Gale

Two hours later, the massive bombing finally ended.

Looking at the devastated town after just one round of bombing, and listening to the gunshots and explosions that were still ringing out, Chen Chen, who was hiding in a half-collapsed house, spoke.

"The Free Army is coming. No matter who the special forces are, they must withdraw first."

"But they will definitely be watching and fortifying themselves from the outside. We can't leave for the time being."

"The situation is not good, we seem to be trapped."

After hearing his words, all members of the Dongfeng Corps were silent.

Because they all know that this is not alarmist.

Just now, bombings from the air and the ground fell on Tal Rifaat at the same time, destroying large areas of buildings in the city and igniting the night sky here.

After the bombing ended, the already intensive gunfire did not decrease at all, but became more intense.

After confirming that the special forces had no time to continue surveillance, Chen Chen led the team to retreat to a relatively safe area, and quietly climbed to the high ground to make an interpretation of the current situation.

The current situation is quite clear. To describe it in one sentence, the US air strikes have collided with the military operations of the Free Army.

After the United States dispatched fighter jets to try to kill colleagues in the Dongfeng Corps, it is not known whether it was because of "fake power" or real "lack of communication." Riyad Assad, the leader of the Free Army, launched an attack on Tal Rifat at almost the same time. .

Hundreds of artillery shells of various types fell across the city, wiping out the already small number of government troops here.

Immediately afterwards, the Free Army, which had been prepared for a long time, swarmed forward and tried to capture the town as quickly as possible.

But apparently their plan failed.

The militiamen in the city organized a resolute resistance in a very short period of time. They first attacked the American troops who had exposed their positions. After the other side withdrew, they quickly launched a counterattack against the Free Army trying to enter the city.

Everyone underestimated the will of these militiamen to protect their homes or families, including the United States.

They originally thought that with their superior equipment and superior war system, the militia here would definitely collapse at the drop of a hat.

It is even possible that they will not participate in the confrontation with themselves at all.

After all, what does the war at the top have to do with you ordinary people?

But in fact, the people here know better than anyone else that there is a relationship, and the relationship is very important.

After the Islamic storm, the militias here have generally regarded the US military as the "source of trouble" and have also blamed the US military for the source of domestic chaos.

Therefore, when seeing them here, no one can resist taking up arms.

In fact, their resistance did force the US military to temporarily leave Tal Rifat.

Although, this is destined to be only temporary, and their suffering is destined to continue.

Because the Free Army has begun a siege, they are bound to capture the town.

All these seemingly useless contradictions, but for the Dongfeng Corps, the departure of the US military is crucial.

Because their surveillance chain was temporarily interrupted.

Both the drones in the air and the special forces on the ground have lost the whereabouts of the Dongfeng Corps.

Now they have escaped into the darkness again and achieved their original goal of "entering the city".

You know I'm in the city, but you don't know where I am and can't launch an attack.

Theoretically, the Dongfeng Corps has achieved a staged victory.

The problem is, Tal Rifat is not Aleppo.

There is no way Chen Shen can get support from the north here, and it is impossible for this city to be like Aleppo, which never really was controlled by any party until the end of the war.

"From your perspective, how long can this city last?"

Chen Chen spoke again and asked Xia Xing on the side.

"Based on the current situation, the possible duration of the siege should be in weeks."

"Both the Free Army and the government forces are adding more troops to the city, and the number of combatants on both sides is almost the same."

"The Free Army currently has public support from the United States and has superior weapons and equipment, but street fighting is too difficult."

"As you can see, they can't even enter the perimeter."

"They will definitely not be able to capture Tal Rifat in the short term, but the harder they are to capture it, the smaller our chances of escape will be."

"The situation is very dangerous and our escape window is extremely narrow."

"We have to find a way to leave, and we have to get out quickly."

Xia Xing's tone was a little heavy. As an intelligence officer who was active in the Middle East and had seen and studied the horrors of too many wars, she knew better than anyone the consequences of staying in a "no man's land".

You can't fight an army alone. Once trapped, even the strongest soldier can only struggle to survive like ordinary people.

Looking at her expression, Chen Chen took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled it.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said:

"We can't leave now."

"Chaos is our cover. Only by staying in a chaotic place can the United States find us."

"If we lose our composure and run out first, the first thing we have to face is inspection by both warring parties. Then, it won't take long for the drone above us to lock our position, and everything will soon be back to where it started."

"So, we can't leave."

"We need to find a way to hide, get in touch with the response staff in Aleppo, and wait for the situation to change."

"The old and American planes cannot keep an eye on us all day long. There must be a ratio between resource input and output. When the resources they consume are greater than our value, we can leave safely."

"In other words, we have to be prepared for a protracted war in Aleppo."

"Or to put it further, according to the plan, Aleppo is the base camp for our mission execution, and all our subsequent actions must start from Aleppo."

"However, this is not a requirement."

"The key to being able to perform the mission is that the identity and whereabouts are not exposed."

"And for that, we can do better by staying in Tel Rifat."

After hearing Chen Chen's words, Xia Xing nodded slowly.

I have to say that Chen Chen's judgment is quite accurate.

But what really surprised Xia Xing was that when such powerful enemies were waiting around, and the enemies had already deployed high-tech methods that were close to dimensionality reduction strikes, Chen Chen was not only thinking about how to escape and survive, but also how to survive. Even follow-up tasks were considered.

Does this person really have no fear?

Or is it that, although he appears pessimistic, he is actually already confident?

Xia Xing looked at Chen Chen's eyes carefully, as if trying to find a hint of "unstable" emotion there.

But I don't know whether I should be regretful or fortunate. There is nothing of this kind in Chen Chen's eyes.

He was like a sophisticated machine, calculating all the details meticulously, and everything he did was just for a goal that ordinary people thought was hopeless.

Thinking of this, Xia Xing took a deep breath and made a decision in her heart.

Then, she spoke:

"you're right."

"We must stay in Tal Rifat. According to the current sensitivity of the enemy's intelligence network, we will die as long as we go out. Only after the other party's sensitivity is reduced will we have a chance."

"From the perspective of intelligence work, if you find yourself exposed, you should not find ways to make up for it, but you should decisively enter silence."

"We need this silence right now - Taylor Rifat is the best cover."

"Based on the worst-case scenario, after the Free Army sieges the city, riots may occur in the city within a few hours at the earliest. We calculate it as four hours."

"That means we must make all preparations within four hours."

Having said this, Xia Xing paused for a moment, gathered his thoughts and then continued:

"We need food, water, safe houses and weapons."

"These were supposed to be provided by colleagues in Aleppo, but it's clear that now they can't send anything here."

"We have to figure it out ourselves."

"There are nine of us. According to the basic reserve principle, we need to prepare food and water for six days."

"At the same time, we need a safe house - I mean, it doesn't have to be a room, but a secret place that can be used to hide from tracking and fix things up for a while."

"Besides, we need more weapons."

"Our safety needs to be guaranteed by your combat effectiveness, and your combat effectiveness needs to be provided by weapons."

"Finally, we need medicines."

"We have injured people, but there is obviously a shortage of medicines. We need antibiotics, painkillers, and even other medical supplies to prevent large-scale plagues."

"Boss Chen, you need to solve these problems."

"And it needs to be as soon as possible."

"clear."

Chen Chen nodded solemnly, and then he gathered everyone together and began a quick briefing while assigning tasks.

And just as he finished assigning tasks, the satellite phone in his hand suddenly rang.

On the other end of the phone was Xiaoyu.

Her voice was slightly anxious, and her first sentence after the call was connected, she said straightforwardly:

"I know you are in Tal Rifat, stay there and don't move."

"It has been found out that your opponent is 24 STS."

"They are still active near Tal Rifat, and there are at least two unknown types of reconnaissance drones in the air on duty to search."

"Try to keep a low profile and don't reveal your position."

"Give me some time and I will arrange for rescue."

"Be careful, they may intervene. Even if they don't intervene, they won't let you leave easily."

"They're going to find a way to trap you in Tal Rifat, you guys."

"take it easy."

Chen Chen interrupted Xiaoyu and then said:

"In a sense, they didn't trap us in Tel Rifat, we trapped them in Tel Rifat."

"At least if they keep an eye on us, they can't do anything else, right?"

After the words fell, Xiaoyu was speechless for a moment.

After a few seconds of silence, she continued:

"I will find a way to give you what you want."

"The situation is very complicated now, but you must trust me, understand?"

"Understood, I'm waiting for your news."

With a bang, the phone was hung up.

Chen Chen took a deep breath and ordered:

"ready to go."

"While there is chaos in the city, find a safe house first!"

At the same time, in the JSOC office.

William H. McRaven, the commander of JSOC at the time, sat opposite the intelligence officer and asked with a serious face:

"So, our operation can be declared a failure in advance?"

Hearing his words, the intelligence officer quickly shook his head and then replied:

"It should be said that it has been declared a success."

"Although we failed to directly eliminate the target, we successfully surrounded them in the city of Tel Rifat."

"According to the current situation, the Free Army will besiege Taicheng for at least four weeks. This means that we have four weeks to redeploy the combat plan, slowly find them, and then eliminate them in one fell swoop."

"Of course, this is just one aspect."

"On the other hand, given the importance of this team, the north will inevitably send official or unofficial forces to rescue."

"With this opportunity, we may be able to wipe out all the intelligence networks they have deployed in Syria."

"This is why, after receiving the news that the Free Army has launched an offensive, the front-line commander will immediately order an evacuation."

"They also saw this possibility and made the choice that best served their long-term interests."

"hehe."

Hearing the intelligence officer's words, McRaven sneered and then said:

"This is just your excuse."

"Once a mission fails, you always have various ways to beautify it into 'another success'."

"It's the same old trick. Even before you reported it, I already guessed what you were going to say."

"And the reason why you are still standing here now is that you should thank your enemies."

"Their performance was really worth a small defeat for us."

"Okay, no need to talk too much nonsense."

"Tell me, what's the next step?"

After the words fell, the intelligence officer's expression instantly changed from the embarrassment of being exposed to confidence. After thinking about his words for a while, he said:

"CIASAD will operate jointly with the 24 STS organization."

"They will directly enter Tal Rifat to search for and monitor traces of the Dongfeng Corps."

"After the target location is determined, they will set up a suitable observation period. After obtaining enough benefits, they will call in air support to eliminate it."

"They will control the time within two weeks, which means that after two weeks, there will be a result on this matter."

"Of course, there will be an explanation for Andrea's death."

"After all, it was our decision to transfer the 24 STS to Syria in advance, and we still have to bear part of the responsibility."

"You don't need to remind me."

McRaven raised his head and looked at the intelligence officer with a stern face, and then said:

"We have to take responsibility, but we don't have to answer to anyone."

"Remember this, it will be good for you in the future."

"Okay, let's do it."

"In 2 weeks, I want to see their bodies!"