Chapter 1920 - 1415: The Long Wait (Part 2)

If he speaks, how will he explain the source of the information?

If he speaks, how will Walker see him?

A coward scared by anonymous information?

A rat who might leak the news?

And what if it's just a coincidence?

What if someone sent it by mistake?

Swift stared at the message for a full three minutes.

Finally, he deleted it.

He put the phone back in his pocket and drained the whiskey left in his glass.

The alcohol burned in his stomach, but couldn't drive away the chill.

He walked out of the surveillance room, onto the empty ground outside the warehouse.

The night wind was cold, cutting his face like a knife.

In the distance, the sparse lights of Buckda City District twinkled, a city that had endured too many wars, having long learned to be silent at night.

In the sky, a drone flew silently by.

Small, quiet, like a night bird.

Swift glanced up, assuming it was a US Army reconnaissance drone, paying it no mind.

He didn't know, that drone was coming from another direction.

The camera under the fuselage slowly rotated, capturing the empty C-7 Zone warehouse, capturing his figure standing in the cold wind, capturing the convoy tail lights disappearing on the northern road.

Mosul Command Center.

Song Heping watched the real-time footage and said to Samir, "They've set off."

Samir stared at the red light representing the convoy on the screen: "Fifty vehicles, more than two hundred mercenaries guarding them. Looks like this Walker is indeed willing to spend money."

"Because the cargo is worth a few hundred million US Dollars." Song Heping said calmly, "Notify Abbas and Bashir, the prey has emerged. Act according to the plan, remember, we want the cargo, not slaughter."

Orders were transmitted through encrypted channels to the Amadiye Mountain Area.

Four thousand ambush troops stared through the mist, each finger on the trigger, adjusting cannon angles, missiles locked onto preset positions.

Meanwhile at Buckda Base, Major Walker had just returned to his office.

He opened the safe, inside was a thick pile of transfer certificates, an encrypted USB drive, and several passports with different names.

He picked up the satellite phone and dialed a Switzerland number.

"The convoy has set off." he said in a low voice, "Expected to arrive at the designated location in thirty-six hours. Please prepare the second phase of payment."

A deep voice came from the other end of the line: "We've received word, the Amadiye area hasn't been peaceful lately. Have you ensured the route's safety?"

"Of course." Walker said confidently, "I've hired the best cleaner. That road is now safer than Buckda's Green Zone."

"Let's hope so. Many people are watching this cargo, including... the original buyer."

Walker laughed, "The original buyer is just an intermediary, what can he do? Send his mercenaries to rob? Does he dare to go against the US military?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line.

"Don't underestimate anyone, Walker. Especially those who've survived in the gray areas for over a decade. They survived, not by luck."

"I understand." Walker said, although his tone was full of disdain, "But I have the entire system as back-up. In this land, the United States is like God. And God... doesn't lose."

The call ended.

Walker placed the satellite phone back in the safe, locking it.

He walked to the window and gazed at the northern night sky.

In a few hours, the convoy will enter the mountain area. In a dozen hours, six hundred million US Dollars will be credited to his account. His share—fifteen percent, ninety million US Dollars—will be distributed across seven offshore accounts.

Enough for him to retire, enough to buy a small island in the Caribbean Sea, enough to forget it all: war, corruption, theft, and those who may die because of this equipment.

The phone rang, it was Swift.

"Walker, I... I'm still feeling uneasy. Maybe we should send a drone to scout the Amadiye route?"

Walker sighed, "Swift, get some sleep. You're under too much pressure. Everything is under control, I assure you."

He hung up the phone, shook his head, and sighed.

Someone as indecisive as Swift will never achieve great things.

They will be troubled by conscience, shackled by fear, and hesitate at critical moments.

But he won't.

He knows the rules of this world: might is truth, money is justice.

As for Song Heping?

If he's smart, he'll just swallow this dumb loss.

Walker opened the computer and began planning his retirement life.

He completely ignored the time displayed at the bottom right corner of the screen, it was already past midnight.

A new day has begun.

And that batch of equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars is heading towards a carefully designed trap.

In that fog-covered valley, four thousand pairs of wolf-like eyes were fixed on the inevitable route, waiting for their prey to fall into the trap.

Second day, 4:17 PM, Amadiye Mountain Area, altitude 2143 meters.

Wind rolled up from deep within the canyon, with stones and dust beating against the rocks.

Colonel Abbas Hardy of the Tenth Division crouched behind a moss-covered basalt, the high-powered binocular lens reflecting gray-white light under the gloomy sky.

The crosshairs of the binoculars slowly swept over the winding snake-like road below.

This was a road forgotten by time and war.

The asphalt surface long cracked, with hardy thistles and camel thorn growing in the gaps.

The road width barely allowed two trucks to pass with difficulty, one side was a nearly vertical limestone cliff, the other was a gorge over one hundred seventy meters deep, with the faint sight of white pebbles on the dry riverbed below.