Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 334 - 318: Across Circles

Chapter 334: Chapter 318: Across Circles

Baghdad.

Gao Yi once again led a life of disguise.

Not being able to show his face wasn’t about losing face or nerve, but because Lucy had rushed in from the United States with all of Gao Yi’s makeup supplies. Now, Gao Yi had to wear makeup every day, with no fingerprints, revealing his true face to no one easily.

There was work to be done, so trust had to be placed in reliable insiders. Feng Biao and Lin Xianghua both hurried over, but this time Gao Yi didn’t call Li Jie because he felt there was no use in doing so.

This time, come what may, Gao Yi and his crew wouldn’t be the ones engaging directly in combat, whether they used mercenaries or followed Grasse’s suggestion to bring Russians into the fold. Thus, there was no need to involve Li Jie.

Baghdad was a familiar place, having visited it a few times before, but Gao Yi wasn’t well acquainted with the local mercenary market.

Feng Biao and Lin Xianghua had both been mercenaries, so Gao Yi decided to wait for their arrival before choosing a mercenary group.

Since Grasse had suggested bringing in the Russians, he surely had his reasons.

The mercenary market in Baghdad was indeed substantial, yet most of it was dominated by Americans, primarily consisting of PMC companies handling big contracts like oil field security, various security tasks within the Green Zone, convoy protection, and providing training to the Iraqi military forces.

Yet, as an area plagued by perennial conflict, Baghdad or Iraq as a whole never lacked mercenaries, and those factions available for smaller gigs were mostly Russians or Eastern Europeans.

As for the KGB, Gao Yi certainly wasn’t familiar with them, but as the head of the Pentagon’s intelligence operations in Baghdad, if Grasse didn’t control some KGB contacts, he shouldn’t play the boss.

But establishing connections with the Russians required Gao Yi’s personal involvement, because it was inconvenient for Grasse to come forward, and even if he did, the Russians wouldn’t readily trust him.

"There are two people in Baghdad with close ties to both mercenaries and the KGB," one, the largest mercenary intermediary, who managed to secure smaller gigs from the American agencies, so he was familiar with almost all the mercenary groups. His name is Peterlov, a Russian of Belgian descent, but I know he was closely involved with the KGB during his time in Belgium.

"The other is Sherkin, an Eastern European and a member of the Gwana Group. On the surface, he has no ties to the KGB, but I’m certain he’s a outsourced operative fostered by the KGB, his identity and background are very complex, I suspect he’s on some secret mission targeting the Gwana Group."

Both could connect Gao Yi to the mercenaries he was seeking.

After Grasse finished, he placed a slip of paper with numbers on it in front of Gao Yi and continued, "All mercenaries, without knowing the specific identity of their target, will do anything, and fight anyone. But if they find out their target is a CIA agent, it’s likely they’ll get scared, refuse to fight or even withdraw from the mission. Anything could happen during combat. If Freedom Wind has a chance to reveal their identity, it could lead to a reversal in the battle. But with the Russians, this problem is almost non-existent."

The reason they couldn’t use an American-backed mercenary group was exactly this, because earning money is one thing, but surviving to spend it is another. Offending the CIA meant endless troubles, and obviously, American-backed groups had more to worry about.

But the Russians were different. Even though recently, the United States was much stronger than Russia, if Russians fought and were paid, they could simply return to their country. As long as they earned enough money in one go, no matter what, they wouldn’t leave Russia again.

Gao Yi took the slip, saving the contact information, then asked Grasse, "How can we involve the KGB?"

"Just use these two people with a Russian-backed mercenary group, and the KGB will already be involved."

Grasse smiled slyly, "Hoping that the KGB will send people directly is impossible. Direct KGB involvement would mean a completely different thing. We want to muddy the waters using Russian identities, there always needs to be a blatant scapegoat, and the Russians are the best choice."

"So who should I specifically contact out of these two?"

"Just follow market logic, see which of them has stronger capabilities, offers a lower price, and choose whoever you prefer. You don’t need to go through the Dark Web to contact them; that’s a significant advantage."

Gao Yi nodded, stood up, and shook hands with Grasse as they said their goodbyes.

Handling things in Baghdad was still convenient, much more so.

Once out of Grasse’s office, inside the car, after meeting up with Feng Biao and Lin Xianghua, Gao Yi took out the slip and said, "Grasse gave two choices, both linked to the KGB. Contact both, and then decide whether to work with one or both. Brother Biao, who first?"

Feng Biao glanced at the slip, pondered for a moment, and said, "I wasn’t exactly a mercenary group leader before, I don’t have the standing to directly contact Peterlov, but I’ve heard of him, uh, he’s quite familiar with Sholov."

Speaking of which, they were all acquaintances.

Gao Yi had taken on the task of assassinating Sayib, thereby meeting Feng Biao, while Feng Biao was at that time employed by Sholov to take out Sayib.

Baghdad was only so big; the underworld of Baghdad was even smaller, and it all came full circle to these same few people.

"Then let’s start with Peterlov. Does he know you?"

Feng Biao pondered for a moment, then he said somewhat awkwardly, "I haven’t met him, but I guess he has heard of the nickname ’Wind Vane,’ it’s quite famous."

How could it not be famous? A well-known sniper in the mercenary circle, yet also infamously known as ’Wind Vane’. At the first sign of trouble, he would immediately flee, no longer wanted by any Mercenary Group, forced to work as a freelance mercenary taking odd jobs. If this weren’t famous, Feng Biao wouldn’t have ended up in such a predicament.

Moreover, originally a mercenary, he had now infiltrated the Secret Action Bureau’s operations team. It was Gao Yi who directly supported him up there, and everyone including Peter knew about ’Wind Vane.’ It was impossible for the biggest Mercenary Agency in Baghdad not to know.

In the assassin circle, no one knew about ’Wind Vane,’ but in the mercenary circle, he was notoriously well-known, the kind that nearly couldn’t afford meals.

In the assassin circle, as a professional sniper, he hadn’t made any notable reputation, but he thrived by providing services that precisely offered emotional value. He not only made a lot of money but also gained the favor of important figures.

This is like women fearing marrying the wrong man, and men fearing choosing the wrong profession. If Feng Biao had become an assassin earlier, he wouldn’t have had to fear being recognized by everyone.

Gao Yi thought for a while and said, "Maybe you shouldn’t go after all."

Feng Biao nodded slightly, whispering, "I’ll try not to show my face to avoid being recognized, but it doesn’t matter if I am, right? No one knows I’ve joined Sky Garden."

"It’s true," Gao Yi said, "but just to be safe. However, I can’t speak Russian."

"No problem, they all speak English."

With just a few words decided upon, Gao Yi extended his hand, and Lin Xianghua immediately handed him a never-before-used phone. Gao Yi entered Peterlov’s number.

Ever since he knew the Dark Web could monitor keywords, Gao Yi now avoided using phones that had accessed the Dark Web whenever possible.

The call was quickly answered. The person on the line, upon seeing that the phone number was a local number from Baghdad, greeted him in Arabic.

Gao Yi understood Arabic now, but to clarify his identity, he responded softly in English, "Hello, is this Peterlov?"

The person on the phone hesitated for a moment before switching to English, "Hello, I am Peterlov."

"Hello, I’m looking to hire someone for a job. I’ve long heard of your reputation, so I came to you directly."

Gao Yi was vague, as he couldn’t directly mention on the phone that he was looking to hire mercenaries for major tasks.

Peterlov, knowing the protocol, politely said, "You’ve come to the right person. Is it convenient to talk in person?"

"Convenient, can we meet now?"

"Of course, of course. Can we meet in the Green Zone?"

Peterlov gave an address, all within the Green Zone, and not far away; it was a mere five-minute drive, so without further ado, Gao Yi headed straight there.

Peterlov didn’t stay in a hotel; he had a mansion in the Green Zone, a villa by the river with a garden, which showcased his financial power.

Except for the two local armed security guards at the gate, Peterlov surprisingly didn’t have any bodyguards. This was understandable; hiring gate security was for basic safety, but as an agency, having a dozen armed bodyguards would make people suspect he often embezzled money, thus needing lots of protection.

An agent shouldn’t be too ostentatious; maintaining affability was key, but underestimating Peterlov’s power and thinking he was easy to bully would be foolish.

Gao Yi entered Peterlov’s villa alone and arrived in the thoroughly air-conditioned living room, where he met Peterlov in person.

Even as a mercenary agency, even meeting in his own villa, Peterlov still dressed in the classic agency style: striped suit, white shirt, around forty years old, slightly slim build, neither tall nor fat, and no big beard, not looking much like a typical Russian.

Clearly a big shot, yet he looked like a real estate agent, which was somewhat interesting.

Peterlov waited at the living room entrance to greet Gao Yi. As they shook hands, his gaze briefly dropped to Gao Yi’s hand, then he smiled and said, "Welcome, and thank you for your trust. How may I address you?"

Gao Yi had fingerprint patches on his hand, and you couldn’t fool the experts with a handshake, but if someone recognized Gao Yi’s fingerprint patches during a handshake, they often wouldn’t show it.

However, after feeling the anomaly on Gao Yi’s hand, Peterlov didn’t hide this realization but deliberately glanced at Gao Yi’s hand, indicating to Gao Yi that he had seen through his disguise.

Gao Yi wasn’t afraid of Peterlov seeing through him. Smiling, he said, "Warhammer Mercenary Group, Wind Knight."