As for the two lightly wounded soldiers who had been sent back to report, it was unclear whether they had simply escaped ho or whether no one was interested in rescuing their captured leader, and the matter seed to have been dropped.
Since last night, neither the more advanced drones that ca to fill in, nor the PMCs carrying night vision goggles worth tens of thousands of dollars, had detected any signs of anyone lurking in the rainforest.
Furthermore, no one had attempted to contact them to discuss exchanging hostages.
It seed that the anti-governnt forces on the island, whether it was the "Abu Sayyaf" organization or any other extremist terrorist group, had been terrified by the highway ambush.
There wasn't a direct route from the abandoned mine to the sea, so the convoy moved slowly, but everyone was excited; the hope of escape was within reach.
Compared to the PMCs, who could only obtain real-ti battlefield information from drones via expensive satellite data traffic costing thousands of dollars per minute, the SEALs remained within the US military's information command chain.
The state-of-the-art drones were already in place before the SEALs arrived, replacing the obsolete equipnt previously used by the PMCs. anwhile, in a command center, located sowhere unknown, soone kept a 24-hour watch on the screens, monitoring real-ti images.
Equipped with advanced multispectral imaging systems and synthetic aperture radar, the drones could effectively monitor the rainforest in clear weather.
Unless they encountered enemy troops capable of digging tunnels or disguising themselves as trees, the SEALs would receive an imdiate warning.
Therefore, for the passengers cramd into the back of the pickup trucks, the bumpy roads and the vines and branches that occasionally whipped their faces and bodies were the biggest threats.
The two all-terrain vehicles driven by the SEALs, responsible for clearing the way, had already gotten stuck in the mud several tis, but fortunately, their light weight allowed them to easily pull themselves out.
The short journey of less than 10 kiloters took nearly 40 minutes, and the convoy finally arrived safely at the beach.
Considering the exposed sandy beach, the convoy stopped in the treeline between the rainforest and the sand to await the Navy's pickup.
"We have guests." the SEALs announced, delivering what sounded like bad news. But Jack didn't see any disappointnt on Jason Hayes' face; instead, there was an inexplicable strangeness.
"Huh?" Jack was taken aback. Everything had been peaceful on the way, and his senses hadn't detected anything unusual. Had the drone discovered sothing?
"Follow " Jason Hayes tossed his head, gesturing for him to follow.
Since this wasn't a port or dock, the destroyer couldn't possibly co to the beach; it could only be anchored far out at sea, away from the reefs.
The two reached the beach, and Jack took the binoculars from Hayes, looking at the small boat silhouetted against the distant sea.
Then soone couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"My God, I've heard of Somali pirates attacking warships, but I never imagined there were such 'warriors' among pirates."
The destroyer was an Arleigh Burke-class vessel, displacing over 9,200 tons.
What Jack witnessed was this comical scene: two dilapidated fishing boats, belonging to unknown factions, were charging towards a large destroyer with a displacent of nearly 10,000 tons, billowing black smoke.
Around the fishing boats, a dozen or so small boats followed, creating a sowhat impressive sight at first glance.
"What are they planning to do? Are they trying to capture a destroyer?"
Hearing Jack's question, Jason Hayes was montarily at a loss for words.
As the boats drew closer, the previously silent destroyer finally reacted.
Through Jack's binoculars, the 5-inch main gun mounted on the bow, which didn't look imposing at all, quickly rotated its turret, pointing at the approaching fishing boats.
The 5-inch gun's caliber was equivalent to 127 milliters, exactly ten tis the caliber of the heavy rifle Jack had previously used — a re nobody among naval guns, not even as thick as an average person's thigh.
However, the rate of fire and power of modern naval guns are obviously incomparable to those of the past, as is the case now.
Bang!
A huge cannon shot ca from afar, and a cloud of black smoke instantly erupted from the fishing boat closest to the destroyer, followed by two more shots.
After three rapid shots, the entire upper structure of the fishing boat blood like a trumpet flower.
Because the two sides were at least three or four nautical miles from the coast, Jack couldn't see through his binoculars whether the people who fell into the water were thrown into the sea by the explosion or jumped in on their own; it seed there were no survivors on board.
As the main guns opened fire, the secondary guns on one side also spewed fire, presumably aid at the small boats.
Less than a minute after the first fishing boat exploded, another fishing boat was also hit by three rapid shots from the destroyer's main guns.
This one was even more unlucky; perhaps the hull below the waterline was hit by the shells, because it took on water and capsized in less than five minutes.
The naval battle ended so anticlimactically.
When the inflatable boat, with a mini machine gun mounted on its bow, carried the passengers of the flight onto the destroyer, the turbulent sea was littered with debris and oil slicks; not a single body was visible.
Radulan Sahiron, the one-ard leader of the Abu Sayyaf organization, lay dead on the beach, his suffering ended by a single pistol shot from PMC team leader Shebeck.
The destroyer spent over ten hours transporting the passengers to the Arican military base on Palawan Island. Everyone was taken to the hospital, including the four girls they had rescued.
The tropical jungle was not easy; many developed various symptoms of tropical diseases, and so were even infected with parasites.
After enduring three days of unpredictable blood tests, X-rays, and various examinations, Jack and JJ were finally able to say goodbye and board the military plane back to Los Angeles.
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