Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 805 High-Altitude Surveillance
"Moreover, I have some doubts about this intelligence and feel that it was deliberately leaked. Based on my understanding of Song Heping, it makes me feel that something is not right that he was able to let me track his financial path so easily."

Simon seemed to hesitate for a moment, but finally voiced his doubts.

"Intentional leak?"

Pence fell into deep thought.

He also had a deep impression of Song Heping.

This person is indeed cunning.

“Hmm…you have a point, but the information you provided is very valuable. Simon, leave this to Jasper and let him handle it.”

"SIR..."

Simon sounded a little anxious.

“I strongly request to join the hunt for Song Heping.”

"You want to join?!"

Pence's gaze fell on Jasper's face, then shifted to the list of suspects on the table.

After hesitating for half a second, he made his final decision.

"You're currently in charge of intelligence work in the Iligo region. There's still a lot to do there. I've heard the Northwest region is quite unstable, is that right?"

"Yes, armed groups over there have been very active recently, and there seem to be signs of local factions and extremist groups spreading..."

“That’s it. You already have a lot of work to do. It’s not realistic for a regional manager to participate in operations in Africa. Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll make a note of this. If the operation is successful, I’ll include you in the report.”

Pence feeds Simon sugar.

What he said was just an excuse.

Simon's current position as head of the Iligo intelligence station is not an obstacle to his participation in the operation, but rather the list.

The list is the obstacle.

Seeing that Pence rejected Simon, Jasper, who was standing in front of his desk, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had no desire to work with Simon.

Simon is currently the most likely competitor to him.

This person is quite capable.

Hunting down Song Heping is one of the bureau's most important tasks right now. It's a level below hunting down Deng Ge, but it still ranks in the top five of the kill list.

Killing Song Heping would be a great achievement and would greatly benefit my future. How could I allow others to get their hands on it?
“Sir, Song Heping is too cunning. I’m afraid he’ll try something. I obtained the intelligence, and I need to be responsible for the next steps. What if this is a trap…”

Simon seemed to still want to try.

But Pence interrupted him: "You don't need to worry about this. Whether the intelligence is accurate or not, the bureau and the Africa department will have a special team to verify it. Don't question their professionalism. As for who's in charge..."

Pence shrugged. "You're not responsible for anything that happens next. That's my opinion. That's all."

"Okay, Sir..."

Simon finally gave up trying and silently hung up the phone.

Pence held his phone for a moment, then looked up and asked Jasper, "How could your main suspect provide Song Heping's location coordinates?"

"This one……"

Jasper shrugged, looking somewhat embarrassed.

He didn't dare to rule out the possibility that the clues Simon had obtained were false information.

After all, I am a cautious person.

What if it's true?

"Alright, contact your colleagues in the Africa Department immediately and coordinate with the Secret Operations Division to get the military to send drones to monitor and reconnoiter the Atron Oasis area. We must find Song Heping and verify the authenticity of Simon's intelligence."

"Yes, sir!"

After Jasper left, Pence picked up the pen on the table, twirled it between his fingers a few times, then picked up the list again and drew a question mark after Simon's name.

Jasper acted swiftly.

After leaving Pence's office, he immediately began contacting various departments to coordinate.

Two hours later, a reconnaissance MQ-9 drone took off from a US airbase in Saudi Arabia, flew along the Red Sea, and climbed to an altitude of over 10,000 meters, conducting covert flights along the border. In the CIA headquarters control room, Jasper sat in a swivel chair with a cup of coffee, his eyes never leaving the large screen.

"We've already entered Sudanese territory. Flying south for another thirty minutes will take us to the Atron Oasis..."

The microphone carried a report from the operator in the control room of the drone control center at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

"Clear vision, high visibility, good weather."

The drone pilot sat in a real leather chair, staring at more than a dozen screens of different sizes in front of him.

The drone control center is located in the air force base, in a container area surrounded by barbed wire.

Around the container area stand more than a dozen antennas of different heights and shapes; these are signal antennas used to link satellites and coordinate different military and intelligence departments.

Each container is an independent control room.

The room inside was like a bedroom, with two leather chairs and more than a dozen screens of different sizes and functions in front of them.

A dedicated keyboard and controller were placed on the table—it's basically the same as playing a video game.

Aside from being a bit cramped, the environment here is quite comfortable. Since drone pilots often stay for more than ten hours or even a whole day, the rooms are not only well-air-conditioned, but also have plenty of coffee and snacks to help them replenish their energy. There is even a small, private bathroom where they can use the toilet when needed.

Drone pilots are usually graduates of air force pilot academies who have been trained and then take up their posts, or former flight squadron pilots who are no longer suitable for flying due to psychological reasons or other reasons. So they come here to be drone operators.

Compared to the cockpit of a fighter jet, this place is already paradise. Moreover, there is no risk in operating an unmanned aircraft. Even if the plane is shot down, the pilot will feel just like getting a game over in a video game.

The reconnaissance module protruding from the nose of the MQ-9 reconnaissance drone slowly rotates, with a high-definition camera pointing at the ground. Infrared sensors, laser rangefinders, and radar work together in a coordinated manner, transmitting frame by frame of the ground-captured images to the pilot via satellite. At the same time, the images are also broadcast to the monitoring center at Langley headquarters.

"Having entered the airspace near Atron Oasis, conducting routine reconnaissance procedures..."

The so-called standard procedure is simply a preliminary scan.

Capturing and photographing ground scenery requires rapidly scanning a wider and larger area.

Once the camera captures people or related buildings on the ground, a higher level of reconnaissance will be triggered.

The drone operator will control the camera to point at buildings, people, or suspicious points, and then begin to shoot high-definition footage.

They can even achieve a clearer resolution by controlling the altitude, lock onto faces on the ground, take screenshots, and compare them with a database to verify the other party's identity.

Once the facial recognition system on the ground matches the target, the target's location can be determined immediately.

Twenty minutes passed...

The drone operator yawned.

He had been sitting in the chair for a full four hours.

"Damn it, there are nothing but trees and sand here..."

Drop drop-

Drop drop-

A red frame appeared in one of the screens ahead, and the system emitted a beeping notification sound.

"Something's happening."

The weapons operator next to him reminded the pilot.

Although this was a reconnaissance mission, the drone was loaded with fuel and not armed with offensive weapons in order to extend its range.

The mission is to identify the target, check if Song Heping is in the Atron Oasis, and verify the accuracy of Simon's intelligence.

In the footage, the drone scanned something.

Those were a cluster of buildings on the ground.

It looks like some parts are not yet finished, but the main fence has been put up, enclosing a large area of ​​land.

"A suspicious building has been discovered; it appears to be unfinished."

In Langley's monitoring room, Jasper, who had been dozing off, suddenly perked up. He jumped up from his chair, took a big gulp of coffee, and strode to the large screen, afraid of missing a single frame.

"There seems to be someone here!"

He picked up the radio walkie-talkie and began relaying a message to the pilot.

"Lock onto their faces and take clear photos."

(End of this chapter)