Chapter 220 - An Accident (2)

"Crash!"

The entire streets and intersection came to a halt when the loud sound reverbated and the sound of brakes being forced and cars coming to a skidding stop could be heard.. Soon smoke started to blow out of the collision site and sirens could be heard in the distance. The truck had caused havoc on the previous intersection also which had relatively less traffic so the rescuers dreaded and estimated that the collisions must be huge. They were however shocked when they reached the scene. Many cars had indeed bumped into each other but other than that there was no massive damage. And soon they found the reason, the truck had collided with the fence wall of an abandoned building on one side and a smaller car in the other side. Immediately the area was cleared to assess damages and to eliminate the risk of a fire. Both the engines were smoking and has could be smelled clearly, indicating that there may be an eruption soon..They had to take out any victims as soon as possible..But the extraction seemed impossible because an entire section of the car had been crushed under the truck. Even if anyone was there,they would not have aurvived. 

The investigators started to take pictures and interview the people on the side and check if anyone had any injuries.. There were also those who were in shock at what they had seen. That car could have been them because they knew that if the driver had not swerved and instead speeded then that car would have been safe while theirs would have been under the truck. They explained the entire situation as much as they could even as their hearts shuddered and they prayed for the person who had sacrificed themselves to save everyone else.

The extraction team tried to work as fast as they could as they cleared the rubble from the collapsed wall. The truck which was relatively undamaged was opened and an unconscious driver was taken in by the paramedics for check up. After that the person would be interrogated and if all the damage was really an accident then they would be only fined but if the driver was found drunk or responsible for this then he would have to pay the fine as well as jail time.

The pics investigators started to check the surveillance cameras to see what the situation had been like. They followed the truck's route on camera as it caused havoc throughout, crashing through cars..and then finally when the truck was about to crash into the cab. The cab had just started to cross the intersection when the driver probably saw the speeding truck hurtling towards it. In the next millisecond, the car had changed directions and was instead going towards the truck..At the last moment, when it looked like the car would swerve and save itself, it went in the direction of the truck's wheels-once, twice and then thrice before the truck was finally pushed into the wall and the car skidded under it..the driver side well banged and crushed.

The police officers with well trained eyes felt their hearts stop. The driver person really had sacrificed his own life to save the others. They would have to inform his family.. His body would have been twisted and crushed by now. Some of the new officers even rushed out to throw up when they thought of the body that would be extracted. But there was one man, a senior officer,who kept staring at the screen. He even had to repeat his order to the tech expert to replay the scene.

The others wanted to turn away at this but they knew their senior was not one to simply rewatch this until he had something. When the video was replayed, the officer asked to stop at a place and zoom in. It was the driver's hands...

After the video was played several times with various stops in between the officer turned back and sighed."It was not the cab driver who saved the people. It was the passenger in the car."

This shocked all the officers. "What do you mean Sir?"

"Do you think a normal citizen can have such a reaction time?For someone to do this they must be able assess and calculate quickly and even then there are chances for failure. But this was accurate so it should have been someone who was trained to drive riskily and make snap judgements. Secondly look at the fingers on the wheel, initially, the driver's hands can be seen and his fingers are thick whereas when the car attacks the truck the fingers on the wheel are long and lean." This minor detail shocked all the men in the room and they replayed the video realising that the observation was correct. The driver had indeed changed though nobody knew when and how.

"What does this mean, Sir?"

"It means there were two people in the car. The question is were both saved. Inform the driver's family of the accident and find where the passenger was from. Also ask the extraction team how much more time do they need. It has already been thirty minutes. The chances of a persons survival decrease with every passing minute."

The techie was back to work tracing the cab's routes and finally to the airport. Indeed the senior officer had been right. There were two people in the cab. The driver in the front and the passenger in the back. "Sir. We have found the person on the cab. Should we call for a search about where he came from or should we wait to get the body..?"

The senior officer stared at the frozen picture in front of him. His eyes narrowed and his heart chilled."There is no need to search. I should've known that such expert movement could be rare.Everyone present there today really were lucky that this man was travelling in that cab.."

The other policemen realized at once that their senior knew the man and respected him. They started intently trying to recognize the man but to no avail. But it could be seen the man was dressed all in black and they could see the clear knife cut on his cold face. The man was dangerous. And this man was the one who had sacrificed himself for hundreds of people.

A trainee gathered his courage as he looked at the somber face of his senior and asked,"Sir, do you know this man?"

A small smile graced the weathered face as he answered,"Not just me but everyone in the police department knows him, by name at least. Most of you look up to him as your idol. You just saw Long Ah Hai in action...or you might know him as Knight Long."

Everyone s.u.c.k.e.d in a harsh breath at this. Yes. They had all heard of Knight Long. One of the youngest killers trained from the Army, the man had long cooperated with the security forces over the world and handled criminal threats. The senior was indeed right, everyone today had been lucky. But shouldn't it be a proud moment?A soldier lived to serve the people so it was an honor to die like this

But the expression on the seniors face was like pain. They had never seen such an expression on the offficer's face. Knowing that all his subordinates were curious so he simply bent forward and typed a few key words in the search bar and the headlines appeared. Then other officers sorted ahead and they felt their hearts drop..Long Ah Hai was set to get married this evening!That meant the man had probably been on his way to get married...

Most of them had girlfriends or wives so they understood what it meant. His bride was probable getting ready now for her happily ever after..and what she would receive was instead.. The door to the surveillance van opened at this point and a paramedic walked in,"Sir, we have rescued the cab driver. He is severely injured but conscious and able to talk. And he had confirmed that the passenger pushed him aside at the end moment and took the controls thus saving his life. We are in the process of moving him to the hospital. We also have another problem. The media has reached the scene and are waiting for an explanation.."

The senior officer nodded and quietly followed the paramedic. It was now time to see if the last person in the accident had survived...

"No one will say anything to anyone until ordered. Understand?"

It had been over sixty minutes and they had only just been able to rescue the driver. And now a crane was going to lift the rest...

After another fifteen minutes the entire car was cleared and the rescuer tried to go inside to check. After a few minutes the man was back and when the senior officer approached him to ask about the possible 'corpse' inside, the rescuer simply frowned and shook his head.