Fatal Strike: Paladins Mercenary Road

Chapter 778 The last bargaining chip
Chuck's mind is in disarray; affected by the stun grenades, he sees double.

When the mountain eagle turned on its bright LED lights, Chuck's eyes felt like they were being pricked by needles; the stinging and painful sensation caused him to tear up incessantly.

Perhaps due to luck, Chuck's hearing, though damaged, wasn't too severe. Although he could hear a buzzing noise in everything he heard, he could understand what the mountain eagle was saying.

Chuck is now kneeling on the ground, his hands and feet are tied together with straps, causing his upper body to involuntarily lean back.

Facing the mountain eagle's gun, Chuck didn't seem particularly afraid. He swayed his chin to avoid the scorching muzzle, stared intently at the mountain eagle, and said expressionlessly, "You think you've won by capturing us?"

Mountain Eagle, I admit you're the toughest guy I've ever met, but that's all in vain, because you've chosen some invincible enemies for yourself..."

Upon hearing this, Mountain Eagle shook his head and chuckled as he sat down on the ground. After letting out a long breath, he pulled the quick-release mechanism on his abdomen, loaded four slugs into the magazine, and then placed the scorching hot barrel against Chuck's neck...

"Who is the winner now?"

The scorching hot barrel made Chuck's neck twitch. Despite the excruciating pain, Chuck kept his blurry eyes fixed on the mountain eagle, as if trying to imprint its image in his mind...

You've won this battle!

After saying that, Chuck struggled to push the gun barrel open by shaking his shoulder, then said in a deep voice, "You've got me, so let's negotiate..."

"Let us all leave, and I'll spare your family and men left behind at the brown bear camp!"

Mountain Eagle seemed to have heard something particularly funny. He leaned the shotgun against his side, rummaged in his pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one...

He took a drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke into Chuck's face, then took out his tactical computer, pulled up a live battlefield feed, and pushed it in front of Chuck, saying sarcastically, "Who let whom go?"

Your two ships are not far from sinking. The people on board have been trying to escape, but the Yukon River is certainly not something they can conquer.

As he spoke, Mountain Eagle shifted the camera to one side of the brown bear camp, then pointed at the Sinaloa cannon fodder who were still fighting tenaciously, and said sarcastically, "Do you think that if you equip a bunch of drug dealer gunmen with advanced weapons and give them a shot, they will become qualified soldiers?"

Yeah, they're definitely not afraid of death, but so what? Apart from destroying a few houses, I don't see anything special about them.

"Dude, your plan has failed. From the moment your two ships were brought to a standstill, you were destined to be no threat to the Brown Bear camp."

Chuck couldn't see clearly at all. He pressed his face close to the tactical computer like someone with severe myopia and tried to see for a long time before finally shaking his head and saying, "If your people are really that good, why don't you just kill them?"
What reason would a boss like you have to take this risk?

Mountain Eagle put the cigarette in his mouth, took a deep drag, then sighed and said, "Because I feel it's pointless to kill everyone..."

If the Sinaloa and Edward Foundation turn a deaf ear, am I supposed to go around telling everyone that I took down hundreds of gunmen and severely weakened them?
"Then how am I any different from those drug dealers who post videos of massacres online to show off their ruthlessness?"

As he spoke, the mountain eagle glanced at Thiago, who was lying on his side not far away, blood streaming from his ears and nose, and said with a smile, "I want to give all of you a chance..."

Make your people surrender, and I will give you the treatment due to prisoners of war.

Food, water, medical care—you may lose your freedom, but you will survive…

Chuck paused for a moment, then shook his head vigorously and said, "I'd rather you send me out with dignity than take me prisoner..."

Mountain Eagle, just as you fell into my trap, a transport plane took off from Fairbanks.

The plane was carrying four powerful bombs, enough to raze the brown bear camp to the ground.

The only one who can stop it now is me...

"Let me leave here, and I can make that plane turn back!"

Mountain Eagle didn't care about the so-called aerial bombs at all, because even if he had moved his wife and children to the lakeside camp, it would be extremely difficult for a fishing cargo plane to accurately drop aerial bombs on the camp without the support of professional equipment.

In this kind of heavy snow, the only way to bomb the camp is to fly at extremely low altitudes, but under these conditions, it simply cannot evade the camp's close-range air defense system...

Although the Stinger missile is a portable missile, it is not difficult to hit low-altitude, low-speed targets.

However, Mountain Eagle was a little curious. He frowned and looked at Chuck, saying, "You have aerial bombs, why didn't you use them at the start of the battle?"
Did you know you were going to be captured, so you kept it as leverage to negotiate with me?

Even Mountain Eagle himself seemed a little incredulous as he spoke, shaking his head and saying, "You're definitely not that kind of person. Can you tell me why?"

Chuck noticed that Mountain Eagle didn't seem particularly anxious. He shook his slightly dizzy head and said, "This is America. If possible, nobody wants to use that level of weaponry here..."

Chuck looked up at the mountain eagle and said in a deep voice, "You're wasting your own time..."

Unless you don't care about your family and subordinates at all, you should untie me now and have a serious talk with me.

The mountain eagle nodded, somewhat enlightened...

Aerial bombs are the last resort when all other preparations fail to solve the problem. Even the Edward Foundation, and even though the Brown Bear Camp is very remote, must use them with caution.

This indirect information was crucial for Mountain Eagle, as it allowed him to roughly determine the boundaries of the Edward Foundation's power in the United States.

What can now be confirmed is that they are definitely not the kind of bigwigs who can use the guise of 'exercises' to mobilize the US military to kill their opponents and then find any excuse to cover up the truth.

The Edward Foundation had reservations, yet was determined to eliminate the Mountain Eagle, even at the cost of using weapons that would inevitably provoke American anger.

That means the profits from acquiring Mountain Eagle, plus the added value of the animosity between the two sides, could basically cover the losses they would incur, or at least result in less profit. Mountain Eagle understands the value of its funds, industries, and distribution channels in Southeast Asia, which means the Edward Foundation believes the cost of incurring American anger is less than the gains from acquiring Mountain Eagle's assets.

Lobbying and congressional lobbying in the United States actually come with a price tag. If an insider were to help calculate it, Mountain Eagle could roughly determine the limits of the Edwards Foundation's political power.

Faced with Chuck's request for negotiation, Mountain Eagle shook his head and said, "You're still dreaming of negotiating with me..."

Dude, you have no idea how far I can go. I'll make you all regret having me as your enemy!
This could have been avoided, but unfortunately you always treat me with arrogance and ignorance..."

After saying that, Mountain Eagle ignored Chuck and walked up to General Sid, the one-eyed man. Seeing the man's pain from the gunshot wounds to his knees and wrists, he pulled out his knife and cut the bandages on his hands, allowing General Sid to sit down against the wall in a more comfortable position...

The guy kept his eyes closed, and blood was still flowing from his left ear, so the eagle spoke into his right ear, "If you can hear me, nod..."

General Sid closed his eyes tightly, gripped the wound on his right hand with his left hand, and nodded slightly.

Seeing that he could hear him, Mountain Eagle simply said, "You're a mercenary who does things for money. Killing you is meaningless to me. You've lost now, so just finish it quickly."

I'm giving you a chance to live. Tell all your men to stop, and I'll treat you with some dignity.

After listening, General Sid remained silent for a long time before finally nodding and saying, "I did lose, but how can you prove that you won?"

"Chuck, the bombs you mentioned are real. Do you guarantee you won't go crazy and retaliate after the Brown Bear camp is bombed?"

Mountain Eagle nodded slightly; this was a typical seasoned veteran…

In this situation, he certainly wouldn't mind surrendering, but it would make sense for him to surrender, because surrendering to someone whose wife and children could be blown up at any moment is not much different from putting his own head in the noose.

This seasoned veteran knew very well that surrendering was pointless until there was a resolution between Chuck and the Mountain Eagle!

He still has men on the perimeter; if he persists in not surrendering, there is still a glimmer of hope...

Mountain Eagle knew there was little point in wasting time arguing with General Sid, so he went over to Thiago and checked him out...

This drug dealer is now deaf and blind, and it will take him three to five days to communicate normally with people. So he simply stopped talking to the guy and directly used the bionic bird network to break into the radio communication system set up by General Sid and his men...

“I am Mountain Eagle. Your boss, General Sid, Mr. Thiago, and Commander Chuck are all in my hands…”

Your current situation is extremely bad...

People on board, I believe you know better than anyone that I have the ability to sink you.

You idiots in the wetlands, put some ice on your stimulant-damaged brains. You have no chance of crossing the river. Staying there will only waste bullets and get you killed.

And to the guys still standing outside the building, I know you're still clinging to a sliver of hope, but look up at the sky…”

Just as Shan Hai was speaking, the last switchblade swept past them from a distance of more than ten meters above their heads, followed by a series of wolf howls echoing across the snow outside the small building...

"I'm giving you a chance to surrender..."

Seeing the mountain eagle talking to itself, Chuck suddenly burst into laughter and said, "Don't waste your energy. Unless we give the order ourselves, nothing you say will make a difference..."

Mountain Eagle waited for about ten seconds, but there was no response on the radio. So he shook his head, walked back to Chuck, and said with a smile, "This is all your own choice. You gave up decent treatment, so don't blame me later..."

As he spoke, Mountain Eagle took out the satellite phone he had seized from Cohen of the Chimera Squad, squatted down next to Chuck, and said, "Didn't you want to talk? What's the pilot's phone number?"

Chuck knew he had already lost. Using bombs to kill Mountain Eagle's family at this point would only make the Edward Foundation lose even more, so he simply gave out the pilot's number...

When Mountain Eagle made the call, he put it on speakerphone. The moment the call connected, Chuck said in a very fast voice, "This is Chuck. Where are you?"

There was a lot of static on the phone, and the person on the other end said loudly, "The snow is falling heavily, we've reached the vicinity of the brown bear camp..."

Boss, the heavy snow has caused very low visibility. We need someone to use clearly visible markers to guide us to ground targets.

Chuck glanced at the mountain eagle, and was about to speak when the eagle suddenly chuckled and said, "You're currently at an altitude of 1400 meters, 4 kilometers from the brown bear camp. Oh, 3 kilometers from now..."

As he spoke, Mountain Eagle looked at the surprised Chuck and spread his hands, saying, "Now they have no chance to get any closer..."

As the mountain eagle spoke, a terrified scream suddenly came from the satellite phone...

"What is that, fuck? It's an anti-aircraft missile, an anti-aircraft ballistic missile, fuck, hold on tight..."

"boom……"

"Zi..."

Seeing Chuck's horrified expression, Mountain Eagle dropped the satellite phone, stood up, clapped his hands, and said, "OK, now you've run out of your last bargaining chips..."

Since you yourselves have given up the chance for a dignified surrender, I'll have to resort to methods suitable for mercenaries.

(End of this chapter)