Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 409 - 355: Ruthless Boss

"Lieutenant Colonel, don't worry, your family is very safe now, we just asked them to co over and sit with us," the strange man said in a mocking tone.

"We're hosting your family because we consider ourselves as your friends; we are friends, right?" he added sarcastically.

This rhetorical question made Freddie feel like the sun was scorching his heart.

Denying it would be impossible; his family was in soone else's hands.

Admitting it felt wrong.

"Yes..."

Eventually, Freddie chose to capitulate.

"Since we are friends, helping each other out is only appropriate," the man on the phone said. "I don't have ti to beat around the bush; have your n withdraw from the Ta Region, stop the search, or your family will never co ho again."

Freddie glanced toward the direction of the command tent, his forehead dripping with sweat: "Despicable..."

"Lieutenant Colonel, if I were you, I'd provide an answer right away, or else..."

Before he could finish, screams of terror from Freddie's wife and daughter echoed through the line.

"Bastard! If you dare harm a hair on my family's head, I'll make you pay with your lives!"

Freddie's voice grew loud, attracting the attention of a nearby sentry who peered in their direction.

He quickly lowered his voice: "If you touch my family, I won't let you get away with it!"

The man on the other end of the phone seed unimpressed by Freddie's threats, chuckling coldly, "You don't even know who we are, who are you threatening?"

With that, a gunshot sounded.

Followed by the agonizing scream of Freddie's son and the cries of his wife and daughter.

"Oh God, what have you done!"

Freddie started to fall apart, feeling his brain explode.

The man on the line was the type to act without a mont's hesitation or rcy, showing no fear of Freddie's status as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Special Forces.

Freddie's ntal defenses were crumbling.

Though he was a soldier, the anti-governnt ard forces or drug trafficking groups in Colombia had existed not just from that day, and despite years of efforts, these organizations were still around.

Sacrificing his entire family for this seed hardly worthwhile.

"Don't panic, I just shot your son in the foot, a through-and-through, not fatal. Soone has already bandaged him up, but if you keep being stubborn, we have a hundred ways to tornt your family," the man explained.

This ti Freddie didn't dare haggle; he couldn't risk another shot being fired at his son.

"I can't stop the operation now; the orders co from the Special Operations Command, even if I wanted to call it off, I can't! Besides, the operation is commanded by an Arican!"

"I know, the Green Berets," the man was not surprised in the slightest.

Freddie suddenly understood, they had done their howork on kidnapping his family.

"So you know I can't stop the operation. What use is there kidnapping my family?!" Freddie begged, "Please let them go; I'm just a Lieutenant Colonel, not the top commander. I'm not as important as you think."

"I said we were friends, rember? Friends help each other," the man seed to have anticipated Freddie's plea, showing no surprise.

"So I decided to help you. First, you must delay the pace of the operation, disrupt the search; I believe you can manage that. Second, give so information that will convince your boss to withdraw the troops."

"Information?!" Freddie stamred. "What information?"

"I want you to contact your boss right now, Colonel Camp of the Special Operations Command, tell him your family has been taken hostage, and that soone called to threaten you to stop the operation or they will kill your family."

"What?!"

Freddie was astounded.

He never expected such an bizarre demand from the kidnappers.

Typically, kidnappers would fear others discovering their actions, aiming to settle the transaction quietly without alerting many.

Yet now they wanted him to actively disclose information, truly unheard of.

"You want to inform my superiors that my family has been kidnapped? What are you thinking?!"

"Just do it. Rember, after you call, think of so way to slow down the pace of the jungle search operation. I don't care how, just cause so trouble. Rember, if anything happens to Morins or another individual, or if they die, your family will certainly suffer. I swear on God's na."

With that, the call abruptly ended...

Freddie, holding his phone, stood frozen like a statue, unable to move even a step.

Eventually, he decided to comply.

Looking back, the request from the other side didn't seem too difficult.

Revealing the information about his family being kidnapped was helping him, wasn't it?

If he were not to disclose it, it would have been even more difficult.

He promptly pressed the phone number of his direct superior, Colonel Camp.

Colonel Camp was the highest commander of the Colombian Special Operations Command (CCOPE).

By the end of 2002, the relationship between the Colombian governnt and the United States had improved dramatically, resulting in the signing of several cooperation agreents, including those on military and drug prohibition.

CCOPE was established based on this military cooperation agreent, with a structure and mission similar to the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, only on a smaller scale.

CCOPE, headed by a colonel, was composed of five special operations battalions: AFEAU, AGLAN, BACOA, ACOEA, and BAFEIM.

These five divisions covered the Colombian Special Forces' tasks on land, sea, and air, and were adjusted according to specific missions.

The entire departnt was independent of any military branch, reporting directly to the Colombian Joint Staff, and usually had an Arican officer as an advisor.

Colonel Camp, as the new commander, wanted to show results swiftly as CCOPE had been established for over two years, and substantial funding and Green Berets' training had been provided. That's why he planned this military operation, choosing to target the relatively weakest ELN among the three anti-governnt ard forces to establish his authority.

Because previous conflicts with drug cartels and anti-governnt ard forces had not yielded significant results, Camp believed it was an issue with the intelligence departnt. Therefore, he bypassed the Intelligence Bureau for this operation and directly commanded CCOPE to execute it, from bribing Rash to raiding the camps, unknown to outsiders.

He had planned to capture Morins and severely damage the ELN forces, but an oversight occurred, and an unidentified arms dealer helped Morins escape into the jungles of the Ta Region.

"Colonel, I have an urgent situation to report to you,"

As soon as the call connected, Freddie urgently reported the dilemma he was facing to his superior.

"My family has been kidnapped by the ELN forces..."

Up to this point, he still believed that the kidnappers were the ELN forces, never considering that they were rcenary soldiers from abroad.

"What?!"

Colonel Camp also sounded surprised.

"When did this happen?"

"Just now, the ELN called my cell phone, threatening to stop the operation, or they would kill my family..."

Freddie quickly lanted, hoping for his superior's understanding.

But he was mistaken.

Without thinking, Camp coldly replied, "The operation must not stop! We've already ford a tight encirclent. We've planned this operation for so long, searched for so many days and utilized so much manpower and resources, it absolutely cannot stop."

Freddie's heart sank, feeling a chilling sense grip half his body.

Although he knew military orders were absolute and that the operation had almost no chance of being halted.

He never expected his superior, whom he always considered a brother, to be so indifferent.

Without considering his situation for a mont, he outright refused.

"Colonel... they shot my son in the foot,"

"He's studying at the military academy, right? He's practically a soldier already, not to ntion your descendant—a military descendant. Even if it's an honor, it's still an honor!"

Freddie's plea was once again interrupted.

Camp figuratively threw a large hat labeled "honor" on his head.

This so-called 'hat of honor' was so big, Freddie's vision darkened, and he could barely see his path.

"That's how it is! Rest assured, just as long as you capture Morins quickly, they will want to negotiate. The entire ELN will contact us to negotiate. With Morins in our hands, they won't dare do much"

"But..."

Freddie tried to ntion that the opponent had specified that if Morins or another person were hard, his family would not survive.

But Camp didn't even give him the chance to continue speaking, cutting off the call abruptly as the only sound left was the busy tone.

Tu tu tu—

The desolate and cold busy tone seed to mock Freddie.

He stomped his foot and cursed, "Fuck your whole family!"