Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 188 - 176 Fire the Cannon

Chapter 188: Chapter 176 Fire the Cannon

As a minor player, he dived headfirst into the great whirlpool involving two countries and five parties, and with Iraq included, that made it three countries and six parties.

Gao Yi was the coordinator among them, but somehow he became the influencer who could decide the direction of the entire situation.

Taking action meant being at the center of attention in the Middle East, making worldwide big news.

If anything went wrong, it wouldn’t just lead to endless trouble but to immediate burial for everyone in Baghdad.

"We need a detailed and careful plan."

Gao Yi scratched his head, then after a long thought, he finally said seriously, "Give me a hammer!"

"Wow, that’s some plan..."

The only one who dared to make such a sarcastic remark was Luca, who also knew what it meant to ask for a hammer.

But Luca was just a financial director, not skilled in the art of killing, so it was too much to expect him to come up with a plan.

This was a major operation that could decide the fate of all the members, so even if Luca couldn’t come up with a good plan, he had to speak up at this moment; he couldn’t just stand by and watch Gao Yi seriously go in with just a hammer in hand.

So Luca said gravely, "I haven’t thought of what to do yet, but giving you a hammer obviously won’t work."

"A hammer... What’s wrong with that?"

Li Jie still didn’t quite understand Gao Yi’s traits, and asked in confusion, "Is ’hammer’ some kind of code? Or is it a codename for a specific action?"

Lin Xianghua hesitated to reply, and Lucy took over, "Neither, it’s because the boss is really good with hammers."

"Good with hammers? For nailing things?"

Li Jie made a joke that wasn’t really a joke, and said puzzledly, "We’re dealing with the CIA’s Special Action Team here, a rescue effort is obviously not going to happen, the most likely thing is to kill Abdulla, with a hammer? Sorry, the Special Action Team members are not nails."

Luca said earnestly, "Do you have any good suggestions?"

"I think... relying on a few of us for firepower obviously isn’t enough, if we’re going to take action, it’s best to learn from the experience of armed groups in Baghdad, such as roadside bombs for example."

Bombs?

Gao Yi frowned and said, "Bombs are good, but none of us are skilled at using them."

Li Jie immediately said, "Bomb-making is a technical job, but just for making them, the illiterate and semi-literate can handle it, are you saying we can’t?"

After dismissively answering Gao Yi’s question, Li Jie said in a deep voice, "The Secret Action Bureau can definitely provide bombs, the kind that are remotely detonated, so that’s not an issue we need to worry about. What we need to do is know the target’s inevitable route, but there’s a critical point we must be extremely careful about when using bombs: we can’t harm civilians."

After finishing, Li Jie took a breath and continued, "We’re not terrorists, we can’t detonate in a busy market, nor can we cause harm to innocents. I’ve observed the area, and due to the special position of the embassy, there are almost no buildings around it and few people. If we find the right spot, we can completely avoid collateral damage."

The group looked at each other, and then Luca suddenly said, "This is a good strategy, worthy of a top university graduate!"

Gao Yi tended to think of using a hammer because it was hard for a person to reach for something beyond their cognition; if roadside bombs didn’t exist in his mind, how could he think of using them.

Feng Biao nodded and said, "This is good, really good. The key point is that another roadside bomb in Baghdad wouldn’t be strange at all."

Li Jie took out a tablet, placed it in the middle of the group, and said in a serious tone, "Look at the map, there are two routes coming out of the embassy, we’re not sure which one the target will take, but asking the Secret Action Bureau for two bombs isn’t too excessive, right?"

Gao Yi held up his hand and said, "Wait! We have to clear this up immediately, please bring Grins over to discuss it together."

Feng Biao was perceptive, but he had a leg injury, so he nudged Lin Xianghua beside him and said, "Go on, quick."

Since they were using the Secret Action Bureau’s facilities, it was safe enough, so Lin Xianghua rose immediately, and within a few steps, he had invited Grins over.

Grins just listened to one sentence, then he immediately stood up and shouted twice in the corridor.

After shouting, two of Grins’ subordinates followed him into the room.

"He’s a bomb expert; he’s in charge of all the equipment in Baghdad. Having them in the meeting makes it easier to choose the type of bomb to use."

Grins made a brief introduction, then the three of them pulled up chairs and sat down at the side of the oval conference table.

Grins sat down and immediately said, "Using a bomb is a good idea; it’s strange why we didn’t think of it right away."

The first informal meeting between the assassin group and the Secret Action Bureau’s agents in the conference room felt odd, but it also possessed a reassuring sense of confidence.

Li Jie quickly assumed his role, and said to the two new members, "I don’t know what types or sizes of bombs you can provide, nor the ways they are detonated. Could you introduce them to us?"

"For size, just simple addition is needed, any size is possible. For detonation, of course, electronic detonators are used, the most common ones controlled by mobile phones here are fine."

Li Jie spoke solemnly, "Cell phone control? Cell phone control is easily disrupted, and using a cell phone to detonate requires consideration of signal latency. We can’t lay mines along the entire route; we must increase the blast range of a powerful bomb to work effectively. If the timing of the detonation is off, we won’t be able to accurately strike the target."

"Um..."

Talk about experts; none seemed as knowledgeable as Li Jie.

Just as Gao Yi was feeling confused, Li Jie waved his hand and said, "I know you must have plenty of explosives or shells, but do you have any specialized electronic detonation methods?"

The two Action Bureau experts glanced at each other, and then one of them said softly, "There are such methods, but terrorists can’t get them. If used, the consequences could be quite serious..."

Grins felt somewhat embarrassed; he gestured dismissively and said, "I’ve said it before, this operation has been approved from above; there’s no need to worry about other issues. Even if something goes wrong, we can blame it on Saudi. You, go make the bomb; you, find enough detonators and controllers."

Decisively sending the two experts who had just joined the meeting off to work, Grins waved his hand and addressed Li Jie, "Continue."

"Car bombs, only car bombs. Turn a car into a massive bomb, parked by the roadside, and detonate it as soon as the target appears."

Li Jie swiftly outlined his plan, and at that point, Gao Yi felt something was off.

"But if they spot a suspicious vehicle by the road, they’ll come to check it directly! The place you’ve picked is near the embassy, a sensitive area."

Gao Yi was speechless; he felt Li Jie was being overly idealistic.

To use a bomb, yet not cause collateral damage—although Gao Yi totally agreed with this, it made the bomb plan almost unfeasible.

"That’s easy!"

Grins almost immediately offered a solution, saying very earnestly, "The simplest method is to have someone drive. What we need is surveillance. Once the target convoy is spotted, notify the driver to merge with the target at the chosen location and detonate the explosives."

"A suicide bomb!"

Gao Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Are you joking? That’s certain death!"

"Yes, it is death, but what Baghdad has no lack of are terrorists. Have Shaman find two fools willing to sacrifice themselves. If they know it’s for attacking a US convoy, there will definitely be volunteers."

Grins actually had a feasible plan.

Glancing at his watch, Grins said casually, "You can’t get help from the National Intelligence Bureau, but Shaman can find two to die within minutes. That’s where their influence shows."

Li Jie frowned and said, "Something still feels off."

Gao Yi also felt it was wrong.

Even Luca started to object, saying sternly, "No, we can’t use this plan. Resorting to suicide attacks... it’s unacceptable."

"Why not?" Grins frowned.

Luca shook his head, "It’s just not acceptable."

Suddenly, Lin Xianghua chimed in, "Since we’re using bombs, can’t we use a more controllable weapon? I don’t understand why bombs are okay but cannons aren’t?"

His question left everyone speechless.

After a moment, Grins finally said, "Because... terrorists don’t have cannons. They don’t have high-power weapons available in Baghdad."

"But we’re not real terrorists. Even the best-trained, best-equipped Special Forces can’t defeat an army with heavy firepower."

Special Forces weren’t omnipotent. In the face of absolute firepower, no amount of training could help.

Everyone was used to the shadowy killings of covert agents, forgetting that the military doesn’t play that game.

Grins took a breath and then carefully said, "We might... might... let me think, we can have the Iraqi Defense Army’s armory burgled, lose a couple of armored vehicles. Tanks make too much noise, too noticeable moving around the city, otherwise... why don’t you steal an armory? I know where there are armored vehicles. In fact, a Gatling machine gun would be enough, right?"

Lin Xianghua pressed on, "Suppose there are ten vehicles in the target and we have only two. Then, block both ends and strafe with the Gatling, add a few rocket launchers for precision strikes; that should suffice since the target isn’t heavily armored."

Li Jie suddenly asked, "What if the car is bulletproof?"

Lin Xianghua replied without hesitation, "A heavy machine gun!"

Grins suggested in a low voice, "Otherwise, how about using a pickup truck with a 23mm anti-aircraft gun? There’s plenty of those in Baghdad, no need for an armory theft..."

Li Jie licked his lips and said, "This is big game playing, isn’t it? But it’s good, no collateral damage."

Gao Yi nodded, "Yeah, you guys are the experts in this area. I’ll go with your decision. Let’s go with the autocannon."

Luca stood up, his hands clutching his head, his face filled with despair, "We’re assassins, we belong to an assassin organization! Otherwise, I’ll find you a hammer."

Gao Yi disdainfully said, "Who needs a hammer? Bring on the cannon!"