Song Heping didn't pause after taking out the team leader.
He knew well that the building must be entirely surrounded, so breaking out from other locations would also be quickly detected.
Thus, he decided to do the unexpected.
The agents must have assumed he'd run upstairs, jump to the neighboring building, and sprint away to safety.
That's what normal people would do.
So, the direction of the café—the front side of the building—would actually be the least guarded.
Returning to break through from there could yield unexpected success.
Again, reality proved Song Heping's judgment to be spot on.
The entrance guards Langsen and the team leader were down.
Song Heping stepped out the front door of the building and surveyed the area—nothing but bodies.
He headed straight toward the café.
A communications agent stepped out from inside.
Upon seeing Song Heping, the man froze in place.
Due to earlier disruptions, he'd stayed in the café, frantically trying to establish contact with his superiors and request technical support.
But to his surprise, the target had turned back and was now standing right in front of him.
"Please—"
Before the agent could finish his plea, Song Heping raised his gun and fired.
Everything was smooth and unhesitating, as if rehearsed.
No mercy.
No hesitation.
Any hesitation would mean his own death.
The technician dropped to the ground, and Song Heping entered the bar area, crouching beside the corpse to remove the man's earpiece and put it into his own ear. He then took off his backpack and shoved it into the counter.
He checked the time.
Five minutes had passed.
The battery on the signal jammer was halfway drained.
That meant five more minutes of signal blackout.
He had to ensure the area remained in communications silence, with no signals getting out.
He pulled out a hand grenade from his canvas bag, removed the safety pin, and carefully placed it under the technician's body, setting up a small trap.
Song Heping didn't have time to assess the effectiveness of such a setup.
But it was bound to cause trouble for the enemy.
That was enough.
As Song Heping busied himself in the café, the CIA agents outside were spiraling into chaos.
The two teams dispatched to the back of the building failed to locate any trace of him.
"Has anyone seen him?!"
"No sighting yet!"
"Is communications restored?!"
"Not yet!"
The Secret Action Department agents were entirely unprepared for tactics that relied on complete radio silence.
Without communications, they had to revert to shouting instructions, making their coordination clumsy and ineffective.
"Did the boss make it upstairs?"
Conte suddenly noticed a strange silence ahead.
He'd heard explosions earlier.
Now, it was eerily quiet.
Two teams were supposed to block all escape routes, with the leader and Langsen taking the offensive.
The silence implied one of two things: either the team had entered the building and found no one inside...
Or...
Conte suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Rod, stay here and keep watch. Shout if anything happens. I'm checking the front entrance."
"OK!"
Conte gripped his MP5 and sprinted toward the front entrance.