Chapter 297: Horusian Republic (3)
"What did you say?" Howard couldn't help but raised his voice outside the meeting room. The current Howard was dressed in a proper set of a suit with a nametag on his left chest pocket.
The word "S.E Howard, Managing Director," is written on the nametag. On the far right of the nametag was a business logo belonged to the Han Country Coast's Petroleum Limited.
It seems that he's currently in a meeting as a representative of the company with some upper echelons in the Pacific Union.
By right, he was not supposed to answer any calls while he was on his proper business. But unfortunately for him, this phone call came from one of the few trusted people under him. In this case, the caller was Donald Mckenzie's younger brother.
If he had to call Howard instead of Donald Mckenzie, this means something must have happened. Furthermore, it's not like Howard has no idea what kind of mission is in Donald's hand right now.
But he had no idea that the perpetrator behind this was Zhang Qin Feng. Until now, he still assumed that Zhang Qin Feng was dead from the plane bombing incident almost half a year ago.
"I think our activity is compromised. My brother is currently out of contact. And in Marianna's new channel, the report about multiple Horusian Republic people was caught for drug dealing is all over the place…" said Donald's younger brother.
There was a hint of panic in his words. With so much evidence posted in both news channels and papers, the entire operation is a bust. Their line was likely compromised, and all the Horusian Republic's people would be going through a stricter scanning while entering the country.
It would be useless even if they're trying to salvage whatever they could get their hand on.
But right now, the Horus Eye couldn't pull off from this either. As a mercenary that works after receiving their pay, they had to accomplish their employer's request no matter what.
And making this worst is their employer this time is not anyone else but the Pacific Union itself.
As one of the significant power from the western side of the hemisphere, the Pacific Union have been secretly influencing the business and politics within the Oceana Alliance and Continent of Southern States.
In a way, the disruption in the Shuiyue City before this also related to the Pacific Union's agenda, although it was more indirect. Because if that wasn't the case, the Horus Eye Mercenary wouldn't be able to obtain the L-21 miniature Warhead, Leviathan, in their hand.
"Stay low profile for now. Get rid of this phone in your hand and contact me later. I'll be giving the order to everyone else. Continue the mission if you see fit, and do not take the risk if the success rate is too low." Howard said.
He'd like to continue, but it seems that his phone break had gone a little too long. The people that are still waiting for him inside the meeting room have been getting a little impatient.
Although unwilling, Howard had to forcefully finished the call right here and returned to the room.
In fact, the discussion was just a facade. These people were discussing how to control the price of oil in the barrel in this room. It naturally followed with what news to use as a reason for this.
Soon, two depleting oil rigs were chosen as the scapegoat for this plan. But there's a step-by-step process to go through before they can bring this matter up entirely.
Seated in the room with all these people, Howard had an urge to blow their heads off. Unfortunately, what was in his hand was a pen and not a pistol.
The people inside this meeting dispersed after the meeting was concluded. But to Howard's surprise, one of the meeting participants kept him around a little longer for a private discussion.
"Your phone call… Is it related to Marianna?" that individual asked.
"Sir, I'm afraid that I can't disclose any information about our company's affair with outsiders." Howard smiled and refused to answer the question politely. While deep inside his heart, he was surprised by the question.
'Did my words leaked out while I'm on the phone?' Howard remained cautious before this individual. He was always careful in his conduct and planning but being approached by a stranger who could guess some of his phone call's content worries him.
"Not like it matters to me. All I'm interested in are the stocks in your hand. I want you to reserves five hundred thousand barrels of oil for my company once the market control plan starts. I'll be depositing the money into your account personally if you can do this for me."
"What do you think? As a managing director for the Han Country Coast's Petroleum, I'm sure you'll be thinking about what to do next when the plan starts anyway. Especially… When one of the oil rig's they've chosen belonged to your company." the individual laughed.
"50 million Pan-Euros upfront. I'll let you arrange the delivery method from Han Country to New Panem. If you're smart, I'm sure you will know what will happen next." the individual continued by hinting to Howard to come closer and listen.
"The alliance is planning for something big. Do this favor for me, and I'll keep quiet if you decide to make some side investment on your own. In a war, what is better than merely selling oil?" the individual laughed and slapped Howard's back before leaving.
His words might be suspicious, but the possibility of it happening is relatively high. At least, if he made an assumption based on what happened to the Oceana Alliance's naval forces not too long ago.
Without further ado, Howard made a call back to the company. This phone call indirectly replaced the importance of the Horus Eye Mercenary case.
"This is Howard. How many barrels of crude oil do we have in storage and reserve?" he asked.
"Not enough…" Howard said after hearing the reply from the other side of his phone.
"We have about two months at the most. Rent all the storage facilities we could get using my own name. And start storing all the barrels we have. Hire more people to work and prepare to empty the reserve as soon as possible."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢