Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 324 - 308: Destructive Effects

Chapter 324: Chapter 308: Destructive Effects

Gao Yi had a lot of leisure time during this period.

People waiting for Gao Yi to get to work, or even to put out fires, were numerous, but Gao Yi was able to settle down for some good rest, with the feeling of being unwavering even if the outside world turned upside down.

There wasn’t too complicated a reason, because the only reason Panetta valued Gao Yi was to use him as bait, simply put, to treat Gao Yi like expendable goods.

So, Gao Yi had to bring his recently-healed partners, who hadn’t had a few days of rest, to search for the elusive Freedom Wind, which was a bit too much to ask. It wasn’t right to push people so hard until they died.

Even though Panetta had become a mole himself, the information he could provide was still too limited. Firstly, he didn’t have a photo of Wei Feng, only knew that Wei Feng was the core of Freedom Wind, but didn’t even know what Wei Feng looked like, which made it difficult for Gao Yi to perform.

Gao Yi was invincible in close combat, not in intelligence, facing someone like Wei Feng, who was good at hiding and relied on his brain to make a living, he was unlikely to gain the upper hand.

Now it wasn’t a relationship of equal cooperation with Panetta, and Gao Yi didn’t want to lose this yet-to-meet mole completely, so he could only delay for now.

Setting aside Panetta and all that, it was time to enjoy some vacation life.

Mainly because Gao Yi had developed a taste for it, spending every day soaked in the company of Lucy, he had no spare energy to run off and fight someone to the death.

He spent Christmas, New Year’s Day, and even the Spring Festival in the United States.

Under vacation mode, the plan that Gao Yi had been working on was finally coming to fruition.

This plan was to forcefully send money.

A grand scheme that forcefully linked together the Saudi National Intelligence Agency, United States Defense Secret Action Bureau, French External Security General Bureau, and the CIA.

It was clear to see that Gao Yi was turning the unconnected threads from before into a net.

Of the relationships Gao Yi could use now, Shaman was the only money accomplice willing to spend, and not a small sum at that, so naturally, the plan had to proceed with Shaman footing the bill.

A promising junior can’t just stretch out his hand to the big brother for money.

Gao Yi could make money using Shaman’s connections, but asking directly for money would be like begging.

So what did Gao Yi do?

It’s simple, he just asked Shaman if he was willing to spend money to buy a deputy director of the CIA.

If Shaman could turn Panetta into his own man for one billion, he would definitely be willing to spend two hundred million dollars.

So was it Gao Yi asking Shaman for help now? No, it was Gao Yi presenting Shaman with a good deal on a silver platter.

Abdulla called, and he said in a very composed manner, "We have already arranged everything on our end, let’s proceed to the next step."

Gao Yi hung up and then called Joelson, speaking softly, "Begin the operation, request a plane, we’re going to Dubai."

After a brief greeting, Gao Yi told Lucy, "Time to work, I’m stepping out, you don’t need to come."

Gao Yi’s relationship with Lucy had normalized, with daily influence, though there was a hint of overexertion, but at least Lucy wouldn’t have any more knee-jerk reactions towards him.

But it wouldn’t work with anyone else, because Gao Yi hadn’t fully unlocked Lucy’s door, he just changed the lock, he could open the door, but anyone else who tried to pry it open would meet a grim fate.

The best thing about Lucy was that she never asked Gao Yi what he was going to do.

Lucy didn’t even realize she could ask Gao Yi what he was up to.

It’s just a pity that the young Gao Yi also didn’t realize how lucky he was to have a girlfriend like Lucy.

There wasn’t any special reason to go to Dubai, just for convenience, easy entry and exit, easy movement of funds, and geographically not too far from any of the parties, so if choosing a midway point for a meeting, Dubai was the most fitting place.

Alone, he easily made his way to Dubai.

By the time Gao Yi arrived, the nearest Abdulla had already reached, then Luca from Libya substituted for Khalid in Dubai, Joelson didn’t take the same flight as Gao Yi, but the landing times of their two planes were only an hour apart, so they could be considered to have arrived at the same time.

Grasse was still missing, having come from Baghdad, and it was unclear whether Marina would send someone to attend this small meeting, Marina might not participate after all.

Abdulla hadn’t come to pick him up, as he came to Dubai in disguise and secret, but as a leading nation, Abdulla could employ too many people in Dubai, and the budget he could spend was also too much.

After Sean’s death, Gao Yi once again enjoyed the super-luxury treatment, entirely sponsored by Abdulla’s public funds.

From the airport, he was picked up by an ultra-luxury car, then directly to the Burj Al Arab hotel, the only pity was that the presidential suite was always occupied, so Abdulla booked several executive suites instead.

Grasse arrived later that day, and by night, Marina’s representative also arrived in Dubai.

No surprise in the choice of people, Marina sent Emily, and conveniently sent Sowa to protect Emily.

This was the first offline meeting of Gao Yi’s network.

"This is Joelson of the CIA, this is Abdulla, deputy director of the Saudi National Intelligence Agency."

Joelson and Abdulla did not shake hands, they simply nodded at each other.

In terms of status, Abdulla certainly outranked the others, and his power was greater, but the Saudi National Intelligence Bureau seemed like a subsidiary to the CIA, so Joelson had no intention of currying favor with Abdulla.

Gao Yi pointed to Grasse and said in a deep voice, "Defense Clandestine Service, Grasse."

Grasse nodded reservedly to everyone.

Lastly, Gao Yi turned to Emily, saying, "French External Intelligence Agency, Emily."

As the one who connected the various forces together, Gao Yi naturally took the lead in hosting the small meeting. To show basic sincerity, he revealed everyone’s identities, though this had been communicated in advance.

It was their first meeting, and there was still some restraint among them. Gao Yi himself was unsure how to proceed, so he decided to dive straight into the topic at hand.

"We’re all on the same side here, so I’ll just say it straight, our primary goal this time is to draw Panetta into the water, making money and such is secondary."

A tall tree catches the wind; the CIA now claims to be the strongest intelligence agency in the world. A deputy director with real power in the CIA is alluring enough to make any intelligence agency treat him as a precious target for recruitment.

Thus, having already provided great emotional value to Saudi, the sole financier of this plan, Gao Yi calmly said, "Please, Abdulla, go ahead."

Abdulla nodded and then looked at Gao Yi, "We have prepared two hundred million dollars, earmarked as special funds for the Yemen Government Army to purchase military equipment. This money has already been allocated, and as soon as the weapons arrive, they can be delivered immediately."

Emily seemed a bit nervous; she was replacing Marina in this gathering of intelligence agencies not because of her ability, but because she was well-acquainted with Gao Yi.

Emily spoke softly, "We have prepared four 155 mm truck-mounted howitzers and twelve hundred shells, along with one million 5.56 mm rounds. All of this military hardware has been sold to Jerry Trading Company. The weapons will be shipped from Marseille Port and unloaded at Djibouti Port in four days."

That was all Emily had to say.

It was Grasse’s turn to continue, as he was in charge of transportation.

"After unloading in Djibouti, the stationed forces there will take over the cargo, then it will be transferred to Aden Port on a two thousand ton bulk carrier, and handed over to the Yemen Government Army."

Grasse spread his hands and said, "It’s simple, everything is ready."

Now it was Joelson’s turn to speak.

Joelson smiled wryly and then said in a low voice, "Up to now, we haven’t found a way for the CIA to get involved. As it seems, the only role the CIA can play is to mess things up."

Any publicity is good publicity; even disruption can serve a purpose.

Because this arms deal was essentially creating unnecessary complexity from a simple situation.

Without any genuine obstacles, artificial ones had to be created; an entirely optional step in the process was forcibly inserted.

It was essentially arms going from Saudi’s left hand to its right hand for Yemen, yet the process had to involve a big detour, just to bring the CIA into the loop and then legitimize the transfer of money to Panetta.

After this convoluted process, the French made money; Marina sold military hardware valued at twelve million euros for sixty million, a clear profit of forty-eight million.

Acting as the middleman, the Pentagon merely needed to transfer the goods, paying for the port loading and unloading fees, netting an easy forty million dollars.

Abdulla was only responsible for paying, but once the plan succeeded, the deputy of the Saudi National Intelligence Agency gained several new helpers, reaping the biggest benefits.

Then, of course, Gao Yi made money, as the Jerry Trading Company belonged to him, with Li Jie’s name reversed to form Jerry Trading Company.

Gao Yi kept fifty million dollars for himself, but this also included the money Khalid wanted to earn.

The remaining fifty million was left for the CIA, who clearly had no way to directly intervene in this arms deal.

Now they had to forcibly create an opportunity for the CIA to get involved, which meant letting the CIA seize this batch of arms. Once seized, Gao Yi had no choice but to bribe them, which would seem reasonable.

At that moment, Grasse spoke indifferently, "Military-supplied goods should be out of the CIA’s jurisdiction to seize, right?"

This wasn’t a contestation, but simply a fact.

Again, since everyone was on the same side, it was time to identify and resolve any issues.

Joelson spoke softly, "If it’s just as it is now, then indeed, we can’t seize them. But, I have an idea. We don’t seize the arms shipment when it arrives at Aden Port. Instead, you could ship another batch of arms out from Aden Port. It’s one deal covering another, like receiving four truck-mounted howitzers but taking away more from the Yemen Government Army. What do you think?"

Abdulla pondered, then said, "Entirely possible. Just delivered four howitzers but secretly took away ten, ten thousand shells, one hundred thousand rifles, ten million bullets, a thousand RPGs, and ten thousand rocket rounds. Is that enough? If not, we can add ten tanks. How about driving a few Abram tanks away, then the CIA discovers and stops it? How’s that?"

Utter extravagance.

Finally, Gao Yi smiled bitterly, "That’s too much; we don’t need that many. It’s excessive, we can’t fit that on a ship, and Libya doesn’t need those things. Forget the cannons and tanks, but rifles and rocket launchers are permissible."

Abdulla disagreed, saying, "It doesn’t matter, since it’s going to be seized anyway, the goods won’t really be taken away."

Joelson carefully said, "But our goal is to involve the CIA, and since we’re involving them, we should help cover this up, right? So, these arms will need to be taken away, right?"

Abdulla was taken aback, then he laughed again, saying, "That’s no issue either, it’s not much money, just a trivial matter."