Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 332 - 316: Capture

Chapter 332: Chapter 316: Capture

"Ten million lured Crawford, five thousand minus three thousand, a mere twenty million settled Panetta."

CIA’s top boss, not so high standards after all.

Since Panetta had Crawford out of the picture, Gao Yi knew for sure the deal was sealed, a hundred percent done. If he could meet Panetta one more time and really turn him into one of his own, then earn a bit more money, get Panetta deeper into the trap and then close the lid, that would add another deputy director of the CIA as a partner.

Don’t mention the term mole—it sounds so ugly.

Like pulling a tiger’s skin to make a banner, but in the end, tying the tiger to the flagpole, the deal was firm.

Now, Panetta was even initiating inquiries about whether to replace his partners, all because the informants on the intelligence line were cautious, knowing that contacts maintained through a single line should not be replaced easily. Otherwise, Panetta would have definitely put his own trusted people in place.

Now Gao Yi had to make sure Joelson became Panetta’s confidant.

But at this moment, to have Joelson start working directly under Panetta, and to make Panetta feel that Joelson was reliable, that would require a bit of skill.

Look it up in a history book, no, it’s more convenient now, just search online, there are thousands of skills or mature case studies to refer to.

Gao Yi knew many idioms about employing the right person, like "visiting the thatched cottage three times," "Lord Zhou spewing food," "buying horse bones for a thousand gold pieces," and numerous others.

Americans think differently from Easterners, and their criteria for recognizing talent are not quite the same, but human nature is the same at the core, whether Eastern or Western. Only that Americans are a bit cruder and more direct.

So keeping Joelson, recommending him, and having Panetta make extensive use of him, the first thing was that Gao Yi must absolutely not recommend Joelson.

To flaunt by first suppressing, to welcome by first rejecting.

"Change of personnel? If possible, it’s best to change," said Gao Yi, initially using a very welcoming and certain tone to align with Panetta’s proactive friendliness.

Just as Panetta was about to speak, Gao Yi quickly continued, "Joelson can be a bit rigid. His capability... is okay, but he doesn’t know how to adapt. Many problems could be easily solved with some flexibility, but he is too stubborn, too rigid, and this is not good for our long-term cooperation."

Gao Yi’s tone carried a slight dissatisfaction, but he did not point out any fatal flaws in Joelson. Stubbornness and rigidity, on Panetta’s side, might be considered strengths.

My poison, their honey.

To Gao Yi, it was rigidity and an inability to adapt; to Panetta, wasn’t it just sticking to principles and not willing to be corrupted along with Gao Yi?

That’s a strength, a great strength.

But that was not enough. Panetta could just send someone extremely loyal and completely under his control to maintain the connection with Gao Yi, and still achieve the same effect.

So Gao Yi continued, "But the timing is too tight now, we’re about to take action, changing personnel now might delay our operation. How about this, let Joelson coordinate with me to complete this operation, and immediately change personnel after it’s done, would that work?"

Unsatisfied, but acceptable. There’s no need to change commanders mid-battle, but the person must be removed afterward.

Panetta listened and felt that Joelson was so suitable to continue being an informant.

"Um, that’s fine. Regarding the choice of the informant, we can discuss it later. For a long-term cooperation, the choice of informant is indeed very important."

"Good, then we’ll stay in touch."

The call disconnected, and Gao Yi let out a breath.

Joelson couldn’t help but say, "You... how... If I’m replaced, I might die!"

Panetta initially used a definite tone of changing personnel immediately, which means he could change personnel right away. But after Gao Yi complained a bit and agreed in principle to change personnel, Panetta also shifted to a negotiable stance.

This was a subtle change in attitude, an age-old Eastern wisdom subtly demonstrated once again.

The problem was Joelson didn’t understand.

Now, Joelson was not only worried about being kicked out by Gao Yi and Panetta, he was more worried about Panetta silencing him.

Gao Yi had to explain, speaking to Joelson, "By speaking this way, your position as a single-line contact informant is secured. If I said there’s no need to change, that you’re very good, do you believe Panetta would immediately send someone to replace you?"

It’s just a different way of thinking, not a difference in intelligence, so after Gao Yi reminded him, Joelson thought for a moment and finally said, "Oh, I understand!"

Joelson looked as if he had an epiphany, and Luca, who had been frowning all along, but as soon as Joelson said he understood, Luca almost simultaneously relaxed his brow, expressing surprise, "Right, that’s it, impressive!"

Luca wasn’t good at boot-licking, so his praise was genuine, though staying with Feng Biao, he never, to put it exactly, was willing to flatter others.

Gao Yi spoke very seriously to Joelson, "I’ve paved the way for you, created the conditions. Whether you can gain Panetta’s recognition, whether you can move from being Crawford’s man to Panetta’s confidant, that depends on your capability. Frankly speaking, if you don’t perform well, my stance here is useless. And if I told Panetta that no one but you would do, I guess you’d be killed very quickly."

Joelson nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand, I get it. Before, I was Crawford’s man, I had no connection with Panetta. Whether I can become Panetta’s man in the future, that depends on my performance."

"Take out your phone, Panetta should be calling you soon. Do you know what to say?"

Joelson quickly went to the refrigerator to fetch his cell phone, then he said to Gao Yi, "What’s the plan?"

"One principle, you can never become one of us," Gao Yi declared. "To make Panetta trust you, you must appear as someone without a backing, without a foundation, merely an ordinary subordinate of Crawford, bound to follow Crawford to the end. If Panetta probes how you would deal with Crawford, remember, never kick a man when he is down. You must protect Crawford to the death!"

Joelson responded with surprise, "Why? Why should I speak well of Crawford?"

At that moment, Joelson’s phone rang; indeed, Panetta had called him without delay.

Gao Yi hurriedly said, "No one likes a traitor who betrays their master for glory! A traitor must die! Remember my words, remember!"

Joelson nodded and answered the call.

As expected, Panetta asked Joelson many questions, especially about his plans and how he had been operating with Crawford, but he did not go into much detail about the entire operation. Later, Panetta began to inquire about Joelson’s credentials.

It would be trivial for Panetta to obtain Joelson’s information and credentials; from the day Joelson entered the CIA, Panetta could definitely know everything clearly. The only reason Panetta was unaware was that he had not paid special attention to Joelson before.

Previously, Joelson was just consumable material; now, whether he could upgrade from consumables to components depended on Joelson’s own abilities.

Before, even if Panetta contacted Joelson, the calls never lasted more than two minutes, just asking briefly to clarify the situation and that was it, even after disregarding Crawford.

Now, the fact that Panetta was willing to spend more than ten minutes on the phone, asking about Joelson’s personal resume, which could be accessed at any time, indicated that he had developed a keen interest in Joelson.

He asked where Joelson went to school, how he entered the CIA, and what jobs he had done, but when Joelson was responding normally to these questions, Panetta suddenly threw a hard-hitting question.

"What do you think of Crawford?"

Joelson fell silent; he didn’t know how to answer, so he looked at Gao Yi.

Gao Yi spread his hands, indicating that Joelson should decide how to answer.

Silence was also a response.

After about five seconds of silence, Joelson finally said, "Mr. Crawford is my superior, and he is a good boss."

A proper response, saying good things, but the few seconds of silence indicated that this wasn’t Joelson’s true feeling.

Panetta didn’t change his tone and suddenly asked, "How much money did you receive?"

Joelson fell silent again; he wasn’t flustered but after about ten seconds, he replied in a low voice, "I didn’t receive any money, sir, not a single dollar!"

Gao Yi had given Crawford ten million, but he hadn’t given Joelson anything, and what’s more, Crawford hadn’t given Joelson a dime either.

It was unimaginable and incomprehensible.

Panetta asked indifferently, "Then how much did Crawford receive?"

Crawford had received ten million, Joelson had seen it all and he knew it clearly; if he revealed that now, Crawford would be finished.

This time Joelson responded without hesitation, "Nothing, he didn’t take any money!"

There was no room for hesitation or doubt; even if Panetta had all the evidence against Crawford, that evidence couldn’t come from Joelson. What he needed to do was to keep his mouth shut and remain absolutely loyal.

Panetta said calmly, "You know I can easily find out."

"Nothing!"

Joelson’s response was too rigid, but that was exactly the stiffness needed.

Loyalty must be absolute; to catch the favor of a high-ranking person, one must never be a traitor. That is an absolute principle.

Joelson didn’t say much, but his attitude was firm.

However, Panetta, seated high in the hierarchy, knew how to quickly extract words from Joelson with his rhetoric; this being the advantage of someone in a high position, as long as Joelson had to answer his questions.

"From what I know, Busan, with whom you cooperated, must have given you money. Saying you didn’t receive any money is incorrect. So tell me, what advantages did Busan promise you, and how?"

You may not have received it, but you must have gotten some benefits. Now tell.

Joelson gasped and hesitated for a long while before finally saying, "I haven’t received anything, no, I... really didn’t receive any money."

"Tell the truth, don’t insult my intelligence."

Listening to Panetta’s words, Joelson took a deep breath and spoke softly, "Mr. Crawford and I will benefit afterward, but we haven’t taken any money yet, none!"

Panetta was silent for a moment, then he spoke softly, "Come back here, I have something to tell you. The Yemen plan is about to proceed, and we don’t have time to waste. Make it quick."

These were merely instructions that could be spoken over the phone; Panetta asked Joelson to come back because he wanted to test him in person, which indicated that Joelson had officially caught Panetta’s eye.

Now, the CIA was infiltrated with Gao Yi’s people from top to bottom.