Anyone who had worked in the operations department of Ah Mei's intelligence organization knew one assassination principle: when you decided to assassinate a target, the confirmation rate of the target at the time of action had to be over 90%.
No matter what means were used.
Most of the time, in addition to technical identification, manual identification was also necessary.
65% was not a good number, far too distant from the value at which an action decision could be made.
Brown was not willing to issue an assassination order only to find out the target hadn't been killed, resulting in himself being blamed in the final operation report.
"Have Team A verify it, immediately!"
Colonel Brown issued the command.
"Yes, sir!"
With the command given, from behind the bushes about 800 meters away from the dam, a hand covered in camouflage paint delicately adjusted the parameters on the reconnaissance device.
The magnification was gradually increased, focusing on Mr. J's head atop the dam.
Once locked on, the operative quickly pressed the shutter.
The photos taken, with a higher resolution than those captured by the drone previously, were sent back to the computer at the Joint Special Operations Command Center.
The system compared them again.
The conclusion drawn was somewhat higher.
73%.
Still not up to assassination standards.
As Angel moved closer and closer to Mr. J, a sniper by her side quietly asked, "Sniper requesting instruction, should I shoot?"
His index finger was already on the trigger.
The M24A1 sniper rifle he was using, equipped with a competition-grade barrel loaded with .300 caliber Winchester Magnum ammunition, would definitely take a life with a single shot at a distance of 800 meters!
"Wait," Colonel Brown hesitated.
"I think it's fine."
Just as Brown wanted to confirm further, Thomas, sitting by his side, spoke up.
"Based on the intelligence gained from the listening device I planted in their car, we can confirm that the person is Mr. J. Before Angel got out of the car, the target made a call to her, confirming his imminent arrival."
"It's not your place to decide here." Brown warned Thomas rather irritably, "You should know your position."
Thomas's face darkened, but he said nothing and stood up to leave.
"Continue adjusting the drone's reconnaissance angle, or perhaps lower the altitude a bit more to see if we can capture more images."
Brown returned to the screen, his brows tightly knitted as he looked at the close-up of Mr. J's face and issued further reconnaissance confirmation commands to his subordinates.
"SIR, they're about to meet. What do we do if they leave after the meeting?" an ISA operative asked Brown.
Brown replied, "Keep an eye on them, and then..."
Before he could finish, someone suddenly collapsed in the drone's view...
...
Thousands of miles away, at the dam site, Song Heping and Angel were getting closer to Mr. J.
As the distance narrowed, Angel became increasingly excited.
Success was in sight!
What explosive big news this was!
She could almost see the newspaper with her article on the front page right before her eyes, smelling the intoxicating scent of fresh ink...
Thump—
Just as they were less than twenty meters apart, a spurt of blood sprang from Mr. J's chest in the lead, and he fell to the side like a kite with its string cut.
The sudden change petrified Angel on the spot.
The bodyguards on the other side were equally stunned, unable to react in time.
Crack—
The sound arrived only then.
The bodyguards finally realized what was happening; they raised their guns and started screaming—
"It's a trap!"
"An ambush!"
"Take them out!"
At the same time, Song Heping also raised his AKM.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—
There was no longer any time to aim properly.
Suppressive fire!
Song Heping swept across, knocking all the bodyguards on the opposite side to the ground in one swift motion.
His actions were so swift that even Angel didn't understand what had happened; she even forgot to cover her ears.
"Run!"
Song Heping grabbed Angel with one hand, dragging the half-stunned foreign girl towards the fence of the dam like he was pulling a dog, all while lowering his posture.
Angel was yanked forcefully to the fence by Song Heping and slammed into the concrete barrier, letting out her first scream.
"Ah—"
She started to clutch her head.
But that was a good move.
Because shortly after, a number of bullets hit the barrier, popping and sizzling, sending chips of stone flying.
Song Heping's nerves were stretched to the limit.
He shouted into the channel, "Damn it, who's firing!"
"Not us! There's a mole!"
The Chef's voice was also tinged with a hint of panic.
Just when they thought they had ambushed the enemy, surprise turned against them—while the mantis was hunting the cicada, the oriole was behind!
The men of the "Musician" Mercenary Group realized that the gunfire was not coming from the positions of the ambushers that they had observed to be near Mr. J.
Either there was an ambush that they hadn't yet detected, or there was another ambush nearby!
Who?!
At this moment, there was simply no time to identify the shooter.
The scene was in complete chaos.
Angel had become a target of Mr. J's subordinates.
No matter who fired the shot.
The soldiers from Mr. J's group, those elite troops from Illiguo, would definitely shoot Angel to death; they would not stop until she was dead.
On the dam, Song Heping threw a smoke bomb.
The smoke quickly enveloped the area.
Queen Julia's SVD started firing.
Men from Mr. J's group kept rushing toward the dam, attempting to climb it and kill Angel.
Song Heping took off his tactical pack, put it on the ground, pulled out the climbing rope that had been prepared in advance, and swiftly threaded it through the figure-eight descender attached to his and Angel's waists.
The foreign girl, Angel, was still screaming.
Song Heping slapped her hard once more, using the pain to snap her back to reality, then shouted, "If you don't want to die, do as I say!"
After that, he quickly looped the rope around the iron pipe on the concrete railing, secured it, and threw it down the dam.
The rope was only 18 meters long.
It meant they could only rappel down 18 meters.
The remaining approximately 12 meters would have to be a free fall.
But 12 meters was better than 30 meters.
As long as they didn't get killed by the fall, it would be fine.
To stay on the bridge meant certain death!
The rope fell through the air, making a rustling sound.
Song Heping glanced at the entrance on the opposite side of the dam.
He didn't spot Mr. J's subordinates coming up.
Good, it seems that Yuliy's marksmanship was decent; she held them off.
Time!
This was the time to escape!
In less than twenty seconds, Song Heping had expertly finished the preparations, then grabbed hold of Angel.
"Do you trust me?!"
"...I trust... trust..."
Angel's voice was trembling, her face pale and even whiter under the moonlight.
"If you trust me, don't yell, hold your breath!"
Song Heping patted the foreign girl's face forcefully.
After speaking, he grabbed Angel, climbed onto the railing with her in his arms, and leaped off towards the water.
All these scenes were clearly displayed at the Special Operations Joint Command Center in the Green Zone.
Colonel Brown was furious in an instant.
"FK! Who gave the order to fire? Who was it!"
He was raging like a thunderstorm.
Clearly, someone had fired a shot at the scene.
Without his orders.
This was mutiny!
This was outright mutiny!
"Who?!"
He roared and then remembered something, asking over the communication channel.
"Team A! Who fired the shot!"
"SIR, it wasn't us who fired!"
The special operation Team A lurking near the dam was clearly bewildered as well.
Suddenly, someone from Team A said, "It seems like it was Team B."
Team B?!
Brown seemed to understand something in an instant.
He turned around fiercely.
Thomas was standing at the door, leaning against the door frame and watching him, a hint of smugness on his lips.
"FK! Thomas!"
Brown could hardly believe that the guy from Langley dared to give orders behind his back!
In an instant, he was filled with regret.
He should never have agreed to the joint operation.
If it wasn't for Thomas tampering with that vehicle, allowing them to gather more intelligence, if he hadn't been greedy for those intel resources...
Tens of thousands of alpacas were stampeding through Brown's head, trampling his brain into mush.
Anger almost made him lose his reason as he drew his pistol and went straight to Thomas, pressing it against his forehead.
Everyone in the command center was startled, all standing up at once.
Thomas, however, was very calm, speaking with a mocking tone, "Colonel, I was making a decision for you, I'll take the fall, but you're the Commander, aren't you supposed to be grateful?"
A myriad of thoughts flashed through Brown's mind and he almost pulled the trigger.
But in the end, reason overcame rage.
He withdrew his pistol.
Thomas said with a smile, "Now you can go clean up the mess, get the video footage, and you'll be the hero."
"Thomas, I despise you Langley scum! You people belong in hell."
Colonel Brown squeezed out a curse between his teeth.