Both Jack and Reacher's team of special investigators had braced for an attack since stirring up the hornet's nest the previous night. They had even planned a series of countermeasures, including feigning exposure and luring the enemy out of their lair.
However, the enemy's frenzy and swift reaction still surprised everyone. Considering that it had only been five or six hours since the previous night's "robbery," Jack was more inclined to believe that the attack was premeditated.
The truth of the matter was unimportant at this point. The moment they realized they were under attack, Reacher and his team's military instincts were instantly activated.
They knew they were the priority, so instead of trying to help others, they immediately retreated from the crowd and, using the cover of tombstones, formed a makeshift combat team.
In Jack's previous life, a group of sinister hermaphrodites once controlled public opinion in Seres.
They disregarded the casualty ratio and the detailed history of the war between the two sides. With a certain literary (and sometimes illicit) power, they attributed the Volunteer Army's victory over the UN forces to "human wave tactics."
It seemed that, with enough fearlessness, a group of peasants armed with crude weapons could defeat a well-equipped enemy a hundred or a thousand times their number, or even draw with them.
Some even attributed the enemy's defeat to a certain mercy, such as in a film where an American pilot, after a reckless strafing spree from his fighter plane, chose to abandon the slaughter out of "admiration" for the courage of the volunteers.
Any reasonable person would discern the truth and not be brainwashed by a few smeared films or novels.
After the founding battle of Seres, both armies learned a great deal from each other.
One side, suffering from a severe fear of "firepower shortages," continued to grow in industrial strength and information technology, upgrading various large and small equipment, and heavily armored combined brigades dominated the world.
The US side also learned some advanced warfighting strategies, such as the "left hook" tactic of leveraging mobility to conduct large-scale indirect maneuvers, enhanced night combat capabilities, and more proactive squad-based tactics.
Even after the brutal European battlefields of World War II, the US Army's tactics remained rigid and conservative. After artillery and airstrikes, the army advanced, and when it could no longer push, it called in artillery and aircraft, focusing on sheer volume and sheer firepower.
After being crushed in Korea by the fearless will of the Serbian soldiers, who exploited the rugged terrain of the peninsula, the US Army began to change.
However, after the Gulf War, perhaps due to its habit of bullying weaker nations and the endless security wars, the army seemed to have reverted to its old ways.
When faced with a surprise attack, the army simply held its ground, desperately calling for reinforcements, and waiting for the air force or other long-range firepower to rescue them with precision-guided strikes became a tried-and-true panacea.
But soldiers are soldiers after all, and Reacher and his men were no ordinary soldiers; they were military police specializing in dealing with ordinary soldiers.
Realizing that the enemy, armed with assault rifles, held an overwhelming advantage over their pistol-equipped counterparts at a range of over 100 meters, they didn't retreat behind tombstones and wait for death. Instead, they took the initiative.
Reacher and Dixon, Negley and O'Donnell, moved forward in pairs, alternating between covering each other and trying to close the gap with the attackers.
At this distance, a pistol with an effective range of only 50 meters was barely enough to hear the blast. With Hannah and Jiejie providing cover on their flanks, the four of them spared no effort, one observing and covering while the other charged forward, then rotating.
Meanwhile, Jack, taking advantage of the undulating terrain of the cemetery's hills, raced through the trees. Without a communicator, he couldn't communicate effectively, and he had never worked with special investigators before.
Since they lacked tacit understanding, he resorted to a classic American form of individual heroism, planning to outflank the enemy from the other side and single-handedly cut off their retreat. Since
the enemy had already arrived, wouldn't it be a shame not to leave two survivors to investigate?
A bloody streak appeared on Hannah's cheek, left by the shattered glass from a 5.56 bullet that shattered the rearview mirror.
She and Jiejie were actually farther away from the attackers than the others, but their car, parked on a forest path, had a clear view and could clearly see a gray BMW approaching from a distance.
When they spotted four gunmen armed with AR assault rifles exiting the car, they were stunned. They hadn't expected someone to be so brazen as to launch an attack at a funeral in broad daylight.
By the time they had scrambled to recline the seats, pull open the rear partition, and retrieve the Noveske N4 from the trunk, the attackers had already retreated into the woods.
The girl didn't try to shout or call Jack for help, instead choosing to drown out the gunfire from the funeral with bursts of gunfire.
Her decisiveness had indeed worked, not only providing a warning but also effectively disrupting the gunman's first shot.
However, it also put her and Jiejie in danger. Their enemy had retreated into the woods, offering shelter not only from the trees and shrubs that obscured their view, but also from the hardened tombstones.
They were currently on a small path through the cemetery. While it was a narrow path, it was wide enough for two cars to pass through, and it was open.
Fortunately, they had been driving Jack's Hellcat for the past two days. Both doors were bulletproof, with reinforced steel plates and Kevlar padding effectively withstanding direct fire from 5.56mm rifles.
With the cover of the car's hull, they could occasionally risk a burst of bullets.
The three parties at the scene now formed a stable triangle. Reacher and his four companions, who were at the funeral, were located in the lower area to the south. Using the cemetery's densely packed tombstones for cover, they were able to close within a hundred meters of the four gunmen before being completely blocked.
The four gunmen were located in a slightly higher position in the north. Two of them easily suppressed Hannah and Jiejie, who were located in a lower position in the west. Jack's Hellcat had two tires blown out on one side, and sparks flashed from time to time on the body of the car.
The three points of the triangle were a hundred meters apart from each other. For a moment, a kind of stalemate was formed, waiting for the emergence of a person who could break the deadlock.
The person who could break the deadlock had approached from the east to within 70 meters of the four gunmen. Jack ran nearly 300 meters around the high ground in the north at the speed of a 100-meter sprint, through the bumpy mud in the forest. Not only did he avoid the enemy's sight, he also went around their side and rear.
"Bang!"
Amid the continuous bursts of assault rifle fire, a slightly discordant crisp gunshot suddenly rang out. A gunman who was concentrating on aiming had a flower of blood on his left shoulder blade, and fell to the ground with a muffled groan.
(End of this chapter)