Hollywood Zenith

Chapter 581 Raid results

" Nothing here, it's same as the others." Steve said after scouring through a pile of document after they took hold of the base.

" Right but we did get some action. I never thought a dilapidated town like this held this much gun powder." James chuckled.

For this operation, Steve called some of his buddies from the british SAS. They were retired soldiers that were mostly independent contractors and with the quotes that Steve has given them working for the Rothschild for their off season was enough for them to jump on this mission.

Steve had Cho, Drac and Ze on his team while James controlled five of his guys. After couple of missions, they blended together like a unit and worked efficiently tackling new suspected bases traversing through different terrains.

" That's why we are being careful. You have seen their equipments, they are peculiar but hold same firepowers as ours."

" Yeah, yeah. I heard it plenty of times. Some shadow faction, trying to take over the world! So far, I am not impressed other than the fact that they are a cruel bunch." James looked at the people they had rescued.

There were a total of twenty children from age ranging from five to fourteen hurdling together in the corner. Drac tried to speak to them but he didn't know the language. They also looked the like the people that held them hostage, only Ze and one person from James' team had darker skin but their looks were intimidating enough that Steve didn't let them near the children.

"This checks off, Bosnia and Herzegovina from our list right? Where are we heading next?"

" We don't know yet. I have to send everything here to my wife- I mean Jane first before...why are you looking at me like that?" He saw James smirking.

" It's nothing. I never thought you of all guys would be able to handle someone like Jane. I clearly remember you not even batting an eye when she transferred over from the 'Box 500'."

" What does that mean?"

" I mean isn't it obvious? You are a straight laced guy without an inch of compassion for the opposite sex. I always thought she would prefer someone like Drac who doesn't have that square jaw military look."

Drac who was looking over the children turned to see Steve looking toward him suspiciously. It's not Drac wasn't attracted to beautiful girl but he preferred them less brash and not hit him whenever she got angry which he had seen plenty of times with Jane.

" Alright, enough joking around. I know you are only saying it because you are still unmarried. Don't make fun of him before getting an 'real' girlfriend." Cho tried to disarm the situation but James knew he was mocking him with his offhand remark.

Even his teammates were hiding their faces, so that he didn't see them laughing.

" Giselle is real! Next time when we land in London I will bring her to meet everyone." He said with explosive tone.

" I heard that excuse before, beside don't anyone else finds that name fishy? It's definitely a stripper-"

" You bastard!" It was a known fact that Cho who was most silent in the group was the most deadly whenever ones got him going. He always had the perfect comebacks especially against James who had a thin skin for a soldier.

"Incoming RPG, get down!" The scouter shouted and everyone heard the dreadful whistle right after it and instinctively ducked down. 

Right after that, the left part of the compound was smashed to pieces with debris flying around the whole room.

" Fuck! Everyone cover fire!" Steve stood up to assess the situation. Fortunately for them, there was no second rocket with a hail of bullets flying in enemies direction. The two people that were stationed at the top did an excellent job to stop it.

" Cho!" James shouted.

" I am on it!" He rushed upstair to add more suppress fire.

" I am flanking left with my men, take care of everyone here." He hurriedly left with two of his men to get a better angle on their attackers.

The situation was peculiar because they were in an abandoned village miles away from closet civilization, it was one of the reason why they were able to take down this base with ease. Without any bystanders, the chances of hitting them with stray bullets was minimum once they discern the location of the hostages.

Since the mission was smooth sailing they thought that no one had any chance to call for backup and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to sneak up on them so easily. They were wrong!

" Drac what about the children?"

" They are fine, just scared shitless. Should I call for an evacuation team?" Drac asked.

" No, we don't know how many of them are out there. Take them to the basement and lock the doors. We will hold them off for sometime and if their numbers are too large, we can secure an exit at the back." Steve made an impromptu plan and also relayed it over the radio.

James took it upon himself to ascertain the enemy numbers while Cho joined the spotter group trying to employ some high tech terman device to give everyone a heads up.

Only Steve was left without any task, he thought first of following James but after a second thought, changed his mind and started moving right.

" I will encircle them from the right."

" Are you crazy man!? Take one of my men, don't go in alone." James yelled over the radio.

" It will be fine. I will not shoot unless I need to and once you made contact from on the left, I will surprise them from behind."

" Fuck! You never listen to me!" James knew it was a risky mission but Steve had always been that kind of guy. Time after time whenever he took these type of mission, he always thought it was the last time he would see him but that bastard would come alive every time!

" I am going in." Steve said his final words before going radio silent.

...

...

...

The small town they were in was considered dead five years into the Bosnian war. There were seven major factions fighting for independence and because of the long war, major parts of the country were in ruins.

Steve and his team got the info that this town was used as the trafficking station operated by the same organization that they were currently hunting. The only major clue was the disappearing funds and supplies from the nearest town and a written address in the logbook they found in their prior raid.

After the raid, they never expected anyone to be there. It's not like there was no hiding places but Steve and his team scouted ahead for few days to see any sign of life other than in the main base but there were none.

There were quite a lot of destroyed building and some one them were even three to four storeys in height, just looking at the damage everyone knew how bloody it must had been a decade ago. Even after the peace agreement was signed, the sign of life didn't return to these parts. The cost was too much to restore the place, the government basically had to overhaul everything, millions of tons of concrete laid all over the place, even the roads were destroyed.

It must be why these people decided to settle here, a perfect place where no matter how much their captives shouted there was not a single soul that could heard their miserable cries.

Factoring everything, Cho who was at the top looking for enemies knew that his technology wouldn't help him. The thermals couldn't pick up anyone behind walls of concrete and he also noticed how much they were aware for a potential lookout.

He couldn't even see a single person on his radar, there was only one possibility that these people were more trained than what they faced earlier. Other than a single rocket they never fired anything back at them.

It's like they were masking their presence in destroyed buildings trying to lure in their prey for an all out assault. The person that saw the man with an RPG also reported that the attire was completely different from the people they took down few hours ago, they looked more military with full black attire.

Piecing together everything, Cho knew there was definitely something very wrong. It was only his inkling but to confirm it he immediately pulled out his radio and contacted Drac.

" Drac, come in!"

" Yes? What happened?"

" Do you know of any military bases around the area?"

" No, Bosnia don't have any special forces, not after the war."

" Alright, I guess I am overthinking things."

" What happened? Are we exposed?"

" I think so. If it were reinforcement team, they would have bombed everything without carrying about hostages. I mean, we have seen it a number of time in our previous missions which was why we were able to avoid it but this time it looked like a warning fire. Don't you think that's strange?"

" Now that you mention it, you are right. But I don't know any third parties willing to crash our event if they were friendly."

" Shit! I am hit!" Suddenly they heard, James distress voice over the radio and knew that the situation had reached a boiling point!