![]() I’m firing my assault rifle on full auto now, the children running right behind me. Either way, it doesn’t matter, because now I can hear the helicopter whup-whup-whupping in the distance and so can everyone else. Then the alarm goes up over enemy radio either someone found the unconscious guards back at the camp or the tranquilizer drugs simply wore off. I move as fast as I dare without breaking cover and snap rounds at mercenaries, trying to punch a hole to freedom. I’m waving the children forward when I see more mercenaries in the streambed and on the hills on either side. I lay the weakened boy down behind a bush and steal forward, taking aim with my silenced assault rifle. My hands, slicked with sweat, can barely grip the video-game controller. My heart is pounding so hard that my ears are pumping against my headphones. Why are they here and who are these guys working for? They’re coming up the streambed toward us. When I put my iDroid away, I see them - three mercenaries. We follow the stream and then head slightly right, over a couple of hills to the landing zone, a rocky clearing about half-a-kilometer away. Using my iDroid handheld, I check a map and call in an escape chopper. ![]() And now here I am, the sky getting brighter by the minute, shepherding a handful of children - one of whom I have to carry because he’s too weak to walk - through a hornet’s nest of gunmen. I anticipated stealing away from Kungenga with hours of darkness left to cover my escape. The mission - to eliminate a handful of prisoners being held by the Butas before they could be interrogated and give up any intel - was uncomplicated. I put to sleep the guards I couldn’t risk sneaking past, either via my tranquilizer pistol or a chokehold, and dragged their bodies into the brush to cover my trail. The place is thick with gunmen - irregular forces loyal to the ruling Buta tribe - so I took my time infiltrating, carefully picking the best route through the sprawling camp. Dawn is breaking over the Kungenga diamond mine, a crude pit of conflict capitalism and child slavery hacked into the jungle straddling the lawless border of Angola and Zaire.
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