Chapter 163: Pinpoint Elimination

The capital holy city of Israel in the Middle East.

In front of that famous Western Wall, two people were having a conversation.

“Shaban, thank you for helping me,” Lagia said gratefully.

“Lagia, you’re too polite. If it weren’t for you back then, I would have been done for in Iraq,” the man standing in front of Lagia replied.

The man was Shaban, the head of Israel’s Mossad agency in East Africa.

“Regardless, I owe you one. Let’s see if this plan can lure out the target, Du Qiu, and make him slip up.”

Shaban curiously asked, “Isn’t your agency supposed to be keeping an eye on Tang Country? Why set a trap here in East Africa? Do you have information on Du Qiu?”

Lagia shook his head and said, “Honestly, although I have my suspicions, Du Qiu is too cunning. I even suspect he might have had plastic surgery.

Unfortunately, this man has no direct relatives left, so I had to settle for his girlfriend’s mother to see if he would react.

That way, I’ll have evidence to confirm where he actually is now.

By the way, you must ensure your people detain the hostage. The Tang Country government will definitely pressure the government of South Sudan.

If it were ordinary tribal militants, they might release the hostage before Du Qiu shows up, and all our efforts would be in vain.

This time, I must confirm his location before I can persuade the Director-General to launch a decisive blow to capture or kill him in one fell swoop!”

As Lagia spoke, a certain ruthlessness appeared in his eyes.

Failing to catch Du Qiu was a lifetime disgrace for Lagia, resulting in the new GIA Director-General removing him from the position of Chief of Tang Country Affairs Office.

The new chief who replaced him was old and cunning in dealing with people. Now, Lagia was marginalized within the GIA’s Tang Country Affairs Office.

He had to use old favors to even make a move in East Africa this time.

If he could turn around his fate with Du Qiu’s matter, he would surely regain his status and respect within the GIA.

“Don’t worry, the personnel I’ve sent involve the armed Nu’er people from Jonglei State in South Sudan. Their deep conflict with the government troops means they won’t just hand over the hostage if intimidated,” Shaban assured.

Lagia nodded, “That’s the best. As long as the hostage is detained, I believe Du Qiu’s girlfriend, our colleague, might not be able to resist coming to South Sudan.

When that time comes, we will capture her as well, and I’ll expose the matter through the media. I believe Du Qiu will show himself after hearing about it.”

“Is Dr. Du that infatuated? Would he risk his own safety for his girlfriend?” Shaban asked worriedly.

“Whether he’s infatuated or not, I’ll make the media force him to act like he is. If he doesn’t show up, he’ll no longer have the face to appear before the public,” Lagia said with confidence.

“You’re as clever and cunning as always,” Shaban remarked.

“Shaban, how often do you contact that liaison?” Lagia inquired.

Shaban smiled and replied, “Are you getting anxious? Come on, let’s go to the farmstead on the outskirts. I’ll show you hospitality and have lunch. After that, I’ll get in touch with my people.”

“Then I’ll follow your arrangements,” Lagia responded.

They left the Western Wall and quickly boarded a black sedan.

Unbeknownst to them, a beetle had been facing them from the Western Wall.

The sedan quickly left the urban area, driving towards the outskirts.

Observing the security wall nearby, Lagia expressed his admiration, “The idea of building a security wall was the right move. Now that Persia is under attack by our forces, the holy city remains safe and sound.

Though Persia’s ballistic missiles occasionally launch attacks, they’re intercepted by the missile defense system, and their positions are exposed, leading to their destruction by our air force, losing their limited tactical ballistic missile launchers.”

Shaban, driving the car, commented, “Yes, ballistic missile attacks from the Persians have become rare in the past two months.

Pro-Persian militants who want to attack the holy city now find it much harder to obtain targets beyond the security wall.

After we’ve cleared the militants on the West Bank, the holy city hasn’t been attacked in a long time.

Is the southern border wall in your country still unfinished? They sure are dragging their feet.”

Lagia gave a wry smile and replied, “That’s become an unfinished project. Billions of dollars down the drain.”

As they spoke, all of a sudden, the air raid siren went off.

Shaban’s expression turned sour – talk about bad timing. They had just mentioned how there had been no attacks for a long time, and now an attack was underway?

“Relax, we’re heading to the suburbs; there are no significant targets here. They won’t fire rockets in this direction,” Shaban reassured.

Lagia nodded and stuck his head out the window, trying to see the direction of the incoming rockets.

Suddenly, his face turned pale, and he screamed in horror, “Damn it, the rocket…”

As Lagia shouted, Shaban turned his head just in time to see a streak of fire plummeting towards their car from the sky.

Instinctively, he swerved to try to dodge it.

“Boom!” A direct hit exploded against the side of the black sedan, which immediately burst into flames.

Then, another streak of fire rained down, landing on the already burning car.

“Boom!” The sedan was blasted into pieces.

As for Shaban and Lagia inside, it was uncertain if even pieces of them could be found.

Hovering a dozen meters in the air in that area was a small drone, which, after pausing for half a minute, gracefully flew towards the security wall.

The drone was only the size of a common bird and flew at an altitude of just over a dozen meters, making it incredibly hard to detect by even Israel’s sensitive air defense system, especially as a low-altitude, tiny target.

Even if the radar did spot it, it would likely be mistaken for a bird.

After flying a distance, the drone entered a moving box truck.

The box truck then sped away, but 2 kilometers away, a rudimentary rocket launcher was set up.

Soon, a missile struck precisely, turning the launcher into a pile of debris.

The responsiveness of the Israeli Air Force was indeed impressive.

Du Qiu received the news of Lagia’s pinpoint elimination while already on his way back to the Tanga Federation.

Looking out at the vast blue sky and rolling clouds from the panoramic skylight, Du Qiu was immersed in a sense of vastness and freedom.

He took a long breath, as if to expel all the foulness that had accumulated over the past year.

For over a year, Du Qiu was in the Tanga Federation, developing various weaponry. To say there was no resentment in his heart would be a lie.

But today, ordering his robotic soldiers to physically eliminate an enemy was a first for him.

“Star Ocean, based on intelligence from our undercover agents, did Lagia plan to use Ning Shuangshuang’s mother as bait to attract Ning Shuangshuang to South Sudan?”

“Yes, sir,” came the reply.

“Alright, I underestimated him, and he underestimated me,” Du Qiu mused.

After a moment of silence, he added, “Star Ocean, keep a close watch on the movements of GIA’s Tang Country Affairs Office. Oh, and closely monitor the Middle East and East Africa as well.”

“Understood. Do we need to deploy more undercover agents?”

“If this is indeed only Lagia’s idea, then perhaps, we won’t need to deal with GIA again so soon.”

“Sir, do our people in the United States need to destroy the documents about Li Shennan in Lagia’s residence?”

“Yes, make it look like an accidental fire. We wouldn’t want to be too obvious,” Du Qiu instructed.

“Yes, sir,” the reply came.

Du Qiu stood up and walked to the window, gazing at the distant sea of clouds.

In his heart, he felt that Lagia must have made preparations, perhaps entrusting the information he had on Li Shennan to someone else.

Nonetheless, leaving the documents in Lagia’s residence untouched didn’t seem right.

He decided to return and accelerate the development of two technologies. Once a breakthrough was achieved, his power would soar once again.

++++++++

“What? Your mother was really rescued?” Ning Yuzhe looked astonished at Ning Shuangshuang, whose face was aglow.

“Yes, she was rescued last night, and I’ve already video chatted with her.”

Ning Yuzhe paced his office, mumbling, “Incredible, this is absolutely incredible…”

He suddenly stopped and asked, “Shuangshuang, you really had a video call with her?”

“Yes, I spoke to my mom. She was attacked, but luckily a colleague saved her. Otherwise, my mom would’ve been hurt.”

Ning Shuangshuang did not mention Du Qiu’s presence at the scene, even though she didn’t know how he arrived in South Sudan.

After ending the call last night, Ning Shuangshuang hadn’t been able to sleep, partly out of excitement and partly out of worry.

Given that South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest landlocked countries and Du Qiu managed to have a security company make the rescue, where did he travel from to get there?

The time frame suggested that Du Qiu must have been close to South Sudan to have arrived so promptly, which limited the possible locations where he could have been.

Therefore, Ning Shuangshuang silently vowed never to tell anyone about Du Qiu’s presence at the rescue site.

After all, it would make it too easy to deduce his whereabouts.

Thank you “Haven’t Found Yet” for the 100 coin reward!