Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 291 Don’t Return!

Boom boom boom...

Three Jaguar attack aircraft are traveling at supersonic speeds toward Quetzaltenango.

They are special forces of the U.S. Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron (24th STS). Although not as famous as the SEALs, they are also ranked in T1 and belong to the SMU. They focus on providing critical air support to other special mission units, such as Delta Force and SEAL Team Six.

Having them carry out the decapitation strike against Milton is the best option.

In modern warfare, air force units can be considered among the safest units. While both SEAL Team Six and Delta Force have experienced large-scale casualties, the air force rarely suffers such "tragedies." Therefore, these three pilots were relatively relaxed at this moment.

"You have to get close to the target, about 5 kilometers away, before you can drop the bomb... If there were a ground-based laser sight, you could drop it from 10 kilometers away. The CIA is really something."

Because agents were always getting caught by Milton, the CIA was often ridiculed.

"Never mind, the ISA agents didn't find any useful intelligence either. It's true that Milton's counter-espionage work was good, and it has little to do with the CIA."

"We still need to be careful. Our RWR can only evade enemy radar-guided weapons. Don't forget that Milton has some Stingers. I heard that someone recently discovered a 2K22 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun."

"Don't worry... Stinger missiles are fine for hitting helicopters, but they're starting to struggle against low-altitude, slow-moving aircraft like the Dragonfly, let alone supersonic aircraft like the Jaguar."

"..."

The three pilots chatted as they flew their plane across the "borderline" and into the area under Milton's control.

This place is not far from Quetzaltenango.

They gave each other a thumbs-up across the cockpit.

Boom boom boom...

At this moment, Zevin's left hand was on the throttle valve, and the altimeter needle was at an altitude of 12000 feet (about 3600 meters). According to the plan, in ten minutes, they would descend to prepare to lock onto the target using the laser pod.

The jaguar continued flying towards its target at a speed slightly exceeding Mach 1; it wouldn't be long before its aerial bombs destroyed it...

Suddenly, the static in the communicator was abruptly cut off by a frantic call!
"Jaguar 01, this is the joint command center. Emergency priority, repeat, emergency priority."

Zevin was taken aback, but his years of training and combat experience meant he didn't even think twice before replying immediately: "Jaguar 01 received. Command expects to arrive at the target area in ten minutes."

"Terminate the mission immediately." The voice on the other end didn't stop, and Zevin could even hear a hint of urgency in it. "The target area is a trap. SAD has discovered three F-5 fighter jets that have never appeared in intelligence before... You have been exposed. Return to base immediately."

Zevin's gaze unconsciously swept over the radar screen on the right side of the instrument panel—the green scan line of the DKD PLEAN navigation radar was still slowly rotating, and apart from a few blurry ground clutter dots in the distance, there was no trace of any aerial targets.

The terrain in this mountainous area is very complex. If the F-5 were to actually take off, it would need to fly at low altitudes to avoid being detected by radar.

Despite the high altitude of the flight, the terrain here is also high, reaching a full 2500 meters!
The jaguar was also flying at low altitude to avoid radar... but it was still detected?

How did the other side manage to detect us? Where did they get their F-5 fighter jets? Where did they get such highly skilled pilots?
Zevin had many doubts in his mind; the entire mission seemed to have suddenly become riddled with questions.

It wasn't that he didn't trust the joint command's judgment, but the Jaguar was an attack aircraft, not a fighter jet, and returning to base wasn't something that could be done just by talking!
Attack aircraft are inherently not very maneuverable and cannot make sharp turns directly in such complex terrain; they must first decelerate, then turn, and then accelerate...

During this process, the jaguar must continue flying forward.

The F-5 also arrived at supersonic speed. What if the enemy aircraft caught up with them just as they finished turning?
An F-5 can catch up with just one afterburner!

However, if we don't turn around and let a clumsy and heavy attack aircraft like the Jaguar face off against the F-5, it's also suicidal... The pilots on the other side are showing quite a high level of skill!
Either choice is extremely dangerous!
This is definitely a trap set by Milton!

After a three-second pause, Zevin replied, "This is Jaguar 01. We're too close to the enemy aircraft. Any overly aggressive maneuvers could have unforeseen and serious consequences. I think..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zewen was about to operate the control stick with his right hand when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a silvery light flashing through a gap in the clouds to his right rear—not a reflection of sunlight, but the unique feeling of a mirror reflection!
He turned his head sharply, and upon seeing that thing, his pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints!

An absurdly fast gray shuttle, trailing a faint grayish-white wisp of smoke at its tail, hurtled straight toward the fuselage!
Zevin had seen that streamlined projectile body and the faintly visible infrared seeker glass dome at the front of the warhead hundreds of times in the training simulator…

"Rattlesnake!!!"

Fuck!
This piece of junk Jaguar has been locked onto by the enemy fighter's fire control radar and still hasn't reacted!
This also demonstrates that the enemy pilots were very familiar with the jaguar...

Air-to-air missiles have extremely high terminal speeds. At visual range, heat decoys, chaff, and emergency maneuvers are unlikely to have any effect.
But Zevin was, after all, an elite pilot, and he still managed to do everything he could in that extremely short time.

Flare release, chaff release, emergency scramble... and a response to the joint command.

"I'm being locked onto by an enemy missile!"

"The battle has begun!"

"..."

Before the smoke had completely dissipated from Zevin's sight, the Sidewinder missile suddenly paused—not because it hit anything, but because its proximity fuse was triggered.

boom!
The Sidewinder missile exploded next to the Jaguar, which was pulling up heavily. A ball of orange-red light suddenly burst out of the porthole, and countless high-speed fragments rushed in. In Zevin's peripheral vision, the skin of the tail fin suddenly cracked open, and the fragments mixed with thick black smoke flew diagonally backward, and were swirled into a long black smoke by the airflow!

The malfunction indicator lights and warning lights on the dashboard all lit up almost simultaneously.

"ENG 1" and "ENG 2" (twin engines) entered slow mode almost simultaneously!
The engine's roar turned into a wheezing sound, and the aircraft, which was slowing down and turning, suddenly lost thrust and then lift... The entire Jaguar was about to stall in an instant.

The altimeter readings indicated a potential fall, and given that the jaguar was already flying at a low altitude, there was practically no time or space for rescue.

The radio is completely destroyed...

Zewen sighed deeply.

catapult!

Zevin pressed the safety button and then pulled the lever hard. With a muffled "bang," the canopy flew upwards, and the airflow rushed in. The extremely high G-force made his internal organs ache.

About two seconds later, the parachute opened.

Wow...

Zevin watched as his plane crashed into the woods, turning into a rolling ball of flames.

Just moments ago, he was chatting with his teammates about how to blow up Milton, but now he's all alone, hanging in the sky, pitiful and helpless.

No, I'm not all alone...

Because his Jaguar 01 wasn't the only unlucky one; his comrades' two other planes were also locked on by missiles, and of the remaining two Jaguars, only one escaped being hit.

A two-thirds hit rate... that's already very lucky. Zevin thought to himself, but his gaze fell on the Jaguar 03 that had been hit. The shrapnel seemed to have struck the fighter jet's fuel tank, spraying out aviation kerosene that ignited immediately upon contact with a spark. The left wing was snapped off by the immense force, and the aircraft spun out of control.

He did not see anyone ejected from the cockpit.

The plane's nose was pointed at the ground, and it crashed straight down.

The lucky Jaguar 02, without hesitation, dropped its precision-guided bombs into the nearest residential area, reducing its dead weight while also causing Milton trouble.

boom……

Jaguar 02 sped away, and an explosion was heard in a residential area in the distance. A small primary school collapsed and was reduced to ruins.

Zevin landed on the ground and, as he released his parachute, looked up at the sun—he needed to roughly determine his direction and then plan an escape route.

According to the Geneva Convention, the pilot is not an airborne soldier and is not allowed to fire on him.

Intelligence indicates that Milton must have killed pilots who were parachuting, but that was an unacknowledged secret mission, while this is an open operation between the two sides in the Civil War. The two situations are different, and Milton should not dare to kill indiscriminately when he is being watched by countless eyes.

But... he's the "Hell Tax Collector"! The two SAD agents who were released are still receiving treatment in a mental hospital!
Even if they are not killed, and no bruises from beatings can be found on their bodies, so what? Falling into the hands of the "Hell Tax Collector" means that death is not the worst outcome; he has too many ways to torment people.

Who the hell would dare gamble on Milton's non-existent character?
Not long after, three F-5 fighter jets flew over Zevin's head, relentlessly pursuing the Jaguar.

"call……"

"Hurry up and get going. Milton's search party shouldn't be here anytime soon."

Zevin rubbed his injured ankle, stood up, and started heading towards Guatemala City—the route was very simple: cross mountains and valleys, eat tree bark along the way, as long as he remained hidden.

The Pan Madre Group's army could cross this mountain range, and Zevin believed he could too.

"As long as I can go back..."

Da da da……

Suddenly, the sound of a propeller came from afar.

The helicopter's rotor blades were heading straight for Zevin!

"Damn it!" Zevin, who had already been intentionally moving away from the crash site, was shocked once again. "How is this possible? Shouldn't we have searched the area around the crash site first?!"

"Why did you find me so easily?"

"How could Milton have discovered me?!"

As Zevin had expected, the three UH-1 helicopters flew straight towards him. They didn't even bother with any pretense or procedures, and flew over his head at top speed. Several special forces soldiers wearing masks and heavy bulletproof vests rappelled down and pointed their guns at Zevin.

At that moment, Zevin even had the illusion that the person standing opposite him was Delta Force.

The rappelling skill, the quality of the equipment, the efficiency...

Without a word, the special forces soldiers pointed their crossfire at Zevin with crossfire that wouldn't harm each other, while another team stepped forward from an angle that wouldn't obstruct their fire. Without a word, they dislocated Zevin's arm and searched his entire body as quickly as possible.

"I am a pilot..."

However, no one paid him any attention. The soldiers simply put him in shackles and handcuffs and coldly reported, "Target captured... Yes, received."

Just then, a helicopter landed, but Zevin saw a large pile of torture instruments, medicines, and... a doctor?!

"Wait! I'm the pilot!!!"

Wow!

He was kicked up, and the helicopter door immediately closed.

"what!!!"

The sound of the propellers drowned out everything.

"..."

……

Quetzaltenango, Parliament Building.

The counterattack was already underway, and Milton, who had caught a fish, heard the report.

"'Godfather,' two Jaguars have crashed. One pilot was captured alive, and the other was killed. The last one is still fleeing and should be approaching the airspace over the Solora battlefield soon." The intelligence officer gave his usual real-time report. "The pilots are confident they can shoot down the target."

The Battle of Solora is still ongoing!

And the planes from both sides were about to enter the battlefield!
The intelligence officer paused for a moment, then said cautiously, "Well, Mr. 'Godfather,' there's some bad news. The enemy dropped an aerial bomb on a small town, which hit a school directly... It's the primary school you funded to build, and it seems to have caused more than a dozen casualties."

Milton ignored the intelligence report and asked calmly, "Has the interrogation of the first pilot begun?"

"It has begun... As you instructed, we will use the strongest methods immediately, including injecting him with 'truth serum' to force him to reveal the location of the joint command. However, as you know, this drug is not always effective, and the prisoner of war may fantasize about some non-existent information."

“Even with a 3% chance, you should seize it.” Milton shook his head. “Ask quickly.”

Milton doesn't need particularly precise intelligence; as long as there's the right clue, the intelligence module on the panel will sell the relevant accurate information!

"Yes... do you have any further instructions?"

"Instruct the F-5s not to return after completing their mission... The Su-25 attack aircraft squadron should catch up immediately and escort them," Milton ordered. "I will conduct an emergency interrogation and send them the detailed coordinates of the joint command."

They dare to bomb my school?!

Then let's just wait for the command post to be blown to rubble!
Intelligence officer You then warned, "Perhaps the enemy is preparing to withdraw?"

Milton thought for a moment, then glanced at the camera footage of the parliamentary session.

"It's alright, I'll try to grab their attention and see if I can keep them in front of the TV screen... The joint command must know about the Jaguar fleet crash now, so my sudden appearance and speech might distract them."

(End of this chapter)