Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 327 - 311 Perfect Closure

Chapter 327: Chapter 311 Perfect Closure

"It’s not difficult for those who know how, and impossible for those who don’t."

To Gao Yi, what he couldn’t figure out was a piece of cake for Grasse.

Now, the only problem seemed to be that Joelson was left out in the cold.

Before long, Crawford called back, his voice tense with urgency, "Regarding the funds, I’ve made the report, but the outcome might not meet your expectations, twenty million is a bit too much."

Gao Yi asserted gravely, "Twenty million is the baseline. You can’t expect me to settle for just that. I’m taking a huge risk here; I should at least make some profit."

Crawford whispered, "That... might take some time."

Gao Yi continued, "It needs to be fast, it has to be fast. I’ve already made contacts on my end, and only when the funds are in place can we proceed to the next step."

"Hmm, couldn’t you just finish the job first?"

With an impatient tone, Gao Yi retorted, "Give me a hundred men; if I had enough hands, I wouldn’t need the money."

"We can’t provide the men, but the funds..."

No money, no manpower, just making demands – Gao Yi didn’t even need to articulate his frustrations; Crawford himself was already embarrassed by his own words.

"It might be necessary for you to explain to the higher-ups yourself about how the money will be used. Just wait a moment."

The call was disconnected again.

Grasse murmured softly, "I can guarantee he hasn’t mentioned the funding issue to Panetta. Panetta would either agree to provide the funding outright or reject it flatly. There’d be no hemming and hawing like now."

Gao Yi asked, "So Panetta definitely wouldn’t agree to twenty million, right?"

"Of course, he won’t agree because it’s not that twenty million isn’t available, but if it were to be given in the name of operational funds, that’s where the problem lies. What operation needs twenty million? If it’s not from official funds, you expect Panetta to pay out of his pocket? That’s even more unlikely. The best solution is for you to front the money yourself, and then Panetta compensates you in other ways for your losses."

After Grasse finished speaking, he spread his hands and said, "Crawford doesn’t have the means to compensate you for the losses, so he’s still hesitating, thinking over solutions, dragging things out, wasting time. Eventually, he’ll have to pass the problem on to his superiors. Don’t bother thinking about how to deal with him anymore. Just from this phone call, you can tell he’ll soon be out of the way and not be able to interfere."

Crawford was still being an obstructionist, the most infuriating kind of guy, clogging up the communication between the top and bottom, wasting time.

And to think, how could Panetta have taken a liking to Crawford?

Two minutes later, Gao Yi’s phone rang again with an unfamiliar, ordinary number.

Gao Yi answered the call, then he heard a very gentle voice say, "Hello, Wind Knight."

"Hello."

"You’re planning to act, but you need the funds to do so, right?"

The call must have been from Panetta. He didn’t introduce himself, went straight to the point, and directly asked about the money.

Gao Yi replied without hesitation, "Yes, I’ve already taken a big risk, but I can’t be expected to front the costs myself. At least 30 million dollars is needed. With this money, I can recruit enough manpower to set a trap. Without it, I can’t succeed on my own."

After a brief silence, Panetta paused for a moment and then said, "Tell me your plan. If I find it feasible, I’ll provide the funds."

Panetta was actually willing to pay?

Surprised, Gao Yi glanced at Grasse. Grasse couldn’t make a sound; he thought for a moment, waved his hand, and mouthed the word ’refuse.’

Gao Yi immediately responded, "Sorry, I can’t disclose that."

Panetta continued with the same gentle tone, "Then forget it."

Grasse immediately gestured, mouthing the words, "Time, think it over, just think."

In the call, Gao Yi said, "No, may I have a moment to think it over? Can you give me five minutes to consider it?"

"Okay, I’ll give you one minute to think it over, and I want your answer after one minute."

The call ended.

Gao Yi looked at Grasse, who said with a worried expression, "Trouble now. Panetta has too many resources at his disposal. If he reallocates funds from a secret operation, or simply fabricates you as a part of a secret operation, he could manage to give you 30 million dollars."

One minute was too short. Gao Yi asked urgently, "What should I do?"

"Panetta is determined to deal with Freedom Wind. We can only play on that angle. As for the money... you’ll have to make something up, there’s too little time, I can’t think of a perfect plan!"

Grasse knew how things worked, but he couldn’t come up with a plausible, believable lie in his haste.

The test of quick wit had arrived.

Joelson said urgently, "A destructive feature is still a feature, an imperfect plan is still a plan, as long as there’s a plan, that’s fine. The plan represents your attitude. Incompetence is a matter of ability, you can be incompetent, but you must treat the tasks given by your superiors as the most important thing!"

Gao Yi and Grasse looked at Joelson in surprise, as Joelson grimaced and said, "Wind Vane taught me three principles of promotion, and I thought they might be useful."

A minute passed, and Gao Yi’s phone rang again.

On answering the call, Panetta said indifferently, "So, ready to talk?"

Without hesitation, Gao Yi said, "Freedom Wind is my threat, and I’m willing to deal with it, but it’s hard for me. I must use myself as bait. I don’t know if I can lure Freedom Wind to Baghdad, but I have relatively stronger forces there, a more convenient environment."

"Yes, I’m listening."

After thinking a bit, Gao Yi continued, "My way of exposing myself will be through an arms deal in Baghdad. I’ve found a source of arms, and I’ll be dealing with a buyer there. At this time, the CIA notices this weapons trade and discovers me. Since the CIA has found me, Freedom Wind should be able to make it, right? Then, I’ll have traps set up in advance. As soon as Freedom Wind shows up, I’ll strike. That’s my plan."

An imperfect plan is still a plan. Gao Yi’s words were very simple, the plan rough, but as long as this plan could potentially draw out Freedom Wind, that was enough.

That’s correct.

Panetta was silent for a moment before saying, "I believe you do have this plan."

"Of course, by taking care of Freedom Wind, my own situation could improve."

"There are arms deals every day in Baghdad. What makes you think yours will attract the attention of the CIA, of Freedom Wind?"

Without hesitation, Gao Yi retorted, "What? Isn’t that part of your plan? I’m the bait, also the hunter, but isn’t it Joelson’s responsibility to tip off the CIA and get Freedom Wind to pay attention to me?"

Gao Yi didn’t answer Panetta’s question but pulled Joelson into the mix instead.

Since they wanted to have Joelson replace Crawford, then it was only right that Joelson be put to use.

Joelson always seemed dispensable, but now Gao Yi’s statement made it impossible for Panetta not to focus on him.

Sure enough, Panetta’s tone changed slightly as he asked, "Hmm, it seems I don’t have all the information. Joelson... is Joelson working with you?"

"Who else? Sir, I don’t know your identity. Joelson always refuses to reveal it, so I’m not very confident about our cooperation. And to be honest, Freedom Wind is a big threat to me, but not yet fatal. If it gets too bad, I could just hide out somewhere and retire."

After speaking in an obviously dissatisfied tone, Gao Yi continued bluntly, "I’m staking my own life, I even have to share a large part of the money I earned with you, and then, I also have to pay for hiring people myself? Are you too confident? Do I look like a fool to you? Listen, this isn’t a threat, I just want to tell you directly, if we cooperate, show the proper attitude of cooperation. You pay me, I hire people with the money and solve a common problem for both of us, that’s it, understand?"

Talking to Panetta this way, while knowing who was on the other side, was quite risky for Gao Yi.

But pretending not to know who was on the other end made Gao Yi’s stance completely unproblematic.

Joelson was the doer, Crawford the middleman, and Panetta the decision-maker. Now, the problem was that Panetta, the decision-maker, didn’t know exactly how to handle this situation.

Considering how concerned Panetta was about Freedom Wind, Crawford should have immediately reported any news to him.

So with just a few words, Gao Yi subtly criticized Crawford and elevated Joelson’s importance.

Panetta sighed softly, then spoke in a low voice, "Give me a moment, I may need to understand the situation before making a decision. I apologize; this is my issue. Can we get in touch again in ten minutes?"

From his tone and attitude, one could hardly tell that Panetta held a position of high authority.

But Gao Yi leveraged the opportunity, his impatience evident as he said, "You have ten minutes, if you can decide, then settle this quickly. If you can’t decide, find someone who can talk to me. Honestly, working with you is so troublesome, always delaying, wasting my time. That’s all."

Gao Yi abruptly hung up the call.

Joelson was taken aback, "You, how could you dare..."

Gao Yi said seriously, "This is the right attitude. Now it’s not me who’s wasting time, it’s Crawford. Understand?"

Grasse said seriously, "Panetta should be contacting Joelson now."

Joelson said with a bitter smile, "But I don’t know what to say. What plan do we have?"

Without hesitation, Grasse said, "The simplest approach, don’t take the call. Wait until we come up with a complete plan then you can talk to Panetta."

Gao Yi immediately said, "Let’s include the arms we have detained in Yemen as part of the plan. I only spoke about the handover in Baghdad, so it would be normal for the weapons to come from Yemen, wouldn’t it?"

Joelson urgently said, "That works! I think it’s no problem. I know about the arms deal in Yemen, and there are benefits to it, but if we change the seizure location to Baghdad and let Freedom Wind receive the news in Baghdad, I think the plan is complete and aligned!"