In the jungle sky near the Sue border, a white-painted Mi-171 helicopter with the letters "UN" printed on its fuselage hovered over the treetops and suspended above an open area near the water.
Soon, ropes dropped from the cabin, and shadows slid down like ink dripped along threads to the ground.
After the last person landed, the helicopter abandoned the ropes, dipped its nose, and quickly began to rise, disappearing into the distant night sky like a thief fleeing after a successful break-in.
The wild grass on the ground, blown askew by the rotors, finally calmed down. Captain Charles made several tactical hand signals to his team.
Two vanguard soldiers immediately led the way, entering the jungle to conduct search and alert.
Charles took out his GPS device, quickly marked his location on it, and then entered it into the electronic map of his military PDA.
"Release the Big Crow."
With his command, two drone operators swiftly opened their equipment bags, took out the components of the "Big Crow" drone, and started quick installation and calibration.
Five minutes later, the "Big Crow" drone was fully calibrated, and a team member forcefully launched it into the sky.
The "Big Crow" drone shook a few times, and flew westward in the direction where Song Heping and his group might come from.
The footage was quickly transmitted to the PDA.
"Call Colonel Damar."
During the drone's search, Charles began to contact Damar.
"I'm near Duoduo Village!"
Damar's tone sounded extremely unpleasant.
"Damn it! Cars can't move here at all. My people have walked for four hours and moved only ten kilometers!"
"Your speed is like a bunch of women!"
Upon hearing Damar's report, Captain Charles glanced at the electronic map and quickly found the location of Duoduo Village.
The village is to the north of the Machar Swamp jungle, while Charles is currently to the south.
According to Charles's speculation, Song Heping would likely choose the more comfortable route through the Machar Swamp.
After all, he is leading many villagers. They are not soldiers and cannot traverse the harsh northern swamp area. They should choose the southern route, where there are more jungles and fewer swamps, making it very suitable for personnel passage.
Therefore, he had Colonel Damar lead most of his troops through the northern swamp area to ambush Song Heping at the border.
While he himself took the southern route.
To get ahead of Song Heping, Charles used his connections to dispatch a UN helicopter.
It is not easy to dispatch such a helicopter.
After all, due to the nature of the UN, it is not allowed to intervene in local military operations.
Fortunately, Charles's operation was a secret mission, not connected to any regular army, nor to the political situation between North and South Sudan. It was purely a chase for Song Heping. Therefore, providing them with a helicopter for transportation did not pose significant risk.
"SIR! We've spotted them! They are only eight kilometers away from us."
The drone controller quickly reported.
He was right!
Song Heping and the villagers were indeed taking the southern route!
Charles couldn't help but feel proud.
After all, his military skills were indeed top-notch.
Confirming the position of Song Heping, Charles felt that continuing the conversation with Damar was no longer meaningful.
"Colonel, they have appeared in the southern area. Move your men towards me at the fastest speed."
"Move towards you?!"
Damar nearly screamed.
"I'm at Duoduo Village! A swamp separates us, how do you expect me to move towards you? Cross the swamp?"
"That's your problem as a commander, not mine." Charles held the upper hand at this moment. He warned Damar coldly, "Colonel, don't forget our agreement. The UN and African Union will soon mediate this conflict. If you want to gain more benefits after the conflict, you must rely on our support. If you fail to cooperate with my command in this operation, our agreement can be canceled at any time."
The threat was naked.
An aggressive character like Damar would have shot the person on the spot for talking to him like that under normal circumstances.
But in front of Charles, he dared not unleash his fury.
It wasn't Charles he feared, but the people behind him.
"Fine! I'll figure something out!"
Seeing Damar's attitude was somewhat agreeable, Charles gave him an idea: "Head north now. Approximately five kilometers north of Duoduo Village is a road. Have your people drive the convoy there. They can mobilize on the southern line along that road. Your men only need to run five kilometers to reach that makeshift road, then use vehicles to get here quickly. Got it?"
"Got it!"
Colonel Damar nearly roared in response to Charles.
"Alright, I've notified Damar's men to come over." Charles pressed the encrypted communicator and issued a command: "The prey is moving towards the Southwest canyon. I estimate they want to pass through the canyon to avoid the swamp and reach the border. Have the Raven team immediately deploy at the interception point and set up sniper positions."
"Roger, SIR."
Two snipers put down their assault rifles, took off their large backpacks, and quickly assembled PGM Ultima Ratio sniper rifles from inside.