"I have relatives there, it's the safest place for them to go."
Khalid's gaze dimd, as if he had little confidence in himself or the fate of this country.
"Perfect, we're also heading to Persia." Song Heping agreed readily, "If your wife and daughter are willing to co along, I'd be happy to protect them on the journey and make sure they reach their destination."
He didn't reveal his relationship with Avanti.
Although Khalid was clearly not an enemy.
But Avanti's identity was too sensitive.
Song Heping was unwilling to be involved in anything that might reveal his whereabouts.
"You're going to Persia too?"
Khalid seed very surprised.
Song Heping nodded, "Yes, I'm going there for a business deal, I'm an arms dealer."
Khalid imdiately sensed that the person in front of him must have significant background.
Anyone who can do arms deals with Persians surely dares to go against the CIA, and has a complex background.
Considering what Song Heping said earlier about being wanted, Khalid actually felt relieved.
He was well aware of what was about to happen in this country and had been struggling with finding a way to get his wife and daughter out.
eting Song Heping now, he felt it was heaven's arrangent.
"Allah be praised!"
He couldn't help but rejoice.
From upstairs, Nina's cries echoed again.
Khalid said to Song Heping, "We'll do as we agreed, I'll be your guide, ensuring you reach your contacts safely, but you must also keep your promise to safely take my wife and daughter to Persia."
"No problem," Song Heping said, "Us China People stick to our word."
Returning to his room, Song Heping closed the door and imdiately caught the scent of vodka and gun oil emanating from the Russians, noticing Antonov standing with a gun behind the door.
"You disappeared for twenty-seven minutes."
Antonov and Nura were unexpectedly awake.
Both had guns in hand.
Seeing Song Heping return, Antonov breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I woke up midway and didn't see you, heard you in the study chatting with him, so I woke Nura up, fearing sothing might happen to you and we'd need to rescue you imdiately."
Song Heping laughed, "Rescue ? Do you think Khalid could take down?"
Nura quickly asked, "What did he say to you?"
Her voice was as cold as her blade, "That professor is suspicious."
"He discovered our true identity, but seed amicable and even proposed a deal," Song Heping said, "He'll guide us, exchanging a safe route for us to escort his wife and daughter to Persia."
"Persia? Nura squinted, "Such coincidence? Could he be connected to the Revolutionary Guard?"
She astutely grasped the key point.
In the tumult of Yen, ordinary people would typically seek refuge in neighboring Oman or Saudi, only those with special ties to Tehran would choose the distant route to Persia.
Antonov suddenly grinned, revealing his gold-plated canine teeth, "I bet this bastard is a fringe mber of the Revolutionary Guard's 'Holy City Brigade'. If that's the case, is he a Persian Agent?"
"Impossible!" Nura countered, "If he were a Persian Agent, why would Avanti arrange soone else from Persia to contact us, instead of him directly?"
Song Heping walked to the window, lifting a corner of the curtain.
Under the moonlight, Aden Port resembled a sleeping giant, the distant glimrs of headlights resembling a predator's eyes.
"No need to speculate on his identity, personally, he seems more like soone from the local Resistance Organization in Yen."
"Did you notice the little girl?" Nura suddenly remarked.
"Notice what?"
Song Heping and Antonov turned to ask simultaneously.
Seeing both turn, Nura continued, "Nina has injection marks on her wrist, the needle marks are fresh. I asked Lita, she said the child has a congenital condition."
"Oh!"
Song Heping suddenly understood why Khalid wanted to make a deal with him to escort Lita and Nina to Persia.
In the current situation in Yen, Nina couldn't receive proper treatnt at all.
"That explains it, we shouldn't think too much, knowing he bears no ill will is enough. In three days, when we leave, we'll take the mother and daughter with us."
On the third night.
CIA safe house, Yadim Suburb
The blue light flickered inside the safe house, a wall of twelve monitors refreshed satellite images at three-second intervals.
Jasper's fingers drumd an uneasy rhythm on the tactical table, the coffee in his cup long gone cold, beads of water on the cup's walls resembled the cold sweat of Yen's oppressive nights.
"Pull up the infrared data for Sector Four."
The technical director's voice was hoarse, having worked in front of the screen for thirty-six consecutive hours, his eyes bloodshot.
"Using the system, we marked all moving heat sources within a ten-kiloter radius of Warehouse 3 six hours after the firefight."
The sound of keyboard tapping filled the room as the system began to work.
The varying shades of red on the screen were filtered out one by one by the system...
Buildings...
Animals...
The crowd resisting on the streets...
Military police...
The light spots on the screen were eliminated one by one.
Less and less remained...
Jasper suddenly held the technician's shoulder: "Stop! Magnify this signal."
The image pixels continued to reorganize during the magnification process.
Three blurry light spots stood in front of a building, located at a more remote suburban area seven kiloters away from Dock 3.
"Zoom in! Zoom in! There are three of them!"
The technician operated the mouse.
The thermal source points gradually enlarged.
Jasper's breathing beca heavy.
The thermal source points were gradually filtered of noise and beca clearer.
Soon, three human silhouettes appeared on the screen.
The person standing in the middle made Jasper's heart suddenly race.
He recognized this person, that damned Chinese man!
"Magnify! Conduct target confirmation." Jasper's voice was slightly trembling.
The silhouettes were magnified several tis.
But as the magnification increased, the pixel quality began to decrease.
"Conduct technical processing, I want a clear picture!"
The technician, now sweating profusely, skillfully operated the computer, continuously acquiring clearer images.
Finally, a slightly clearer facial pattern of a human being appeared on the screen.
Though still sowhat blurry, Jasper thought it resembled Song Heping, yet couldn't be 100% sure.
"Initiate facial recognition comparison imdiately."
The software's fra instantly enveloped the blurry silhouette's entire body.
The database began operating, and on the screen's right side, Song Heping's dossier popped up: Height 182cm, Weight 85kg, right shoulder 0.7cm lower than the left shoulder— a physiological characteristic ford from prolonged gun handling.
The analysis software marked seventeen matching points with red circles, confidence level reaching 92.3%.
"It's Song Heping!"
The analyst exclaid.
"Sir, the thermal distribution is abnormal."
Another technician pulled up the building's structural diagram: "There are two stationary thermal sources in the kitchen area, matching adult female and child in body size. But in the third-floor attic..."
He switched to thermal imaging mode: "There's a cold zone here, 1.5 degrees lower than the surrounding temperature—soone deliberately created a hidden space using thermal insulation."
Jasper's pupils contracted.
Another analyst pulled out a docunt: "Sir, you should take a look at this." He brought up the property records, "Owner Khaled Al Fasi, taught at Yen's Army Special Warfare Academy from 1998 to 2003, transferred to Army Special Forces in 2004, moved from Special Forces to an Army departnt as a military doctor in 2006 for disobeying orders, retired a year later... the background shows, this person tends to sympathize with the Houthis Ard, with a radical conservative stance."
The air in the room instantly solidified.
"Initiate 'Heavenly Eye' full-spectrum scan." Jasper's voice was icy cold, "I want to know what lies beneath every brick of that house."
Satellite data stread down like a waterfall.
The synthetic-aperture radar penetrated the roof, showing the building's internal structure; the electronic surveillance module captured encrypted shortwave signals occurring every fifteen minutes—this was far from being a residential house, but rather a carefully disguised intelligence base.
"Damn it!" Jasper slamd his fist onto the console, "That bastard is with the Resistance Organization!"
He grabbed a tactical tablet and pulled up the action plan: "Operational team, prepare imdiately, depart in 10 minutes!"
In his words, he caught sight of Simon quietly exiting the monitoring room out of the corner of his eye.
This guy's behavior had been unusually strange recently, but Jasper had no ti to scrutinize now.
He had a more important target, which was Song Heping!
He turned to the assault team leader of the "Watcher" squad: "Prepare shock bombs and gas, I want that Chinese bastard alive."
A minute later, Simon stood in front of the bathroom mirror, the sound of running water covering the operation of his encrypted phone.
"Compromised, leave quickly."
After sending the ssage, he imdiately used software to erase all traces and then returned to the monitoring room as if nothing had happened.
Jasper was putting on a bulletproof vest, and upon seeing Simon, he instructed, "You stay here to coordinate, I will personally lead the team."
"No problem." Simon smiled and made an OK gesture to him: "All the best!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers