Chapter 215: Rescue Success
The glider immediately unhooked from the transport plane, circling in the air before targeting the largest military installation and diving toward it.
Inside the cabin, Tej began ribbing Roman. "Hey Roman, you're scared, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not!" Well, Roman was terrified. He was afraid of heights, but right now he couldn't afford to show weakness. Ron was still monitoring the comm channel.
O'Connor chimed in: "He's definitely scared."
"If you need to cry, just let it out. We won't laugh at you... hahaha!" Tej laughed heartily, but then offered some practical advice.
"As your buddy, I'm looking out for you, so just in case, I stashed some adult diapers in your glove compartment."
"Hey, can't you just shut up for five minutes, man!" Roman, irritated by their teasing, secretly checked his glove compartment. Sure enough, there was a pack of adult diapers inside.
Roman was conflicted: should he use them or not?
If he did, Tej and the others would never let him live it down. But if he didn't, and actually wet himself, he'd be the butt of jokes for life. Especially with Ron in the mix—that was unacceptable.
Outside, Ron estimated the convoy's approximate position, then got on the intercom and ordered, "Open the bay doors."
"Alright guys, let's light this up!"
The cargo doors swung open. Toretto and O'Connor's cars were positioned at the edge of each plane. They shifted into reverse, released the parking brakes, and the cars slid backward, immediately dropping from the aircraft into open air, falling like missiles.
Then Tej, Letty, the Johnsons... one after another.
"Damn! That looks like a rush!" Ron opened the aircraft window and watched them enviously.
Giselle, still piloting the plane, said, "If you want, you can join them."
"No, I've got more important business." Ron pulled a thick tube from under his seat and aimed it toward the military base. It was the thermobaric rocket launcher Rodriguez had procured for him last time.
"Whoosh!" The rocket, trailing a long flame tail, shot from the launcher. Just before impact, a special fuse detonated, rapidly dispersing the fuel-air mixture over the mercenaries who had just emerged from their fortifications, instantly igniting!
"BOOM!"
Within a 50-square-meter area, all the mercenaries were instantly incinerated!
"Holy shit! This thing is brutal!" Ron excitedly tossed the spent launcher aside. "But I love it."
"Well I don't!" Giselle complained, wrinkling her nose. "That smell is horrible! I don't think I'll be able to look at barbecue for months!"
"How about something else, like steak?" Ron said, pulling out a second thermobaric launcher and taking aim. By now, the mercenaries at the base had begun returning fire.
However, not all mercenaries are as professional as Blackwater contractors. In fact, the mercenaries serving these regional warlords mostly come from third-rate outfits. As long as you can hold a rifle, you qualify as a mercenary. They seriously lacked heavy weapons, let alone anti-aircraft capabilities.
The mercenaries' counterattack posed minimal threat to the aircraft. Ron squeezed the trigger, launching a second thermobaric warhead, sending another spectacular mushroom cloud over the small military installation.
"Ron, I distinctly remember telling you to keep a low profile!" Anonymous's exasperated voice crackled through the communicator.
Then a third, a fourth... Ron unleashed six thermobaric warheads, practically turning the entire base into scorched earth.
Elsewhere, Toretto's team had successfully touched down and was rapidly pursuing the convoy carrying Ramsey, but they encountered resistance.
The rear doors of the last two escort vehicles suddenly opened, revealing mounted heavy machine guns. They opened fire on Toretto's convoy, sending sparks flying as bullets struck the armored hulls.
"SHIT! What the hell is that!" O'Connor shouted, swerving hard, and the other vehicles followed suit.
The convoy immediately scattered, weaving left and right to avoid getting their tires shredded. While the car bodies were bulletproof, the tires weren't.
"Damn it! I thought my new boss would give me some easy assignments, but I'm stuck with these maniacs again!" Johnson complained.
Seeing the situation deteriorating, Toretto immediately grabbed the radio. "Tej, bring your ride up front and give us cover."
"Roger that!" The other cars made way, and from the rear of the convoy, an SUV with the heaviest armor pushed its way to the front.
"Alright, form up!" At Toretto's command, the convoy formed a single column, their reinforced bodies linking end to end. The convoy suddenly gained tremendous momentum.
"Now!" Toretto shouted, and everyone simultaneously floored their accelerators.
"CRASH!" The two vehicles with machine guns were knocked off the road and slammed into the stone barrier, motionless.
By now, the escort vehicles had been eliminated, and the transport bus carrying the hostage was directly ahead.
Under Toretto's direction, the convoy reorganized. Toretto and O'Connor's cars advanced, attaching magnetic charges to each side of the bus.
The luggage compartments on either side of the bus suddenly opened, revealing what should have been storage areas, now occupied by automated machine gun turrets. As soon as the barrels swiveled, Toretto and O'Connor quickly retreated.
The automated guns fired bursts of rounds, sweeping back and forth, ready to deliver lethal fire to any vehicle that got too close.
"Hook up!" Toretto's car aligned with Letty's, and both vehicles simultaneously fired harpoons.
The harpoons pierced the rear of the bus, instantly deploying four claws that latched onto the rear door.
"Tej, detonate!"
"BOOM!" The charges attached to the bus's sides exploded simultaneously, and Toretto and Letty's cars, anchored to the bus's rear, hit their brakes hard. The combined forces tore open the back of the bus, leaving a gaping hole.
At that moment, Ron and Giselle's aircraft flew directly overhead, almost at the same speed as the bus.
The altitude difference between the plane and the bus was less than six feet—practically touching!
Ron leaped from the aircraft into the large hole in the bus's rear, tackling the mercenary who had just raised his weapon. When Ron stood up, the mercenary had a combat knife buried in his throat and was clearly dead.
Seeing this, another mercenary inside immediately rushed toward Ron. Before he could close the distance, Ron, in one fluid motion, jammed his .45 into the man's throat.
"You really that eager to die, sweetheart?" Ron smiled coldly and pulled the trigger. The mercenary convulsed violently and collapsed.
The barrel Ron had pressed into the mercenary's throat wasn't angled upward for a headshot, but rather downward. The bullet passed through the man's throat, pulverizing his internal organs before exiting below, creating a small hole in the bus floor.
"Definitely looks cleaner shooting top-down rather than bottom-up. At least there's no need to redecorate the ceiling with brain matter," Ron observed, unknowingly picking up another tactical lesson.
Unfortunately, he didn't have time to dwell on it, as two more mercenaries emerged from the front of the bus, one of whom was the driver. Ron raised his weapon and fired twice.
"Bang! Bang!" Two more bodies hit the floor. At this point, except for the two mercenaries knocked unconscious by the initial explosion, everyone else on the bus had been eliminated by Ron—except for the hooded woman who kept screaming.
"BANG!" Ron fired a shot, blowing the lock off her restraints and ripping off her hood, revealing a woman with an afro. "Are you Ramsey?"
"Yes, I am. Please don't kill me, please!" Ramsey pleaded, her makeup streaked by tears, her face darkened by the hood.
"Relax, I'm here to rescue you." Ron pulled the knife from the dead mercenary and cut through her wrist restraints.
"Come with me." Ron pulled the woman to the rear of the bus, where Johnson's pickup was driving in reverse, right alongside the transport.
"Listen, I need you to jump across now. You'll be safe."
"No way. That'll kill me." Ramsey clung to Ron's clothes, shrinking back in terror.
"You think I'm asking nicely?" Ron said, his voice dripping with dark amusement. Ramsey froze, and Ron seized the moment to give her a firm shove: "GO!"
"THUD!" Ramsey landed hard in the pickup's bed.
"BANG!" Another impact as Ron jumped in after her.
"Package secured, pulling back now," Ron commanded, then without even looking, drew his sidearm and fired behind them.
"CRACK!" An Asian mercenary who'd just recovered from the blast and was about to leap from the bus dropped dead.
"Mercenaries these days are getting sloppy. You're the worst batch I've ever seen," Ron muttered after the kill. Then he slapped the truck's roof: "Everyone out! RTB, we're going home!"
One by one, the cars plunged into the dense forest, descending the slope. The last vehicle even deployed mines as it retreated.
After losing two more vehicles to the mines, the mercenaries from the other military installations finally gave up pursuit and could only watch the dust cloud disappearing into the forest, cursing their luck.
Ron's convoy, after picking up Giselle who had parachuted into the dense forest, continued down the mountain range, eventually reaching a river.
A fishing boat waited quietly on the water—the river led directly to the ocean and their extraction point.
"She doesn't look like a hacker at all," Roman whispered, eyeing the unconscious woman on the boat.
"So what do you think a hacker looks like?"
"I don't know, but definitely not like this. She's way too hot."
Roman licked his lips, his mind wandering. Ron sat down and put his arm around Roman's neck. "So what do you think a real hacker looks like?"
"Glasses thicker than Coke bottles, and a face full of zits from too much Mountain Dew. Trust me, with a body like that, nobody would want to hide behind a computer screen." Roman gestured at Ramsey enthusiastically, then turned around and realized it was Ron sitting next to him.
"Uh..." Roman felt like someone had grabbed him by the throat.
Ron patted his shoulder. "It's cool. Don't think I'm some kind of monster. If you're interested, go for it. As long as it's consensual. I just wanted to tell you there are plenty of smoking hot hackers out there."
Roman's face showed pure disbelief, a look that screamed "You've got to be kidding me." But intimidated by Ron's reputation for sudden violence, he didn't dare argue. He just shrugged helplessly.
That was fine if he didn't believe it. Ron was telling the truth. Paige's figure was definitely more impressive than Ramsey's.
But someone else had already claimed that territory.
Seeing Ramsey regaining consciousness, O'Connor immediately moved over. "Did you hit your head? Are you experiencing any of these symptoms? Nausea? Ringing in your ears? Dizziness?"
Each time O'Connor mentioned a symptom, Ramsey shook her head. "I'm wondering where my shoes went?"
"Sorry, I accidentally knocked them off when I tossed you." Ron approached.
"I don't know whether to thank you for rescuing me, or curse you for throwing me into that truck like a sack of potatoes."
"Go ahead and curse me. We haven't gone far yet. Tell me where the device is right now, and I promise to take you back immediately, deal?" Ron had zero intention of coddling her, and stared openly at Ramsey's figure.
"Do I need to remind you what kind of people were holding you captive? They're stone-cold killers. As long as the money's right, they'll do anything, and they follow the principle of maximum profit."
"A woman like you definitely wouldn't survive their interrogation methods. You'd crack and give them what they want, and then..."
Ramsey pulled her clothes tighter. She was uncomfortable with Ron's stare, but couldn't help being curious: "Then what?"
"Then of course they'd take turns with you. When they got bored, you might end up in some Amsterdam red-light district window. Later, when your blood type matched some wealthy client, your useful organs would be harvested one by one and transplanted to whoever could pay."
Ramsey was already trembling with fear. Seeing the moment was right, Toretto asked, "Tell us where that thing is."
"I sent it to a friend in Abu Dhabi."
"Do they know about this?" Ron pointed toward the mountaintop.
"No, I didn't tell them. I don't trust them. I want to trust you." Ramsey finally found some confidence and looked at Ron. "Your tactical skills and equipment show you're a well-trained team, especially you. With abilities like yours, I don't understand why you'd work for terrorists."
(End of chapter)
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