Chapter 378 - 360: Replacement
"A Boeing 777 will land at 14:40 this afternoon," Lin Xianghua read from the new intelligence Joelson had sent. "The crew won’t change. After a two-hour layover, the plane will take off at 16:40. The embassy staff swapping in will head out at 15:00. They’ll go directly to the plane upon reaching the airport and wait on board—forty-two people in total, transported to the airport in two buses with a security force escort. This is a regular official flight. For now, there are no abnormalities."
The time was set; they would start heading out at three in the afternoon with a total of forty-two people.
Among the suspected targets of ’Burning Wind,’ one was on the list of these forty-two, but the other one was completely off the radar.
Gao Yi couldn’t believe Freedom Wind, knowing someone was definitely out to kill Burning Wind, would still brazenly take a bus to the airport.
It was a classic distraction strategy—some in the open to divert attention, others hidden, escaping through unknown means. So blatant was the tactic.
Being CIA operatives skilled in disguise and evasion was basic, and even with internal CIA conflicts, they could still count on, at the very least, half of the CIA’s support. To accurately locate and kill Burning Wind was going to be very difficult.
As an assassin, Gao Yi felt he was not good at handling such situations.
"The intelligence you’ve given me, it’s tough to pinpoint and eliminate Burning Wind," he complained.
As the operation’s commander, Gao Yi could request further investigation.
Not considering Joelson’s position, Gao Yi could easily push all the pressure onto Joelson—after all, Joelson was Panetta’s man. Any failure due to a lack of good intelligence would be on Joelson, which ultimately falls back on Panetta.