Chapter 120: U.S. Air Forces in Europe Headquarters

The next morning.

Bright sunlight poured through the panoramic portholes, flooding across the messy bed.

Leo opened his eyes right on time.

He glanced at the space beside him. Ivy and Serafina were wrapped around him, one on each side. Both women had a rosy flush still lingering on their stunning faces from last night's wildness. They slept in lazy, tempting poses, their smooth skin covered in purple bruises Leo had left behind, their lips curved into satisfied smiles of women who had been completely conquered. They were out cold.

Leo didn't wake them. He slowly pulled his arms free, threw on a robe, and walked out of the bedroom.

In the living room, Olivia had been waiting for a long time.

She was like a tireless, precision machine. Even after standing all night, she was still perfectly straight.

"Boss, Silvio delivered the intelligence."

Olivia handed him an encrypted tablet. "Based on his smuggling route records, Nightfall's core base in Europe is deep in the Alps, inside an abandoned Cold War military fortress on the border between Austria and Switzerland."

Leo took the tablet and scanned the coordinates and 3D terrain map.

"Rough terrain, easy to defend, hard to attack. A great place to hide rats." Leo gave a cold laugh.

"Boss, Shadow team's undercover agents in Europe are fully assembled. Do you want me to draw up a raid plan right now and hit the fortress head-on?" A flash of battle hunger crossed Olivia's eyes.

"Hit it head-on?"

Leo tossed the tablet on the table and walked to the bar, pouring himself a glass of ice water. A trace of mockery passed through his sharp eyes. "Mourner came out of Alpha Special Forces. That fortress is definitely packed with overlapping heavy fire zones and minefields. Shadow team is for taking heads, not for throwing bodies at trenches."

"Since those people backing the Jewish financiers in the Pentagon love watching me so much..."

Leo downed the ice water in one go. His voice carried the arrogance of someone who held the machinery of nations in his hands. "Let them see how I fight. Get me the US Air Forces in Europe command. Now."

Five hours later.

Aviano Air Base, Italy.

The largest US air hub in southern Europe.

The harsh roar of fighter jets echoed over the base. A military SUV with special government plates drove straight through to the core command building without a single checkpoint stopping it.

When Leo walked into the large joint operations conference room with Olivia, Deputy Commander of US Air Forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Howard Riddick, was standing at the door with a row of senior officers, waiting.

"Mr. Ashford! The Third Air Force stands ready to serve you!"

Howard spotted the Abyss Medal on the inside of Leo's coat — the highest Pentagon clearance symbol — and snapped to attention instantly, throwing a textbook-perfect salute.

The other officers were curious about this man who was far too young and wasn't even in uniform, but following the general's lead, they all straightened up and saluted.

"General Riddick, skip the formalities."

Leo walked to the main seat at the center of the room and sat down, crossing his long legs and folding his hands on the table. "My requirement is simple. Take that fortress and wipe it completely off the Alps skyline."

"Understood!"

General Riddick spun toward the intelligence officer at the screen and barked, "Scramble two B-2 stealth strategic bombers immediately, armed with bunker busters and Hellfire missiles! Get them in the air!"

The big screen lit up instantly, switching to a live overhead feed from a high-altitude military satellite.

On the screen, deep in the snow-covered Alps, the Nightfall fortress was clearly visible.

The conference room fell completely silent. Every eye was locked on the screen.

"Reporting in! Bombers have reached the target airspace. Weapons locked!" The pilot's cold voice came through the comms.

"Fire," Leo said flatly.

Through the silent satellite feed, everyone watched as several massive black bombs hit the fortress roof with pinpoint accuracy.

Then, blinding fire exploded through the snowy mountains.

The shockwave tore through the entire valley in an instant. Thick reinforced concrete was shredded to dust. A huge mushroom cloud rose into the sky. In just a few rounds of carpet bombing, the once-untouchable Nightfall base was reduced to nothing but smoldering, burning rubble.

"Beautiful!"

"With bunker busters that size, even if they were hiding 150 feet underground, the blast and fire would've killed every last one of them!"

The Air Force officers in the room pumped their fists and let out long, relieved breaths.

General Riddick smiled too, turning to look at Leo. "Mr. Ashford, target completely destroyed. Mission accomplished."

But.

Leo, sitting at the head of the table, had no trace of joy on his face.

He calmly reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigar, lit it, and let out a slow puff of smoke. His voice was so flat it felt unsettling.

"Don't celebrate too soon. Nobody was in there. They moved out a long time ago."

The moment those words landed, the entire room went dead silent.

A major in charge of intelligence analysis frowned. He clearly didn't like having their results dismissed like that.

"Mr. Ashford, with respect!" The major stepped forward, his tone edged with doubt. "Our satellites were watching that location right up until the strike. Thermal imaging showed a large number of heat signatures inside. Under that level of saturation bombing, there cannot be any survivors!"

"Then send a drone in for a battle damage assessment." Leo didn't even glance at him.

General Riddick's brow tightened. He gave the order immediately. "Launch a Reaper drone. Low-altitude recon!"

A few minutes later.

The drone cut through the smoke and sent back high-resolution footage of the inside of the ruins to the big screen.

When the image came into clear focus, the major who had just been so confident drained of all color. Cold sweat broke out down his face.

Inside the bombed-out underground bunker, there were indeed bodies.

But... only five or six.

And based on the residual thermal traces, the large number of "heat signatures" that had shown up earlier were nothing but a set of deliberately timed industrial heaters and fake human dummies.

It had been a ghost town. A decoy, set up to eat their firepower.

"This... how is this possible?!" The major stood there, jaw dropped, his legs nearly giving out beneath him.

General Riddick went from stunned to stone-faced in an instant. He slammed his fist on the table and roared.

"Damn it! Our classified operation was leaked! Who did this?! Who tipped those bastards off so they could clear out in time?!"

Every officer in the room dropped their head in shame.

The US military had sent strategic bombers and ended up blowing up a pile of dummies. If this got out, it would be an embarrassing humiliation. And a leak inside the ranks was the one thing the military could never tolerate.

General Riddick turned to Leo, his face flushed red, his eyes full of guilt and rage. "Mr. Ashford... this is our failure. I'm ordering an immediate investigation of the entire European theater intelligence system. I will dig out whoever leaked this, no matter what it takes."

"That won't be necessary, General."

In sharp contrast to the furious officers around him, Leo stayed right where he was, smoking his cigar, a hint of calm amusement behind his sharp eyes.

"I already knew the Pentagon had eyes working for those Jewish financiers. The moment you scrambled the B-2s, the Rothschilds' people would tip off Mourner, and he'd pull out."

Everyone froze.

The major looked up, completely confused. "Sir... if you already knew they'd move out ahead of time, why did you have us bomb an empty base?"

"If I didn't let them think they got away on their own, how would they walk straight into the trap I set for them?"

The corner of Leo's mouth curled into something cold and cruel. He pressed the cigar out in the ashtray.

"The Air Force boys have nothing to be ashamed of. Your bombing was perfect. Because you drove those rats right into my cage."

The people in the room looked at each other, completely lost.

Flush out the enemy? But they hadn't even gotten a trace of them yet.

Leo didn't explain. He snapped his fingers at Olivia, who was standing behind him.

"Switch the feed. Let the generals see what a real harvest looks like."

"Yes, sir."

Olivia walked to the console, stepped past the dazed major, and typed a string of classified commands at lightning speed.

The image on the big screen switched instantly.