Kandahar, inside the ISA camp.
Niki stared intently at the surveillance footage transmitted back by the MQ-1 Predator drone on the large screen.
From the footage, Song Heping and Mist had already arrived at a flat valley just outside Rudbar Town.
The vehicles sent to et them by the Revolutionary Brigade also appeared on the screen.
"Major, look, they've arrived!"
Thom pointed at the top right corner of the screen.
Niki said, "I see those cars."
She paused, then added, "Any news from Adrian's side?"
Thom shook his head, "No, intelligence last night showed he left a hotel in the southeastern Turkistan town of Tadabali with two bodyguards, crossed the border into Afghan, then disappeared into the mountains. It's estimated he's continuing southeast toward the Golden Crescent. According to this intelligence, he's likely to appear in the Revolutionary Brigade's opium factory today."
"Hmm..."
Niki started to worry.
She kept her gaze fixed on the Nissan SUVs on the screen.
If Adrian were to co out of one of those cars, they may really need to order the drone to strike imdiately, assist Song Heping and Mist in evacuating, and dispatch a quick reaction team to et them to ensure they return alive.
At least taking out Adrian would an completing half of the mission.
Azhar and Hula of the Revolutionary Brigade were secondary targets.
The Nissan convoy stopped about six ters in front of the Lexus SUV, and the doors opened one after another.
"Zoom in the cara!"
Niki yelled anxiously.
"I want to see who's getting out!"
Quickly, the cara on the screen began to zoom in and magnify.
"Is the KH-11 satellite overhead?"
Niki asked without turning back, her gaze still on the footage on the screen.
The KH-11 is a low-orbital military spy satellite.
However, the downside of a low-orbit satellite is that although it can see very clearly, even identify faces,
The window of opportunity is limited.
Once that window has passed, they can only wait for the next satellite.
"It's still there."
Thom entered commands into the computer with practiced ease.
Their operation team had been granted high-level authorization by the Pentagon to call upon reconnaissance satellites to assist in their mission.
"Capture their faces, record everything, cross-reference the database to see exactly who they are!"
"Yes, Major!"
People in the office area beca busy,
Coordinating, analyzing, monitoring tracking signals, and more.
Each person had their own duties.
Soon, the individuals departing the vehicles were locked on.
The software swiftly locked onto faces, captured screenshots, and proceded with database matching.
Niki saw that upon disembarking, there was no exchange of gunfire between the two sides,
She breathed a sigh of relief.
This at least ant that Adrian was not among these people.
In retrospect, she too had been overly anxious.
After all, Adrian had just crossed the border into Afghan last night, and as a guest, he logically should have been arranged by Azhar to rest near the factory, waiting for Song Heping and the others to arrive, and certainly would not be part of the convoy making a trip to et Song Heping at Rudbar.
That wouldn't make sense.
"It's Hula!"
Thom suddenly exclaid.
"One of the people who got out of the car is Hula!"
"Hula?"
Niki turned back to look at Thom, her eyebrows lifting.
"The Revolutionary Brigade's second in command?"
"Exactly, Major," Thom affird, "It's him, the database match is conclusive."
Niki turned back to the screen and took another long breath.
"Thank goodness... it seems we're off to a good start today. Next..."
She murmured to herself: "It's all up to your luck now."
Afghan, outskirts of Rudbar.
As Niki breathed a sigh of relief, Song Heping's heart also settled.
The man in front of him was not Adrian, but Hula.
Rabbani, beside him, whispered, "Our second boss, have you t him before?"
Song Heping shook his head: "I've never t him."
As they spoke, Hula arrived in front of the two n.
"Boss Han, hello," he greeted proactively in the local Dari language.
Although Song Heping did not understand, he could roughly infer from Hula's body language, and so he quickly reciprocated the greeting with a nod, "Hello."
He turned to Balal.
Balal translated, "The second boss says hello to you."
Song Heping replied with a forced smile, "Please say hello to him for too."
Then, Hula across from him made a gesture of invitation and rattled off a series of words.
Balal translated for him, "He says you should get in his car, and then follow them."
Song Heping was quite surprised to hear this, "Just like that, follow them? No need to...?"
He ant to ask "No need for a body search?" but then thought better of it—since they hadn't ntioned it, he decided not to bring it up either.
If they were clueless, he'd play along.
"OK! OK!"
He nodded repeatedly, making the 'no problem' gesture, then promptly got into his Lexus SUV.
Mist, too, quickly got into the vehicle, taking the driver's seat. Barely containing his excitent, he whispered to Song Heping, "They actually don't do body searches... fantastic!"
After Rabbani also got into the car and shut the door behind him, the front Nissan convoy turned around, and they followed.
The convoy slowly drove up the hillside road, turned over the hill onto the main road, and then started to accelerate, heading south.
At that mont, Song Heping still couldn't quite believe this was real.
Is that it?
None of the anticipated events had occurred.
No searching, no turning over electronic devices, no surrendering of firearms and ammunition...
None of it!
"Fantastic! Hahaha!"
Mist slapped the steering wheel, beaming with joy.
If things continued to go this smoothly, what followed would be even more fantastic—once they arrived at the processing plant, confird that Adrian was inside, they would start the killing spree, hold their ground using the plant for cover, with the drone above providing support; they could hold out for at least half an hour.
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