The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Qaim, a small border town in Iraq near Syria.

Baghdad's control over the area had long been weakened, and it was captured by the Shamddu group a few months ago, becoming their training base.

Wearing a khaki military uniform, Walid sat in the guard room of the earthen tower, habitually taking out a photo and looking at the family portrait on it.

Only Dabach was in the office. He leaned over and said, "Boss, I took your advice and let my mother take my two younger sisters to Los Angeles."

Walid put away the photos and asked, "How's the situation over there?"

Dabach was a little excited: "When I contacted them last time, they said it was like living in paradise. My mother lives in a detached house with all the appliances, and my two younger sisters attend the best international school in Los Angeles and will be able to get into the best universities in the United States in the future."

Walid's wife and children received the same treatment, saying, "Hurricane Corporation is different, and the big boss behind the scenes is even more different."

Dabach said matter-of-factly, "At worst, I'll sell my life to him."

In the past, even if he had died ten times, his mother and sisters would not have received such treatment; they would have been lucky to get a five-figure pension.

Walid patted him on the shoulder without saying anything more.

Footsteps could be heard outside, and neither of them spoke again.

A messenger wearing a turban entered, saluted Walid, and said, "Colonel, the general requests your presence."

The title of general was self-proclaimed by Julani, while his close associates were all colonels.

Walid followed the messenger to a bunker, and after waiting for a short while, several colonels came over.

Julani, sporting a large beard, arrived last and immediately said, "The middleman asked me to meet in Syria to discuss funding and equipment. What do you think?"

Walid was the first to speak: "General, they are no longer trustworthy. They have been withholding funds from us for so long and have shown strong hostility during this time. I think this may be a trap."

Another burly colonel agreed: "The Americans are untrustworthy; they have no credibility whatsoever."

There are also dissenting voices: "But for decades, the Americans have been committed to protecting the security of Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, and they have always done so."

The colonel, wearing a beret, retorted: "That's because Qatar and Saudi Arabia pay hundreds of billions of dollars in protection fees every year."

As the others continued to argue, Julani raised his hand to interrupt them: "Funding and equipment are related to our future development. Although there are risks involved in this meeting, I must go and see for myself."

Seeing that the general had made a decision, everyone else shut their mouths.

The remaining task is simply to arrange the security forces.

The meeting ended very quickly, and when it adjourned, Julani left Walid behind.

The latter earned Julani's absolute trust through a series of battles and affairs this year.

“General, I believe it is highly likely to be a trap,” Walid insisted. “This will put you in danger.”

As a leader, Julani was certainly aware of these things, but he also had his reasons for going: "Our funds are running out. If we only have faith but no money, our organization will collapse and our team will disband. Even if there is only a one percent chance, I will fight for it."

Walid is no young man; his years of experience have taught him the importance of money for a team.

He stopped trying to persuade him and instead said, "I suggest you have your double sit in your car and blend in with the security team."

Julani nodded slightly and patted Walid's arm: "You arrange it yourself."

Walid left the bunker and summoned Dabach, and the two of them selected trusted men together.

The following morning, the convoy, commanded by Walid, left the camp and headed straight for Abuqa, a small border town in Syria.

The heavy Humvee that Julani usually rode in was heavily guarded and protected in the very center of the convoy.

Inside the car was a body double whose face bore a resemblance to Julani's. He was wearing a beret, sunglasses, and had the same style of beard.

From a slightly distance, the stand-in looks exactly like Jurani.

Jurani himself mingled into the passenger seat of an ordinary troop carrier, sharing the vehicle with Walid, who was dressed as an ordinary soldier.

As the convoy left Gaim, multiple electronic signals were transmitted out of the small city.

Not too far from the city, on a very ordinary stretch of Gobi Desert, several off-road vehicles were parked in a depression, and several squids disguised as Arabs were inspecting a drone that was about to be launched.

These are switchblade drones purchased from the American market, available in two modified versions: reconnaissance and suicide attack.

After their adversaries frequently used cheap suicide drones to destroy their own expensive Merkava main battle tanks, the squids naturally took it seriously and immediately approached their own big brother to introduce drones.

The lead squid, Ariel, asked, "Are the drones ready?"

On the other side, Mossad's squid grinned maliciously, "We can strike at any time."

Joseph jumped out of an SUV and reported, "We just received word that Jhulani's convoy has left the city of Gaim. Our inside source has confirmed that he is in his usual Hummer."

Ariel ordered, "Gentlemen, this is a task personally assigned by the deputy director. We cannot afford to fail. Proceed according to plan."

The numerous squid, following orders and assigned tasks, got busy.

With a soft launch sound, several Switchblade drones took off and flew towards the only main road nearby.

Several drone operators skillfully maneuvered their drones to locate the target convoy.

Less than ten minutes later, a squid operator spoke into the radio: "Suspected convoy spotted, location..."

Soon, the drone supervisor, Squid, confirmed: "The location of the target convoy has been identified. Attack authorization is required. Attack authorization is required!"

Once Ariel confirmed that the target was safe, he immediately ordered: "Attack authorized, drones free to attack, Humvees first!"

The drone footage showed a total of five American-made Humvees, four of which were armed and guarded the one in the middle.

The drone-based squid team quickly assigned tasks and each set their sights on the Humvee target.

The convoy organized by Shamdu was only a dozen kilometers away from Qaim, and this area was still within their sphere of influence. Few people believed that anyone would launch an attack here.

Walid picked up the vehicle radio and called out to all vehicles: "Maintain formation, stay alert! Repeat, maintain formation, stay alert!"

Julani, dressed as a soldier, sat in the passenger seat of the truck, holding an AK74, looking at Walid with considerable admiration. Even within his own territory, Walid remained sufficiently vigilant.

The road was difficult to travel, and the noise from the high-powered diesel engine was deafening.

Zhu Lani glanced out the window every now and then.

Amid the roar of the engine, Walid faintly heard other sounds.

Unlike ordinary soldiers here, he had received extensive professional training at Damakin's base before coming to the Middle East, one of which was drone training.

Walid faintly heard the sound of the drone's rotors.

He immediately shouted into the radio, "Sky watch! Sky watch..." Inside the Humvee's machine gun turret, soldiers were operating machine guns pointed towards the sky.

Among the other troop transport trucks, soldiers were also gazing at the surrounding sky.

"Drone attack from the southwest!" someone warned.

Multiple machine guns roared simultaneously, and the trajectories of tracer bullets wove a large net in the sky.

Two drones were shot down in mid-air.

However, the mesh size of this fire network is too large, while the high-speed flying drones are too small.

Under Walid and Jurani's watchful eyes, more drones swooped down from the sky and crashed into the five Humvees.

Another drone was blown up by intense machine gun fire. The shockwave and debris from the explosion swept across the machine gun turret of the Humvee, immediately silencing two of its machine guns.

Gunfire also rang out in other places.

Everything happened too fast; the air attack was a complete rout of the land vehicles that lacked adequate air defenses.

Boom! Boom!

A drone collided with a Hummer, causing a series of explosions.

The Hummer that Chulani usually rides in was hit by three drones in succession, resulting in a violent explosion.

The other four Humvees also met the same fate.

Multiple unmanned aerial vehicles falling from the sky blasted the Humvees into fireballs.

"Get out of the car!" Walid shoved Julani, opened the car door, and jumped out.

Zhulani got off the vehicle from the other side and immediately mingled with the ordinary soldiers who jumped down from the back of the vehicle, running with them towards the open Gobi Desert.

Walid looked up at the sky and saw that drones were still flying by, but showed no particular interest in Julani.

The two men roughly understood that the attackers' target must be high-ranking personnel, and it was impossible for them to use expensive suicide drones to attack ordinary soldiers.

The price/performance ratio is too low.

All five Humvees were destroyed, and no one escaped from them.

The trucks transporting troops, on the other hand, were unharmed and were not attacked by drones.

As for the soldiers who ran into the Gobi Desert, the drones didn't bother to pay attention to them.

The last three drones circled twice in the sky, then suddenly accelerated and left, quickly disappearing from everyone's sight.

Julani lay behind a weathered rock, glancing at Walid beside him, his eyes filled with lingering fear.

If I were sitting in a Humvee armored vehicle, I would be dead by now.

Walid picked up his binoculars, but could no longer find any trace of the drone. He said, "General, we must leave here and return to the city."

Zhu Lani thought the same thing and said, "Let's go back quickly."

Back in the city's buildings, especially his bunker command post, the drones were useless.

Walid suggested, "It would be best to send some people to the scene to carry out the rescue, which would confuse the unknown enemy."

Zhu Lani nodded: "You arrange it."

Meanwhile, the Mossad agents, who were positioned in the depression, quickly started their vehicles.

The drone commander reported to Ariel: "Operation successful, all target Humvees have been destroyed."

The screen in front of Ariel was frozen on five destroyed armored vehicles. He confirmed that no one had survived and ordered, "Retreat!"

"Retreat!" the messenger shouted over the radio.

Several off-road vehicles started up and drove away from the area, heading west towards Syria amidst the flying dust.

According to the planned schedule, the Mossad squid will travel through Syria back to the Golan Heights.

As for whether this attack will cause any disputes, the squid doesn't care at all.

In the squid's eyes, these Arabs were nothing more than a bunch of chickens and dogs, lambs to the slaughter.

The Shamdu convoy was in a terrible state. They had left the city in a grand procession, but after traveling less than 20 kilometers, they were utterly humiliated, losing five Humvees and Julani's trusted guards and staff.

This is a tragic day for the Shamdo organization.

But for Walid, there were also huge benefits; he gained more of Jurani's trust.

Moreover, with the deaths of other close associates in the Humvee, Julani had to rely more on Walid to carry out specific tasks.

Upon returning to the bunker, Julani temporarily cut off all external communication, only summoning Walid.

He said, "You're right. This meeting with the middleman was a trap. Those Americans have never treated us like human beings. Once they no longer need us, they'll destroy us."

Walid seized the opportunity to say, "Today's attack also proves one thing: our movements were completely monitored. The other side confirmed that you, General, were riding in that Humvee, so the target of the attack was very clear: the Humvee armored vehicle in the convoy."

Apart from the five Humvees, no one else in the attack suffered any loss of life or property.

Even without Walid's reminder, Julani had already thought of this: "You are in charge of the investigation, especially the few pro-American personnel inside. It's better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Walid replied, "Understood."

Julani reiterated, "Given the current situation, we must conduct a major purge to ensure internal purity."

He had previously harbored illusions: "I shouldn't have had any expectations of the Americans. This time it was my fault too. Everyone who is close to the Americans is our enemy."

Walid followed up, saying, "General, we need to assemble a professional security team for you. Now that the Americans have made their move, they will not let us off easily. If we don't die, they will continue to attack."

“You’re absolutely right, those Americans have no credibility whatsoever!” Julani, unwilling to die or see his hard-earned business crumble, declared, “We won’t die; let those Americans die!”

Walid reminded her, "She's the former First Lady of the United States."

Zhu Lani sneered, "All I know is that she is the mastermind behind my killing."

Few people could openly launch such an attack within the territory of the Shamdo organization.

But for Americans, it's commonplace.

Jhulani opened a safe, took out some cash, and placed it directly in front of Walid: "Buy all sorts of information about that woman. She wants me dead, doesn't she? Very well! I want her dead too!" (End of Chapter)