“Don’t let me down!”
Long Zhan swept his gaze across the basement, noting that everyone was still preoccupied, busy with their own tasks.
Sonny, the hot-headed fellow nicknamed Powder Keg, was hunched over the bomb vest stripped from Samir, fiddling with the wiring as if intent on bringing it along for their withdrawal. He was so absorbed in his task, that he barely paid any attention to Long Zhan.
Taking advantage of the moment, Long Zhan pretended to rummage around Samir’s waist and back. Quietly, his hands slid underneath the man, and with careful precision he twisted open the cap of the small cylindrical pendant hanging there. From within, he pulled out a tightly folded piece of paper.
It was an ordinary piece of paper, treated with a simple, practical method and laminated with a layer of clear tape, giving it much longer shelf life than ordinary paper.
Out of sight, he unfolded it.
The content was extremely simple, a crooked line scrawled across the page, and at one end, a few clumsy Latin letters.
Long Zhan couldn’t make out their meaning, but it wasn’t hard to guess, they spelled the name of a place.
A piece of paper with the name of a place and a route to get there, which he carried on him at all times… the significance of the object spoke for itself.
“At last,” Long Zhan thought, a grin tugging at his lips. “No wonder Samir has such a reputation for caution. Even in the twenty-first century, he still relies on the oldest methods. But with a location marked out like this, it shouldn’t be hard to track down.”
The oldest way was also the safest. Unlike a USB drive, which could break or be corrupted, a piece of paper posed no such risk. Long Zhan found no reason to sneer at it, on the contrary, he felt a certain respect for Samir’s shrewdness.
At the same time, his heart was pounding. To pull off such a secretive move under the eyes of so many, and not only succeed but discover the very treasure map he sought, was nerve-wracking and exhilarating all at once.
The thrill was intoxicating.
He had found it. Now he had to ensure this secret remained his alone, without anyone noticing the slightest anomaly.
Caution and meticulousness had always defined Long Zhan’s conduct, even back in Green Team training, he had earned that reputation.
To avoid arousing any suspicion from the CIA later, he quickly slipped the treasure map into his sock. Not in his pockets or his pants as that would be a conspicuous move could easily raise eyebrows. Then, opening the small notebook he had found earlier, he pulled out a page filled with rows of numbers, folded it, rolled it into a tube, and stuffed it into the pendant in place of the original.
An empty storage pendant would be suspicious. This way, it looked untouched.
Only after this did Long Zhan produce a sealed plastic evidence bag, into which he placed all the remaining recovered items, putting them away. Those would be handed over to the intelligence department once they made it back to base.
A few dozen seconds later.
After confirming the evacuation plan with command and learning that General Lionheart’s troops were less than two hundred meters away, Jason raised his voice.
“Alright, people, time’s up! We’re leaving, now. Grab your gear and prepare for withdrawal. This time we’re leaving on foot, so get ready for a fight. Ten seconds, last check on your ammo and kit!”
They had been fighting inside the house for long enough, so a second round of checks was mandatory. Every man needed to know exactly how many rounds remained in each magazine. Any half-spent mag had to be swapped out for a full one. Nothing was worse than being called on to suppress enemy fire, only to squeeze off a few rounds before running dry. That wasn’t just embarrassing, it could get you killed.
Night vision goggles, laser points, all electronic gear, their power supplies had to be verified as well. Night combat relied on this “cheat code.” Without it, survival odds plummeted.
“Ready!”
“All set!”
“Good to go!”
For veterans like them, pre-battle equipment checks were second nature. In under ten seconds, each man reported back.
“Go, go, go, move!”
Jason wasted no time on speeches. With a curt order, he led the way down the passage, the rest falling in behind him.
Outside, Ray, who had been holding the overwatch position, now became Bravo Team’s eyes.
As Long Zhan and the others emerged from the tunnel and climbed back to the ground floor, Ray relayed fresh intelligence without missing a beat.
"Bravo 1, we've spotted an armed pickup truck. It's 30 meters to the left of the main road in front of the house. We expect it to engage in 5 seconds. There are also numerous enemies on foot 50 meters away from you. We recommend retreating through the back exit."
The .50 caliber heavy machine gun mounted on that truck was nothing to tangle with.
Jason didn’t hesitate. He had absolute trust in Ray. He pivoted the team, guiding them through the same door their second element had used to enter earlier, leading them out into the back alley.
“Bravo 2, we’re withdrawing to the southeast. Abandon your post and regroup immediately.”
Keying his PTT, Jason issued the order, then checked the luminous compass on his watch and set the direction. The squad sprinted toward the alley’s exit.
In a way, they had Cly’s reckless move to thank. His earlier actions had saved Jason the trouble of persuading Samir, and Bravo Team was able to move out ten-plus seconds earlier than expected.
That slim head start kept them from being trapped inside the house by Lionheart’s men. They still had fifty meters of breathing space.
If nothing went terribly wrong… Bravo Team only needed to neutralize the pursuing vehicle, and they would have a solid chance of escaping the town safely. On the road back to the city, they could link up with the supporting unit waiting to extract them, completing the withdrawal with no casualties.
But this town was no ordinary place. It was completely under General Lionheart’s thumb.
The moment Bravo Team slipped out of the alley, Lionheart’s forces swarmed the very building they had just abandoned.
And then it happened.
Click, click, click…
All across the dark little town, lamps flicked on one after another, as if in response to a single command.
Heads began to peek out of windows and doorways. In mere tens of seconds, the once pitch-black streets were dotted with faint, yellowish light.
The glow was weak, leaving most of the town still shrouded in shadows. But the lights themselves were not the real danger.
It was the eyes. The townsfolk, now awake, leaning out of windows and doorways, staring straight at them.
The entirety of Bravo Team was caught in the open.
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