Chapter 168: Third Act
Inside the Mall
Upon sneaking past the refugee wall, Dominic divided the group in two. Stuart handled the people along the wall with the support of snipers, while Dominic focused on stealthily entering the mall to find Teddy.
Dominic's objective was clear: to find the submarine key as quickly as possible before the helicopters arrived and launched a full-scale attack on this location. After their initial progress went undetected, Dominic continued leading a squad of six further into the mall.
The entire interior of the mall was much larger than expected, requiring considerable manpower and effort just to keep it operational. This also meant that the personnel alerted by Dominic's message were more dispersed along the external defenses than inside.
By the time they were discovered, everyone would think the wall guards had breached the refuge's security, triggering the main assault.
This time, Dominic chose the only tall structure adjacent to the mall, guarded by two troublesome sentries who could see him, forming a critical observation point. Eliminating them would solve many problems, providing an excellent shooting position for one of his men.
If he wanted to continue sneaking and killing in the refinery, the surrounding watchtowers needed to be cleared, as well as the internal surveillance posts within the mall, as quickly as possible.
The helicopters were still a considerable distance away. Five minutes was a humorous metaphor, considering they carried a very heavy and important payload.
Thinking of this, Dominic took the radio and climbed the stairs to the top of the watchtower, whispering, "Stuart, we need to eliminate and take over the watchtowers that will prevent our attack. Get rid of everyone."
"Zz. Got it."
The sound of bones breaking came first over the intercom, followed by Stuart's voice.
Dominic raised his eyebrows but didn't care. During his communication with Stuart, he unknowingly reached the corridor below the top floor.
Ta... Ta... Ta...
Hearing footsteps from above, Dominic silently calculated and discovered that the two people above crossed and exchanged positions every ten seconds, clearly different from the two outside. The guard must be professional, and the remaining time to attack was extremely limited.
The most crucial point was that once he took the lead, any mishandling could easily get him captured by the guards from the other two watchtowers.
Fortunately, due to the remote location of the inhabited area of the mall, the far half of one of the watchtowers couldn't be seen clearly, so his primary attention needed to be on the guards of the other watchtower.
"Go!"
Looking at the opening above his head, Dominic signaled, and two soldiers behind him pulled out ropes from their backs, adjusted their bodies, and waited for the opportunity to climb the stairs.
Ta... Ta... Ta...
Ten seconds passed in an instant, and when the two guards above crossed backs, Dominic quickly stepped forward up the stairs, followed by one of the soldiers climbing.
The two guards suddenly heard the sound of footsteps behind them and thought it was a colleague approaching; their reaction was not very intense. They simply turned their heads unconsciously.
But the moment they turned their heads simultaneously, two black figures appeared, and at that moment, from behind them, two people from both sides grabbed their necks and pulled hard.
Crack! Crack!
The two guards' necks were easily fractured, not giving them enough time to react.
Just a second after the two guards were killed, the rope in the soldiers' hands was adjusted on the staircase railing for a quick escape route.
After eliminating the guards, Dominic signaled to one of the soldiers to position themselves with a rifle at this spot to support Stuart and his advancing team from another angle.
Leaving two soldiers at this crucial shooting point, Dominic continued walking through the largely deserted mall. There were hardly any people around. Just as he was about to eliminate another guard, a guard from an external watchtower appeared right in his direction, so he stopped advancing and waited.
Maybe because the distance was too far or they were more nervous about an external attack, the guards in the opposite watchtower didn't notice anything unusual as they were anxious about a potential external assault.
"Eh, I almost pissed myself," murmured a soldier with an ironic smile.
Bang!
But at that moment, Dominic, who was focused on the guard in front of him, opened fire with his silenced weapon as soon as the guard in the tower looked away. After this, a door suddenly opened in front of them, and two more people came out talking, but by then, two soldiers behind Dominic stepped forward and killed them with knives.
"This corridor is clear. Now we need to find the main area of this mall before we're discovered. We have minutes," said Dominic, not ordering his men to prevent these bodies from becoming a future issue.
At the same time
In an external tower outside the mall where Dominic was, they eliminated some critical shooting points.
With some effort and exposure to danger, Stuart strangled another cult member to the ground, looked at the other guards being drawn by the noise, and signaled his men to disperse.
After staying in the tower's darkness, with a knife in hand, he slit a guard's throat while the other soldiers did the same.
"Hoo... Hoo..."
After dealing with everything, Stuart reached up to wipe the sweat from his forehead and murmured, "Is it because I'm getting old or because I'm so exposed to danger?"
Then he looked up at the high watchtower overhead, sighed again, stood up, and trotted up the long stairs.
Unlike the shooting ports where Dominic was, the guards in the watchtower were on a platform on the top floor. The range was very wide, making it easier to kill them.
But the shortcomings were also more obvious because it was too wide and easily noticeable by the other two watchtowers.
"Stuart, are you there yet?"
Just as Stuart was observing the situation of the two guards outside through the door, taking a brief rest, and thinking about how to handle it, Dominic's voice came over the intercom.
Quickly moving his body against the wall, Stuart took the radio and responded, "I'm outside a watchtower. The general position here is too wide, so I can't do it."
"Don't worry, the helicopters are on the way, and we've also eliminated the shooting points targeting those watchtowers."
On the other end of the radio, Dominic explained his situation and continued, "We'll act with full power in a few minutes. By then, our people will attack this place with everything they've got."
"Alright, got it."
Putting away the radio, Stuart looked again at the two guards outside the door and raised his hand to check the watch on his wrist.
Earlier, he told his squad to wait a moment, as if something went wrong, they needed to be ready to leave this place.
At that moment, the two guards at the top of the watchtower were face-to-face after crossing paths, and neither of them immediately noticed the figure running out from behind the door.
Stuart lowered his figure to the minimum, silently approaching the nearest guard, strangling him almost unconsciously.
However, there was a small accident in this familiar move today. The guard, who was strangled and pinned to the ground, actually grabbed the broken sand on the ground and threw it towards the faces of the people behind.
The fine sand and gravel hit him head-on, and Stuart was lucky to notice it beforehand, closing his eyes first. But his hand's movement was more forceful, breaking the guard's neck in no time.
Still, the abnormal movement here was heard by the guard behind, who turned and looked back.
But before he could clearly see what was happening, a knife flew out, hitting the guard in the forehead first.
"Damn it!"
His eyes darkened suddenly. The weapon in his hand dropped, and he instinctively covered his face. His body took two steps back, and the guard cursed in pain, "What a bastard."
But before he could finish his sentence, Stuart kicked the man, then raised his foot and stomped on the opponent's head, completely finishing off the guard.
"Hoo... hoo..."
After dealing with the two guards, Stuart heard the sound of the wind breaking and a bullet piercing through the open space outside the watchtower, causing a guard to fall to the ground from the outside.
Now, they had been discovered by the vigilant people in this place.
"Zz... Sir, one minute to arrival and dropping the package."
"Alright, gentlemen, it's time."
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