46: Chapter 46: If We Die, We Die Together 46: Chapter 46: If We Die, We Die Together The car’s bright headlights shone directly on Gao Yang, causing him great difficulty in aiming, especially since the night vision scope had become useless.
It was simply impossible for Gao Yang to aim and shoot with his gun raised.
Just then, Cui Bo shouted with all his might, “Over here, there’s a path, hurry up!”
Taking advantage of the car’s lights, Cui Bo discovered an alley too narrow for vehicles to enter.
After stumbling over the curb beside the road and pushing Glolov into a narrow alley, Cui Bo then fired his M700 from the alley at the cars to cover Gao Yang’s retreat.
Gao Yang immediately took off running and, just as the car was about to catch up to him, he finally darted into the alley.
Cui Bo kept firing, but his M700 was slow to shoot, and the magazine could only hold four rounds of ammunition, which was barely effective in delaying the enemies’ movement.
Nonetheless, Cui Bo focused on shooting, and when Gao Yang passed by him, he grabbed Cui Bo and pulled him into the alley as they continued to run.
The alleys branched in all directions.
As the pursuers from the car followed them into the alleys, Gao Yang and Cui Bo pushed the cart into a fork and immediately turned.
They kept taking twists and turns, hoping to shake off their pursuers in the maze-like paths.
But frustratingly, no matter how fast they ran, they could hear the footsteps of their pursuers as soon as they paused, so Gao Yang and Cui Bo had to keep moving without stopping.
They had been running from before dawn until daylight broke.
When it was faintly light, Gao Yang, who had been erratically making his way through the alleys and was by then disoriented, was suddenly greeted by an open vista—the disorganized architecture disappeared, replaced by a vast desert before him.
Gao Yang was shocked to find they had left the city.
Panting, he said to Cui Bo, “What’s going on, we’re out of the city?”
With the maze-like alleys, they could still hold off their pursuers, but once they were out in the boundless desert, they were truly trapped.
Cui Bo, exhausted, plopped down on the ground and gasped for air, “Damn it, we better run back.
Out in the desert, we are sitting ducks.
But let me rest for a moment, just two minutes.”
Gao Yang understood this all too well.
Seeing that Cui Bo really couldn’t go on any longer, he helplessly said, “You have two minutes, but damn, how can the opposition keep chasing like this?
It’s been all night, and they’re still on us like a bad spirit.
This doesn’t make sense, since when are the opposition so patient?
What a grudge.”
Cui Bo rolled his eyes at him, looking as if he were looking at a fool, “What do you think?
You wiped out their boss, and in there was also the Boss of a bunch of American soldiers.
How big of a grudge is that?
Wouldn’t they chase you?
If it were you…
no, if it were me that got taken out, wouldn’t you seek revenge?
Those Americans are retired soldiers; they could even be from the special forces.
Isn’t that level of difficulty a piece of cake for them?”
After three years of hardening, Gao Yang’s endurance was such that the long overnight run barely phased him.
While Cui Bo rested, Gao Yang stood guard with his gun ready, having already removed the night vision scope, but he didn’t mount the normal day scope either because he had no time to zero his rifle, and a scope that wasn’t zeroed could be less reliable than none at all.
With their exit from the labyrinthine alleys uncertain, Gao Yang didn’t dare wait any longer.
After giving Cui Bo just two minutes of rest, Gao Yang urged him, “Get up, let’s go, I’ll push the cart, you cover with the gun.
We need to move fast and shake these guys off before we can get a doctor for the Old Russian.”
After Gao Yang finished speaking, Cui Bo suddenly pointed at the wheel of the cart and exclaimed, “Damn it, I know how they’ve been able to track us, look here.”
Gao Yang looked at the cart and soon understood why the pursuers could constantly find their trail.
Glolov’s blood had seeped from a gap in the pushcart onto the wheel, and though it had now clotted, it must have left a blood trail at the beginning.
By now, the outskirts of Benghazi were covered in a thin layer of yellow sand.
The clear wheel tracks in the sand were obvious, and unless it was windy, these traces wouldn’t just disappear.
After exchanging glances, both men inadvertently blurted out a curse in unison.
No longer feeling tired, Cui Bo stood up and pushed the cart onward.
There was no use thinking about getting lost in the alleys anymore because, without any surprise, the pursuers were bound to catch up soon.
Gao Yang and Cui Bo escaped just in time.
Not far after they left, more than twenty men emerged from several alleyways near where they had just been hiding.
If Gao Yang and Cui Bo were still there, or if they had attempted to continue dodging through the alleys, they would have been caught red-handed by now, as daylight made it markedly easier for their enemies to locate and surround them.
Gao Yang and Cui Bo pushed the cart straight onto the desert territory.
As gunshots rang out from behind, Gao Yang turned and looked back through his binoculars to see that the pursuers were only six or seven hundred meters away.
A night’s worth of running had not been in vain; from the original group of over a hundred pursuers, only a dozen remained.
Everyone didn’t have the stamina to run all night, but what made Gao Yang uneasy was that, among the dozen pursuers, six were dressed distinctly differently from the rest and appeared to be white.
Gao Yang only feared those retired Americans.
For those who had just picked up guns, he didn’t hold them in high regard, but if the enemy comprised retired soldiers, the danger was substantially higher.
Fortunately, the enemy was still six or seven hundred meters away, a range at which neither the AK47 nor the M4 posed much of a threat.
If Gao Yang and his companion could increase the distance, they would be temporarily safe.
However, if the gap narrowed, it would be a different story.
Now both sides were immensely fatigued, both at their limits; closing the six or seven hundred meter gap wasn’t going to be easy.
Gao Yang and his team no longer had a choice but to keep running.
As he turned to follow Cui Bo, Cui Bo suddenly said, “Glolov is awake again.”
Glolov had been drifting in and out of consciousness, but the time he was awake had been getting shorter and shorter.
Gao Yang knew they couldn’t delay any longer, but he had no way to save Glolov.
This time when Glolov came to, he didn’t pass out again after a while as he had before; instead, he blurted out a sentence.
“Where are we?
What’s the situation?”
After hesitating for a moment, Gao Yang said with a smile, “We’ve left the city.
We’re safe now; no one is chasing us.”
Glolov shook his head with a wry smile and said, “Come on, I can tell it’s not good just by looking at you.
It seems I’m really going to die this time.
But from the first day I became a mercenary, I knew I would eventually die on the battlefield; I’ve known that from the beginning.”
When Glolov suddenly started speaking, Gao Yang and Cui Bo exchanged glances, noticing that each other’s faces were looking terrible.
Cui Bo said in a low voice, “It couldn’t be…
the last rally before death, could it?”
Gao Yang gave Cui Bo a sharp glare, then said to Glolov in a low voice, “Don’t talk, don’t waste your strength.
You’re not going to die.
We’re not going to let you die like this.”
Glolov weakly shook his head and said with a bitter smile, “Let me speak; let me finish.
I’m afraid there won’t be another chance later.
Consider this my last words.”
The pain was evident on Glolov’s face as he said softly, “Being a mercenary, especially one who sells his life for money, is painful because you never know whether your next fight will be on the side of evil or justice.
I’ve killed many people.
Among them were scum destined for hell and innocent civilians.
For money, I had to sell my soul.
When I fought for my country, I was filled with a sense of duty and pride.
I could sacrifice my life without regret, whether the war was just or not.
But at least I knew that even if I died in battle, I died for my country, and all the guilt was to be borne by the politicians.
But when I fought for money, all I felt was guilt, shame, and helplessness, along with extreme weariness.
And if I died in battle, no one would care.
People would only be glad that another mercenary destined for hell had died.
Fortunately, it’s a relief that I at least know my last battle was for a just cause.
Even though I took money, it was a battle of just revenge, which makes it a bit more bearable for me.”
Gao Yang was silent for a long time before he sighed and said, “You’re not going to die.
Your injuries aren’t that severe.
As long as we find a doctor, you’ll be alright.”
Glolov shook his head and said, “Enough.
I know now that you and Rabbit can be trusted.
I have a little over twenty thousand dollars on me.
Please, help me give this money to my wife.
Take the money and leave, or else we will all die here, and our money will just be stolen.
Give me the gun, let me cover your escape.”
Glolov grabbed Gao Yang’s hand, pulling strongly as he tried to climb out of the cart.
Gao Yang forcefully pressed Glolov back into the basket, saying firmly, “I told you to shut up, so don’t make things worse.
If you must say your last words, then wait until you see your wife and say it to her.
Listen to me, either we all die here together, or we all leave together, got it!”
After finishing, Gao Yang broke free of Glolov’s grip, picked up his gun, and fired several shots in a cathartic burst at the chasers behind them.
Glolov, however, still didn’t give up.
He shouted desperately at Gao Yang, “You idiot, you madman!
I’m destined to die; you should let me fulfill my final duty!
At least then I’d know my money would reach my wife, and my daughter could have her music tuition fees!”
Gao Yang felt Glolov’s words made sense, but he truly couldn’t abandon Glolov to escape.
After a moment of silence, Gao Yang said helplessly to Cui Bo, “Rabbit, the Old Russian wants us to go.
He’ll cover for us.
I didn’t agree.
I know we might all die like this, but I just can’t leave him behind.
Go on your own.
If one of us can run, that’s still one of us.”
Cui Bo, without lifting his head and pushing the cart with all his might, said strenuously, “You’re being stupid again.
I knew you couldn’t do it, but neither can I.
Ah, fate deals us life or death, and if we die, we die; if we live, we live.
I can’t leave behind the Old Russian either.
Since we’re both stupid enough, let’s just leave it to fate.”
After Cui Bo’s words, Gao Yang felt inexplicably relieved.
He smiled at Glolov in the cart and shouted, “That’s enough; you don’t need to say anything more.
Rabbit and I agree – if we’re to die, we’ll die together; if we’re to live, we’ll live together.
If you die because we waited too long to get help, of course, we’ll leave you behind.
But as long as you have a breath, we’ll just hang in there.
Also, don’t worry about your wife and kids.
Give me an address, and I’ll ask Mr.
Morgan to wire the money to them.
Rest assured, Mr.
Morgan still owes me ninety thousand US dollars.
I’ll give Mr.
Morgan a call right now; the money will be all theirs.
I’ve got your back, right?”
Glolov looked at Gao Yang blankly, then said weakly, “You’re really an idiot, as is Rabbit.
Forget it, I appreciate the sentiment.
Sadly, I can’t do the same.
Keep the money for your parents.
Lastly, it was an honor to fight alongside you and Rabbit.
Please translate that for him.”
After Gao Yang translated Glolov’s words to Cui Bo, he said earnestly, “Fighting alongside you has been an honor for me and Rabbit as well.”