Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 572 - 516: This Battle is Not Over Yet

The sound of the phone by the bed woke up Kelly's husband, Hamann, with a start, but he quickly turned over irritably, let out a heavy sigh, and forcibly closed his eyes to continue sleeping.

Being married to a high-ranking CIA official, life could only be like this.

Hamann had lost count of how many tis he'd been woken by such midnight rings; with age, his sleep quality had already worsened, and being disturbed made it hard to fall back into deep sleep, causing him great distress.

Kelly also woke up and reached for the phone on the bedside table.

Hamann knew her next step would undoubtedly be to head to the study next door, where she'd shut the door to take the call.

Those in intelligence work are like that, all secretive as if they were thieves.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Kelly left the bedroom, quietly closed the door behind her, and then moved to the adjacent study.

"Being awoken this late, I hope you're bringing good news."

Kelly rubbed her temples, trying her best to clear her mind.

"Ma'am, I wouldn't dare disturb your sweet dreams to bring bad news; the operation is over, Balrot has been captured, and not just him, Shorty and Little Leva have also been nabbed."

On the other end of the line, Song Heping was clear-cut, imdiately inquiring about the remaining paynt: "So, when will you transfer the rest of the money into my account?"

"What about the others?" Kelly asked: "Were there others from the five major families involved, and did they escape?"

"Why do you shift the topic to money?" Song Heping grew displeased: "My cooperation was limited to Balrot; the others were just a bonus, which was already quite generous. All the other family mbers who attended the eting were captured, though none hold significant roles. You should be asking Wilson about the specifics, not ."

Kelly was actually very pleased inside.

But of course, an old hand like her wouldn't show it.

She spoke with an aloof tone: "Don't worry about the final paynt, the CIA isn't short on the compensation for you, but I do have a new proposal for cooperation, if you're interested in hearing it."

"Once I get the final paynt, we can talk about anything else; if there's no money, there's nothing to discuss," Song Heping replied: "I almost lost my life this ti. As for your new proposal, I think we should et and talk about it, it's late at night, you should go back to bed with your husband."

"Sure, now isn't the ti for an in-depth discussion, I'll arrange a flight for tomorrow and you can co to the United States, let's et in Arizona."

"No problem, co to my temporary operation center in Tusen," said Song Heping: "I've rented a place there, and now that the operation is over, I should clear out before your state police start suspecting to be a drug trafficker, which wouldn't be fun."

The two ended their call. xican Marines were escorting the captured drug lords.

Joaquin and others were staring hard at Song Heping, while Little Leva spat in Song Heping's direction.

"You're done for!"

Song Heping grinned and said: "Then I'll wait for you to co and kill ."

Before Little Leva could continue hurling abuse, he was already being led away forcefully.

Watching the retreating figures of the drug lords, Song Heping's smile gradually faded.

He knew that Little Leva was not rely threatening him.

With Big Leva still free and his younger brother captured, his identity would inevitably be exposed.

In this confrontation among the five major families, Shorty was directly apprehended and Balrot captured, with the Leva Group suffering the greatest losses.

Since Big Leva had sent his brother, while other groups only sent trusted contacts.

Thus, while the strongest Sinoloa Group had been decapitated, the foundational structures and organizational fraworks of the other trafficking organizations remained unscathed for the mont. For him, the starter of all this, the major families would undoubtedly be ruthless.

These trafficking organizations were as rich as nations, and they would put a substantial bounty on assassination.

What he faced next could be endless assassination attempts.

Even leaving xico wouldn't end it.

Of course, Song Heping was not very worried, his usual haunts were almost all war zones.

Although the drug lords were boastful, they wouldn't gain much fighting against soone like him, a defense company director fully involved in combat; sending average assassins was rely like handing over points and heads, hardly a threat.

The only thing that would give a headache from now on is that I have to be more careful in South Arica, where the danger level has significantly increased. Like a toad squatting at your feet, it may not bite, but it disgusts people.

After leaving the villa, Song Heping took a military helicopter back to xico City and t with Jiang Feng and his team stationed there.

After exchanging greetings, he noticed that Barrett was still there.

Curious, he asked, "Aren't you with the DEA operation team?"

"No," Barrett said. "There's nothing for there anymore."

Song Heping nodded thoughtfully.

In his view, Barrett had secluded himself due to the undercover work in the past, and now that Shorty and Balrot were captured, he was supposed to return to the United States with the enforcent team.

"The operation is over, I will transfer your paynt to your account after I finalize the paynt tomorrow."

"I'm not in a hurry for the money," Barrett said. "Song, there's sothing I want to discuss with you."

Understanding, Song Heping replied, "Alright, let's go to the balcony."

The two left the villa room and walked out onto the terrace.

"Tell , is there sothing you need my help with?"

"I'm not planning to return to the United States," Barrett said bluntly. "I want to join your company."

"Join our company?"

Song Heping's first reaction was to refuse.

But he quickly abandoned that idea.

"We are a Defense Company. As you have seen, our business scope is broad; we deal with all sorts of people, even drug trafficking groups in South Arica or ard organizations in Colombia have business dealings with us. Joining our company might involve you in matters contrary to your country's interests. Are you sure you want to do this?"

He was testing Barrett.

"I'm sure," Barrett said.

Song Heping asked further, "Can you tell why?"

"There's still unfinished business here. You need soone who's very familiar with xico." Barrett gestured to himself, "Besides , you have no other choice."

"You're not going to assist the DEA anymore?" Song Heping said, "Shorty and his group have been captured; this is your best chance to put them in jail."

Barrett smiled, "Let's put it this way, I can almost be sure of one thing. Even though the DEA really wants to kill Shorty and extradite him for trial, I don't think it's going to happen this ti. Shorty and his group will likely stay in xico for their trial and serve their sentence here. Even if Shorty and his group are sentenced, they will live comfortably in prison, continuing to command their drug trafficking network, so it's almost as if they're not imprisoned at all. So, there's more to co, and you need my help."

Song Heping understood.

Barrett knew that capturing Shorty was not the end of this matter.

Just as he had anticipated.

Kelly wanting to et with him was probably also related to this.

The inevitable outco between the CIA and drug traffickers is that one side must give in.

Drug lords have many of their own people within the xican police and governnt; a more intense confrontation is yet to co.

As an intelligence agency, the CIA definitely cannot openly battle the drug lords, but they need a 'black glove' to do this job for them.

Barrett probably saw this point as well.

And he indeed needed such a helper.

xico, being a crucial country linking North and South Arica, he needed to establish his influence in xico to secure a foothold in Arica; this might indeed be a good opportunity.

"If I'm not mistaken, the war with xican drug traffickers has just begun. Between us and the drug traffickers, only one side will erge victorious. Either we completely withdraw from Arica, or it's the drug lords like Shorty who will bow down to us. I personally do not like to lose, so, I will face the battle."

Having said that, he extended his hand to Barrett.

"Welco to 'Musician' Defense."