Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 186 The Game of Finding the Traitor Begins
Command post of the 2nd Infantry Brigade of Guatemala.

It was still dark.

"what?!"

An extremely angry and incredulous question echoed throughout the command post of the 2nd Infantry Brigade.

In fact, shortly after the helicopter took off, gunfire erupted in the enemy camp, and Ross had a bad feeling.

The few helicopters they had were simply not capable of sustaining such intense firepower for such a long period of time.

What's more, one helicopter has already been blown into the river!

The crew members stammered and left before they could even speak clearly, insisting on talking to Ross in detail only after they landed.

Ross, his face turning green with rage as he looked at the still somewhat shaken crew members, slammed his fist on the table several times and demanded, "What do you have to say?! Is there anything you have to say here that you can't say in the air?!"

"Tell me right now, what just happened? What happened to our paratroopers?!"

He appeared to be concerned about the "paratroopers," but in reality, Ross was most interested in the members of his mercenary groups.

Soldiers capable of carrying out airborne operations are not to be lost lightly.

Rose almost lost his composure.

Now, there is only one illusion—that his elite combat personnel, after landing, can fight a guerrilla war against the enemy in complex terrain despite being at a huge disadvantage, and hold out until the main attacking force arrives.

The crew members exchanged glances, then cautiously said, "'Hyena' Mr., I think... the enemy is very likely prepared for this airdrop, and well prepared at that."

Ross's heart sank, and he pressed, "Why do you say that? What is the basis for your judgment?"

One pilot said with a wry smile, "First of all, who would prepare something like an aerial flare for no reason? For the resistance forces, who are already short of bullets, there is even less reason for them to waste their limited resources on such strange equipment as flares."

That makes sense!

Ross nodded vigorously: "You're right... How could they possibly have flares?"

"And..." the pilot continued, "we were flying at high altitude, making almost no sound, and it was impossible for the naked eye to see us... yet they were able to lock onto us with missiles!"

“What’s even more frightening is that, based on our observations from the air, those so-called ‘weak points’ in the enemy’s defenses that you previously designated are heavily fortified and have firepower far exceeding that of the ordinary rebels we’ve faced before. They must be elite forces there.”

Ross was even more astonished: "Those weak points I circled on the map are the enemy's key defensive positions? No, that's the result of our aerial reconnaissance during the day, how could there be a problem?"

The rebels are a bunch of poor, dirt-eating country bumpkins. They've almost lost all their positions and their men are all dead. How could they possibly still be hiding an elite force?
If they really had such elite troops, they would have used them to counter their offensive long ago!
The pilot nodded very seriously and said, "So, I think they didn't hide a large force there, but rather they received some advance warning and urgently deployed a large force there!"

"That's why the crew doesn't talk to you from the air, but comes down for a private meeting... Based on all the intelligence we have, I strongly suspect that there might be rebel informants or spies within the First Infantry Brigade!"

Ross's expression shifted. He stood up from his chair and paced back and forth in the room, muttering to himself, "That's not surprising, that's not surprising..."

Objectively speaking, there were problems with the airdrop arrangement, but there were no truly fatal flaws.

Although our paratroopers are a mixed bag, the enemy rebels are not elite SS troops either! If the airdrop is successful, it will definitely deal a huge blow to the rebels.

It now appears that the failure was indeed due to other factors, rather than a problem with the tactical deployment!

"Mr. Hyena, what do we do?"

Ross's expression was grim: "Don't ask what to do first, but analyze the whole problem carefully—I am an American, I can run away if I lose, but you can't. This is a life-or-death battle for you, so calm down!"

"Now, call in those trustworthy people and have each of them pass through a lie detector test."

"A lie detector test is not difficult for professional spies, so it is only an auxiliary means. You must think carefully about whether the people you have called over have any unusual behavior in their daily lives."

"Finally, let's see if they have irreconcilable conflicts with the rebels... Those who personally committed the Mayan massacres and human trafficking can be prioritized for exclusion as they are reliable allies."

"Go now, right away!"

The entire command post was in complete chaos, like headless flies, simply obeying orders without question.

Before long, the command center gathered the reliable people, and excluding the crew, they found a total of nearly 10 people who were absolutely not spies.

Ross nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, at least it hasn't been completely infiltrated yet."

"This spy is very well hidden, has been hidden for a long time... he might even be an officer with a certain status in the military camp, no... it might not be just one person, it could be an intelligence network!"

"Although we were caught off guard by the information he leaked, he was also exposed to the light of day, letting us know that he exists!"

"As long as we know this person exists, we will definitely find a way to bring him and his intelligence network to justice!"

"Now, I officially announce that the spy lurking in our army is called 'Owl,' and this operation to sweep away the spy is codenamed 'Operation Night Owl'!"

The others clapped and shouted in unison, "Catch the traitor!"

Of course, one officer was also wondering to himself – the fact that this operation was exposed might not necessarily mean there was a mole within the army.

Is it possible that it was simply discovered by local scouts or by local natives passing by, who then reported it to the rebels or the Pan Madre group?

Or perhaps Rose's own strategy was flawed, resulting in him getting thoroughly beaten up?
But seeing Ross's confident demeanor, he still didn't dare voice his suspicions.

Anyway, large-scale reinforcements will arrive in a few days. Whether there is a mole or not is not important. Even if there is a mole, it will not affect the overall situation. If there is no mole, just pretend nothing happened.

So he clapped and shouted, "Catch the traitor!"

Ross nodded with great satisfaction: "Now that we've determined the general direction, let's talk about the specifics of how to catch them. Catching the mole also requires a direction."

After realizing that the operation had failed because of betrayal, Ross's earlier frustration vanished.

How can being betrayed be considered a failure?

Of course, Ross didn't consider himself someone who was absolutely incapable of admitting mistakes. Before giving the order, he also reflected on himself a little: "I was a little naive in this matter... Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has always been our people infiltrating other forces, not other forces infiltrating us."

"I can't believe there are actually fools who would choose to betray us and join a rebel army that will be wiped out sooner or later! When I get back, I'll give Lopez a piece of my mind and see what kind of soldiers he's given me, that there are even traitors mixed in!"

"Ha ha……"

"Forget it, let's not dwell on past failures. Let's think about how to move forward and how to avoid such failures again."

The other officers spoke up, "Please speak!"

“Investigating spies isn’t like investigating a case, where you look for clues and evidence, pinpoint a specific person, and arrest them,” Ross said first. “That only happens in movies. At least in the initial stages, we can’t arrest people like that, otherwise we’ll easily go in the wrong direction and end up not catching anyone.”

"The only real way to catch spies is simple and straightforward: check their background. It's a process of elimination, narrowing down the scope step by step."

"First, we can exclude those who have a blood feud with the rebels and their forces, such as you all—I believe that with your battle record, the rebels will not accept your surrender; they would love to tear you apart and use you to make soup."

"Then we might be able to eliminate some of the money-grubbing individuals—the reason is simple: the rebels simply don't have enough attractive funds to bribe informants in our army."

“Those who use drugs, especially those who deal drugs, may also be on the list… Milton will not let them off the hook.”

"besides……"

The officers took Ross's words to heart and nodded, saying, "We've all got it, Mr. 'Hyena'."

This is the real initial stage of catching spies—the investigation.

Ross continued, "Then there are those who need to be given special attention, including but not limited to those who have shown compassion for the Holocaust, those who did not participate in looting after the victory, and those who resisted killing."

"Of course, these are just the key targets that need to be monitored. It cannot be ruled out that some people are very good at disguising themselves."

"..."

"Let me tell you a story. When I worked for the CIA, I participated in a mission to search for KGB spies. My approach at the time was..."

Ross went on and on—of course, he was just repeating hearsay; as a member of SAD, finding spies was not his responsibility at all.

Even so, he believed that his ability to catch spies was far superior to that of the corrupt officers from these cesspool countries.

The officers nodded repeatedly, saying, "We understand, we all understand."

"If you understand, then do it. Try to catch the bad guys in our team before the final offensive, understand?"

"Understood!"

The officers left the command post excitedly—what could be unclear? It was all too clear!

Catching spies is certainly important, but the most important thing is to use this operation to find internal traitors to frame those who don't listen to us, have had conflicts with us, or even those we don't like!
They lack the ability to catch internal traitors, but they possess a great deal of skill in using the pretext of catching internal traitors to attack dissidents.

After leaving the military camp, a lieutenant returned to his company almost without stopping, called his guards, and then rushed into a platoon leader's barracks.

The loud commotion jolted everyone in the platoon awake, and they instinctively grabbed their guns to prepare for battle, showing none of the laziness typical of the other units.

The soldiers under this platoon leader are considered elite—they have relatively strict military discipline and relatively high combat capabilities.

But he's also a troublemaker.

Often they simply carried out their duties mechanically, refusing to rob or kill... During the peak of unpaid wages some time ago, this platoon leader even paid out of his own pocket to cover the wages.

The lieutenant was very envious of this powerful fighting force, but he couldn't do anything about this platoon leader.

Now, the solution has finally arrived!
"Sir, we are resting now. Do you have any military orders to issue?"

"I suspect you're a spy who leaked important military secrets. Now come with me," the lieutenant said coldly, while gesturing to the guards behind him. "This is an order from the highest command. I hope you won't be ungrateful." The platoon leader was being taken away?!
He's a spy?!
how can that be!

The soldiers who had been fighting alongside him simply didn't believe it, and some were even ready to draw their guns.

"Wait," the platoon leader said calmly, stopping the soldiers from mutiny. "You say I'm a spy, what evidence do you have?"

"I ordered you to attack the enemy camp before, why didn't you go? Disobeying orders for the enemy, wouldn't that be considered evidence of treason?"

"That's a village! A village only inhabited by civilians!" The platoon leader was furious, arguing even with his superiors, "I went there according to your orders, we even searched the village, it's not an enemy camp at all, it's clearly your intelligence that's wrong, not that I disobeyed orders!"

To say that there isn't a single normal person in an army of tens of thousands would be truly absurd... But after so many years of purifying the scum, this is indeed one of the few units in the 2nd Infantry Brigade that still retains some military discipline and humanity.

"Excuses, sophistry. How come it's the enemy camp in other people's camp, but not in yours?" The lieutenant was determined to destroy this troublemaker. "How you explain it doesn't matter. Come with me and cooperate with the investigation."

"If you really have no problems, I believe the investigation results will give you a fair assessment."

"Come with me right now."

"Or are you saying you're going to betray us?"

The platoon leader glanced at the soldiers around him, took a deep breath, raised his hand to calm his men's anger, and said, "Fine, I'll go with you and cooperate with the investigation, but I hope you can act quickly... The great battle is about to begin, don't create any more panic."

Before he could finish speaking, the guards rushed forward and seized him.

"It's none of your business to tell me what to do, get out of here!"

"The rest of you, hand over your weapons and stand by. You are excellent soldiers, and I believe you are not traitors... I hope you will not let me down."

"go!"

Soon, amidst the bewildered glances of the soldiers, their platoon leader was shoved and dragged away into a room specifically for interrogating, or rather, torturing, prisoners of war.

Snapped!
"what--"

"Tell me, are you a traitor? Confess now, and you might save your life!"

"You won't talk, huh? You won't admit it, huh? You're a well-trained spy after all. Beat you up!"

"And who is your accomplice? Is he your accomplice?...No?! Still being stubborn. Beat him up. I'll ask you one more time, is he your accomplice?"

"..."

Before dawn had even fully broken, this kind of thing began to happen throughout the entire First Infantry Brigade.

Many soldiers and junior officers were arrested while they were still asleep, locked in the interrogation room of the prisoner-of-war camp, and beaten without explanation.

Just 24 hours later, Ross, who was still struggling with the compensation for the fallen members of the mercenary group, received one piece of good news after another.

Operation Night Owl, the mission to catch the mole, has been a resounding success from the start!

“Not bad…” Ross looked at the lists handed to him, both pleased and puzzled. “These people aren’t good at fighting, but they’re quite capable at doing these things. But, are there really that many moles?”

"Pass down my orders. Be sure to check carefully and thoroughly, and don't wrongly accuse innocent people."

The lieutenant who had just dragged someone he didn't like into the interrogation room laughed repeatedly, "Don't worry, they're all bad people, there aren't any good ones!"

"..."

……

While enemy troops were killing each other due to a failed airborne operation, the resistance command was also busy.

"Juan, our friends 'Hell Tax Collector' have just sent word that they have reliable intelligence that the enemy is bringing three howitzers. This is a huge threat, and we need to deal with them immediately."

Juan nodded and said, "No problem. I've carefully selected 30 people to form a special operations platoon, with each squad responsible for a howitzer—to maintain smooth communication. Just like the 'Hell Tax Collector' said, this is an information age."

“Each class should bring an extra spare radio.”

Ever since Milton captured those four frequency-hopping military radios, he has made a copy of them whenever he has a spare moment, trying to make sure that everyone has one of these useful devices. If that's not possible, at least each squad should have two.

Lak continued banging on the table, saying, "This is a very difficult task, and we will assemble the best equipment."

Everyone naturally has a set of NIJ Standard Level 4 heavy body armor, as well as a recoilless rifle specifically designed to deal with fortifications and bunkers, and a lot of MRE individual rations that were captured not long ago.

Lark didn't quite understand the look of disgust Milton and Flora instinctively showed when they saw these MRE individual rations, but for the rebels who were so poor they had to eat dirt, these were rare delicacies.

“Every soldier who returns alive will receive a pair of woolen shoes.”

"In addition to these rewards, fallen soldiers will also receive an extra $300 in compensation and 20 kilograms of fresh potatoes."

"I believe victory will belong to us!"

Lak patted Juan on the shoulder forcefully: "If the mission really can't be completed, then saving your own life should be the priority, okay?"

"I haven't even set a goal yet, and you've already done it for me, huh?" Juan laughed loudly, having picked up a lot of trendy slang from Milton lately. "Enough talk, let's eat and get ready to go!"

Because it was a special mission, this special operations platoon had to carefully infiltrate the enemy's position.

It might even require breaking down the whole thing into smaller parts and taking a very long detour.

Lak also specially allocated a batch of canned meat from the daily shortage of air-freighted canned food so that these soldiers could have a full meal.

Juan casually waved goodbye to Lak and then treated his soldiers to a big meal.

Before setting off, a soldier who had eaten his fill of meat patted his belly and exclaimed, "Being able to eat such a meal, it wouldn't be a waste to die in battle."

"Don't say such discouraging things." Juan checked his equipment, tested the radio, and made sure everything was working properly. "Let's go, let's set off!"

"Our familiarity with the terrain is also an advantage."

“We can find some routes that the regular army doesn’t even know about, and infiltrate some people behind their lines without them noticing, leaving them with no choice but to carry out a ‘free kill’ operation.”

This is the name "Hell Tax Collector" gave to the enemy's airborne operation.

"We're locals..."

"I wonder what will happen to us after the war? Will we continue to live in this divided state, or will we try to join a new government?"

"Don't think about things that are too far ahead. Don't forget our mission. If we don't take out the enemy's howitzers, our main force will continue to be suppressed..."

After exchanging a few words, the special operations platoon finally stopped chatting and began marching in silence.

Although the possibility is very small, we cannot rule out the possibility that the enemy will discover this road, so it is better not to say anything.

After walking a little further, even this special operations platoon will be broken up and sent to infiltrate separately.

Otherwise, there is a very high probability that it will be discovered.

This is also why such operations cannot be carried out on a large scale. First, large-scale mobilization would be discovered by the enemy, and second, both marching and logistical support present huge problems.

It is also a test and torment for the soldiers' willpower.

Juan walked with his head down, secretly relieved—thankfully, the enemy was not only unfamiliar with the terrain, but probably also lacked the willpower for such a long march.

However, at that moment, a commotion suddenly came from not far ahead!
This kind of noise couldn't be made by wild animals; it must be from humans, and more than one person!

There are people like this, in such a large group, they can't possibly be local hunters...

The enemy actually tried to infiltrate, and they even found a way in?!

Without a second thought, Juan immediately found cover and pounced, drawing his gun in preparation for battle!

"Are those... rebels?" However, the other side showed no signs of fighting. Instead, they threw their guns on the ground and raised their hands. "Don't be nervous, we mean no harm."

Juan was extremely nervous and dared not be careless in the slightest. He asked in a very fast voice, "Who are you? State your purpose!"

After asking the question, he immediately moved to another location.

"We are the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Battalion..." The person on the other end spoke very weakly, repeating their unit number.

"What's your purpose?"

The government soldier was filled with grief and indignation: "The company commander said we were spies sent by you, that we were traitors, and that he wanted to kill our platoon leader... The brothers all felt that if we didn't escape, we would be killed too. Nobody wanted to die!"

"So we felt we couldn't just sit and wait to die, so we took advantage of the darkness to snatch the platoon leader back, and then..."

"We'll escape to some rough terrain and run this way... Trust us, we really mean you no harm. We've run out of food, our brothers are all injured, and our platoon leader is almost done for..."

"Please, we need some medicine and food..."

"..."

Juan was so stunned by the surreal nature of these words that he was speechless: "...Huh?"

What do you mean by arresting spies sent by the resistance?
How could he, as one of the highest-ranking members of the resistance, not know about this?

(End of this chapter)