Day seven.
Jasper sat dozing in his exclusive large leather chair in the monitoring room at Langley.
He hadn't been home for seven days.
As an agent, not going home is normal.
But the monotony of this prolonged surveillance process was driving him insane.
Every day, the drone would hover over the Atlon Oasis, conducting reconnaissance on the base where Song Heping was located.
Every day, it would take hundreds of high-resolution photos of the ground.
Jasper was getting sick of seeing Song Heping's face in the photos; he'd never stared at a picture this long, not even when he was in love and carried his partner's photo around.
"Huh—"
He yawned and stretched lazily.
He looked at the clock on the wall; it was three in the morning.
At that time, it was daytime in Sudan.
With a 6-hour time difference, it was past nine in the morning at the Atlon Oasis.
He leisurely poured himself another cup of coffee, then slowly turned his gaze to the screen.
At this time every day, Song Heping would wake up and appear on the camp's open space to run, then return to sit under a tree near his tent and have breakfast with his subordinates.
This was his daily routine, without exception.
Jasper felt that Song Heping was a disciplined person, perhaps due to his military experience. At least, during the days of surveillance, he would routinely jog, and in the afternoons, he would go to the nearby hillside for various rapid-fire and response shooting exercises, occasionally using a sniper rifle.
As seen in the surveillance footage, this guy's marksmanship was indeed excellent, never missing a shot.
No wonder Mossad and the "Watcher" had suffered greatly at his hands before.
Killing him with a bomb might be the best option.
Sending a ground team to eliminate this madman was not a great choice.
But today, he suddenly noticed that Song Heping on the screen seemed different than usual.
"Hmm?"
Jasper rubbed his eyes.
On the screen, Song Heping, in tactical gear, with a few mercenary-looking bodyguards, walked out of the tent and stood near the parking lot.
His subordinates gathered around, seemingly discussing something.
To Jasper's surprise, mercenaries were loading things onto two SUVs, and Song Heping said something to them after talking briefly with his subordinates.
It looked like they were going out.
"Is he leaving?"
Jasper sat up straight suddenly.
"The target seems to be leaving the camp."
The agent responsible for monitoring the screen turned to report: "Sir, what should we do?"
Jasper was wide awake, immediately grabbing the phone on the table and dialing Pence's number.
Pence had gone home to be with his wife.
But his house was not far from headquarters, less than five kilometers away.
The phone rang twice before connecting.
"Jasper, waking me up this late, you better have a good reason."
"SIR, Song Heping is about to leave the camp."
Jasper got straight to the point.
"What?"
Pence, who sounded slightly tired, immediately became tense.
He then heard shuffling sounds.
Jasper deduced Pence was getting out of bed.
"Where is he going?"
"Not sure yet, but we see him in the parking lot, and the subordinates are loading things into the SUV. They seem to be leaving soon. What should we do?"
"I'm coming over right now, but you can give me your opinion first."
Pence had already gotten up, hurriedly putting on his clothes.
"I suggest immediate action because it takes five hours for the attack drones to fly from the Middle East to the sky over the Atlon Oasis, and during that time, Song Heping could disappear."
"Can't we keep monitoring him with drones?"
"We can, but it's currently unclear where he's going. If the place he goes passes through the radar scan area of UN Peacekeeping Forces, it could expose our drone's presence. Once exposed, it could cause a diplomatic incident, and the President might have to explain."