"Why are you still here?"
Song Heping suddenly rembered sothing.
"What about the wounded? Why didn't you send them to the hospital in town?"
"This..."
Samir had also just rembered this.
"Isn't it... Boss, didn't you ask to stay here to be your translator?"
"Yes, but you could have arranged for soone else to do it. You do your translating, does that prevent you from sending soone to take the wounded to the hospital?"
"..."
Samir was speechless.
The boss was really hard to serve.
He hurriedly went to arrange for soone to take care of the wounded and the bodies.
At this mont, those who were collecting the bodies of the ard militants around the water station had all returned, bringing back a large number of individual weapons, mostly AK series, nothing surprising.
The sowhat satisfying finds were three run-down trucks and six pickups; confiscating these as company property for transporting supplies was quite good, as it would save a considerable amount of money.
However, no matter what, the collected weapons were also very useful if kept. Storing them in a room to establish an armory and ammunition depot would be beneficial should the water station face a high-intensity attack, having ample weapons and ammunition to hold off the enemy until reinforcents arrived.
Song Heping didn't trust those allied forces.
Although Colonel Curtis had inford him that if there was a problem, he could call the United Security Council for air support and so on.
But having been here for so long, Song Heping had never received support from the allied forces.
Often the battle would be over, and matters would be dealt with, before the US Army arrived late.
Those soldiers, worn down from daily firefights with militants, barely had any energy left to handle the trivial matters of private defense companies.
Better to rely on oneself than on heaven or earth.
That was Song Heping's operational principle.
"Boss, how should we deal with these people?"
White Bear, seeing that the interrogations were complete, took the initiative to ask what to do with the captured ard militants.
Usually, ard personnel caught by private defense companies would be handed over to the temporary governnt, that is, the local police stations.
Currently, Illiguo's various levels of administrative structures were gradually resuming operation, and most places had police stations.
If the captive was a sensitive militant leader, they would be directly handed over to the United Security Council or the US Army for disposal.
Song Heping thought for a mont and said, "Keep one person, tie up the others tightly in a room and have two people watch over them."
"Which one should we keep?"
"Keep the skinny one."
"No problem!"
White Bear was impatient, but his impatience had its advantages; he worked swiftly. He imdiately took people to tie up the captives tightly like rice dumplings and locked them up in the building.
Samir asked Song Heping, "Boss, why keep the skinny guy?"
"Have him be our guide," Song Heping said. "The address he ntioned just now, it looks like it's in the town, isn't it?"
Samir replied, "Yes, it's a nearby town called Gela Town."
"Interesting," Song Heping said. "I initially thought their stronghold would be in the mountains or the desert."
Samira said, "Hiding in a town has its benefits; hide a gun, and you're a civilian, pick up a gun, and you beco a soldier."
"The greatest secrecy is hiding in plain sight," Song Heping muttered to himself, thinking that if this was indeed the case, it posed a significant threat to the future security of the water station.
If they hid in the nearby towns, even if he wanted to find them for revenge or eradication, it wouldn't be easy.
The reason why the US Army hadn't been able to fully control the northern area for several months was precisely this.
Invading a country with a formal military force and wanting to control soone else's land isn't difficult when facing a proper Defense Army; it is all about military strength.
However, dealing with guerrilla forces and resistance organizations is a different matter entirely; the difficulty lies in discerning between civilians and ard militants.
Now, having taken over the security order for the water station, he had to ensure no ard militants dared to attack it.
The best thod, as previously at the Hassan Oil Field, was either to win them over, such as with the Mahdi Army, or to deal directly with those who couldn't be won over, like the Freedom Army.
The sa applied here.
The reason the first two PMC companies couldn't carry on was that they were exposed while the enemy was hidden. Defending the water station might repel one attack, but what about two, three, four attacks?
An endless series of assaults would leave people exhausted and gradually weaken their strength. After all, in military doctrine, this is a question of the initiative.
Who holds the initiative on the battlefield.
If it's always in your opponent's hands, you're bound to lose eventually.
You must seize the opportunity and take the initiative.
That was the combat principle Song Heping had learned in the army.
Therefore, tonight he was planning to seize the opportunity and take the initiative to strike.
Especially since he had heard that the Salafi's stronghold was in Gela Town, he couldn't let it pass without taking action.
If he didn't strike tonight, who knows where the organization's stronghold might move to tomorrow.
The hideouts of ard militants are definitely not fixed.
According to guerilla warfare principles, they must constantly change their locations to prevent the enemy from catching their trail.
Now that the militants attacking the water station had been wiped out, if their headquarters didn't know sothing had gone wrong, it would be a good opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.
"Ask Skinny if they sent out any ssages about their defeat while they were fleeing?"
Samir realized what his boss, Song Heping, was planning to do next when he heard this.
His heart pounded suddenly.
He thought his boss was really bold.
Not to ntion the rcenary companies in the Green Zone, even ICDC or ISF troops would not imdiately decide to annihilate the enemy after being attacked; often, after much consideration and arrangent, they would take action.
But his boss?
Just arrived today, soone waged an attack on him once, and he imdiately wanted to strike at their stronghold...
Indeed, he was irascible.
Samir asked Skinny, "Did anyone send a ssage back to Gela Town after your failure just now?"
Skinny shook his head: "I don't know, but our radio was in the vehicle, and we were captured before we made it back there."
Samir conveyed Skinny's response to Song Heping.
Song Heping went to check the vehicles driven by the militants and found that it was indeed as Skinny said.
Thinking about it, this made sense.
Such ard organizations mostly didn't have very advanced communication equipnt and couldn't establish a complete communication channel with company and platoon-level radios like PMC companies. Only two vehicles out of all had radios, and not everyone had a cell phone; it was possible that the ssage really hadn't been sent back.
After considering all the factors, Song Heping decided to strike while the iron was hot and seize this opportunity for a full counterattack.
"Go ask him if he wants to live," Song Heping said. "If he guides us, we'll head straight to their headquarters in Gela Town now. Afterwards, I'll let him go and even give him 2000 US dollars."
Samir translated this to Skinny.
Skinny hesitated a bit after hearing the first part, but when he heard about the 2000 US dollar reward, a glint sparked in his eyes.
Seeing this, Samir added fuel to the fire, saying, "If you don't agree, you've seen what our boss can do just now. I'm afraid you won't make it out alive."
Skinny shuddered all over after hearing this.
He had indeed witnessed Song Heping directly killing his superior a mont ago.
The thod was quick and decisive, without the slightest hesitation—shooting when it was ti to shoot, killing when it was ti to kill.
Thinking of this, he felt a chill running up from the soles of his feet, desperately clawing its way upward.
"Really, 2000 dollars?"
Skinny asked tremulously.
Once translated by Samir, Song Heping fumbled in his pocket, then counted all his green notes, which amounted to just over a thousand dollars.
He then called over White Bear and Hunter.
Once the others ca over, Song Heping asked if they had any cash in US dollars.
White Bear asked Song Heping, "Boss, how much do you need?"
Song Heping replied, "A thousand dollars will be enough."
White Bear rummaged in the utility pouch of his tactical vest, eventually pulling out a roll of dollars.
"Damn, you carry so much cash on you?"
Song Heping could tell that the roll of green notes was probably worth around 5000 dollars.
While counting the money, White Bear said, "I've made quite a bit of money recently, but there's nowhere to spend it. It's no fun having the money lying in an account without taking so out to carry with . Slling it is good, too..."
Saying that, he handed over a thousand dollars.
Song Heping took it and said, "Rember, I owe you a thousand dollars."
"No worries," White Bear replied. "It's fine even if you don't pay back."
Song Heping chuckled, took the wad of cash, and walked over to Skinny. He pulled out his handgun, then extended both hands in front of Skinny. Turning to Samir, he said, "Tell him to choose which hand."
Samir rapidly translated.
Upon hearing this, Skinny lunged forward, almost bumping his mouth against the roll of cash like a dog scrambling for food.
"I want this, I want this!" he stated, without a hint of hesitation.
Song Heping said, "Samir, get a map and let him mark the locations, including all their lookout points at the headquarters. He guides us there and once we're finished, imdiately set him free."
Having said that, he stuffed the roll of green notes into Skinny's pocket, giving it a solid pat.
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