His Devious Rule

At half-past twelve in noon,

The PSR was in the harbor after a few hiccups on the way. The rescue mission will be starting soon. The military was getting on the ship to take precautions before the evacuation.

In a room at the shore communication center, Anya was sitting on a chair facing a man who was sitting on a chair opposite to her on the same side of the desk. Behind the man, three special service cops were waiting for her orders. They had confusion without understanding why she was treating the sniper so well.

Yes, the man in front of her was a sniper.

The police special service team was made of five members. The special team was formed as smuggling in the coastal city was high. Hence they were specially and brutally trained to have the strength of soldiers to perform any kind of rescue mission in the city without the need of the military.

When the group arrived at the harbor, Major Reth instructed the female sharpshooter cop to take a position on the tall building that was outside the harbor. He handed the other four cops to Anya.

Anya asked them to follow the sharpshooter to the same building. One to stay around the sharpshooter and the other three should spread out in the building and check if anybody was hiding there and targeting the harbor.

Since the cops were in uniform, the sniper was trying to escape the building as a common man but was caught by the cops. He was beaten and brought to Anya Owen as instructed.

Anya twirled the pen in her hand that she was using to select the cops for the case. "I am asking you one last time," Anya gave a last chance. "Where are the other men hiding?" She repeated the question for the third time.

The three cops looked at Anya who looked very patient but her words were exactly the opposite as the time passed.

The sniper was covered in a cold sweat while facing Anya. He tried to avoid looking at her and uneasily reached for the water glass. He sipped it nervously. He kept the glass back on the table with a shaky hand. He was taking his hand back when he sensed Anya\'s sudden movements. Before he could react or register what she was up to, his bone-chilling cry filled the room.

Anya slowly sat back on the chair without flinching a bit by the heart shuddering screams.

The cops\' lips slightly arced. Their guess was right. She was a cold-blooded devil. They had clearly seen her nail the sharp tip of the pen on the sniper\'s back of the hand with a force that almost made them gasp.

The sniper held his right-hand wrist and cried in pain, looking at the blood that was painting his fingers and dropping on the floor. He squirmed in the chair but didn\'t dare to get up or move.

As if the pain wasn\'t less, Anya pulled the pen out of his hand, making him wince in pain. Anya didn\'t like this either but she has to resort to it sometimes. Major Reth was busy with the rescue so she has to shoulder some responsibilities.

And importantly, this sniper was the one who aimed her head and injured the military man who probably couldn\'t use his hand for months. Anya Owen was an innocent girl but Officer Owen wasn\'t a saint. She does her job dutifully.

She wiped the pen that was covered in blood on the sniper\'s pants without looking at the blood pool on the floor or the wound she created. Then she spun the pen between her fingers casually. "Let\'s play… I will check if you have more blood or higher stubbornness than me."

The male cops almost laughed hearing her but kept it down. They dare not offend this mysterious officer.

Anya didn\'t ask the same question again. This time she stabbed his left thigh looking straight into his horrified eyes. On the surface she was coldblooded, nevertheless, nobody could hear her hammering heart or see her trembling hand in the oversized coat.

The sniper screeched in pain but didn\'t surrender. Hence the game of torture continued.

His hands, legs, and feet were bleeding. As the torture continued, Anya was becoming brutal. Even the cops behind the sniper took a shallow breath.

Anya was feeling nauseous but held back. She spun the pen and decisively swung her hand, pretending to pierce his neck. The man screamed before she could stop, "I will tell… I will tell…" He will die if that pen pierces his neck.

The sniper hurriedly babbled out. They quickly noted the location of the containers in the container site and informed the team which was patrolling in the container site.

Anya stood up and coldly warned the sniper, "If there was a lie, forget about getting out of this room alive." She snickered coldly and went out of the room.

The three cops finally breathed loudly to catch a good breath. "Who is this lady?" A cop sighed.

Another one shook his head watching her walk out in composure and go towards the washroom. He grabbed the water bottle and instructed his other teammate, "Stop his blood."

Anya threw up whatever was in her stomach and splashed cold water on her face. She could feel her body falling weak after the ocean incident. She needs to quickly nourish her body and train. There was a lot to take care of.

Holding the counter for support, she breathed slowly, trying to forget the smell of the blood. She had seen Jason, Paxton, even Senon easily torture to get the truth out of criminals. Luna and she always puked their guts out or had nightmares of blood whenever they tortured anybody.

It wasn\'t the first time Anya had to resort to physical torture, if they needed urgent information from criminals to catch others immediately, they have used the same methods. They were taught how to torture by the general things. So even if she had stabbed the man with a pen so many times, it won\'t threaten his life even a bit.

\'Knock, Knock.\'

Anya glanced at the door and heard a voice, "Officer Owen, do you need some water?" It was a reserved voice of a male.

She guessed the voice, he was captain of the team. Commission Brown highly regarded this person. She opened the door and received the bottle. "Thank you." Her distant voice was apparent.

She went out of the washroom and sipped the water. She was least bit surprised by the cop\'s appearance as they were trained in many aspects. Unfortunately, excluding her field, hacking was something not everyone could do.

"Officer Owen, which batch are you from?" He asked, thinking she was from the police agency. He was in his late twenties, she looked a lot younger than him. Hence he was curious how such a young woman acquired so much power.

Anya\'s emotionless voice sounded for the response, "Confidential." She has to respect the person, at the same time, she prefers to avoid anything about her or any kind of conversation. She didn\'t care if he or others thought she had a problem with her behavior or attitude. For her, work is strictly working time. It wasn\'t a time for gossiping or networking.

The man was smart enough to understand what he shouldn\'t talk about, so he shifted the topic, "Commissioner Brown asked me to help you choose the cops." He said the truth in a clear, crisp voice. He was neither domineering nor polite.

Anya was looking outside at the container site. The three groups were ambushing the three containers simultaneously. She faintly nodded, turning to the man, "Thank you but I have done my research and chosen the team."

\'That\'s… quick.\' He thought before nodding at her and returning to the room. He glanced at her again before going to his teammates. Some people are naturally attracted to mysteriousness.

….

The sniper\'s information turned out to be true. With some scuffling and exchange in bullets, three more snipers were arrested. A military man was hurt, but it wasn\'t serious.

Anya didn\'t torture the other three snipers this time. She handed those three men to the special service team to learn if more people were there to attack.

She informed Commissioner Brown about the cops she had selected for the case. He was surprised by her quickness and went through the list. There were male and female cops who were experienced and some just had a few months of experience. He had no problem with the list so he immediately sent letters to the cops of different divisions to report to Officer Owen at the harbor.

Meanwhile, the rescue operation had started. Although the four snipers were caught, Major Reth didn\'t let anybody drop their guards down.

With the binoculars, Anya had to watch from the tower as Major Reth put a team that wasn\'t letting her step out. There were no attacks when all the guests, captain, Stefan, and his team were shifted to a huge hall without luggage or anything in their hand.

Even Anya had trouble identifying Berwick, the vice-captain of the ship. He was rescued safely in the disguise as a junior security officer.

"Bring him here," Anya instructed over the walkie-talkie after she directed the cops downstairs on her instructions.

***

Meanwhile at the Oasis mansion,

Alvin failed to curb his annoyance. He was giving time to Anya and taking his time to know about her. Now that she escaped him, he was more than curious to know about her. He went out of his bedroom to go to the study but his steps halted as soon as his eyes fell on the little boy.

Zane was standing in front of Alvin\'s study room, craning his neck and scrutinizing the wooden door. One thing that Alvin noted repeatedly was this little guy was fearless like his mother. He dared to walk around alone in the mansion.

As if sensing the presence, Zane slowly dropped his head and turned to the man who was again frozen looking at him. His grandmother and grandfather were trying to put him to sleep but their exhausted body rested before Zane. Hence the latter went out of the room in search of Alvin Matthews. But the unique carving on the wooden door caught his attention.

Alvin took a few seconds to compose before walking up to Zane, wondering what to ask or say to the little man.

Zane directly stated his intention when Alvin was just two steps away, "Mr. Matthews, I would like to speak with you." He expectantly looked at Alvin with his big round eyes.

Alvin: "…"

He doubted if Zane was the same little boy who was giggling with Anya over a video call. Zane looked very serious for his age.

Seeing Zane struggling to look at him, Alvin contemplated before bending. Zane tried to avoid being taken into the arms but the long hands easily held him and lifted him at ease.

After lifting, Alvin realized he hadn\'t seen properly how Catalina and Dennis were carrying Zane. He only knew carrying in princess style as he carried Anya. But Zane had his legs down, head up, and his arm on the shoulder when his grandparents carried him. So he tried to recall it.

Zane struggled. He was getting happy thinking Alvin was treating him like a big boy. Now he has changed his view. All adults are the same. He tried to tell Alvin, "Mr. Matthews, I am a big boy." It sounded like a complaint. He was a little boy, after all, he couldn\'t hide his emotions.

Alvin held his left arm up, shifted Zane to sit on his forearm. He was satisfied how perfectly he carried Zane when the latter naturally kept his arm on his shoulder. Alvin pushed the study room door in his right hand and entered inside, ignoring Zane\'s words and his eyes. However, Alvin\'s expression stayed cold and perplexed while thinking about what Zane might want to talk about.

\'Will he ask about Little Donut?\' He wondered how to respond to it.