Chapter 1817 - 1380: Suspicious Background (Part 2)

"What else?"

"This." Jiang Feng sent over a picture.

Song Heping enlarged the image.

It was a half-burnt badge, its metal edges melted and deformed, but the central design was still discernible.

An eagle clutching olive branches and arrows, with the Latin words "E Pluribus Unum" beneath. The official emblem of the United States Department of State.

"Are you sure it was found on site?"

"One hundred percent. Buried under a pile of rubble, it would not have been found without a metal detector," Jiang Feng said. "I've stored it safely and ensured no one from the Iraq Military saw it."

"You did the right thing," Song Heping praised. "Any other discoveries?"

"There is a half-burnt diary, written in Arabic. Our people are trying to reconstruct it, but so far we've only discerned a few words." Jiang Feng read: "'Agreement,' 'Betrayal,' 'Revenge,' 'Poison Snake's Nest.' There are also some numbers that look like coordinates, but we haven't deciphered them yet."

"Send me the coordinates. Continue reconstructing the diary using all methods possible."

"Understood."

"Erase all traces," Song Heping insisted again. "Especially that badge and those fragments, hide them well and bring them back."

After hanging up, Song Heping paced around the room.

The fragments began to piece together, but the resulting pattern was unsettling.

CIA recruiting Misu for a framing operation, Misu defecting, the Americans now wanting to silence him, the State Department's badge appearing in a chemical weapons lab...

If his guess was correct, this was not merely a pursuit of terrorists but a reckoning involving high-level secrets.

Misu knew too much.

About chemical weapons, about the framing plan, about the United States' secret operations in Siria.

Now, everyone wanted him.

Alive, they wanted to see him; dead, they wanted to see his body.

At night, at two in the morning, Song Heping still couldn't sleep.

He opened his laptop, connected to the encrypted network, and began searching for reports related to the 2014 chemical weapons attack in Siria.

Western media almost unanimously blamed the Siria government, citing videos and photos from the "White Helmets" as evidence.

But some independent investigation reports raised doubts, noting discrepancies at the attack site that didn't align with the government army's chemical weapon stockpiles.

In a United Nations investigation report ignored by mainstream media, Song Heping found crucial details.

In a sarin gas attack in Northern Siria in 2015, the victims' symptoms exhibited subtle differences from known sarin poisoning characteristics.

The report cautiously stated: "The possibility of modified or mixed formulations being used in the attack cannot be ruled out."

Improved formulations.

This was precisely what a chemical expert like Misu could provide.

Outside, an engine started up.

Song Heping walked to the window and saw the Delta Force preparing to set off.

Three modified MRAP vehicles drove out of the industrial zone without headlights, relying solely on night vision equipment.

The convoy vanished into the night, like ghosts swallowed by darkness.

Major General Duke stood at the entrance, watching the convoy leave.

Then he looked up, precisely at Song Heping's window.

Song Heping didn't look away.

He nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Duke also nodded back, with a similarly small gesture, then turned and walked back inside.

He turned off the computer and lay down on the military cot.

The mattress was thin, and he could feel the springs underneath.

A long crack stretched across the ceiling, from the corner to the center, like a frontline marked on a map.

A distant explosion echoed, not gunfire, but a duller booming sound.

Perhaps a car bomb or an improvised rocket.

Nights in Mosul were never peaceful.

Song Heping closed his eyes but remained in a semi-awake state.

This was the battlefield sleep method—resting the body while keeping the mind alert.

He heard footsteps in the corridor, snatches of conversation from the stairwell, the sentry's change of guard commands in the distance.

Then, at 3:17 AM, he heard an unusual sound.

Very faint, almost drowned out by the wind.

A metallic scraping sound from the ceiling ventilation duct.

He kept his breathing steady, eyes opened just a crack.

His hand slowly moved under the pillow, grasping the grip of his Glock 19.

The grating was gently pushed open, and a small black object dropped onto the carpeted floor without a sound.

It was a USB drive wrapped in tape.

The grate quietly closed again, and the footsteps receded through the ductwork, disappearing into the building's depths.

Song Heping waited five minutes, then got up and picked up the USB drive.

Written on it with a marker was a small line: "You'll definitely be interested."

Flipping it over, he found a series of numbers.

He inserted the USB drive, which was identified as an encrypted folder by the computer.

Password hint—please enter the correct password.

Song Heping thought for a moment, referred to the note, and input the numbers from it.

The folder opened up.

It was filled with scanned documents.

CIA internal memos, operation plans, communication records, photographs.

He skimmed through them quickly, his heart pounding.

The memo's title: "'Seeder' Operation Approval Document."

Launch date: June 3, 2013.

Summary: Recruit and penetrate chemical experts into Organization 1515, assist in developing chemical weapon capabilities, fabricate attacks to implicate the Silia Government Army.

Operation Leader: H. Deans.

Approval Agency: Middle East Special Operations Committee.

In the final authorization section, Song Heping saw a familiar name—Vincent Crawford.

"Hmm?"

He was somewhat surprised.

That was the former CIA Director, Simon's old boss.

There were more names further down.