Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 34
“The compound is divided into residential, training, and restricted zones.”
Anya raised her voice against the wind and pointed left.
As the Jeep rounded a small hill, a broad concrete expanse appeared.
“That’s the private helipad.”
Three civilian helicopters painted black stood silently on the tarmac, the Black Wolf insignia prominent on their bodies.
The base was enormous.
Despair grew like weeds in Xia Zhiyao’s heart.
Could she truly escape? In a place where even communications were closely monitored, where could a tiny ant who could not even find her way possibly run?
The Jeep turned and braked beneath a large work shed.
Three trucks with hard, angular lines were parked under its roof.
Xia Zhiyao was about to step forward.
“Where’d this woman come from?”
A coarse, gravelly voice sounded to one side.
Startled, Xia Zhiyao whipped around.
Several mud-covered pickup trucks had just entered the shed. Their doors opened, and a group of powerfully built men jumped out. Most were bare-chested or wore tactical vests, the stench of sweat rolling from them.
The man in front was enormous—both fat and powerfully built, even larger than Shen Yu. Unlike Shen Yu’s dense, sharply defined muscle, this man was a mountain of flesh.
His head was shaved, his face thick and brutal.
Dark, dried patches of blood still stained his tactical vest.
He carried the air of a demon that had just crawled from a heap of corpses.
Cloudy yellow eyes fixed on Xia Zhiyao as if she were a lamb that had wandered into a slaughterhouse, assessing her with naked malice.
Her blood seemed to freeze, and her knees weakened.
“Jackal.”
Anya stepped forward without any outward alarm, casually placing herself between Xia Zhiyao and the man.
The smile vanished from her face, replaced by a cold, cutting edge.
“Where did you go to make your fortune this time? I can smell the blood on you from three miles away.”
Anya wrinkled her nose in disgust.
The man called Jackal grinned.
“Went west to clean out a few rats. Those bastards dared touch our transport line, so I sent them straight back where they came from.”
As he spoke, his vicious eyes shifted past Anya’s shoulder toward the girl behind her.
“Who’s this, Anya? All soft and delicate. Your new lover?”
“She belongs to Mr. Shen.” Anya’s voice turned icy. She took a pull from her cigarette and stared steadily at Jackal.
“I’d advise you to clean up your mouth. If Mr. Shen hears what you just said, that hide of yours may need loosening.”
At the words “Mr. Shen,” Jackal’s fleshy face twitched and some of his arrogance immediately subsided.
“The boss’s?” He seemed surprised and examined Xia Zhiyao again. This time, there was less lechery in his gaze and more curiosity and contempt.
“I heard the boss brought a woman back from outside. This is her? She’s so skinny. What is the boss thinking?”
His stare continued roaming over Xia Zhiyao.
“The boss never brings anyone home. What tricks did this woman use to seduce him? I say she’s probably a spy!”
Jackal delivered the judgment viciously.
“She looks harmless, but her belly is probably full of listening devices. Move aside, Anya. Let me interrogate her and find out where she came from.”
He raised one massive hand and reached for Xia Zhiyao’s shoulder.
For one instant, terror overwhelmed her. She instinctively wanted to dodge, but fear locked her in place.
“Jackal!”
The sharp shout cracked through the shed.
Click.
A powerful stun baton had somehow appeared in Anya’s hand, its tip aimed straight between Jackal’s brows. Every trace of lazy amusement had left her face.
“Take your filthy hand away.”
A cigarette between her lips, Anya narrowed her eyes and spoke with glacial menace.
“What makes you think you’re allowed to touch Mr. Shen’s private property?”
The men watching nearby instantly wiped away their grins and tightened their grips on their weapons. The air became explosive.
Jackal’s hand froze.
His eyes rolled toward Anya, the flesh of his face twitching twice as caution surfaced.
“You’re threatening me, Anya?”
He sounded astonished.
“Over some woman with an unknown background? We’ve trusted each other with our lives.”
“It’s precisely because we’ve trusted each other with our lives that I’m saving you.”
Anya sneered and did not move an inch.
“You know Mr. Shen brought her back. You also know his rules.”
“Without his permission, forget you—even a fly landing on her would be committing a capital offense.”
“Mr. Shen made an exception and brought her here. He even keeps her in the white building. If that pig brain of yours can’t understand what that means, I won’t mind opening a hole in it to let in some air.”
