Chapter Twenty-Four: Fierce Assault

  Ahmed nodded to the two stormtroopers standing at an angle to the courtyard gate, and the iron gate creaked open. A sleepy armed man walked out of the door with slow steps, still muttering to himself.

  "What the f**k, this son of a b*tch is still sleeping, I'm f**king speechless." Ahmed cursed under his breath and suddenly pounced from the side, his strong left arm directly locking onto the armed man's neck.

  "What's going on?" The armed personnel rubbed their nose, feeling that something was off. The bloody smell in the air was too strong. Suddenly, they were wide awake and their drowsiness disappeared.

  "Where's the sentinel?" The armed personnel, who had just been drowsy, instinctively sensed danger. But at this moment, his throat was suddenly grasped from behind by an arm and tightened, despite struggling with all his might, but that thick arm was getting tighter and tighter. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

  Taking a slight step back, Ahmed tightened his grip on the arms locked around the throat of this wretched man and dragged the struggling armed man to the side of the door. His right hand then drew out that sharp military dagger from the crook of his bent knee.

  "Don't worry, don't worry, everything will be alright, it won't hurt much, very soon, really won't hurt." Sweat-drenched Ahmed whispered in the ear of this struggling armed man, his hands not stopping for a moment.

  The sharp blade of the knife cut in at an angle from under the arm that was gripping his throat, and from the moment it touched the icy blade of the military dagger to his neck, the armed man who had been gripped by Ahmed made a desperate struggle before dying. The armed man with a terrified look on his face waved his arms wildly, trying to grab something but unable to grasp anything. He wanted to stop the person behind him and he also wanted to shout for help, but his choked throat couldn't make any sound.

  The struggling lamb was desperate, he could feel the icy blade cutting into his neck with no emotional color, bringing intense pain. The sharp knife edge parted the skin, scraping against the collarbone as it seemed to touch bone. The blade continued to cut inward, while his swinging arm became increasingly powerless. Finally, a warm jet of blood spurted out.

  Right after that was the sudden difficulty breathing. As his eyes gradually dimmed, he clearly heard the hollow sound of his own breathing, which was the bubbling sound formed by the turbid air blowing through the blood foam when the trachea was broken. He no longer felt any pain.

  Ahmed released his grip, and the body thudded to the ground. After a few twitches, it lay still. The dark red liquid oozing from the gruesome wound on its neck appeared as a sickening black in the night vision goggles' pale green screen. The blood slowly spread outwards.

  "Alright, let's go in." Ahmed took a deep breath, shook his head, slung the automatic rifle over his shoulder and said to the team.

  A point man carrying a suppressed submachine gun nodded at Ahmed, indicating he was ready. Ahmed raised his left thumb and nodded. On the other side, an assault man readied his rifle, his AK-47 pointed diagonally at the door.

  Ahmed slightly shifted his body, pushing the courtyard gate open with his right hand. The sharp soldiers quickly slipped in from the opened gate. "Up!" Ahmed shouted in a low voice, and the assault team followed closely behind the sharp soldiers, rushing in as well. "Go, go, go." Ahmed raised his left palm, waving it, and four or five figures rushed into the courtyard one after another.

  He glanced at the corpse on the ground, Ahmed lowered his head and followed him in. The situation in the courtyard had been brought under control. Two corpses that were shot down by 9mm bullets from a silenced submachine gun lay behind the sandbags, still bleeding profusely.

  "Ready!" Ahmed walked up to the small building where Rava lived, saying to the scouts who were half-surrounding it. Two sharpshooters with their rifles at the ready nodded in understanding and quietly moved to either side of the entrance door.

  The noise inside was faintly transmitted through the thick iron door, and it seemed that the people in the command center had not noticed anything unusual outside. Seeing that everything was almost ready, Ahmed nodded, and a mobilized soldier with an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder crept forward to install the explosive device on the iron door.

  "Third squad, sniper, take out the firepower point." Ahmed knew that at this point, their actions could no longer be concealed. As the demolitions expert installed explosives, he gave the order to attack without hesitation to the covering unit.

  As Ahmed's voice fell, the heavy firepower hands occupying the high ground in the distance pulled down the RPG on their shoulders without hesitation. Six rockets with long tails of smoke tore through the quiet and hot night sky.

  The residence of Rava was surrounded, and a fierce explosion sounded at the same time. Then, several crisp gunshots added to the lively atmosphere. The machine gun firepower points scattered around the residence were either attacked by rockets or the machine gunners inside were killed by snipers.

  Ahmed and others are just the most basic combat units, not as good as other troops, but to deal with these armed personnel who have not received regular training, there is absolutely no problem.

  Drip, drip, drip, several fixed explosive devices on the iron gate flashed red signal lights one after another. The blaster who returned made an OK gesture to Ahmed, indicating that everything was ready. Ahmed nodded and raised his right palm.

  The scouts who had formed a semicircle quickly dispersed to either side of the door, pressing themselves against the wall, bowing their heads and getting into position with their guns.

  "4, 3, 2, 1, blast off!" Along with Ahmed's right hand suddenly clenched into a fist, the blasting hand firmly pressed down on the ignition key.

  A low, muffled explosion shook the air, a massive shockwave suddenly blew the entire iron gate open, and choking thick smoke spread out. Inside the house, there was a chaotic cry of panic. This sudden explosion also extinguished the lights in the Defense Command Center.

  "Flashbang!" Ahmed roared, and the two guards on either side of the entrance flicked their wrists, sending two flashbang grenades flying into the room.

  "Boom!" Although his eyes were closed, Ahmed could still feel the intense light flashing out from the entrance of the house. "Up!" Ahmed shouted loudly. Two assaulters flashed out simultaneously from both sides, and the sharp soldiers quickly rushed into the house. Immediately after that, two more assaulters also entered in a file, occupying several corners of the small house one by one.

  "We've been exposed, the enemy will arrive soon to reinforce, let's end this quickly!"

  The armed men, blinded by the intense light and suffering from temporary loss of vision, were running around in a panic. Some pulled out their guns, but they were no match for the hail of bullets pouring out of the automatic rifles wielded by the storming troops. The soft chatter of the submachine gun was interspersed with the staccato three-round bursts and single shots from the AK-47s. Ahmed, who had burst into the room at gunpoint, could clearly hear the desperate wails and the "clinking" sound of shell casings hitting the ground. Inside the house, all was chaos.

  He was originally at home enjoying the fine wine and good food, when suddenly he heard a few loud explosions, then saw his front door blown open, followed by bullets flying into his body. Just moments before, he had been expecting the Chinese man he had threatened to hand over one million US dollars, but he never thought that his life would end at this moment.

  "Secure", "Clear", "Cleared". The repetitive reports echoed in his earpiece, occasionally punctuated by the sound of scattered gunfire. Looking at the house riddled with bullets, Ahmed suddenly felt a wave of nausea wash over him.

  "Hurry up!" Ahmed glanced at the scouts walking slowly among the corpses with their guns on their shoulders, and put down his own gun. "Set up the bait, hurry up and retreat, I estimate that the enemy's reinforcements will arrive soon."

  Just as they were talking, intense gunfire erupted outside.

  "Sir, pull out as soon as possible, reinforcements are coming from the 9 o'clock direction at the end of the street." The sniper deployed outside on high ground hastily spoke through the channel "There are at least forty or fifty troops, no armored vehicles for cover."

  "Got it." Ahmed replied lightly. "Hurry up, hurry up, don't waste time." Turning around, Ahmed shouted at the team members who were busy searching for the documents, "Is the radar set up yet?" Ahmed asked.

  "It's all right, it's done." The blaster in the back of the house excitedly replied "Let them see some color."

  Ahmed didn't make a sound, just nodded. At this time, the courtyard outside had already been thrown into chaos. Hearing the sudden explosion, the armed personnel patrolling around rushed to check the situation, and as a result, one of the first groups that ran out was knocked down by a burst of machine gun fire after turning the corner.

  "Outer firepower cover, all armed pickup trucks, we're making a break for it."

  With a loud screeching of tires, before the armed personnel who came to support could react, three pickup trucks rushed out of the iron gate and drove wildly on the street, with the heavy machine guns in the back also spitting fire tongues.

  In the midst of gunfire, screams and curses, three pickup trucks sped away, while several others that attempted to chase after them were reduced to a heap of scrap metal by rocket fire in the distance.