CHAPTER 327: CAMPING.

Three Suvs were parked at the foot of the mountain and the people covered them all with winter camouflage. Leo nodded as the team quickly took care to conceal their tracks. Then he helped them all with setting up the tents and then set up a quick fire.

Markus replied, "Sir, the team is heading into the caves."

Leo nodded and turned to look at three people before he said, "Keep everything as silent as possible. Use the tranqs to handle any Snow Lions you spot."

Red Sparrow was one of the people in the trio and she nodded quickly before they all headed off to scout the situation inside the caves. They used two tranq guns on each person because they had no idea how many snow lions would attack them at the same time.

After the team vanished inside the cave opening, Leo and the rest gathered inside a tent and the only source of light they had was a simple tablet that was used to monitor the situation inside the caves.

Trip said, "Sir, this is not looking like a big trouble."

Leo shook his head and replied, "It is too soon to say anything."

The people sat down silently and they watched everything unfold silently. Markus said, "Sir, the information about the team Matilda has gathered is out."

Leo nodded and turned to look at another tab and said, "They are all highly awarded soldiers from the Stag Special Forces."

He passed the tab around and said, "The first task is to take out the snipers they have. In the coming days, scout the location and then find the most obvious spots where you can find a sniper."

Trip was a sniper and he asked, "Why mark the obvious spots, Sir?"

Leo replied, "They have no idea that we know who they are, they might try to hide in plain sight. So, never underestimate the enemy, and scout everything properly."

The people nodded, they understood that Leo was just covering all the bases. Leo continued, "In combat, the biggest factor is to mitigate the risk. With all the preparation that we are doing, we are only preparing ourselves for the risk that is on the way. The enemy has gathered earlier than us, but they are still sitting on eggs. This will give us the time to handle the situation. We can even set traps and ambush them.

The motive of this confrontation is to crush Matilda Luger, and do it in a manner that they she dies in despair. Don’t give her a fighting chance and dominate it from the start. I want you to hunt her. Use those fake bullets to inflict damage upon her."

The people sensed a chill creep up their spines, and then he said, "She dared to have designs on my daughter and wife. She deserves to die in a manner that will serve as a testament for the times to come. None shall look at my family with malice in their hearts."

His rage was visible, the people were also effected by this. Suddenly, his phone buzzed and his cold face vanished. He turned on a small emergency lamp and picked up the call. The person on the other side was none other than Lily. Leo smiled and asked, "Why is my darling still sleepy?"

Lily yawned and said, "Baba, I want eggs."

Leo sighed, he said, "I will make you eggs when I come back, I will make you everything that you want when I come back, okay?"

Lily nodded and then she asked, "Where are you? It is so dark."

Leo replied gently, "I am in the tent with the friends from the team. We are setting up a scout camp."

Lily then went on to ask him various questions about the technical terminology. Leo gestured for Markus to handle the monitoring and he himself paid more attention to Lily and explaining everything to her with a smile on his face. Then he went outside the tent and then showed her the sky filled with stars.

Lily mused about it, and Leo told her about which star was called what. The call lasted for a couple of hours. Lily was on a vacation but too much screen time was prohibited for her. She used all her allowed screen time to talk to Leo.

When he came back, the people in the room had decided to close their eyes and get some rest while Markus was taking the first watch. When Leo came back Markus informed him that the scout team was attacked by two Snow Lions.

Leo asked, "Are they okay?"

Markus nodded, "Yes, they are fine."

Markus then said, "We have managed to form the three dimensional map using the scanners."

He clicked a few buttons on the laptop and said, "There are many small ducts that are connected around and using small drones it can be determined that we do need to head to follow this one."

Leo and Markus then observed the situation and they sat down inside the tent as they watched everything unfold. Then after two hours they were relieved by another batch.

Just like that the sun had risen and everyone woke up. Markus said, "Sir, Luger team is making a move."

Leo nodded, and said, "Get the people to move the Snow Lions out of the cave and we will move inside and follow the track taken by the scouts."

Markus asked, "Wouldn’t that be too quick?"

Leo shook his head and replied, "No, it won’t be. We will reach the top before them as they will be trekking with Matilda Luger in tow. The weather forecast predicted a snow storm in the noon. They will have to take a stop."

Markus nodded and then relayed the instructions. Then the hands joined and they all finished the tasks quickly, cleaned up the place and moved inside the cave, after the Snow Lions were moved outside. These guys could stay and preserve in the cold so, staying out of the cave for a day wouldn’t be a big deal.

The team moved quickly inside the dark and cold cave with their tranq guns ready. Leo moved the quickest and shocked the people once more time. It wasn’t that they couldn’t move fast, but Leo was carrying three times the load on his body. They had decided to share the pack but now, Leo was taking the lead and he even turned back to Markus and told him to not worry as he moved ahead.

...

In the evening, Leo led the trio to the top. They had been moving without taking a break and when Leo joined them, the speed only increased. The trio got to realize that they were not a match for his skills, however, he was very patient with them.

It was night when the rest of the team also caught up for them. They didn’t find any Snow Lion in the upper reaches of the vents. They had to make some grooves with their hammers to climb the walls but they managed with ease.

Markus and Leo were now standing on a spot where the exit was located. Markus said, "Sir, this is only as wide as one person, how would we go out?"

Leo said, "We can widen it to one man and one pack. I will take the lead, you all will follow the rope. The summit is only thirty meters above this point."

Markus wanted to say something when he saw Leo grab a mountaineer’s hammer and hit the wall around the opening. Although it was an opening, but the walls were wide enough. Leo wasn’t going to use all his time here to hammer away on the hard stone.

After making indents in seven various spots. He took out some bullets and extracted the gun powder from them. Then made a small charge and used some fuse wire before lighting it up.

Markus had brought everything, from plastic explosive to mines. Although the quantity was small, and Leo had told him to avoid them, he couldn’t help but get these things.

The fuses produced strong heat, and being concentrated on one spot, they had achieved what Leo wanted to, then after one hour the gap had been widened as the young man chipped away the rock using the hammer and multiple charges.

Then he climbed out of the opening. He didn’t have the skill of a rock climber, but his strength was higher than the rest and he was using that to his advantage as he moved through the opening and climbed the wall to reach the summit with nothing but his raw strength.

...

In the middle of the night, Markus and the rest of the people were using night binoculars to inspects the slops and the ridges very sneakily to locate any sign of Matilda’s team.

Suddenly, Red Sparrow said, "Boss, I have them."

Markus moved over quickly and looking down with his night vision binoculars, he found a small tent set up under the cover of the snow. He frowned and said, "This is too small for a ten man team. Where are the rest?"