Hozhiyaka City, a truck stopped in front of a secluded warehouse on the outskirts.
The driver got out of the truck, looked around, then walked to the door and knocked twice.
The warehouse's rolling shutter door slowly rose, and a person walked out, hand on his waist, cautiously standing by the doorway.
Taking advantage of this mont, the driver got back into the truck and slowly drove into the warehouse.
Soon, the watchful person also returned inside, the rolling shutter slowly descended, and all was quiet again.
About three minutes later, a black Toyota drove from the north.
Gabri sat in the passenger seat, his gaze shifting between the PDA and the road ahead.
"The signal source is nearby."
He turned to Arthur, who was driving, and cautioned, "Keep driving normally, do not stop around here."
The driver, Arthur, nodded and replied, "Okay."
He maintained his speed as Gabri looked around through the car window.
Soon, after gauging the approximate location of the signal source, his gaze fell on the wall of an old warehouse.
"It's probably over there."
Arthur turned to look in the direction of the warehouse.
It was a ssy warehouse area that looked like it had once been a factory, with ten buildings and warehouses of one or two floors each.
But it seed to be abandoned now, with grass taller than a person.
"Are you sure it's that building?"
Arthur couldn't see any signs and asked out of curiosity.
"This thing isn't that precise; it's probably that warehouse." Gabri pointed forward and said, "Keep driving."
After speaking, he looked around, his gaze finally landing on a six-story building about three hundred ters away.
It was a comrcial building that seed to still be in use.
"Go check by that building."
As he spoke, he put away the PDA.
Finding a high vantage point for surveillance was what he needed to do now.
This surveillance mission was personally assigned by Principal Song Heping; for Gabri, it was an excellent chance to show his abilities.
Gabri is an orphan, a Brazilian, who grew up in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.
The slums of Rio de Janeiro are famously lawless areas.
Most kids born there end up in gangs, although there are exceptions.
For example, becoming a football star isn't unheard of.
Such self-disciplined kids are quite rare.
And Gabri was one of them.
He had been raised by his mother since his drug-addict father had left early and ended up dead in the streets. Perhaps driven by so unclear resentnt towards his father's death, his mother had always insisted that Gabri study well and keep away from gang mbers.
Gabri had indeed lived up to the expectations, studying hard as a child, dreaming of becoming a policeman one day.
Unfortunately, his mother passed away from overwork when he was twelve, leaving their family without financial support.
Even under such circumstances, Gabri continued to work odd jobs and pursue his studies, and at eighteen, he joined the local police force recruitnt examination. Thanks to his clean background and excellent physical condition, he actually got in.
Then the young Gabri beca a policeman at a police station in Rio de Janeiro.
But his badge had hardly ward up when he was kicked out of the force due to an incident; while on patrol, his ntor, an old policeman whom Gabri regarded as a father, was shot and killed by drug traffickers, and Gabri went berserk.
He returned to the patrol car, grabbed a submachine gun, and alone stord into the slum, killing over a dozen gang mbers who had murdered the old policeman.
Acting impulsively has a price.
While all his colleagues admired his actions and were surprised by his formidable combat skills, his actions were against the law, and the local gangs also wanted to retaliate against him.
While being transported to the detention facility, at the hint of the police chief, a policeman unlocked his handcuffs, then made an excuse to stop partway and purposefully left the car door unlocked.
Gabri escaped just like that.
After leaving Brazil, he smuggled himself into Colombia, then went to Venezuela, and finally was inadvertently noticed by Grey Wolf, who recruited him into the Falcon School's Special Operations Battalion.
Currently, Venezuela's Falcon School has only one Special Operations Battalion, though the aim is to expand it into a regint in the future.
The first battalion established oversees three special combat squads; with Arthur being the captain of the first squad, and Gabri as the platoon leader of Falcon Company, as his tactical acun was the highest among all the squad mbers.
The Special Operations Battalion seems to be stationed within the school but is actually part of the Defense Company's overseas combat departnt, making them official employees of the company.
These personnel have a base salary of 3,000 US dollars per month, but once deployed, depending on the difficulty of the task, they are paid a substantial subsidy.
For instance, this deploynt to xico costs 300 US dollars per day per person, with an additional one-ti reward of 20,000 US dollars per person upon completion of the mission.
Moreover, the company also provides insurance for each person; in case of an accident or disability, there's not only the company's compensation, but also the insurance payout.
Such generous treatnt imdiately gave Gabri a strong sense of belonging.
After fleeing Brazil, Gabri had not had an easy two years, working various jobs, and ca to Venezuela hearing about its good economy and high-wage jobs. He ended up being part of the local construction workers building the Falcon School, and that's how Grey Wolf discovered him and brought him into the special combat battalion.
The reason he wanted to perform well was because Gabri had heard from Grey Wolf that the company intended to expand this special combat force into a regint.
"As the first group to join, if Gabri performs well, it's very likely he'll beco the battalion commander in the future."
"He is a man with goals and ideals, and once he sets his sights on sothing, he will pursue it relentlessly."
"Therefore, this mission in xico will be his stage to showcase himself."
"Whether or not he can beco the battalion commander will depend on his performance in front of boss Song Heping right now."
"His assignnt was to track Lascano."
"After receiving and reviewing the target's information, Gabri knew that this was a tough opponent to handle."
"Tracking a mber of the Special Forces is no simple task; a slight error could lead to a deadly abyss."
"That's why he was so cautious, not daring to stay here for long, fearing there might be hidden sentries around."
"His past experience as a police officer and the various rigorous trainings he underwent at Falcon School enabled Gabri to make a wise decision to stay away and monitor this abandoned factory area through technological ans, determining where Lascano and his people were hiding."
"A living person, no matter how well they hide, has one unchangeable requirent— they need to eat and drink, thus they will have to go out shopping."
"As long as soone cos out, surveillance thods can be employed."
"At the mont, there was a full set of reconnaissance equipnt used by scouts in the car, all provided by the school."
"This included satellite phones, multifunctional optical reconnaissance devices, night vision equipnt, high-end caras, and even a set of acoustic detectors and vibration sensing equipnt capable of long-distance eavesdropping."
"The cost of this set of equipnt alone was several hundred thousand US dollars, not inferior to the Special Forces of developed countries."
"The boss is generous!"
"This was the evaluation of Song Heping by everyone in his team."
"Given that the entire team is mobilized for this operation, it seems to be a significant move."
"An hour later, dressed in an outfit resembling a journalist, with an expensive Nikon cara hanging around his neck, Gabri casually walked into the six-story comrcial residential building."
"After chatting at the reception with a lady and bragging about being an animal photography journalist, he began inquiring whether there were any rooms for rent in the building."
"Of course, there are."
"The sweet-faced xican receptionist was very willing to provide information to the curly-haired, handso young man in front of her."
"These offices are originally divided for rent, and business used to be good because this area is an industrial zone. Unfortunately many factories have moved north in the past two years, and our boss is quite troubled. But if you want to rent, it's certainly no problem!"
"I want a room on the sixth floor facing the east, is there such a room?" Gabri, after ntioning his request, didn't forget to explain: "I saw there seems to be a lake on the east side, I can use my cara by the window in the morning to see if I can capture so crested falcons."
"Well..."
The receptionist frowned slightly, then her eyes lit up after thinking for a mont.
"There is, a studio just recently vacated on the southeast corner on the sixth floor, you can see the lake from there."
In fact, that lake was right behind the target warehouse. Gabri had a specific reason for his request—if he could see the lake, he could see the warehouse area.
"Could you ask your boss if I could take a look at that room?"
"Of course, no problem."
The receptionist hastily picked up the phone to call her boss.
After a short conversation, she put down the phone.
"No problem, our boss said if you want to rent, we can give you a discount, one-month deposit and one-month rent paid in advance, and then rent collected on the 10th of each month, for $600 per month."
"No problem, but can you provide a receipt? I work for a magazine and can get reimbursed."
This amount of money was trivial for Gabri and didn't require prior approval.
The operation was funded, with expenses reimbursed as incurred.
"Of course, no problem!" Seeing how straightforward Gabri was, the receptionist's face blood into a flower-like smile: "Shall I take you up to see the room now?"
"OK!"
Five minutes later, the receptionist unlocked the room with a key.
Gabri went inside and looked around, finding that although there weren't any desks or chairs, an old sofa hadn't been moved out yet.
He just needed to bring two sleeping bags and two folding beds to stay here for a long-term observation.
He walked to the window and looked towards the warehouse.
His view was unobstructed and excellent.
"I'm very satisfied!"
He turned to the receptionist and said, "I can pay the rent now and then move in to work."
"You're very welco!" the receptionist said. "Wait here for a mont, I'll go downstairs and bring up the receipt book to make up the bill!"
After saying that, she walked away with a swaying hip.
After she left, Gabri picked up the phone to call Song Heping.
"Boss, we've found them, already rented a room nearby to start monitoring."
Song Heping's voice ca through the phone.
"Where are they hiding?"
"In Hozhiyaka, an abandoned industrial district."
"Hozhiyaka?" Song Heping chuckled coldly on the phone: "This Lascano really has so guts."
Then he cautioned: "Rember, be extrely careful. These people are all Special Forces mbers, they have received counter-surveillance training and are almost as skilled as you."
"Understood, boss. I'll be careful!"
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