645: Chapter 638: Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Mouth 645: Chapter 638: Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Mouth Hasan, though not all there in the head, had a good eye and, seeing Gao Yang and his group looking like capable fighters, wanted to bamboozle Gao Yang into joining him on a suicide mission.
Gao Yang was neither crazy nor foolish; there was no way he would get mixed up with someone brain-damaged like Hasan.
After several invitations were refused due to Gao’s indifference and with Ali’s sabotage, Hasan stopped asking Gao and his team to accompany him to their death.
After exchanging a few words, he left with Ali and a few others, heading towards the prison’s main entrance, an area controlled by the Victory Front.
After waiting for Hasan and his group to leave, Raja approached Gao Yang and whispered, “What do we do now?
Shall we go look for the Free Syrian command post now?”
Gao Yang had come to Aleppo to make money, not to lose his life.
The rebels around Aleppo Prison were numerous enough to count in piles, and it was easy to get killed with random gunfire by finding the Free Syrian leaders now, but how to escape afterward was the problem.
Gao Yang shook his head repeatedly and said, “No, let’s watch and wait for today’s large-scale attack to end before we decide.
This place is too chaotic; it was easy for us to blend in, but what if the Victory Front insists on us joining the attack on the prison?
They have thousands of men; it would be easy for the Victory Front to force us to do something with just one word from them.”
Raja was Polovich’s man, certainly keen on a quick and decisive action, but Gao Yang would rather abandon the mission and lose the money than go on a suicide mission.
After a brief discussion with Raja, Gao Yang gestured to Satan’s men and whispered, “Everyone, stay alert, we’re not moving for now; let’s wait until today’s attack is over.”
Raja did not object; he didn’t want to die either.
Now that they were in the midst of the enemy, once a fight broke out, they would be immediately surrounded.
Until a safe exit was secured, it was, of course, foolish to make any rash moves.
After some thought, Raja nodded and said, “Moving together will draw too much attention.
I’ll go look for the Free Syrian headquarters on my own first and gather some information.
We’ll discuss it again when I get back.”
Raja disappeared into the crowd of rebels, unrecognizable, making him the best choice for gathering information.
After waiting for Raja to leave, Glolov stepped up to Gao Yang and whispered, “This doesn’t look good.
If we start our mission now, there will be too many enemies.”
Gao Yang frowned and said, “F**k, this deal we took doesn’t seem worth it.
At the start, they said we’d only be up against about one thousand low-combat troops, just cannon fodder.
Once in Syria, we found out that the Free Syrian bunch had joined forces with the Victory Front.
As for now, we have no chance to act at all.”
After speaking, Gao Yang waved his hand and called out loudly, “Rabbit on guard, others come over, we need to discuss.”
Once the group had gathered, Gao Yang spoke softly, “Everyone has seen it; this mission has been getting more difficult from the moment we took it on, and the situation is more complex than I had anticipated.
Let’s discuss whether we should continue with the mission.”
Jinfang shook his head with a look of frustration and said, “No wonder Polovich didn’t want to take revenge personally and had to pay us instead.
The situation here is too chaotic; attacking one is like attacking a horde, it’s tough to handle.”
Grollov was just as frustrated, and after spitting on the ground, he grumbled, “Even though we have Raja here, we still need to make our own decision about continuing the mission.
But deciding to quit now seems premature.
I think we should at least see if there is a chance to proceed before making a decision.
Moreover, even if we continue with the mission, three hundred thousand dollars in mercenary fees is too low; we must get Little Donnie to contact Polovich for a raise.”
Gao Yang exhaled and said, “That’s right, even if we continue the mission, we need to demand a higher fee.
We’ve never failed before, and if we can swing it this time, we’ll go all the way.
But if it’s confirmed we can’t do it, we’ll retreat immediately.
I don’t want to stay here another day; looking at those lunatics gives me the creeps.”
Eileen pulled up her hood with a troubled face, “Me too, this place makes me feel uncomfortable all over.”
A fee of three hundred thousand dollars for the mercenaries, split among ten people, meant only thirty thousand dollars each, and the risk was still significant.
The most distressing part was seeing the risk increase by the minute.
Having to eliminate everyone in a command post surrounded by rebels and then retreat safely just wasn’t worth the price.
However, if they withdrew without even clashing with the Free Syrian forces, Gao Yang felt that wouldn’t sit right; he wasn’t one to give up easily.
Though the difficulty of completing the mission was quite high at the moment, he still had to look for opportunities.
It wasn’t too late to retreat once all options were exhausted.
Once he had made up his mind, Gao Yang nodded and said, “Alright, that’s the plan.
Let’s not rush to increase our price now; we can discuss payment after confirming we can continue with the mission.
For now, we’ll wait here and see what news Raja brings back.”
Waiting was excruciating, and as time ticked away, Raja still had not returned.
By past twelve o’clock, several trucks carrying water tanks arrived, distributing water and food along the siege line of the rebels.
Gao Yang then realized that the Rebel Army was not completely disorganized.
Although they were not from the same group, there were people who delivered food and water.
However, looking at it from the other side, whether organized or not, if the Rebel Army came to Aleppo Prison to participate in battle, the Victory Front would have to take care of their food and drink.
Otherwise, the Rebel Army would have to fend for themselves, and the number coming to fight would certainly not increase but decrease.
When it was two o’clock in the afternoon, Raja had still not returned, but Gao Yang and his team in the village to the north suddenly heard loudspeakers blaring.
It wasn’t long before the loudspeakers went silent, then the sporadic gunfire and explosions that had been heard earlier suddenly intensified.
The battle was taking place on the north side of the prison, that is, near the main gate of the prison.
From where Gao Yang and his team were, they couldn’t see what was happening, only distant smoke rising.
About an hour later, the gunfire gradually subsided.
Another hour passed, and at four in the afternoon, Gao Yang finally saw Raja’s figure.
Raja was jogging back.
When he finally reached them, Gao Yang immediately asked, “How did it go?
Did you find anything out?”
Raja, with a solemn face, nodded and said, “A lot of useful information, but it’s getting more and more chaotic.
Give me some water first; I’m dying of thirst here.”
Raja looked exhausted.
He sat down on the ground and after Gao Yang handed him a water bottle, he gulped down the water voraciously, emptying the bottle before wiping his mouth and saying with a serious face, “I found the Free Syrian’s headquarters, and I even strolled around inside without any difficulty.”
Gao Yang, surprised, replied, “It’s that easy to get close to them?
Great, that’s good news.
Go on.”
Raja made a helpless gesture and said, “The Free Syrian’s headquarters is set up in a big courtyard.
The main building is a three-story house with a lot of people inside, at least one hundred.
I saw their top leader; no one stops me from getting close to him.
But there are people everywhere outside their headquarters, everywhere.
The number of Rebel Army surrounding Aleppo Prison is much greater than we had imagined.
There must be at least five thousand f**king people in that village!
All the houses are packed with Rebel Army members.
Without a doubt, you guys could very easily kill everyone inside the Free Syrian’s headquarters, but then you’ll be taken out by the people on the outside.”
Gao Yang stroked his chin, looking helpless, and said, “What’s this then?
Plucking a tiger’s tooth?”
Raja nodded, made a gesture of pulling something out, and said helplessly, “Exactly, extracting a tooth from a tiger’s mouth with bare hands.
The tiger may be asleep, but it will wake up the moment you pull the tooth.”
It was a difficult situation, too difficult.
Gao Yang began to think about simply retreating then and there.
Their lives were more important, after all.
It was impossible to continue with such a clearly suicidal mission.
Of course, Gao Yang wouldn’t announce a retreat right away.
After pondering for a moment, he asked Raja, “So, is there anything else?”
Raja exhaled and said, “I walked a long way, looked over many places, and even went to the main battlefield of the Victory Front.
I saw the recent attack they launched at the prison gate.
Honestly, I don’t think they’ll be able to take down the prison quickly now.
Those Rebel Army members can’t even get close to the prison without being killed.
At least a dozen died halfway there.”
After finishing, Raja, with a look of disgust, continued, “I also saw Ali and Hasan.
Ali was wearing a white robe when he was hit rushing into the prison.
He detonated the Fake Medicine prematurely, and didn’t leave a corpse behind.
Hasan was also shot, but didn’t die.
I don’t think he’ll bother us anymore.”
“Ali is dead?
Whew, these, these damn lunatics!”
Raja, with a look of disgust, said, “That Hasan deserves to die even more.
Alright, these brainless fools who don’t know how to cherish life got what they deserved.
Let’s get back to the matter at hand.
The village to the north is crammed with Rebel Army members, and there are quite a lot of foreigners among them.
The key thing is, I found a number of mercenaries there.”
“Oh, mercenaries?
What’s that about?”
After thinking carefully, Raja replied with a serious face, “Those mercenaries, you can tell they’re not Syrians—lots of Western faces.
I think they must be people sent by America or some country to assist the Rebel Army.
They’re all very mysterious, arrogant, and they seem to hold a high status, at least the Victory Front people can’t command them.”
“This is important.
Are there a lot of them?”
After reflecting for a moment, Raja nodded and said, “A lot.
Many of them spoke Russian, and judging by their attire, I think they must be Chechens.
There are many of them.
The rest mostly spoke English, and some spoke French.
In short, all sorts of people, and most of them were well-equipped.”
Gao Yang thought for a moment and said, “Good, if there are many of these people, then we won’t stand out too much when we mix in.
That’s excellent.
It seems we need to go see the village for ourselves.” (To be continued.
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