Jason believed he could persuade Samir to surrender and began communicating methodically.
Sunny and Trent, having worked with Jason for years, understood his intentions without the need for words. Noticing that Samir's thumb wasn't on the detonator, they refrained from making any moves that might escalate the situation.
However, their weapons remained trained on Samir. This ensured that, should negotiations fail, they could eliminate Samir before he had a chance to press the detonator.
The trio worked in seamless coordination. Based on their prior operational experience, there was a 90% chance of resolving the situation peacefully.
Unfortunately, someone else had a different plan.
Ignoring orders to remain at his post, Clay had maneuvered through an alternate underground passage to position himself at an entrance to Samir's rear-left.
Samir's attention was fully on Jason, while Jason and his team focused on Samir. No one noticed Clay's arrival.
Clay was unaware of Jason's plan for a peaceful resolution. Driven by an eagerness to prove himself, he was fixated on seizing an opportunity for recognition.
With Samir's attention on Jason, Clay believed his moment had arrived.
Without hesitation, he raised his rifle, aimed it at Samir's temple from less than three meters away, and pulled the trigger.
*"Whoosh."*
A muffled shot rang out, the bullet striking true.
Just as Long Zhan burst through the curtain after rushing down from the roof, he saw Samir's lifeless body collapse to the right, his eyes void of life.
"Even though I altered the operation plan, it still ended up like a TV drama," Long Zhan thought wryly as he observed Samir's corpse.
Then, with a shrug, he mused, "This works too. A dead Samir is the best Samir—no loose ends, and it'll make my side hustles easier."
He immediately approached the body to begin the SSE procedure.
(SSE—Sensitive Site Exploitation: confirming the deceased's identity, photographing the scene, collecting all weapons and explosives, and retrieving flash drives, computers, documents, etc.)
Jason, having received updates from the operations center, was aware that Long Zhan and Brock had returned.
Thus, Long Zhan's sudden appearance didn't surprise him. In fact, a flicker of approval crossed Jason's eyes at Long Zhan's performance.
But that approval lasted only a second before Jason's expression darkened into one of frustration as he glared at Clay.
His anger wasn't just about Clay's impulsive gunfire disrupting what could have been a flawless resolution. What infuriated Jason even more was why Clay was there in the first place.
Clay's assigned task was to guard the rear, yet here he was at the front, leaving their flank wide open and unguarded—an egregious breach of protocol.
Clay, oblivious to Jason's simmering rage, initially felt proud of his precise shot. Smugly, he glanced at Jason, expecting praise.
To his shock, Jason's glare was murderous, as if he wanted to strangle him.
Confused and feeling wronged, Clay sulked off to the side, still convinced he hadn't done anything wrong.
Jason, seeing that Clay avoided confrontation and aware of their tight timeline—less than two minutes remaining—decided to set aside his grievances for now.
The mission wasn't over, and the next phase involved a critical extraction.
Putting his irritation aside, Jason regrouped the team. They hoisted Samir's body upright, facing Long Zhan, to proceed with the SSE procedure.
The first task was taking photographs of the body and transmitting them to the operations center for confirmation that the deceased was indeed Samir.
Once confirmed, the team divided their tasks to quickly clean up the scene.
Sunny handled the explosives on Samir's body, Trent and Brock searched the basement for actionable intelligence, and Jason coordinated the retreat plans with the operations center.
Long Zhan, also an expert in explosives, took on a dual role: assisting Sunny with disarming the bombs while simultaneously conducting a meticulous search of Samir's body without triggering any devices.
Since bringing Samir back alive was no longer an option, everything valuable on him had to be retrieved.
Long Zhan worked efficiently and methodically. From Samir's body, he collected a Nokia phone, a lighter, a pack of cigarettes, a pocket-sized notebook, and various items like a pocket watch and rings.
With Sunny focused on defusing the bomb, Long Zhan took advantage of the situation to discreetly inspect the notebook and phone.
He found that they contained only phone numbers and texts in an unfamiliar language, likely unrelated to any hidden stash of valuables.
"Samir was a lone wolf with no family. He wouldn't carry such a large amount of money on him, nor would someone like him entrust it to others. He must've hidden it somewhere," Long Zhan thought to himself.
"It stands to reason that there should be a clue—a map or coordinates—on him. Could he really not have it on his person?"
Carefully concealing his thoughts, Long Zhan continued his search.
When Sunny finally disarmed the bomb and carefully placed it in a safe location, Long Zhan unbuttoned Samir's shirt and discovered a metal cylinder pendant hanging around his neck.
The pendant was cleverly concealed under the bomb vest, with a chain long enough to keep it hidden against his chest.
It was clear that Samir had gone to great lengths to keep the pendant unnoticed.
Most people tend to carry their most valuable possessions with them for safety. Samir, it seemed, was no exception.
The sight of the thumb-sized metal cylinder made Long Zhan's heart race at 200 beats per minute.
His instincts screamed that the pendant contained precisely what he had been seeking.