"General, you're giving too much credit."
Song Heping tossed the docunt back.
"What you're proposing isn't a trade, it's my life you're asking for."
"You can na your price," Peter said. "Every rcenary has a price."
"A reward you can actually get is called compensation, what you can't is called joss paper." Song Heping extended his hand, flipped open the docunt, and pointed at the people inside, "These guys are all in the Golden Crescent, and you want to go there and take out the three of them for you? Do you really think I'm a deity?"
The Golden Crescent is located at the border of Persia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, a lawless land similar to the Golden Triangle.
The vast mountainous area got its na because it resembles a curved crescent moon. After 2001, centered on Afghanistan, a "double crescent" erged as a hotbed for terrorism and a central channel for drug and arms trafficking; and the other focus of this double crescent lies in the Fergana Basin of Central Asia.
"They are drug lords," Peter explained. "We're currently having so trouble in Afghanistan. Although we have control over most of the area, we still can't get a grip on this particular region. Moreover, since our entry into Afghanistan, we've noticed an unimaginably rapid resurgence and expansion of opium cultivation. Last year, the poppy cultivation area even broke through 200,000 hectares."
"Terrorist organizations are using the profits from drug trafficking to purchase a large cache of arms to oppose us. According to CIA intelligence, groups like Al-Qaeda get all their weapons and ammunition from there, so we must cut off the drug trafficking channels from that area, and these three people are key."
"What, have you run out of Special Forces? What about the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and your Special Operations Command? You have a whole bunch of Special Forces and instead, you want a rcenary like to do the job?"
Song Heping faintly slled the danger emanating from this affair.
What a peculiar situation this was.
The US Army now had control over most of the Afghan territory and had propped up a provisional governnt, while the student army and groups like Al-Qaeda were forced to retreat to the fringe areas or into the Hindu Kush mountain range.
Couldn't it be quite simple to eradicate the drug traffickers in the Golden Crescent?
"There are certain things…"
Peter put a piece of beef into his mouth, chewed slowly as if he was turning over how to respond to Song Heping's statent in his mind.
"If you take on this task, I might be able to explain why I chose you for it."
Song Heping laughed and said, "General, you might as well start with explaining why you chose first, and then I can judge whether to cooperate with you on this mission."
After finishing his chewing, Peter laid down his knife and fork and pondered for a mont before saying, "Let's put it this way, the source of the drugs in the Golden Crescent has a little bit to do with us…"
He brought his index finger to his thumb and rubbed them together a few tis.
"You understand? This affair can be traced back to the Soviet-Afghan War…"
"In 1979, the Soviet Union sent troops to Afghanistan. To intervene in the situation there, we supported dozens of anti-Soviet forces within Afghan territory, one of which ca from Persia. However, due to the tense political climate between us and Persia at the ti, we cut off weapons and financial support to them after 1980."
"This Persian resistance could not possibly withstand the Soviets head-on, so they often resorted to guerrilla tactics, hitting the Soviets and then fleeing to Pakistan and Persian territory to evade pursuit. Having lost our support, in order to survive, this group began small-scale opium cultivation at the tri-border area."
"You might already know what happened afterward. The Soviet military invasion failed, and they withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving behind chaos. Various ard groups started vying for power, including the student army that we disliked. So, the CIA intervened again, supporting other ard factions to confront the student army, which included the Persian resistance force, the Revolutionary Brigade. So…"
"So, you people helped them sell drugs?"
Song Heping seed to have understood the unspoken difficulties Peter was hinting at.
It must be said that, from a certain perspective, he truly admired these Aricans.
What pragmatists they were, willing to strike a deal with the devil himself to achieve their ends.
An intelligence agency at the very top involved in drug trafficking—if it weren't for Peter's own admission, you would think this ca straight out of a street vendor's tabloid literature.
"You could say that, except back then Congress could never openly support the Revolutionary Brigade; they could only support the Northern Alliance and similar military factions. Especially after the embassy hostage incident, there was no way we could have any overt contact with the Persians—it would be politically incorrect. That's why the CIA ca up with a secret plan on the down low. Without funding from Congress, they could assist the Revolutionary Brigade ford by the Persians by providing black ops support, forging a channel for them to transport drugs to Europe for profit, sustaining their operations. Who would have thought…"
He said this with a bitter smile and shook his head.
Song Heping couldn't help but mock again, "Who would have thought that the little kitten from back then would turn into a ferocious, colorful tiger, and that the place would beco an even more formidable drug source than the Golden Triangle, right?"
He cursed inwardly.
The ss you fools have created is one big pile of foul and hard shit.
And you're actually thinking about having wipe your asses?
The Golden Crescent...
That's no child's play.
Song Heping had so understanding of the area.
This godforsaken place was not just lawless, it was ungovernable.
Not only were the Persians and Pakistanis unable to manage it, the provisional governnt in Afghan was even more incapable, and even the Aricans who had invaded Afghan couldn't handle it.
"So, are you willing to help out with this?"
Peter looked at Song Heping sitting across from him and set his knife and fork down.
"I'll give you a very satisfactory compensation."
Song Heping said, "Don't you have the Air Force? Let them handle it, it would be much easier for them to kill them than for ."
Peter said, "It's not like we haven't tried; we've even sent the Air Force to bomb their poppy fields. The problem is there are too many, and we simply cannot obliterate them all. Moreover, we can't locate their processing plants—that's the key issue."
He flipped open to the first page of the file, which was that of a Caucasian nad Adrian. Peter tapped on it with his finger.
"Additionally, it's about the channel—Adrian is the main person responsible for sending the drugs to Europe. In the entire trafficking chain, he's the linchpin. Along with Azhar and Hula, who are two important figures in the Revolutionary Brigade's ard faction, they will et at the processing plant located in the southern part of Helman Province in fifteen days. Your job is to find them and then take them out."
"As long as these three are dead and the processing plant is destroyed, I believe they won't be able to resu production for at least half a year. The Revolutionary Brigade definitely won't be able to gain a foothold in Afghan. Our military can take advantage of this ti to sweep into the Golden Crescent area in one fell swoop and then take complete control of that region."
Song Heping listened patiently to Peter finishing his piece and thought to himself, you really have played a good hand.
But have you ever considered who the hell would dare to take on such a mission?
"This isn't a job for a rcenary."
Song Heping was still refusing.
"The CIA's secret agents should handle this."
"No, it has to be you." Peter said, "because we've secured a chance to infiltrate their ranks."
"What opportunity?"
"The Delta Special Forces recently captured an important figure during an operation in Afghan."
He walked over to the desk, picked up a docunt, and returned to the dining table.
"Take a look."
He placed the docunt in front of Song Heping.
Song Heping opened the file and was slightly taken aback.
"This person nad Han Fei is a drug trafficker who has recently risen to prominence in Central Asia. Lately, through certain connections, he got in touch with the Revolutionary Brigade and plans to travel to the Golden Crescent region to engage in a major deal with the Revolutionary Brigade's ard forces. If the deal goes through, Han Fei will beco the Golden Crescent's drug representative in Central Asia. This is one of their transactions, so neither Azhar nor Hula have t him. The person who has facilitated this is Adrian, and currently, Adrian is unaware that Han Fei has been apprehended by us. And you..."
Peter glanced at the photo.
"Don't you think you look very much alike?"
Song Heping took a careful look at Han Fei's photo, examining it from left to right, but didn't feel they looked too similar, although they were of a similar age.
So he scoffed, "You think I look like him?"
Peter asserted confidently, "Yes! Of course you do! You just lack his pair of goat whiskers, which can easily be imitated."
Song Heping laughed, "Are all of you face-blind?"
Peter asked, "So? Are you willing to help?"
Song Heping pondered for a mont and said, "I want to know, with such great risk involved, what's my reward?"
"A big piece of the pie from the Illiguo logistic support contract," Peter stated. "This pie mainly involves transportation, as most of the supplies for our camps in Illiguo are handled by subcontractors. Usually, they procure the goods either from the Kuwait ports or airports, or directly from Baghdad Airport, and transport them to the various military camps as ordered. After you help us with this matter, you will secure a three-year transportation contract worth $240 million annually."
$240 million!?
Song Heping thought he had misheard and quickly asked, "How much?"
"$240 million," Peter said with certainty. "But not all of this money will be yours, you understand what I an?"
Song Heping instantly cooled down, recalling the "rules" of the circle that Ferrari had ntioned to him.
"So... what's the service fee?"
"50%," Peter didn't hide it. "When the ti cos, we will instruct you where to transfer the money."
It was at this mont Song Heping finally understood why such a deadly task was assigned to him.
Was this ant to make him pledge his loyalty?
No wonder Peter managed to live so luxuriously here.
It seed...
Heh, these higher-ups had also made quite a killing.
The reconstruction funds for Illiguo really were a huge piece of cake.
Military-industrial complex, oil companies, the stock market, Wall Street.
Ferrari used to tell him about these things, and he used to think they were far-fetched.
Looking at it now, Ferrari hadn't exaggerated in the least.
"General, I'm quite curious about sothing."
"Go ahead."
"Weren't these operations handled by big companies like AAFES before? How co there's suddenly interest in looking after our small company?"
Upon hearing Song Heping's words, Peter chuckled, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket, that's an economist's advice."
Song Heping savored the statent, feeling it wasn't so simple.
But since the conversation had co to this, it seed he had no way out.
If he had refused from the start, maybe it would have been possible, but now it seed there was no chance left.
Either he would shake hands with Peter and leave the room, or he would beco Peter's enemy once he stepped out of the room.
In any case, $240 million a year was a big contract.
From the perspective of both company growth and personal developnt, it was necessary to secure it.
As for the future, no one can predict what will happen.
They would see when the ti ca.
"OK, I'll take the mission."
"Hahaha!"
Peter's face lit up with joy, and he reached out his hand.
"I knew you were a smart man, Song. I wasn't wrong about you, you're soone with ambition and aspirations."
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