As Qin Feng approached him, a figure suddenly emerged at his back. Harden raised an AK47 and squeezed the trigger. Qin Feng threw himself to the ground.
Harden was getting increasingly worked up. After a mad spray of bullets, he thought Qin Feng was really dead.
He growled, and carefully drew closer.
But this guy had always been careful. He was afraid Qin Feng would play a trick on him, so when he was just over fifteen meters away from Qin Feng, he took out his last grenade. "Go to h.e.l.l!"
Qin Feng lay motionless in the gra.s.s, but when Harden pulled the grenade pin, he had nowhere to run. Instantly, he turned over and let out a spray of bullets from his a.s.sault rifle, hitting Harden"s raised grenade.
Boom!!
Harden"s body disappeared in a blast of smoke and dust. Half of his arm even fell at Qin Feng"s feet.
Liu Yian, who had witnessed everything in front of him, almost fainted. He"d just watched an entire man turn to mush in a flash and disappear.
This was too cruel.
Qin Feng felt relieved. He looked at the scorched spot on the ground, sighing, "Why this? You could do so many other things, but you chose to turn against your own country. How could that end well? Try to be a good man in the next life."
Then he went over to Liu Yian and tore the duct tape from his mouth. "Are you all right?"
Liu Yian sucked in an enormous breath and kneaded his jaw for a few moments. Then, almost in tears, he tightly embraced Qin Feng and said, "Thank you! You are the bravest man I have ever seen. You are the pride of China. I"ll be singing your praises till the day I die!"
"Well, if you"re safe, then my job is done. As a representative of the motherland, your safety is very important. I have to keep you safe even if it kills me."
Qin Feng glanced around, fearing that the explosion would arouse the attention of other forces in the area. "It"s not too late. Let"s hurry back to the cave, regroup, and then break through the encirclement. Helicopters are waiting for us."
"After you," Liu Yian answered, but suddenly remembered something: "Oh, this Harden guy just got a phone call, I think from his boss. They said backup was on its way."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Although Qin Feng was a little hurt, it did not affect the speed of his march. He grabbed Liu Yian and quickly ran into the bushes.
As they entered the cave, Liu Yian" asthma flared up. Half-kneeling on the ground, gasping for breath, he wheezed, "Oh, my medicine, my medicine is gone!"
"Hold on, after we rush out we can go back. It"s not clear what"s going on with Green Dragon, but we have to be there right away. We can"t delay any more."
Qin Feng was in a hurry. If he hadn"t had to rescue Liu Yian, they wouldn"t have been out of there already. But there was no choice - he was the most important target in the rescue mission.
"I...I can"t breathe. I"m choking..."
Liu Yian desperately struggled to absorb oxygen, but the air in the cave was circulating slowly, and the deeper he went inside, the harder it became to breathe.
"I"ll carry you!" Qin Feng picked up the greatly overweight Liu Yian and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "This may get a little b.u.mpy. Just keep breathing and try to relax. We"ll be there soon."
"Captain Qin, I"m too heavy!"
Liu Yian was very embarra.s.sed, but there was no other way. "When we escape, I will reward you well," he wheezed apologetically.
"Save your strength, don"t talk."
Qin Feng did not slow down even with a man slung over his shoulder. Soon they came to the front of the cave, but Green Dragon and the six other hostages were already gone. Qin Feng looked at the red and blue lines scattered on the ground and took a sigh of relief. "Looks like they made it out. Let"s keep going, we"ll find them soon."
The stockade was empty, and the blood-stained bodies of enemies were scattered everywhere amidst the smoke.
After Liu Yian came out of the cave, his breathing became much smoother. Qin Feng put him down, and they soon came upon Green Dragon.
However, the present situation surprised Qin Feng. Green Dragon and Zhang Shan were desperately leading the hostages in the direction of the valley, but they were under fierce attack from over a dozen insurgents entrenched in the mouth of the valley.
Lei Ming, accompanied by two Eagle Team operatives, had rushed forward to pursue the insurgents who pretended to be fleeing, but after being drawn into the valley, they were immediately flanked from the north and south. Had it not been for Green Dragon and Zhang Shan counter-flanking from the south, the three of them would have been turned to mincemeat instantly.
"Green Dragon, climb up that knoll on your 3 o"clock, take the high ground, and throw all your grenades - antipersonnel, smoke, whatever you got - just force the northern group to hunker down, and then I"ll signal Lei Ming to counterattack the south side of the valley. Zhang Shan and I will also charge the south side from here. We just need to take out one group, and the other will have to retreat!"
Green Dragon immediately cried, "On it!" and ran off.
Zhang Shan had never experienced such a cruel battle. He had killed six enemies already. He did not want to kill people, but in the face of these vicious insurgents, there was no way out except to fight through them. Sometimes, brute force was the only way to solve a problem.
"Captain Qin, Captain Lei"s return fire is weakening. Do you think they have already…?"
Zhang Shan was not sure of the situation inside at all. He had tried to stop Lei Ming from rushing in with Kang and Li. That valley was a perfect site for an ambush, but Lei Ming thought that the fleeing insurgents were already completely routed and could be wiped out with a quick pursuit. Lei Ming, who was on his first international mission, was naturally obsessed with distinguishing himself. Although he had gotten over his hostility toward Qin Feng, he did not want to appear too useless. After all, he had volunteered to come. He"d feel like a dope back home if he just tagged along and didn"t do much.
But he did not expect to fall for such a simple trap. If word of this got out, he"d become a laughingstock. Anyone with a basic sense of tactics could have avoided this mistake, but the commander of Eagle Team…
"Don"t worry about it," said Qin Feng. "We"ll be taking care of the southern flank, and there"s no clear line of sight on them from the north. There"re only three of them, but they should hold their own."
At that point, Qin Feng"s radio headset buzzed, "Captain Qin, this is Green Dragon. I"m in position. I have a line of sight on the northern group, but they"re moving in on Lei Ming fast. Lei Ming"s group looks like they"re about to break."
"So what are you waiting for? Let "em have it!" Qin Feng barked into the microphone.
"The valley is too narrow, a grenade might cause a landslide and trap us in here. I can"t get any closer from where I am." Green Dragon said doubtfully. In fact, this was of secondary concern. What he really wanted was to let Lei Ming suffer a little more, to make him thoroughly understand that his Eagle Team had nothing on the Golden Four!
Qin Feng picked up on Green Dragon"s tone and barked, "Stop talking and start fighting! This is no time for personal scores."
Zhang Shan listened to this exchange in silent admiration. Captain Qin was absolutely a good man, a real warrior.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions shook the narrow valley in quick succession, blanketing the area in a thick cloud of dust and smoke. Qin Feng quickly blew into an unusually loud whistle. This was a special means of transmitting information in the Special Forces, mimicking birdsong to avoid alerting the enemy. Lei Ming clearly heard Qin Feng"s "call" and brightened up. He was already prepared to fight to the last, but now he saw hope of victory again. He stood up and raised his fist, roaring, "Charge! Give "em h.e.l.l"
The two Special Forces soldiers with him frantically tried to keep up. Desperate to live, they fought like cornered beasts. Supported by Qin Feng and Zhang Shan the half-dozen insurgents on the southern flank were quickly overwhelmed.
After breaking through, Qin Feng took the hostages into the valley. After linking up with Lei Ming, he promptly smacked him across the face. "Are you trying to be a hero?"
"Captain Qin, I…. I was gunning for a medal. I didn"t think..." Lei Ming knew he was wrong, and bowed his head in shame. "I take full responsibility."
"You can take your a.s.s. If you"re alive, mission accomplished." Qin Feng humphed and turned to the rest of the group: "Brothers, now is the time to really finish them off! On me!"
At the same moment, on the edge of a cliff overlooking the valley, the black barrel of a gun protruded through the dense jungle vegetation, aimed straight between Qin Feng"s eyebrows.