Colonel Jas actually had ample reason to be arrogant.
They were none other than the famous "Green Berets," mbers of the Army Special Forces.
The ODA team he led consisted of 12 servicen, including seasoned non-commissioned officers skilled in everything from combat to communications and dical care.
Since the purpose of their visit to Colombia was to engage in joint and training missions, most of the team were experts in jungle warfare and guerrilla tactics. Originally, they were instructors tasked with training Colombian Special Forces to undertake missions against the anti-governnt ard forces. Thus, in Jas's view, with the extensive cooperation of the Colombian military personnel, capturing rely two fugitives ought to be a piece of cake, right?
Just as Colonel Jas enters the Colombian Governnt Army Command Center, sowhere in the jungle, Morris suddenly hears a noise at the entrance of the cave. He nervously picks up the assault rifle lying on the ground, aiming it at the direction of the entrance.
"Relax."
Upon hearing Song Heping's voice, Morris finally breathes a sigh of relief and puts down his gun.
Coming to Morris's side, Song Heping sits down on the ground and then throws a canteen to Morris.
"Got the water."
As he spoke, he took out his own water bottle, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.
Then asked, "Did you find any fruit, as I asked?"
"Found a bunch."
As Morris spoke, he rummaged through a corner, pulled out two fruits, and handed them to Song Heping.
Song Heping examined them in his hand; the fist-sized fruits had hard, green skins with slight brown spots.
Unfamiliar with the item, he curiously asked, "Are they edible?"
"Yes, these are called avichures. They are edible wild fruits, and they taste pretty good," Morris replied.
After speaking, Morris picked up a fruit, rubbed it on his clothing, bit into the skin, and started eating the flesh eagerly.
Song Heping, following Morris's lead, began eating the fruit as well.
"Tastes good…" Song Heping comnted after trying the flesh, "A bit sour, but it has a hint of passion fruit flavor."
"As kids, to fill our bellies, we often had to go into the jungle to pick wild fruits as supplents, there's no shortage of edible fruits in the jungle," said Morris.
He was familiar with this part of the jungle.
He was the son of a local farr.
The jungle was not unfamiliar to him.
While speaking, he rembered the urgent matter and asked, "We have been trapped here for two days now, when can we leave?"
Song Heping, still preoccupied with the avichure fruits, casually replied, "Just think of it as a camping trip; we won't be leaving anyti soon."
Morris was stunned.
Referring to a life-and-death escape as camping?
The man in front of him had quite the nerve.
Seeing that Morris stayed silent, Song Heping glanced at him and said, "What? Do you feel hopeless?"
Morris looked down, took a bite of the fruit, and shook his head.
Song Heping said, "Haven't we scouted during these past two days? Everywhere is sealed off; we can't get out now."
Morris still didn't respond.
Song Heping, unmindful of what he might be thinking, finished his fruit and went to the cave entrance, pulled apart a pile of leaves on the ground, revealing the still-warm soil beneath.
It was where he had lit a fire earlier. After extinguishing it, the soil had also been heated.
Removing the leaves, he began digging the soil with two sticks.
Below was their dinner for the night.
Morris watched Song Heping with interest.
He almost certainly concluded that Song Heping must have served in so kind of Special Forces.
One, for his composure; and two, when he had lit a fire outside the cave, there wasn't any smoke.
He saw clearly, it was a peculiar kind of stove.
It seed to absorb any smoke from the fire, preventing it from escaping into the air.
This must definitely be the Special Forces survival skills; Morins was no fool.
What concerned him the most now was how they had ended up in this situation.
For the past two days, he and Song Heping had been attempting to break through from the northwest direction towards the camp in the Tbilisi Mountain Range.
But no matter how they detoured, they always discovered that there was a mber of the Army Special Forces ambushing at critical positions.
They had nearly blocked off every possible passage here.
With the reconnaissance helicopters flying over intermittently, the two had no chance to escape the encirclent.
After finding this large tree hollow, Song Heping hadn't moved from there, seemingly planning to hold out here for the long run.
Song Heping pulled out a porcupine he had buried inside, an animal he had caught near the entrance of the hole this morning. After using a knife to remove the skin, quills, and guts, and severing the head, he kept only the body. He wrapped it in a few large leaves, threw it into the fire, and covered it with soil. It was stead for the entire afternoon.
By now, it should be cooked.
He tore open the charred leaves, and the now dry roasted porcupine rolled out.
Song Heping cut it in half with a knife, handing half to Morins, "Eat up, we need to be full to keep resisting them."
"Resisting?"
As Morins held the still warm porcupine, he seed to understand Song Heping's intent.
"You plan to keep resisting them here?"
Song Heping retorted, "Otherwise? What do you suggest?"
As he spoke, he began tearing the at off the porcupine and stuffing it into his mouth.
"I..."
Morins was at a loss for words.
Indeed, he didn't have any ideas either.
Although he had always led the Ard Organization ELN, in this situation, there really was no better thod.
The helicopters flew above, and even if you had the courage to break through a defended passageway, the sound of a gunshot would likely bring the helicopter within half an hour, making it impossible to escape their pursuit.
Even with his rich combat experience in the jungle, he couldn't think of any good solutions when faced with this desperate situation.
Seeing his constipated look, Song Heping couldn't help but say, "Don't panic, haven't you realized it yet?"
"Realized what?" Morins tore the good pork at sullenly, asking, "Are you talking about the governnt army?"
"Yes," Song Heping said. "It's been two days. Haven't you noticed one thing—they haven't dispatched any search teams? We didn't see a single searcher. In these two days, they've just been patrolling and watching fixed locations; it seems they really aren't interested in searching for us."
Morins said, "So what? Just because of that, you plan to resist here for months? Until they withdraw?"
Song Heping said, "If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move. The advantage of ti is actually on our side; don't you see that?"
Morins shook his head, "I don't understand."
Song Heping said, "What's our biggest disadvantage? It's not that there are only two of us, but that no one knows we are here. Do you think the governnt military hopes to drag this out? I think they don't want to drag it for too long. The longer we are dragged on, the news that we are still alive might leak. Based on what you know of your subordinates, do you think they will try to rescue us?"
"Of course!"
Morins was very certain.
"The top of ELN is very loyal to ; they will definitely organize all their forces to attack other places, they might even kidnap so officials to trade with the governnt army, or pressure them to give up their encirclent of us."
"Aren't you afraid they'll seize power? And ignore you?" Song Heping asked.
Morins laughed, "No, our Ard Organization is structured differently. The leader is more like a symbolic figure. Actually, the leaders of the local Resistance Organizations hold substantial power. They have a high degree of freedom; as long as they don't violate our organization's policies and rules, I don't interfere in whatever they do. What use is seizing power for them? For money?"
"Why not?" Song Heping said. "Didn't Rash sell you out for money?"
Morris said, "It's not the sa. We are a leftist organization, an Ard Organization fighting for the rights of peasants. Although we also kidnap wealthy individuals for funds and extort oil companies, if the money is used for our own enjoynt, we lose our stance and purpose. Then, surely the peasants will no longer shelter us, and the entire Ard Organization would collapse. Do you think ELN could survive till today without the help of our peasant brothers here?"
He paused and then added, "Moreover, those who want to get rich wouldn't choose to join our Ard Organization. It's better to go to AUC, they specifically serve the landlord class, and they have many connections with the governnt army and the governnt."
"That's good to hear," Song Heping said. "So, the Army Special Forces besieging us surely can't hold out much longer. They will definitely start sending squads to search for us, squeezing from outside inwards. Once they make a move, the encirclent will definitely reveal flaws, and that's our chance to break out."
Morins asked, "Which route do you plan to take?"
Song Heping said, "Talking about this now is unnecessary, I also don't know which way we should go. Tactics are never static. Let's go to the edge of the encirclent tomorrow morning and see if they have made a move."
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