The MQ-1 Predator drone circled at an altitude of approximately 4000 meters above Mosul, its forward-looking infrared camera underneath the fuselage rotating slightly, monitoring everything near Rashim Street.
Inside the Mosul operation command center, Brigadier General Yue Ke and his staff sat in front of the monitoring screens.
On the large screen ahead, the outlines of buildings in the Rashim District were clearly visible.
Three humanoid bright spots moved between the buildings, using various covers to enter the Rashim District.
"Incredible!"
Brigadier General Yue Ke scratched his cheek and wiped his chin's stubble with a look of disbelief on his face.
"They actually went in."
As he spoke, he turned to look at Major Lonnie beside him.
"Lonnie, which PMC company are these guys from?"
"Musician Defense."
Major Lonnie hurriedly gave the reply.
"The CIA sent so many people in before, and not one could make it to the city center to find the 'Hunters' hideout. Who would have thought a mercenary leader could actually do it..."
He couldn't help but laugh, although it was a self-mocking kind of laughter.
"Should I say our intelligence department is excellent or rubbish?"
Major Lonnie quickly offered an excuse: "Commander, it's not exactly like that, there's only one mercenary in the action team, the rest are our people."
Brigadier General Yue Ke continued with the self-mocking smile, shaking his head slightly.
He didn't want to continue mocking his own people.
But the reality was right in front of him. After so many months of activity, the forces around Mosul hadn't accomplished much, and they were harassed by snipers and armed organizations in the city so much that they didn't dare to station in the district. In the end, it was the leader of a PMC company that brought a stunning breakthrough…
He said to Lonnie, "You did well this time, at least you used the right person. Go back and get ready. After the Air Force conducts the precision strike, all troops will immediately start the ground operation. We must completely clear out the militants in the city this time!"
"YES SIR!"
Lonnie, receiving praise, was very happy, standing at attention with his back straighter than usual.
After Lonnie left, Brigadier General Yue Ke picked up the operation plan on the table and read it from start to finish again.
Seeing those very detailed and professional hand-drawn maps and the result calculated by the "cross method", he thought that this man named Song Heping was simply a military commander of natural talent.
"What a pity, he's a China People..."
He muttered to himself.
...
Near Rashim Street, in a room inside a building.
In the darkness, several armed militants lay sleeping on the carpet in the corner, and one stood at the window on sentry duty, behind which a DShK heavy machine gun was mounted, loaded with a belt of ammunition, ready to fire.
The building below was very quiet, with no one in the streets. Since the entire city was out of power, it was shrouded in darkness.
Fortunately, the moonlight was like water, illuminating the night and making the objects on the street faintly visible.
The sentry held a Soviet T3C-2 type night vision goggles in hand and could use it to observe dark places when visibility was poor.
This model of night vision goggle had infrared mode, was monocular, had a relatively narrow field of view, and was bulky, holding it felt like gripping a large flashlight.
If it weren't for its night vision capabilities, the sentry would definitely have thrown it aside and not bothered with it.
Knock knock knock—
There was a knock at the door.
"Who is it?"
He asked impatiently.
"It's me."
The person outside didn't answer with a name.
The sentry figured it must be one of the guys downstairs who had left something behind during the shift change.
After all, this floor was merely for sleeping, with everyone taking turns on sentry duty, changing shifts every four hours.
There were always some idiots who would forget to take their gear or water when they went out, leaving it upstairs and coming back to knock.
He walked to the door, irritated yet cautious, and casually opened it.
Click—
Before he could even see who the person was, a flash of gunfire erupted from the darkness, and his head was violently knocked back as if something heavy had hit his forehead, and his body softened and fell down.
Song Heping stepped forward and grabbed the sentry by the collar, while Mist entered the room with the gun raised.
The militants lying on the ground continued to sleep soundly, unaware that the Grim Reaper had arrived at their doorstep.
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