Fatal Strike: Paladins Mercenary Road

Chapter 801 Big Business

When faced with Kate's question, Dalia simply smiled mysteriously...

Even if she knew what her boss was planning, she wouldn't tell Kate.

Their plan sounds very feasible, but in reality, it is very difficult to implement.

Especially regarding the details, Kate's assistance was needed for detailed planning.

Dalia knew very well that once Kate came to her door and Thiago became a pawn, the subsequent battle between the boss and the Sinaloa Group would take a different form.

The best way for their boss to gain the most benefits is to push Thiago to take over more territory and plant a foothold in Mexico.

As for how the boss will ultimately use this nail, that's not Dalia's concern. What she needs to do now is to have the most detailed discussions and deliberations on the attack plan with Kate, General Sid, and Thiago himself.

Thiago's identity must be established, so many details need to withstand scrutiny, at the very least, to prevent anyone from finding clear evidence that he has a connection with the boss.

She knew perfectly well that her boss didn't care if others knew about Thiago's connection to him...

The key issue is that to maximize Thiago's value, he needs to establish a firm foothold.

Those who partner with outsiders can't secure stable territory in Mexico; once things stabilize, everyone will come after them.

Therefore, Thiago must be 'innocent'!

Only with Kate's cooperation in completing this crucial step could the subsequent problems be resolved one by one.

Thiago, as a key piece, didn't even have basic say at this point!

But he wasn't stupid or an idiot. He didn't get along with General Sid before simply because he wasn't used to his ways, not because he didn't understand anything.

Even a fool could realize at this point that he played a key role in the plan.

No matter how Dalia and her group negotiated and arranged, their eventual entry into Mexico to fight the Sinaloa Group would require not only support from this side, but also for Thiago to step forward and win over his brothers, and then leverage the advantages of his hometown to build up a force using the funds he had seized.

He's a local bigwig; without him, this wouldn't have worked!

Having figured out his purpose, Thiago suddenly fell silent...

He knew he had no choice, so all he could do now was to cooperate fully and hope that he could do a good job and increase his importance, which might allow him to live a little longer.

And this guy suddenly had a strange idea...

If what Dalia said was true, he felt he might actually be able to gain a foothold in Mexico.

Dalia saw through Thiago's thoughts at a glance. Instead of exposing his little scheme, she glanced at Mountain Eagle, who was on the terrace enjoying the cool breeze while studying documents. After hesitating for a moment, she put away the laptop on the table and said to Kate and General Sid, "This is the boss's house. If you have no objections to our plan, let's go somewhere else to discuss the details."

Kate followed Dalia's gaze and glanced out the window. She frowned and said, "Isn't your boss involved?"

Dalia shook her head decisively and said, "My boss has more important things to do..."

If you think the Sinaloa Group is the boss's main target, then you are mistaken!
Our boss has important business to attend to and a more dangerous enemy!

Kate sighed and said, "I need to know exactly what your boss wants to get from Mexico."
You should understand, I'm just the one doing the work...

I need to produce a convincing report to gain support from the United States; otherwise, just suppressing the Mexican government's backlash will be a huge problem!

Dalia thought for a moment and then simply said, "The treasury!"
The money in La Cruz's coffers will definitely be poured into La Cruz to help Thiago quickly seize power.

But Sinaloa has more than one vault; their largest vault is in Cancun, a money laundering hub for drug cartels.

We'll raid the Cancun vault while Thiago is distracting the Sinaloa Group. If you're interested, you can join in.

This might solve the 'Bangkok Group's' funding for ten years in one go!

Cancun?

Kate's eyes suddenly widened, and she looked out the window...

…………

In fact, while Mountain Eagle was reviewing the documents, he was using Golden Cicada to distract himself and keep an eye on the meeting inside the cabin...

He was very satisfied with Dalia's performance. Her final suggestion of 'Cancun' was just an excuse she gave to Kate, but what she said wasn't wrong.

If Thiago needs to be 'cleared', then for the Mountain Eagles, simply waging a proxy war would contradict their needs.

So he had to use his own methods to keep bleeding Sinaloa dry! Now that killing was no longer so easy, raiding their treasury would definitely break their hearts, and it also had other clever uses.

Thiago revealed the locations of the Sinaloa Group's four vaults, which belonged to various factions within the group...

Most people only know 'Guzman', but they don't know that the Sinaloa Group was founded by three people...

'Joaquin Guzman' 'Ismail Zambad Garcia' 'Hector Luis Palma Salazar'

'Guzman the Short' is the current leader, while the Zambada family is the second most powerful force in the Sinaloa Cartel, and Hector Salazar is the de facto manager of Michoacán, the Sinaloa Cartel's drug raw material supply region.

The vault in La Cruz did not belong to 'El Chapo Guzman', but to the Zambada family, the second-in-command.

Of the four vault locations Thiago provided, the remaining three, one of which is located in 'Cancun' as proposed by Dalia, are assets of the Sinaloa Group…

One of the other two belongs to the third-ranking figure, 'Hector Salazar,' and is located in Michoacán.

The last and largest vault is located in Los Mochi, Sinaloa, which is 'El Chapo's' headquarters and where he hides.

Thiago's target is La Cruz, while the Mountain Eagles' target is Cancun and Michoacán...

In fact, apart from Cancun, the vaults in La Cruz and Michoacán do not hold a particularly large amount of money.

However, those were the private assets of the second and third-ranking figures in the Sinaloa Cartel. Losing a few hundred million dollars wouldn't cripple such a high-ranking drug lord, but it would be enough to make them feel pain and then prompt them to put pressure on the group's internal structure to change their attitude towards Mountain Eagle.

People who wear shoes can't stand this kind of pointless entanglement!
Once 'El Chapo' Guzmán is arrested, the Sinaloa Group will be unstable and will definitely choose to back down and cease hostilities immediately!

From the beginning, Mountain Eagle did not believe that he had the ability to completely dismantle the Sinaloa Group. In fact, he did not hate the Sinaloa the most. It was just that they were the biggest target and that attacking them would have the best effect on making a name for himself. That's why Mexico is the most lively place right now.

Even the idea of ​​using Thiago to wage a proxy war was just a sudden whim of the Mountain Eagle after Kate got involved...

His initial target was Cancun; the other three vaults were originally intended to be burned to the ground...

The situation has changed, but we still need to take Cancun.

Because the Shadow Fleet plan for the Mountain Eagle would require a lot of money in the future, he didn't want to spend too much of his own money on revenge. Using Sinaloa's treasury to pay for the 'revenge funds' was more in line with his needs.

Untraceable cash is actually more convenient to use!

Whether it's hiring people or making use of all sorts of bizarre organizations in the underworld, cash is the best means of payment.

The so-called 'scheme' that Kate feared was not quite what she imagined; at least the Mountain Eagles did not have the idea of ​​controlling Mexican drug cartels through Thiago.

In Mountain Eagle's mind, if Thiago, as an agent, could truly establish himself and gain control of a coastal region, he could complete the puzzle of the Venezuela deal he had previously planned.

Mexico is an oil-producing country, exporting approximately $2500 billion worth of crude oil and petroleum products to the United States annually. Moreover, the crude oil they produce is of the same quality as Venezuelan heavy crude oil.

Los Zetas earns around $15 billion annually just from stealing crude oil from pipelines for export.

This indicates the existence of a large black market for crude oil in Mexico...

To put it bluntly, this black market is essentially an agent for energy companies within the United States, who evade taxes and reduce corporate costs by purchasing illegally obtained crude oil at low prices.

If Mountain Eagle wants to do business with Venezuelan crude oil, he needs a major client, and there's no better target than an American energy company.

The high cost of crude oil in the United States has made it difficult for these companies to operate in the country.

Not all energy companies are giants like ExxonMobil or Gulf Oil; the American Midwest is full of small and medium-sized refineries.

These small and medium-sized enterprises need to find a stable source of low-priced crude oil to avoid being acquired during periods of high oil price volatility.

If Mountain Eagle can get Venezuelan crude oil to go through Mexico, it can help them avoid the risk of being investigated by the U.S. Treasury Department.

As for how they subsequently use other means to legitimately include the low-priced crude oil in their own accounts, that's their own business.

This isn't actually difficult, because it's very hard to verify the amount of crude oil imported by refineries...

The price per barrel of crude oil in the transaction must be close to the international oil price, but the quantity can be manipulated.

As long as Thiago can maintain his position, these are minor issues given the level of corruption within the Mexican government!
At heart, Mountain Eagle was a businessman. Once he opened his mind, he realized that developing an agent could not only deal a heavy blow to Sinaloa, but also further advance his trade routes...

Where else can you find such a good deal: fighting enemies and developing markets to make money?

(End of this chapter)