Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Fighting Alone
Louis was anxious about the time. Seeing him get out of the driver’s seat without a word, Louis followed suit and got out of the car, watching him crouch beneath the vehicle to check the tires. His expression was grim: "Did they come back again just now?"
The driver shook his head, his brows knitted tightly as he stood up: "The tire seems to have blown out. It looks like a knife cut."
A knife cut?
Louis didn’t believe it. Jay Monroe and his team hadn’t had a chance to get near the vehicle. How could they possibly slash the tires?
Could it be they had infiltrated the building last night and cut the tires? Just made shallow cuts, so it was hard to notice, slowly leaking air until tire pressure dropped and the blowout happened?
Louis quickly dismissed that idea. The vehicles were all parked in the underground garage of the building. If someone had broken in, it would have alerted security. Besides, before departure, he’d specifically ordered a thorough check of the tires...
The vehicle Louis was riding in stopped, and the other four cars behind followed suit. Hearing that Louis’s car’s tire seemed to have been slashed, everyone got out and checked their own tires.
Out of the other four cars, three had knife marks, tires completely deflated. Though not blown out yet, if they kept driving, a blowout could happen at any moment.
Only one of them had the cut slightly off, so the tire hadn’t leaked or blown out.
After hearing the situation, Louis went over to inspect that slightly-off tire himself.
Rather than saying the cut was off, it was more like the knife mark was very minor—just a faint scratch on the edge...
Something occurred to Louis. He suddenly looked up: "Someone stabbed knives into the ground, the cars drove over and the tires got sliced."
The others exchanged looks, unsure where Team Blue had laid the knives and punctured the tires—they hadn’t even noticed.
"Could it be that patch of dry grass?" a quiet guess came from the crowd.
The rest started rapidly analyzing, recalling the road in detail. If Team Blue had buried knives, they’d surely have noticed, except maybe that patch of dry grass...
Louis remembered the dry grass. No wonder, he’d wondered how a few stalks could block their way—turns out knives were hidden under the grass?
No matter how they guessed now, there was no way to go back and check. Only one car was usable; the others resigned themselves to abandoning their vehicles and hurrying on foot to the border defense.
Rewind to the dry grass patch: After Team Red’s cars passed, Bama and Boland immediately dashed out from cover, dug up five military knives from the ground, wiped them on their pants and clipped them to their belts.
"Monroe, your knife." Bama casually tossed another knife to Jay Monroe, who strode out slowly, covered in vine leaves.
When the sharp military knife flew toward Monroe, Boland exclaimed, "Are you nuts? What if you stabbed our Monroe in the eye?"
Jay Monroe reached out casually, catching the knife smoothly and stylishly. Without even looking, he slipped it into his belt and then slapped Boland on the back of the head with a loud smack: "Can you speak properly, hmm?"
Boland rubbed his head, muttering, "I’m just worried about you..."
The others crowded over, all asking about the next step.
Jay Monroe reached up and tugged at the gun sling around his neck, glanced at the rising sun, the corner of his mouth curling up: "Of course, time to support our solo fighter Renee."
...
Louis’s unit abandoned their cars and rushed ahead. The surviving vehicle carried shields and two intact tires salvaged from the other cars, as well as a few passengers; the rest ran on foot, marching quickly.
Jay Monroe, Bama, and their team shadowed them from behind, staying hidden.
But no matter how fast they moved, they’d have to rest along the way. There’s no way to outrun an armored vehicle.
Team Red’s border defense was already in chaos.
The border guards knew Team Blue’s main force was camped nearby and had been on alert for a surprise attack, keeping watch all night. Nothing happened until dawn.
In the morning, during a patrol shift, a Team Blue squad appeared at the road entrance. The patrol chased them and lost five people; border guards immediately regrouped, redeployed to respond, and waited for reinforcements.
After redeploying, the number of patrolling guards dropped sharply, most gathered at the road entrance and other easy crossing points,
Besides the road entrance and these high-risk areas, they buried large numbers of landmines along the more remote border lines—if someone stepped on one, it would be discovered instantly.
As for earlier, Jay Monroe and Dane’s team managed to avoid the mines and infiltrate Team Red territory simply because there were so few of them—they got lucky dodging the mines.
Now they faced a full force. There was no way to sneak across the minefield without alerting anyone—they were confident.
In fact, they’d laid mines densely enough that Team Blue, unfamiliar with the area, really couldn’t avoid them—what they never expected was that someone could disarm mines barehanded.
When Dane’s team climbed over the ridge, Renee Morgan and her group caused a disturbance, drawing the border patrol’s attention, giving Dane’s unit a chance to slip past the minefield.
Team Blue’s leader knew they needed to coordinate with Dane, so the main force crossed the minefield in batches. Anyone who stepped on a mine couldn’t move and had to call Dane for help disarming it.
The full force—nearly a hundred—trying to infiltrate Team Red’s territory without alerting the border guards was no easy task. Besides the hazard of crossing the minefield, there was the ever-present threat of regular patrols.
The second issue was entirely solved by Renee Morgan’s diversion tactics, drawing the border guards toward her team.
Meanwhile, Renee led five squads—sixteen people—in stealth, carefully analyzing the patrol shift rules. Once she’d figured it out, she shifted to guerrilla tactics. They didn’t rack up many kills, but managed to keep the entire patrol and border guards running circles around them.
Team Red’s border guards nervously assumed Team Blue’s main force was trying to breach the line and had sent a squad to launch a surprise attack.
They couldn’t imagine the enemy was playing with them—the real goal was simply to draw fire and buy time.
By the time Team Red’s patrol marshaled all forces and trapped Renee Morgan’s unit on the mountain slope, it was already noon.
Dane had already led the main force across Team Red’s territory, circling back to reinforce and help Renee Morgan’s team break free.
Team Red’s main force and support reinforcements were about to arrive, while Jay Monroe, Bama, and their team shadowed them closely, ready to back up Renee’s group.
Renee Morgan and her five squads—sixteen members—were trapped halfway up the mountain. Behind them was a sheer cliff, below a dense mass of Team Red soldiers closing in.
Team Red’s main unit hadn’t arrived yet; at the border, three or four dozen guards remained, five of whom had been taken out. With about thirty left, some had to stay at their posts, so only twenty-something were part of the surrounding force.
Renee Morgan’s team knew exactly what they had to do: take care of those twenty-some attackers before Team Red’s main unit arrived.