84: Chapter 83 Good News and Bad News 84: Chapter 83 Good News and Bad News Although it was still early, neither Coleman’s company nor the Sandstorm Mercenary Corps launched any further attacks.
Having agreed to wait for a negotiated price before resuming combat, Gao Yang’s makeshift team stayed inside the building, refusing to step outside.
Accompanied by the rumble of explosions, Gao Yang and his comrades hardly rejoined the fight for the entire afternoon.
They occasionally fired a few shots at enemies who suddenly appeared in the street, but after killing two of the opposition, no one else came within their firing range.
Finally, in the late afternoon, Glolov took the initiative to collect money with members from the other two mercenary groups and took the opportunity to negotiate a price increase.
Among Gao Yang’s fellows, only Glolov was familiar with the mercenary trade.
Although the street controlled by Gao Yang’s team wasn’t the site of fierce fighting, there were quite a few opposition snipers, and crossing the streets to the safety zone to collect money was risky.
But the money definitely had to be collected, so after Glolov and seven men from the other two mercenary groups left the building, Gao Yang and the other two were on tenterhooks, fearing that something might happen to Glolov.
While waiting for Glolov’s return, Gao Yang noticed the difference between them and the others, those seasoned mercenaries.
In addition to their visibly tense expressions, the members of the other two mercenary groups seemed unconcerned about their comrades.
Aside from a few individuals on duty for Coleman’s company, dozens of others simply started gambling with a few decks of cards in the lobby, whooping and hollering with glee and showing no signs of being on a battlefield, let alone having lost four comrades today.
Fortunately, Glolov did not keep Gao Yang and the others waiting too long.
He returned after about half an hour with the other two mercenary groups, bringing back a substantial amount of cash.
Seeing their comrade return with money, a cheer went up in the lobby.
Glolov, too, had a face full of joy; upon entering the building, he headed straight for Gao Yang, held up a bag in his hand, and laughed, “The money for today has been collected.
Additionally, I’ve brought back some good news.”
Seeing Glolov return was a relief, and hearing there was good news, Gao Yang smiled and asked, “What good news?
Did we get a raise?”
Glolov shoved the bag into Gao Yang’s hands and laughed, “You know what?
Today, our team made the most progress.
The rules have changed.
There’s US$100,000 in the bag.
We’re going to strike it rich, brother!”
Gao Yang opened the bag, and sure enough, it contained ten bundles of banknotes.
Curiosity piqued, he asked, “Why US$100,000?
What’s changed about the rules?”
“Because of your performance, Gehrman and Sandstorm’s men have been speaking on our behalf.
So, the guy in charge of paying us bumped our rate up to US$10,000 per day.
Of course, that’s for the entire team.
Haha, and it’s no longer a daily payment.
Not only did the price go up, but we also got an advance payment for ten days.
So now we have US$100,000, brother.
It’s fantastic.”
Earning more money was certainly cause for excitement.
Gao Yang eagerly took out the money, saying, “Fantastic, US$25,000 each.
Plus, we can pay back what we owe Rabbit.
Let’s split the money, comrades.”
After explaining the situation to Cui Bo and Li Jinfang in Mandarin, contrary to Gao Yang’s expectations, neither Li Jinfang nor Cui Bo seemed thrilled at the prospect of earning more money.
Li Jinfang simply nodded, acknowledged the information, and showed no further reaction, while Cui Bo was even more dramatic, not even lifting his head, merely fiddling with his AUG and making a comment.
“Brother Yang, I’ve got enough money on me now.
You hold onto it for me.
Later, have Morgan’s son get me the best rifle.
I want a top-notch sniper rifle.
But we’ll see about it when the time comes.”
Gao Yang was left speechless, only able to retort, “Stop it, everyone should hold onto their money themselves.
I’m not handling this.
Later on, we’ll do like in the movies and open a Swiss Bank account, deposit all the money, and then find a way to send it back home.
What sense does it make for you to leave it with me?”
Just as Gao Yang was about to divide the money, Glolov held his hand down firmly, saying in a stern voice, “How do you plan to split the money?”
Gao Yang looked puzzled, “Of course, we’ll split it evenly.
What else is there to talk about?”
Glolov shook his head, “No, we can’t split it evenly.
We’re now a mercenary group.
If we equate our group to a company, we four are the company’s founders, holding the original shares.
As the group leader, or CEO, you should have a thirty percent share.
Each of us three should have twenty percent, and the remaining ten percent should go into the company’s common fund.
Any expenses for everyone’s equipment and activities should come from that ten percent.
If we recruit new members later, it’s us four who will pay the commissions according to our shareholdings.
This is almost the rule for all mercenary groups, quite fair, isn’t it?”
Gao Yang felt that for just four people, splitting whatever they earned evenly was enough, but after hearing Glolov’s explanation, he also thought it made sense.
The only issue was that he would have an extra ten percent share compared to the others, which Gao Yang found somewhat unacceptable.
“Well, you do have a point.
But you be the leader then.
Don’t refuse just yet, hear me out first.
Look, you’re the most experienced.
Without you, we wouldn’t know what to do.
So I think it’s most suitable for you to be the leader, Glolov.”
Golov kept shaking his head and said, “According to what you’re saying, there’s no fun in that, Gao, this time the money each of us should take is you with thirty thousand, then each of us with twenty thousand, and the remaining ten thousand is for you to keep, just that simple.”
Seeing Gao Yang and Golov arguing, Li Jinfang’s face looked somewhat displeased as he said sternly, “Brother Yang, what’s going on?
What’s the Old Russian haggling with you about?”
Gao Yang knew Li Jinfang had misunderstood and quickly said, “The Old Russian insists on giving me more, how could that be right.”
Li Jinfang gave an embarrassed smile and said, “Well, it seems I was the petty one, I thought the Old Russian was asking you for more money, I was thinking, the Old Russian doesn’t seem like that kind of person, ah, I won’t say more, I need to hurry up and learn English.”
After repeating Golov’s words, Gao Yang said with a wry smile, “The Old Russian isn’t wrong, it’s just that I don’t feel it’s right to take an extra share.”
Without saying anything, Li Jinfang took the money from Gao Yang’s hand, handed two stacks to Golov, took two stacks for himself and Cui Bo, and then stuffed the remaining money into Gao Yang’s chest saying, “Boss, make sure you keep your personal and the company’s money safe, stop fussing, do we look like the kind of people who care about money?
Just for the fact that you saved our three lives, it wouldn’t be too much even if you took half.
Alright, we’ll do it this way from now on.”
Of course, Gao Yang, as the boss, couldn’t refuse.
After putting away the money, he suddenly remembered something and immediately asked, “Golov, is the payment for Coleman and Sandstorm the same as ours too?”
Golov shook his head and said, “No, the price for Coleman and Sandstorm is the same as before, but they have bonuses.
The commander sets the targets, then whoever completes them gets the bonus.
Since we can’t complete the attacks on our own, we don’t get bonuses like they do.”
While Gao Yang and Golov were talking, Green Mamba, who had finished distributing the money, came over and greeted Gao Yang and then said in a deep voice, “I’ve got some news, do you guys want to hear it?”
Gao Yang, noticing that Green Mamba’s expression seemed rather grim, immediately said, “What news, let’s hear it.”
Green Mamba said in a low voice, “I have my own channels for information.
My friend told me that this afternoon, NATO planes started bombing.”
There had been no explosion sounds all afternoon, and Gao Yang found it strange for Green Mamba to make such a big deal of something everybody knew, saying, “Hasn’t NATO been bombing for a while now?
Is there a problem?”
Green Mamba shook his head and said, “No, it’s different this time.
This afternoon NATO directly bombed the tanks and artillery of the 32nd Brigade, just on the outskirts of Misrata, very close to us, buddy.
France and Britain have both sent planes, and they’ve started bombing specific small targets.
It’s all over the news; nothing that happens here is a secret.
You can make an international call to check.
The current situation is that the 32nd Brigade has suffered heavy losses, and it’s very likely we won’t get artillery support from them, but the opposition will have air support.”
What Green Mamba said was indeed bad news, and the faces of Gao Yang and Golov darkened in an instant.
The joy of just receiving their commission was greatly diminished by Green Mamba’s bad news.
“What’s your plan?
Are you suggesting we pull out of the fight now?
We just collected ten days’ advance on our salaries, and excluding today, we still have nine days to serve Gaddafi.”
Green Mamba shook his head and said, “No, that’s not what I mean.
The news says NATO won’t send ground troops, and although they have sent some people, it will never be a large-scale force entering, and the bombing won’t be excessively large-scale either, so this is still a low-intensity war.
We’re not at the point of giving up making money just yet.
I just think that as we’re now friends, I should tell you this news, so you don’t unknowingly put yourselves in danger.
Remember, when we decide to leave, that will definitely be the time to give up.”
Gao Yang was pleased to accept the news and the goodwill offered by Green Mamba.
Having an extra friend was definitely a good thing, and after expressing his thanks to Green Mamba, Gao Yang promptly offered to provide all necessary help to Coleman.
Just when their conversation was about to end in a pleasant atmosphere, a violent explosion interrupted the peaceful ambience.
Four consecutive, intense blasts caused a slight tremor under Gao Yang’s feet.
Dust filled the air in the hall where he was standing, and then someone from Coleman screamed at the top of their lungs.
“Rockets!
Take cover!”