King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

'Comet' and Waters exchanged a glance, then helplessly lowered their heads.

At this moment, the headquarters behind both men remained silent, essentially signaling, "Handle it yourselves; as long as the tactical objective is achieved, it doesn't matter who is boss…"

Well, if the Hu Lang from P·B company wants to do it, let him. If any problems arise in the mission, responsibility naturally falls on… crap, he's just a private contractor, no matter how anyone looks at it, the responsibility will still belong to America and France.

But compared to exposing a covert operation with ulterior motives or abandoning innocent students cold-bloodedly, striving hard and causing even a modicum of collateral damage was more acceptable— at the very least, spokespeople can slam the recording in the media's face during verbal clashes.

"Our soldiers are fighting evil. What, you want to condone evil?"

Joe Ga actually had no choice. Given more time, he might have found a way to negotiate and align everyone's thoughts, but there was simply not enough time.

His contract with Niger explicitly demanded the rescue of a group of female students; they were inside right now, and if there was a chance, Joe Ga certainly didn't want to breach the contract.

Moreover, that bastard from Glorious Society was also inside—very likely that guy named Neskens. How could he let France just take him away?

He had to chop him a few times to leave him with fewer parts, interrogate him with a few questions, and have him convey a message to the bastards behind the scenes before considering the matter settled.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Most importantly, Joe Ga wasn't spouting complete nonsense just now—many of the things he said were promises he had made to his men originally.

To protect the virtuous and beautiful is honor; to fight evil is honor; to keep one's word is also honor!

If Joe Ga started thinking like a businessman at this point, he would despise himself.

The battle had already escalated to this point; giving up now would mean all previous efforts were for naught!

After 'persuading' the two special forces commanders, Joe Ga smiled and drew a circle above his head with his hand, after which Team E, which had been out of sight, emerged from the dark desert.

In terms of cool factor, the all-sniper Team E really stood out!

All clad in ghillie suits, they appeared from the darkness like demons emerging from the abyss.

Except for 'Bullhorn,' the team leader carrying an assault rifle, everyone else had a range extending beyond 600 meters; this made 'Bullhorn' seem like a bodyguard for the team no matter from which angle you looked.

And indeed, he was; within the team, he ran the most, charged the farthest ahead, and even carried ammunition for the machine gunner when necessary.

'Bullhorn' was not tall, with a simple and honest face. When passing by the French SAS squad, he gave a sniper among them a wide smile.

Following him, 'Iceman' made a throat-slitting gesture at that sniper.

The two had a previous encounter. If it weren't for 'Bullhorn's' help, 'Iceman' would have been at a disadvantage.

They both had their eyes on the same position; the other got there first. When 'Iceman' sensed something was amiss, he was warned by the opponent, and a natural skirmish ensued.

After each fired a shot, the French sniper, distracted by 'Iceman,' nearly got snuck upon by 'Bullhorn.' Had it not been for a timely warning from his comrade, the two might still be dueling in the desert.

Now the French sniper seemed very calm, ignoring 'Iceman's' provocation. Instead, he focused on his Sako TRG-42 and the emotionless gray eyes for a while, nodded thoughtfully, then shook his head as if discarding some hypothesis.

'Iceman,' his face still covered, felt that his actions seemed to have an effect, so he ceased the provocation and sat down with the group in a shadowy area near the boss, cradling his gun…

'Iceman's' partner 'Harelip' nudged him on the shoulder soon after they sat down and whispered, "What's up with you, do you know that guy?"

'Iceman' shook his head, "I once went to France for a sniper exchange, I'm worried he recognizes me."

'Harelip,' observing 'Iceman's' smug look, shook his head and said, "I think you're overthinking it. When it comes to shooting, you can't even rank in the top three in P·B, and those are the French SAS, who would remember you?"

'Iceman' was taken aback, then stared at 'Harelip' with his lifeless gray eyes and said, "Owl, when his hand was still fine, couldn't beat me, so I'm at least third."

Saying this, the Finnish sniper seemed to feel a bit of cowardice and decided not to speak with the Colombian chatterbox 'Harelip' for the next ten minutes.

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Joe Ga didn't mind 'Iceman's' attitude; in his view, it was normal for elites to have a bit of temper.

And the fact that his own men didn't fall completely behind when facing the French SAS was something worth toasting to.

Maybe it was just an illusion, but Joe Ga now felt that T1 wasn't all that great after all; the Rangers almost got wiped out by Big Beak Bird, and the French SAS didn't perform as impressively as he had expected.

Now they were all obediently waiting there, and their morale wasn't as high as P·B's men.

The American Garrison in Niger proved robust; just before 10 o'clock, three 'Little Bird' helicopters arrived at the outskirts of the town.

One 'Little Bird' took two casualties away, while the remaining two were tasked with providing cover for their operation.

Seven Rangers arrived in total; three were added to Waters' team, making it up to ten men, and the other four sat on either side of the 'Little Bird' helicopters, manning the machine guns as gunners.

The Nigerien Lieutenant Colonel's team also arrived shortly after, with 300 highly-motivated soldiers of the Nigerien Defence Forces. Under Joe Ga's command, 50 men were left to establish a defensive line around their position, while the rest went east to set up a blockade.

Their posture clearly showed they had no intention of letting a single terrorist escape!

After everyone had arrived, Joe Ga gathered all the influential figures for a pre-battle meeting just less than a kilometer away from the town.

The Lieutenant Colonel firmly established his stance, unwavering even in the presence of his own Rangers training instructor, always standing behind Joe Ga, taking his word as command.

Once the men were assembled, Joe Ga placed Antar's tablet on the hood of a vehicle. After enlarging the image slightly, he said, "The number of terrorists in the town exceeds 200. We are going to launch a night assault, but I need some technical assistance."

'Comet' and Waters, understanding Joe Ga's request, nodded at the same time.

'Comet' slid his hand across the high-resolution computer screen, then said, "I will request satellite assistance to use thermal signals to locate the students being held underground.

Drones are very advanced nowadays, but their effectiveness in detecting indoor targets is not good. Your airburst grenades made everyone hide indoors, but this also creates difficulties for our operation."

With that, 'Comet' glanced at Waters and said, "My men are very adept at urban combat. How about yours?"

Waters also slid his finger across the tablet. The night-vision provided by Antar's drones was very clear, and the dual-mode thermal detection could quickly capture the movement of people outside of buildings. However, it was unable to ascertain the conditions inside the stone-built houses.

There were too many enemies to realistically fight through house by house, and the best approach would actually be to push through with a large force. But, that would likely leave no chance for the hostages to survive.

Their advantage now lay in nighttime attacking capabilities. Cutting off the town's electricity gave those with night vision devices a tactical advantage. Still, even with that, nighttime urban combat was extremely dangerous.

However, it is precisely the job of special forces units to face danger!

Waters examined the drone footage carefully and pointed at the affluent area to the north, saying, "All snipers should enter from the north to find elevated positions for cover. Once the hostages' location is confirmed, we'll enter from the south.

We must end the fight today, because if it drags into daylight tomorrow, the terrorists will certainly use the hostages as shields to attempt a breakout."

As he spoke, Waters looked at Joe Ga and said, "The timing of your attack was very clever; they had no chance to react before it got dark.

If it was intentional, then you can share your plan now!"

Joe Ga, neither confirming nor denying, shook his head and said, "My plan has always been to annihilate this group of terrorists; the hostages were just an unexpected factor.

Now, it all depends on whether the French satellite can be effective. As long as we can pinpoint the students' location, we have the ability to infiltrate.

There are many variables in this kind of battle. If the hostages are in a position that's easy to retreat from, we'll cover them and withdraw first, then deal with the terrorists.

If the hostages' location isn't conducive to withdrawal, then we'll find a safe place to protect them and then try to annihilate the terrorists before leading them to safety.

My contract with Niger explicitly states that we need to save the lives of those innocent students as much as possible, so whether it's a retreat for protection or a stronghold for protection, it's our responsibility to take charge."

The veterans present understood the implications of Joe Ga's words.

Without a city wall and with the cover of night, it wouldn't be hard to break into the town if the students' location was confirmed. The challenge was ensuring their safety.

Once the terrorists realized that the enemy had penetrated the town, they would mobilize everyone, since the airburst grenades that had terrified them would have essentially been neutralized; the battle would then be purely urban combat.

This meant that the terrorists had not been controlling the town for very long, else, following Joe Ga's method, the town would become a new Mogadishu—a place where even special forces might just end up being sacrifices.

But once the mindset was unified, 'Comet' and Waters both displayed strong resolve!

The numerous years of arduous training for the special forces were for situations like this!

Putting aside so-called national interests and the sordid schemes of politicians, this was exactly what special forces were meant to do!

'Comet' and Waters exchanged a look, revealing a hint of a smile, and said, "We'll take responsibility for rescuing the film crew. P·B will handle rescuing the students. The Rangers will operate on the periphery, ready to support either side at any time.

If necessary, I'll cover the hostages and meet up with P·B. As long as we hold out until dawn, the Nigerien Defence Forces can move in for the encirclement."

With that, 'Comet' looked at Joe Ga, who was smiling, and said, "It won't be easy to wipe them out tonight. There's no problem if we push the timeline back a bit, right?"

Joe Ga looked at his watch with feigned nonchalance, then said with a smile, "Let's set the death knell for noon tomorrow, not a moment later. I've got pets at home that can't be left alone; I need to hurry back to feed them."

After saying this, Joe Ga bumped fists with the two men, speaking earnestly, "Fellows, it's not been a pleasant meeting, but I'm still honored to be battling side-by-side with you."

'Comet' thought about Joe Ga's demeanor and shook his head, chuckling and saying, "Though I don't like your recording pen, I have to admit that P·B is a bit different from other mercenary companies!

I'm honored to fight alongside people with a sense of honor!"