This was Song Heping's first ti wearing an Arabic robe and donning a headscarf.
To enter Gaiala City without drawing attention, he even applied makeup and attached a big beard to his face.
The thing was glued on with adhesive.
Still not feeling assured, he perched a pair of cheap sunglasses on the bridge of his nose.
Given the circumstances, he had to make do.
But a plaster that draws pus is a good plaster and now, unless soone looked closely, Song Heping was just a middle-aged Illiguo uncle.
For this trip to Gaiala City, Song Heping decided to bring only Samir with him.
Although the cooks strongly opposed it, thinking that Song Heping was taking too much of a risk by doing so, Song Heping had made up his mind to take only one person with him.
If you're afraid of danger, then don't engage in reconnaissance.
The two of them didn't take the SUV either.
That vehicle wasn't sothing ordinary people could afford to drive; to be more grounded, they temporarily got an old, battered Nissan pickup from Haymour.
The vehicle was already twenty years old, its body riddled with rust and poorly maintained, a manual transmission that probably had a worn gearbox; shifting gears at slightly the wrong speed would result in a grating screech, as if the gears were about to snap at any second.
The two hid the assault rifles and most of their weapons under the seats of the pickup and carried only pistols, concealed underneath their spacious robes.
From Sherbut to Gaiala was only 80 kiloters, but the atmosphere along the way was palpably tense, with checkpoints set up by Country M's soldiers everywhere.
The fight in Mosul hadn't ended for a day, making the US Army in this northwest area particularly on edge. To prevent supplies from reaching Mosul, they had closed off all roads within a hundred kiloters of Mosul.
Fortunately, "Musician" Defense was a legitimate PMC company, and they had a military contract with the US forces stationed in Country M.
The situation was very delicate.
The reason Song Heping had taken on this contract at all costs lay right here.
Once you receive such a military contract, it's like being included in a whitelist, with a pass issued by the US Army that allows you to move freely in the northwest region.
Sotis this kind of convenience simply can't be bought with money.
So the journey was relatively smooth, and they managed to get through several checkpoints without any issues.
Looking at the soldiers from Country M on the road, Song Heping found the situation sowhat ironic.
The CIA went to great lengths to find the gold, yet they didn't realize that the gold was actually right under their noses.
It was in Gaiala City, inside their encirclent.
Perhaps this was why both Haymour and Avanti were so anxious to act imdiately.
The resistance forces in Mosul probably wouldn't hold out much longer, and the US Army would eventually gain full control of the city.
Once Mosul fell, it would an that the US Army had completed control over most of the territory, and any remaining resistance could only be sporadic attacks. Sooner or later, Gaiala would also be swept clean, and the Suicide Squad hiding there would surely have a hard ti remaining undetected, with the gold bound to be discovered sooner or later.
Ferrari sold himself last night to get a layout diagram.
The factory site covered a large area; after all, land over there was cheap.
A full 50,000 square ters, with a total of twelve buildings inside, including office buildings, workshops, warehouses, and so on.
There were four entrances and exits in total, with the main gate being the most spacious. The back door could only accommodate the passage of a truck, while the small doors on the south and north sides were only for personnel access and difficult for vehicles to pass through.
The entire factory area was encircled by a two-ter-high wall, making it a sealed area. If Haymour's information was correct and the gold was in the basent of the main office building, then the main building would definitely be a focal point of defense.
Song Heping had to ascertain the entire factory area's troop deploynt and personnel distribution.
Including how many patroln at night, what the security asures were, how the firepower was arranged, and the locations of the watchtowers and sentry posts, especially the hidden posts.
In defense of such a facility, positioning watchtowers at high points is almost sothing every commander would do; if Song Heping were a Commander of the Suicide Squad, he would make the sa move.
Sealed areas are the easiest to defend. Although they can't withstand attacks by armored units, they are more than enough to fend off light infantry.
If so strong fire points were placed at the critical parts of the factory area, then storming in would be very difficult.
Now, the problem facing Song Heping was not tactical, but one of manpower.
His two platoons were responsible for the defense of two oilfields and a water supply station, and it was impossible to allocate personnel.
Even if he could allocate personnel, Song Heping would not use these local rcenaries.
Not a whisper of this matter could be leaked.
But without the local rcenaries, the people he could mobilize were down to nine.
Nine people attacking a factory defended by 300.
Even for a tactical expert like Song Heping, this was a headache.
By ten o'clock in the morning, the two finally entered Gaiala City in their pickup.
Before entering the suburbs, Song Heping noticed an advance camp set up by the US Army just outside the city. After a glance, it seed to be a chanized infantry battalion.
Since Gaiala City was to the southeast of Mosul, only sixty kiloters away, and served as a throat to this region, the US Army had deployed troops here to control the traffic supply line into Mosul, preventing other ard organizations from reinforcing the area.
The US Army's base was only 5 kiloters from the city center. Hurriedly, Song Heping took out the map and checked the distance.
He found that the fireproof factory was only 7 kiloters away from this chanized battalion's camp.
Too close.
This ant that any noise from the fireproof factory would be noticed by the US Army here.
Another concern was, how to move the gold out after taking over the fireproof factory?
There were US Army checkpoints everywhere, and the inspection of trucks was very strict. Trucks coming in and out of here were stopped by the soldiers, who would get on board and conduct a thorough search.
The actions of the US Army were understandable, to prevent arms and supplies from flowing into the Mosul area.
"Boss, the checks here are too strict…"
As they passed the last checkpoint and began entering the city, Samir spoke anxiously.
"I see it."
Song Heping rubbed his temples.
He was also very frustrated.
Now, even if they got hold of the gold, they feared they couldn't get out of here.
The pickup entered the city.
Not many pedestrians were on the streets.
But there were so.
Song Heping was constantly paying attention to the conditions outside the vehicle.
He was most pleased to see children by the roadside.
Because if there were children by the road, it ant it was very safe.
As soon as there were no children to be seen by the road, one had to be extrely careful.
It ans that there are likely two possibilities here—either a roadside bomb has been planted, or militants are preparing to strike from a building nearby.
As long as there are children, it ans safety.
Also, one must always be alert to see if anyone starts making a phone call upon spotting one's car.
If that happens, it can only an that one has caught the attention of others.
Fortunately, nothing of the sort occurred.
Both the car and the people were well-disguised.
After zigzagging through the streets of Gaiala City, the pickup truck finally arrived at a five-story building and stopped at the entrance.
Samir got out of the car to knock on the door.
Song Heping tried to minimize the chances of showing himself and stayed in the car waiting.
This building was arranged by Haymour; the owner was his man, and Song Heping could surveil the factory 500 ters away from inside the building for the next couple of days.
Providing the surveillance point was also part of the cooperation offered by Haymour.
In Gaiala, a five-story building is quite a rare sight.
The iron gate downstairs was quickly opened.
An Arabic man in his middle age ca out.
After having a chat with Samir and confirming the password, the man glanced at the beat-up Nissan pickup and pointed towards the direction of the garage, seemingly indicating to drive the car in.
Samir quickly returned to the car and said to Song Heping while driving, "It's them, we've got a match."
The car drove into the garage, and the Arabic man ran to close the iron gate, then entered the garage through a side door.
"You must be Mr. Song?"
The diterranean man could actually speak English.
"My na is Hamid, for the next two days, you can do whatever you wish to do on the top floor of this building. The chieftain has said, if you have any needs, just let know. As long as we can provide assistance, we will definitely help," he said.
Song Heping said, "I need your surveillance records."
Upon hearing Song Heping's request, Hamid was taken aback.
"How did you know we have records?"
Song Heping said, "It's too much of a coincidence that this building is located near the factory, and it's one of the few tall buildings in the city. I believe it's not sheer luck. You're not the owner here; you're renting it, right?"
Hamid's astonishnt was indescribable.
This Mr. Song from China was spot on in his assertion.
The building had been rented at a great expense a month prior.
But after surveilling for a while, they realized it was an impossible task.
With Haymour's capabilities, he could not deal with the Suicide Squad in the factory, let alone ensure the safe transport of the gold.
That's why the old man had thought of bringing in reinforcents and seeking cooperation.
Otherwise, who wouldn't want to monopolize fifty tons of gold if they could swallow it by themselves?
"I'll bring it to you," said Hamid.
He hurriedly turned away and soon ca back with a stack of papers bound together.
"This is the surveillance record of the past half month, including details of their sentry positions and patrol timings, among others," he explained.
"Good, I'll look at it myself."
Song Heping called Samir, and the two of them took all their equipnt from the pickup and went up to the fifth floor.
The room on the fifth floor had simple bedding. Looking out the window, one could make out the fireproof factory.
Song Heping set up the surveillance scope and other equipnt, aid at the factory area for so adjustnts, and then started to look through the surveillance record.
It was clear that Hamid's surveillance record was not professional as it was sowhat ssy.
But it was detailed, which was a good thing.
Song Heping looked at it, then checked the positions of the sentries through the observation scope and started marking on the structural diagram.
Soon, the manual task was completed.
The structural diagram now clearly displayed the positions of the Suicide Squad sentries in the fireproof factory and the locations of buildings used for dining and sleeping.
Song Heping spread out the structural diagram of the factory on the table, his gaze fixed on the map; his mind began to simulate various assault tactics incessantly.
Samir watched from the side, hardly daring to breathe.
He carefully observed Song Heping's every move, believing it to be a great learning opportunity.
He also began to simulate tactics in his mind.
But he gave up in less than ten minutes.
For he could only think of four words—re fantasy!
Half an hour later, Song Heping put down the pencil in his hand.
Only then did Samir dare to speak, "Boss, there are at least two hundred people stationed inside the factory..."
"Hmm, I know," Song Heping's brows were deeply furrowed.
The intelligence had ntioned 300 people, but the actual number might be less due to shift rotations, not all 300 stationed there at all tis.
According to Hamid's statistics and his own observations just now, there were over 200 people stationed, with the remainder probably elsewhere in the city.
It seed a few dozen people less, which should have made the assault easier in theory.
But the problem was that with over 200 people, even his team of nine would find it hard to cope.
"Boss, I think we need to ask for reinforcents? The nine of us, we simply can't handle it," said Samir.
Song Heping did not imdiately respond, still staring at the map. Eventually, he squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth, "No, it has to be the nine of us. Asking for reinforcents won't make it in ti; it's too urgent. A team hastily put together may not coordinate well and can lead to more problems, and no one can guarantee there won't be a leak."
"But how can we make an assault with just the nine of us?" Samir looked at the diagram cramd with sentry positions and patrol routes, feeling as if his head had expanded in size.
It appeared to him to be an impossible mission.
Song Heping picked up the surveillance log again.
"... midnight at 12, change of shift ... morning at 9, breakfast ... sentry adjustnt ti during the day is 2 hours ... midday at 12, alti..."
Song Heping suddenly started flipping back through the log.
After flipping through several pages, he then flipped forward a few pages.
He seed to have discovered sothing.
Samir noticed a flash of discernible brilliance pass through Song Heping's pupils.
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