The following evening, in the Green Zone of Illiguo, inside the "Musician" Defense's office building.
The cook had just returned from the oil field area and went to look for Song Heping.
He didn't see anyone in Song Heping's room, so he went downstairs to ask soone.
In the first-floor office area, only Ferrari was sitting in front of the computer.
The cook knew that Ferrari was aware of the whole story and its progress, but he hesitated and didn't speak up.
Just then, Grey Wolf and Hunter ca out of the kitchen, each holding a plate of spaghetti and eating as they walked.
"Grey Wolf!"
Seeing Grey Wolf, the cook felt like he had seen a savior, otherwise he really couldn't stand asking Ferrari for information.
"The cook is back?" Grey Wolf greeted, and headed to sit down in the dining room.
The cook approached and asked, "Where's Song He? Wasn't it said that he had co back from Istanbul?"
Grey Wolf looked around: "I don't know… I just ca back from the water station myself; didn't we all go out together today?"
Because yesterday, Song Heping had called to instruct everyone to imdiately prepare everything and to check their work at hand to ensure that going to South Arica for a rescue mission wouldn't delay the company's main business.
So today, they split into groups: the cook and White Bear went to the oil field, while Grey Wolf and others went to the water station.
Hunter said, "He ca back? How co I didn't know?"
Sitting beside the desk, Ferrari finally spoke up, "He ca back at noon; you just weren't here."
The cook quickly gestured to Grey Wolf to ask for more information.
Understanding the signal, Grey Wolf willingly asked Ferrari, "Ferrari, where is Song He?"
Ferrari's eyes remained fixed on the computer screen in front, as he had a lot of work recently. There would be a bidding next month, and paperwork was piling up like a mountain.
"He's in the briefing room!"
He seed sowhat impatient, throwing the sentence at Grey Wolf with displeasure and then began to complain, "FUCK! I need to hire a couple of beauties to help out; one person just can't manage all this!"
Hearing this, the cook got up and headed toward the briefing room, wanting to find Song Heping.
Ferrari reminded him, "Song said, let no one disturb him; he's planning the rescue operation."
The cook stopped in his tracks, standing awkwardly in the middle of the office.
To go or not to go, yet he was anxious about it.
He looked at his watch; it was already eight o'clock.
In the end, he couldn't help but lean in and ask Ferrari, "Ferrari… how long has Song He been in there? Since noon? Doesn't he need to bring him sothing to eat?"
Ferrari was already quite annoyed, overwheld by paperwork, especially since the US Army required so docunts to be prepared to the highest standards of past bids, considering that the contract involved $240 million in docuntation.
"I'm just quoting Song; if you want to knock, go ahead, none of my business!"
This nearly made the cook choke.
The cook knew Song Heping's personality.
When he was concentrating on planning, it was best not to disturb him; otherwise, he would be scolded as well.
After hesitating repeatedly, he still didn't have the courage to knock. He simply took a drink from the fridge and sat back down at the dining table.
He had been sitting for less than ten minutes when the door to the briefing room opened.
Song Heping peeked out from behind the door and yelled, "Everyone to the briefing room, we're having a eting!"
The cook stood up quickly, overjoyed.
Song Heping calling a eting ant there must be a preliminary plan for the rescue.
"Song He, I'll make you so lamb and spaghetti; you haven't eaten, right?!"
The cook began to volunteer eagerly.
After all, this was all his own fault.
This ti, the loss of goods and ransom together totaled seven million.
That wasn't all; they had already spent five hundred thousand buying intelligence, and Song Heping also owed Chris Chen a favor.
The future expenses for the rescue were still unknown.
One could say that due to his lack of consideration at that ti, he had caused losses amounting to tens of millions.
Yet, throughout all this, Song Heping hadn't complained about him even once.
The cook was irritable, but he couldn't be irritable towards Song Heping, respecting him too deeply to speak freely.
"Okay, I'm hungry too. Cook, you've got good skills, bring so food in. I'll eat while we talk," Song Heping said.
Soon, everyone had taken their seats in the briefing room.
"Song, your spaghetti!" the cook exclaid.
The cook's skills were indeed remarkable; the spaghetti was ready in just ten minutes.
Song Heping picked up a bottle of mineral water and spoke while drinking, "You guys go ahead and take a look at the map and the markings on the wall. All this information is gathered from various intelligence sources and mapped out here, including AUC's military deploynt in Amazon Province and Putu Mayo Province, the detention points, and their surrounding military presence, as well as the terrain. I'll eat sothing first, then I'll share my thoughts, and we can see if anyone has any good suggestions. We need to co up with a plan tonight; we don't have much ti."
After that, he turned to Ferrari, "How are the weapons?"
"It's all arranged," Ferrari replied quickly. "I've contacted a weapon dealer in Colombia; his inventory is quite comprehensive, with both Arican and Soviet styles, including bulletproof vests."
"I knew it would be like this," Hunter joked, "why did we have to sell weapons to drug cartels? Wouldn't it have been better to sell directly to weapon dealers so they wouldn't be intercepted?"
Hunter's attempt at humor fell flat, and reading the cook's dark expression confird his unease.
Several people moved to examine the map on the chalkboard at the wall.
Different colored triangular flags marked the positions of militant troops on the map.
The red ones were all AUC camps and ard groups, also noting their numbers.
The yellow flags represented the governnt army, green for the ELN forces, whereas Ivan's detention point was marked with a black flag...
"This is tough!" Grey Wolf was the first to comnt, feeling the gravity of the situation.
He counted the red flags around the black one. There were four red flags near it, and towards the east near the Venezuela side, there were all green flags.
anwhile, the governnt army's deploynt was all in the west, near the Cordillera Mountain Range and the coast.
From this, it was evident that all rebel ard groups were active in the eastern plains of the rainforest, and Colombia's three major anti-governnt forces were all along the borders, just adjacent to different countries.
Another feature of the AUC's territory was that it intermingled with that of the governnt army; in so places, it was hard to distinguish between the two, making it very peculiar.
This carried implications that rumors about an ambiguous relationship between the two sides were not unfounded.
Having finished his spaghetti, Song Heping wiped his mouth with a napkin and joined the others, still holding his bottle of water.
"The location holding Ivan is just one camp code-nad K1, according to the intelligence we have," Song Heping explained. "This camp is one of their important detention points for hostages."
Song Heping pointed at several places with a small wooden stick.
"This type of detention point, AUC has six in total. Typically, after their people abduct soone, they bring them to one of these six points. The K1 camp has the tightest security, and it's manned by AUC's most elite 'Skull Team' because the hostages held at the K1 camp typically have the highest ransom amounts."
Upon hearing Song Heping's explanation, the rest laughed.
Of course, the ransom was high.
5 million US dollars was indeed not a small sum.
"They want cash? Where are we supposed to get so much cash to give them? How do we get it there?" Hunter asked, "5 million in cash would fit into at least two large duffel bags."
"Leave that to Ferrari to arrange; we don't need to worry about it," Song Heping said.
With everyone's eyes on him, Ferrari explained, "It's simple. I pay an underground money changer, then our people directly withdraw the cash from the Colombian gangs. They always have plenty of cash and drugs."
"Money isn't the issue," Song Heping continued, "and besides, we aren't planning to pay. The biggest problems are two, the first being how to get there."
Song Heping pointed to the map where the governnt army's troop distribution was displayed and said, "It's almost certain that unless we parachute into the Amazon Rainforest and travel to the K1 camp from there, we'd have to go by land. But going by land ans we have to pass through the Colombian governnt's territory, where the army's defensive setup is so dense it could easily lead to a fierce battle, not to ntion that even if we bribe the governnt army to let us pass or seek their cooperation through connections, it still might not work because we don't know who in the governnt army can be trusted."
"Parachute?!" Grey Wolf frowned, rubbing his chin and staring intently at the map.
"If we have to parachute, we probably can't take off from Colombia," he suggested, "what if we take off from a neighboring country, fly low across the border, and then parachute near the rainforest, then walk to the camp?"
"Grey Wolf, do you think you are part of the US Special Forces? Got planes to parachute you in? And to fly across borders into the rainforest? And that too with the help of a neighboring country? Ecuador? Or Peru? Where are you going to find a plane?" Hunter raised these questions.
"This won't work, that won't work," Grey Wolf shook his head, "are we supposed to swim there?"
"I think approaching by water isn't a bad idea," White Bear said, "look, there's a tributary of the Putumayo River near the K1 camp. We could get a boat, disguise ourselves as local fishern, land near the K1 camp, and then walk in. Isn't that a good plan?"
"Approaching by water is a good idea," Song Heping spoke again, "I've thought about this before; while it's fine to enter by water, how do we get out? That's our second problem. If we enter by water and there's a firefight at the K1 camp, the AUC will definitely blockade the water route, making our escape problematic."
"Approach by water, retreat by air," the cook suggested, "Nothing's faster than an air evacuation. Using a helicopter, as long as we have one, we can fly low over the Putumayo River, directly enter the border areas of Peru or Ecuador, and as long as soone is there to et us, there shouldn't be a problem!"
"Where are we going to find a helicopter?" Grey Wolf asked. "And we need to ensure the pilot is willing to take the risk with us, which won't be easy to find."
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