The AGLAN unit was a renowned Special Forces group within the Colombian military, also known as the Army Special Forces Jungle Warfare Group.
This combat group was composed of 5 companies, each with 50 n, totaling approximately 250 soldiers. Each company had a team of reconnaissance snipers, and the battalion had an independent reconnaissance squad.
They were officers and soldiers who regularly trained with the U.S. 7th Special Forces Group and received professional guidance from the U.S. Special Forces. Each AGLAN soldier, upon graduation from the assault school, had to carry a python on their shoulders, letting the snake coil around them to demonstrate their courage.
"It looks like they've really invested this ti to kill you."
Song Heping said, while looking up at the sky.
The dense canopy was like a huge umbrella, completely blocking out the sky and making it invisible, but both n could hear the sound of helicopter rotors, guessing that the craft was hovering nearby, attempting to locate them.
Morins suddenly sighed, looking sowhat sorrowful, "I didn't expect Rash to betray …"
Song Heping shifted his gaze from the canopy back to Morins, noticing his heartache.
After all, being besieged was not just about losing a whole reinforced company; more painfully, it was the taste of betrayal by a trusted comrade, especially for soone like Morins who felt he had a charismatic personality.
"Is he your relative?"
Morins shook his head, "No, he is a confidant I've nurtured over the years."
Song Heping smiled, "Relatives can betray you, let alone a confidant."
Morins pondered for a mont, then shook his head and chuckled bitterly, "You're right, no one is reliable; they don't betray you only because the price isn't right yet."
After a pause, he added apologetically, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Song, I had misunderstood you before."
Song Heping looked around again and waved his hand, "Apologies and the like can wait; for now, let's see if we can get out of here alive first. You're familiar with this area, which way should we go? Also, do you have any communication tools and a map?"
Speaking of communication tools, Morins exclaid, "Oh no!"
Seeing his expression, Song Heping guessed he didn't have such a thing, and asked if he didn't even carry sothing like a satellite phone.
Morins blushed, awkwardly saying, "I left it in my room; rushed out in a hurry and forgot it… Recently, the Aricans have assisted the Colombian Special Forces in raiding many of our camps, reportedly by detecting communication signals in the mountain regions to pinpoint our locations. For safety, I haven't been using the phone unless necessary, and I don't dare to use it for too long, so I forgot…"
A satellite phone was nearly an essential communication tool; for a group like ELN, which also had radio stations, Song Heping never imagined Morins could forget sothing so crucial.
This indicated that there were indeed significant gaps in the training of Morins' ELN forces.
"You are really sothing!"
Song Heping chuckled bitterly.
Morins suddenly rembered sothing and asked Song Heping, "Mr. Song, didn't you bring a satellite phone?"
Song Heping countered, "Wasn't it you who insisted I shouldn't bring that thing?"
"Oh!" Morins slapped his forehead, "Now I rember, I did say that…"
Song Heping really wanted to kick him.
If they had communication tools, they could at least contact other ELN ard mbers to co for support. Now, the two of them were completely missing, lost to everyone.
The camp must have been wiped out.
Everyone would think he and this guy died in the Special Forces' raid, and if the ELN ard forces thought they were dead, they might appoint a temporary commander to lead the whole organization, and no one would think to search for Morins and him in this mountain area.
Song Heping wondered about the current situation of Dominic and Collins Wang in Venezuela, wondering if they too thought he had died.
"Do you have a map?" Song Heping asked.
"Yes!" Morins' eyes lit up at the ntion of a map, "I have that!"
He quickly reached into his pocket, fumbling around for a while, and finally pulled out a map, handing it to Song Heping like a treasured gift, "I always keep a map in my pocket."
Accepting the map, Song Heping nodded in approval, "That's a good habit… By the way, did you bring a GPS or compass?"
Morins shook his head again, "No…"
Song Heping felt like cursing.
What kind of operation was this, keeping a map but forgetting to pack a compass in there? Not carrying a GPS could be understood, but a compass doesn't take up much space, and he didn't even have one prepared?
He couldn't understand the South Arican way of doing things.
But now, having gotten involved himself, he could only be a grasshopper on the sa rope as well.
Things hadn't been entirely devoid of pleasing aspects; the only consolation was that Song Heping had at least secured Morins. If he could make it out alive from this ordeal, Song Heping was certain that the other party would not refuse to beco his client and order military supplies from him long term.
The most important thing now was to ensure that both of them made it out alive.
The Colombian Military had deployed their best jungle warfare unit, the AGLAN Special Forces, and looking at the situation when their camp had been attacked by mortars, other Army units were also involved, coordinating with helicopters. It was practically a concerted operation by elite forces.
After all, being able to bribe Morins's close confidant, Rash, presented the best opportunity to get rid of leader Morins, and they certainly wouldn't let this chance slip by.
The only variable was himself.
If Song Heping hadn't coincidentally been in the camp, the Colombian Military might have already succeeded by now, maybe even taking photos of Morins's corpse.
No communication tools, no GPS, and not even a compass.
This was a classic outdoor survival and escape operation.
First, it was crucial to determine his exact location.
Song Heping took a map and went to the slope of a hill. From there, he could see the opposite mountain, and he morized the surrounding terrain firmly. Then, he slowly walked through the forest, his gaze sweeping over the trees and bushes.
Morins followed behind him, montarily unclear about what this Chinese man was trying to do.
He was also an old hand at jungle warfare.
But this escape was too ssy, causing him to lose his sense of direction.
The vast Colombian jungle was expansively wide and unrelentingly primal, obscuring the sun like a cloud cover, making one feel as insignificant and powerless as a grain of sand in the ocean.
Finally, Song Heping stopped.
In front of him was a tree stump, maybe naturally split by lightning, or perhaps chopped down by soone many years ago; it was already beyond investigation.
The surface of the stump had rotted out a small pool which contained so clear water.
Morins initially thought that Song Heping intended to determine the direction by looking at the density of the tree rings on the cross-section of the wood, but this stump didn't show any rings and had moss growing over it with water accumulated on top.
As Morins was wondering, he saw Song Heping pick a leaf and gently place it in that small water-filled depression.
The leaf floated lightly, swaying in the water pool like a lone boat.
"Mr. Song, what are you doing?" Morins asked curiously.
Song Heping looked at the distant sky, which was still dark due to the rainy weather, making it impossible to see the sun.
"I am finding our direction…"
After speaking, he spread out the map on the ground.
"We need to find our current location."
Morins pointed at a spot on the map, "Our camp was here. We escaped from the north side, ran about a kiloter or so. We are probably around…"
His finger slowly moved across the map, and after about thirty seconds, he gave up.
"I don't know where we are anymore…"
During the previous escape through the jungle, he hadn't paid any attention to direction but only thought about getting as far away from the camp as possible. With all the twists and turns, he had lost the accurate direction and had no idea where they were now.
"I think we might be around here…"
He drew a rough circle on the map about a kiloter away from the camp, sowhat uncertain.
Song Heping glared at Morins, "You co from a background of fighting in the jungle, yet with this kind of location accuracy, figuring out an escape route might just run us straight into an enemy encirclent."
"If the AGLAN Special Forces are adept in jungle warfare, they must have dispatched a parachute squad to intercept us in the direction they suspected we'd flee to after discovering we had escaped the camp. If I were their Commander, I wouldn't give us a sliver of chance to break through their encirclent. Now the camp is to the south, definitely with a heavy deploynt of the Army. Heading south looks too difficult…"
He furrowed his brows, silent in thought for several seconds, then turned to ask Morins, "Where is the closest ELN camp from here?"
Morins pointed to a location on the map, "To the north, into the eastern side of the Andes Mountains, about 70 kiloters from here. We have a camp there along with a company of troops. Actually, once we make it into the Andes Mountains, the military usually doesn't dare to pursue. That's our territory, and the mountain people all support us."
"70 kiloters…"
Song Heping muttered to himself, "That distance is deadly…"
After he spoke, his gaze returned to the leaf.
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