2000, February 2.
middle East.
Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
Local clock: 11:11.
For residents of stable countries such as Europe, Africa, and Asia, the Middle East will always be associated with chaos, war, refugees, or terrorists.
In fact, despite the above-mentioned labels, the environment in the Middle East is considered beautiful.
The area along the Mediterranean Sea is comfortable and pleasant. It can be called the real blue sea and blue sky, the turquoise and clear ocean, and the clear sky.
Otherwise, people would not have discovered ancient cities and ruins with a history of five thousand years in countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey.
The weather in Beirut today is comfortable and sunny, and the temperature is about 11 or 2 degrees Celsius.
At the northernmost port of Beirut, you can see many cargo ships docked.
Workers at the port are busy driving forklifts and cranes to unload or load goods.
However, cruise ships in civilian ports are very rare.
After all, countries including Lebanon are indeed in chaos. Even if tourists know that the environment here is beautiful, they do not dare to come there easily.
at this time.
A cruise ship with a route around the Mediterranean coast is slowly sailing into a civilian port.
Lower passenger and freight elevators.
The workers who have been waiting for a long time use the cargo elevator to carry daily supplies to the cruise ship.
People who have been on the ship for a long time disembark through the passenger elevator and visit, rest and dine near the port.
The ship is only docked for half a day, so guests and workers alike are hurrying up.
However, there are also boat passengers whose destination is Beirut, and they will leave separately after getting off the boat.
This includes Lyon.
The man with parted blond hair was wearing a thin black jacket, sand-colored overalls and combat boots, and was carrying a military green backpack on one shoulder.
After leaving the cruise ship and walking out of the port, Lyon looked around and carefully observed this city with a strong Middle Eastern style.
In the end, Lyon focused on a red coupe.
He quickly approached, came to the car and knocked on the passenger window.
After the driver lowered the window, Leon asked in somewhat broken Arabic: "Yada... Khanbu (are you leaving)?"
The middle-aged male driver, wearing a red and white checkered turban and a thick beard, looked at Lyon up and down and replied in very standard English:
"boarding."
"Thank you." Seeing that the other party could speak English, Leon opened the door and got in the passenger seat.
"Where are you going?" the driver asked while starting the engine, shifting the gear and releasing the handbrake.
"Go to the US Air Force base outside Beirut." Lyon pointed to the southeast.
After the vehicle started driving into the street, the driver held the steering wheel with his left hand, stretched out his index and middle fingers on his right hand and gestured to Lyon: "A beautiful knife."
"Ha~!" However, Leon showed an expression like "Don't bluff me" and said: "One hundred, otherwise I will get off the car now, don't think I don't know the market here!"
? ? ?
The driver found that Leon seemed a bit difficult to kill, and immediately said angrily: "One hundred and three, otherwise I won't be able to get back my money, and you are still going to the US military base!"
"Deal." Leon agreed readily.
driver:"…"
The rest of the journey was speechless.
Lyon is just a good place to have some peace and quiet, so you can appreciate the unique architecture in Beirut.
When the vehicle drives out of the city and into the suburbs, it is greeted by endless desert scenery.
Lyon has now become a regular player and is no longer the "intern rookie" he was before.
Moreover, Lyon has unique experience in taking taxis.
Ordinary drivers really can't fool him. He is no longer the same Lyon who took a taxi from the airport to the Venice police station and spent 77 euros.
Although the company gave him enough travel subsidies, he could save whatever he could. After all, it was the company's money.
Although he still doesn't know why his superiors have not allowed him to touch the company's transportation, he is used to it.
Come to the suburbs.
Travel across the desert.
During the drive, Lyon also saw many times U.S. military convoys that were patrolling or performing other tasks.
After about half an hour, the air force base located on the south side of the road gradually came into view of Lyon.
When they were only about one kilometer away from the base in a straight line, they encountered a checkpoint set up by the US military on the road, forcing Lyon to check out and get off the bus.
The driver turned around and headed back, while Leon walked towards the US military checkpoint.
"Stop! Please stay in your current position and accept our inspection!"
Before he even got close, a heavily armed U.S. Marine clasped the gun in his hand and shouted a reminder to Leon.
Seeing this, Leon also shouted back: "CIA!"
Seeing that Lyon took the initiative to reveal his identity, and that there were already several "CIAs" in the base, the Marine immediately stepped forward and said:
"Show me your ID."
"Okay." Leon took out the relevant documents from his pocket and handed them to the other party.
After receiving the certificate, the Marines reported Lyon's information to the base, and soon received the order to release him.
The Marine Corps then returned the certificate to Lyon, and asked his comrades to drive a Hummer to take Lyon to a base not far away.
———————
…
13:02.
The border between Lebanon and Syria.
Angel Air Force Base, USA.
Base command building, a small combat conference room.
"Gentlemen, there is an emergency situation in a town called Sheheba, eighty kilometers south of Damascus, the capital of Syria."
A US Army lieutenant colonel in his fifties stood at the front of the conference room, speaking to everyone present with a very serious face.
On the soft screen on the left hand side of the lieutenant colonel is a satellite aerial view of each area.
Among the more than 20 people sitting here, more than half are Green Beret lieutenants of the U.S. Army, and the other six are "CIA" in civilian clothes.
Lyon is among them.
In fact, the Red Queen immediately detected that the US military here had encountered changes.
So she immediately intercepted the U.S. military's report to her superiors and pretended to be her superior to communicate with the U.S. military.
The result of the exchange was that CIA investigators disguised as intelligence officers were first sent here to assist the US military in the investigation.
The identities of Lyon and others are said to be disguised, but in fact they have been entered into the American filing system by the Red Queen.
Before the Red Queen confirmed the details of this anomaly and took the initiative to delete the information of Lyon and others, they were all "genuine" CIA investigators.
The lieutenant colonel paused and continued: "According to the report, Sheheba was shrouded in thick fog last night.
However, early this morning, two Marine patrol convoys lost contact with the base one after another after entering Sheheba to perform security maintenance tasks as usual.
Until now, we have not seen any civilians or marines walking out of the thick fog, and no electronic detection equipment can allow us to spy on Sheheba's situation.
Therefore, the main task of the berets is to protect the investigators sent by the CIA into Sheheba to collect intelligence. The secondary task is to find and rescue the two Marines who have lost contact. "
