A Mercenary's War Chapter 35: Reinforcement Troops

Chapter 35: Reinforcement Troops

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

Morgan Reeves was a little nervous; he had successfully landed himself in some hot soup — and a very life-threatening one at that.

Morgan did not expect the trip to Sudan to be so dangerous. He was aware of the dangers in Libya. It was just that he had to interact with the Libyan Resistance in order to represent and help the politicians from Was.h.i.+ngton D.C. with something they couldn’t conveniently do themselves. Then he would reap the huge benefits for himself.

As a businessman, especially as a very successful one, the business he did wasn’t about the amount. If he succeeded, he could even control the country’s economic heartbeat. Therefore, knowing that Libya was a timed gunpowder barrel that was going to explode, Morgan had little choice but to come. However, he didn’t antic.i.p.ate that the situation there would worsen so fast; neither did he realize how incompetent his partners were.

The intel that a dozen or more faction leaders discussing a country’s fate was actually discovered by an intelligence agency. Under such heavy escort, they could still be attacked by government troops that numbered more than a hundred. Morgan really didn’t know if he could still come out safe from such danger this time. What worried him even more was that his only son was also stuck in the now-chaotic Benghazi.

The Resistance and government forces were fiercely clawing and biting at each other. It was undecided who would earn Benghazi’s sovereignty, but Morgan felt that he wouldn’t be able to overcome his current crisis. More than a hundred government troops blockaded and locked him in with the Resistance leaders in the building where the meeting had taken place. They kept trying to storm into the building. The three hundred Resistance members were about as good as thin air since they ‘surprisingly’ couldn’t get past the blockade.

If not for the extraordinary capabilities of Morgan’s two bodyguards, who successfully kept the government troops out of the building by just leading ten or more Resistance soldiers, the building would have been taken by the government troops. But the current situation had reached the point where the Sword of Damocles was hanging over Morgan. Those soldiers were almost wiped out and the Resistance leaders knew only to vociferate loudly or bawl, not coming up with any effective solutions.

Morgan decided to be the avant-garde[1] of this battle. He pulled out a Colt M1873 revolver which was exactly the same as a General Patton pistol with an ivory handle.

Colt M1873's collection significance was far more than just practicality. Although her power wasn’t small and Morgan had no trouble bringing her for hunting, she was certainly not suited for combat. But Morgan had no other choice. The greatest significance of whipping her out wasn’t about how much help he could offer to his bodyguard Simon. It was a more convenient way to suicide. He would rather commit suicide or be killed by the government forces, but not in the government troop’s hands. Alive.

Morgan was already in despair. There was one thing he felt relieved about; his only son was with Gao Yang and had managed to avoid the skirmish. He should be able to leave this country alive. 

The good news to Morgan was that due to the hustle, the government troops didn’t bring heavy weapons in time. They had a few rocket launchers but ran out of rocket ammunition and they had to kill all the guards if they wanted to get in. The only door into the building was now guarded by three men led by Simon and his companions. But the worst news was that Simon’s posse of guards was almost out of ammunition.

Since it was originally a meeting only, the bodyguards only brought pistols. They only had four a.s.sault rifles and that was already considered heavy firepower. But now that the rifles’ rounds were all used up, the pistols were almost exhausted too. If not for Morgan’s two bodyguards’ extraordinary one shot skills, this battle would have definitely not lasted longer than three hours.

The building had six levels. Morgan held his revolver and went from the rooftop all the way down to the hall on the first story. He aimed at the main door after standing behind Simon without uttering a single sound.

Simon glanced at Morgan but did not speak to him. He understood Morgan's situation. They now only had two choices: either leave peacefully or die here. Surrendering and things like that could not be considered at all.

Looking out from the gate, the government troops had gathered about thirty men and the fight was about to begin. Simon, who was never afraid of any battle, was in complete despair. He knew that all the bullets would sum up to less than fifty rounds, and they only had six pistols.

When the government troops completed the rally and dispersed into a fan-shaped formation, Simon clenched his pistol tightly. He was prepared to fire the minute the enemies burst through the gate. But as the enemies rushed over and were about to enter the main door, the two at the front suddenly fell, followed by at least six or seven people. The rest of them realized that they had been ambushed and immediately disbanded to find cover, giving up their attack.

"What's going on? How come suddenly those incompetent doucheb*gs became so powerful? Did the reinforcements come?"

Hearing Morgan's question, Simon shrugged, “If it were those incompetent guys, we couldn’t possibly be in this situation now, so I think the reinforcements arrived. Boss, your mayday call is working.”

Simon's voice just stopped and the satellite phone on Morgan suddenly rang. When he got on the phone, Bob’s eager voice resonated through the phone.

“Dad, are you okay? I came with Gao Yang and there are two other helpers. You got to find a way to hold it there and we will try to find a way to save you.”

“a.s.sh*le! I asked you to leave, not come here for you to die. What can so few of you guys do?! Get out of here and leave immediately!”

Morgan was at his wit’s end. He thought he wouldn’t have to be concerned about his son, but he wasn’t even half anxious now. As he admonished and reprimanded Bob, Gao Yang’s voice pa.s.sed through the phone.

“Mr. Reeves, no need to blame Bob. You're here, how would he leave by himself? Now let’s not waste time. I’ve got two helpers. I can blockade the building’s entrance, but you better make those leaders you’re with to order their people to cooperate with us.”

Although Morgan didn’t harbor much hope, Gao Yang’s words undoubtedly brought a glimmer of hope in the utter stygian darkness. “Reinforcements are coming, we have hope. Try to buy some time. I will talk to those idiots."

When Simon expressed that he understood everything crystal clear, Morgan ran back to the sixth floor as fast as he could. He found the Resistance leaders who were hiding in a room and either bickering or blaming each other. 

Morgan smashed a few punches on the door and yelled, “Gentlemen, my reinforcements have arrived. If you too want to survive, order your men cooperate and listen to my commands.”

After that, Morgan went to the window and looked down. He found that the situation was still the same; the government forces built a circular fortress at the entrance to the building with the a.s.sistance of their bunkers. They blocked the Resistance attack from outside and were charging inward together, trying to penetrate the building.

Actually, members of the Resistance were completely unnecessary. Although they were greater in number, they completely lacked courage and skill. They didn’t dare to attack again after a few rounds. 

Morgan didn’t see Gao Yang nor the turning point of this war.

“Gao Yang, where are you guys? I can’t see you, I’m behind the sixth floor’s windows. See me waving?”

“I see you. I’ve got binoculars. See the building about three hundred meters with three stories across yours? We’re on the rooftop, see it?”

All the buildings across the building that Morgan was in were all short. He found the three-storied building Gao Yang mentioned very quickly and saw Gao Yang who was waving back from the rooftop.

“See you, what are you planning to do?”

“I’m good with my scope of view here and I’ve got two sniper rifles. My plan’s simple, shoot the government troops. No promises for anything else, but I a.s.sure you that n.o.body will be able to rush into the main entrance unless they collapse or are all neutralized. Make your men promise that we don’t get disturbed, then send some ammunition here, AK-47 rounds.”

Morgan conveyed Gao Yang’s words to the Resistance leaders. While they quickly called and communicated with their men, Morgan stood at the window-side. He wanted to see how Gao Yang would do it.

A government soldier was hiding behind a car and shooting. Suddenly a mist of blood exploded from his head and then he fell. A few seconds later, another man fell and wiggled and crawled on the ground.

The government soldiers fell one after another. They were initially able to stand almost completely outside without worrying that they would get shot. But now, the moment they were in Gao Yang’s vision, they were dead meat.

Morgan was counting on Gao Yang. When the government army’s death toll reached sixteen, they finally realized that there was a sniper on a merciless rampage. They attacked without almost any warning; they turned around and charged towards the main door that Simon and his men were defending. But when they reached the main door, one after another, a chain of bullets came flying and all the people near the door were down on the floor.

The main door became a death zone; if anybody got close, they invited nonstop death bullets flying towards them. Morgan knew that the lockdown at this level couldn’t possibly be done by a sniper. That’s because a sniper didn’t have such a high firing rate.

But if the government troops couldn’t advance, unless they had a good cover or could completely cover their bodies, they would face lethal bullets one by one. It was completely different from the bullet-wasting Resistance party. The rounds Gao Yang shot were on-target almost all the time.

When the government soldiers totally gave up and dodged behind covers, Gao Yang and his group eventually had no choice but to give up too. At this time Morgan turned around and smiled at the Resistance leaders and said, “Our hope has arrived. If you wanna end this quick, let your men attack, force those men out of their cover, and I think we would be able to get the f*ck out of here real quick.”

Morgan’s words were like cardiotonic [2] syringe-injections that gave the Resistance a morale boost. Those leaders roared at their phones for a while. After that, those firing at the outer rim started to clumsily shoot towards the government troops’ base.

Translator’s notes:

‘Avant-garde’ was only used as a person/group of people who favored or introduced new and experimental ideas and methods. But it actually came from French military where the people who rushed in front were called ‘avant-garde’, or vanguard. It was more like a metaphor used by people for the commonly used meaning (‘vanguard in artistic aspects and etc.’). I felt more suitable where the original meaning was brought out in a war scenario.A boost of motivation. http://www.iciba.com/%E5%BC%BA%E5%BF%83%E9%92%88