บท 17: Tactics
"This won't work," the bearded man thought to himself as he picked a more agile terrorist.
"You, drive around to the east, keep your head down, aim straight, and just step on the gas. Don't look at the road!"
After the unfortunate fellow got into the car and prepared, the bearded man called over another subordinate, readying him to drive as well.
At the bearded man's command, the first guy floored the gas pedal, and the vehicle sped off to the east.
Meanwhile, on Blake's side, after the recent commotion, everyone else had already left.
Blake stayed behind to cover their retreat.
Seeing an off-road vehicle speeding towards his right, he cursed inwardly.
He reluctantly picked up his sniper rifle and aimed at the vehicle.
"If I can't hit the driver, I can at least hit the tires!"
Muttering to himself, Blake aimed at the front tire.
"Bang!"
A shot rang out.
Despite the driver keeping his head down, Blake saw through his scope a mist of blood erupt from the back of the driver's neck.
The vehicle lost control and crashed.
"That works?"
Blake stared in disbelief at how his shot aimed at the tire had taken out the driver. He couldn't help but marvel at his luck.
But his joy was short-lived. He realized another vehicle had taken off in the opposite direction while he was aiming and shooting.
Blake didn't think he could be lucky twice in a row.
He tossed the sniper rifle aside and grabbed the two Gatling guns mounted on the ground, one in each hand.
"Rat-a-tat-tat!"
The twin streams of fire merged into a continuous line of bullets.
The two streams of bullets intersected in mid-air and caught up with the off-road vehicle.
Under such overwhelming firepower, the vehicle didn't last even two seconds.
It was shredded to pieces and then exploded into a massive fireball.
Blake then turned the guns toward their temporary base and fired wildly.
It was a warning from Blake: don't move, or I'll shoot you dead.
Of course, the main reason was that Blake realized he was running low on bullets. All he could do now was stall for as long as possible.
The bearded man got the warning. They stayed silent for about ten minutes.
If the bearded man had initially scattered his vehicles to encircle and intercept them, Blake and his team would have been in trouble.
They could have overturned their vehicles, and even if they fought to the end, injuries would have been inevitable.
But the internal factions within the Ten Rings gang were complicated. This mission was a private job taken by the bald guy, and the bearded man only stepped in after receiving a distress call.
From the start, he hadn't planned to risk his men for this.
He had intended to encircle and chase them down. If they caught them, fine; if not, no big deal.
But he hadn't expected Blake and his team to stop and counterattack with such fierce firepower.
Many of his men had died, and now the bearded man was furious.
As he regretted coming out for this, his satellite phone rang.
"Damn it, you didn't tell me these people were so fierce. Who exactly did you send me to chase? I've lost many men. You must compensate me."
The bearded man started complaining as soon as he picked up, emphasizing his losses.
He knew Raza had connections with some big American arms dealers. By emphasizing his losses, he could later demand more compensation in terms of supplies from Raza.
But Raza's next words made the bearded man go berserk.
"What? Tony Stark? I should have figured! Damn it! Damn it! You should have told me from the start!"
"Attack! Everyone get in the cars, surround that dune ahead, everyone in the cars! Quickly, quickly, quickly!!!"
The bearded man hung up and finally launched a full-scale attack.
With this serious effort, Blake couldn't hold out on his own.
As over a dozen vehicles spread out in all directions, Blake was stunned.
He could only aim the powerful Gatling guns at the two vehicles in front of him.
After a tough fight, he managed to destroy both vehicles, but one of the Gatling guns ran out of bullets and stopped firing.
The other gun was also nearly out of ammo.
Looking at the Ten Rings' off-road vehicles, most had already ascended the surrounding dunes, with some even disappearing from sight.
Blake aimed at the nearest off-road vehicle and used up the remaining ammo in the last Gatling gun.
He didn't wait to see the result and threw the gun to the ground.
He moved a few steps to the side, wary of anyone still hiding, and positioned himself in a blind spot.
Using his immense strength, he dug a small sandpit and buried himself.
He took the scarf from around his neck and covered his face to keep sand out of his mouth and nose and to prevent any glare from his sunglasses.
He covered his face with a thin layer of sand, and burrowed his arms under the sand.
As he settled in, he heard the sound of car engines.
It sounded like two vehicles had arrived nearby, just two or three meters away.
As Blake had expected, they first focused on where he had thrown down his weapons.
He heard them talking loudly, likely reporting over their radios that no one was there.
Patiently waiting for them to finish talking, and after another ten seconds, Blake sprang out of the sandpit.
A cloud of sand burst into the air as he leaped, and while still airborne, he swung his right hand, sending a black flash of a blade across.
The nearest terrorist's head flew off.
He couldn't give them a chance to shoot.
With that thought, Blake fired his silenced pistol repeatedly while still in the air.
From the moment he jumped up to the moment he landed, before the enemies could react, he had killed four of them with one slash and three shots.
Two remained. To save time, as soon as he landed, he fired another shot with one hand and hurled his Tang Dao Blade with the other.
The shot was slightly off, hitting one enemy in the neck, but it was still a fatal wound. The Tang Dao Blade, thrown with Blake's immense strength, embedded itself in the last enemy's forehead up to the hilt.
"Phew!"
Blake exhaled heavily.
Six enemies, and he managed to take them down quickly and precisely thanks to his speed, accuracy, and the element of surprise.
These men had put down their weapons, not expecting an enemy, and the open surroundings made it easier.
If any of them had fired a shot, it would have been a different story since the others hadn't gone far.
As Blake anticipated, the two cars had arrived first.
After reporting to the bearded man via radio, the bearded man immediately led his men in pursuit to the northwest.
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