"Cook, go and rescue them!"
Song Heping pushed the cook, urging him to hurry to the dungeon.
"Are you really okay?"
"I'm fine!"
Song Heping shook his head, "Hurry and save them, then withdraw! We don't have much ti."
Seeing that Song Heping seed genuinely unhard, the cook turned and ran toward the dungeon.
The people inside the dungeon heard the gunfire and explosions outside and were scared silent.
No one knew what was happening.
However, Ivan had a vague premonition and was thrilled.
Sure enough, he soon saw the cook's familiar face through the wooden bars overhead.
"Yevgeny!"
"Ivan!"
The cook saw him as well.
He checked the dungeon door and found it locked with a chain and padlock.
Then said to Ivan, "Step back, I'm going to shoot!"
Ivan hurried into a corner.
The cook sprayed bullets at the lock, quickly smashing the padlock.
He grabbed the chain, pulled hard, and the lock snapped open with a clang.
"Co out!"
As he spoke, the cook pulled open the wooden bars and reached out his hand to Ivan in the dungeon.
Ivan grabbed his hand and was pulled up.
The two embraced.
Ivan patted the cook's back hard, his eyes reddening, "Yevgeny, I knew you wouldn't leave !"
"Suka! You fool!" the cook scolded, "I told you not to co to Colombia, but you just had to co! Do you know how much trouble you've caused ?! How much trouble you've caused my brothers?!"
After speaking, he pushed Ivan away and said, "Let's go, we can't stay here long! Once the AUC notices and sends reinforcents, we'll all be dead."
"Brother Ivan!"
Suddenly soone in the dungeon shouted, "Take with you! Save !"
Only then did Ivan rember and said to the cook, "There's another person down here, let's take him too..."
"Saving you is trouble enough, now them too!?" the cook snapped impatiently, "You think we're going to a nightclub? The more girls we take, the better!?"
Ivan was scolded into silence.
The person in the dungeon then shouted, "If you save , I can give you money! A lot of money!"
Hearing about money, the cook finally showed interest.
Considering there were two more, if it were an MI-171 helicopter, there would still be room.
"Who is this guy?"
the cook asked Ivan.
Ivan said, "He's Venezuelan, he says his father is a high-ranking military official."
"A high-ranking military official?!" the cook spat on the ground, "You believe him? Why hasn't the military co to rescue him?!"
Before Ivan could reply, the man in the dungeon shouted again, "My na is Seras, my father is Ramas, a Venezuelan Army Major General, he will surely reward you handsoly if you save !"
The cook was unsure.
Currently, all decisions at the company were made by Song Heping, especially since he already owed Song Heping a big favor for this operation.
Taking soone else without permission, he wasn't sure if Song Heping would agree.
"Song!"
He shouted to Song Heping, not far away, "Co here for a mont!"
"What's wrong?"
Hearing the shout, Song Heping thought sothing was wrong and hurried over.
Upon arrival, he greeted Ivan and then asked the cook, "What did you call for?"
"There's another person in the dungeon, claiming to be the son of a Venezuelan Army General, asking us to take him with us," the cook reported truthfully.
Song Heping walked to the side of the dungeon and looked down.
Indeed, he saw a man, disheveled and muddy with a ragged beard looking like a wild man, so disheveled that it was hard to determine his age, roughly in his thirties.
From his appearance, he guessed he had been confined here for a while.
Although curious why they hadn't killed this man after detaining him so long, now was not the ti for inquiries.
"Are you injured?"
Song Heping's first question concerned the man's health.
After all, they needed to travel over twenty kiloters of jungle and mountain terrain to reach the border's boarding point.
If he wasn't strong enough, he might slow down the team.
Seras was clearly a clever man, as soon as he understood Song Heping's intent, he imdiately hopped in place.
"I'm fine! I am very strong, very strong!"
Seras's anxious behavior appeared sowhat comical, and he accidentally slipped, falling to the ground.
The cook burst out laughing.
Song Heping said sternly, "Take him with us."
After speaking, he walked aside to continue sending ssages on his satellite phone.
He was contacting Dominic, who was in Ecuador.
The people had been rescued.
The most crucial part now was to evacuate.
He had already sent a ssage earlier, but Dominic had not yet replied.
This cast a shadow over Song Heping's heart.
He felt all his hairs stand on end.
After all, at a ti like this, if anything went wrong, a whole team could lose their lives here.
"Boss, everything's cleared. Should we pull out?"
Grey Wolf ca over to report, then noticed the dark expression on Song Heping's face, like storm clouds had gathered.
Realizing sothing was amiss, he quickly asked, "Is there a problem?"
Song Heping pondered for a mont but decided not to hide it, "Dominic hasn't replied to my ssage."
Grey Wolf's pupils imdiately shrank, "How could this happen! Damn it, if he stands us up, we might all die here."
"Now is not the ti to talk about this."
Song Heping pointed to a truck parked in the camp and said to Grey Wolf, "Bring it over, we'll drive to the border area, then continue on foot. It will save us so ti."
Song Heping rembered that there was a mountain road near Camp K1, which led to a place called Assis Port down the Putumayo River. As the river flowed west to the sea, this port was used to transport inland goods to the coastal ports.
About ten kiloters along the road was the closest place to the border along the Putumayo River. They could get off there and walk south for ten kiloters to reach the border.
"Okay!"
Grey Wolf had no ti to ask more.
Getting out of here was the most urgent task.
Staying here any longer could result in an attack.
This operation was a significant risk for Song Heping.
Normally, it was necessary to place watchers at key positions nearby to monitor any unusual movents of the Colombian Military and AUC ard forces.
But due to manpower limitations, he was unable to do so.
At this mont, whether the AUC ard forces and the governnt army in the west were aware of the explosion, or had detected the gunfire here, he was oblivious.
It all relied on guesses and gambles.
This was also why Song Heping was apprehensive about executing operations in South Arica.
To act in an unfamiliar place, it was crucial to set up in advance, extensively gather intelligence, plant informants, and only act when fully assured to ensure foolproof success.
But this ti, Ivan had only seven days, not nearly enough ti to prepare beforehand; they had to rush through.
Everyone started to gather. The vehicle ca over, and Song Heping jumped into the passenger seat to lead the way.
Grey Wolf was still driving, the rest of the team and the hostages got into the back.
"Pull up the tarp, cover up, just leave a little space to keep watch outside!"
A truck covered with a tarp could at least reduce the risk of being recognized imdiately.
Now, any detail that could gain an edge or ti was crucial for Song Heping to seize.
The car had just left Camp K1 when Song Heping's satellite phone vibrated.
Thinking it was Dominic, he imdiately pulled out the phone, happy.
Upon seeing the number, he noticed it was Samir's, and his brows instantly furrowed.
He could almost guess what had happened.
"Boss! How are things on your end?"
"Just rescued the hostage," Song Heping asked, "Did the AUC ard forces' middleman ask you to et up and pay?"
"Yes, he suddenly called to arrange a eting and asked to bring the money," said Samir. "But I told him I currently only had three million, and surprisingly he agreed, he seems really eager to et."
"Hmph!" Though Song Heping was prepared, he still choked up slightly and chuckled coldly, "Because they know sothing went wrong at Camp K1, it seems the guards here managed to send out information."
Samir asked, "Did your operation succeed!?"
"Yes," Song Heping sighed, "You must leave the hotel now, head to the airport imdiately, buy a ticket to anywhere, take the fastest flight out of Colombia, rember—leave right away!"
"Got it!"
Samir hesitated, then asked, "How are you guys doing now?"
Obviously, he was very worried about Song Heping and his team.
Song Heping responded, "We're alright for now, we've got the hostage, and we are currently on our way out. I'll give you a call once we reach Ecuador."
"Take care."
With these last words, Samir cut off the communication and began packing his luggage, leaving the hotel as quickly as he could.
Song Heping had instructed him on many details before.
For instance, he was to deliberately call the middleman several tis to update him on fundraising progress, using it as a pretext to probe whether the other party was still interested in the deal.
Any premature requests for a deal or inability to contact them at all would indicate that they knew about the incident at Camp K1.
Being in Colombia, Samir had to escape the country as quickly as possible, or else he'd be the next one kidnapped!
After hanging up, Song Heping felt his face go ice cold.
At this point, having noticed the situation, the AUC ard forces would definitely dispatch a large number of troops to intercept them as quickly as possible.
He imdiately took out a map and started looking it over.
According to the information provided by Chen, there were three AUC ard forces camps near Camp K1, totaling over three hundred n.
This was a terrifying number.
If they were all mobilized, it would be enough to give him a tough ti.
But these three camps were at least twenty kiloters away from Camp K1 by land.
That ant that if everything was coordinated properly on their end, even if the AUC forces drove here, they wouldn't catch up in ti. There was one more camp near the border river with likely access to speedboats, making it much closer by water, just eight kiloters.
All the crucial issues hinged on Dominic.
As long as his helicopter could land on ti at the designated airfield on the Colombian side, then whether by water or land, the AUC forces wouldn't be able to intercept them.
This was why they were reluctant to travel by water, as crossing the river would draw attention from Ecuadorian border patrols and possibly Colombian patrols as well, making it a risky choice.
Crossing the river in broad daylight, if intercepted, they would be sitting ducks.
The helicopter was different; once aboard, a push of the throttle would take them over the river to Ecuadorian territory, and the AUC forces, no matter how frenzied, wouldn't be able to chase them by crossing the river.
With this in mind, he sent another ssage to Dominic and then stared fixedly at the screen.
A minute later, he felt sowhat desperate.
Dominic still hadn't replied...
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