"Long, you're in charge of the first floor. Be careful, and contact me immediately if anything happens."
Everyone entered the house and shut the door behind them. Jason assigned a task to Long Zhan while he removed his black robe and began walking down the stairs to the second floor.
The rest of Team B followed closely behind.
In this small town with single-story buildings, the balcony of the two-story house was the highest point. From here, they could see the target building clearly.
"Get your gear on and install the night vision cameras. I'll take the first shift."
As soon as Jason reached the second floor, he issued the order. Lei, Trent, and several other veteran team members worked in perfect harmony, pairing up to begin the setup.
The cameras were aimed at a two-and-a-half-story building across the street, about thirty meters away.
An armed pickup truck was parked outside the house, with a military officer in a red beret and uniform standing guard, accompanied by several Lionsheart soldiers.
Locals avoided getting too close, indicating the special nature of this house.
On the second floor, Jason and the others were busy setting up surveillance, while Long Zhan, responsible for securing the first floor, also began his task.
He checked to ensure that the doors and windows were securely locked, examined the ground floor for any hidden exits like tunnels, and assessed the back alley's path and any potential shooting points around the area. He also evaluated the risks of retreating through the back door.
All of these checks were necessary to avoid panic during an emergency.
After about an hour and a half of thorough inspection, Jason and the team on the second floor were fully engaged in setting up 24-hour surveillance on the target building.
Long Zhan knew Samir wouldn't arrive until tomorrow, so he spread out his black robe on the ground, covered himself with a blanket, and quickly fell asleep.
Sleeping on the transport plane had been a torment, with very poor quality sleep and little chance to enter a deep sleep cycle.
Now that he had proper conditions to rest and the necessary security measures were in place, Long Zhan felt it was important to maintain his mental sharpness.
A peaceful night passed.
Having slept comfortably, Long Zhan woke up feeling refreshed just as the first light of dawn appeared.
After finishing his military rations for breakfast, Long Zhan checked the time. It was almost time. He removed the 3x scope from his machine gun and moved to the window.
Lifting a corner of the blackout curtain, he sat on a stool and began observing the target building.
The Lionsheart soldiers clearly attached great importance to this meeting. Even early in the morning, there were no fewer soldiers at the entrance, and they remained on high alert.
Some even had their meals delivered and ate standing right where they were.
Because this small town was so close to the capital, traffic was heavy, and by just after 7 a.m., the streets were already bustling.
This added some difficulty to Long Zhan's surveillance, though it wasn't a major issue.
He didn't need to identify every person entering the building. He only needed to wait for the vehicle from his memory to appear, then he could inform Jason.
Less than half an hour later, a four-wheel-drive vehicle appeared in front of the target house. Its shiny silver "cool" paint gleamed in the sunlight, and Long Zhan couldn't help but notice it.
"B1, this is B6. The suspicious target has appeared. Did you see it?"
"B1 received, checking now."
Upon hearing Long Zhan's update via the intercom, Jason immediately crouched and moved toward the monitor. He saw an armed man open the vehicle door and drag a woman, wearing a hood, out of the car.
It wasn't Samir as expected, but instead, a woman with a hood—someone connected to Boko Haram. Jason felt that something was off.
He quickly switched to the command channel and called, "Calling operations center, this is B1. Unidentified target spotted. Please respond."
"Operations center received."
Mandy had long been stationed at the command center. Upon hearing the call, she immediately switched to the monitor feed and said, "The video shows a hooded prisoner has been moved to the front of the car. Is this her?"
"Confirmed, it's her!" Jason responded.
Just then, for some unknown reason, the black hood the woman was wearing was removed by the armed man who was holding her.
"Pause the video and zoom in on the prisoner!"
Mandy shouted urgently. The monitor operators in the intelligence team quickly responded, pausing the video feed and zooming in on the woman's face.
"Oh my God, how could it be her?"
Mandy stared in shock at the enlarged image on the screen. The woman's face, though dirty and disheveled, was unmistakably familiar.