White Bear's ferocious words sent a shiver through the crowd.
This was absolutely the action of a desperado.
Take Angel hostage?
Are they insane?!
"I oppose."
Song Heping had no choice but to pry apart Angel's hands before standing up to oppose White Bear's crazy suggestion.
"If we do this, we're all going to die."
"Shit! She's got an Aunt who's a party whip, we take her hostage and then head west, cross the border into Siria, we have connections there to get to Tartus Port, and I have comrades there still in service, even the US Special Forces can't touch us there!"
Tartus is a military port in Siria leased by Russia.
White Bear's intention was clear.
It was to use Angel as a hostage and then escape with their lives.
Upon hearing White Bear's plan, Song Heping almost laughed out loud.
"Great idea!"
He couldn't help but give White Bear a thumbs up.
White Bear thought Song Heping was praising him and grinned with a smug smile.
"It's indeed a great idea for someone hell-bent on finding death."
Song Heping continued, "We've just killed two people who might be from the US Special Forces, and now you want to violently take hostage the Democratic Party whip and senator's niece, who's also a famed journalist for the 'Washington Post', then sneak across the Sirian border and use your comrades to pull strings with the Russian Army so we can run?"
At this point, he couldn't resist giving White Bear another thumbs up.
He had to admit one thing, there weren't many sane people in this team.
The thought processes of these Russians were almost linear, if it wasn't killing the enemy, it was getting killed by the enemy.
"White Bear, you're truly a fucking genius! You've thought of every possible way to die, every death trap imaginable. If we run as you're saying, let's not talk about whether you can make it back to Russia, I doubt even your President could protect you!"
"Shit, you're right."
The previously silent cook suddenly spoke up.
"Doing that, we'd probably make the headlines of international news immediately."
White Bear's face darkened.
"You're smart, so you tell me, what should we do then? We've already killed people, we're already involved, now how do we get out? You tell me, how do we get out!"
The cook was at a loss for words all of a sudden.
Indeed, he hadn't come up with any good idea either.
They had provoked the US Special Forces and were involved in the power struggle of the biggest military empire on Blue Star.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a dead end.
Angel sat on the ground, her gaze not leaving Song Heping, her eyes filled with pleading.
Among all these people, Angel felt Song Heping was the most likely to speak up for her.
Perhaps only Song Heping could help her.
If she fell into the hands of the others, she'd either be killed or raped – in short, it would be a fate worse than death.
"Help me..."
She whispered her plea, tears dripping down, her form pitiful.
Song Heping hadn't uttered a word yet when White Bear couldn't bear it any longer.
"Shit, you haven't fallen for this chick, have you? I'm telling you, come back to Russia with me, brother, and I can grab you a bunch of beauties prettier than her. I'll hook you up with a few, guaranteed to make you say hallelujah!"
"Fuck…"
Song Heping was speechless.
The cook said, "Shit, you tell us what we should do now?"
Song Heping was frustrated, "What to do? Are you all dumb? We don't need to do anything, absolutely nothing!"
"Huh?"
The cook and the others were immediately confused.
Do nothing?
White Bear quickly scoffed, shouting, "Do nothing and we just wait here to die?!"
Song Heping said, "Why wait to die? We just need to wait here for half an hour or an hour, and the armed militants are definitely not going to last long before they leave Krasa Town because the soldiers from Victory Camp will soon arrive here. If they have any brains, they will definitely choose to leave before the coalition forces arrive."
White Bear said, "Then what? Then we wait for the Special Forces to come and catch us? To kill us for revenge on their comrades?"
Song Heping laughed in exasperation, "I'm not afraid of the ones I killed, what are you afraid of? What do you think they can do to us?"
Suddenly he pointed his hand, directing it toward Angel, who was sitting on the ground.
"You're right about one thing, she is important, she's our talisman!"
"What do you mean?" the cook couldn't help but interject.
Song Heping said, "She is an American, a bona fide American, and a journalist for a major newspaper. Do you think those American soldiers will kill us in front of the people from Victory Camp? Guess whether their mission in Krasa Town tonight is secret or public."
He raised his index finger resentfully to tap on his own head lightly, loudly reminding this straightforward and naïve teammate of his.
"White Bear, use your brain and think about it, if it's a covert operation, killing us would just expose the whole plan, purely inviting trouble. Then tomorrow's headlines in the American news will be 'US Special Forces slaughtered American journalist Angel, her Aunt Nancy whipping it up in the Congress? Will that old geezer president make the department that carried out this mission take the fall?
Do you think any of those old slick heads in Langley are as reckless as you in thinking and acting?"
A string of rhetorical questions left White Bear speechless.
His brain didn't make the connection so quickly.
However, the cook quickly understood.
"Song's right! If they want to cover this up, their best way is not to kill us. Anyway, Mr. J is already dead. If I were the Commander, I would definitely order an immediate clean-up of the scene and evacuate as quickly as possible, as if nothing ever happened. No one knowing what transpired is the best form of concealment!"
"Exactly, exactly."
Upon hearing Song Heping's explanation, Angel suddenly saw hope for life, and felt she really hadn't misjudged him.
Song Heping was indeed the most reliable person for her among them all.
To her, the others were purely insane!
99.9999% idiots!
So she quickly took over the conversation, "I can guarantee your safety, contact Aunt Nancy right now, and then tell her everything that happened here. I can even allow her to record it. If I don't make it back to Country M, then it's Langley's people who killed me. Once that recording is released, they at Langley will have a hard time, too!"
Song Heping was amused; this foreign girl wasn't dumb.
In a critical moment, she still understood survival tactics.
"My phone..."
Angel suddenly remembered something, searched herself with both hands, looking somewhat panicked.
"How come my phone is missing..."
Song Heping looked back at the Lincoln SUV and said, "Check the car, maybe in the panic you accidentally dropped it inside."
It was a coincidence.
No sooner had Song Heping finished speaking than a ringtone came from the Lincoln SUV.
"Why don't you answer the phone and see if it's your Aunt Nancy?" Song Heping said.
Angel nodded hurriedly, "It's very likely that Aunt Nancy is calling to check on my status."
She was actually lying.
Who was calling Angel on the phone was something she had no idea about.
The reason she deliberately emphasized her Aunt Nancy was to make sure others would not think of killing her again, to prove she still had value to be used.
Otherwise, White Bear, the cook, and these simple-minded Russian mercenaries might really scrape her off.
While Angel crawled back into the vehicle to answer the phone, the cook came up to Song Heping and asked in a low voice, "Song, do you think... we can really just swagger back to the Green Zone without any issues?"
"What could happen?" Song Heping said, "They wanted Mr. J, not us. What are we? They don't even want to kill Angel. Now that Mr. J is dead, their goal to silence him has been achieved.
Do you think they're stupid enough to blow this up and expose all the crap they've done? Believe it or not, if this gets out, by tomorrow they'd be drowned by their own domestic media's spit."
The cook listened and nodded repeatedly, his small eyes scanning Song Heping several times.
He thought that agreeing to join forces with Song Heping was the smartest decision he had made in years.
"There's something..."
The cook suddenly frowned.
"How did those people track down..."
Before he could finish, Angel suddenly emerged from the vehicle, shouting.
"Something's wrong..."
"What's wrong?"
Song Heping and the cook almost said in unison.
Angel held a satellite phone in her hand, a ghost-like expression on her face, and said, "Mr. J isn't dead... the call was from him..."