Mercenary's War

"Get in the car!"

Rushing into the parking lot, Karl Stemonsen whispered quickly, then took out the key and opened the car door.

Two people provided cover while one pushed their leg-injured companion into the car, and then Karl Stemonsen sat in the driver’s seat.

As the car drove out, Mike said in a deep voice, "Captain, Roy’s leg is hit. I need to stop the bleeding, drive steadily."

Karl didn’t look back, he just said in a deep voice, "How is it?"

"I can hold on and continue moving."

The one named Roy looked at his wound; his thigh close to the back of the knee was shot, but fortunately, the bullet just grazed. As long as the bleeding wasn’t too serious, it wasn’t too bad. But this spot was too close to the knee, any slight movement would definitely pull the wound, causing significant pain.

"Prince, pace notes!"

Prince didn’t have a map in hand, nor the pace notes usually found in racing, but after Karl spoke, the one named Prince immediately said, "Full speed, straight, one mile."

"Reduce speed to forty, turn right."

"High-speed curve, speed seventy, take the second left."

"Ahead, right leads to the dock, left to the Bay Bridge, no police behind us."

Prince was a local. He looked at the road signs and relied on his memory to give instructions to Karl, while Karl focused all his attention on driving, making them much faster.

While the car sped, Mike grabbed a small box from the car, and Roy, who had been shot in the leg, tied a rope around his thigh.

Mike opened the first aid kit, took out scissors to cut open Roy’s pant leg, quickly cleaned and disinfected the wound, then stitched it up.

After untying the rope around the thigh, Mike wiped his blood-stained hands on the car seat, then said in a deep voice, "Where are we going? Where can we go?"

Karl replied in a deep voice, "We have nowhere to go, nowhere to retreat."

A brief silence fell in the car, then Prince continued, "Five hundred meters ahead, turn right or left."

"To the dock."

Karl made the decision, and after taking a high-speed turn to the right, he then said in a deep voice, "We can’t escape in the city. Ditch the bulletproof vests, keep minimal weapons and ammo, Mike, secure the money."

Following Karl’s order, the other three immediately started unbuckling and removing their bulletproof vests, leaving only a submachine gun and several magazines on them.

Once Prince, sitting in the front passenger seat, removed his bulletproof vest, he reached out to steady the steering wheel, and at this moment Karl let go of the wheel but kept his foot on the gas pedal.

The car’s speed was unaffected due to their cooperation, and although there were many vehicles on the street, Prince’s control allowed them to weave through traffic smoothly.

With the bulletproof vest removed, Karl put his hands on the steering wheel, and the car sped toward the dock.

The sea was now in sight. Karl said in a deep voice, "Open all windows!"

"Windows open!"

"Prepare for impact!"

"Impact ready!"

The car rushed toward the dock, and Karl suddenly let go of the steering wheel, pulling his arms back to brace for the collision before he suddenly shouted!

"Ah!"

The car plunged into the bay at over forty miles per hour.

With a loud crash, the car’s front hit the water surface, quickly shattering the windshield, and water flooded in from all four windows.

It was already completely dark.

The water was even darker.

When the car was fully submerged, the hat on Karl’s head finally fell off.

He grabbed the floating hat with one hand, tucked it into his waistband, then quickly slipped out of the window but did not immediately swim up. He held onto the window with one hand, tapping the roof three times—two short, one long.

Karl started swimming underwater.

After swimming underwater for at least fifty meters, Karl slowly surfaced and revealed his head.

It was high tide, and the water in the bay was deep, while the water level at the dock was already deep. Karl swam a bit toward the shore and grabbed onto oyster shells on the dock, pausing momentarily.

There were many containers on the dock, and the lights were very bright. In the distance, the sound of people could be heard. The commotion of the car plunging into the water had drawn much attention as they checked the situation.

To Karl’s left and right, three heads appeared one after another.

Karl quickly made a judgment and extended his hand toward the opposite shore.

They were in Galveston Cove, out of the deep water zone of the dock. To the left, northwest was the Jessin Tubuffalo Canal, which led deep into the city. To the right was the large bay, and beyond the bay was the Gulf of Mexico.

Karl pointed across the bay. If they wanted to swim across, they needed to swim at least three thousand meters, but there were two small islands in the bay where they could stop.

The four of them slightly exposed their heads, took a deep breath, then submerged and soundlessly swam toward the opposite shore, only surfacing briefly when they needed to catch a breath before diving again.

Almost as soon as Karl and his team started swimming, two helicopters appeared overhead, and a convoy of police cars was rushing to the dock.

One helicopter shone its spotlight on the spot where the car entered the water, while the other hovered and swept the water with its beam. But despite the brightness, the spotlight’s range was limited, making it nearly impossible to detect the slowly but stealthily moving four in the water.

Silently moving, Karl remained at the forefront. He didn’t choose to rest on the islands but maneuvered between the gap of the two small islands.

The tide began to recede, the water started flowing, and Roy, with his injured leg, gradually slowed down.

Mike quietly moved next to Roy, extending a hand to grab his collar and help him along.

Anyone who’s served understands—whether it’s cross-country trekking or swimming with gear, when a comrade’s strength falters, there’s no need to say a word before lending a hand.

There’s no need to swim underwater now; Prince also swam over, flanking Prince with Mike, continually following Karl.

The straight line distance was three kilometers, but swimming was at least five kilometers. Once Karl first reached the shallow water, he raised his gun and observed for a long time before beckoning and slowly standing up to come ashore.

On the shore were woods. They chose to move through areas with vegetation to avoid leaving footprints, quickly passing a narrow beach, the four entered the woods.

"We’ve temporarily shaken off... the pursuit, check Roy’s wound, rest for three minutes."

Karl looked at Roy’s water-soaked white wound, said nothing, then looked toward the helicopters in the sky across the shore. The spotlight was too bright; they could be seen clearly for miles.