43: Chapter 43 Accident 43: Chapter 43 Accident Gao Yang and his team were headed to a location two streets away.
On a normal day, it would have only taken about half an hour to walk there, but because they needed to approach secretly, it took them nearly two hours to arrive.
Fortunately, the streetlights had long been extinguished, offering them the protection of darkness.
They reached their destination around two o’clock in the morning.
When they were able to see the large building occupied by Sharim’s armed faction from a distance, Gao Yang and his companions halted.
The area they were in was an affluent neighborhood, and their target building was not in the local style but was instead a typical European courtyard.
The house was a bungalow yet quite grand, and together with the size of the yard, the property spanned at least three or four thousand square meters.
The key issue was the large open space between the house and the surrounding wall, which made it very difficult for Gao Yang and his team to approach silently.
Luckily, the upper part of the perimeter wall was made of iron bars, while only the lower part was brick.
Standing up, they could see inside the building.
When Gao Yang and the team got within two hundred meters of the target building, they found a dark corner to hide in.
Gao Yang then noticed that despite it being two in the morning, the building was brightly lit, and most of the room curtains were not drawn.
From a distance, they could see the silhouettes of people projected on the windows.
Realizing that the enemy had not gone to rest as he had hoped made Gao Yang think the situation was tricky.
He said to Glolov, “What do you think?
What should we do?”
After observing through Gao Yang’s binoculars for a while, Glolov replied quietly, “My advice is to take them out directly.
I didn’t notice any sentries, and I don’t think these idiots would have a covert watch in place.
They’re too amateurish.
My plan is to walk up to the door, lob a grenade inside, and then open fire.
We withdraw before they can react, and then this whole thing comes to an end.”
“Isn’t that too risky?
There could be a hundred people or even more in that building, and how can we be sure that the killer Sharim is in that room?”
With a smile, Glolov responded to Gao Yang’s question, “We’re only three men.
Do you really plan to take him out after confirming the target amidst an assault by over a hundred people?
Or do you intend to take out everyone?
Please, this isn’t a movie, and we’re not superheroes.
Thus, the correct choice is to end this after maximizing our benefits.
We won’t even have this chance after they learn to fight properly.
As for making sure we kill Sharim, I have no solution for that.
You can only hope that Fedor’s spirit guides us and that we can lob the grenade into the correct room.”
Gao Yang felt that Glolov made sense.
He couldn’t think of himself as an omnipotent deity, so killing as many as they could and praying that their target was among those killed would have to do.
Gao Yang nodded.
After discussing Glolov’s suggestion with Cui Bo, Cui Bo also believed it was the only choice.
They both wanted revenge, but it had to be within their capabilities and possibly achievable.
Before hastily taking action after confirming they would strike Sharim’s building by surprise at night, Gao Yang took down his M1A with an infrared scope attached and scanned the area.
Nothing emitting enough heat could escape the search of an infrared thermal imager unless there was something blocking the infrared.
After sweeping the area with the scope on his rifle, Gao Yang confirmed there were no sentries outside the building, neither visible nor hidden.
For an armed organization in the midst of a war, not having a single sentry posted outside their stronghold was stupid.
But after witnessing the ability of the opposition during the day, Gao Yang wasn’t particularly surprised, and especially now, he was quite content with the enemy’s foolishness.
Gao Yang and his team moved to the front gate of the building, which was directly across the street from several parked pickup trucks.
The trucks likely belonged to the opposition inside the building; for convenience, they were simply parked at the gate, offering Gao Yang and his team some cover.
The vehicles were only seven or eight meters away from the main gate, and the distance from the main gate to the house door was about twenty meters—not too far.
But the problem was that the iron gate was closed, and it was unknown whether it was locked.
Hiding behind the vehicles, Gao Yang and his team discussed their next move.
Considering Glolov’s extensive experience, Gao Yang asked him to lead the upcoming operation.
Glolov poked his head out for a quick look and whispered, “Do you know how to use a mortar shell?”
Gao Yang shook his head.
He didn’t ask Cui Bo, knowing he would be as clueless as himself.
They both had a fair grasp of firearms, but when it came to shells, which they had neither understood nor seen before, they were completely in the dark.
After contemplating for a moment, Glolov said quietly, “Well, how about Rabbit and I switch guns?
Then the two of us will go inside.
You see that room there, with lots of people?
You block the door, I’ll throw in the shell, and after we empty our bullets through the window, we’ll immediately evacuate.”
With no better option, Gao Yang nodded.
He translated Glolov’s words to Cui Bo, and then Cui Bo exchanged his M4 with Glolov and took Glolov’s machine gun.
It seemed there was only one main door, and Gao Yang felt that as long as he and Cui Bo worked together to barricade it, no one should be able to rush out.
On each side of the door, there were four windows with people visible inside.
However, the second window to the right of the door was exceptionally large and appeared to house the most people, indicating it was a large room.
Therefore, Gao Yang and his team selected the second window on the right as their target for the assault.
Cui Bo had never used a machine gun before, but after asking Glolov, he learned how to operate it.
Although Cui Bo couldn’t use the machine gun as well as Glolov, sealing off the door should not pose a problem for him.
Glolov slung Cui Bo’s M4 on his back, then took four magazines and placed them in the pockets on his chest where the machine gun drums normally went.
Gao Yang set down his M1A, arranged the shotgun shells within easy reach, and prepared his pistol before Glolov hoisted up a box loaded with shells.
Just as they were about to step out from behind the cover of the pickup, an unexpected event occurred.
The street suddenly lit up, and Gao Yang and Glolov immediately ducked back behind the vehicle, followed by the sound of car engines.
Several cars with headlights on drove towards Gao Yang and his team, illuminating the street brightly.
Shortly after, Gao Yang heard the sound of the door opening and voices speaking.
Peering under the vehicle, he saw a dozen people coming out of the building.
The group that emerged opened the large iron gates and gathered at the entrance on the street, while the cars drove up to the gate and came to a stop.
With the sound of car doors opening and closing, Gao Yang saw many pairs of feet approaching the entrance.
“Hey, welcome, friends.
How was your journey, smooth?”
“Not really smooth, or we would have arrived earlier and wouldn’t have made you wait until now, but thankfully we’re finally here.
Let me introduce, this is Cade Freeman, he’s come at Mr.
Steven’s request to assist you.
Haha, Cade is an elite of the U.S.
Army, a real killing specialist, and he’s brought ten brothers with him who’ve just flown all the way from the U.S.
today.
Believe me, with their help training your people, your men will quickly become true warriors.”
“Wow, Mr.
Freeman, I’m really happy you could come, and I’m honored.
Just call me Sharim, although it’s a fake name, but never mind that, haha.
Alright, gentlemen, let’s go inside to talk.
This is not the place for conversation, and you all must be tired.
Everything inside is ready for you.
Please.”
To Gao Yang’s surprise, not only was the conversation in English, but he also heard Sharim talking.
Although he couldn’t see Sharim’s face, Gao Yang noted his legs—a pair of strange camo pants matched with exceptionally ugly boots.
Even though he had identified Sharim, the conversation Gao Yang overheard gave him a bad feeling.
It wasn’t a big deal that Sharim was mixing with the Taliban, but how had he gotten mixed up with Americans as well?
Sharim’s very fluent American English suggested he must have extensive ties with America.
But those details weren’t important; what mattered was that about ten American veterans had arrived as well.
Whether they were special forces or not, old American vets were worlds apart from the ragtag opposition forces.
Gao Yang could easily dismiss over a hundred opposition rabble with a combat effectiveness of mere five, but he could not underestimate a group of just over ten retired U.S.
soldiers, especially considering neither he nor Cui Bo were even retired military.
Once Sharim and his group entered the building and all was quiet at the gate again, Glolov looked up and murmured, “Damn it, these Americans are everywhere.”
Gao Yang sighed and said, “Now we’ve got trouble, big trouble.”
After a moment of silence, Glolov spoke in a deep voice, “What do you plan to do now?
Continue?
Abandon the plan?
Or change the plan and come up with a new one?”
After hesitating for a moment, Gao Yang replied gravely, “Stick to the original plan.
I feel that if we don’t act tonight, we might never have another opportunity for revenge.”
Glolov agreed with Gao Yang, whispering, “Right, opportunities like this won’t be coming again.
They’ve just arrived and certainly won’t immediately heighten their defense level.
Plus, they are at their most relaxed right now.
We’ve got to take them out while we can.”
After informing Cui Bo that the original plan was unchanged, Cui Bo also agreed.
Now that tired veterans had arrived to train these opposition fighters, it might not be long before they wouldn’t be able to approach as easily as now.
Noticing more shadows moving at the window to the room on the right side of the entrance and the increase in numbers, Gao Yang and his team confirmed the room as their target.
Another piece of good news—the large iron gate was left open, seemingly inviting Gao Yang and his team inside.
After waiting ten minutes, Gao Yang and Glolov tiptoed through the open gate.