Cold metal doesn't reflect light in the night.
He took a deep breath to steady his heartbeat.
One.
His body slightly leaned forward, muscles taut like bowstrings.
Two.
His gaze locked onto the gap between the target's neck and the car window.
Three.
Almost simultaneously, two shadows leaped from both sides of the vehicle's shadows, swiftly approaching the unfortunate SUV!
The people in the car remained oblivious, the man on watch still looking down at his phone.
Song Heping had already moved to the right rear of the car, pressing against the body and approaching the window, as fast as lightning.
His left hand accurately reached through the half-open window gap, clamping down on the driver's mouth and nose like iron, while his right hand extended with the gun, the silencer tip pressed against the opponent's temple.
Thud—
With a muffled sound, the man's body trembled violently, then went limp.
Simultaneously, from the other side came an almost indistinguishable faint sound.
Jiang Feng and Miroslav had finished eliminating the target in the passenger seat.
As Miroslav's burly arm withdrew from the window, Song Heping noticed the Serbian's cold, expressionless face.
The whole operation lasted less than four seconds.
Song Heping maintained his pressing position for three seconds, confirming the target's vital signs had completely disappeared, then opened the car door and quickly searched inside.
Under the passenger seat was a military walkie-talkie with a lit indicator light, in the storage compartment a handwritten notebook, a pack of cigarettes, and two empty energy drink cans.
He quickly flipped through the notebook, the scrawled handwriting recorded people, vehicles, and time entering and exiting the school, the latest entry was seven hours ago:
"18:30, female, around fifty years old, dark headscarf, carrying a cloth bag leaves. Not intercepted."
He took off the walkie-talkie, turned off the power, and put it in his pocket.
Then adjusted the two corpses to look as if they were resting in the car, turned off the interior light, ensuring nothing appeared unusual from afar.
"Elimination complete. Single surveillance point, no linked equipment found."
Jiang Feng reported.
"But unsure if there is a scheduled reporting program."
"Speed up the operation." Song Heping immediately responded.
Song Heping moved towards the school wall.
Soon, the four regrouped under the west-side school wall, now at a safe distance from the surveillance vehicle.
Miroslav was checking his gloves, noticing a barely visible trace of blood, he emotionlessly wiped it off with dirt from the wall corner.
Song Heping took out the satellite communicator, the screen lit up with a faint green glow in the dark.
The next steps must be as precise as clockwork.
He pressed the start button, input the specific frequency code and identity verification code provided by Duke, then selected the preset contact information:
"Eagle calling fledgling. Arrived at nest perimeter. Requesting safety point location."
A few seconds later, the device vibrated slightly, the screen flashed twice, displaying a line of coordinate codes and brief information:
"Fledgling received. Nest southeast corner, old pump house. Entrance behind the third row of pipes."
Song Heping immediately shared the coordinates with Jiang Feng: "Southeast corner, old pump house."
"Received."
The four simultaneously climbed over the wall from different positions.
Song Heping's palm supported the wall top, his body lightly flipped over, rolling forward upon landing to cushion silently.
Ivan followed closely behind.
Inside the wall was a weed-filled wasteland, the distant main building in the night was merely a darker silhouette.
Following the coordinate's guidance, they quickly traversed the wasteland, reaching the southeast corner of the campus at a half-collapsed brick structure — the old pump house.
Discarded desks and broken teaching equipment piled around the building cast bizarre shadows in the moonlight.
Song Heping noticed the third rusty drain pipe, it extended from the roof to the ground, behind it on the wall, a small metal door almost completely covered by vines.
"You stand guard outside, I'm going in."
After saying that, he stepped forward and knocked on the metal door with a specific rhythm as instructed by Duke: three short, two long, one short.
The door remained silent for a few seconds.
Then came a response knock with the same rhythm.
Soon, the metal door opened a crack inward, an eye cautiously observing outside in the darkness.
After confirming safety, the door fully opened.
A man around thirty-seven or eight stood behind the door, tightly holding a Glock pistol, his eyes bloodshot and highly alert.
"Little Masoud?"
Song Heping used a greeting phrase in Kurdish taught by Duke to ask softly.
The other was highly cautious, not immediately lowering the gun, but nodded, and asked in accented English: "Sent by Duke? Proof."
"ZDJ1123"
Song Heping said the code.
Only then did Little Masoud slightly relax, but kept the gun pointing on the ground in a guarded position: "Come in. Quickly."
The group swiftly entered, the metal door closed silently behind them.
Behind the door was a narrow passage extending downward, only allowing one person to bend through.
The passage ended at an underground room about ten square meters, the air had a musty and old-book smell, but the facilities were complete.
A simple bed, a table piled with papers, several boxes of bottled water and food supplies, even a small diesel generator silently operating in the corner, providing faint lighting and ventilation for the room.
"Sit." Little Masoud gestured the two to sit, carefully checking if the secret door was locked, "How many people came with you?"
"Outside, three team members, our contact agent is in the car." Song Heping replied, "Your father is alive, are you aware?"
Little Masoud's eyes suddenly brightened, then dimmed again: "I figured. If they found the body, it would have been publicized long ago. But they've controlled all my father's confidants. Now, Elbil is Rashid's territory."