Surveillance is the most tedious thing in the world.
At two in the morning, Song Heping took over the Hunter's shift on the fifth floor.
Seeing Song Heping come upstairs, the Hunter stood up cheerfully from his chair, stretched, and said, "Hassan really knows how to have a good time."
Today was the first day of surveilling Hassan's villa, and they had to find out the comings and goings of people inside and outside the villa over several days of continuous surveillance, including the night-time security shift changes and the entry and exit of personnel.
Song Heping asked, "What's going on with him?"
"The old lecher really knows how to enjoy himself; he called a bunch of women over at 10:30 pm, and they're still out there having a swimsuit party. Look for yourself!"
As he spoke, he pointed in the direction of Hassan's villa.
Song Heping sat down in the chair, leaned in toward the observation scope, and looked over.
Sure enough, the lights were still bright in the backyard of Hassan's villa, where numerous swimsuit-clad beauties frolicked in the water, and some men and women of unknown identity sat by the poolside lounge chairs, flirting and drinking.
Song Heping gently moved the scope to survey the whole villa.
The security at the entrance remained tight.
One person on each side of the main entrance.
Two people near the parking area just inside the gate.
Two more at the building entrance.
From the second-floor windows of the building, one could occasionally see armed bodyguards on patrol.
On the rooftop, there was even a lookout post.
Around the pool in the backyard, one to two bodyguards stood guard in four separate directions.
"Very professional..."
Song Heping sighed.
He shifted the scope back toward the main entrance again.
What surprised him was that the police car by the fountain across from the gate was still there.
Are the police in this country so dedicated?
A massive question mark popped into his mind.
"Boss, those bodyguards over there are no ragtag bunch," said the Hunter, who had also noticed.
"Looks like they're from our line of work."
"Mercenaries?" Song Heping seemed to have found the answer.
"To carry out armed security so openly, at least they are from a private security company licensed here in this country, that's the lowest level. As for these people, you can tell at a glance they are ex-professional soldiers, it's just not clear what their background is," said the Hunter.
After pondering for a moment, Song Heping finally said, "I'm not worried about dealing with those bodyguards; the headache for me is the cops at the door. The bodyguards, there are at most fifteen or twenty; we could overpower them with our tacit cooperation and kidnap the target. The problem is the cops, they are the real trouble."
"Killing a few bodyguards and killing a few legitimate cops of this country are not problems on the same level. Once a cop gets killed, the whole city's police force will mobilize, and then what we have to deal with won't be as easy as just fifteen or twenty people."
The Hunter walked over to the window and glanced in the direction of Hassan's villa, saying, "If it were an assassination mission, it would be much simpler. Just one shot could take him out, and then we could get away clean."
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener intentional.
The Hunter's words suddenly sparked a flash of insight in Song Heping's mind.
Why isn't Hassan afraid of being assassinated?
The Persians want to capture him, and he himself was a former high-ranking official of Illiguo's previous government, closely associated with Sadam. The Americans would definitely be after him too.
If he were guilty, one would think he wouldn't dare to show himself so blatantly.
He leaned in again toward the observation scope, and this time he saw Hassan himself.
There he was, lying on a lounge chair by the pool, with one beauty on each side massaging his legs, his huge belly round and bulging like a little hill, and another beauty behind him massaging his shoulders.
The very picture of imperial indulgence.
The distance from here to the pool wouldn't exceed 250 meters.
Even an SVD sniper rifle could easily take his life with ease.
So why wasn't he afraid?
Now that was interesting.
A man who is on the run and not afraid to die implies he knows others don't want to kill him—they only want to capture him alive.
That's why he hired so many elite bodyguards to beef up security.
Why can't he be killed?
"You go and get some rest; I've got it from here," said Song Heping, seeing that the Hunter's eyes were bloodshot, suggesting he needed a break.
"Boss, be sure to keep an eye out, I'm going to rest," said the Hunter.
"Okay," replied Song Heping.
After the Hunter left, Song Heping sat in his chair and watched Hassan for a long time.
Then he looked at the time. It was 2:40 am.
The man still hadn't gone to sleep.
Truly living it up all night long.
Was it because he knew his days were numbered, so he decided to enjoy life to the fullest?
Suddenly, he noticed something unusual at the main entrance.
A policeman got out of the patrol car, walked up to the gate, greeted someone inside, and then the gate opened, and the policeman ran inside.
Quite a while later, he saw the policeman come back out, waving thanks to the two guards before exiting.
Looks like they were quite familiar with each other...
The next morning at breakfast, Song Heping checked all the surveillance logs that had been recorded since last night.
"When do you guys plan to make a move?" asked Oma.
Without looking up and continuing to eat, Song Heping replied indifferently, "No rush, we'll observe a little longer."
Oma seemed a bit anxious, "Time waits for no one. There's been talk that CIA operatives have also entered the country; they're after Hassan as well."
Song Heping suddenly remembered the question that had come to him last night.
The one about why Hassan isn't afraid of being assassinated.
So he ventured to ask, "Why doesn't the CIA arrest Hassan through official channels instead of sending operatives here?"
It was a question that hit the nail on the head.
Oma was left speechless.
Only after a good while did he try to sound calm and say, "Maybe they find the procedure too troublesome..."