Ten minutes later, more than a hundred and fifty Ukrainian soldiers assembled, shouldering an assortment of rocket launchers.
There were heirloom RPGs, NATO-supplied AT4s and M72 LAWs, and even NLAWs.
Chen Ge's danger sense flared violently. His heart hammered in his chest, and every hair on his body stood on end.
He poked his head out to steal a glance. His jaw dropped in horror, and he bellowed at the top of his lungs, his voice cutting through the din:
"The Ukrainians are going to blow the building! Fall back into the air raid shelter! Move! Move! Move!"
Every man in the Falcon Hunting Team was seasoned elite. No one froze, and no one hesitated. They bolted for the bunker entrance at a dead sprint, scrambling and sliding toward safety.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—boom, boom, boom!*
The Ukrainian troops used their shoulder-fired launchers like a miniature rocket artillery barrage. A dense storm of rockets slammed into the structure, violently tearing apart all four exterior walls. The concrete support columns snapped one after another under the explosive onslaught. With a deep, groaning crack, the building began to collapse.
An AT4 rocket struck a pillar not far from the bunker entrance. Its eighty-four-millimeter high-explosive warhead detonated, and the violent shockwave hurled Lightbulb and Manhole Cover—the last two men in line—through the air, slamming them hard onto the ground.
Fortunately, their Level IV body armor plates held firm, deflecting the deadly shrapnel.
Yet the brutal concussion left them dizzy and disoriented, their ears ringing deafeningly. Agonizing, tearing pain tore through their internal organs, leaving them unable even to crawl.
Chen Ge, who had already crossed the threshold into the entrance, skidded to a halt. Glancing back, he surged right out without a second's hesitation, seized one man in each hand, and hauled them toward the entrance.
*Rumble!*
Floor slabs and pillars crashed downward. If Chen Ge had been a single second slower, all three of them would have been crushed to pulp.
"Big Bear, Rock! Catch them!" Chen Ge roared.
Channeling his strength with practiced precision, he hurled the two men down the flight of steps toward Big Bear and Rock, who were stationed in front of the bunker's blast doors. Chen Ge immediately dove after them, rolling down the stairs.
From the entrance down to the blast doors at the bottom of the staircase was a drop of ten full meters. If Big Bear and Rock tried to catch them with their bare hands, they would undoubtedly be injured.
Without hesitation, both men chose to turn around and cushion the impact with their backs, acting as human pads.
*Thud, thud!*
Lightbulb and Manhole Cover slammed into their backs, sending all four tumbling into a tangled heap.
Big Bear was built like a tank and fared better. Shaking it off, he rolled to his feet, grabbed one man with each arm, and dug deep into his reserves of strength to drag them down the corridor.
Rock had it much worse. He sucked in several sharp breaths through the searing pain, but driven by a fierce will to survive, he scrambled forward into the corridor on all fours.
Chen Ge tucked his limbs tight, rolling down the stairs in a tight ball with the cascading rubble and concrete slabs raining down right behind him.
Because he rolled so fast, he tumbled straight through the blast doors, barreling right up to Trench, who was standing around the corner. Chen Ge only stopped when he hit the concrete wall, sprawling flat on his back with his limbs splayed out, heaving huge, ragged breaths.
*Rumble!*
A torrential avalanche of bricks and concrete choked off half of the ten-meter-long corridor. A thick cloud of dust blasted inward, setting everyone coughing uncontrollably as they scrambled to cover their mouths and noses.
Chen Ge had held his breath early on. Once the worst of the dust settled, he sucked in several deep lungfuls of air, pushed himself up with one hand, and massaged his aching shoulders and knees. Tearing off his helmet, he flung it onto the floor, stripped off his tactical balaclava, ran a hand through his short hair, and looked over at Trench, flashing a grin that showed two rows of bright white teeth.
"Captain, got a smoke?"
Trench nudged Chen Ge lightly with his boot, unclasped his helmet, pulled down his face covering, and slumped down onto the corpse of a Ukrainian soldier beside Chen Ge.
The others unstrapped their helmets as well, slumping against the concrete walls of the corridor or sprawling on the floor—some even lying side by side with the Ukrainian dead. They pulled out cigarettes, lit them, and took deep, greedy drags.
A premium drag straight to the lungs!
After an hour of adrenaline-pumping, nerve-shredding combat followed by a brush with death where they were nearly buried alive, nothing felt sweeter than lighting a cigarette to take the edge off.
Rock crawled over, his face dead serious. "Sledgehammer, I'll pay you five thousand dollars if you teach me Chinese kung fu!"
Drill Bit raised a hand as well. "I'll give you six thousand! Just make sure you teach me properly!"
Ice Man wiped his face and chimed in, "Count me in too, Hammer Brother! I want to learn kung fu!"
Apart from Trench and Hailstone, every man present was eager to pay Chen Ge to learn kung fu.
They had no other choice. The terrifying combat prowess Chen Ge had displayed tonight had given them a direct, undeniable demonstration of just how formidable authentic Chinese kung fu could be once mastered.
Chen Ge had only trained rigorously for eight months to reach this level. Five thousand dollars for tuition was an absolute steal, worth every single penny.
"Let's hold off on kung fu lessons and figure out how we're getting out of here first!"
Feeling a bit guilty, Chen Ge changed the subject. He pointed toward the blocked corridor and turned his head to Trench.
"Any radio reception?"
Trench shook his head. "None. All we can do is pray that Ratibor takes the heights quickly and digs us out."
Chen Ge fell silent for several seconds, then tapped the side of his nose.
"The oxygen won't last. We have to save ourselves."
The color drained from their faces. Instinctively, everyone slowed their breathing, trying to conserve whatever air remained.
Hailstone flicked his cigarette ash and asked, "What do you have in mind?"
"The collapsed section of the tunnel lies outside the building footprint where the soil is relatively loose. Let's gather all our grenades and see if we can blast an opening through the dirt!"
It was a solid idea, and everyone immediately agreed.
Without delay, Thunder from the Demolition Team rounded up the two remaining combat engineers. They gathered every grenade they had, stripping spares off the Ukrainian corpses as well, and set about calculating the charges.
Yet the air raid shelter sat more than a dozen meters underground. Blasting a way out was far easier said than done.
As it turned out, it was impossible to breach.
After a grueling attempt, not only did the blast fail to punch through, but the flying rocks nearly took off Thunder's head, and several large cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling of the main chamber.
The men slumped in the chamber while Carrier Pigeon, who doubled as a medic for the communications team, bandaged and stemmed the bleeding for four wounded mercenaries.
The rest silently prayed for God's mercy, pinning all their hopes on Ratibor.
Chen Ge walked over to a corner to relieve himself. When he returned, he checked on Lightbulb and Manhole Cover, who remained unconscious.
The shockwave had concussed both men first, and then Chen Ge had hurled them down the stairwell. Even though Big Bear and Rock had broken their fall and spared them broken bones, the violent impact had knocked them cold.
Sitting nearby, Night Cat turned his head, looking utterly dejected. "Sledgehammer, do you think Ratibor assumes we're dead?"
Chen Ge's expression turned somber. The exact same thought had crossed his mind.
"Probably not..."
*Boom!*
A muffled explosion echoed from the collapsed section of the tunnel. Everyone's eyes lit up, and they scrambled to their feet, retreating into the corridor.
Above ground, dawn had already broken. The sun crested the horizon, casting a golden glow over the body-strewn Klishchiivka Heights.
Wagner had fully secured the heights. The smoke of gunpowder had not yet cleared, and the morning air hung heavy with the reek of blood and charred flesh. Ratibor personally ascended the high ground, standing before the collapsed school building. His sharp gaze fixed on the rubble, his thoughts drifting momentarily into a daze.
At this moment, his heart was undeniably gripped by shock and disbelief.
The Falcon Hunting Team had not only accomplished a seemingly impossible mission—they had exceeded all expectations.
When Trench had approached him yesterday evening to discuss tactics, Ratibor had thought disguising themselves to infiltrate the heights and blow up the Ukrainian ammo depot was pure fantasy, entirely unfeasible.
And the result? The Falcon Hunting Team had actually pulled it off. On top of that, they had held off hundreds of elite Ukrainian troops assaulting the building and successfully lased the targets to guide precision strikes by the aerospace forces.
Typhoon, deputy commander of the First Assault Detachment, walked over and reported, "Ratibor, we haven't found any bodies of the Falcon Hunting Team outside the building. According to multiple Ukrainian prisoners, the commander of the 93rd Brigade ordered rocket squads to collapse the building before retreating. Trench and his team are likely buried alive inside."
Chapter 21