Helmand Province, located on the highway west of Rudbar.
Song Heping's Nissan off-road vehicle sped past a mountain road. A lizard, basking in the sun while lying on a rock, was startled awake and scurried into its hole in a fluster.
In the back seat, Song Heping looked at Mist beside him with incredulous eyes, while the latter was sniffing his own right hand.
He pinched his thumb, index, and middle fingers together, constantly rubbing them as if a woman was vigorously rubbing perfu into her skin to make the scent evaporate faster.
What Song Heping found hard to accept was that this was the sa hand Mist had just pulled out from behind his own butt...
"I've turned it on…"
Mist made a motion with his mouth, using dumb speech to convey this shocking news to Song Heping.
Turned it on?
How did he do it?!
A vivid image flashed through Song Heping's mind.
It was an image with a distinctive odor...
However, after ntally simulating it multiple tis, Song Heping still couldn't figure out how Mist had so quickly managed to turn on the switch in that hidden spot with lightning speed, only to calmly extract his hand and enjoy the unique fragrance.
How did he do it?
But thoughts aside, Song Heping believed Mist had done the right thing.
No one had previously considered that Mist could hide the tracking device so well that not even the pat-down from the guards could find it.
After the vehicles split up, the headquarters faced an awkward dilemma— which one to follow?
Although the tracking device's miniature battery lasted only 2-3 hours, turning it on at this point was a necessity.
After all, no one knew where the processing plant was, and if it was in the mountains, the signal from the hidden tracker could easily be interfered with.
Now that it's turned on, the drones would follow.
Plus, three hours.
That should be enough ti to reach the processing plant.
How big is Afghan?
Taking various factors into account, Mist's decision to activate it now was correct.
Song Heping glanced outside the window.
The outside was clear with blue skies and white clouds, a fine weather.
He relaxed.
When the weather is conducive, drones track with precision.
Now the consideration was what to do after eting Adrian.
Now that Mist had turned on the tracking device, it ant that every move they made was under ISA control.
This reassured Song Heping quite a bit internally.
He decided to act as soon as they t in the processing plant.
Shot Adrian dead on the spot.
But the timing had to be perfect; he needed to secure one or two assault rifles.
With the assault rifles, they could use the buildings in the processing plant to hold their ground.
Half an hour.
Just half an hour was needed.
Everything would be sorted out.
If the situation was off and they couldn't hold out that long, then Plan B would be enacted, a swift evacuation.
Just one word—run!
Escape towards Persia.
This was a tri-border area, very close to Persia.
If they drove, they would probably reach the border in less than an hour.
Once there, they could proceed on foot into the Persian Plateau. As long as they headed towards Istand Mountain, they would find the Special Forces deployed by Avanti there.
During his previous days in Persia, Song Heping had prepared a complete support plan, considering the worst-case scenarios. If the US Special Forces were unable to provide tily support or lost track of him, he would choose to retreat to Persia.
Avanti would deploy three support units in Sehidan, Istand Mountain, and Awaz; as long as Song Heping joined with them, he would be safe.
Of course, this evacuation plan would only be adopted in the most extre circumstances.
After all, Song Heping was not keen to invoke his connections in Persia unless necessary, as it could arouse the Aricans' suspicions.
So, he and Avanti agreed that even if he managed to break free with the help of the Persian special forces unit, he would still return to Afghan Territory and contact the US Army himself for extraction.
As for how he would explain surviving when asked, one could fabricate as needed since it couldn't be verified anyway.
"Sothing seems off…"
Mist muttered softly, nudging Song Heping with his elbow unobtrusively.
"Hm?"
Song Heping and Mist exchanged glances, and Mist directed his gaze outside the window, signaling Song Heping to take a look outside.
Song Heping looked.
On the first glance, he couldn't discern anything special.
The landscape was still a stretch of yellow earth with not many high mountains since it was a basin area.
Furthermore, there were few people to be seen along the road, nothing interesting at all.
What was Mist asking him to look at?
As Song Heping wondered internally, he suddenly realized sothing—as he saw the position of the sun.
They were heading north.
Why were they going north?
All along, ISA's judgnt of the Revolutionary Brigade's opium processing plant was that it was in the south, near Rudbar and at the southernmost Rabatijali.
If just now, after eting Hula in Rudbar, he had gone south a few kiloters, changed clothes in the tunnel, and then split up to turn right, heading west.
Heading west would be in the direction of Persia, which made sense.
But heading north...
Wasn't that the direction back to Kandahar?
Song Heping broke out in a cold sweat.
What was this all about?
He carefully observed the situation outside the car once more.
This ti he made a new discovery.
The vehicle wasn't going north; it was heading northwest.
A map erged in Song Heping's mind.
Northwest...
Qatar?!
This car was heading towards Qatar City!
Qatar, a small town located near the southwest border of Afghanistan and adjacent to the Persian Border, lies to the northwest of Rudbar.
So if the car is moving northwest, it's heading towards Qatar.
Qatar is over eighty kiloters away from Rudbar.
That's manageable.
We should arrive fairly soon.
Song Heping gave Mist a look, indicating that he should stay calm and not panic.
So, it's just a trip to Qatar, what's the big deal?
He closed his eyes and rested, calming his nerves.
After all, he might be facing a life-and-death battle soon, and he needed to conserve his strength.
Sitting in the co-driver's seat, Hula saw Song Heping closing his eyes for a quick nap in the rearview mirror and couldn't help but chuckle.
He had initially been worried that this drug trafficker, dealing with the Revolutionary Brigade for the first ti, might have so issues with his identity.
Now he felt reassured.
Who could sleep so soundly at a ti like this if they were an undercover agent?
If an undercover could go to such lengths, it would be utterly absurd.
Song Heping had his eyes closed for about forty minutes, and when he opened them, the view outside the car window was the sa as before.
There were just more green plants than near Rulbard.
After all, Rulbard is situated in a desert area, and heading northwest towards Qatar, with the presence of Helmand Lake and Sabil Lake nearby providing plenty of water resources, the land is more suitable for opium cultivation, hence there's relatively more greenery by the roadside.
A little while later, Song Heping suddenly felt sothing was off.
He glanced at his watch.
Fifty-five minutes had passed!
"Second boss, may I ask where we are now?"
Hula glanced back slightly and replied, "We've just passed Qatar."
This answer struck Song Heping like a bolt from the blue.
Passed Qatar?!
"Where are we going?" he asked, trying to maintain his composure while feigning curiosity, "I thought we were going to be around Rudbar."
"Hahaha!" Hula laughed triumphantly, "This is for safety considerations. It's your first ti coming here, and we don't know each other well, so we deliberately arranged to et you at a place a bit farther from the processing plant."
Song Heping inquired, "Can you tell now where the processing plant is?"
"In Neibastai!"
"Neibastai!?"
Song Heping had never heard of this place.
"What is that place?"
"It's by a lake area near the Persian Border. Don't worry, it's very safe there. Our people are right on the border; if the US Army attacks, we'll imdiately retreat into Persian territory and into the Persian Plateau. It's less than ten kiloters from the border, and the US Army won't dare to follow us across!"
Hula's response left Song Heping utterly shocked, now understanding why this guy dared to disclose the location to him so boldly.
Now that he had the address, it would be great if he could sohow send it back.
Suddenly, Mist inquired, "Can I ask how far we are from Neibastai now?"
Hula replied, "Over three hundred kiloters away. You guys should close your eyes and get so sleep; it's still early!"
Over three hundred kiloters.
Song Heping and Mist were both dumbfounded.
This is insane...
The roads here aren't highways; they're dirt roads, rough and uneven, and in many places very narrow. Occasionally, they had to stop for local shepherds to let their flocks pass, each delay more troubleso than waiting for traffic lights in a big city.
Even if it's just three hundred kiloters, it will probably take four hours!
How long it takes isn't the issue; the problem is Mist...
At this thought, Song Heping couldn't help but cast a aningful glance at Mist's backside.
The only consolation was that the drone was still watching.
As long as they didn't lose the drone's tail, Niki would undoubtedly keep updating the standby location of the quick reaction forces according to their movents.
If they were heading to Neibastai, a town not even heard of before, the quick reaction forces would also be deployed nearby, certainly within a half-hour flight distance.
When in Ro, do as the Romans do.
In these black operations, nothing can be planned or predicted.
You can only take one step at a ti.
With this in mind, Song Heping felt himself relax once more.
If it can't be resolved, then just wait for the final eting to happen.
Before that, a good sleep was in order. Otherwise, he wouldn't even have the strength to kill later.
Song Heping adjusted his mindset, but, as if on cue, sothing unexpected happened again...
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Nissan off-road vehicle entered a small town.
For the past two hours, they hadn't gone through any towns, driving only in the wilderness; but this ti, they entered a town.
This was a bustling town, even more lively than Kandahar.
Since the US Army's invasion, many people had moved to the border to make a living.
A lot of goods were also smuggled through the border.
Thus, the border was more bustling than many of Afghanistan's major inland cities.
Watching the locals almost bumping into each other as they walked past the car window, Song Heping tentatively asked Hula, "Are we stopping for gas?"
In his view, there was no other reason to co to such a place if not for fuel.
To his surprise, Hula's answer made him unsettled once more.
"No, we're changing vehicles, not refueling!"
To explain this action, Hula pointed his finger at the roof of the off-road vehicle and then gestured towards the sky.
"Arican spy satellites and reconnaissance planes are amazing! I heard they can even capture faces, so we need to be a bit more cautious!"
Damn!
Song Heping thought to himself in distress.
He even knew about spy satellites and reconnaissance planes...
One really shouldn't underestimate these ard militants.
They are indeed not foolish.
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