The world is spinning for David; he can not stabilize his view, his thoughts are getting foggy, and all he knows is that this masked man has surely drugged him.
David cannot understand how a drug can even work on him.
He is a fu#king second-level evolved human, a being whose biological structure has strengthened to the point that normal drugs appear like candies or even poison stops working normally.
The masked man had learned his lesson of underestimating someone from the Keeper family, so he decided to not let David have a single way out or complicate his task.
He started checking David's clothes, looking for the device that David was going to use for informing his family, but much to his surprise, the masked man found nothing except a normal smartphone mostly used by normal humans, which is obviously not the device he was looking for.
The masked man understood that something was definitely wrong, so he rechecked David, and this time more thoroughly, just like how he normally does on a mission, and after he went through David's shoe, his suspicion proved to be true.
Inside both shoes, two very small buttons are present that can be easily pressed by using their toes.
The masked man is quite familiar with these devices that are used to send signals during certain situations where confirmation is required.
The masked man's wheels of mind began to spin, and a long list of possible scenarios began to appear in his brain.
"We cannot move through the old route," the masked man thought.
Eventually he reached a decision, taking out a sleek, rectangular, remote-looking communicator from his pocket that had no more than three buttons in it of three different colors: red, green, and black.
He pressed the green button for three seconds before a mechanical voice resounded, "State your purpose."
"Establish a connection with the transporter of HVBT (Hybrid Vehicle for Both Terrain), piece number 3207."
"OK," the mechanical voice again resounded.
The device started connecting with the driver of the truck.
Inside the moving truck, a man who has already crossed his adulthood is driving with a tense expression; his eyes keep glancing toward the side mirrors, looking for any possibility of being tailed.
"David"
"David"
"David..."
Listening to the constantly ringing screams that have started with quiet high momentum but have almost subdued till now, the man feels pain in his heart for doing this to a fellow human, but he refuses to stop, so he bites his lower lip to stay focused.
The man knows that inside this truck are several humans who have been unjustly kidnapped from their country and are right now being smuggled by him, but what can he do? He is just a powerless family man who has to keep his family protected by doing everything he is being ordered to do.
Just as the driver was drowning in the thoughts of his problem-filled life, suddenly a mechanical voice came from a device that looked similar to the ones that masked men have, but this one had only two buttons, red and green, in it.
"In charge is connecting; transporter, you should respond," the mechanical voice said.
"Yeah, Transporter' is what they call him. I don't know why, but it has a nice ring to it." The man chuckled nervously at his own ridiculous thought.
The driver took a deep breath before picking the device from the shelf beside his seat and then pressed the green button.
"Password or code, sir?"
The driver was questioned after bringing the device near his ear, following the protocol just like he had been taught inside this organization.
A reply came almost instantly.
"Both are the same; night is not a friend of darkness but of shadows."
"What are your orders, in charge?"
The man asked after confirming the identity of his superior, who never speaks unless giving orders.
"Use the vehicle's emergency transformation and follow the death route. The main cargo is in danger. Risk level: 3."
"Destroy everything that came in front of you or whatever remains behind after transformation."
The driver's breath hitched, his eyes widened, and his hands shook above the steering wheel. It took him a moment to process this order.
The actual plan for the man was to go through this highway, then cross the border area where a few low-level corrupted soldiers will let him go under the guise of transporting farm animals, but now it appears the whole plan has gone to shit.
True, the chances of passing the border area without a thorough checking are low because none of the high-commanding officers compromise with their duty, but still, at least that plan has few assurances, but the orders they have just received are nothing more than a do-or-die situation.
The driver knew that he had no other choice. Remembering the faces of his two children and wife, who were currently being held hostage, the man made the decision and replied with a shaky breath.
"Y-Yes, sir," the man replied with a shaky breath and then pressed a series of switches present beside the steering wheel.
David cannot understand what was happening around him or what the masked man is speaking and doing.
In his view, everything around him is spinning at high speed , voices are overlapping in his ears, and he cannot control his body movement.
One instance he is feeling cold, and then another second he is feeling hot. His throat began to feel dry at the same time a sharp pain is tearing down his nerves at the back of his neck.
While David was going through all these changes internally, the reality was starkly different because actually he was just lying on the highway with a disheveled appearance in front of a masked man who was busy giving orders to the transporters.
Normally whenever a keeper family tries to get involved with their delivery, the masked man would have just burned everything by blasting the whole truck along with everything inside it by pressing the black button in his device, but this time he has decided to take a different approach because of two main reasons.
The first reason is the fact that this is their last delivery from this country, after which he will get a well-deserved vacation along with his pay, but if he burned it down, then he will have to wait again to catch the same number of people, which will surely become much harder to accomplish under the constant threat of the keeper family, with whom this boy is connected, something he definitely does not want because he has gotten sick of this country and its overly protective security measures implemented for their citizens.
Staying in this country is like living with a constant fear of a hanging sword just above them for a person with goals like him.
The second reason is a little selfish choice of his; after all, it is not easy to get someone like Kevin in their hand. Most of the time, it is people like orphans, beggars, or those who live in a less developed area of a city who become their prey, and these people are definitely nothing more than low-quality products for their superior.
As for what they do to them, he does not know, nor does he care, but what he knows is that someone like Kevin will definitely qualify as a top-grade product.
After all, those who can achieve such academic accomplishment at such a young age are definitely few and heavily protected by their country's authorities from the shadows as a future asset.
The masked man is completely sure that as long as Kevin remains in his own country, Shalenpore, the government authorities or even the keeper's family will surely keep an eye on him till he crosses the threshold to become qualified enough to join them, but if he manages to deliver Kevin to his destination, promotion is definitely in his pocket.
Looking at the fool from the Keeper family who has complicated his easy situation and now forced his hand to take such drastic actions, anger began to shimmer in the masked man's heart. If possible, he would have definitely killed him, but his connection with family has chained his hands.
He kicked David with enough strength to not break any bones but plenty to make him feel pain.
The masked man knows that till now David must have regained complete consciousness after suffering from all the effects of specially created poison by their organization to deal with evolved humans like David.
True to the masked man's thoughts, David has regained consciousness but is facing another challenge.
"I cannot feel or control anything below my neck," David thought with a horrified expression after trying several times to move himself but always failing.
"Tell me, you little sh#t, how does it feel to become paralyzed?" The masked man's voice, filled with anger and mockery, rang in his ear.
"You belong to one of those lofty keeper families, right?"
"Oh, I forgot you can not answer me."
He he he.
"Let me help you."
The masked man made David face him by pulling his hair to get a better look at him.
"You care for that friend of yours, right? Then allow me to help you in watching his last moments."
David cannot understand at first, but then the masked man repeated his word in a threatening tone.
"Feel the pain of losing your friend in front of your eyes, the true loss, they say."