Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 378 - 360: Replacement

Chapter 378: Chapter 360: Replacement

"A Boeing 777 will land at 14:40 this afternoon," Lin Xianghua read from the new intelligence Joelson had sent. "The crew won’t change. After a two-hour layover, the plane will take off at 16:40. The embassy staff swapping in will head out at 15:00. They’ll go directly to the plane upon reaching the airport and wait on board—forty-two people in total, transported to the airport in two buses with a security force escort. This is a regular official flight. For now, there are no abnormalities."

The time was set; they would start heading out at three in the afternoon with a total of forty-two people.

Among the suspected targets of ’Burning Wind,’ one was on the list of these forty-two, but the other one was completely off the radar.

Gao Yi couldn’t believe Freedom Wind, knowing someone was definitely out to kill Burning Wind, would still brazenly take a bus to the airport.

It was a classic distraction strategy—some in the open to divert attention, others hidden, escaping through unknown means. So blatant was the tactic.

Being CIA operatives skilled in disguise and evasion was basic, and even with internal CIA conflicts, they could still count on, at the very least, half of the CIA’s support. To accurately locate and kill Burning Wind was going to be very difficult.

As an assassin, Gao Yi felt he was not good at handling such situations.

"The intelligence you’ve given me, it’s tough to pinpoint and eliminate Burning Wind," he complained.

As the operation’s commander, Gao Yi could request further investigation.

Not considering Joelson’s position, Gao Yi could easily push all the pressure onto Joelson—after all, Joelson was Panetta’s man. Any failure due to a lack of good intelligence would be on Joelson, which ultimately falls back on Panetta.

But Joelson was a man Gao Yi had personally nurtured and promoted. Transferring all the pressure and responsibility to Joelson, only for Panetta to eventually abandon him, would be a significant loss for Gao Yi.

It was a tricky situation.

It wasn’t exactly "finding a needle in a haystack," but identifying a master of disguise under such tight protection was truly challenging.

In terms of intelligence, Gao Yi truly had little experience or means. His team was good at fighting and assassinating, but intelligence or handling spies was something only Guerra and Joelson could manage.

Having no good solutions from either Guerra or Joelson, Gao Yi was immediately in a bind.

Desperately needing a breakthrough, Gao Yi racked his brain for solutions, but could think of nothing feasible.

After hanging up on Joelson, the best Gao Yi and Guerra could do was stare at each other helplessly.

"We now have the time and place, but not the target. What should we do?" Guerra asked Gao Yi.

Guerra was the professional, but he was also out of ideas.

Though both worked in espionage, specializing in counterespionage for domestic affairs and focusing on foreign intelligence were quite different—just like criminal detection differed significantly from economic crime investigation.

So, it fell to the professional Guerra to ask the less experienced Gao Yi what to do.

Any normal suggestion from Gao Yi would have been abnormal.

"Just take out all the suspects," he finally suggested.

Indeed, Gao Yi offered an unreliable solution.

Eliminating Burning Wind remained Panetta’s single goal, the reason for Panetta’s compromises with the Pentagon and cooperation with Saudi; regardless of how Gao Yi twisted it, Panetta would ultimately bear the brunt.

Upper management provided the cover, so Gao Yi feared nothing!

The biggest risk was escalating the situation to a point where it couldn’t be contained, resulting in Panetta having to take the fall—but Gao Yi wasn’t directly under Panetta’s control. Even if Panetta wanted to burn bridges, it would depend on whether he had the capability to do so.

So, with no good options available, it was time to use a not-so-good option.

Like a plan with no plan, Gao Yi excelled in this.

Guerra stared blankly at Gao Yi, aware of his audacity but not expecting to this extent.

"Take out everyone? That’s forty-two people, including employees from nearly every U.S. department. You’d kill them all?"

Guerra spread his hands out, exasperated, "Are you insane?"

"Not like that, I don’t mean kill everyone," countered Gao Yi, "just the suspects. We’ve narrowed it down to two key suspects. If one boards the bus, we stop the bus, pull him out of those forty-two people, and take him out—guilty or not, and problem solved."

"How do you propose stopping the bus, ensuring there are no collateral damages? Moreover, the bus escort to the airport will have over a hundred Deyang International personnel. You’d need to take out the entire escort squad, and though they’re PMC, their combat abilities are not lacking at all! I see absolutely no feasibility in your plan."

It did seem a bit excessive.

Unable to handle it himself, Gao Yi threw up his hands, "Then I’m out of ideas."

Guerra, utterly helpless, retorted, "You’re an assassin. As an assassin, don’t you have any methods to identify and eliminate the target from a crowd?"

"As long as you can get me close to the target, of course I can kill him, but the problem is I can’t get in."

"Who says you can’t get in, and why can’t you?"

Grasse suddenly asked, then he seriously said, "Put you on the list to return to the country, as the forty-third passenger, wouldn’t that work?"

Gao Yi was stunned for a while and said, "Yeah, wouldn’t that work?"

From beginning to end, nobody had thought about letting Gao Yi personally carry out the task of killing Burning Wind.

It was because Gao Yi’s status had changed, his identity had changed.

Previously, Gao Yi was just an assassin on the Dark Web, he had no significant identity, and even if he had one it was invisible in the public eye, completely negligible.

Now, Shaman was his good brother, Panetta was his partner, the Pentagon hadn’t yet established high-level direct contacts, but Grasse was clinging to Gao Yi as a major support; and then there was Marina in France, all these connections escalated Gao Yi’s status — who would dare let him act personally?

It had almost been ended by Freedom Wind because the plot to trick others backfired but it was also this opportunity that elevated Gao Yi another step, causing even fewer people willing to let Gao Yi act personally.

It was a last resort, Grasse reluctantly suggested a method, and then, they realized, this seemed to be the most feasible way.

"Do you think it will work?"

"Come, I need to put on makeup, then... send me to the airport on the shuttle. As for the specifics, discuss it with Joelson."

Gao Yi looked at his watch, it was one o’clock in the afternoon, there was plenty of time for makeup, just unsure if Grasse and Joelson would be able to get him on the shuttle.

Grasse quickly called Joelson back, waiting for Joelson to pick up, he urgently said, "We’re putting Hammer God on the list returning to the country, do you have a suitable identity there? I’m not sure if the Pentagon will have anyone on this flight returning to the country; typically, military personnel travel on the Pentagon’s own military planes."

Grasse didn’t know if anyone from the Pentagon would be on the CIA-sent plane, while Joelson was actually clearer.

"Yes! There are three Pentagon people taking this official aircraft back to the country, let me check the list... two men and one woman, but to let Hammer God himself kill Burning Wind? We don’t even know if it’s a fake target, I can only get the list now, unable to confirm each person’s identity, let alone verify it personally."

Grasse didn’t hesitate and said, "Let Hammer God decide, do you have someone Hammer God can replace, or just add Hammer God to the boarding list?"

"I can’t, everything I do now requires others’ cooperation and help, I have no personal connections or real power here, and I can’t trust anyone from the CIA. If I add a person to the list, it would be immediately noticed, so we can only start from your side’s channels."

Grasse targeted it from the Pentagon’s side, letting Gao Yi replace someone from the Pentagon to board the plane, which was more convenient than Joelson’s side.

Grasse didn’t hesitate and said, "Okay, I’ll contact them immediately, give me the names of those boarding, and I’ll handle the rest of the detailed information."

This plan needed the cooperation of the Pentagon’s upper echelons because such impersonation was not possible without support from behind.

Joelson soon sent over the list, just names, which could be handled in seconds.

Grasse hung up the phone, then he sent the names to his superior, and then called again, saying, "Sir, our operation has encountered some difficulties, now I need the detailed information of these three people, and also, we want to replace them to board that official aircraft, is that possible?"

His superior didn’t directly answer Grasse’s question; he hung up the phone.

But soon, his superior sent Grasse the information of the three people directly.

Tacit approval.

Grasse received the information of the three people, he told Gao Yi, "Three people, from the Office of Prisoners of War and Missing Personnel, the oldest thirty-six, the youngest twenty-seven, you can completely use the name of any of them to board the plane."

The three people’s photos, ages, heights, weights.

Grasse’s superior in the Secret Action Bureau knew what they wanted to do, being intelligence personnel, providing information meant providing everything, ready to use and straightforward.

What more could Gao Yi say to such a simple thing?

"I will randomly make up as one of them, get on the shuttle with them, find the suspicious target, no matter if he is actually Burning Wind, kill him, get off."

Grasse nodded and said, "Yes, but I think since we’re replacing Pentagon people, why not replace all three, that way you’re safer too."

"That makes sense."

Gao Yi thought for a bit and said, "Then it’s me and Lucy, and..."

Feng Biao was a sniper, but he wasn’t skilled at killing someone barehanded, Lin Xianghua was the same, not adept at this kind of thing.

Who else should it be?

Gao Yi looked at Grasse, Grasse whispered, "I can’t go, but I think Donkey is good."

That could work.

Gao Yi gestured with his hand and said, "Good, hurry and arrange it, let’s move quickly."