"From here, head northwest for about half an hour, and we'll be in Afghanistan. We'll be safe then."
After driving for more than an hour, Hawkeye stopped the car, checked the direction, and recalibrated the GPS before speaking.
"It looks like we—"
"Boom!!!!" Black Widow's words were abruptly cut off by an explosion.
Less than three meters to the left of the SUV, a violent explosion erupted.
A large amount of yellow sand was thrown into the sky by the blast.
"Left side!" Hawkeye sharply turned the steering wheel, shouting.
Black Widow grabbed a binocular and looked to the left.
"Go! Go! Move! Damn it!" Black Widow's face changed drastically as she urgently spoke to Hawkeye.
Without wasting a word, Hawkeye floored the gas pedal, and the vehicle's engine roared deafeningly.
No longer concerned about direction, they sped to the right.
Blake, with sharp eyes, could see a figure in the distance holding an iron pipe.
It was likely a single-soldier rocket launcher, from which the earlier explosion had originated.
One rocket launcher was no threat to this group, but the problem was the ten-plus off-road vehicles following the person with the rocket launcher, coming over the sand dunes.
"Damn it, how did they get here so fast, and in such numbers? Everyone hold on tight, there's no insurance if you fall out now!"
The pursuing vehicles were all open-top off-road vehicles, each with a terrorist standing up and firing rocket launchers.
A barrage of rockets and explosions began targeting their vehicle.
Hawkeye's steering wheel was turned left sharply, and then right the next moment.
The vehicle twisted and turned like a snake, bouncing in the desert.
Amidst the explosions and the flying sand, Blake suddenly felt like he was in a spy movie.
"They're coming from the north. The Afghan border is not safe. Contact our people and inform the military to handle it, quickly!" Hawkeye yelled at Black Widow while driving.
"I'm already on the phone, damn bastards!" Black Widow held the phone in one hand, just as gunfire sounded from behind.
A bullet nearly grazed her arm, shattering the rearview mirror.
Da-da-da-da-da!
Whether they ran out of rockets or the accuracy was too low, the attackers mounted machine guns on their jeeps.
The gunfire was so intense that no one in the car could lift their heads.
The relentless sound of bullets hitting the vehicle didn't stop.
The enemy was using heavy machine guns, and even their armored vehicle couldn't withstand such an assault.
Hawkeye, while driving, glanced back at Blake, Tony, and Yinsen.
Sighing, he said to Black Widow,
"You drive, we need to fight back!"
Without waiting for Black Widow's response, he jumped to the middle of the front seats.
As soon as Hawkeye spoke, Natasha grabbed the steering wheel, and with a swift movement of her legs, took his place.
"Now it's our turn, bastards!" Hawkeye drew his bow, steady despite the bumpy ride.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow flew out!
Blake saw the nearest enemy vehicle burst into flames.
Hawkeye's explosive arrow took out the entire vehicle.
The rear window of their vehicle was now a spiderweb of cracks.
"Get down!" Blake shouted to Tony and Yinsen, then punched the glass, shattering it.
He picked up a rifle and started shooting at the pursuers.
Blake's marksmanship was average, and in these conditions, it was even harder to hit the targets.
But he wasn't worried about wasting bullets, switching to automatic mode and firing in bursts.
He managed to disrupt the enemy machine gunners, making them less bold about standing up to shoot.
"Whoosh!"
Hawkeye, after aiming for a moment, shot another arrow.
Another car turned into a fireball.
"Whoosh!"
Another one.
"YES! Well done, buddy!"
Seeing Hawkeye sit down after shooting an arrow, Blake took a moment to praise him.
With Blake's interference and Hawkeye taking down three cars with three arrows, the enemy vehicles began to maintain a distance, no longer daring to close in.
Their pressure was significantly reduced.
"They've pulled back a bit. Keep going, Cupid, just a few more and there will only be five or six cars left." Blake said, looking at Hawkeye.
"I'd love to continue, but I'm out of explosive arrows. Also, I'm Hawkeye, not Cupid, rookie!"
"What do you mean you're out of explosive arrows? These are terrorists we're fighting, couldn't you bring more gear?" Blake shouted.
"We came to rescue, not to fight a war, rookie!" Hawkeye said, checking his quiver.
"Cupid I know you're here to save me, but can I get a gun too? Taking hits without fighting back isn't my style!" Tony interjected.
"Damn it! My name is Hawkeye, stop making up names. And who said I can't do anything without explosive arrows?"
As he spoke, Hawkeye stood up, quickly aimed, and shot two arrows in succession. One arrow hit a machine gunner in the head, and the other went through the windshield, killing the driver.
The vehicle swerved sharply and flipped over in the desert.
"See that, rookie? And you, millionaire, let the professionals handle the professional work."
Blake and Tony exchanged glances, and Blake shrugged.
"You're right, accuracy is everything. But why didn't you take out two drivers with two arrows? That would have flipped two cars."
Tony: "I think Blake is right!"
Yinsen: "Yeah, I agree!"
Hawkeye: "..."
After all that, only two enemy vehicles remained, and the pressure was almost gone.
Everyone relaxed, just waiting for Hawkeye to take out the last one.
Hawkeye didn't disappoint, standing up and swiftly taking down one more vehicle.
When he stood up again.
"Bang!"
Hawkeye fell down immediately.
A bullet was lodged in the right side of his bulletproof vest.
"Damn it! There's more!" Hawkeye's words seemed to signal a renewed enemy attack.
From the left-front sand dunes, about twenty off-road vehicles suddenly appeared.
In an instant, gunfire erupted in a continuous stream.
A hail of bullets raised clouds of sand and formed several deadly trajectories on the left and front of the vehicle.
If not for the car cresting a sand dune at that moment, it would have been destroyed.
"This isn't going to work. Can we get the military to come directly?"
Taking advantage of the sand dune blocking their view, Tony asked.
"We're in trouble now. Even if they come directly, it'll be hard to hold out. Luckily, there are many sand dunes ahead. We'll cross them one by one and see if we can lose them." Hawkeye pointed to the dunes ahead.
Blake looked at the endless dunes in front, knowing that with so many pursuers, it was impossible to lose them just by crossing a few dunes.
Waiting for reinforcements wouldn't be enough time.
"I remember there are two big guys in the car. I have a plan!" Blake said quietly.
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