Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 340 - 324: Found It

Chapter 340: Chapter 324: Found It

Since Gao Yi was the financier, when and how personnel would enter the field was of course up to him.

However, once on site, how personnel were specifically deployed and how firepower was set up had to be determined by the participating mercenary groups themselves.

Mercenaries exchanged their lives for money, and while paid to do a job, they weren’t purely cannon fodder; thus, if Gao Yi were to put them in a position only to hold off death or use them as bait to attract fire, they would surely refuse.

Fortunately, the mercenaries chosen this time were of high quality and commanded high prices. The War Axe Mercenary Group comprised mostly seasoned veterans, while about half of the Lego Mercenary Group were Russians and Eastern Europeans, with the remaining half being Iraqis and Syrians. Although their attire was not uniform, they were fully equipped for individual combat. In Baghdad, their appearance might not compare with professional PMCs from the United States, but in terms of combat capability, they were definitely not lacking.

Most importantly, these men understood the rules and would not partake in any disorderly conduct.

Gao Yi was ready.

Luca received a phone call.

Luca was at the container terminal in Aden Port, Yemen, which mainly featured RoRo ships, despite being a container terminal.

Abdulla was also there.

The ship had arrived at the port the day before, but it had not started unloading because it was waiting for Gao Yi’s arrangements to be in place.

The operation was indeed rushed, and the timing was tight; it required coordination from both sides.

After hanging up the phone, Luca looked slightly nervous as he said to Abdulla, "They’re ready on their end."

Abdulla, on the other hand, seemed very eager, as he only needed to provide funding for this operation, and it wasn’t even his own money.

"Shall we start the handover?"

Luca nodded slightly and whispered, "Let’s begin."

The transaction wasn’t a one-time payment; Abdulla had already paid eighty million earlier. Otherwise, Gao Yi would have lacked even the funds to hire mercenaries. Now, it was just a matter of Abdulla making the final payment at the port.

The ship was sent by the Pentagon. Fifty million dollars couldn’t be taken lightly, and though the ship was registered in Panama and was a small RoRo ship of only five thousand tons, it belonged to Deyang International.

Deyang International was one of the largest private military companies in the world, with most of its business coming from the Pentagon. In essence, Guerra paved a financial path for the Pentagon, which then asked Deyang International to find a ship, resulting in this vessel being sent.

Everything was legal and above board, invisible to the public eye, but to those in the know, it was clear that the ship was backed by the Pentagon. It was all connections and favours; a phone call could manage the job, with the Pentagon paying a few hundred thousand dollars in freight, a pure profit of nearly forty-nine million dollars.

Truck-mounted guns rolled straight off the RoRo ship—a convenient operation indeed.

This was unloading, and there would be loading to manage soon.

Yemen had become a mess, but Aden Port remained firmly under the control of the Yemeni government army, which was really more of a Saudi mercenary force.

Yemen now depended entirely on Saudi support, with the Saudi headquarters located at Aden Port. The Saudis had purchased several artillery pieces from France, but those in charge sold many more, which was considered perfectly reasonable.

Luca felt it was about time, and he whispered to Abdulla following proper business customs, "By the rules, you should take ten percent, twenty million. Shall I transfer it to you, or would you prefer cash?"

Abdulla receiving a kickback was not part of the plan.

Abdulla was surprised and whispered back, "What do you mean?"

Although Luca loved money and was stingy, he knew which money to take and which to give away. So he whispered, "It’s an understanding. You should have your share, so this isn’t part of the plan; this is how it’s done."

Abdulla hesitated.

He seriously considered for a moment and then shook his head, whispering, "Thank you, I understand your meaning, but I can’t accept."

It wasn’t false modesty; Abdulla truly couldn’t accept. Giving kickbacks was customary, but Abdulla’s most critical trait was his loyalty. If he accepted the kickback, it symbolized compromised loyalty.

Not accepting was to avoid jeopardizing greater interests. Of course, Luca had to offer it; failing to do so would demonstrate ignorance, a fault on Gao Yi’s part as well.

Now that Luca had offered and Abdulla had declined, everyone was content and relieved.

Luca took out a cell phone from his pocket, a device he had used to access the Dark Web, then whispered to Abdulla, "It’s time to say the word. You first."

Abdulla nodded, glanced at the cargo still waiting to be loaded onto the ship, took a deep breath, and said, "Hello, Bee."

Luca swallowed and, with deliberate clarity, responded, "I am not a Bee. I am a Moth!"

"Moth," the keyword.

No phone call was made, but Luca knew his phone had recognized the keyword.

Nothing unusual happened; the phone remained off in Luca’s hand as he continued standing at the dock, face-to-face with Abdulla.

Luca slipped the phone back into his pocket; actually, there was no need to take it out, but since it was his first time activating surveillance, he felt it was safer to do so.

Abdulla whispered, "Oh, are you ’Moth’? Then the ’Bee’ who contacted me before wasn’t you?"

"’Bee’ is a thing of the past. The Garden and Sky Garden no longer exist; we are now Secret Garden, and my codename is ’Moth.’"

When the word "moth" triggered the NSA’s sensitive words system, Luca’s phone in the background started sending data about his location, time, and phone information automatically to the NSA’s global surveillance system.

The NSA system sent this Dark Web-focused information automatically to the Dark Web.

At this time, there was no recording or video yet; the information sent only appeared as a red exclamation mark, alerting the Dark Web’s manual reviewers to discern the authenticity and importance of the message.

But then Abdulla said "moth" again.

At this point, the phone began to automatically record video and audio but had not yet sent the information back.

But then Luca mentioned "garden," then he mentioned "Sky Garden" again, followed by "Bee," and finally "Moth."

These words combined together didn’t need saying—it was top priority; the phone instantly utilized all its performance and bandwidth to pack and send this ten-second audio clip.

The NSA received the packet and then automatically forwarded it to the Dark Web.

In the server room of the Dark Web, a frantic beeping sound began, along with a conspicuous red light starting to blink.

This was no longer just sending an exclamation mark; a similarly marked message was one among thousands, and although they all required manual opening, nobody would seriously look at it once.

But when the alarm sounded and the red light blinked, everyone knew something big had happened.

The voice packet containing "Bee," "Moth," "Garden," and "Sky Garden" forcefully appeared on all reviewers’ computer screens.

Click, listen.

An auditor wearing a headset suddenly took it off, shouting, "Garden! Moth! Found it! We found the Garden!"

The shouting man quickly dashed out of the server room, and the highest-ranking person in the office insisted immediately, "Take manual control, monitor, monitor all his calls, retrieve all call logs, online records, retrieve everything—fast! Pay attention to speed, don’t let the phone battery heat up, lock the phone battery data, avoid generating extra traffic."

In this digital age, there are no secrets online.

It didn’t take days, hours, or even minutes; just a few seconds, and Luca’s phone began uploading everything from his phone.

Lock down the battery info, so even if Luca’s phone had to be turned off, the battery wouldn’t drop a bar.

Generate no traffic, so even if Luca’s phone plan charged ten thousand dollars per KB, under this worldwide monitoring framework, he wouldn’t need to pay a penny in data charges.

Ensure Luca wouldn’t notice any unusual data charges when paying his phone bill.

It was just too automated, too secretive, so much so that Luca wasn’t sure if his words were being monitored.

At this point, the CIA finally made its entrance.

Two sedans sped towards the docks, the cars stopped, and then a man in plain clothes hurried up to Luca, glanced at Abdulla, then at Luca, and said sternly, "You dare to steal coalition munitions!"

They were just looking for trouble, and furthermore, the CIA had no law enforcement authority here, besides, this was Yemen.

Abdulla bluntly said, "How did you get in here? I don’t care who you are, leave immediately, or else..."

Abdulla couldn’t finish his sentence when the man haughtily said, "CIA, we suspect this arms smuggling is funding Houthi’s Arms."

With that said, the next steps were ready.

Abdulla turned to Luca, "Don’t worry, I’ll handle this."

Luca turned and walked away, and after he was some distance away, he dialed Gao Yi on his phone.

Gao Yi answered the call, and then he whispered, "Hello."

Luca didn’t state who he was, he just whispered, "Trouble, the CIA suddenly showed up; they seem unclear about our identities, probably not targeting me, but how would the CIA know about this deal? Could the Saudis be playing tricks?"

Gao Yi whispered back, "Keep an eye out, wait for further news, be ready to evacuate at any moment."

"Got it, understood."

The call ended.

Neither Gao Yi nor Luca disclosed their identities; their conversation was simply two acquaintances talking—no need for codenames.

Of course, this call was fully monitored.

In the Dark Web’s server room, a cheer erupted, followed by someone shouting, "Location locked, Baghdad! Baghdad! Sky Garden, we finally found them!"