HA1 13.2 - Old Friends

  From the cross checked between his handmade layout and the map in the command post, Hide found that the guards planted 120 motion sensors and 48 M18A3 Claymore anti-personnel mines around the villa. Without hesitation, he ignored the motion sensors and focused his effort to gather the Claymores.

  'Hello, Little Nasty.'

  While having a slight smile in his lips, Hide looked at two small green squares with a pair of scissor legs in front of him, which were connected to thin trip wire. It was positioned in spot where you would spontaneously run into and kick it, as you tried to get a cover after receiving incoming fire from the direction of the villa.

  ‘Clever bastard.’

  Hide had to admit that the Claymore set up was at professional level. Fortunately, in his previous life, he knew M18A3 Claymore as if it was his best friend.

  It had a total weight of 1.6 kg with a C4 proportion up to 680 grams. Capable of throwing 700 pieces of 3.2 mm steel pellet as wide as 60-degree field of view, with optimum distribution of shrapnel at 50 meters, but still deadly up to a radius of 100 meters.

  It was also easy to carry, easy to apply, and easy to repackage when you had to change your position. Even a regular infantry without specialization in booby trap would be able to use it effectively after receiving quick training on it.

  As for Hide, he managed to hone his skills in applying Claymore to a level that surpassed the standard at 1st SFG. He was even asked to rewrite the Claymore application's syllabus for 1st SFG.

  Swiftly but carefully, Hide cut the trip wire, folded the scissor legs, and tied the two Claymores together.

  '46 pieces left,' Hide muttered as he walked to the next Claymore’s location.

  ---

  Going up and down while carrying two sports bags weighing 14-16 kg was tough job, but Shizuka could do it without running out of breath. She even had time to move the guard's corpse in the living room to the lounge, collect a number of gold jewelry from several rooms, and pack some instant food from kitchen.

  Physical work was not a big deal for Shizuka. However, as time went on, the guilt in her heart grew deeper. Fortunately, when the tightness in her chest was unbearable, Hide radioed her and asked her to come to him with four sport bags. Wasting no time, Shizuka carried out Hide's orders.

  "Are we going to collect them too?" Shizuka asked as she looked at two piles of Claymores in front of her.

  "Yes, but only half of it. I need to use the other half."

  "Roger."

  "After putting it in the van, take Anya to RV. You can use the shortcut through the side yard of the villa."

  A big question mark instantly appeared on Shizuka's forehead. "What about you?"

  "I need to talk to Toruma's Elder and put the finishing touches."

  "It seems his death is unavoidable."

  "Well, I just speed up his schedule."

  After taking a deep breath Shizuka turned her gaze to Hide. "After this job, can I leave the team?"

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  "You can," Hide firmly replied.

  Hide was aware that the hunt was not a job for everyone. It was a job that required tremendous motivation and determination, and the sooner Shizuka realized it, the better it was. Also, from the start he never had a plan to recruit Shizuka. She was the one who came to him.

  "But please, make sure our hunting remains as a secret."

  "I'll guard it with my life. It’s just that I don't think I can do this kind of job."

  "No worries, I understand your feelings." Hide slightly smiled before continuing, "Actually, after we visited Anya I felt a flash of hesitation in your eyes. I thought you were going to let Toruma's Elder escape."

  "My grade in class is indeed below average, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to put my friends into a dangerous circumstance."

  Hide gave Shizuka another smile before saying, "For your information, I never thought you are stupid and I will keep my promise to kill Takeshi."

  "Thank you."

  A moment later, Shizuka walked towards the garage carrying two sports bags, while Hide rushed to the location where he would set up a booby trap to secure his route of retreat.

  ---

  Shizuka attentively held Anya with her left hand, while in her right hand she carried a sports bag containing Anya's clothes, and on her back she had a big backpack filled with the loot money, gold jewelry, and instant food from kitchen.

  As the two passed by the empty living room Shizuka immediately said, "All guards are being stationed at the outer perimeter."

  "I thought they left me like last time we have emergency."

  "Hey," Shizuka looked at Anya deeply before continuing, "We will never leave you and we will do our best for you."

  In a casual tone Anya responded, "New Maid, your voice is a bit shaky and it's clearly visible that you're not sure with what you're saying."

  "Ugh..."

  Shizuka stuttered, but Anya didn't seem bothered by it.

  "Don't worry. I'm used to such treatment."

  "Honestly, this is my first time in this kind of situation. So I'm a little nervous, but I mean it when I said I will do my best for you."

  "I see," Anya replied shortly, and it was clear that she didn't care about Shizuka's words.

  Then, after the two passed through the door Shizuka said, "We will be climbing the slope on the east side of the villa and can't use a flashlight, so the journey will be a bit hard and tiring."

  "I've had experience something worse than climbing a slope in the middle of darkness, so stop trying to comfort me."

  "I see."

  Shizuka let out a silent sigh, and she couldn’t help but felt her chest tightened as she imagined Anya's feeling if she found out that her only family had left this world.

  'It would be too painful for her.'

  Shizuka knew it for sure, because she also felt an unbearable pain every time she remembered that his father would soon leave her forever.

  ---

  Claymore could be detonated by command-activated using remote control, cables, trap wire, or victim-activated by integrating it into a booby trap mechanism. This time, Hide chose the victim-activated method.

  Twelve Claymores were separately tied on two rows of Fir trees, one meter above the ground, facing each other and forming a 20 meters long corridor. Between the last pair of Fir trees, Hide laid in a trip wire connected to safety ring on each Claymore. One strong pull on the trip wire lay between the last pair of Fir trees and the entire Claymore would explode almost simultaneously.

  As long as the target entered the kill box, it was certain that there would be no survivors.

  Wasting no time, Hide then rushed to the front gate of the villa. When he first saw the villa's layout, he instantly concluded that the gate was an ideal place to be used as an ambush site for targets on four-wheeled vehicles.

  First, it was because the villa had no outer wall. It had only an artificial creek that surrounded it at a distance of 200-300 meters from the main building. The artificial creek, which was 40 cm wide and 40 cm deep, was planted with mini lotuses and inhabited by hundreds of small ornamental fish.

  So, at a glance it looked like a mere decoration. But in truth, it was super effective for preventing vehicle breaches. This meant that vehicles could only enter the villa through the front gate.

  Second, the front gate of the villa was just two stone monuments that support the large inscription 'Villa Tigera', located in the middle of a grassy field with some ornamental shrubs, without any building other than a small guard post to control the iron crossbar. This meant that vehicle would have to stop in the open, when the iron crossbar at the gate was being opened.

  Swiftly, Hide set up the remaining Claymores. Every single one of them was facing the front gate, 50 meters away, forming a circle like a giant clock.

  Then, he immediately rushed back to command post. As he walked the 300 meters entry road to the main building Hide muttered, 'I'm counting on you, Old Friends. Let's kill them all.'

  *****