Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 396 - 378 Basic Skills

Chapter 396: Chapter 378 Basic Skills

The first lesson was "trust no one." Then Green asked Gao Yi what he had learned.

"Was it arranged by you?"

Gao Yi still expressed his true thoughts.

What should not be said, Gao Yi indeed believed that this crisis seemed more like Green’s doing, simple in reason; if Marina really wanted to kill him, why would she use such a complicated method?

Besides, the action of Marina taking the bullet-proof vest puzzled Gao Yi; he did not understand but was sure that Marina intended to protect him, not kill him.

There was still one thing he couldn’t figure out—if Marina also believed that Gao Yi was in danger, why didn’t she keep Gao Yi in the office instead of urging him to leave quickly?

This must be an understanding between spies that Gao Yi didn’t grasp.

Green began to answer.

Green calmly said, "First lesson: don’t trust anyone. You trust Marina, but do you know how many insiders she has around her? Can you guarantee they won’t betray your whereabouts?"

Gao Yi was taken aback, "Are you saying that I was betrayed by someone close to Marina?"

Green continued to shake his head and said, "Obviously not because there wasn’t enough time. I can assert that it wasn’t someone close to Marina who leaked the information. Instead, the enemy used the most straightforward and most effective method: surveillance. They watched you at all possible locations, and since they knew you and Marina were close, watching her would suffice."

Gao Yi immediately understood the key point; he was surprised, was the cost of such an operation not too high?

Luca, from the front passenger seat, said in a panic, "Do you really need to talk about this now? The people behind are catching up..."

Green looked back and then nonchalantly said, "The situation has changed, no need to panic; the pool will handle these exposed assassins; they no longer pose a threat."

After all, it happened at the entrance of the swimming pool, and the French, though slow, must have started taking action by now.

Green watched as the car behind them changed direction, gave up their pursuit, and took another road.

Gao Yi and Luca looked at each other.

They had experienced many things before and encountered numerous dangers, but they had never faced such a professionally-made crisis.

Green continued indifferently, "We can’t stay in Paris. Go anywhere without surveillance, change cars, put on makeup, disguise yourself as someone else, and remain hidden until the next inevitable meeting with someone closely monitored exposes you again."

A series of seemingly unrelated measures, but when put together, made a lot of sense.

Gao Yi couldn’t help but ask again, "Are you sure it wasn’t arranged by you?"

Green didn’t turn around; he was silent for a moment, but finally, in a warning tone, he said, "You can be ignorant, but you can’t be foolish, so if you talk nonsense like this again, I won’t teach you anymore."

"Alright."

Gao Yi obediently bowed his head because, so far, Green’s performance had convinced him.

It wasn’t necessarily a showdown with fists; Green had now convinced Gao Yi with facts. Gao Yi acknowledged his defeat, and began to appreciate that John truly found him a good teacher, and he would listen to Green entirely.

Gao Yi now had too many questions; after thinking for a moment, he decided to seek answers one by one.

"Please tell me, does ’trust no one’ not mean that Marina wants to kill me, but merely that any contact with her inevitably means unavoidable risk?"

Green was Gao Yi’s teacher, his role was to educate, not to show off in front of Gao Yi, so when Gao Yi started asking questions, it was Green’s duty to answer them without delay.

"Yes!"

Green’s response was very straightforward, and in a pleased tone, he said, "You’ve understood the real meaning of this statement. I arranged this lesson to let you learn through this case that many people you deal with are spies, and spies belong to the most dangerous and complicated group, far more dangerous and complicated than assassins. Think about the French External Intelligence Bureau, the largest intelligence unit in France. Imagine how many foreign moles there might be inside."

Gao Yi nodded.

Green continued, "The mutual infiltration within the European Union has become very common, but the United States remains an insurmountable threshold for all countries in the EU. Once you connect the relationship between the Andic Group and the CIA, isn’t it easy to infer that Marina’s actions could be under the surveillance of the CIA, which means being monitored by the Andic Group?"

"Exactly, that’s right."

"So the problem is simple. Given the current situation, Marina is evidently the highest risk person in your network, yet you haven’t realized this."

Gao Yi was fully convinced and nodded, "Yes, so you believe there must be CIA informants watching her, which means as soon as I arrive, my whereabouts would be leaked."

"That’s correct. Even without a mole or a mole rat, monitoring Marina is manageable. Like I said, stakeouts require a small number of people and a considerable amount of time. They just wait here for you. If you show up, that’s an unexpected gain; if not, there’s no loss since those staking out can be very low-level expendables. But once you’re spotted here, everything would be over."

After finishing, Green seriously said, "Do you think intelligence work is all done through satellites and networks? No, despite today’s advanced electronic technology, most intelligence is still gathered through the simplest and most primitive methods. We all know that there are no secrets for Americans on the internet, so the real core information must be transmitted without using the network."

Gao Yi nodded again, "I understand. Just deploying two people to watch and paying them monthly should do. But, if I wore makeup, would they recognize me?"

"No need to recognize you. Monitoring based on physical build and mannerisms is enough. You know modern surveillance can use facial recognition. Still, in slightly more sophisticated intelligence work, analyzing physical mannerisms remains mainstream. I’m not sure if there’s a mole around Marina, and I’m not sure to what extent the CIA has infiltrated, but I firmly believe this place is under surveillance, whether it’s the periphery or the core area. As long as we know it’s under surveillance, that’s enough. Hence, we move on to the second lesson of our tutorial—time management."

Green was truly an excellent teacher, explaining everything clearly and concisely.

Gao Yi was a diligent student, immediately asking, "What does ’time management’ entail?"

"Time management is a broad subject involving a series of basic skills coupled with highly complex calculations to determine an absolutely secure timeframe in which you can maintain total control."

After explaining, Green took a breath and said, "I didn’t manage our time well just now; I underestimated the enemy’s speed. If you had acted within fourteen minutes as a safe time, we would be in trouble now. The correct time should’ve been thirteen minutes and thirty seconds."

Gao Yi was genuinely puzzled and asked softly, "Why is that?"

"This lesson tests the basics of espionage; first, we know approaching Marina implies danger. Based on this judgment, we must assess the type of and level of danger, then estimate the enemy’s methods, and after a comprehensive evaluation, using all known factors, we make a forecast. From there, we calculate a time during which the enemy absolutely cannot act. Within this timeframe, you can do anything, but once it passes, the enemy arrives. This is a fundamental skill that all spies must master."

Gao Yi understood the outcome but not the process.

Like Green saying one plus one equals two, Gao Yi got the result but didn’t understand why one plus one equals two.

"Can you explain the details here?"

"Of course, but these are basic skills. I’ll have to teach them one by one later, and then you’ll understand naturally. Right now, explaining the details won’t mean anything, but I need to explain to you the actual operation ideas now. When you later study each basic skill, it will be much easier to understand."

Green was indeed a great teacher!

"First, I need to judge how the Andic Group would kill you. With your profile, an assassination is unnecessary. They could use any method, and since you are highly skilled in close combat, even considered invincible in close quarters, what would be the simplest and fastest way to kill you? Obviously, using a gun, a conclusion easily reached."

"Yes, very simple."

"Good. So, near the Directorate-General for External Security, long-term surveillance is possible, but is it realistic or safe for someone to carry firearms and explosives while clandestinely lying in wait?"

"Uh, doesn’t seem hard... Wait, I don’t know much about spy stuff; I don’t know if that’s difficult."

"That depends on the distance. First, the Directorate-General for External Security’s location was chosen with safety considerations, though not far from urban areas, ensuring a fairly large safety margin. Any buildings and vehicles entering within a defined safety red line are closely monitored. It might not be noticeable to ordinary people, but for an operation team intending to lie in wait long-term, crossing the red line means potentially being exposed."

After finishing, Green seriously said, "So you need to know where the swimming pool’s safety red line is. Then, find a location where you can lie in wait and live long-term, yet can be dispatched at any moment, reaching and striking in the shortest possible time. After studying it, I believe the shortest time to gather information and prepare to forcibly assassinate you is fourteen minutes."

Gao Yi finally understood; that was how the fourteen-minute time limit originated.

"It sounds simple, but if you think carefully, it’s very challenging, especially estimating the time to just a twenty-second difference like you did, teacher. You’re amazing."

Gao Yi was always ready with flattery.

But Green sighed and said, "No, I reserved one minute of safety time, which means I actually miscalculated this time. Either the enemy was hiding closer than I thought, or they moved faster. Whatever the reason, that slight time difference might result in a disastrous failure for this operation. Luckily, you came out early; otherwise, our movements would have been tracked."

"Tracked movements?"

Green dismissed Gao Yi’s flattery, stating plainly, "The Andic Group can fail ten thousand times; they’re just using expendable consumables, and continual failures don’t matter as long as there’s one success. But you, you can’t afford even one mistake. One mistake could mean death."

Green continued, "Being an assassin can be easy; being expendable and cannon fodder even easier, but your current adversaries aren’t just assassins. So, you need to elevate yourself to a higher level, buddy. You have a lot of basic skills to practice, and you don’t have much time. I hope your learning ability can keep up with my teaching pace, otherwise... I think it will be very difficult for you."