The one who first spotted Bravo Team was a middle-aged man. He took one glance at them, then quickly ducked back inside.
Long Zhan spotted it immediately, the guy was definitely up to no good. Jason and the other veteran operators felt the same tightening in their chests. Something was off.
As the squad sprinted past the house, muffled voices drifted out from within.
The words were spoken in Liberian English, thick with dialect. Hard to follow, twisted and strange, but they didn’t need a perfect translation. The meaning was clear enough.
He was on the phone, reporting their location.
Jason realized that their cover was blown. From here on, until they got out of this town, their movements would be under constant surveillance.
Worse yet, there was no clean fix to the problem. They couldn’t just gun down every face that peered out a window or lifted a phone.
First, there wasn’t time. Every trigger pulled meant lost seconds, and lost seconds meant Lionheart’s troops closing the gap.
Second, these were unarmed civilians with no hostile intent. Shooting them wasn’t just reckless, it was a war crime.
Once proven guilty of killing civilians, no battlefield record could save you. Not even Washington would shield you. At best, dishonorable discharge. At worst, your name forever stained.
Jason knew the only option was to keep moving, to push his team through the town as fast as possible. As long as they could make it out of town, their chances of survival would increase by at least 50%.
Every operator in the squad understood this. No one needed to be told to run harder.
But legs, no matter how fast, couldn’t outrun four wheels.
Barely a hundred meters from the end of the alley, Ray rejoined the formation, just as trouble finally slammed into them.
RATATATATAT!
The roar of a DShK heavy machine gun ripped through the night, shattering the fragile silence of the town.Despite being a Soviet-era weapon, designed and manufactured over 70 years ago, its power was formidable.
Bolted to the back of a pickup truck, its greatest flaw, the bone-crushing recoil, was mitigated.
The 12.7x108mm bullets shrieked through the air, hammering toward Bravo Team from dozens of meters out. The destructive power was the stuff of nightmares.
Even hollow brick walls, over ten centimeters thick, could be chewed through with ease.
A single burst would leave a row of fist-sized holes across anything it touched. And if it touched a human body, there would be nothing left worth describing.
Only two things kept Bravo Team alive.
First, It was dark, so the gunner couldn’t see clearly. Second, the pickup jolted and rattled across the uneven ground, shaking his aim to hell.
So while the stream of fire tore into houses, punched holes in walls, and sent residents screaming in terror, the squad themselves went untouched.
Whether the rounds killed locals, nobody could say.
Ten seconds later, Jason yanked his men into a side alley, using the narrow path to break the gunner’s line of sight. The deafening sound of the DShK faded, swallowed by the concrete walls.
He immediately ordered without hesitation, “We have to take that pickup truck out. If it stays in play, we’re not getting out of here. Sonny, you’re up. Can you handle it?”
Sonny smirked, with a certain swagger in his tone. “Please. I’ll show him who the real machine gunner is.”
“Long, you’re his backup.”
“Understood,” Long Zhan nodded sharply.
“Ray, you go ahead of us along the exfil route and find a vantage point. Be ready to cover us when we move, and give us the position of the enemy,”
“Copy that,” Ray replied, calm and certain. This was what he did best, and he knew it.
Jason’s voice hardened. “Everyone else, with me. We draw the pickup truck’s fire, pin down Lionheart’s infantry, and buy Sonny the window he needs.
“Time is tight. Five minutes max, after that we regroup here and retreat. Got it? Move!”
It was the only rational call. Being pursued by a pickup truck with a .50 cal meant damn near certain death. Even in these conditions and with an untrained gunner, the risk was still far too great. It was better to flip the script. First, neutralize the threat, and while this would take some time, it would facilitate their subsequent retreat.“Long, you’re with me. We’re taking the high ground.”
Sonny pointed to a two-story building on the left and strode over. Long Zhan, gun in hand, followed closely behind.
As the saying went, snipers are always alone. And once again, Ray slipped away towards the southeast, disappearing into the darkness.
Upon receiving their orders, the squad fractured in seconds, splitting three ways.
Three members of the team were given their tasks to split off, which should have left 4 members here, but Jason looked around and only counted three!
Clay was missing.
“Son of a bitch, where’s the new kid? Did anyone see him?”
Jason’s face went pale with anger. If Clay was standing in front of him, there was no doubt that Jason would have punched him.
Trent and Brock both shook their heads. They didn’t know where he’d gone.
During the heavy machine-gun barrage just now, everyone had been scrambling to save themselves. Who could spare any attention to look at other people?
“Stupid bastard!”
Jason kicked the wall in frustration, then quickly called out through the intercom, “Bravo 7, this is Bravo 1. Respond immediately!”
He waited three seconds, but there was no reply.
“Bravo 7, this is Bravo 1. Respond immediately!”
The second call went out, but once again, the team channel remained silent. It was as if Bravo 7 had never existed.
“Fuck!” Jason cursed, his rage boiling over.
“Forget him, you two, with me.”
The priority was to deal with the armed pickup truck. Jason had no choice but to leave Clay aside for now.
He took Trent and Brock to the entrance of the alleyway, setting up to meet the enemy’s advance troops and cover Sonny’s assault on the crucial target.
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