Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 226 Taking Kickbacks

Washington, D.C.

The air conditioning in the conference room was blasting.

Outside the glass wall was a dark gray sky.

Lucas sat at the table, dressed casually, looking down at emails on his phone.

The door was quickly pushed open.

A middle-aged man rushed in, clutching a document in his hand, his expression grim.

“I need to meet with James,” he said impatiently before even sitting down.

Lucas put away his phone and said gently, "I can handle all the matters for him."

"Impossible, I must see him." The man interrupted firmly, then added angrily, "Is the man your father sent insane?"

Lucas instinctively wanted to refute, but after recalling Zhou Yi's actions in Africa, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Finally, he had no choice but to pretend he hadn't heard his question and awkwardly change the subject: "Long time no see, Ross, would you like to sit down?"

"I have no time for pleasantries." The man slammed the telegram in his hand heavily on the table.

"look by youself."

"Twenty-seven lives, all with American passports. The last few even stated their identities three times before dying—you're telling me this is the job your 'technical advisors' do?"

There, printed with gruesome crime scene images of blood spilled from paper airplanes.

Corpses were scattered everywhere and human tissue was flying all over the place.

Seeing this, Lucas fell silent again.

A few seconds later, he explained, "This kind of scene is generally considered to be influenced by the pressure of battle. But I agree, he did go a bit too far."

"Heavy?!" The man's face twisted for a moment. "This isn't just heavy, this is practically dropping a nuclear bomb on our own people!"

“My friend at the State Department said that the CIA almost had a collective panic, and the Africa commander was called by the president on the spot to question him.”

Lucas remained silent.

The men's accusations, however, became increasingly radical.

“You people,” he said sarcastically, “enjoy the company’s dividends every day, and then try to shift the blame to us when something goes wrong. What a greedy attitude.”

Upon hearing this, Lucas finally looked up, a glint in his eyes: "If I were you, I would be more careful with my words to avoid causing irreversible consequences."

He paused, then continued, “You want resources on one hand, and low exposure and high control on the other. But you know in your heart that reality will never allow you to have all three at the same time.”

“Don’t change the subject,” the man scoffed at his lecturing. “Answer me—whose orders does this damn ‘technical advisor’ take?”

Faced with repeated provocations, Lucas stopped pretending to be polite. "Of course he's acting according to the mission objectives. It's just that his understanding of the objectives is different from yours."

"Our company is in the mining business, not putting on a blood-soaked horror show." The man sneered repeatedly. "We need a controllable situation, not a lot of domestic attention."

Lucas shrugged, his expression almost roguish: "The window's open, isn't it?"

"Kim Ha-sa has lost control, and the CIA has been temporarily kicked out. You can talk about cobalt mines, transportation, and trade without having to kowtow to agents anymore, and no one can threaten to nationalize your assets three times a day."

The man's eyelids twitched uncontrollably twice.

"Our friends up in the mountains said they will submit an authorization around noon."

"If there are any further civilian casualties and no responsible party steps forward, the U.S. military will launch a direct lethal strike against the unidentified forces in the east."

"You know what 'lethality' means to them." "Without the M23, how will we do business?"

"Then let them fight it out. Maybe after they're done fighting, they can wipe out even more forces, making it easier for you to expand," Lucas said casually.

"You guys agreed on low visibility, core benefits, and clear accountability," the man said in a low voice, suppressing his anger. "But now people are starting to investigate our operations in Congo."

Upon hearing this, Lucas did not respond directly, but slowly shook his head: "Mr. Robert, it was not me who proposed using 'asymmetric violence' to deter the Calabi government."

The man was momentarily speechless, then blinked awkwardly: "I admit, we were in a hurry at the time."

"but--"

He then changed the subject, saying, "When your father shoved that madman in here, he gave us eight words: 'Quick, precise, and leave no future trouble.'"

"What has he done now? 'Swift, precise, and with endless consequences.'"

Lucas gave a forced smile: "So what do you want to do? Do you want me to get rid of him? Tie him up and take him back to Langley to hand him over to the CIA?"

The man was clearly tempted, and hesitantly asked, "The former you mentioned—"

Before he could finish speaking, Lucas decisively refused.

"impossible."

He thought for a moment, then solemnly warned, "We both know where the boundaries of our cooperation lie—don't waste time testing each other's limits."

The man wasn't too disappointed. Seeing that his probing had failed, he simply threw out the pre-prepared explanation:

"The board's intention is to terminate his contract and have him leave Congo immediately."

"At the same time, our project in Mafrak needs to move into the second phase as soon as possible."

Lucas laughed. "So that's the purpose of today's performance. I must say, it's very realistic."

"The risks posed by the Congo incident are real for us," the man said in a deep voice.

“Less victimhood.” After fully realizing what was going on, Lucas instantly became assertive. “Peter from Africa Command is an old friend of yours. Their involvement will only give the company more leverage over there.”

"In fact, you should all thank my 'crazy' guy. Although he did some ugly things, the results were far more useful to you than negotiations."

The man remained tight-lipped, saying, "Once this gets out, our compliance structure will be completely destroyed."

Lucas rolled his eyes and stood up from his chair.

"If you still want to continue complaining, then—"

As he spoke, he walked towards the gate.

"--goodbye."

The man suddenly became anxious and finally gave up trying to beat around the bush with him.

“Our business in the Middle East needs exemptions, and we hope to get help from Central Command—especially on the section crossing the Iraqi border.”

Lucas stopped and nodded noncommittally: "Now we're getting down to business."

"Will you cooperate on this?" the man asked tentatively.

“Perhaps this weekend.” Lucas took out his phone and glanced at the time, his tone indifferent. “But before that, settle that person’s salary.”

"I don't want to have my neck snapped for two million."

This time, the man didn't hesitate and quickly nodded, saying, "No problem, as long as he can keep his mouth shut."

(End of this chapter)