926: Chapter Nine Hundred and Sixteen: Accident, or Surprise.
926: Chapter Nine Hundred and Sixteen: Accident, or Surprise.
Generally speaking, Tomler was responsible for specific affairs, such as personally visiting war zones to handle matters, which were usually carried out by agents under his command, like Little Donnie.
Krulney, however, was not an agent; he was Tomler’s assistant, and a crucial one at that.
Tomler had beautiful female assistants, or rather, secretaries, but such so-called assistants were merely decorative items arranged by Tomler himself.
Krulney was different; he was truly Tomler’s assistant.
Tomler’s female assistants would change, but the real assistant would not.
Therefore, Gao Yang had met Krulney twice, and during the second meeting, they even exchanged a few words and Gao received Krulney’s business card.
Krulney was the real man of action by Tomler’s side.
He could represent Tomler; his words carried weight.
Hence, Gao Yang was really unclear about the situation now, but he had no doubt that Krulney could indeed show him what the goods were.
Watching Gao Yang’s surprised expression, Krulney snapped his fingers and laughingly said to Big Beard and Mulafa standing nearby, “Could you open the wagon so my friend can see what’s inside?”
Big Beard truly referred to a specific person here, as, besides the mercenaries and Krulney, everyone else was a big beard.
Krulney spoke in Arabic, which made all the big beards change their expressions.
“Why?
This is not something mercenaries should worry about, right?”
Krulney pointed to Gao Yang and smiled, “My friend is worried that the goods they delivered might have some grave issues.
You know, conventional weapons are no big deal, but if it’s weapons of mass destruction, that’s certainly concerning.
I understand your feelings, but here’s the thing – my friend and his people are quite formidable, very very formidable actually.
We need him, as we have to breach the government forces’ line on our path ahead.
We really need him.”
As Krulney spoke, Eileen quietly translated on the side.
After she finished translating Krulney’s words, Big Beard, who had gotten off the vehicle with Krulney, hesitated briefly before finally saying to Mulafa, “Let them look.”
Mulafa glanced at Gao Yang and then climbed up the truck, saying in a deep voice, “Have a look for yourself, you can look all you want.”
Gao Yang approached the truck, and Eileen, slinging her rifle behind her back, climbed into the wagon with him.
The crates were neatly stacked, and together, Gao Yang and Eileen pulled one out.
The crate was very heavy; even together, Gao Yang and Eileen struggled to lift it.
After placing the crate in the wagon, Gao Yang glanced at it and noticed it was only sealed with two clasps.
He opened the clasps, took a deep breath, lifted the lid of the crate, and immediately smelled a familiar scent of ink.
The crate was full of money, green bills – some people call them US dollars, others prefer to say US currency.
Gao Yang felt surprised once again because this mission seemed to have impaired his judgment.
When he thought it wouldn’t be money inside the crate, it turned out to be exactly that.
Gao Yang and Eileen exchanged glances, both displaying a face full of surprise and confusion.
Then, they both bent down, shuffled through the money in the crate to double-check, and confirmed that the crate contained only money, nothing else.
Shaking their heads, they securely closed the crate, and Gao Yang said in a deep voice, “Let’s check another one.”
Gao Yang and Eileen examined four crates in succession, all containing money, when Krulney laughed, saying, “Do you want to check more?
I understand your concern, so you can take a careful look.”
Generally, at this point, most people would be too embarrassed to continue, but Gao Yang said firmly, “Thank you, I really do need to check further.”
Gao Yang and Eileen were about to pull down another crate when Krulney laughed and said, “I can tell you that there are also missiles inside, anti-aircraft missiles, a lot of them, four hundred in total.”
Gao Yang and Eileen pulled out a crate from a row inside which was lighter.
Upon opening it, he found two anti-aircraft missile cases stacked one on top of the other, and to his astonishment, the missile transport cases were labeled in Chinese characters.
“This side up.”
Beneath the four large characters, it was written ‘FN-6.’
Gao Yang was speechless because what he saw were Huaxia-produced MANPADS, codenamed FN-6 or Feinu-6.
Mulafa said impatiently, “Are we done here?”
Closing the case, Gao Yang jumped off the truck and said to Krulney with a wry smile, “It’s just a truckload of missiles, is that necessary?”
Krulney’s eyes widened, “Just a truckload of missiles?
Just!
Did you just say just?
Dude, are you joking?
This is a damn truckload of anti-aircraft missiles, missiles that can shoot down planes, not a truckload of RPGs!”
Gao Yang shrugged, “I can introduce you to an arms dealer, I think with your shipping costs, you could buy this truckload of missiles, oh, if it’s one hundred thousand a set, then you could buy two hundred sets, and he even includes delivery, cash on delivery works.”
Krulney chuckled, “Man, you must be joking, right?
When were those the prices?
Now a set of Northerner winds with a launcher is four hundred thousand US dollars, a Needle-S model is three hundred thousand US dollars, not counting shipping!
Man, if the arms dealer you know really sells them for one hundred thousand dollars each and guarantees large quantities, then you definitely need to give me his number.”
Gao Yang slapped his forehead, realizing he had shown his naivety.
In Colombia, they used to use anti-aircraft missiles like they were rockets because they were supplied by Grand Ivan, free of charge, and they were priced at tens of thousands of dollars a piece, which was the cost price.
Gao Yang realized he had overestimated the integrity of arms dealers; if all arms dealers sold weapons at cost price, there would certainly be fewer wars in the world.
As the most profitable business in the world, if arms dealers didn’t take advantage of wartime to make astronomical profits, they wouldn’t be called arms dealers.
Embarrassed, Gao Yang smiled and said, “Sorry, I forgot the difference between normal and wartime prices.”
Krulney chuckled, pointing at the truck, “That there has four hundred MANPADS, know how much we paid?
Huaxia goods are cheap, four hundred missiles for 100 million, dude, the worth of these missiles being 100 million dollars is secondary, you know how much effort it took to get these?
Four hundred missiles, this is a major deal in the international arms black market!
Also, you see the case with the money?
Two million per case, eight cases in total, oh, one of those cases is yours, if you decided to change your mind, or rather, if you decide not to change your mind and continue with the mission.”
Don’t suspect people once they are employed; trust those whom you employ— that’s Gao Yang’s principle.
It’s the same when it comes to work; if Gao Yang didn’t mistrust the mission, he would carry it through to the end.
However, since he had doubts about this mission and realized that it involved many people and could have a huge impact…
Most importantly, Gao Yang had only inspected five cases, he couldn’t possibly check every single case in the truck, and without seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t confirm that the truck was really loaded with anti-aircraft missiles as Krulney had mentioned.
Thus, Gao Yang decided to terminate the mission.
But just before Gao Yang could speak, Bruce, who knew Gao Yang well and could tell from his expression what he was about to say, suddenly said, “Boss, I need to talk to you alone.”
After stepping aside with Bruce, Bruce whispered, “Boss, I know you want to give up on the mission, but personally, I think it’s better to continue.
If you terminate the mission, the result would be worse than failing the mission.
We are here to make money, losing twenty million is secondary, but the key is that we’ll hardly ever get any decent missions after this.
Think about Tomler’s influence, then think about the terrible consequences of quitting.
I suggest you reconsider, boss, I just wanted to remind you, if you decide to quit, I will follow your decision without objection.”
Judging from what he saw, this mission should be continued.
If he were to abandon the mission just because of his own predispositions, it wouldn’t be quite right, so Gao Yang hesitated a bit.
After a brief moment of silence, he spoke softly, “You all must have heard, if anyone wants to continue the mission, keep quiet, if anyone wants to quit, just make a sound.”
Gao Yang waited for a moment, no sound was made.
It seemed everyone thought they should continue with the mission.
Gao Yang couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly, feeling maybe he was truly being paranoid from too much pressure, perhaps just as Frey had said, to just relax, complete the mission safely and then go home.
Gao Yang immediately walked back, smiling at Krulney, “Sorry, so sorry, I might be overly suspicious, but as you know, in our business, we might not see tomorrow, so if I’m a bit too cautious, I hope you can understand.
Okay, we’ve delayed long enough, let’s get going.”
Krulney exhaled, smiling, “Man, I thought you insisted on quitting.
I’m glad you’re continuing, this is very good, but, I have to tell you, the destination has changed, we’re not going to Aleppo, we’re headed to Damascus now.”
Where to deliver the cargo is the employer’s business, Gao Yang joked, “That’s for you to decide, where we go doesn’t make much difference for us.”
Gao Yang had no issues, but someone disagreed.
As one of the six members escorting the truck, a white man with a big beard suddenly said, “Why go to Damascus?
This cargo should be delivered to Camel as soon as possible!
With these missiles, we can turn around the situation in Aleppo, we’ve waited long enough for these weapons!
Who decided to change to Damascus?”
The big bearded white man spoke in Arabic, and after he finished, another big bearded man with Krulney burst into anger, blabbering something, too swiftly for Eileen to translate for Gao Yang, though it was basically scolding the Chechen-looking big beard for having no right to intervene, among other things.
Soon, all the big beards quieted down, but Gao Yang was still uneasy because he realized how small this world was.
The last time he took on a mission from Polovich in Syria, he was using the alias ‘Camel.’ But thinking about it, for some people and some matters, this world is indeed so small, if one continues to mingle in these circles, especially among the high-end part, it’s really hard not to bump into each other.
(To be continued.
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