Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 325 - 309: Net

Chapter 325: Chapter 309: Net

The real deal was settled in a few words.

Abdulla truly didn’t regard money as anything significant, two hundred million dollars might be a lifetime’s unachievable amount for Gao Yi and his team, but for Abdulla, it was just a small figure in the budget allocation.

Spending two hundred million dollars on weapons worth over ten million was not a big deal for Saudi, it was simply standard procedure.

As for sending out a portion of their own munitions, that was even less of an issue.

After years of fighting, Saudi had spent not one hundred billion but at least eighty billion in Yemen and still hadn’t won, so sending some basic rifles and rocket launchers was trivial, not even worth mentioning.

If you asked who lost out in this deal, the answer would be no one, everyone won.

Gathering briefly in Gao Yi’s room was official business, but after the official matters were discussed, the specific private matters naturally required separate conversations.

Collaboration was collaboration, but since it was the first time working together and no one knew how it would end, trust was given but still limited.

Once the direction was set, everyone quickly dispersed, and then it was time for each to have a private chat with Gao Yi.

As the financier and a half-host, Abdulla was the first to have a private chat with Gao Yi.

"This operation, if successful, would be wonderful!"

Abdulla was only loyal; as the entire operation was mostly carried out under Prince Shaman’s directions, Abdulla’s pursuit was simply to do his best to succeed.

"Can we truly develop Panetta into a ’mole’?"

Abdulla was hopeful yet not very confident, for a simple reason—previously, the National Intelligence Bureau was a subordinate unit of the CIA, unable to keep any secrets; now, attempting to subvert the CIA’s top echelon was a herculean task, let alone turning Panetta into our informant would be a great victory in itself.

If they could become roughly equal partners, not just Abdulla, even Shaman would wake up laughing.

Gao Yi whispered, "Forget the mole, but getting Panetta to be our informant and tip us off, that’s definitely doable."

"Isn’t that what a mole is?"

It seemed so, but a true mole would be completely under control, which clearly was unrealistic with Panetta.

"Um, think of him as an ally, not a mole."

Abdulla nodded, then whispered, "We will definitely cooperate fully this time; about the operational funds, don’t worry—I’ll give you a figure, within 500 million USD, you don’t need to consult His Highness, I can decide on my own."

Five hundred million.

Gao Yi hesitated for a moment before finally deciding it felt better to make the money himself rather than asking directly from Shaman.

"Thank you for His Highness’s trust and support."

Gao Yi, very aware of who to thank, even when facing Abdulla.

Abdulla nodded and said, "I’ll leave now, we can have another private chat later, they will definitely want to discuss details with you, I’ll take my leave first."

After seeing Abdulla off, it wasn’t long before Joelson came hurriedly.

He closed the door, a nervous Joelson spoke urgently, "Now I fully believe in your ability, I know your network is terrifyingly vast, but here’s the problem, isn’t this too brazen?"

"Brazen?"

Gao Yi thought carefully, then genuinely curious, responded, "Brazen in what way?"

"Does the military need to deliver the goods personally? This just doesn’t seem reasonable."

Gao Yi spoke in a low voice, "Just like the CIA might intercept our arms, the Pentagon takes not only shipment fees but also protection fees; does that make sense now?"

Joelson nodded, then continued, "When I’m in the United States, it won’t be convenient for us to meet, Panetta is very anxious, he even started doubting whether choosing you to deal with Freedom Wind was the right decision; Panetta has already mentioned it twice to Crawford, that if things don’t work out here, we need to cut our losses."

It’s that urgent already; it’s only been two months.

Gao Yi was surprised and said, "Crawford didn’t tell me."

"He didn’t tell me either, I was about to leave today, and Crawford informed me last minute; this guy doesn’t want to lose you as a source of money, but he has no means of pressing you, so his choice was to tell Panetta he had already urged you, and you had already started working."

Gao Yi felt helpless, knowing Crawford was greedy and frivolous but did not expect he would dare to lie about military information to Panetta.

"Crawford isn’t afraid such actions could backfire? Deceiving both superiors and subordinates can lead to serious trouble!"

Joelson sighed helplessly, "Exactly, the issue is he’s like an ostrich sticking his head in the sand, though indirectly taking the pressure off us, he also prevents us from grasping Panetta’s real attitude; frankly, I’m afraid Panetta might arrange someone to silence me, Falke, following a boss like Crawford is truly dangerous."

"It’s alright, we’re starting to act now, tell Crawford that we’ve made significant progress."

Specifically what progress, Gao Yi couldn’t elaborate since he hadn’t fabricated it yet.

After a moment of thought, Gao Yi spoke sternly to Joelson, "Call Crawford, tell him we plan to appear in Baghdad, to draw Freedom Wind to Baghdad and have him inform Panetta as soon as possible."

It was a delaying tactic.

But now, Gao Yi felt the bitter taste of negotiating with a tiger.

Collaborating with Panetta was indeed like negotiating with a tiger; thinking through it, the benefits weren’t substantial, but the disadvantages were becoming apparent quickly.

Fortunately, he hadn’t shared the real bottom line with Panetta.

Panetta, lofty and impatient, and Crawford, greedy and daring, were typical examples of being inept but causing more harm, with Joelson having little influence and not being very useful,

How could dealings with the CIA be so difficult?

While Gao Yi pondered, Joelson whispered, "We need to remove Crawford soon, not that I want his position, but his presence is too dangerous, I have no idea what kind of excuses he would come up with under Panetta’s pressure, his behavior is unpredictable and too risky."

"This time, figure out a way to directly remove him, you must contact Panetta directly, but how..."