Just as the convoy with Song Heping changed its route, bypassing Ramadi and heading south towards Amiji Castle, above them at an altitude of about seven thousand meters, an MQ-1 drone swept across the sky like an eagle, indifferently observing the ground convoy from above.
Meanwhile, over ten thousand kilometers away in a secret Air Force command center in the Nevada Desert of Lighthouse Country, two Air Force officers were sitting in front of the control screens for the MQ-1 Predator drone.
Each had several screens, one of which displayed the GPS navigation trajectory, while another showed the live feed from the drone's nose camera.
In front of the flight controller, the entire escort squad was under the perfect surveillance of the ISA, truly inescapable.
This system, along with the drone itself, had been recently purchased and started to be equipped on a large scale within the Air Force; it was top-notch on a global scale.
The two officers were as relaxed as if they were sitting in front of a computer playing a real-time strategy game, staring at the screens, gripping the controllers, and then reporting movements to the Joint Special Operations Command in the Green Zone of Illigo through radio communication.
Inside the Green Zone command center, the officer in charge of this mission, ISA Colonel Dawn Brown, received the report from Nevada. He stroked his golden-yellow mustache and turned his gaze to a computer nearby.
On the screen was another tracking pattern.
It looked like a tracking graph from some tracking device, with two green dots blinking and moving on the side.
Thomas, sitting beside him, snorted coldly, "Colonel, rest assured, even if they detour into the Siria Desert, they won't escape!"
Song Heping arrived with the convoy
Amiji Castle, part of Anbar Province, was an insignificant town.
Traveling approximately eighty kilometers southwest from Ramadi along the main road would lead to Amiji Castle. Continuing westward across the Siria Desert past Rubat would take one into the territory of Siria Country.
Following the "Illigo Freedom" operation, most battle locations of the coalition forces were situated in the northwest of Illigo and the regions bordering Siria and Turkey Country. The southern part was adjacent to Saudi and Jordan, therefore, the Resistance Organization was relatively less active than in the northwest.
Thus, the convoy didn't encounter much trouble along the way, but after leaving the main road, the condition worsened significantly, causing a slow progression.
Especially when passing through Amiji Castle, pedestrians began appearing along the roadsides, particularly women carrying gas cylinders on their heads, which made one on edge.
Although common in Illigo, and it being a local characteristic for women to take on heavy household duties while men idle away, the explosive power of those gas cylinders was no small matter. Every time Song Heping saw these women, he wondered if they would throw their gas cylinders into the convoy and detonate them the next second.
Aside from the nerve-wracking stretch near Amiji Castle, the rest of the route was sparsely populated; after all, this road was on the edge of the Siria Desert, where endless yellow sand was everywhere, and the buildings were also yellow, as if they were constructed out of sand itself.
Looking at the monotonous scenery continuously receding outside the vehicle, Song Heping felt a mixture of desolation and sadness filling his heart.
This was one of the cradles of ancient civilization in Blue Star's Mesopotamian Plain.
The region was once fertile and rich in resources, positioned on the East-West trade routes—a battleground for various ethnic groups since ancient times.
It gave birth to the renowned ancient kingdoms such as the Cuba Babylon Kingdom, the Assyrian Empire, and the New Babylon Kingdom, created a brilliant culture, and achieved high levels in mathematics and astronomy, even influencing ancient Greek culture.
This area was once rich with oil, where every family had cars and villas, living comfortable lives that others envied.
However, all that Song Heping saw now seemed unrelated to the glorious past.
Rotten corpses, destroyed tanks, cars burnt to frames, and houses riddled with bullet holes.
As the gaunt locals passed by the convoy, Song Heping could even see a certain calmness in their eyes——
It was the calmness of having despaired.
Unable to resist, only to be slaughtered at will.
This country was finished.
Song Heping thought.
At six in the evening, the sky had not yet darkened, the afterglow still present.
The convoy finally reached its destination, Krasa Town.
About five kilometers from the town, the cook ordered the convoy to halt via the communication channel and stopped next to a hill in front.
Unlike the desert area of Amiji Castle, Krasa Town was entirely in an oasis area.
Near Haditha and the famous freshwater lake of Salsal in Illigo, the sight here was different from the endless yellow sands previously seen —there were trees, and quite a number of them.
"Shit!"
The cook came over and ordered Song Heping to get out of the vehicle, instructing the convoy to drive into a grove beneath the hill, and then gathered together the five mercenaries and Angel.
"Krasa Town is right ahead."
He said to Angel, "As I mentioned before, according to the plan, we won't go into the town. We'll wait outside for your informant to contact you; when the final meeting place is determined, we'll then take you over there."
"There's a problem," Angel suddenly said. "When meeting, only a few of you can come with me."
She turned her head and glanced at the ISF security personnel.
"They can't come."
"Why!?"
The cook was stunned.
"You didn't have that requirement before."
"I'm not agreeing just because I don't bring it up," Angel said. "My informant is very sensitive to soldiers under the Temporary Management Committee. He has warned me time and again that if any ISF personnel appear, he'll cancel the meeting immediately."
"Damn it!"
White Bear cursed in Russian off to the side.
Song Heping also felt that this foreign chick, Angel, was going too far.
How could she suddenly change the mission requirements like this?