214 Ambrosia Cartel: Part 21

It was not the blue screens of the control room that made him opened his mouth widely. It was not the fact that the site had its onboard AI. No, it was the fact that there was a face. The face of someone that should not be there. The face of a certain person. A certain person that might spark another flame.

"Bloody hell…" Patrick aimed his MP7 at the computer screen that showed the face.

That face was the face of a certain person that Patrick knew. It was the face of an old acquaintance of Lynn. It was the face of Farl. Yes, it was the same Farl that staged everything from A to Z when Lynn was on her stage of an unstoppable rampage. Patrick searched for the nearest computer and he plugged the flash disk into one of the computers.

Patrick: "Charlie Papa, Herring, do you copy?"

Herring: "Loud and clear. Do you have anything to report in particular?"

Patrick: "A lot of things. The base has been occupied by the Ambrosia cartel and full of hostiles. The main entrance of this base hasn't been found yet. However, there is someone inside of this base. The ICBM seems to be in working order. Is there any way to send US troops here?"

Herring: "Sorry, but sending US troops to Panama is as equal as exposing the existence of the base to the outer world. I'd rather use the HSDC and its resources if I were you. We can't go barging into a place that used to be a secret ICBM facility."

Patrick: "Unofficial invasion of Panama?"

Herring: "Yes."

As Patrick called Herring on the radio, the face that was on the big screen inside of that ICBM base started opening his mouth. He didn't recognize Patrick, but Patrick was sure that there was no other reason for that face to appear besides warning the other occupants of that base. Patrick was one hundred percent about that.

"Hmm, so the Americans decide to send a pest to my kingdom. Bold of them to assume that I didn't prepare for such threats." four machine gun turrets appeared on each corner of that room. All of them were shot at Patrick. Patrick dived down into nearby tables to look for cover. The loud noise from the machine gun turrets would probably warn the whole base. Patrick switched to his HK417 that was carried in his backpack all along.

Patrick loaded the under-barrel grenade launcher with a 40mm grenade and he shot it at the turret that was located in the bottom left corner of that room. The bullets that were fired at him was still unknown at this point. He needed to see the bullet holes or see whether the bullet penetrated his skin or not.

Patrick grabbed a yellow pen injection and injected it into his hand. It was one of the combat injections that one would use if the contractors were injured. However, it was also a combat injection that would enhance perception, in Patrick's case, it would increase the duration of [Focus].

"You pesky pest. Where the hell are you and who the hell are you?" Farl screamed and his voice was echoing across the entire room. Patrick put another 40mm grenade inside of his grenade launcher and he shot it into the door of that room. He threw another grenade into that room afterward.

Patrick: "Charlie Papa. Code RED. I have been exposed. Herring. Can you do me a favor and find me another exit. Even blowing up the silo wouldn't be a big deal."

Herring: "Are you intending to escape through the door of the missile silo. Well, Alex has said that he had gained access to the mainframe. However, there was no way to open the door of the silo without launching the missiles. In short, you're on your own."

Patrick: "Very helpful. Thanks."

Patrick charged through the door of that control room and encountered many cartel members in the hallway that led to the elevator. There might be six of them and all of them were armored with a vest. It would require a headshot to kill them since their armor would protect them from 7.62x51mm bullets.

[FOCUS]

Patrick slowed down his perception of time and he aimed his rifle at the head of those cartel members. Patrick pulled the trigger of his HK417 and shot it at the cartel members. He reloaded the magazine of his HK417. He threw the empty magazine away and he heard a ping from the elevator.

"DIE FROGMAN!" one of the cartel members said. 

There was no doubt that Patrick was looking like a frogman since he was one. He threw a grenade into the elevator and it exploded. It killed all of the cartel members. Patrick ran into the elevator and rushed by pressing the B2 floor multiple times.

There was a huge chance that there would be even more people on the maintenance area of the ICBM base, but his main focus, for now, was to get out of there without anyone following him from behind. He checked his body armor and noticed that some bullets had hit him in the trauma plates. Luckily, it didn't penetrate his body armor.

Patrick put another round of 40mm grenade inside of the under-barrel grenade launcher. He contacted the Panama base. He needed some extra supports in getting out of the Panama canal since going out of the canal without any support would be something disadvantageous. However, he seemed to forget something important, but he couldn't remember what it was.

He pressed his radio, but it seemed to be jammed. That fucker jammed his radio so he couldn't contact anyone outside of the ICBM base. Patrick felt that getting out through the way that he entered was the best idea he could have for now.

The elevator door opened and two cartel members were waiting with their AK-74 in front of the elevator door on the B2 floor. Both of them pulled the trigger of their assault rifles and sprayed Patrick full of bullets. Patrick countered it with his focus ability and shot both of them precisely in the head. However, the damage couldn't be undone, there was another dent on his ballistic vest. He hoped that the SCUBA gear didn't break due to the gunfire since it was the only way for him to get out of there.

Patrick put the mode of his weapon to full-auto and replaced the 20-round magazine with a 60-round drum magazine that HSDC issued.

Patrick intended to shoot the oppositions without any hassle in pulling the trigger several times in a row. However, he also worried that the 60 round magazine wasn't enough to treat the HK417 as an LMG. Still, a full-auto fire was better than the semi-automatic fire and it was more than enough to suppress those untrained cartel members that were shooting against Patrick.

The maintenance room was awfully empty for some room that housed the reactor for the main base. It might be because they hadn't realized that their cooling tunnel wasn't one of the main points of entry for any potential infiltrator. Patrick ran and threw a landmine that would trigger if someone entered the trigger radius of that said landmine.

Patrick opened the door that led to the cooling tunnel. He closed the door and barricaded it with the lockers inside the room. He opened the hatch that was located on top of the colling tunnel. He entered the cooling tunnel through that hatch and closed it. He swam back to the surface with his SCUBA gear that was still intact.

Patrick swam through that warm water into the deep Panama canal again. His heart beat slower as he got out of the grate that was cut using his cutter. He wasn't sure whether someone would follow him or not, but he was glad enough that nobody killed him and he could finish the objectives without any difficulty that required him to bring backups from the HSDC.

Herring: "Patrick, are you there? I'm worried about you."

Patrick: "I'm here. You can relax."

Herring: "Almost thought they got you. You lost contact with us for a total of five minutes. I almost thought they managed to capture you or worse. Damn, contractors are tough aren't they?"

Patrick: "You bet it. Nice to hear from you again Herring."

Patrick swam away from that grate while maintaining the depth of his diving. He just had to get out of the canal and the mission would be completed. He just needed to check on the data once he arrived at the Panama base. Lynn might question where he had been.