Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 826 Conspiracy
The air in the conference room was so thick it could almost be cut open.

Jasper could feel twelve pairs of eyes focused on him at the same time, including Director Vincent's hawk-like gray-blue eyes.

He subconsciously loosened his tie, his Adam's apple bobbing as he tasted the salty bitterness of sweat. Then he took a deep breath and projected the data from his tablet onto the main screen of the conference room.

One photograph after another flashed by—Ferrari's mother in Milan, White Bear's sister in Kyiv, and Hunter's fiancée in London.
"My plan revolves around them—the close friends and family of the core members of Musician Defense."

Jasper's voice gradually regained its confidence: "Song Heping's biggest weakness is the people around him, and the biggest weakness of those around him is also their closest relatives. Among the core members of the entire defense company, apart from Song and Jiang, who are Chinese and whose relatives are all in China and beyond our control, the families and close relatives of the rest are all within our sphere of influence."

He pulled up the last photo, a group photo of Song Heping and his team members in Khartoum, their smiles in the sunlight glaringly unsettling.

"We don't need to chase him all over Africa; we just need to gently push the first domino."

Jasper's fingertip swiped across the screen.

"For example, Ferrari's mother could suddenly be harassed and threatened with death by local thugs, or Polar Bear's sister could suddenly be kidnapped."

Counterterrorism Center Director Wright suddenly sneered: "You plan to use kindergarten-level harassment to lure out that Eastern dragon?"

"Of course not."

Jasper was prepared and pulled up an operation plan marked "Top Secret".

"What do you think they would do if their core members received a request for help from a close relative?"

He laughed.

His eyes, however, revealed treachery and cunning.

"At that time, the core members of those companies will definitely not stand idly by. They will deal with these messes. When they appear, we have prepared a 'welcome ceremony' at every key point, put on a good show for them, put them in danger as well, and then send the message back to Song Heping through special channels."

He used the stylus to circle all the core members around Song Heping.

"If anything happens to Song's brothers, he will definitely come to their rescue. All we have to do is wait for his arrival and prepare a grand feast for him on our home turf."

Vincent leaned forward slightly.

This subtle movement made Jasper's heart race.

The bureau chief took off his glasses and wiped the lenses, a habitual action he took when weighing important decisions.

Just as everyone was waiting for the bureau chief to make the final decision, a voice that no one expected rang out.

"I think Jasper's plan is feasible."

Simon's voice wasn't loud, but it exploded like a bombshell in the conference room.

Jasper turned his head sharply and saw his nemesis gently pushing up his gold-rimmed glasses with his fingertips, his gaze behind the lenses calm to an almost eerie degree.

"In fact, I strongly agree with and recommend that Jasper serve as the head of the task force."

Simon continued, a slight smile even playing on his lips.

"His research on Song Heping is indeed in-depth, and..."

He paused meaningfully.

"As he said, he had been in charge of the operation to hunt down Song Heping. No one knew Song Heping better than him, and no one wanted to kill this madman more than him."

Jasper's pupils suddenly contracted.

His mind was in turmoil again.

What trick is this bastard playing?
They had a very unpleasant argument when they were vying for the position of head of the Middle East department. In the end, the higher-ups had to transfer both of them, one to Iligo and the other back to headquarters.

Back then, Simon publicly questioned his psychological evaluation report at a performance review meeting, and he himself had also stabbed Simon in the back many times, repeatedly questioning Simon's mistakes when he was in charge of intelligence work in Iligo in front of Pence.

In particular, when Simon was at odds with Song Heping and the military, Jasper drafted an analysis report and submitted it to Pence, arguing that Simon should be removed from his front-line supervisory position and sent back to Langley as an administrative officer.

Both of them, being former secret agents, were aware of these things.

how?

Did the sun rise in the west today?
Your arch-enemy actually recommended you?
He actually agreed with him? He actually gave up the seemingly promising position of leader of the special task force—even though Director Vincent had originally favored Simon and wanted him to be the leader, and had recalled him from Iligo to headquarters for such an important meeting.

Isn't this obvious?
He actually gave up?

Vincent's gaze swept back and forth between his two subordinates before he suddenly asked, "Simon, would you like to be the deputy team leader?"

"It would be my great honor."

Simon answered crisply and even raised his coffee cup in a gesture of respect to Jasper.

"After all, no one knows this 'pressure transfer' tactic better than Jasper."

Jasper was momentarily at a loss, even forgetting how to respond to Simon's praise, his fingertips unconsciously digging into his palm.

Something is wrong, so wrong.

Simon has never been the type to be subservient to others. Back in Bakdad, he went so far as to alter the coordinates of a drone attack in order to claim credit.
How could someone like that suddenly change their personality?

conspiracy.

There must be a conspiracy.

"Then it's settled."

Before Jasper could react, Vincent had already made the final decision.

"Jasper will lead the team, Simon will be the deputy leader, and two elite personnel will be assigned from the Counterterrorism Center and the Africa Division. A detailed plan must be submitted within 48 hours."

He suddenly remembered something as he got up.

"By the way, the budget will be 'slush funds.' I want that yellow-skinned bastard to know what price he'll pay for killing CIA agents."

When the meeting ended, Jasper deliberately slowed his pace.

He wanted to wait for Simon to arrive so he could have a longer conversation with him.

But Simon just patted him on the shoulder and left in a hurry, giving him no chance at all, leaving only a smiling look in his eyes.

Simon felt as if he had been licked by a venomous snake's tongue, and a chill ran down his spine for no reason.

In a blind spot of the corridor's surveillance cameras, Jasper pulled out his encrypted phone and sent a text message: "Check Simon's entire itinerary for the last six months, especially his unofficial trips."

Fifteen minutes later, Simon's black Cadillac Escalade was crossing the Potomac River.

The car radio's encrypted light suddenly turned green, and a mechanical female voice announced: "Secure connection established."

Simon's finger hovered over the dial key, and Song Heping's satellite phone number flashed on the screen.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.
He suddenly cut off the communication and dialed another number instead.

"it's me."

He spoke in Arabic, then glanced at his distorted face reflected in the rearview mirror.

"Prepare a 'two-way mirror' plan; I need two death reports filed together."

As Cadillac turned into the garage of a mansion in Georgetown, Simon had already devised the entire trap.

Jasper's "pressure transmission" plan was indeed ingenious, but it needed some improvement—it would be best if a team leader eager to make a name for himself was also present when Song Heping stepped into the last trap.

Two bullets, a report, and the key to the deputy director's office will automatically end up in the pocket of the sole survivor.

That's great!
In the armory in the basement of the mansion, Simon took out an old-fashioned Makarov pistol. This was the weapon he used during his first mission in Moscow in 1994, and the Cyrillic letters "Удача"—good luck—were engraved on the grip.

He slowly pulled the sleeve, the metallic scraping sound particularly jarring in the silence.

“This time, I don’t need luck,” Simon muttered to himself, pointing at the empty gun. “All I need is calculations accurate to the millimeter.”

Just before the call connected, an extremely risky idea suddenly popped into his mind—why not let Song and Jasper die together?
This is the most perfect ending.

(End of this chapter)