Chapter 885: Unofficial Operation 2

Theoretically speaking, there are no direct flights from Ningzhou to Tehran; you usually have to transfer once or twice, and it takes at least more than fifteen hours.

But because this was a special flight approved by the Civil Aviation Administration, they used only half the time before landing in Iran.

Because there’s a 4.5?hour time difference between the two countries.

When he pushed up the little window’s sunshade, it was still pitch dark outside.

Foreign affairs staff from the embassy in Iran, as well as Iranian police, had long been waiting below.

As soon as everyone got off the plane, a short?haired middle?aged woman in a dark blue suit walked forward with a broad smile and shook hands with Gong Qingyong and Liu Weijun.

Introduced by the people from the Foreign Affairs Office, she was the ambassador in charge of coordinating between Xia and Iran this time: Geng Changping.

However, Gu Ji was more interested in the few cold?faced men in suits standing behind the Iranian police representatives.

Having just passed through immigration, he knew this type all too well.

Savama Secret Police!

Sure enough, Zhuang Feng had also noticed this group.

“Mr. Geng, what’s the current situation with the hostage?”

“Still no news at all. The kidnappers haven’t killed and dumped the body, nor have they called to demand ransom. However, the Iranian Intelligence and Security Department has dug up one lead: recently, in the suburban districts of Tehran, there’s a group investigating an underground oil shaft project, and the project’s chief engineer is Mr. Kang!”

Facing Gong Qingyong’s question, Geng Changping answered truthfully.

“Oh? Then can we start our operation now?”

Liu Weijun voiced what everyone was thinking.

“You can, but…”

At this point, Geng Changping suddenly looked troubled and glanced at the several Persian men in suits standing beside the Iranian police. “They’re from the Iranian Security Department.”

After the interpreter relayed this, a short?haired middle?aged man with sharp “eagle eyebrows” started chattering away.

As he spoke, Geng Changping translated.

“You’ve been granted law?enforcement authority in Iran, that’s correct. But just one hour before your flight landed, we received news that our undercover intelligence operative who was tracking the case’s lead was suddenly killed. After analysis by the intelligence analysis unit, the leadership believes this is very likely an attack carried out by a hostile intelligence force. Therefore, the previously agreed?upon action plan must be changed!”

“What does he mean by that?”

Zhou Yang frowned, clearly unhappy.

At this moment, Zhuang Feng finally spoke to explain: “He means we probably can’t operate openly anymore, because that would easily alert hostile forces and disrupt the Iranian side’s plan.”

Gu Ji glanced at him and noticed his expression was perfectly calm, as if he’d known this would happen all along.

Which was normal.

The Middle East is one of the most intense arenas of intelligence warfare in the world, especially Iran and Israel.

Even if two countries enjoy a good bilateral relationship, have reached consensus at the diplomatic level, and their intelligence systems have fully coordinated, the slightest shift can affect the progress of a joint operation.

After all, this is their turf, so you have to play by their rules.

To put it bluntly, Mr. Kang is very important to the Xia Kingdom, but for Iran he’s just a foreign technical expert.

By comparison, counter?intelligence retaliation is obviously more urgent.

“How is the plan changing?” Gong Qingyong asked.

Geng Changping translated: “During your investigation or any arrest operations, you need to disguise yourselves, wear only civilian clothes, cover your faces when necessary, minimize communications, and use weapons and vehicles without distinctive features. Most importantly, you absolutely cannot let the enemy realize this is an official operation—best to pose as tourists or as a gang hit!”

“A gang?”

Hearing this word, Gao Bo’s interest was piqued.

From the moment he entered the police academy, he’d spent the last five years learning how to punish crime, and had never experienced what it felt like to be the “bad guy.”

“The Iranian side can provide weapons, ammunition, and vehicles for us…”

“Mr. Geng, please tell him our communications can’t be cut. If possible, we can even use music earphones instead.”

Gong Qingyong interrupted Geng Changping’s translation.

As a veteran frontline SWAT officer in the Dragon and Tiger Assault Team for many years, he knew exactly how crucial comms were in an operation.

Without them, it was like the brain losing contact and control over the body: each limb fights on its own, and the result is a scattered mess.

“They’ve agreed.”

After some effort from Geng Changping, the Eagle?Eyebrow secret policeman finally nodded.

“Good, then let’s move!”

Gong Qingyong gestured with his hand.

The group immediately followed the Iranian police and secret police out of the airport and into downtown Tehran.

At night, the streets of Tehran were filled with honking horns.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Iran has very little in the way of entertainment; because they dine late—dinner is between eight and ten—traffic often remains heavily congested well past midnight.

1 a.m.

The vehicles drove into a two?story building.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary residence, but inside it was anything but.

This was likely one of Savama’s operational bases.

Inside, a large number of different styles of clothing had been prepared to suit various situations; even more impressive was the armory—its sheer variety of weapons was dizzying, and there were quite a few “heavily modded” pieces, most likely captured from terrorists or hostile spies.

The Eagle?Eyebrow secret policeman brought in professionals to pick outfits for them based on their appearance.

Gu Ji was issued a linen robe, a skull?pattern face mask, and a pink checkered scarf.

To be fair, once he wrapped the scarf over his head, he really did look somewhat like a local Iranian.

After receiving their disguise outfits, it was time to choose weapons.

“You need to pick different weapons from each other. That fits the image of gang members better!”

Seeing Wu Kang and Gao Bo instinctively grab identical AR?15 rifles, the Eagle?Eyebrow secret policeman reminded them.

Having just passed through immigration, Gu Ji still retained some fragments of Persian in his mind.

The man was right: no gang can casually field a squad with completely standardized weapons—that kind of uniformity screams “regular army.”

He chose an AK?47 assault rifle. Aside from the Type?95 family, it was one of the rifles he was most proficient with. For a sidearm, he casually grabbed a SIG Sauer P226.

Gu Ji noticed that Zhuang Feng had also picked an AK?series weapon, but unlike his, it was a heavily modded Xia?made Type 56?1. Some militant had swapped out the handguard for a tactical rail and added an optic and vertical grip.

Just as everyone was sorting out their comms earpieces…

The Eagle?Eyebrow secret policeman brought in a “new face” as liaison, responsible for coordination and communication.

On one hand, this was to prevent them from being mistakenly shot by unfamiliar nearby police or Revolutionary Guard units during the operation—someone from their side needed to be able to explain. On the other, Iran was not about to let them operate completely unsupervised; at the very least, someone had to keep an eye on them.

Gu Ji hadn’t expected it to be such a coincidence.

The liaison Savama assigned turned out to be that same “Persian strongman” Miliburn who had repeatedly blocked him at the checkpoint.

The guy stood there just like at the checkpoint, face full of arrogance, as if everyone owed him money.

Once everything was ready, the group split up.

Non?combat personnel stayed in the room to maintain communications and report back to the command center at home.

All the SWAT officers of the Dragon and Tiger Assault Team, along with Zhuang Feng and Miliburn, set out together, boarding an old white van and a black SUV provided by Savama, heading for the intelligence point in the suburbs ahead.

On the way, comms were finally established.

After confirming the command center could hear them, Gong Qingyong and Liu Weijun reported the on?scene situation to Lei Wanshan one by one.

“What do you plan to do?”

In their earpieces, Lei Wanshan’s cool, flat voice sounded.

“Mr. Lei, after discussing with Gong Qingyong, we’ve decided to follow the intel, first locate the group investigating Mr. Kang, then stage a gang?style assault and grab them alive for interrogation!”

“The plan is feasible. Proceed according to it.”

“Understood!”

Liu Weijun gave a final acknowledgment, then temporarily cut the comms.

The latter half of the night in Tehran was finally quiet.

As one of the biggest cities in the Middle East, Tehran’s urban area is enormous. Even out in the suburbs, houses are densely packed. The predominantly white Persian architecture made it easy for the eye to blur everything together at a glance.

“According to the intel, this is the place.”