Chapter 45: A Trip to Iraq

"Food, yours."

That's worse English than some Oriental.

With a veil on his face and an AK47 terrorist on his chest, he placed a plate of cloudy soup and a piece of dark bread on the table in the room. Glancing mockingly at the white man who was slumped in the corner, he turned around and slammed the door shut.

After seeing the man leave with his peripheral vision, Roberts moved faintly, then quickly moved to the edge of the table and grabbed the bread that was as hard as a stone.

His blond curly hair had been a little bit oily, and his face had almost turned a weak sallow yellow, but his eyes were still very clear. Even though there was a thick soup with unknown ingredients in front of him, and a bread that was almost unbearable in his hand, he did not show the slightest expression of frustration.

He chewed very finely, even though the things in his hands were as difficult to swallow as pig food.

But he is also very clear that only in this way can he absorb energy to the maximum extent and save his physical strength, so that when the time comes, he can seize the opportunity to escape.

The expression on Roberts' face was very relaxed. Even though there was a pig-killing scream from the hapless reporter who was squatting next to him yesterday, he didn't show any emotion like fear.

Don't even think about it, that person must have been dragged to make a throat-slashing horror movie. After all, most ZFs will never compromise with terrorist organizations and pay ransoms for hostages. Maybe in two days he'll be able to see the hapless guy again on Facebook, in the form of a video...if he can get back online alive.

This is not the first time that Roberts has faced such a dangerous situation. He was kidnapped by guerrillas in Kuwait before and almost got his neck smeared. Fortunately, after taking the money, Blackwater International did indeed do something, and cooperated with the U.S. Marine Corps to rescue him at a critical moment.

But now the matter is a bit hanging. Although he is an American citizen and what he did in the past few years is also in the national interest, his smuggling of crude oil from Iran in the past two years has been targeted by the FBI. It is said that special agents are collecting evidence in this regard, but apparently there is no nervousness. It is very likely that the sudden betrayal of the informant was a ghost trick of the FBI to use a knife to kill, so how could the US military send someone to rescue him?

Patton's bald man was very timid. I was afraid that if the FBI beat him a few times, he would join some witness protection plan and sold his old friend directly.

Roberts wasn't too angry about this, and he had seen a lot of betrayal. If he's stuck here this time, Bud's bald guy is lucky if he's back in LA alive... hum.

A stern smile appeared on Roberts' face.

Of course, these are all nonsense now, after all, the probability of his surviving now is really slim. Nick, though trustworthy, is also a good fighter. But he's just one person anyway, and it's still a bit too impractical to deal with a group of heavily armed terrorists.

What's more, the rescue of hostages has to be done quickly.

Shaking his head self-deprecatingly, Roberts nibbled off the last bit of bread and lay back on the bed.

His gut told him that he would be fine this time. His intuition saved his life more than once, so he trusted his intuition and didn't give up hope of surviving...

-

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After getting off the plane, Jiang Chen put his feet on the ground of Baghdad International Airport.

This religious city is full of

It's not quite as dire as the news-simulcast portrayed, at least around the airport.

The scars left by the war on this exotic city have gradually been healed by time, and the foreign tourists coming and going at the airport seem to confirm this. Of course, he also knew that such prosperity had limits.

IS has already occupied half of the country in northern Iraq. Even if the sky over Baghdad is still clear, it will not be long before the color of gunpowder smoke will be filled again.

Jiang Chen, wearing sunglasses, stood at the gate of the airport for a while, then took out his mobile phone and checked Google Maps, and quickly found the location where Nick and him agreed to meet.

When he was about to stop a taxi, a car without a license plate stopped in front of him.

"Sir, do you need a taxi service?"

Is it actually Chinese? Although not smooth.

"Indeed, you can speak Chinese?" Jiang Chen was slightly surprised, and after a moment of hesitation, he opened the car door.

"Because I often find jobs near your oil wells, such as picking up the employees of PetroChina. After a long time, I learned Chinese." The young man smiled, showing his white teeth, and then started the car skillfully, "My name is Isa, how about you, sir?"

"Jiang Chen, go to this location on the map." Jiang Chen pointed the location on the phone map to Aisha.

"OK."

Looking at the changing street scenes on both sides, Jiang Chen chatted casually with the taxi driver who looked about his age. Heard a lot of interesting things.

"Sir, if you are traveling, I recommend that several cities in the south are quite interesting. Don't go north. The town of Hadisy has almost fallen, and it may not be long before even Baghdad is unsafe. "

"Oh? It seems that you know a lot about this. How long have you been doing this?" Jiang Chen asked with a smile.

"It's been almost 6 years. After I was discharged from the army, I almost started working in the taxi business, and I also worked as a tour guide for a while." Isa said with a grin.

"Have you been a soldier? I don't think you're older than me." Jiang Chen asked with some doubts.

"I joined the army when I was 12. In your terms, it should be called the Iraq War." Isa shrugged indifferently and said, "A farce that even the enemy can't see, it will soon end. I was It just feels like I've been shot by Sa-Dam and rushed to the front to surrender."

Secretly stunned by the experience of this young man, he did not continue on this topic.

The car quickly arrived at the destination, and Jiang Chen generously handed $10 to him. Looking in the direction the car was leaving, Jiang Chen stretched and started looking for Nick.

"This way." At this moment, a foreigner drinking coffee under a shed suddenly waved to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen sat directly opposite Nick. Before he could sit still, Nick spoke hastily.

"Only you?"

"That's right." Jiang Chen picked up the empty glass beside him and filled himself with it.

Very bitter, seems to be the kind of purer Turkish coffee.

Jiang Chen took a sip and put it down, but at this time he noticed the slightly disappointed expression on Nick's face.

"Oh? You seem disappointed?" Jiang Chen asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Your skills should be very strong, but if it's just the two of us, it's difficult." Nick said in a low voice.

"I'm not only strong in my skills, you'll know when the time comes." Jiang Chen shrugged, "Where's your weapon?"

"In the car, do you need me to help you prepare one?" Nick asked when Jiang Chen was empty-handed.

"No, my weapons are ready. I believe you already have clues about your boss. Let's go and rescue him. Hehe, he still owes me a business." Jiang Chen smiled. His tone was very relaxed, as if he didn't care about those terrorists at all.

Jiang Chen's performance of "underestimating the enemy" made Nick frown slightly, but there was no better way right now, and it would be dangerous to drag on for another day.

As a soldier, his intuition told him that this man was not bad, but he was not sure exactly how.

"Let's talk about the specific situation in the car. Roberts' situation is very bad. If you read the news yesterday, you will find that IS has executed an American journalist. If the ransom is not paid by tomorrow, IS will Maybe the ticket will be torn up." Nick lit a cigarette, then handed one to Jiang Chen, and led Jiang Chen to his car.

"Can't your boss pay the ransom?" Jiang Chen put the cigarette in his mouth, took out the lighter and lit it.

"IS is asking the US government." Nick said lightly.

The meaning of it is self-evident.

The car started, and Nick took the steering wheel and drove out of town. Along the way, we passed through two checkpoints of the security forces, but they were all symbolic checks, and they were released after they found that there were no bombs. The rifle that Nick hid under the seat cushion also passed security twice.

On the way, Nick explained to Jiang Chen what kind of trouble they encountered this time.

About five days ago, Roberts came to Iraq at the invitation of his old friend Patton. An arms order worth $20 million was bought by a Kurdish armed officer fighting IS on the front line. Placing an order with a U.S. middleman and then bringing in additional munitions is the norm in this desert. Although Roberts felt that something was wrong, he was not too suspicious.

After all, this is a list of 20 million US dollars, and he can make more than one million US dollars from it.

This old guy Patton is so interesting!

Yes, it's so interesting...

The army managed to get to the front line of the battle between the government forces and IS, but unexpectedly, a group of extremists chanting "Anla-Hubaaka" came.

Nick can indeed fight, killing at least 9 gangsters who are not afraid of death with an M27, but this is of no use.

In order to intercept this batch of arms, IS, which has obtained "secret information", dispatched at least one infantry company, as well as vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns, RPGs and other firepower. He beat him to the face in minutes, and almost explained it there.

Arms fell to IS, and Roberts was captured. Nick desperately fought a bloody path and finally escaped to a safe area.

Of course, that doesn't mean he's leaving his boss, and Roberts saved his life. It's just that he knew that the boss could only be rescued if he escaped first.

He had been wandering in the town of Hadesey, and he had a hunch that the IS organization had not escorted Roberts to the rear. Sure enough, the next day he suddenly received a strange call. The man on the phone claimed to have picked up a ten-dollar bill that said, "Call this number, tell him where you picked up the bill, and you'll get paid $100." Nick's first reaction was that it might be a trap, but it was his only clue. After meeting the Arab man, Nick paid him $100 and followed him to the area where the bills were picked up.

Fortunately, this is not a trap. Roberts is worthy of being an old fox. A ten-dollar bill has been hidden in the sole of his shoes. He believes that the first US Secretary of the Treasury will bring him wealth. At the same time, it can save his life at a critical moment.

Apparently, "Hamilton" saved his life.

"Why don't you contact the embassy, ​​aren't your American soldiers an expert in saving hostages?" Jiang Chen said with a relaxed smile.

"It was originally the FBI's ghost. Those idiots couldn't find any evidence, so they just wanted to get rid of the trouble of Roberts." Nick was smoking a cigarette. At this time, he was wearing sunglasses, and Jiang Chen couldn't see him clearly. facial expressions.

"Oh? I thought Roberts represented the interests of your government." Jiang Chen shrugged.

"It's on the Iraqi side, it's on the Ukraine side, but not on the Iran issue." Nick summed up the problem briefly, turning the wheel and driving the car off the road.

It can be seen that Roberts trusts his bodyguard very much, and even told him these inconvenient things.

Speaking of which, Jiang Chen seemed to remember that Roberts had told him before that he had done oil smuggling. It must have revealed something and was targeted by the FBI.

"Aren't you going to take the road?"

"There's an IS checkpoint ahead, and we can't get past it. And, it's almost there." Roberts calmly drove the car into the alley, then turned off the engine.

Jiang Chen opened the door and got out of the car, then looked around. It seemed to be a slum, and occasionally a child or two peered curiously at the two foreigners with their skinny faces sticking out of the window. But soon a big hand will reach out, pull the restless children back, and then close the window firmly.

"It seems that these civilians are quite sensitive to war." Jiang Chen said with a smile, throwing away the cigarette butts in his hands.

"They've been through war from the moment they opened their eyes." Nick took a travel bag from under the car seat and put it on his shoulders. When he saw Jiang Chen's calm look, he frowned, "Are you okay with this?"

"No problem, trust me." Jiang Chen sighed.

"In Iraq, Chinese kung fu has little use."

"In the eyes of foreigners, do we Chinese know kung fu?" Jiang Chen laughed.

Should I still show my hands?

Jiang Chen stretched his right hand behind his back and activated the storage space. In Nick's eyes, it seemed that it was just a flick, and a pistol appeared in Jiang Chen's hand.

Nick was secretly startled, that even his veteran hadn't noticed where Jiang Chen hid the gun.

Moreover, he didn't have the slightest impression of this gun no matter how he looked at it.

"What is this gun?"

"Type 11 tactical pistol, custom-made, don't care." Jiang Chen put the pistol in his purse and shrugged.

After seeing this scene, Nick nodded and didn't say anything more about his ability.

In this way, Jiang Chen followed Nick and walked towards the building where Roberts was being held.