Seven days later, at night.
It was eight o'clock in the evening, and the location was in Myanmar, Shan State highland.
A battered old truck was parked in an open area ten kiloters outside ngdan Town. At that mont, the driver was sitting in the driver's seat with lodious music flowing in the cab.
This area was part of the northern region of the Golden Triangle, only 80 kiloters from China's border.
The driver took his last drag on his cigarette and then stubbed it out in the ashtray.
Beep, beep, beep—
A buzzing noise ca from the Casio watch on his wrist.
The driver straightened up, his lazy expression gone in an instant; he deftly pushed open the door, got out of the truck, looked around to ensure it was safe, and then started walking toward the center of the open area.
Reaching the middle, he took out a GPS from his pocket to double-check the coordinates. He then pulled a small tal cylinder from another pocket, turned it on proficiently, and planted it in the ground, pointing it at the sky.
...
Twenty kiloters away, in the dark night sky, several paragliders were lazily moving toward ngdan Town, about 300 ters above the ground.
Leading them was a paraglider piloted by Song Heping, who took on the guide role in the group, thus being the busiest person constantly checking the GPS on his arm to adjust the direction.
Due to changes in the mission, Song Heping had to increase personnel from Illiguo, calling in Disaster Star and White Bear.
All these n had backgrounds as paratroopers, so they were all proficient in using paragliders.
Actually, using helicopters for this operation would have been more comfortable, but unfortunately, most of the helicopters available for rent in Thailand were small and couldn't accommodate so many people. Moreover, the rental company required that they be piloted by their own people, so Song Heping had to give up on that option.
After much consideration, Song Heping finally decided to use powered paragliders.
He had learned to use these while in the Special Forces and could operate them proficiently.
A powered paraglider, developed from the basic paraglider, had a large fan-like power boost added to the back of the seat. Under favorable air conditions, a powered paraglider could reach a range of over three hundred kiloters.
Half an hour later, Song Heping saw a thin red beam shooting straight into the sky from the night vision device in the distance.
"Landing spot marked, watch the infrared source on the ground. Everyone, keep it in sight and land on ti."
He imdiately sent the reminder through the communication channel.
This operation had the full support of Duke of Thunder; all the equipnt was sponsored by his old instructor.
For soone like Duke of Thunder, arranging a few sets of individual equipnt for Song Heping in a place like Thailand was extrely easy.
Song Heping was a bit excited now.
In the past, missions were all about money.
This ti, it was not just about the money but also a sense of honor.
Song Heping didn't hide the details of the operation from the other mbers either.
He said he had taken on a decent job and asked Disaster Star and White Bear if they were interested in making a trip to Southeast Asia for so extra earnings.
He thought these folks would have less enthusiasm now that they had money.
Unexpectedly, as soon as White Bear and Disaster Star heard about the operation, they were as excited as children at Christmas, saying that things had been too calm in Illiguo recently and they were nearly dying of boredom, yearning for so action.
That's when Song Heping realized.
It wasn't just him who was battle-hungry.
Every tough guy he could rally in his company loved war.
"Received. I see the infrared marker and am following."
Following behind Song Heping was Hunter, who manipulated the control lines of the powered paraglider closely following the lead of Song Heping, with Disaster Star and White Bear behind him, and Grey Wolf at the rear.
Grey Wolf, an old paratrooper, was an expert at operating those things.
He was the most suitable person to take the rear.
The small squad had departed from the Thailand border and flown a full hundred kiloters to reach this area near ngdan Town in the northern section of the Golden Triangle.
Five parachute blossoms, like eagles spreading their wings, silently drifted toward the ground where the infrared indicator was located through the darkness.
Ten minutes later, the blossoms of parachutes successively landed around the infrared indicator.
Song Heping unbuckled his parachute and imdiately set up a periter with his M4A1 assault rifle.
Ten minutes after everyone had touched down.
The driver approached from hiding, and Grey Wolf at the right position of the defensive line instinctively raised his gun barrel.
"Tiān wáng gài dì hǔ!"
He imdiately shouted the code phrase.
"Bǎo tǎ zhèn hé yāo."
Song Heping responded with the countersign and then said in Russian to Grey Wolf, "It's the contact."
The driver ca forward and extended his hand, "Jing Wengui."
Song Heping shook his hand and responded, "Song Heping."
Both n exchanged their information correctly.
Several people swiftly packed up their parachutes and stowed them all in the van, with Song Heping jumping into the passenger seat while the others squeezed into the back.
The Nissan van began to drive away on the bumpy dirt road toward the distance.
In the valley, tranquility was quickly restored as if nothing had ever happened.
"This is the floor plan of the building we're targeting tonight, including the patrol tis and general positions of ard personnel; all the information you need is right here,"
Jing Wengui, clutching the steering wheel, handed a military PAD to Song Heping.
Song Heping took it and pulled up the data.
After scanning through, he said, "Thanks for the effort."
Jing Wengui chuckled, "It's my job."
He paused and then added, "Today is Batchai's fiftieth birthday, he's having a banquet at one of his lover's hos, and all the major drug traffickers are there to celebrate his birthday."
Hearing this, Song Heping laughed and asked, "Does the old guy still got it? At fifty and still so vigorous?"
Jing Wengui replied, "Drug lords like him are never short of lovers."
Song Heping then inquired, "How's the security situation?"
"Ten of them, plus the underlings brought by other drug traffickers coming over, there are around thirty to forty bodyguards in total," said Jing Wengui. "They are easy to deal with, average combat ability. However, the civilian organization has a good relationship with him, and if a fight starts, I estimate the nearest military camp can send troops for rescue within an hour. The civilian organization has many people, which could be troubleso."
Song Heping nodded and replied, "Okay, I got it."
After more than half an hour of bumps, the van slowed down by a stretch of woods and then turned into a hidden spot.
Jing Wengui turned off the engine and pointed through the window to a hillside by the road, saying, "Once we're over this hill, we'll have a view of the town below. Batchai is definitely here tonight."
Song Heping got out, opened the back door of the van, and beckoned to the others hiding inside, "We're here, get out."
Six people swiftly prepared their weapons and gear by the roadside, ready in less than five minutes.
Song Heping gestured toward the distance, signaling everyone to follow him; they quickly vanished behind the hill like ghosts.
The town on Myanmar's side was quite rudintary, to put it bluntly, it was just a larger village.
Over a hundred houses were scattered at the foot of the hill, surrounded on three sides by hillocks, with one side slightly flat.
The hillock was the closest to the town; descending from here, it was less than a hundred ters to the town's outskirts.
Song Heping led his n up the hillock, then hid behind a tree and observed the town for a while before consulting the map Jing Wengui had provided. He then pointed toward a small red building in the center of the town and told Jing Wengui, "Scan that white three-story building with the thermal detector; that's our target for the operation."
Hunter served as the sniper for this small team, and since Jing Wengui was the driver and familiar with the terrain and conditions, Song Heping had him stay back as the observer for the Hunter.
With that, only four were left for the assault task.
Song Heping and Disaster Star were one team, White Bear and Grey Wolf the other.
Jing Wengui swiftly set up the infrared thermal detector.
The infrared detector marked all objects within the building whose temperature differed from the surrounding environnt.
Many red awnings had been set up near the red building, clearly indicating a banquet was being held.
However, by now it was just past nine, almost ten o'clock, most of the guests had already left, and the ground was covered with remnants of firecrackers. A few workers were cleaning up.
After observing for a while, Jing Wengui moved away from the thermal detector and said, "From what I see, there are two exits downstairs, guarded by two people each, one lookout on the rooftop, twelve people on the first floor, five on the second floor, and six on the third floor. According to our informant, after Batchai's annual birthday banquet, they gather for a eting to divide up the opium shares for the coming year. If I'm not wrong, they should all be in one of the rooms right now, having tea and in a eting."
Grey Wolf remarked, "Not many bodyguards, easy to deal with."
Song Heping said, "If it's easy, then let's get on with it. I'll make it clear here, others can die, but if it's possible to capture Da Biao alive, then do it. Master Long must be taken alive; as for how, that depends on your skills, but make it impressive!"
The n softly replied, "Understood!"
"This ti we only have six people. Wen Gui, you and Hunter stay here as the sniping team to provide fire support. Disaster Star, you're with as the first assault team, heading for the front entrance; make good use of your machine gun. Grey Wolf and White Bear, you're an assault and machine gunner team, in charge of taking the back door."
Disaster Star checked his PKM machine gun and assured him, "Don't worry, I'll get in close and suppress them, trust , boss!"
Song Heping then turned to Hunter, "We're short on n tonight, and the sniper's role is crucial; don't let down."
Hunter touched the SVD in his hand and nodded, "Don't worry, my gun can hold off at least two platoons."
"Hey, hey, hey! Look, soone else is coming."
The vigilant Jing Wengui pointed toward the distant highway as three bright headlights appeared on the road outside the town.
The last thing an operation needs is a surprise.
Suddenly having people show up was definitely not good news.
Song Heping quickly grabbed his binoculars and looked toward the direction outside the town.
He saw three Land Rover off-road vehicles entering the town, deftly heading towards the targeted building.
"Looks like more guests have arrived…" he turned to ask Jing Wengui, "Could there be so drug traffickers who are late?"
Jing Wengui frowning, said, "They all should have arrived before the banquet… but being late isn't surprising, after all, accidents are unforeseeable."
"The people inside are moving." At that mont, Hunter suddenly whispered, "People on the second and first floors are moving, seems like they are coming out to welco the guests."
Song Heping said, "Confirm their identities."
"Okay!"
Grey Wolf pulled out a reconnaissance cara from his tactical bag and aid it at the main entrance.
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