Just a few seconds later, Evelyn's phone buzzed.
A long message popped up.
It was from Ethan.
> "Time to use our guts.
Time to show what the majority can do.
I'm going for it. I hope you'll help me make it work.
You lead the women—tell them to attack Noelle.
I'll handle the guy. He's busy, distracted.
We can win this.
But if we fail… then it's over.
For all of us.
This is the only chance we've got.
Maybe it works.
Maybe it doesn't.
But if we don't even try…
They'll either escape… or hurt someone else.
Today or tomorrow—makes no difference.
I'm going for it."
Evelyn's eyes stayed on the screen.
Her heart thumped hard.
"The power I feel right now... it's something else," she whispered to herself.
"That boy Mark… he had a different kind of fire. He was aggressive. But focused. I want to try this too."
She looked up at Ethan.
He was trying to hold himself together as Noelle moved closer, still teasing him.
Evelyn turned her head and looked behind her.
All the women and girls were sitting quietly—clutching their bags, gathering their items in one place to hand them over.
Their faces looked pale.
Blank.
Almost lifeless.
Evelyn leaned close to them and whispered, "I don't want to stay here. I want to go home. Don't you?"
Her soft voice carried the weight of hope.
The women turned to her. Slowly. Quietly.
Eyes met hers.
Evelyn stood up a little straighter.
She remembered who she was.
A journalist.
A voice.
A leader.
"They're just two people," she said, pointing toward Noelle and the man in the front.
"And we? We're more than twenty."
"We just need to grab the girl—from behind. While she's busy."
Her voice grew stronger, deeper, but still low pitch as she continued.
"If I had a child..." she paused, her eyes shining.
"I wouldn't want them to grow up in this kind of fear. I'd fight for their safety. And I will."
The women sat straighter now.
Their hands stopped shaking.
They were listening.
Fully.
"We grab her from behind," Evelyn repeated. "The moment she's down, we take her gun. And once we have her weapon—her partner will have no choice but to surrender."
A simple plan.
Quick.
Clean.
Possible.
Evelyn looked at them again.
"We can do this."
And for the first time in that dark, tense bus—
Hope started to breathe.
But Noelle felt something strange.
A small itch in her mind.
Like someone was talking behind her back.
She turned around quickly.
Her eyes became sharp like a knife.
But before she could say anything—
Ethan stood up and pushed her from behind.
She was not ready for it.
She lost her balance and fell hard on the seats where the women were sitting.
"NOW! DO IT!" Evelyn shouted, jumping in.
She grabbed Noelle's hair tightly.
Noelle screamed in pain, but before she could shout loud, the other women quickly covered her mouth.
"Take her gun! Take it now!" Evelyn said, her voice full of fire.
There was noise.
A struggle.
A small chaos in that moving bus.
It wasn't quiet anymore—and that caught Jacob's attention.
He turned around.
What he saw shocked him—
Noelle was trapped. Held down by the passengers.
Jacob quickly reached for his gun, hidden at the back of his jeans.
But before he could grab it—
SMACK!
A giant hand slapped his face so hard, his head spun and hit the metal pole of the bus.
The hit was loud.
The sound was strong.
It wasn't Ethan.
It was someone else.
A tall, huge man, who was sitting quietly until now, suddenly stood up.
Ethan had secretly asked him for help earlier.
This man was like a mountain.
Around 6'3 in height and nearly 130 kg in weight.
He looked calm before, but now—
His face turned wild.
Like a monster was hiding inside him.
And now that monster was smiling.
"COME ON! HIT ME, YOU JERK!" he shouted at Jacob.
His huge body moved fast.
He grabbed Jacob's head with both hands and lifted him like a doll.
That scary smile on his face made everyone freeze for a second.
"READY TO DIE?" the giant said in a deep voice.
Then, with full power, he threw Jacob towards one of the bus windows.
CRACK!
The window almost broke.
The glass shattered a little from the force.
Jacob's body dropped like a sack.
His eyes slowly closed.
He wasn't moving.
He looked fainted.
"AMAZING!" Ethan said with a big smile and looked at Evelyn.
They quickly tied Noelle with a strong cloth and took all the things she had.
Noelle looked half-unconscious.
Her eyes were shaking, but she could still understand everything.
She knew it was over.
Jacob was down and their plan had failed completely.
"Evelyn, collect all the items and give them back to the passengers. But keep the weapons separate," Ethan told her.
Then he went to the bus driver and said,
"Please take this bus to the nearest police station."
He also looked at the big man and said,
"Please remove everything Jacob has and tie him up."
The big man looked at Ethan.
He didn't say anything.
He just walked to Jacob, who was still lying like a dead body.
The man grabbed his hands and legs and tied him tight.
Then he took out Jacob's gun and other tools.
Ethan turned to Evelyn and asked,
"What should we do now?"
Evelyn replied,
"You already told the driver to go to the police. Let them take care of this now. For now, let's move these two to the back seat. Ask the big man to sit near them and watch them."
Ethan looked at the big man.
He gave a small fake smile like he was feeling awkward giving him orders.
But this was the only safe choice they had.
The big man didn't say anything again.
He just went to Noelle and Jacob, picked them up like toys, and threw them on the back seat.
Then he sat right next to them, keeping a close eye on their every move.
Evelyn gave back everything she took from Noelle and helped the passengers get settled.
Ethan checked everything to make sure it was all safe.
He also kept Jacob and Noelle's items separately.
After a while, Ethan and Evelyn walked to the machine Jacob had been using.
Ethan bent down beside it and said,
"Looks like some kind of new tech."
Evelyn leaned closer and said,
"This also has a jammer inside. We need to turn it off so we can contact others."
She started looking around the machine, trying to find something that could switch off the jammer.
But the machine looked really confusing and hard to understand.
"Ughh! Why didn't I study engineering? My friends always told me to," Evelyn said with frustration.
Ethan smiled a little and said,
"Relax, we'll figure it out. But first, I want to thank you… for trusting me."
Evelyn heard him and turned to look at his face.
Ethan looked calm, and his smile made her feel safe.
She smiled too and said,
"After all, you're going to be a journalist too. So I thought, why not take a chance on your plan?"
They both smiled, and it felt like the stress between them had faded.
Evelyn turned back to the machine and kept thinking.
Suddenly, she remembered something —
That moment when her eyes were closed, and she saw that boy in her mind — Mark.
She stared at the machine and said softly,
"Actually… something gave me the strength to do all this."
Ethan turned toward her, his hands still busy with the wires.
He looked curious.
"What was that?" he asked.
Evelyn kept her eyes on the machine and said,
"Do you remember the article I wrote last week? The one that got published yesterday?"
Ethan thought for a second and said,
"Umm… yeah, I remember."
"While I was working on that article, I met so many people connected to the case," Evelyn said. "And during that time, I met a guy. He was Indian, I think his name was Satyendr… I don't remember his full name."
She paused a bit, then continued, "He was really kind and seemed super close to his friend named Mark."
"Mark…" Ethan repeated softly, like the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember exactly.
"Yeah," Evelyn nodded. "Satyendr told me a lot about him. But one story really stuck in my mind. He told me about the first time he saw Mark when they were kids. It was a long story. I didn't think much about it back then. But now… when I remember it, it gives me goosebumps."
Her voice got softer, and a strange mix of tension and a small smile appeared on her face.
"Seems like this Mark guy left an impression on you," Ethan joked with a smile while getting back to the machine.
They both stayed focused, trying hard to break the jammer on the machine so they could finally contact someone for help. But they didn't know… things around them were much deeper than they thought.
At the back of the bus, Noelle sat quietly. She looked over at Jacob with sad eyes. She looked sorry for everything that had happened. All the wrong decisions… and now, they were in this terrible situation.
It wasn't the first time they had faced danger. But this time, it felt worse—because Jacob was badly hurt. His body wasn't even moving. He looked completely unconscious.
Noelle wanted to help him, but she couldn't. That thought made her cry inside. And even though she wasn't showing it much, she knew—getting out of this mess wasn't going to be easy.