1036: Chapter One Thousand Twenty: Traces of Spider Silk and Horse Hoof Prints 1036: Chapter One Thousand Twenty: Traces of Spider Silk and Horse Hoof Prints For mercenaries, fighting means earning money, but now Gao Yang found himself in a reversed situation, he was a mercenary, yet every battle he fought cost him money.
Even when doing nothing, The Satan Mercenary Corps had to shell out over twenty thousand US dollars a day, the minimum salaries for mercenaries, pilots, and mechanics, all of which cost a significant amount of money.
If they were to engage in battle, the expenses would multiply because the combat daily wages needed to at least double, and if the situation was slightly dangerous, the money spent could skyrocket, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands a day.
And this was all considering the costs of aircraft and ammunition were not included; if helicopters and ammunition were also paid for by them, just that cost alone would reach staggering figures.
Luckily, they found a financial backer in Syria who covered not only weapons and ammunition but also took care of Gao Yang and his team’s living expenses.
Otherwise, in a place like Syria where prices are soaring, maintaining even a moderately comfortable life would be a substantial expense.
They ate well and lived comfortably and aside from planning their next moves, there was little else to do.
This lifestyle would have been very leisurely, if it weren’t for the fact that they had to spend a significant amount of money daily.
Gao Yang now just wanted to quickly carry out his revenge plan, but it had been nine days since they fought in Homs, and these past nine days had been a period of calm, without deploying once.
Gao Yang surely wanted to finish his business quickly and retreat, but the problem was that he couldn’t find a target to strike.
He was here to eliminate Badadi and the squad of Iron Madonna, not simply to attack any armed group from IS.
If that were the case, the entire vicinity of Damascus would be a target, and he couldn’t manage or afford that.
Intelligence was still being delivered daily, but it lacked valuable information.
After multiple strikes against the high ranks of IS, IS had recently become much less active.
There weren’t only fewer major operations, but even small-scale attacks against the government forces had significantly decreased.
Gao Yang was learning intelligence analysis with Yake, Number Thirteen was also always there, whereas Dani and Farouk, who used to frequents Gao’s office, rarely came now, as they were both busy.
Farouk was busy with training, conducting his own while also training his command troops, and Dani was keeping a close watch on the training of the Military Intelligence Bureau’s action teams.
With IS lying low, valuable intelligence naturally wasn’t forthcoming from the frontlines, and the Military Intelligence Bureau, despite always placing great importance on intelligence concerning IS and Badadi, unfortunately, hadn’t gotten anything recently.
Yake threw a stack of the latest photos onto the desk, picked up a cup of tea, leisurely sipped it, and said in boredom, “Don’t bother looking, they’re all meaningless, the same old stuff.”
Number Thirteen was still looking at the computer, shifting through photos one after another.
He was always serious when working, and didn’t let others’ opinions affect his emotions.
Although the work was repetitive and mostly meaningless most of the time, Number Thirteen never skipped work.
Gao Yang no longer had the patience to continue, he flung the photos onto the desk, resisted the urge to sweep them all onto the floor, and grasping his hair with his hand, said helplessly, “I’m going to lose it, I’m really not cut out for intelligence work, looking at these meaningless photos all day, F**k!”
After his complaints, Gao Yang knocked on the desk and said to Number Thirteen, “Leonard, any progress on your side?”
Without lifting his head, Number Thirteen calmly said, “No progress, all channels, no progress at all.”
Yake didn’t know what Gao Yang and Number Thirteen were talking about, but he definitely wouldn’t ask.
Gao was just bored and trying to find a topic of conversation.
He glanced at his watch and said helplessly, “It’s already three o’clock, we won’t receive any new leads today, another idle day.”
Seeing Gao Yang somewhat distressed, Yake smiled slightly and said, “Don’t rush, these things can’t be hastened.
For us, it’s normal to work relentlessly for years for just one target, one person.
It hasn’t been that long for you.”
Gao Yang retorted discontentedly, “Your expenses were covered by the state, while now you’re digging into my wallet, buddy, that’s not the same.”
Yake made a face, laughing and said, “Can’t help it, who let you be willing to do this?
Hey Ram, you’re already a colonel now, don’t you plan to ask for an orderly or something?”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “Forget it, I’m used to doing everything myself.”
Yake sighed and said, “That’s not good, I think it’s better for you to have an orderly.
Look, I’ve finished my tea and I don’t want to go make another pot myself, and since you’re the boss, I can’t ask you to bring me a cup of tea.
So, I think it’s a good idea for you to pair up with an orderly, and I don’t see any problem with you having two for handling documents or fetching files, much better than the three of us having to do everything ourselves.”
Gao Yang impatiently said, “We’ll talk about it later.
It depends on my mood.
I’m not really a colonel, and I’m still not used to having orderlies, a luxury like that.”
At this moment, Number Thirteen held up a photograph and stared at it for a while.
Gao Yang couldn’t help but ask, “What’s up?
Did you find something?”
Number Thirteen gently shook his head but then said, “Do we still have the reconnaissance photos taken three days ago?
The ones from the eastern outskirts of Damascus?”
Gao Yang gave a bitter smile and said, “No, someone organized and took them away the day before yesterday.
If you need them, I’ll have to ask someone to bring them back.
You need that section?
I’ll have someone look for it.”
Yake spread his hands and said, “See, having two orderlies would be so helpful.”
Number Thirteen said softly, “I don’t remember clearly, but I remember that a reconnaissance drone had scouted the location on this photo three days ago.
I want to compare them, but I forgot whether I saw it in a printed photo or on the computer.
Their annotations are in Arabic, which didn’t make a deep impression on me.”
Gao Yang helplessly said, “Think carefully.
Was it a digital photo, a printed digital photo, or a photograph taken with film?”
With so many photos and videos viewed daily, recalling a specific photo that wasn’t much of a focus at the time from at least a thousand photos three days later calls for a good memory.
Of course, not remembering isn’t a problem; it’s just about finding it again from a heap of useless data or photos.
They’re all coded; it’s just a bit of a hassle.
After pondering for a moment, Number Thirteen said, “I’m sure I didn’t see it on the computer, and it definitely wasn’t a film photo; otherwise, the impact would have been deeper.
Film photos are rare, so it must have been a printed paper photo.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll have someone search for it.
Damn it, Syria’s reconnaissance methods are so outdated.
What era is this?
It’s bad enough there’s no real-time imagery, but there are still film cameras on planes.”
Yake chuckled lightly and said, “Don’t you get it?
Intel departments actually adopt new technologies quickly but are slow to phase out old ones.
Don’t think the Intelligence Bureau is like 007, only using the most advanced gadgets.
On the contrary, sometimes they prefer using outdated but reliable methods, all for reliability and safety.
So, the Intelligence Bureau will employ all cutting-edge technology but will never easily discard tech you might think is obsolete.
Film, for instance, is far from being phased out in the Intelligence Bureau.”
After educating Gao Yang or perhaps showing off a little, Yake turned to Number Thirteen and asked, “What did you find?”
Number Thirteen pointed at the computer screen and said in a deep voice, “Look here, I think this is a training camp.
What’s strange is that there seem to be three machine-gun positions in the photo.
Considering they operate in pairs and the way the sandbags are stacked, I believe these might be machine-gun positions.”
Yake moved next to Number Thirteen, examined the computer screen for a while, nodded, and said, “It does look like machine-gun positions.
What do you want to compare with the photo from three days ago?”
Number Thirteen shrugged and said, “I remember seeing reconnaissance photos of this area, and at that time, I didn’t notice any machine-gun positions here.”
Yake rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, “This area indeed didn’t have machine-gun positions before.
Three machine-gun positions forming crossfire—hmm, it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Mark this down, and let’s send a plane to take another look.”
The reason to pay special attention to machine-gun positions is that, with no leads, Gao Yang and his team began not to overlook any clue.
The Iron Wall Mercenary Corps might be near Badadi, and they are known for using machine guns, so it’s simple for Gao Yang and his team to be sensitive about machine-gun positions.
On the battlefield, machine guns have always been crucial; noticing machine-gun positions is perfectly normal.
The reason to mark the three machine-gun positions for further reconnaissance is that they appeared at an IS training camp.
A rear-training camp featuring machine-gun positions must be for training machine-gunners, and it’s possible that the Iron Wall Mercenary Group is training machine-gunners for IS.
In a situation devoid of clues, it would be impossible for Gao Yang to rush there immediately, but it is okay to keep a close watch and take a closer look—that’s like “beating a child on a cloudy day,” as the saying goes.
They have nothing else to do, and besides, they aren’t the ones who pay for the fuel.
Gao Yang knocked on the table and nodded, “Okay, let’s see when the air force can send a reconnaissance plane again to thoroughly scout this location.”
Gao Yang hadn’t finished speaking when the walkie-talkie placed on the table suddenly rang out.
Li Jinfang quickly said in an urgent but non-panicked tone, “A fight has broken out, not good, guns are going to be used!” (To be continued.
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