“Miss Betty, I have untied myself just now. So please believe me. I will protect you.” As she tied herself back up, she urged Betty, who hadn’t reacted yet. “We will definitely leave this place. We won’t stay here.”
It wasn’t until Ye Jian’s reminder that Betty finally gave a reaction. She was surprised. Before she could even speak, the door was flung open with a bang and two al-Qaeda members came in with guns.
Then, the lights were turned on. Ye Jian, who was facing the door, saw two al-Qaeda members with guns walking towards them. Then, Pabel came in.
She looked at Ye Jian and spoke after a minute. “Please forgive us for being impolite, my friend from China. Although we welcome you here, we can’t help but bring you with us. Believe me, if the government is willing to cooperate with us, your life would not be in danger.”
She didn’t mention Betty because she was her most important hostage. Kidnapping Ye Jian was just additional bargaining chips for her.
The gray robes might be the uniform of the al-Qaeda group. Ye Jian was once again brought out of the room. She discovered that the males were all in gray robes while the females were in black, like Pabel.
“This is an orphanage! Why? Miss Pabel, why did you bring us here? There are children here, do you know? There are children here!” Betty became agitated. She could recognize where this was. It was an orphanage for children who had lost their parents in the war.
“They finally have a home after a hard time. Miss Pabel, you can’t do this!”
She was so agitated because she was worried that Pabel would kidnap these orphans too.
She spoke in English and Ye Jian could hear it clearly.
She didn’t think of it. She was going to do it.
Pabel, who walked in front, stared at Betty with her cold, dark eyes under the veil. “If it was not for Mr. President, there would be no orphans, and they would not lose their family! That’s why, Miss Betty, you should be blaming your father!”
The whole orphanage was controlled by the al-Qaeda members. The staff was all held in one room and the children were locked up in another.
Ye Jian and Betty were in that very same room, a room filled with the smell of gasoline.
Ye Jian’s eyes contracted as she saw several oil barrels filled with gasoline.
“Miss Betty, you should stay here obediently and tell these children that you’re going to save them. If you want to save them, you need to cooperate with me, or else...” Pabel picked up an oil barrel and took out a lighter. “Or else, I will light this up and the children here will go up to the Heavens with you.”
The oldest child here was only twelve, and the youngest was four. They were children that had seen war and were particularly sensitive to these. They were all frightened to the core as they squealed.
Betty had never encountered such a thing. Even though she lived in a war-torn country, she was the President’s daughter and had been living under protection. At this time, she was scared by Pabel’s threats and her eyes were filled with tears. “Please tell me what I need to do, but please don’t hurt them. Thank you.”
Even if she was afraid, the very least she could do was to use her actions to protect them.
And Ye Jian was completely overlooked by Pabel, making it more convenient for Ye Jian to act.