699: Chapter Six Hundred Ninety-One: Duty 699: Chapter Six Hundred Ninety-One: Duty Gao Yang had completely stopped worrying about the future; all he cared about now was how to leave South Africa.
Just as they had entered the city from the suburbs, Mark Yves glanced around and then immediately waved his hand, “Stop the car.
We can’t wait any longer.
Get out quickly right here.”
The Bentley sedan stopped by the roadside, and then the bodyguard sitting to Gao Yang’s right immediately opened the door and stood at the side of the road.
After Gao Yang got out, including Mark Yves and the driver, four people surrounded him, one on each side, front, back, and left, encasing Gao Yang in the middle.
A crafty hare has three burrows, and a man like Grand Ivan would certainly have multiple safe houses prepared for himself, like the command post Ivan used to coordinate Grand Ivan’s rescue or the villa that was recently blown up—places like these are all safe houses.
Gao Yang thought he was going to be taken to another safe house, but to his surprise, after getting out of the car, Mark Yves looked around and then said in a low voice, “We walk, leave the car first, and then look for a place to take shelter.”
Gao Yang whispered, “Just walk on the streets like this?
Has our security situation really deteriorated to this extent?”
Mark Yves nodded and said, “We don’t know if those safe houses have been compromised.
For safety’s sake, we must abandon them all.
Now let’s hurry up and go!”
Gao Yang was dressed in pajamas, with slippers on his feet, while the two bodyguards next to him wore ordinary jackets.
Mark Yves and the driver were both dressed in suits, making theirs a rather conspicuous group.
They had walked briskly forward for a distance, perhaps four or five hundred meters, when Mark Yves suddenly gestured with his hand, and the five of them quickly turned into a narrow alley off the street.
The two bodyguards in jackets moved even closer to Gao Yang, positioning their bodies to shield him toward the mouth of the alley, on the alert for any bullets that might come their way.
They had walked about a dozen meters down the alley when a convoy roared past behind them.
Gao Yang turned his head to look; there were at least a dozen military vehicles, including four or five wheeled armored vehicles that had passed by them.
Mark Yves spoke in a grave tone, “We are still on the essential route from the villa to leave the city.
I estimate our car will be discovered.
We must enter any accessible building immediately.”
Gao Yang didn’t know what kind of crisis Grand Ivan was facing, but the situation had turned dire in an instant.
Logic would suggest that even if Grand Ivan was to leave South Africa, he should be able to do so openly and confidently.
Yet now, it looked like there was even the risk of being ambushed and pursued.
Gao Yang exhaled and said in a low voice, “Give me a gun!”
The two bodyguards ignored Gao Yang’s request, continually scanning their surroundings.
However, the driver who had just been driving, upon hearing the request, took out a pistol from the holster under his arm and then fished out a magazine from his pocket and handed it to Gao Yang, saying in a low voice, “There’s only one magazine.”
Gao Yang looked down and saw that the pistol the driver had given him was a Walther PPK, and its caliber was the now-rare 7.65mm.
The PPK is a compact self-defense pistol, which isn’t strange – though it can serve as a bodyguard weapon if necessary, the driver’s main job was still that of a driver, so the gun he carried wouldn’t likely be large.
Therefore, the Glock 17 that the driver was holding was a spare gun taken from the car, while the PPK given to Gao Yang was his personal sidearm.
No matter the size, having a gun in hand made Gao Yang feel much more secure.
However, at that moment, he still didn’t feel a strong sense of crisis, because he believed that whether it was South Africans or Americans, the main target was Grand Ivan.
As long as he could reach a safe place to change his clothes and the like, he thought he should be out of trouble soon.
As they hurried through the alley, Gao Yang suddenly felt a push on his neck from behind that propelled him forward.
Before Gao Yang had a chance to look back, he heard the sharp crack of gunfire, and his bodyguards also began returning fire with their pistols.
Gao Yang turned his head back and saw that a black man in a black suit had already fallen to the ground at the entrance of the alley, but there were still three other people shooting at them with rifles.
One of Gao Yang’s bodyguards had already hit the ground, while the other had positioned himself in front of Gao Yang and bellowed, “Go!”
At this moment, the driver and Mark Yves were also firing their pistols at the three people at the alley entrance.
Gao Yang watched as the bodyguard in front of him who was forcefully pushing him took two bursts of blood to the chest and then fell backward.
Although Gao Yang had been running at a quick pace, one of his slippers had already come off.
But after seeing the bodyguard get shot, Gao Yang stopped running.
He turned around and lay down on his back on the ground.
As his back hit the ground, he immediately began firing the small pistol in his hand.
There were four enemies at the entrance of the alley, about twenty meters away from Gao Yang.
Two had already been shot by the time the ambush was sprung from behind, and the attackers had opened fire upon discovery of Gao Yang and his group, clearly intending to kill them.
Lying on the ground, with a slight distance from the enemies, Gao Yang didn’t dare to aim for their heads with the less powerful handgun.
Instead, he aimed for their chests and fired two shots.
Gao Yang was certain he hit his target, but the shot person only swayed a bit.
Gao Yang quickly shifted his aim lower and fired the remaining five bullets at the man’s thighs.
The 7.65mm Browning bullets used by the PPK aren’t very powerful, and they’re too weak against protected targets, but once a 7.65mm Browning bullet enters the human body, it tumbles, which makes it quite lethal against unprotected personnel.
Gao Yang didn’t know how many shots had hit the enemy, but both adversaries had been shot in the legs, and the two men holding rifles immediately fell to the ground.
In the moment the enemies hit the ground and were unable to fire, Gao Yang took a SIG P226 pistol from the bodyguard lying at his feet, aimed carefully, and fired repeatedly at the targets lying on the ground, still trying to point their guns at him.
Six bullets were fired, and each of the four downed enemies was hit in the head.
From the start of firing to its end, less than ten seconds had passed.
As the fight concluded, Gao Yang immediately went to check on his bodyguards, but at that moment, Mark Yves shouted urgently in a low voice, “Forget about him!
Get moving!
Magi, go get the target’s slippers back!
Quick!”
Gao Yang glanced over and saw that his bodyguard was still breathing, and although he had been shot twice in the chest, both bullets had hit the lungs; he wouldn’t die immediately and might even be saved, while the other bodyguard was also alive, having been shot in the neck.
Even though he wasn’t killed instantly, blood was gushing out, and it was only a matter of time before he would die beyond saving.
Gao Yang grabbed the arm of the bodyguard in front of him, trying to drag him away with him, but Mark Yves rushed over to Gao Yang, slapped his hand away, and said, “He was protecting you, not the other way around.
Go!”
Gao Yang, too, was frantic.
He once again slapped Mark Yves’s hand away and shouted angrily, “Bring him with us!”
Gao Yang had never met his bodyguards before, he didn’t even know their names, but both had taken bullets for him.
As far as Gao Yang was concerned, he couldn’t leave behind any comrade, especially not the bodyguards who had taken shots for him; they were his brothers-in-arms.
Mark Yves wasn’t wasting words with Gao Yang.
He squatted in front of the bodyguard and whispered, “Brother, I’ll end your pain.”
The shot bodyguard nodded slightly and weakly raised his left hand.
Mark Yves took a magazine from the bodyguard’s left hand, and then he raised his gun to the heart of the bodyguard and fired two shots.
The driver named Magi had already picked up Gao Yang’s slippers and even glanced at the end of the alley to check on the enemies who had attacked them.
By the time Mark Yves finished off Gao Yang’s bodyguard, Magi was already back by Gao Yang’s side.
Without a glance at the bodyguard killed by Mark Yves, Magi slipped the slippers onto Gao Yang’s feet and, together with Mark Yves, lifted Gao Yang by his arms, raising him to his feet.
After getting Gao Yang on his feet, Mark Yves whispered, “Careful not to lose your slippers again, you could leave behind DNA information.
Let’s go!”
Gao Yang turned and ran.
The person he wanted to save was already dead; there was no need to waste any more time, but his head was still in a daze.
After running about fifty meters forward in the alley and taking a turn at a junction, the three of them entered another alley.
Then, Mark Yves checked the surroundings and pointed in a direction, whispering, “Over there, just get into any house.
We need to change our clothes.”
Magi also said urgently, “They’re from the South African National Intelligence Agency, no mistake about it.”
Gao Yang had never fired at his own people or seen it done before.
His belief was that as long as there was a glimmer of hope, one should not abandon anyone.
He could hardly bear to watch a comrade die from friendly fire right in front of him.
Seeing Gao Yang still shocked, Mark Yves sighed and said, “Our mission is to protect you; we had neither the time nor the chance to save him.
Taking him with us would have only caused him more pain.
You need to understand; protecting you was his duty.
If you were endangered because of him, then it would be his dereliction of duty, as well as mine.
I cannot accept such a situation occurring.”
Gao Yang nodded as he moved quickly, saying, “I understand these things.”
Indeed, Gao Yang understood that when his bodyguard couldn’t be saved in a short period of time and was going to die anyway, Mark Yves’s two shots to his comrade’s heart spared the bodyguard from a painful struggle with death.
Gao Yang simply found it difficult to accept and was grieved.
He had faced death many times before and had seen death too often, but it truly pained him to see someone die taking bullets for him.
Grieved as he might be, his bodyguards had fulfilled their duty, and Gao Yang had no intention nor could he afford to let the two bodyguards die in vain.
Thus, after seeing Mark Yves shoot his bodyguard, Gao Yang immediately shut his mouth, as he couldn’t afford to waste another second on any futile words.
After walking a bit in the alley, Gao Yang and his companions turned onto a slightly larger road and entered a residential area.
There were few pedestrians on the streets, all black, and after a brisk walk, Mark Yves suddenly said, “Come with me, let’s go in here.” (To be continued.
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