Ten minutes later.
Two superfluous, delete Black Hawk Helicopters arrived above the riverside, two ropes dangled from the cabin, AGLAN team mbers descended one by one from the aircraft to the ground.
"Hunter 1, what's the situation over there?"
"Found two bodies by the river… beyond help now…"
The captain of Hunter 2 team, a Green Beret Third Grade Sergeant from the US Army, squatted in front of the corpse of the previously annihilated AGLAN team's dic, scanning him from top to bottom.
Shot in the head, a fatal wound.
He moved the arm hanging in front of the chest to take a closer look and noticed three bullet holes in the bulletproof vest and one in the arm.
The hole in the arm was a through-and-through wound, the warhead was lodged in the bulletproof vest around the chest area.
The Sergeant reached out to pull the warhead out, inspecting it in his hand, confirming it was a 5.56 caliber bullet.
Then looked at the other corpse.
The tactical vest was removed, the frog suit cut open, there was a treated wound on the abdon, but the fatal injury was also to the head, though it seed to be caused by a handgun.
Clearly, this person had been wounded before, received treatnt, and was then shot to death.
The Sergeant turned his head, looking behind and around him.
He could almost see the gunman shooting from behind a tree not far away, approaching after killing the dic, and finally confirming the dic's death before pulling out a handgun and executing the other helpless AGLAN team mber at close range.
"A tough character..."
The Sergeant, also an experienced soldier seasoned in actual combat, had seen plenty of death and blood, but still couldn't help feeling emotional.
The opponent's decisiveness, their clean and traceless way of doing things, this style...
Undoubtedly trained in rigorous military drills, but regular Special Forces wouldn't usually train such a person.
Morins definitely didn't have this capability, so it must have been the Chinese guy...
What exactly was his background?
The Sergeant fell into thought.
Suddenly, an AGLAN team mber erged from the woods, running to the riverside to report to the Sergeant: "Instructor, four of our guys were found two hundred ters into the jungle, stripped of their gear…"
His emotions seed agitated, and he couldn't continue.
The Sergeant asked, "All dead, right?"
The team mber nodded, "Yeah, all dead."
The Sergeant looked across the river and then pressed the talk button: "Hunter 1, I've found a total of six AGLAN mbers here, none survived. There should still be a sniper in the team, I'm guessing on your side…"
The radio channel was very quiet.
Hunter 1 team didn't imdiately reply.
After waiting for a while, just as the Sergeant thought there might be a problem with the radio, the captain of Hunter 1 team finally spoke.
"That's right… we've found him, a bit of a distance, probably four or five hundred ters from here, hanging in a tree."
The Sergeant asked, "Did they have sniper rifles?"
According to earlier reports, the two targets were likely ard with M4A1 assault rifles, but there was no ntion of sniper rifles in the brief.
If there were, he'd have to be extrely careful.
"No. But I think…"
The captain of Hunter 1 team, also an Arican Special Soldier with a Green Beret.
At this point, his tone beca hesitant.
"I think you should co and see his wound for yourself."
"What about his wound?" the Sergeant asked.
The Lieutenant Captain of Hunter 1 team said, "Seems like he was killed with burst fire."
"Burst fire?!"
The Sergeant was startled, then instinctively stood up.
A sniper rifle rarely employs burst fire to kill.
"Are you sure it was burst fire?!"
"Mm-hmm, otherwise the wound wouldn't look like this, spread is very small, concentrated within a triangular area. Even with a semi-automatic sniper rifle, the entry wounds wouldn't be this concentrated. After all, it's in a tree; if shot, the body would sway and the spread wouldn't be so small… it could only be burst fire…"
"…"
The Sergeant was at a loss for words, turning his head again to look towards the jungle across the river.
If what team 1's captain said was true, then this person was too outrageous, killing a sniper with an M4A1 at a range of nearly five hundred ters?
This was utterly preposterous.
"What now, Lieutenant?" the Sergeant asked the captain of team 1, the Lieutenant.
"Colonel has already moved other squads to cover the northwest direction. They have no chance to enter the Tbilisi Mountain Range; the target must still be there..."
Boom—
An explosion occurred in the woods while the two were talking.
The sound was muffled, but it still made everyone present instinctively crouch down.
"What happened?!"
The Sergeant realized sothing had gone wrong.
"Trap mines!"
After saying this, he led several team mbers into the woods.
At the explosion site, two AGLAN team mbers lay on the ground, one with a blood-covered face, no longer breathing, and the other with an arm blown off, wailing in the grass.
"Haven't I taught you to be careful with trap mines when checking bodies?!"
He could hardly believe these AGLAN mbers could be so foolish as to make such a basic mistake.
But with things as they were, they could only focus on saving lives now.
The dic ca over, looked at the team mber with a blood-soaked face, nurous bullet holes in the neck, a huge gash opened, facial features blasted beyond recognition, breathing already ceased, shook his head in angry grief, and turned to treat the one with the blown-off arm.
"Be careful with the bodies! They've rigged trap mines on them!"
The Sergeant rembered Hunter 1 team, and hurriedly warned them to be cautious.
Things had turned into a complete ss.
Two encircling squads had not only failed to see the enemy, but they also lost two team mbers.
Just here, eight AGLAN Special Forces soldiers were wounded, one of them critically.
Especially since one death and one injury occurred in the squad he led, it truly made the Sergeant feel utterly ashad.
He had even assured the Colonel before that as long as the targets and the search team exchanged fire, he could definitely easily take down Morins and his n.
Starting from dawn today, all AGLAN squads searched the jungle area from different directions according to Colonel Jas' orders, encircling the area. Half an hour ago, they received a call from this AGLAN squad, claiming they had engaged in a firefight here and discovered the targets' whereabouts.
It took 27 minutes to get here from takeoff; not even half an hour had passed, yet a well-trained and well-equipped AGLAN squad couldn't withstand the offensive of two n for half an hour, and they all died?!
He harbored a bellyful of anger as he returned to the riverbank, summoned the communications soldier, and then used the radio to contact the forward commander.
"Colonel, the previously attacked AGLAN squad has been entirely wiped out. Those bastards even set up trap mines on the bodies, now resulting in one dead and one wounded. There are many traps on-site; this person is a jungle warfare expert. I suggest we imdiately send all squads here; they can't have gone far!"
"Both of your squads couldn't deal with it?!"
Colonel Jas' tone beca severe.
In his view, two 7-man AGLAN squads plus one Green Beret couldn't catch two people; it was an utter disgrace.
"Didn't you trace them?!"
"Heavy rain here destroyed many traces; we couldn't track them..."
While the Sergeant was seeking reinforcents from Colonel Jas, Song Heping was indeed nearby, less than a kiloter away from them.
They simply couldn't have gone far, because the helicopters had arrived.
Two helicopters descended close to their firefight location, while the others flew toward the northwest.
Song Heping knew that even if he hurried toward the Tbilisi Mountain Range, he couldn't outrun the helicopters.
The gap was blocked again.
Since they couldn't leave, he simply chose not to go.
Killing the AGLAN squad had yielded a significant gain.
Morins found sothing on one of the soldiers that they had long desired—a cellphone.
This was good news.
But there was also bad news.
There was no signal here...
"How can there be no signal?!"
Morins held two cellphones, aiming them in different directions.
Unfortunately, he still found no signal.
Not a single one.
"Damn it! Just a bit of signal, I could send out a ssage! I guarantee my people would co to reinforce us!"
He was so angry he wanted to smash the cellphones.
"Don't smash it!"
Song Heping stopped Morins.
"Hold onto it for now; you never know when you might get a signal."
After speaking, he snatched the phones, wrapped them in a waterproof bag, and tucked them back into his tactical vest.
"What do we do now?" Morins asked: "Didn't you say that taking out an enemy squad would let us find a gap?"
"Didn't you see the helicopters that just flew over? I guarantee they're all AGLAN guys."
Song Heping sighed: "It seems this ti the governnt forces are determined to wipe us out."
"Are we just going to wait to die?!" Morins was resentful: "They're not far from us now. If they search this way, even if you're good at fighting, you can't handle several squads."
"Damn, you think I don't know that?!"
Morins' nagging finally annoyed Song Heping.
"Do you think I'd be trapped here if not for you, head of the anti-governnt ard forces? If your own n hadn't had a mole, would we be stranded in the jungle?"
Song Heping's tone was very impolite, like an adult scolding a child.
Unexpectedly, Morins did not dare to retort and hung his head in silence.
Of course, he knew the situation had gotten to this point all because of himself. He couldn't bla Song Heping.
Song Heping had simply been dragged into this. If it hadn't been for Song Heping coming over for business, Morins would probably have been a captive by now.
Song Heping was also frustrated.
Initially, he thought that if the Colombian Military started a dragnet search, just taking out one small squad would make a hole in their net, which he could use to slip away.
But the enemies had been prepared and reacted so quickly.
He and Morins hadn't walked far before they saw helicopters coming, directly inserted ahead to plug the gap.
Now, they could either force their way through or retreat.
Song Heping chose to retreat.
Forcing through would only bring more reinforcents, and he alone couldn't handle them.
"Our top priority now is to pass the ssage that we're still alive."
Song Heping crouched in the bushes, furrowed his brow, and thought for a while. Then he took out a map, spread it out, and, based on the previous firefight location and their approximate escape route, determined their current approximate position.
Finally, out of the blue, he asked, "Are you sure your n would do everything to rescue you if they knew you were alive?"
"Of course!"
Morins answered confidently.
Song Heping asked again, "Suppose your people know we're alive and ELN puts all their effort into pressuring the governnt, how long would it take to make the governnt army give in and withdraw their troops from here?"
Morins said, "Just let tell them to give it their all..."
He paused there, calculating in his mind just how much his forces could actually do.
In the end, he had his answer: "Three days! Within three days, I can plunge the entire northeastern part of Colombia into chaos!"
Song Heping laughed: "Don't boast; this is a matter of life and death."
"I'm not boasting!" Morins said: "Do you have any misconceptions about the power of our ELN? Even drug cartels give us a wide berth."
"Good!"
Song Heping put away the map.
"Then I'll trust you one more ti and take a gamble!"
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