Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 888 Emergency Situation
That evening, two SUVs drove into the outskirts of Butare at dusk.

The slums on the outskirts of the city are like a spreading sore, with tin shacks and mud houses crammed together haphazardly, and the air filled with the smell of rotting garbage and burning charcoal.

In the distance, government armored vehicles patrolled the main road, their rooftop searchlights sweeping across the street, casting blinding spots of light on the dusty pavement.

Song Heping slowed down, allowing his vehicles to blend into the crowd of small vendors' donkey carts and cars entering the city, making his two vehicles less conspicuous.

He took out his satellite phone and dialed Ms. M's encrypted line.

“We’ve arrived,” he said softly. “Have things been arranged with the BBC?”

The sound of typing came from the other end of the phone. Ms. M's voice remained as calm as ever: "It's all taken care of. Your identity information has been updated on the BBC's internal network. If anyone checks, the system will show that you are special correspondents from the Africa bureau."

"Can it withstand military inspection?"

This is the issue that Song Heping is most concerned about right now.

“As long as we don’t personally send someone to the BBC to investigate, there’s no problem,” Ms. M said. “Song, you have to trust our ability to get things done.”

Song Heping couldn't help but sneer, "I just didn't trust you enough, M. You dragged me into this godforsaken place, Sena, and I almost lost everything."

Ms. M sighed and said, "This was an accident. Although MI6 has professional intelligence analysis capabilities, there are some things we are not omnipotent in."

Song Heping, of course, did not believe this old woman.

National intelligence agencies like MI6 are so skilled at intelligence analysis that they can anticipate most possibilities.

Therefore, if M did not want to be involved in Sena's coup, they would certainly inform themselves of this dangerous possibility.

There can only be one outcome—M wants to use herself to help her overthrow Noel's regime in Seine and assist the opposition leader, Touré, in taking power.

Now is not the time to dwell on such grudges.

That's how geopolitics works.

It's always a matter of mutual exploitation and being exploited.

If you didn't anticipate this danger, that's your own mistake, and you can't blame anyone else.

Song Heping was already used to this line of work.

Whether in the international defense industry or the mercenary world, there is only one principle—survival is the only goal, and one must accept the consequences of their actions.

"Just get it done. Don't make any mistakes this time, or the outcome will definitely not be what you want to see."

"Don't worry, Song," Ms. M gave a very affirmative answer: "At least in this matter, you can rest assured."

Song Heping hung up the phone and turned to look at the people in the back seat: "Their identities are confirmed, but the real test is yet to come."

Jiang Feng gripped the pistol hidden in his camera bag: "Should we just storm the radio station?"

"No, scout first."

Song Heping's gaze swept across the distant city skyline.

“We need to know the radio station’s security arrangements, access routes, and—” he paused, “the exact location of the broadcasting studio.”

As night fell, there were still a few pedestrians on No. 2 Street in Butare.

Seine's national radio station is located on the east side of 2nd Street.

Because the opposition army and government forces are currently locked in a standoff on a front more than 100 kilometers away, the atmosphere on the streets of the capital Butare, although it has entered a state of war, is not as tense as in towns near the front lines.

Two jeeps were parked at a street corner not far from the national radio station. The five men split into two groups. Song Heping and Ferrari disguised themselves as reporters and took photos outside the radio station. Jiang Feng and Collins were responsible for recording patrol patterns. Abdul, using his local identity, got out of the car and gathered information in the vicinity.

The National Radio building is a four-story concrete building surrounded by towering barbed wire fences. Four armed soldiers stand at the entrance, and there is a sniper observation post on the roof.

"More secure than I imagined."

Ferrari whispered, pretending to adjust the camera focus, but actually observing the sentry on the roof.

"At least ten armed guards, not counting the security personnel inside."

Song Heping nodded, his gaze falling on an inconspicuous little door on the side of the radio station building—that was probably the logistics passage.

Just as he was about to approach to take a closer look, a soldier suddenly walked towards them.

"What are you doing here?" the soldier shouted, his finger on the trigger.

Song Heping immediately held up his press pass, flashing a professional smile: "BBC News, we're here for an interview."

The soldier took the identification with suspicion, glanced at it a few times, and then stared at their faces to examine them.

Just as the atmosphere was about to freeze, Ferrari suddenly interjected in fluent English: "We just came from the Central African Republic. We heard that there's been an anti-government coup in Senegal, so headquarters sent us here to cover it."

Song Heping immediately got out of the car, then pretended to be very interested in the soldiers and said, "Would you mind being interviewed by us?"

Ferrari immediately grabbed the microphone and tried to hand it to the soldier.

The soldier panicked when he saw the microphone and camera.

He raised a gun and shouted, "What are you doing! No filming!"

"No, no, no, don't do this."

Song Heping forced a smile and waved repeatedly at the soldiers. "There's a reward. Five hundred dollars."

After saying that, he reached into his coat pocket.

"I want the money, don't shoot."

The soldier's eyebrows twitched when he heard there were five hundred dollars.

Five hundred dollars?

"Yeah."

Song Heping maintained his smile, appearing eager to conduct the interview, and said, "I can give you the money first."

After saying that, he took out a few US dollars from his pocket, counted them, and found that it was exactly five hundred US dollars. Before setting off, Song Heping had put three to five hundred US dollars in cash in each pocket, ready to bribe any soldiers who blocked his way.

It's important to know that in Africa, these small bribes are very effective, often producing remarkable results.

Sure enough, after a moment's hesitation, the soldier stared at the dollar bill and said, "I can't be on camera, I can only ask questions."

“Okay.” Song Heping gestured for Ferrari to put down the microphone and camera, then turned to the soldier: “What’s the situation now?”

"The situation... no problem, we've entered a state of war readiness..."

"Then I'd like to ask if your president is still in the capital?"

"Of course!"

……

Song Heping asked a series of irrelevant questions.

The soldier's answer was also irrelevant.

Finally, Song Heping announced the end of the "interview".

"Thank you so much for accepting our interview..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than two military vehicles suddenly drove up to the radio station entrance not far away.

Their eyes immediately fell on the military vehicle.

Each truck carried more than twenty fully armed government soldiers.

Song Heping's expression changed slightly.

It seems the situation has changed.

"It seems your radio station has increased its security personnel quite a bit..."

He said it, intentionally or unintentionally.

The soldier glanced back and said, "Of course, it's wartime. Tonight, we'll add fifty more men to this area for guard duty."

Song Heping was no longer in the mood to continue acting with this guy.

If the government forces increased their guard at the radio station, it meant that the chances of them forcing their way in were almost zero.

There were only about twenty people before, so we could figure out how to force our way in.

If fifty more men are added, it means that the strength is close to that of a company.

There are only five people on my side.

The only weapons were Glock pistols and some grenades and explosives.

It was simply not enough to deal with so many government soldiers.

"Thank you so much for accepting our interview. We should see you again later, as our headquarters is in contact with your local radio station to arrange some guest interviews. Later—"

He pointed in the direction of the radio station.

"We might have to go in, so please take care of us then."

The soldier hesitated for a moment, glanced back at the radio station, touched the pocket containing the five hundred dollars he had just warmed, and finally waved his hand: "Okay, go in as long as it's arranged, but don't take pictures in the restricted area now, or your equipment will be confiscated. I'll be lenient with you, but if it were anyone else, you'd be shot!"

"thanks, thanks!"

Song Heping thanked him repeatedly.

After the soldiers left, the two retreated to a safe distance. Song Heping whispered, "We can't delay any longer."

He glanced at his watch: "Lumar's troops will launch their general offensive in two hours, and we must get into the broadcasting studio before then."

Ferrari said, "You just said we wanted to go inside for an interview?"

Song Heping said: "Yes."

Ferrari exclaimed in surprise, "That wasn't the plan..."

Song Heping said, "I changed my plans; the situation has changed."

(End of this chapter)