Chapter 206: Back Tracking.
Leo geared up in a black tactical attire, he was wearing a heavy duty kevlar, a combat knife tightened to his right thigh, a pistol holstered on the right side of his ribs, right where the liver was located, this position allowed him to pull the weapon out faster and shoot quickly. He was carrying eight magazines of assault rifle rounds on his person, all filled to the brim.
Then he checked the assault rifle and the scopes attached to them before tweaking them to his optimal requirement. Kyle and Markus were also ready and they were surprised to see that Leo had such a good grip on his actions. He even did a flash assembly for his handgun and all the people that Markus had called over were stunned by this.
Some of the people belonged to a special unit of CIB, the Stag Nation intelligence agency that was also looking to track Anton Greeves. Markus finished all the checks and said. "Sir, shall we go?"
Leo nodded and then he boarded one of the vehicle with his face covered with a black face mask. He closed his eyes, shortly after the cars began to drive. After a couple of hours, they reached the border of the Barren Sea, the place which was akin to an ocean of sand and dry land.
At the entrance of the Barren Sea, Markus let his team mate handle everything, from bribing to negotiations, and after waiting for a few minutes, they entered the place. Markus was riding in the back with Leo and he said while looking at a digital map, "This is the place where Anton has an enemy, Gustav Rev. His force and pull in the region is the same as Anton. They were not willing to help us earlier but when I told him it is not about business but only personal, then only did he agree."
Leo snorted and said, "Let me guess, they want to cut the pie among themselves after we have dealt with Anton for them? These war mongers are the same everywhere."
Markus smiled bitterly as they continued to move deeper in the territory. Leo ate some dry rations and then he called back home on a satellite link to check on Lily. He wanted to find if she has come back from school, and turned out since he was not home, Marian Grisha had taken the little girl out for shopping.
Leo sighed and talked to Lily on Grisha's phone, and the little goblin said, "Baba, shopping with women is so boring."
Leo chuckled as he imagined Marian's face twist, and said, "It is fine Baby, aunty Marian is taking you out for fun. How about you tell her what you want and then see if she would let you do it. However, don't be naughty or mean."
Lily nodded and asked, "Baba, did you eat anything?"
Leo looked at the packet of dry ration and he felt warm in his heart. He replied in a soft voice, "Yes, my love, I did. You should also eat a good meal. Okay?"
Lily hummed and asked him how he was multiple times, and Leo answered without being impatient or irritated. His daughter was his little padded jacket and he loved it when she cared for him. Leo also cared for her, and they talked for over twenty minutes, both of them nagging each other with soft tones to be careful and to do things right and not stress much.
The call finished and the sunny vibe in the cabin vanished. The two men sitting in the front were shocked by the sudden change. Leo said, "We are being followed."
Markus was surprised, and then he looked through the tinted windows, and located a couple of bikes slowly trailing their flanks parallelly. Leo was watching them for the past five minutes, and he was holding back his rage.
Markus picked up the walkie talkie and said, "Saunder, what the fuck is going on with these bikers?"
The man in the first vehicle said, "Boss, it is an escort."
Leo took the walkie from Saunder and said, "Ask Gustav Rev directly if he wishes for our plan to foil and for Anton to find out we are coming in advance. Does these bastards smoke their own weed daily to not understand what it means to be silent and secret? Their bikes are louder than atom bombs. Lousy fuckers."
His retort left Saunder speechless, and he directly called his contact to call off the bike escort. It didn't take very long, and the bikes pulled back. They crossed the territory, and they moved through a long patch of barren road.
Leo frowned, and he said, "Give me the laptop."
Markus handed him a tablet and said, "Sir, we only have this."
Leo waved his hand and began to use his coding skills to get the satellite navigation images from various data libraries. Markus asked, "Sir, what do you need?"
Leo sighed and replied, "It will consume too much time to go through the various territories, and exposes us to unnecessary risks. I am sure that these guys have their own secret paths to conduct their business, so I want to find out how they are doing it."
He collected various topographical maps from various dates and then super imposed them on each other after highlighting the routes in the wild. He said, "These routes are uncharted in the official satellite navigation. This particular one tracks back to where you said Anton's territory is located."
Markus checked the data and it made sense. He asked, "Then what should we do, Sir? Take this route?"
Leo nodded and said, "Yes, we are taking this route. Have them all stop the cars, we will take the lead. Also, Bosco, get out of the seat, I am driving."
Bosco was surprised, but he agreed, then the people quickly shifted seats, and Leo began to drive. He didn't spare the suspension and directly took the vehicle on the rough off-road patch. The people were all surprised to see how Leo led them onto a proper path left in the barren sea.
The drive began and now everyone was alert, because they were tracking the enemy and anything could pop up in front of them.