Mercenary Black Mamba - Chapter 47
Chapter 47: Chapter 8, Episode 7: The Conditions of a Mercenary and a Human
“That’s ridiculous. The Muslim religion is even pushing children into death,” Black Mamba complained angrily to Chartres.
“The Muslim religion has nothing to do with it. The dirty rebels kidnapped children and brainwashed them.”
“They are only children who know nothing of this…”
Black Mamba’s painful childhood was a trauma of his. The young child soldiers had always made his heart uncomfortable.
“Black Mamba, how many times do I have to tell you. Stop thinking useless things. The child soldiers have already killed people and been accustomed to bloodshed. Brainwashing before they are able to form an identity for themselves completely destroys a person’s original nature. They may be young, but they are even scarier monsters. They follow every instruction of the commander. They are scarier than adults.”
“Hm, I know that but…”
He couldn’t help but sigh.
The most difficult and burdensome thing during their operations were the child soldiers. Every time they fought, he was forced to kill children, which burdened his heart greatly.
Where humans live, there are more dark corners than those of brightness.
Those who used others and those who are used, those who steal and those who get stolen from, those who command and those who listen…he too had lived being controlled like this in Korean!
In the world of Sabha, everywhere was the same.
“Don’t overthink it. Don’t forget you are a mercenary.”
Chartres patted his shoulder then went back into the barracks. He stumbled a bit but rejected all offers of help. It was an old soldier’s pride. Black Mamba stared a long time at his back.
The darkness lightened, and the cantonment started to stir.
Captain decided to move by day instead of his original plans to move at night. It was because his troop’s condition had drastically been weakened by the prolonged operation. Captain was more worried about their stamina than their protection. Humans are better equipped to function by day. Millions of years’ worth of genetics had created this body rhythm, and it was difficult to make it think the night was the day.
Emil and Miguel were prepping their meals, and Jang Shin and Burimer were preparing the pickup. The rest of the troops were checking their equipment and getting ready to leave. Black Mamba was stretching his body with his meditation as always.
Captain frowned heavily and was lost in deep thought.
He had to decide whether he should move with the main headquarter or on their own.
Lieutenant Paul had worked in the internal affairs department for 20 years.
His head told him he had to trust the main headquarters, but his heart refused the trust. They had been forced into large battles every time they had started an operation. It had already happened three times in a row. Even if Botele was Frolinat’s home ground, logically it was hard to wrap his head around it.
If something illogical happened, then there is a reason for it.
With three battles, they had killed 254 people. This was not the stats of a rescue team, but that of a clean up team. This battle was dangerous too. Black Mamba’s incredible skills and Jang Shin’s ghost-like grenade skills were the only reason they survived this.
Frolinat’s northern army was a complete brigade.
One brigade fighting the entire northern army?
That would be as rash as diving into the ocean to catch a great white shark with a harpoon. Even if they are mere soldiers who live and die according to their given commands, this is not right. As a high ranking official, he shouldn’t be suspicious of the organization but the filthy feeling of betrayal stuck to him.
The strategy headquarters DGSE received the information and handed it to the strategy team.
‘Is it the DGSE?’
They would send out the best rescue team to play around with them? That didn’t make any sense.
There was a low possibility that DGSE would be pulling such a stunt behind their back.
However much they thought about it, they couldn’t figure out an answer.
‘My brain doesn’t work very well anymore ever since all I’ve been doing is shooting. As long as we are in uniform, we can’t ignore their commands. I also don’t want to get stabbed in the back.’
Captain set his suspicions aside for now. He decided to concentrate on their given mission, but keep a hidden card up his sleeve just in case.
“How is Chartres’s condition?”
“He is getting noticeably better. What I suspected as an air embolism turned out to just be internal bleeding.”
“Do we need an evacuation?”
“He is adamantly refusing it. He says he can’t leave behind his comrades because of a little scratch.”
“That stubborn old man. What’s your judgement on the situation?”
“Belman said that as long as there are no other complications, he’ll soon be able to be active.”
Burimer sidestepped the question. He didn’t want to be held responsible for his comrade’s injury.
“Hm, it will be difficult to get a helicopter here.”
“Chartres is the best at booby traps. For the best escape route, they needed Chartres.”
“That’s true. Chartres is also the best at RPG. Let’s see what happens for now.”
Captain put Chartres’s evacuation on hold for now. Saving their necks was more important at the moment. Chartres would not like the idea of an evacuation right now anyways.
“However, the team’s condition is deteriorating. Miguel is showing symptoms of lethargy.”
“Alright, I’ll look after them.”
Miguel was lying droopily under the shade of a boulder. He didn’t even shoo away the hoard of flies crawling over his face. It’s the first symptom of lethargy. It was not looking good.
“Miguel, how are you?”
“No problem!” Miguel smiled and looked up at Captain.
“Stay strong Miguel, we’ll end this soon and drink until we pass out at a bar in Meridian.”
“Of course.”
“We have someone on our side that’s no normal human. With Black Mamba, we can’t help but succeed.”
The strength came back into Miguel’s eyes. With Black Mamba on their side, there was still hope. Why did he ever think that it would be difficult?
Miguel shot up and called Belman over. “Quack, give me a shot of atropine.”
Captain sighed in relief. After going into battle three times, Black Mamba had become their guardian angel. It was a great consolation to have such an invincible member on their team.
It was the 9th day they had been battling it out in the badlands and the desert.
The dry Sahel belt’s midday heat was suffocating. When night came, it was so cold, they could feel it penetrating their bones. The drastic temperature changes were hacking away at their stamina. This place was difficult even for the special forces who endured hellish training.
None of the team members were injured or ill, but their exhaustion ran high. Each one of them had white cracked lips and bloodshot eyes. Their skin became dry, and dark circles drooped an inch under their eyes. They were enduring every sort of physical and mental hardship.
“Brother, I miss Corsica’s Ponant,” Jang Shin complained with his white cracked lips. Ponant had an emerald ocean surrounding it with cool winds. All the soldiers who were sick of the sandy winds of the Sahel nodded.
Anger rose up from Captain’s chest.
If everything had gone as planned, they would have already caught Raccoon and be on their way home. They would have been celebrating by fondling full breasts at Meridian.
The reality was that they didn’t even catch a glimpse of the Raccoon’s tail and were wandering around aimlessly getting hit by sand storms. There was no point in encountering the guerrilla troops who hoarded around them like flies.
His comrades were tired, and the enemy was everywhere.
A majority of the Borkou natives were at the mercy of Frolinat. They could be caught at any time by an intel officer or a guard. They could never be sure when a guerrilla troop’s bullet could be directed at them. They were essentially thrown naked into a pit of hyenas. The desolate Sahel of Northern Chad was trying to swallow 11 mercenaries.
“Those damn punks!”
Captain clenched his fists and shook in fury. He wanted to shoot the government fools that planned such a stupid tactic. No, Black Mamba’s kukri will not forgive them.
Captain pushed down his anger an raised the antennae of the satellite phone.
He extended the antennae, which looked like a giant umbrella while his anger exploded.
As big as a golf umbrella, the Lone Elsa Satellite Antenna was a bit cumbersome to use in the open. On the other hand, the WDCOM Satellite Antenna used by the US and England was compact enough to fit inside a pocket.
France’s defense industry, due to nationalization, lost its creativity and ended up with just side effects. The dinosaur-sized defense industry became sluggish and stupid. Plus, they had such high pride that they refused to even make copies.
-This is Bravo, come in Alpha.
-Bravo, I’ve been waiting for you.
-Alpha, there was a large battle at Guradi. 57 were killed.
-…
The headquarter commander was so surprised he was at a loss for words for a moment.
-Bravo, the damage?
-Alpha, 57 were killed. Sergeant Chartres is injured. If his condition gets worse, we will request an evacuation.
-Ci gogne se!
The headquarter commander stuttered.
-Alpha, we’re requesting supplies.
-Bravo, you may speak.
-Two pickups, two minimee with 5000 bullets, MO60 mine thrower and 10 boxes of grenades, two automatic grenade launchers and 10 boxes of bombs, twenty sets of Claymore mines, five Pamus, night vision goggles, scope, headset batteries…
-Bravo, understood. Are you planning to cause an upheaval in Chad?
-Alpha, at this point, I would like to do that. The location is 10 miles north of Tanga oasis; the coordinates are 020 424. The receiving time requested is at 1800 hours. As planned, we will go into Ekiya oasis.
-Bravo, understood.
-I almost forgot, there is an item you must bring with you. It’s Black Mamba’s personal item. Make sure to bring Korean ramen. Its a dried pasta in red packaging.
-Bravo, understood.
After finishing with the satellite phone, Captain smiled coldly.
He had intentionally not mentioned Anju and told them the coordinates for Tanga. The location that Captain directed them was 10km away from the point where the Lattell team would be hiding.
“Burimer, we threw in a big bait, so should we just wait?”
“Is it a mirror meeting?”
“Well, we have to receive payment. We can resolve two things at once.”
The solution that Captain came up with was a sleazy tactic called a mirror meeting. Mirror meeting is revealing a false location to make a counter-attack. The motive was to find the hidden mole. The slight difference of this mirror meeting was that they were planning to get actual supplies delivered to the false location.
“It’s drool-worthy bait. There will be no way for the mole to resist it. I bet my Kepi Noir that they will show up,” Burimer answered confidently. The foreign troops wear the Képi Blanc. Kepi Noir was worn by the Sergeants and Officers. They differentiated row 5 with distinction.
“There’s no reason to wear the sweaty hat. Just find the best position to be in sight of the mirror.”
“You intentionally let it slip that we were going toward Ekiya oasis, didn’t you.”
“Hm, they may be drooling over our loot, but their main objective is our necks. If the information is being leaked, the rebel troops will start moving toward Ekiya.”
“What do we do if the mirror punks show up?”
“Is there a reason to go around with a tail on us?”
At Captain’s question, Burimer shrugged his shoulders. He could feel Captain’s stress.
“We have to destroy them.”
“That’s right. Black Mamba is a god of fighting at night. He may be hiding it from me, but he can’t fool me. Hahaha!”
“Is that so?”
“Did you not see him at Uldi Hamarl? When Black was fighting with the guerrilla troops, he didn’t have night vision goggles on. Whether it’s some mysterious martial arts skill or a superpower, Black Mamba has the eyes of an owl.”
“I, I see.”
Burimer nodded his head. He was such an interesting character that it had bypassed his mind. Now that he thought back to it, Black had definitely been fighting all over the place without night vision goggles on.
“With Black on our side, it’s game over for the opposition when fighting at night. We can destroy them, then move to the changed location to receive our supplies.”
“It’s a bit messy, but as of right now, it’s the best decision.”
“Don’t tell the team members. This is an embarrassing operation due to us not trusting headquarters.”
“Don’t you think we ought to tell Black?”
“Forget it. Everyone is in awe of Black’s strength, but he’s an intelligent fellow. He probably already figured it out.”
“We’ll cut off the tail, check row 5, and receive payment. That’s killing three birds with one stone.”
“Well. It isn’t a welcome three birds. Looks like Black Mamba will be covered in blood again.”
Captain and Burimer looked at each other with bitter smiles.
If the rebel troops came for their loot like a pack of dogs?
Black Mamba would pluck them off one by one in the wide-open space. In addition, the Claymore and land mines would greet them warmly.
At the base of Zamjena, they even released coordinates 578km away. The flight speed of the Gazelle would make it arrive in 2 hours and 32 minutes. Even if the helicopter arrived late, it would need to get here by 21 hours and 30 minutes.
