Chapter 221: Searching in a Panic

Asher nods, and with that, he begins to lead Adrian and Cassidy in the opposite direction, guiding them deeper into the amusement park.

Cassidy keeps tapping on Aira's number, lifting her phone up every now and then and letting out a worried sigh. Adrian notices Asher's hand twitching nervously. He can understand his worry. Aira is family, after all. If anything had happened to her on their watch - on his watch - he'd be agitated too.

"Here..." Asher said, turning to them and gesturing to a line of colorful stalls - all of them bustling with people weaving in and out of each stand.

"I last saw her here."

"Where could she have been taken? There's a lot of people around. It would have been hard to kidnap her without any hassle," Adrian muttered, pursing his lips in deep thought. 

"But she's still gone, isn't she? We have to find her. Now. I was thinking they could have taken her through blind spots in between stalls or something."

"A possibility. But it's still strange."

"Yeah. Why here of all places? Why now...?" Cassidy chimed in, agreeing with her husband. 

"If they really took Aira, where could they possibly take her?"

"They could be leading us off."

As Adrian pointed that out, he narrowed and focused his gaze on analyzing the stalls. He'll have to get serious. He'll have to make sure that no one's going to get hurt tonight - except those behind this plot. 

"Asher, are the others still safe and accounted for?" Adrian asked to which Asher nodded in reply. 

"The adults were eating at one of the picnic tables. The children went to join them when Aira pulled me aside to explore. Damien joined us at one point. Then, a moment after that, she was no longer around-"

"Wait a minute..." Cassidy interrupted, tensing up.

"Where's Damien now then?"

"Oh... Oh no-"

"Did you lose him too?!"

"Wait, I could've sworn that he's just behind me!"

Asher blanched upon recalling that Damien was supposed to be with him. Cassidy and Adrian turned to look at each other, sharing each other's distraught look. 

"We have to find them both!" she exclaimed and he nodded.

"Asher, you were with Damien last too..." he continued, trying his hardest to stay calm.

"Where were you two when you realized that Aira's gone?"

"The shooting games. We went back there to play again. That's a bit far from the picnic table where the others were," he answered, his teeth gritted and fists clenched. 

"If they'd tried to take Damien too, he would've made a huge ruckus so we would've known. He's smart. I know he'd do anything he could to get help."

"There's still a possibility that they were kidnapped quietly. We have to look for them now."

"We are looking for them. But we have no idea where to start now, do we?"

They shouldn't be at their wit's end this early. For now, the best they could do was to keep their cool and think things through. Letting their panic get to them will only drive them to do useless things. 

"We could look through each stall. Look for clues, I mean," Cassidy suggested, already skipping ahead to do just that.

Adrian and Asher followed after her. They searched all around, high and low. But in the end, they found nothing.

"There has to be something!" Cassidy groaned in frustration, kicking on the concrete beneath her foot.

"I'll call Charles and the others," Adrian said before pulling out his phone from his pocket. 

"Maybe we have to look again," Asher muttered, turning back around once more. 

Just as he was about to continue the search, they suddenly heard the sound of gunshot along with the collective scream of people. Asher then abruptly swerves his head to look at Cassidy again.

"I think that's your something."

She nods.

Wit that, all three of them run towards the source of the harrowing sounds.

There's a huge group of people running off in the opposite direction, bumping into them and keeping them from moving forward. Cassidy sets her jaw and does her best to push through the crowd, shoving aside all the adults and twisting around all the kids. When she looks behind her, she's alarmed to see that Adrian and Asher are gone.

"Adrian?! Asher?!" she called out, spinning around in the crowd. 

She starts to panic. They couldn't have been taken too. This crowd is so dense. They just probably got separated. 

Right before she runs off again, someone takes a hold of her hand all of the sudden. She turns hastily then sighs in relief when she sees Adrian looking at her with worry.

"Where's Asher-"

"Let me go!"

That shout cuts through the air much like how it cuts her off. Taken aback, they glance at where it came from, their breaths hitching.

"That was Damien!" Adrian exclaimed, needlessly, and Cassidy pulled on their intertwined hands before pushing through the disconcerted crowd once more.

"Where are they, Adrian?!"

He searches the swarm of people, using his height to his advantage, before he eventually spots a somewhat vacant patch of the amusement park. Everyone seems to be running away from there, meaning that whoever had fired that gun is somewhere around that place.

He tugs on her hand.

"Northeast. Forward," he told her and she complied. 

Turning in the direction that Adrian mentioned, Cassidy made a dash for it, pulling him along behind her. They burst through the crowd then into a clearing.

"Uncle!" they heard Damien shout, but his screams were soon muffled.

"Shut up, you brat!" his assailant hollered, trying to drag him away.

He's injected a syringe into his shoulder, but he's still writhing in his arms, trying to break free. There's a rip in the cloth of his shirt and a blood stain on its side - a sight that causes their blood to boil.

"Let him go," Adrian taunted coldly, striding forward.

"Uncle... Aunt..." Damien mewled while panting heavily. 

That's when they notice that his strength is slowly seeping away. His assailant looks up at the sound of his voice, his beady eyes glaring at him through the mask on his face.

Adrian scowls at him, folding his hands behind his back and gesturing discreetly at Cassidy. He turns his head slightly and says, "Go."

She lingers for a moment, looking torn. But then, she nods at him and disappears back into the crowd.

"Well, if it isn't my best bud, Ian~!" the attacker mocked - and the use of that disgusting nickname gave him away.

"Why are you doing this...?" Adrian hissed underneath his breath, his tone sharp and glare dark. 

"Keith."