caught Uncle Jasper and his people by surprise."
She was well-versed with the way Anderson handled operations.
He would pinpoint the location where the plane had the mishap. When he found out that she was not on board when the plane turned back, he would immediately dispatch his people to seek clues from the other passengers.
From the clues, they would deduct where she and Nora parachuted.
Then, they would mark out a geographical area corresponding to the aerial location and conduct a carpet search.
How would they conduct a carpet search?
Carpet search was not a random search but a methodical house-to-house, village-by-village kind of search. In other words, the villagers in the search area would be confined and isolated so that there would be no information leaks.
Only such a methodical and secretive search could ensure their safety.
Otherwise, the villagers would not answer truthfully, just like what was happening to those men looking for them now.
Instead of helping, the villagers' answers would hamper them.
Anderson was not that stupid to do that.
After analyzing the situation, Clarissa explained, "They should be from the same group as the assailants on the plane. They must come from a base nearby and beat Anderson to it."
The thought of assailants shocked Nora.
Clarissa sighed resignedly too,
"I should have thought of this earlier. They spared no effort to kill us on board the plane, so they would not give up so easily. They knew that we parachuted off the plane, and they will definitely conduct a ground search to confirm whether we're dead or alive. I would have done the same thing."
Nora looked murderous as she said hollowly,
"They'll be dead if they dare to come!"
As she said that, she clenched her fists tightly.
Her heart burned with rage when she recalled how she and Clarissa were almost killed by these assailants.
Clarissa turned and spoke to her, "This place is safe for us. The villagers want to sell us and not to kill us. We are of no use to them dead."
"The assailants want our lives, and they are armed with the latest weapons. If we fall into their hands, we're no match for them and won't survive. So, we must make sure that they cannot find us."
Nora was stumped and asked, "How do we stop them from finding us?"
After Clarissa thought it over for a while, she answered sneakily, "Well, I'll ask them to help."
Her sneaky manner puzzled Nora.
However, she knew that Clarissa was full of devious ideas. Once Clarissa said that something could be done, she would find a way to do it.
These thoughts comforted her, and she felt more relieved.
That night, Clarissa lay on the bed and listened attentively for any sound from outside.
Sure enough, there were footsteps outside their door later in the night.
Nora did not sleep either. Her hearing was more sensitive than Clarissa's, and she picked up the sound immediately. Instinctively, she wanted to get up from the bed.
As she was about to move, Clarissa held her down.
Although it was dark, Nora could make out Clarissa shaking her head and wrote two words on Nora's palm.
The words were "no rush."
Nora knew that Clarissa must have some plan in place, so she lay still and waited.
Shortly, there was a strange smell coming from outside through the bottom of the door.
From under her pillow, Clarissa took out two wet cloths, gave one to Nora, and kept one herself.
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