125: Chapter 124: Turnaround?
Crisis?
125: Chapter 124: Turnaround?
Crisis?
The first day they arrived at the Azzizia Barracks was thrilling, but the days that followed for Gao Yang and his group were incredibly stifling.
From June 20th when they entered the Azzizia Barracks, until August 20th, for two whole months, they couldn’t go anywhere or do anything.
Their maximum range of activity was limited to a small area, and on top of that, it was scorchingly hot.
Apart from getting paid, everything else felt like they were in prison.
Including Gao Yang’s group, almost every Mercenary Group tried everything to leave the Azzizia Barracks, from attempting to bribe their commanding officers to attempting to leave by force, but all attempts ended in failure.
Being trapped in the same location for a long time made everyone extremely irritable and quick to anger, especially after August began.
Explosions could be heard from time to time, some sounding alarmingly close.
The rapidly deteriorating situation easily led to emotional breakdowns.
A mercenary group clashed with Libyan soldiers stationed at an anti-aircraft artillery position, and both sides opened fire.
Over ten Libyans were killed, but all sixteen members of that mercenary group were killed as well.
Since there had been a firefight between a Mercenary Group and the Libyan soldiers, life had gotten even harder for Gao Yang and his group, but among them was Cui Bo, who spoke Arabic.
After spending a lot of time together, Cui Bo and many Libyan soldiers had become well-acquainted, which made life easier for them, including Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim.
They at least had someone to talk to, but the Black Fire Mercenary Corps were not so fortunate.
Harris had known Glolov for a while, and their relationship definitely wasn’t bad, though it wasn’t particularly close either.
Harris had a very explosive temper, and about half a month after Gao Yang’s arrival, he started losing control of his temper.
Once, during a conversation with Glolov, Harris started arguing over some trivial matter.
Glolov tried to concede, but Harris just got angrier and nearly came to blows, although he was later pulled away by his men.
After calming down, Harris came to apologize specifically to Glolov and Gao Yang’s group, but Harris rarely came to chat with Glolov after that.
The consequence of the extreme volatility of Harris and his Black Fire Mercenary Corps wasn’t good.
They had several clashes with Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim and the Libyan soldiers.
Although it did not escalate into shooting, all the Libyans were now wary of them, afraid that the Black Fire Mercenary Corps might suddenly go berserk and attempt to break out.
Gao constantly worried whether Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim would take preemptive action and wipe out the members of the Black Fire Mercenary Corps first.
Faced with a hopeless situation of neither being able to leave nor having anything to do, Gao Yang’s group managed to stay the calmest among all the mercenary groups.
This was because they always found things to do for themselves, to avoid going stir-crazy.
At first, everyone spent their time cleaning their guns when not sleeping, then disassembling and reassembling them.
Gradually they moved on to disassembling and reassembling each other’s guns, then blindfolded disassembly and reassembly.
All the guns were taken apart and reassembled countless times by everyone, and later on it turned into a competition to see who could do it the fastest blindfolded.
They discussed tactics, had Glolov explain his combat cases, performed emergency response drills, and a few people in the confines of the cabin followed Lee to practice combat.
Over two months, albeit very reluctantly, they learned quite a lot from each other.
Because they couldn’t contact the outside world, Gao Yang and Glolov were extremely worried about Natalia and Yelena.
They didn’t even know if Yelena had arrived in the US or whether she had been admitted to the Juilliard School.
Until communications were restored, all they could do was pray and wait.
By August 17th, Gao Yang and his group were still receiving their pay, but supplies were sporadic.
For two consecutive days, they didn’t receive any food or water.
After getting supplies on the 19th, the provision was interrupted again.
Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim explained that there was a slight problem with logistics, but it certainly wouldn’t last too long.
However, hearing the increasing and intensifying sounds of artillery and explosions, everyone knew that supplies couldn’t possibly return to normal.
But at least for the next ten days, Gao Yang’s group didn’t need to worry about food, because over the last two months, they had stored up the canned food left over from their reduced appetites.
By August 21st, they could hear the never-ending gunfire outside Azzizia Barracks.
Yet, with news that the opposition was about to attack, Gao Yang’s group’s mood calmed down.
Regardless of the outcome, everyone was eager to end this prison-like existence.
What Gao Yang’s group was most lacking now was water.
Five people only had two jerry cans of four liters each.
If they still didn’t receive any supplies, they’d run out of water after a day at most, as the extreme heat caused them to lose a lot of fluid, and they still had to stay fully armed.
What they didn’t lack now was money.
In fact, Gao Yang and his group were worried because they had too much of it.
Every day for two months, they were paid 20,000 US dollars each, sometimes in euros, but the amount was the same.
Considering the exchange rate, they even made a profit, but nobody cared about how much money they got at this point.
Over the two months, the five members of Gao Yang’s group accumulated 1.2 million in cash as earnings, which couldn’t even fit in a 3D bag.
They didn’t talk about whose money it was anymore.
Whoever had space just stuffed it on themselves, planning to divide it up after getting out.
Otherwise, there really was no way to take all the money with them.
Fearing that shells might fall at any time, Gao Yang’s group rarely left the cabin.
After all, the cabin they resided in was essentially a bunker, offering the greatest degree of protection.
Listening to the distant rumble of artillery, Gao wasn’t worried at all, and instead felt a vague anticipation for the opposition to hurry up and attack.
As he listlessly peered out the shooting hole, he suddenly saw a car drive in through a large gate in the inner wall, followed by a stream of vehicles entering one after another.
Startled for a moment, Gao Yang suddenly shouted, “There’s a convoy, a convoy is coming!”
What excited Gao Yang was that over the past two months, occasionally one or two vehicles would drive up to the building they were guarding, but never had a convoy come, and the arrival of a convoy meant that the turnaround all the mercenaries had been anticipating was finally here.
Everyone was both surprised and delighted as they crowded toward the firing ports, watching a large convoy of at least thirty vehicles drive in, with Frey even weeping with joy.
The convoy contained a variety of vehicles: trucks, SUVs, armored sedans, and three armored vehicles.
After arriving at the green space, not all of them stopped; aside from the trucks and armored vehicles, at least ten sedans and SUVs entered Gaddafi’s palace.
Seeing those small vehicles enter the seemingly not so tall building, Gao Yang got even more excited and loudly said, “There must be an underground passage inside, no doubt, there must be.
Do you think it could be Gaddafi himself coming?”
No sooner had Gao Yang finished speaking than fully armed soldiers jumped down from the trucks.
Three BMP-1 armored vehicles turned and stopped at a building entrance, their 73mm smoothbore low-pressure guns pointed outside.
About seventy fully armed soldiers quickly set up a defensive line, and then more people alighted from two trucks, but this time most of those who descended were bound with ropes under the escort of Libyan soldiers, at least twenty prisoners were taken into the building.
Seeing this stance, Cui Bo quickly grabbed a pair of binoculars, and after carefully observing, he excitedly said, “I think it must be the old man Gaddafi who’s come, otherwise, why would there be such a big show of force?”
However, Gao Yang felt that something was not quite right.
He shook his head and said, “I don’t think so, look at these people, does any of them look like a mercenary?”
“True, they all look Libyan, hey, what’s going on here, it looks like someone resembles Abdul?”
Gao Yang was taken aback, as there were too many Libyans named Abdul, and there were several named Abdul at his position.
He asked, “What are you talking about?
Which Abdul?”
Cui Bo put down the binoculars, a puzzled expression on his face, “Of course, the one who worked for Morgan, I just saw a prisoner who looked very much like Abdul, but then he turned away after I caught only a glimpse of him.”
Gao Yang was startled and asked, “Did you see clearly?
It’s impossible that Abdul could be captured, right?”
Cui Bo also looked doubtful and said, “I didn’t see clearly, I just caught a glimpse.
It seemed like him, but then again, it might not be.
I really can’t confirm it.”
Glolov also looked worried and said, “Abdul is an old friend of ours; I don’t want to see him executed by Gaddafi’s men.
Think carefully, was it really Abdul?”
Cui Bo frowned deeply, pondering for a long while before hesitantly saying, “It shouldn’t be, I really didn’t get a clear view, but I think it shouldn’t be.”
Gao Yang said in distress, “If we could only make a call, we could try to find out if it’s Abdul or call Morgan to ask about this situation.
Now we can’t even make a phone call, we’re as blind as if our eyes were open, damn frustrating.
But if we could get into that building, I reckon we’d have a chance to see for ourselves.”
Right after Gao Yang finished speaking, Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim, who hadn’t been seen for a long time, suddenly entered the hut, and as soon as he got through the door, he loudly ordered, “Remove anything unnecessary from the hut and get ready for battle.
After you finish clearing up, don’t leave your rooms without orders.”
After Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim issued his orders, Gao Yang hastily asked, “Colonel, are we also going to that building?”
Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim, with eyes full of red veins and disheveled hair, looked haggard and irritable.
Hearing Gao Yang’s question, Ibrahim said angrily, “I can’t even get in there, and you want to go?
Just stay put and guard this place.
You’ve been paid a lot of money.
If we’re going to die, we’ll die together.
I warn you, don’t do anything stupid or I’ll have you killed before you cause any trouble.”