Ten minutes earlier.

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Caitlin walked towards a dock. The street lights illuminated her body, highlighting her slim waist and her wonderful jean-clad buttocks with every step she took. Not far behind her, a person lying flat on the fence along the river said to the opposite bank through his miniature receiver hidden in his collar. “The Dancer is in place. The Audience is in position too.”

The Dancer was an operational code given to Caitlin by Ton.

Caitlin was a performer and the dock was her stage. The CIA and FA members were the audiences of this show. All they were waiting for was the presence of Caitlin’s lover boy.

Said lover boy was Xia Lei, but the man was nowhere to be seen.

Caitlin came to the dock and allowed the cold winds of the Grand River to caress her cheek. She closed her collar tighter around her neck and studied her surroundings. There was a hearing bug installed on her body so she did not dare to speak. However, her heart was caught up in a storm of thoughts. “Costa... Please don’t come... But what if he really doesn’t come for me? What will Ton do to me? Is he really going to toss me into Guantanamo Prison? Jack, you’re a fucking asshole! You’re actually doing this to me for the sake of your future...”

Her mind was like the wild strands of golden locks blown out of place by the wind, it was a mess.

One hundred metres away, three snipers on standby went into position on the roof of a building. There was a Chevrolet Suburban parked below them. Jack and Ton sat in the car while keeping tabs on Caitlin. A CIA agent was their driver, a desert eagle perched proudly on the top of his thigh. Though the vehicle was stationary, the man was constantly peering all around him. He was prepared to enter battle mode at any time.

“Is the bastard going to come?” A few minutes had passed as they waited near a dock along the Grand River. However, the long-awaited Costa hadn’t appeared anywhere, making Ton’s confidence waver a little.

“He wants to use my sister to threaten me. With my sister here, he’s bound to appear.” Jack still believed his judgement, his confidence was firm.

“Jack, you must have made guesses about that guy’s identity. Tell me, how did you arrive at that conclusion?” Ton put down his binoculars and stared at Jack.

Jack paused to think. “I’m not sure but...”

“But what? It’s alright, I’m not going to make you write a lengthy report about this.” Ton went on. “I’m just curious about your thought process. You’re a genius when it comes to this field of work.”

“I’m not a genius, sir. I’m just a hardworking man.” Jack chuckled lightly. “Alright, I’ll explain my thoughts. Costa came to woo my sister while I was in charge of completing Predator B. His true goal is the drone. Who would be so anxious about it? Who would wish to learn about the FA’s operation desperately? The Chinese man and Bureau 101. So I’m guessing that if Costa doesn’t work for Xia Lei, then he would be working for Bureau 101. However...”

“Since when did Bureau 101 look into recruiting Mexicans?” asked Ton.

For Bureau 101 to hire Mexicans seemed like an unlikely possibility. Hence, they were left with one sole hypothesis.

Jack met Ton’s eyes with a confident smile. “He’s working for Xia Lei.”

Ton nodded. “Xia Lei has a team of elites. Costa might be one of them.”

At this moment, a Mercedes-Benz GL450 off-road vehicle approached theirs slowly. It parked itself behind the Chevrolet Suburban. The one driving the GL450 was Sirita of the FA Organization.

Ton furrowed his brows. “What is she trying to do?”

Jack glanced at the rear mirror. “She probably wants us to go over.”

As anticipated, Sirita extended a hand out of her window and waved at their car.

“What the fuck? Who does she think she is? The same goes to that damned Augustan and Yan Fo. They better not think that they’re irreplaceable. Osama bin Laden was a prime example of their kind!” Ton huffed.

Jack replied, “Terrorists will be terrorists. There is nothing we can change about who they really are. Let’s go take a look. Perhaps they’re asking for a discussion. We must warn them to not operate recklessly. One wrong move will throw off our operation.

Ton nodded and exited the car. Following that, Jack trailed behind his superior towards the parked GL450.

The doors to the vehicle clicked open, Sirita emerged from within followed by Yan Fo and Augustan.

“Mister Ton, it seems that the spy is not going to appear.” Yan Fo continued. “I think we should give up on this operation and return to the farm. Testing the drone should be our priority.”

“Why are you so sure that he won’t appear?” Ton questioned. “It has only been a couple of minutes.”

Yan Fo glanced at his wristwatch. “Then we shall wait for another ten minutes. As soon as the time is up, we’ll head back to test Predator B.”

Ton felt offended. “Mister Yan, you must be clear that this operation is under my leadership. It is not up to you and the FA Organization to dictate its direction.”

Yan Fo shrugged nonchalantly. “Ah, the classic CIA working style. Are you all so used to ordering people around?”

Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...

Yan Fo’s phone rang out of the blue.

The man picked up his phone and took a look at the screen. “See, my men are already urging for our return.”

“Just let them wait,” said Ton.

Yan Fo answered the call. “It’s me, speak.”

“Mister Yan, this is bad! This is really bad!” A terrified and trembling voice rang through the speakers. “Our men are dead. That man is not human! He came alone but he managed to wipe out twenty of us! Please save us! We can’t hold on for long!”

Yan Fo’s expression immediately went stiff, he roared into the phone. “Get a grip! You must protect the drone!”

“Protect the drone? Mister Yan, we’re... We’re not fighters...”

Bang!

A bullet shot was heard.

Yan Fo could no longer be bothered with the call, he quickly put down his phone and made a dash to the vehicle. He shouted as he ran. “There’s an emergency! That man attacked the farm!”

Sirita tossed a furious glare at Jack. “You fucking idiot!”

Her voice was meek but Jack caught it. In that split second, all of his earlier confidence dissipated into thin air. The defeat he felt was like a two-tonne boulder placed on his back.

“What are you waiting for?! Go!” Ton roared at Jack.

Jack lowered his head and returned to the car. He just couldn’t understand where he had gone wrong. Despite that, the outcome was already served to him on a platter. Jack had fallen into Costa’s trap.

Ten vehicles zoomed across a gigantic bridge. The CIA’s Chevrolet Suburban opened a path for the rest of the cars. It flashed its lights and played a piercing siren. All the other civilian vehicles slowed down and some had even stopped to make way for this convoy of CIA and terrorists.

“What the hell?” After a short moment of silence, Ton was fuming. “Jack, you guaranteed that Costa was going to appear. But he has made it into the farm to launch an attack on the FA members!”

Something clicked in Jack’s mind abruptly, his expression warping into intense realization. He grabbed Ton’s shoulder. “Mister Ton, that man... He’s not Costa!”

“That’s obviously a fake name!”

“No, I don’t mean that.” Jack’s voice wavered. “Do you remember? When we found him at Lockheed Martin, we failed to nab him even though a group of people and the Global Eagle were deployed. Tonight, he was able to ambush an FA point alone and killed off twenty of their members. The FA is known for their insane fighting capabilities. What kind of person would have such an ability that surpasses them all?”

“You’re saying that...” Ton’s expression shifted into something more akin to excitement.

“Yes, that Costa...” Jack paused briefly to regain his composure. “He’s most likely Xia Lei!”

Ton froze, immediately grabbing his communicator. He yelled, “Everyone, attention! The King has appeared! We must grab him!”

Xia Lei’s code name was King, courtesy of the CIA.

Ton’s voice rang through all of the communicators.

In the Mercedes-Benz GL450, Augustan and Yan Fo couldn’t help but look at each other in shock and utter disbelief.

Sirita stomped on the pedal hard, pushing the vehicle into a mad sprint along the highway.

“Ton said that Xia Lei has appeared. How is that possible?” Yan Fo pondered. “We’ve got a spy planted in Bailu Town back in China. Xia Lei has been seen in the Thunder Horse Military Factory. How could he be here? It’s even shocking that he’s operating alone!”

“To be able to take out twenty of our elite fighters alone says a lot,” muttered Augustan, a surge of emotions hidden under the veil of his tone. There was even a hint of murderous intent!

Sirita chimed in, “You’re forgetting someone. When he appeared in Free Mary Town, there was a woman that came along with him. He’s not here alone.”

“That woman went missing,” said Yan Fo.

“If it really is him, what is he trying to achieve?” Augustan questioned, “Is he here despite the great dangers all for the sake of destroying his murder weapon? America has plenty of drones. As long as we want it, they’ll hand us another for the purpose.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

What was the king trying to do?

The question lingered unsolved.

It made the three FA members silent for they could not guess his motive.

The convoy went through El Paso and zoomed all the way to the farm.

The darkness of the night was suffocating. Between layers of clouds, the Predator B flew stealthily towards the direction of El Paso. Under its wings were two precision-guided missiles, the ‘Skunk Surprise’ and ‘Key to Hell’.

Opposite El Paso, on the banks of the Grand River in Ciudad Juarez, a young Thai man sat silently in his Land Rover. There was a laptop perched on his lap, its screen showing live aerial footage from Predator B that was captured through its camera.

What was shown on it was an aggravated convoy.