Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 223 Happy Death Anniversary
By 10:35 a.m., it was already getting hot outside.

The lawn in the front yard of the villa was neatly trimmed.

The concierge is setting out the second batch of ice buckets.

The outline of a birthday cake could be vaguely seen under the white awning, yet to be unveiled.

Jack lay prone on the makeshift platform, gripping the binoculars tightly with both hands.

He did not rest.

He slept for less than three hours last night, from handing over the last batch of names to the president's personal guard to verifying the data in the early hours of the morning.

At 5 a.m., they arrived at the site early and checked the equipment one by one.

Below the platform is a black 4Runner with two short-range antennas mounted on top, interfering with C-band commercial frequencies with low power.

Ten meters further out was a cordon, composed of a mixed force of presidential guards and national military police, carrying rifles and with magazines hanging from their waists.

"Group C, move the balloon to the southwest corner to block camera number four."

A brief response came through the headset, and adjustments were made immediately, but Jack did not relax.

The villa area is not large. Three wireless repeaters and seven monitoring bands were deployed, and twenty-six people were divided into four groups to cover all entrance and exit routes.

Since the president wouldn't allow outsiders to approach the courtyard, he set up control points 30 meters outside the wall, creating a system more sophisticated than any DSS standard.

Jack knew they wouldn't thank him.

The president would only say, "Don't let me see anyone who looks like a U.S. soldier."

He did so.

There wasn't a single person wearing boots, sunglasses, or earpieces.

All the security guards changed into the blue vests worn by medical volunteers.

Jack even brought in three female staff members from the embassy to pose as nurses to soften the visual effect.

Even so, he remained uneasy.

There's no way around it, Karabi is just too important.

The Pentagon has just added cobalt, niobium, and beryllium to its Strategic Critical Minerals List.

Congress also passed legislation requiring defense contractors to "remove raw materials controlled by the US, Russia, and Russia" by 2025.

The agreement recently signed with Congo is one of their few milestone achievements.

Not only did it open up independent procurement channels, but it also set up exclusivity clauses for the US side.

Once activated, it will automatically freeze the continuation of mining rights in other countries.

In other words, the White House is watching this very closely.

The Kremlin, or even the Élysée Palace, could potentially intervene at this crucial juncture.

"Go check on that motorcycle to the north," Jack said again, suppressing his nervousness.

Through the binoculars, it was an ordinary motorcycle carrying a vegetable basket, and the driver was wearing tattered gloves.

But he lingered there for half a minute without any apparent reason, during which he looked around several times.

Soon, two black men from the outer sentry post walked over.

Before the man could react, she pulled him off the motorcycle.

The tomato rolled off the ground as it struggled, and crashed into the soil.

The man was unable to resist and was quickly taken away.

No weapons were found on him, nor was he carrying a signal transmitter.

"B-3 record, sink cache."

Everything was quiet, and order was maintained.

But for some inexplicable reason, Jack felt that something was missing.

He thought for a moment, then took out the documents from his pocket, unfolded them, and checked the next steps of the celebration.

At 10:20, we will have a mini-game.

At 11:00 a.m. sharp, the president and his family arrived.

It is now 10:35. The protocol team led the third group of guests into the depths of the garden.

Some were local parliamentarians, and some were representatives from the East African Business Union.

They were dressed in brightly colored traditional clothing, holding children's hands as they walked along the gravel path.

Laughter from children could be heard from inside the venue.

The clown, dressed in orange and green plaid, performed the magic trick of "making rabbits out of hats".

Jack didn't look over there.

He raised his binoculars and began searching the airspace.

Today is a sunny day with high cloud cover and no signs of rain.

In the distance, a civilian aircraft is slowly climbing.

Other than that, there is nothing.

What exactly is wrong?
Jack frowned, struggling to sort through the information in his memory.

Got nothing.

Every vehicle was scanned.

Each guest's identity is pre-verified by the Presidential Guard, and then verified a second time by him.

Two security gates were set up on site, borrowed from the US Embassy's inventory, and configured according to international terminal standards. Three layers of perimeter security prevented anyone from entering or exiting.

Let alone militants, even a dog that sneaks in will be caught immediately.

Jack's throat felt a little dry.

He had encountered this kind of illusion before.

In Iraq, in Kabul, during several counter-bombing patrols, everything seemed normal, but danger was lurking in the places you least expected to be.

Before he could continue to ponder it carefully, a notification sounded in his headset.

"The guest of honor arrived ahead of schedule."

Jack sat up abruptly, picked up his binoculars, and aimed them at the front door of the villa.

The presidential motorcade entered from the south, consisting of five SUVs with dark black bulletproof windows and no flags.

The back door of the middle car opened, and Karabi got out.

Jack's pupils narrowed slightly.

The man was wearing a beige short-sleeved shirt and a straw hat, but no bulletproof vest.

He was accompanied by only two bodyguards who stayed by his side at all times.

The three people behind them were holding packages, which looked like gifts or toys.

The band started playing over on the lawn.

Guests gradually approached.

Jack's fingers, which were gripping the binoculars, were starting to feel numb.

There are no signs of interference in the frequency band.

The electromagnetic distribution is stable, with no abnormal wavebands.

He still felt something was wrong.

"Group D, repeat the scan of the 200-meter space using handheld LADAR mode."

"receive."

"Northwest side ground report: any abnormalities?"

No, no anomalous objects were recorded.

"Are you sure?"

"affim."

Karabi was still talking to his friends, drinking juice, and laughing loudly.

The crowd under the sunshade grew denser and denser.

The wind changed direction at some point.

Suddenly, as if struck by a flash of inspiration, Jack looked up—

A chill instantly crept up my spine.

There is something!
Three white dots swept across the treetops from the northeast at great speed.

Jack's first thought was to monitor the drone.

But the next second, the white dot rolled unnaturally and then plunged into the center of the courtyard.

That's not a surveillance device.

Jack was so startled that he jumped up on the spot and shouted desperately:
"Everyone—scatter!"

"Air raid! Air raid—"

Before the words were even finished, the white dots struck the top of the awning repeatedly, and bursts of fire erupted.

boom! ! !
The surveillance footage kept flickering and going out of focus.

Jack lost his balance and fell off the platform.

Ignoring the excruciating pain in his ankle, he leaped to his feet and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, get on the field! Protect them—!"

The next second, more white dots swept overhead.

It plummeted straight down from directly above, narrowly missing the eaves of the courtyard.

boom! ! !
boom! ! !
boom! ! !
Flames shot into the sky, scorching the lawn.

The enormous frosted cake was covered in splattered fragments, blood mixed with limbs and flesh, white and red, resembling a slaughterhouse.

The child hid behind the flower bed and cried loudly, while the woman screamed and ran out, her hair disheveled and half of her skirt on fire.

Jack froze on the spot, his mind blank.

这 是
This is a completely new war mode.

He suddenly remembered the drone reconnaissance he had conducted the day before yesterday.

I never imagined it.

Should have known so.

It's long overdue.

late.

Jack opened his mouth, trying to give a command, but his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

　Although it was 2013, plastic explosives/impact fuses/preset flight paths + short-range manual control on-site should have been able to perform similar tasks (just kidding :)).
　　
　
(End of this chapter)