Song Heping did not intend to discuss the SA-9 missile deal openly at the company meeting, as aside from Dominic, no one else in the company would ever reveal a bit about this matter.
But this matter must be handled cautiously.
The very next morning, he came up with an excuse to send Dominic away to the Hassan Oil Field. Officially, it was to familiarize him with the business as there might be a need to station a helicopter or such at the oil field in the future. First, letting him see the site for himself, and get acquainted with the environment.
The excuse was actually pretty lame.
But it didn't matter whether lame or not, as long as it worked. A plaster that draws out pus is a good plaster.
Dominic did not suspect anything, as after all, he had been with the company for a few days, although he knew Song Heping might deal in selling aircrafts in the future, he was actually doing nothing at the moment. Moreover, he was drawing a high salary of twenty thousand US dollars a month, which made him rather embarrassed.
Since there was work to do, he hurriedly set off.
Before leaving, he even asked Song Heping about arranging the revenge he had spoken of.
Song Heping told him not to rush. He had already contacted friends in Africa, and it depended on how much intelligence they could gather. He had to wait for the right moment; after all, taking out a leader of an armed organization was not easy, especially when the Salafi Armed were directly connected with Agaida, who are associated with Brother Deng.
Dominic thought about it and realized it really wasn't a simple issue to deal with the Salafi Armed.
So, he didn't say anymore and cheerfully drove to the Hassan Oil Field.
After sending Dominic away, Song Heping began to handle the SA-9 missile deal.
According to the contact method Peter had given him, he connected with the other party.
It seemed the other side had also got his number, as upon calling, they could immediately call out his name.
The guy connecting with Song Heping was named Jacob, who spoke fluent English. Just by listening to the accent, one could tell it was from Britain. Clearly, he was an educated person.
The negotiations were much smoother than anticipated.
Song Heping opened the bid at two million US dollars per set, expecting the other party to negotiate, but surprisingly, they agreed immediately.
Their quick agreement was quite unexpected to Song Heping.
Jacob instructed Song Heping to ship three sets of SA-9 air defense systems to Eritrea and to contact him upon passing the Mandela Strait and entering the Red Sea. He would send someone to receive them. Regarding the method of payment for the deposit and balance, he asked Song Heping to send these details to his secure email.
The whole call ended in less than ten minutes.
Song Heping held the satellite phone, stunned, and took a while to come to his senses.
A six million dollar deal was settled in ten minutes.
It felt like a pie had fallen from the sky and hit him on the head.
The Sahel region, called "sahil" in Latin script, means "border."
Just by hearing this name, one could guess how backward the area was.
Song Heping had once heard a saying, Africa is the corner forgotten by God.
If this saying were true, then the Sahel region was the edge of the forgotten corner.
It stretched from the Atlantic in the west to the Horn of Africa in the east, crossing Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, the Republic of Sudan, the Republic of South Sudan, and Eritrea—ten countries in total.
It was also one of the most unstable regions in the world since World War II. Over the years, countries within this region had witnessed multiple coups and endless border conflicts; war had never ceased there.
Because of the wars and poverty, many different armed factions emerged, thus making it one of the regions with the most and most complex terrorist organizations in the world.
In Song Heping's memory, the region was so poor that it depended on UN for food relief. How could organizations like Salafi fund themselves sufficiently?
An answer quickly popped into his mind, sending shivers down his spine.
Nevertheless, the deal was in motion. Next, he needed to have Yusuf extract the SA-9 missile systems, coordinate the transportation on his end, load these systems onto a large ship, then transport them to Eritrea. Upon entering the Red Sea, he would contact Jacob as agreed, and let him send people to take over.
Once in the Sahel region, everything would be arranged by the Salafi Armed, moving those SA-9 systems to their territory.
This time, Song Heping decided to make the journey himself.
This task had to be done by him, and could not be entrusted to others.
After returning to the office and taking a shower, Song Heping walked back into the office.
Sitting in the chair, he suddenly remembered the cook.
In the past, the cook could share some responsibilities, but now that he had left, everything had to be handled by himself.
He flipped through a stack of documents on the desk.
These were resumes that Ferrari had given him during the day, all belonging to candidates prepared to be recruited as core action team members of the company.
Ever since recruiting Ferrari and Hunter, the brothers, the company had not taken in new members; however, they had hired quite a few local mercenaries temporarily.
The quality of local mercenaries undeniably did not match that of core action members, a fact beyond doubt. As the company's business scale increased, it was essential to recruit a group of capable individuals who could independently handle some operations.
South America, Africa, Middle East, and perhaps Southeast Asia in the future—there are endless business opportunities related to war on this Blue Star.
Song Heping had flipped through several resumes when his hand finally stopped.
"Collins Wang, nicknamed Fallen Angel…"
He was very sensitive to such names.
It was obviously a typical Chinese surname.
Upon opening to the first page of the resume and seeing the photo, he confirmed his suspicion.
Indeed, it was a Chinese face.
Looking at the age, 32 years old.
Then looking at nationality, his mind exclaimed, "Shit."
It was Chinese from Northern Europe.
"Norway?"
As he read further, his eyes widened.
"… Dual master's degrees in German chemical and mechanical engineering… "
He could hardly believe his eyes.
So exaggerated?
A dual master's degree holder becoming a mercenary?
Song Heping felt this person named Collins Wang might be bluffing.
People become mercenaries out of necessity, who the hell with dual master's degrees becomes a mercenary instead of getting a glamorous engineering job at a big company?
He continued reading.
In the "Military Service" section, he saw the words "No military service".
"Never been in the military?"
His gaze moved down to the last category of expertise.
It read as follows—
Expert in dismantling and making various types of bombs, proficient in various combat arts…
"Truly a strange one."
He set this resume aside as a key object of interest and decided to ask Ferrari tomorrow where he found this guy, wondering if he was just filling the form haphazardly, shooting the bull sky-high.
He then opened another resume.
The name on the first page of the resume also surprised Song Heping.
Because this was a legitimately Chinese name.
"Jiang Feng? Nicknamed Nifeng, 35 years old, former soldier retired, ex-employee of African EO Company, machine gunner, proficient in PKM and combat arts…"
The PKM machine gun is not light, weighing tens of pounds. People like White Bear and Disaster Star quite like using the PKM machine gun; a Chinese claiming to be proficient with it?
He also set this resume aside, planning to discuss it with Ferrari tomorrow.
Song Heping had reviewed over a dozen resumes in total.
Unfortunately, he hadn't seen anyone like Ferrari, skilled in administration and intelligence; most were combat personnel.
There was another peculiar individual, though.
This person was named Klein Moretti, only 22 years old, but his expertise listed as a master of psychology, interrogation expert.
This likewise drew Song Heping's focused attention; if these unique characters weren't exaggerating, they could be recruited as official employees of the company.
After reviewing all the resumes, Song Heping had a clear idea; only three people caught his eye this time.
The rest weren't bad, just mediocre.
Nothing distinctive.
With an attitude of preferring shortages over excess, Song Heping decided to keep only three this time.
He closed the resume, stretched, and stood up to walk to the bed and look out at the sky outside.
The night was cloudy, the sky dark, and occasionally he saw flashes of lightning in the clouds.
Rainfall was rare in Illiguo.
A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and Song Heping suddenly remembered the suspicious Nissan SUV that had been following his car earlier.