The Wolf of Los Angeles

Chapter 438 - 438: Finding Someone Using Core Algorithms

[Chapter 438: Finding Someone Using Core Algorithms]

At the South Sudan ceasefire line near the Ethiopian border, a Pakistani peacekeeping unit was stationed. Although it was only a company, the mission was significant, and the military commander here was a major with high status.

After breakfast, Major Azhar asked the orderly to bring out the luggage, personally carrying two suitcases, preparing to head to Talodi to catch a flight home. He had completed all handovers with the newly assigned officers.

This peacekeeping mission had ended with great gains. Beyond his expected promotion upon return, the two suitcases in his possession were filled with US dollars.

Thinking about those black fools in South Sudan, Major Azhar couldn't help but smirk and told the orderly, "Nearly a hundred armed soldiers were broken by just a dozen private security guards, and all survivors were captured. What a bunch of idiots."

The orderly agreed, "Yes, they're all idiots."

...

Suddenly, the convoy leader ran over from afar. Azhar frowned and asked, "Where are the vehicles?"

The leader saluted sharply, reporting, "Sir, two vehicles malfunctioned and won't start; the other three are undergoing necessary maintenance and cleaning."

"What happened?" Azhar was displeased and hurried toward the parking area.

Upon arrival, he saw several mechanics crouched by the exhaust pipe of a military jeep, cleaning it. Azhar immediately understood -- it had to do with the reckless soldiers.

Angrily, he said, "Didn't I tell someone to catch a few baboons?"

The leader whispered, "Too often. Two died from mistreatment, and one starved itself."

Sighing, Azhar decided not to argue; after all, they were leaving soon. In this unfamiliar land with no entertainment on the barren plains, no animals left, maintaining troop morale was tough. They couldn't let them turn on each other.

The mechanics cleaned the exhaust pipes of the three usable vehicles, started them, and drove a test loop inside the camp -- everything was fine.

Azhar got in, but now only three vehicles escorted him instead of four. The other two were in need of major repairs due to exhaust blockage.

Packed with soldiers, the three jeeps escorted Major Azhar toward the nearest city, Talodi.

...

About forty kilometers away, under a tall baobab tree, a black man picked baobab fruits, tossing them to another. Occasionally, he scanned the lone road leading to Talodi.

Spotting the three vehicles from the Pakistani camp, he took out binoculars, confirming the blue UN markings and Pakistani peacekeeping insignia.

He put away the binoculars, grabbed a satellite phone, and called, "Baobab Tree to Lion Pack, Baobab Tree to Lion Pack."

The reply came, "Lion Pack received; report please."

"We spotted the Hyena group heading as planned -- three in total!"

"Copy that!" The call ended.

The man stayed a moment longer to confirm no other vehicles approached, gathered his gear, climbed down the tree using a rope ladder, and quickly left with his companions.

...

Over forty kilometers away, a shrub-covered soil mound hid several Toyota pickups. These pickups were highly common in Africa and favored by militant groups -- welding gun mounts on them turned them into moving heavy machine gun platforms.

Bosque stepped off a vehicle and picked up an RPG, looking at his dozen men, saying, "The target has set off, just passed the observation post, only three vehicles."

Andrei, lying behind the bushes on the mound, raised binoculars toward the road over 100 meters away, commenting, "Expected five vehicles; only three arrived."

They had ten RPGs ready, planning two per vehicle. With the updated situation, Bosque ordered, "Teams 1, 2, 3 attack the first three vehicles respectively; teams 4, 5, 6 cover the re-attacks; the remaining four stay as reserve ready to assist as situation demands."

Four others stood guard with weapons spread out, while a sniper team selected another firing position apart from the mound.

Since Costa Rican reinforcements arrived, Bosque's team was well-staffed and could act boldly.

...

After a while, the spotter reported, "Vehicles are coming."

Andrei focused his binoculars eastward, confirming the blue UN and Pakistani insignia.

"Target confirmed," he said.

"Prepare to fire!" Bosque commanded.

The shooters scattered across the mound readied themselves.

...

Three jeeps roared in from the east. With engine noise growing louder, they neared the mound.

Bosque ordered over radio, "Open fire!"

Inside the middle vehicle, Azhar's foot constantly touched the black suitcase, which gave him an unusual sense of reassurance. This African journey had yielded great rewards.

Suddenly, a sense of unease hit him. Instinctively, he turned south, sensing something flying his way.

This was Azhar's last awareness.

The first rocket directly struck the middle jeep. It exploded violently, debris flying everywhere.

Before the other two vehicles could react, two more rockets hit: one struck the second vehicle's cabin, causing a fiery blast that destroyed it instantly.

No one exited the vehicles; only fragments pelted the ground with crackling noises. One burning vehicle shed no screams or calls for help.

...

Andrei and his men quickly approached and confirmed the major's insignia on the destroyed vehicle, concluding, "Confirmed: target is dead."

Bosque ordered, "Retreat."

The group returned to the hiding spot, boarded the pickups, traveling west first, then turning south at a junction.

The map was vast and sparsely populated -- endless wilderness.

...

Reaching a barren gravel area, the team burned all vehicles after disembarking, then switched to guarded transport, quickly fleeing South Sudan back to Ethiopia.

Having completed the first target, Bosque's eyes were set on the next two.

The only Arab from Hurricane Company had already been sent north to Sudan, and Amin's side was spending money on gathering intelligence.

---

Los Angeles, Coastal Building.

Edward hung up the phone and hurried into the elevator, telling Hawke, "Bosque just messaged that they ambushed Major Azhar's convoy from the Pakistani peacekeeping camp. All three SUVs were destroyed, 12 people including Azhar were killed with no survivors."

The elevator doors opened; Hawke stepped in first. After Edward joined, Hawke said, "Tell them good job. Proceed with other actions based on their intel."

...

They arrived on the 16th floor and entered the office where assistant Lukat had placed some urgent documents on Hawke's desk.

After finishing paperwork, Hawke was joined by Edward and Campos.

Once Edward closed the office door, Campos reported on the disc incident: "We broadened the search in New York and confirmed the suspect entered Manhattan but vanished there."

Manhattan was a small, crowded place with chaotic, older areas like Greenwich Village.

Hawke asked, "Any leads?"

"No new leads," Campos said, showing a photo of the mailing person given by a former McDonald's employee. "I suspect the suspect used disguise, so the visible appearance differs from reality."

After some hesitation, he added, "I suspect the claimed West Coast California accent may be false."

Hawke recalled how he had previously used an East Coast accent to mislead others.

Perhaps the suspect was from the East Coast? New York?

This increased the possibility of the involvement of Hillary.

Based on his past knowledge, Hawke knew of a secret connection between Hillary and the Satanic cult, unknown to most.

What was Hillary's purpose? To drag him down? Or to suppress the cult with his help, ultimately aligning the cult with her?

Hawke could only guess.

Another theory was someone knew the Hillary-Satanic cult link and also knew Erica had once investigated cult-related cases in the detective bureau. Due to pressure from these cases, she left the bureau and transferred to special operations.

With media and LAPD publicity portraying Erica as a tough female detective, her opponents might wrongly believe she's actively working to confront the cult through the Ferguson family and Twitter's influence.

Hawke picked up the phone and called the operations director, "Come to my office."

...

Minutes later, footsteps in high heels clicked rapidly -- Caroline Jones, his number one sheep, entered.

She greeted Edward and Campos, then sat down, asking Hawke, "Boss, is there anything I can do for you?"

Finding real people tough to locate, Hawke decided to focus on the net: "Remember the backend algorithm had updates?"

Caroline said, "Mainly thanks to Congress funding. We need some results to get the second batch. Actually, it's mostly bluff -- we won't show them the core tech."

Hawke told Campos, "Send the suspect's photo to Caroline."

Campos did so.

Caroline opened it and found a middle-aged white man looking much more ordinary than Hawke.

Hawke then instructed Caroline, "Use backend and Twitter's core algorithms to analyze and model this man's facial structure, and try to find people with high similarity across all photos or videos on Twitter."

Caroline replied, "That will take some time."

*****

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