"We need to retreat now!"
Grey Wolf was no longer willing to stay here for another minute.
"After taking these two down, a breach must have been opened here. If we don't leave now, it'll be too late."
"Alright! Let's pull out!"
Song Heping immediately approved of his suggestion.
"I'll use this, and later you'll be in charge of contacting the Chef and the rest."
Song Heping clipped the portable radio found on the body to his tactical vest and put on the headset.
Grey Wolf gave Song Heping a thumbs up.
Because what Song Heping did was extremely smart.
The death of these two would temporarily go unnoticed by the commander, and by listening to their tactical frequency, they could hear the enemy's communication, which would help identify their position and points of engagement and avoid those dangerous areas.
Song Heping went to pull Angel out of the muddy pit.
This Yale graduate was now covered in stinking mud, no longer retaining any of her previous haughty demeanor.
Song Heping roughly stuffed her into the vehicle like a piece of cargo, slammed the door forcefully, then jumped into the driver's seat. He set aside the AKM assault rifle, placing the MK18 assault rifle scavenged from the corpses next to his left hand by the car door as his primary weapon.
This rifle was the item Song Heping was most satisfied with finding.
Many in the US Special Forces preferred this assault rifle, known as a close combat weapon. In reality, its range wasn't weak either—capable of up to 350 meters—enough for general mid-range firefighting.
What delighted him more was that this specific MK18 was treated in desert color, fitted with night-vision and holographic sights on the rails, and hung with an infrared indicator, feeling great in his hands, so saying it was a fully equipped version wasn't an exaggeration.
Compared to the AKM assault rifle he had used before, which was still fitted with a conventional optic and relied on dovetail slots for attachment, it was like comparing a sweet treat to a rugged matron.
After starting the vehicle, Song Heping didn't immediately drive away from the woods. Instead, he sat there listening to the conversations on the enemy's tactical channel.
The vehicle was a B7-level armored Lincoln, with decent protective capabilities. Unfortunately, as seen in the recent events, the enemy had drones.
The Hellfire missiles from that thing
could penetrate tanks, let alone a mere Lincoln armored car.
Song Heping was most wary of the hovering drones; they were a completely overwhelming force, leaving no room for resistance.
The conversation on the channel was chaotic. After listening for a while, Song Heping roughly deduced that the mysterious Special Forces team that had initiated the conflict by firing from the dark had two small squads involved in this operation.
They were divided into Group A and Group B.
Group A was responsible for assaulting the dam and retrieving Mr. J's body.
Group B was tasked with searching the perimeter, closing the encirclement.
There was an MQ-1 Predator drone in the sky.
"...gray fox one, gray fox one, Group A has encountered fire blockage to the left of the dam, one man VSI! Request to clear the enemy fire point across the dam! Repeat, one man VSI, request to clear the enemy fire point across the dam!"
VSI?
That was a military term.
It meant someone had been severely injured.
Clearly, the current situation was that the mysterious squad and Mr. J's people were in a muddled battle, which diverted their attention away from Song Heping and his group.
"Grey Wolf, do you know how many missiles an MQ-1 Predator can carry?"
Grey Wolf answered, "I remember it's two."
Song Heping said, "Then this must be the last one."
Soon, he heard in the channel that the enemy's fire point had been destroyed, so without hesitation, he pressed the accelerator and quickly drove out of the woods.
The Lincoln SUV raced away from the combat zone at top speed and soon met up with another Lincoln driven by Chef and his team, who had also retreated.
Chef kept swearing over the channel.
They had nearly lost their lives here tonight.
He kept urging Song Heping to ask the foreign lady Angel who this Mr. J she wanted to meet was, and why it had led to being tracked by the US Special Forces and getting mixed up in this.
To Chef, Angel was just here to dig for a big news story.
As for what the news was, he didn't bother to inquire.
Now, it seemed to him that something was off with the situation.
However, Song Heping's ears were still clear for the time being since he was wearing the US Special Forces' portable radio and hadn't taken it off yet.
After leaving the combat zone, he immediately threw the radio out of the vehicle.
Carrying that thing after a breakaway was tantamount to trouble.
Especially before they could understand the motives and backgrounds of those suddenly appearing US Special Forces, it was best to keep distance from those guys.
Ten minutes later, bad news came once again.
This time, the bad news came from the ISF.
"BW-1, we've been attacked, we've been hit by a large number of enemies, unable to rendezvous with you!"
The voice was clearly that of the ISF Captain Commander.
His voice sounded panicked, with what seemed like gunfire in the background.
Attacked?!
Who attacked them?!
"What's your location!?" Chef urgently asked, "Who are they?"
"Just on the dirt road near the dam, four kilometers from the designated rendezvous point! They have too many people; they've blocked off this entire passage, filled with their own..."
"Who are they?! Push through! Don't mind them, join up with us, we're leaving from the west side of the town, there's still a road there!"
However, suddenly there was no more sound from the radio.
The cook called out several times in succession, but there was no response.
Everyone was stunned.
What on earth was going on?!
Originally, ISF was the only support team for the Mercenary Group, and although their capabilities were known to be limited, they still had four Humvees, at least four heavy machine guns, and a platoon's worth of soldiers!
No more sound?
"IS-4! Respond if you hear this!"
"IS-3! Respond if you hear this!"
…
The cook called out to each Humvee in turn, until he realized...
There was no response from anyone...
A whole platoon of ISF security forces had seemingly vanished into thin air.
"Cook!" Song Heping said, "Turn around, head to the west side of the town! We can't count on the ISF anymore; it looks like things have gone south. Contact headquarters quickly, ask them to get in touch with Victory Camp!"
Headquarters, of course, was Blackwater International.
This operation was contracted through them, and now that there was a situation, they had to be responsible for contacting the US Army nearest to Krasa Town, to have them send support to relieve the situation.
The current situation was a total mess.
The US Special Forces killed Mr. J, and it seemed like they had stirred up a hornet's nest.
Apparently, there were many of Mr. J's subordinates hidden around Krasa Town, and they had been mobilized, probably unwilling to let the killer escape the town.
The cook quickly slowed down and turned around.
The two vehicles switched direction and drove towards the west.
Returning to the Green Zone was to the east; now they were heading west, which was the only other route connecting Krasa Town to the outside world.
Every person could feel the pressure on their hearts steadily rising.
This small town had already entangled three forces.
It seemed like none of these forces were allies, each wanting the others dead.
"Damn it!"
The more Song Heping thought about it, the angrier he got, and he heavily slapped the steering wheel.
What a mess they had gotten into.
He couldn't help but glance back at Angel, who was crouching in the back seat, and he loudly demanded, "Miss Angel, who exactly was this Mr. J you came to meet?!"
Angel didn't make a sound.
There were some things she didn't want to discuss.
"Speak!" Song Heping was furious.
Angel was startled, trembling all over.
"He... he is Muhammad Sayyaf..."
"What?"
Song Heping had no recollection of this name.
"Who is he?"
"Sadam's senior security adviser, also one of his most loyal confidants…"
"Fuck!"
Song Heping finally understood.
Why the US Special Forces got involved.
Why there were so many militants suddenly in Krasa Town hunting them down.
This was getting serious.
If this was one of the high-profile figures on the deck of cards wanted list.
His death meant these militants would naturally take it out on them, use them to pay the blood price.
"This is just great... No wonder you were willing to offer more money..." Song Heping felt helpless and could only chuckle and shake his head.
It seemed there was no easy money in this world; destiny had already secretly set a price tag on everything.
"Enemy attack!"
Before Song Heping could extricate himself from the complex emotions, a scream like a pig being slaughtered came through the headset from the cook.
Then came the sound of "pop pop pop", and the left window of the Lincoln became riddled with bullet holes, leaving behind several spiderweb-like white patterns.
After that, bullets rained down on the vehicle's body like hail.
Song Heping's hairs stood on end once again.
"Watch out!"