Hearing this, Jason, the leader, decisively clenched his fist, signaling the entire team to stop:
"Received."
"All team members, stand by."
The members of Team B, who had been advancing, calmly knelt on one knee, their muzzles pointed in all directions, front, back, left, and right, maintaining vigilance. They stopped instantly, remaining still like rocks in the dark night.
Knox, at the rear of the team, slightly rotated the mp7 in his hand, pointing it towards the dimly lit side.
His gaze swept around, noting the directions Jason and Clay were guarding.
Faintly, human figures seemed to be moving in the distance.
The other party was making a racket, their voices not small, making them relatively easy to detect.
"Hurry! Get down!"
"Quick, go, go!"
However, as they yelled, they continued to walk forward, unaware of the Navy SEALs' presence.
Knox retracted his gaze, slowly pulling back the muzzle of his mp7.
At this moment, Jason, the leader's, command rang in his ear:
"All team members, continue the infiltration."
"They are inspecting along the main oil pipeline."
"We will also inspect along the main oil pipeline."
"Move."
The quietly crouching and vigilant team members rose again, their muzzles pointing around as they advanced.
After silently ascending the winding metal stairs, the team's speed increased significantly, as they rapidly advanced with quick, light steps, transforming from a single-file line to a parallel formation.
At this time, Knox followed at the rear of the team, holding his mp7 upwards.
In front of him, Clay and Jason's muzzles were pointed forward.
In just a moment, gunshots rang out:
"Clatter!"
"Clatter!"
Followed by two muffled groans, heavy objects fell to the ground, and bullet casings clinked as they landed.
The two thugs responsible for inspecting the main oil pipeline were taken down by Jason and Clay without even an extra shout.
After swiftly taking down the two, Jason and Clay continued forward with their guns, their footsteps never stopping.
The team followed closely; no one's muzzle changed its position due to their firing, including the free agent Knox.
Because Knox knew they would definitely take care of those two enemies.
As the team advanced, several people at the front passed the two bodies without stopping.
Knox, who was at the rear, turned his muzzle to cover the back, and his footsteps halted.
Behind him, Trent turned his HK416, picked up the akm dropped by the thug, and quickly removed the magazine, ejecting the bullet from the chamber.
A bullet jumped out in about a second, clinking as it landed.
This enemy weapon had undergone its final inspection.
While Trent was quickly inspecting the enemy's weapon, Jason and Clay continued forward without stopping.
Sonny and Brock followed closely behind.
And Trent, who completed the weapon inspection within a second, continued to advance, with Knox following closely behind him.
Except for Knox and Trent, no one even turned their head to look.
It could be said that everyone was performing their duties, seamlessly and fluidly, with smooth and steady movements.
The team walked forward along the main oil pipeline painted red, then Jason, the leader, stopped, while the others held their guns, guarding the surroundings.
Jason, the leader, looked at the bomb, which was secured to the red oil pipeline with black tape, and said:
"Alright."
"It's your turn, Expert, get to work."
Hearing this, Knox decisively put away his mp7.
He walked from the rear of the team to the front, standing before the football-sized semtex plastic explosive and examining it.
After carefully inspecting the semtex plastic explosive, Knox felt it was a bit tricky:
"Good news, the wires are not aligned."
Sonny, who was standing nearby on guard, couldn't help but complain when he heard Knox say this:
"I don't want to be involved in another Deepwater Horizon incident."
In 2010, an offshore drilling rig named Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, United States, experienced a blowout and explosion, leading to an oil spill that covered at least 2,500 square kilometers of seawater.
At that time, BP, the British oil company that leased Deepwater Horizon, eventually settled with the United States government for 20.8 billion US dollars.
This settlement amount indicates the seriousness of the situation.
Knox, as an Expert, calmly opened his bomb disposal kit, taking out a magnifying glass with a light source and a non-magnetic hook needle:
"They are smart; the bombs are not on a single fuse line."
"Like I said, I have to disarm them one by one, five minutes each."
"If you include the time to find the bombs, I estimate it will take 30 minutes."
Jason, the leader, looked steadily at Knox:
"30 minutes, it will be broad daylight by then."
But Knox, who was inspecting the semtex plastic explosive, calmly replied:
"Then..."
"You'd better hurry."
The time for bomb disposal was fixed, with little room for negotiation, and Knox had already begun his work.
However, not everyone in Team B could simply watch Knox disarm the bomb; they also had the mission of rescuing hostages.
Seeing Knox inspecting the bomb, Jason, the leader, activated his communicator:
"Operation Center, this is B1."
"Situation has changed, bomb disposal will take at least 30 minutes."
"We need to push back the extraction time."
Lisa Davis, the logistics officer, replied through Jason, the leader's, main communication channel:
"Operation Center received, B1."
"However, in 20 minutes, the aerial reconnaissance and surveillance equipment will be ineffective."
"You will have no overwatch in the sunlight."
Jason, the leader, indicated with a stern face:
"Received."
After quickly reporting the operational nodes, Jason, the leader, decisively made arrangements:
"We don't want a gunfight; we need to use our brains."
"Trent, you and I will go to the control room."
"Clay, Sonny, Brock, you handle the hostages."
After making the arrangements, Jason looked at Knox again:
"Can you do it alone?"
In fact, bomb disposal Experts in the United States Navy Special Forces are usually equipped with armed security teams.
Especially for high explosives like semtex plastic explosive, at least a two-person core bomb disposal team and an 8-person fire team are required for coordination.
After all, when an EOD is focused on bomb disposal, his 360 degrees are open.
Jason, the leader, could not have been unaware of this.
As long as Knox requested security, he would leave one person to look after Knox.
But Knox, who was inspecting the wiring with a non-magnetic hook needle, said calmly:
"I'm better at fighting alone, Sir."
Jason, the leader, raised an eyebrow at this confident remark, but still motioned to Clay:
"Poster boy, up."
"You cover him, understood?"
Clay nodded at this:
"Understood."
After arranging the personnel responsible for covering Knox, Jason gestured left and right:
"Move."
So everyone left Knox without hesitation.
Two by two, the teams dispersed, with Clay moving to an elevated position above Knox.
As a precision shooter, he would overwatch from above, responsible for covering Knox while he disarmed the bomb.
Knox had no particular attitude about Jason leaving one person to cover him.
Perhaps Jason didn't trust him, or perhaps he was looking out for him; none of that mattered.
He simply put away his non-magnetic hook claw, took out non-magnetic diagonal cutters, and began to disarm the circuit.
As Knox quietly disarmed the bomb, he could vaguely hear the clatter of gunshots and the muffled thud of bodies falling to the ground.
That sound indicated that Jason and the others had engaged.
However, these matters had no bearing on Knox now.
His current task was to deal with the bomb in front of him, as well as the other bombs on the main oil pipeline.
And Clay, standing at a high vantage point, held his long-barreled HK416, quietly watching Knox disarm the bomb, as if the killings had nothing to do with him either.
In the dark and cold hours,
Daybreak at sea always comes so quickly and so early.
In the distance, half an orange-red sunrise slowly climbed up.
The day was breaking.
...
Inside the complex environment of the oil platform,
Brock had one hand on Sonny's shoulder, and the two rapidly advanced one after the other.
After exiting a passage, the two advancing men turned one muzzle to the left and the other to the right.
Then, without hesitation, they both turned to the right, opened a door, and entered.
At this moment, a thug in the room noticed someone had entered, stood up, and looked at them.
In that instant, gunshots rang out.
"Clatter!"
"Ugh!"
The shot thug fell with a muffled groan, and the akm in his hand lost control, letting out a loud bang.
Sonny's face darkened, and he quickly walked forward, kicking away the akm on the ground and cursing:
"Damn it."
The sound of that akm echoed across the oil platform.
This made Knox, who was disarming the bomb, raise an eyebrow slightly.
The infiltration had been compromised.
He silently reached down and moved the mp7 hanging at his waist to his strong-hand side.