The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Seventeen

Lt. Hua looked out at the vast expanse of steppes, then towards the mountain range ahead of them, with an expression of unabashed eagerness on his face. Lo just shook his head, knowing how foolish it was to anticipate what was going to be, honestly, a deadly take-no-prisoners firefight – but also knowing that trying to dampen his subordinate’s enthusiasm with the benefit of his experience would be pointless and impossible. He wasn’t looking forward to this – he hadn’t been in a real firefight since the War – but he felt confident that his men could handle whatever hired gunmen the suspect may have acquired.

The airbase had been accommodating, and provided two armored personnel vehicles and three light tactical assault vehicles. They used them infrequently as part of their perimeter security, which honestly hadn’t been activated to that level since that Minister had visited three years ago. But they had been very curious as to why he had needed such heavy firepower to apprehend a single suspect.

Lo was taking no chances. That’s what made him a good commander. He always tried to go into a fight with three times more resources than his opponent could possibly have. Overwhelming force was his favorite tactical doctrine.

He was just glad the man had chosen a spot outside of a densely populated urban area to skulk around. He didn’t relish the idea of having a firefight in a crowded street. Out in the middle of nowhere was perfect. It had the added advantage of leaving very little room for the suspect and his people to get away. You could see a fly on a yak’s ass out here from the air.

“Captain,” the driver of the car called. He was another local boy, a Manchu by the look of him. “Convoy just radioed and said they’ve reached the first waypoint.”

Lo nodded. “Good. Tell them to change heading and go to the second waypoint. There they should split off and prepare to approach from two directions.”

The Manchu boy nodded. The plan was simple. T