Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 518: Pull me into the water?

The next day, Song Heping and his men were arranged to board a CIA business jet and fly directly back to Arizona.

There, he met Kelly in a warehouse that he had temporarily rented as the center of operations.

After the two sat down in Song Heping's office, Kelly looked around and asked, "Do you like America?"

Song Heping said, "Why do you sound like you want to get me to become a citizen?"

Kelly spread her hands and said, "With your strength, if you need, I can help you get citizenship and become a citizen of the United States, the most powerful country in the world."

Song Heping couldn't help but ask, "Are all Americans so confident?"

Kelly said, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Not everyone is interested in your nationality," Song Heping said frankly. "This is a paradise for adventurers, but it's not my home."

He saw it.

Kelly's inexplicable questions today were definitely not without purpose.

She was testing herself.

"Go ahead."

Song Heping went straight to the point and asked, "What exactly do you want to talk about today?"

Kelly said, "You're a smart person. You probably guessed what I was going to say."

Song Heping said: "No matter what you say, I have only one question to ask: where is my money?"

Kelly picked up the phone, dialed a number, explained something to the person on the other end of the line, and then hung up.

"Okay, it will be in your account within half an hour."

Song Heping smiled with satisfaction: "Very good, then we can talk about the next thing."

Kelly said, "I am quite satisfied with your performance this time."

Song Heping laughed and said, "Why does this sound so ambiguous?"

Kelly couldn't help but laugh: "They say Chinese people are very reserved, but you're not like that at all."

Song Heping said: "It shows that you don't understand the Chinese people."

Kelly said, "Let me be frank. I'd like you to continue helping us. Are you interested?"

Song Heping said: "I am in the defense business. I will do it for anyone. The key is only two points: first, whether I have the ability to take the order, and second, the level of compensation."

Kelly said, "We control 10% of the profits from the drug business."

Song Heping frowned.

His mind raced.

Barrett once talked to himself about the annual drug trafficking volume in North America.

The annual drug trade is worth between $200 billion and $400 billion.

One kilogram of cocaine sells for $1 in Colombia, $2198 in Mexico, and $1.25 in the United States, with a profit of eight times the cost.

The profit here is unimaginably huge.

However, what really interested Song Heping was how much share the CIA could control.

“About how much is the share?”

"About 150 billion," Kelly said. "We can't completely control the entire market, but a % profit margin of billion is no problem."

“It’s a very generous reward indeed.”

Song Heping made a surprised expression, thought for a moment, and asked, "But I'm very surprised. You are the American intelligence agency, and you say you want to ban drugs, but you are transporting drugs into your own country. This surprises me very much. At least in my country, this is absolutely unimaginable. Don't you care about your country?"

This issue is quite sensitive.

The CIA often touts itself as patriotic, at least that's what its external propaganda claims. Saying this to Kelly is tantamount to questioning her character.

I thought Kelly would be irritated by me.

But Song Heping never expected that Kelly looked so calm, as if a small stone was thrown into a huge lake, and even the ripples looked so tiny.

"It's unimaginable in your country, but this is America," Kelly said. "Let me put it this way, Song, guess how many drug addicts there are in America right now?"

Song Heping shook his head: "I'm not from your DEA, how would I know?"

Kelly said: "If you include all kinds of drugs, the estimated amount is 30 million."

Song Heping took a breath.

He hadn't examined this data before.

But coming from the mouth of Kelly, the director of the CIA's covert operations department, it is still very shocking.

"I'm curious if you're not worried at all."

There was a hint of contempt in Song Heping's smile.

Kelly noticed it, of course.

But she maintained a very calm expression as she continued, "If 30 million addicts are out of stock, then that's 30 million people who might go crazy. The stakes in the American drug industry could even reach 50 million. This isn't just a crime; it's an industry. Do you understand?"

"We once tried prohibiting alcohol, but it only enriched the gangs, forcing us to lift the ban. If we completely cut off drug distribution now and issue a strict drug prohibition like yours, then those 30 million addicts, gangs, and those involved in the supply chain will become destabilizing factors. They'll vote against the president's iron-fisted anti-drug policy, or they'll take to the streets to riot and vandalize. According to market economic principles, just like when we banned alcohol, the price of drugs will skyrocket. The profit margin on drugs is eightfold now, but it could be tenfold, twentyfold, or even thirtyfold in the future. This will encourage more gangs to use extreme means to smuggle drugs at all costs. With such attractive profits, the gangs will become even more ruthless than they are now, putting police officers and drug enforcement officers in even greater danger, with higher casualty rates and resulting higher pension and salary costs..."

At this point, Kelly asked, "Excuse me, if you were the president of the United States, what would you do?"

Song Heping was stunned by the question.

This is an alternative explanation of drugs from a completely different American perspective.

Song Heping thought Kelly's reason was ridiculous.

But the feeling is irrefutable.

Song Heping could only smile bitterly: "Isn't your president afraid that drugs will kill people?"

Kelly spread her hands and said, "The facts are right in front of us. Are they all dead? Don't forget that we're a country of immigrants. It doesn't matter if the poor drug addicts die, and it doesn't matter if the rich take it; they can afford it. What's more, if we control it, there's at least a limit to it, so it won't become an overdose. We've been doing this for years, controlling the quantity imported and even the quality. A healthy drug trade can prevent our addicts from going crazy and keep gangs from becoming too powerful. It's like raising fish in a pond; you can always control the number."

"FUCK!"

Song Heping gave Kelly a thumbs-up. "This is the first time I've seen someone talk nonsense so confidently. After all, it's all for your CIA's little coffers!"

Kelly said: "This is America, not your country."

Song Heping nodded: "Yes, you are already hopeless, unless a revolution breaks out, like our Liberation War back then."

Kelly said, "Don't try to indoctrinate me with your ideas. I won't accept your brainwashing."

Song Heping nodded again: "That's what I wanted to say, same here!"

Kelly changed the subject. "Let's not discuss these trivial matters anymore. Let's get down to business. The situation in Mexico is a mess right now. We need to stabilize it. It's better to maintain the situation than to let the five major families lose control of the Mexican drug market and allow countless small gangs to rise."

Song Heping asked: "How do you maintain the situation?"

"For so many years, whenever the situation here became unstable, we would intervene. In the past, we would dispatch covert operations forces to find a suitable agent and support him in eliminating dissidents. But this time, all five major families are against us. Even if we were to support a new agent, it would probably take a lot of effort and be too risky. So, we decided to let you take charge and do this."

"I?"

Song Heping laughed: "Are you asking me to be the gang boss here?"

"No," Kelly said. "It's about controlling the transportation channels. Barlotte has been captured, and you need to take over his network. Then you need to shut down the other families' smuggling channels. Furthermore, use your influence in Colombia to get the ELN armed forces to intervene and cut off the five major families' supply of goods in Colombia. You can then directly sell the Colombian goods to North America. That way, if you're powerful enough, the five major families will be unable to hold on and will come to you for negotiations. As for the specific operations, that's up to you. We'll provide cooperation, including the channels and security for shipping goods to North America, and we'll fully assist you in combating the other families' smuggling activities."

"Tsk tsk!" Song Heping shook his head repeatedly. "That's easy for you to say. Going against the five major families in Mexico? You want me to control all the channels and then attack them? Do you know how much the reward for my head on the dark web will be tomorrow if I do that? At least hundreds of millions of US dollars. Do you think I'm crazy?"

"So you mean you don't accept this deal?" Kelly asked coldly, with a hint of threat in her tone.

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(End of this chapter)