American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

Josie wasn't exactly forgiving. If Whitney really stole the Nightlight Potion, he would absolutely not forgive her for such an act that could seriously harm his interests.

The simplest way to find out the truth is undoubtedly to hand Whitney over to Yuri for interrogation.

Josie had no doubt that Whitney would be able to give a clear account of even her first period at a very young age if she fell into the hands of a master like Yuri, who was skilled in mind control.

"Who are you? Where is Josh Kahn?" Whitney was clearly unaware of the seriousness of the situation and was still thinking about running away.

"Hehe, you're a smart lady, you should understand your current situation, so now it's my turn to ask you, not the other way around~ Tell me, which organization do you serve, and why are you stealing nightlights!" Yuri asked casually.

Although he could directly manipulate Whitney with his mind to make her reveal everything she knew, doing so would be too boring for him.

Anyway, Josie gave him a whole day, so Yuri didn't mind chatting with the pretty girl a bit more.

A few hours later, Yuri walked out of the laboratory, leaving Whitney lying on the experimental table, her eyes unfocused, as if she were completely broken.

"Who does she work for?" Josie asked bluntly after the transaction was connected.

“The Sports Social Club, but it also has another name, the Hydra Nine Council. However, it is not the same organization as the Red Skull you mentioned before. To be precise, the Red Skull are dissidents and traitors among them. Also, Whitney Frost is not her real name. Her real name is Agnes Cooley,” Yuri answered directly.

"Hydra? Damn it, it really was them!" Upon hearing the name, Josie slammed his fist on the table. In fact, he had a premonition about this. Throughout World War II, there were only a handful of organizations capable of doing such a thing.

But when he actually heard the name of the organization, he was still a little uneasy.

"What is her position in Hydra? What does she know?" Josie asked.

“She holds a high position, being an important figure in the middle management, and is also a very good researcher. Some of her ideas amaze even me. By the way, this is all the information she knows about the Council of Nine.” Yuri handed over several sheets of paper.

Josie took the paper out of the system. It was a very long list, and when she saw the names on it, Josie's face stiffened.

Hugh Jones, CEO of Roxon Energy Group

Calvin Chadwick, CEO of Aetheran Energy Group

Thomas Gloucester, CEO of First Citigroup

New York State Senator Vernon Masters

newspaper tycoon Mortimer Hayes

Wilfred Malik, the current head of the Malik family

Thomas von Strucker, the current head of the Strucker family.

Justice Gary Stern of the Central District of New York

These are the members of the contemporary Nine-member council of Hydra in the United States.

But if it's a nine-person council, why are there only eight?

Because the one left is John Schmidt, the Red Skull, who was kicked out of the council.

As for future Hydra bosses like Alexander Pierce, they're still just kids right now.

But even just these eight are enough to make Josie numb.

These financial tycoons have long since extended their reach to every aspect of American society. Compared to the alliance formed by these guys, Josh Kahn is at most a rather fat shrimp.

This calmed Josie down a bit, as she had just gotten a little carried away by securing a huge military order.

Stay calm, don't get reckless!

Josie continued reading. In addition to the list of the Nine Council leaders, it also listed a lot of things Hydra had done over the years, such as the assassination of President McKinley in 01, the plot that triggered the Great Depression in 1929, the provision of super-soldier materials to Schmidt, and the plot to assassinate Howard Stark in 1940 to seize a small piece of sound-absorbing steel that he had displayed, which is now the piece in Captain America's shield.

Lots and lots of them.

In addition, there is information regarding the establishment of Leviathan.

It can be said that this series of intelligence was of great significance to Josie.

"Thank you, Lord Yuri!" Josie thanked Yuri after reading the intelligence.

“Don’t mention it, we’re partners. But what do you plan to do with this woman?” Yuri asked.

"She's yours now!" Josie waved his hand. He didn't want to have too much contact with Hydra right now; there was no point in keeping this woman around.

As for how to explain the woman's whereabouts to the outside world...

too easy.

A few days later, news that Hollywood actress Whitney Houston accidentally touched an aerial bomb left over from a German bombing raid a few years earlier while taking a walk in the countryside made headlines in London. Her body was so badly damaged that it was unrecognizable.

Chapter 80 People from "Hometown"

One afternoon in late July, Josie was enjoying afternoon tea in the garden while writing a letter to Margot.

After arriving in England, Josie would write to Margot almost every week to let her know he was safe, and Margot would reply.

In those days, there were no transoceanic telephones, and telegrams could only send short messages, so the most common form of long-distance communication was actually letters. Moreover, because Josie had some connections, she could directly use the military's air transport channels and logistics network, so the letter would be delivered to Margot's hands reliably in just a few days.

Of course, this is mainly because most of the communications with Margot were just casual conversations and not very confidential.

If it were communication with Dix, it would be directly converted into encrypted telegrams.

Just as Josie was writing the letter, Vito drove a jeep into the manor, asked the servants where Josie was, and then rushed to the garden.

"boss!"

"Looks like things are all taken care of?" Just then, Josie finished writing the letter, folded it, put it in an envelope, handed it to the waiter next to her, then picked up an empty glass from the table, poured a glass of iced tea, pushed it to the other side of the table, and gestured for Vito to sit down and talk.

“It’s done. The one who did the work was the younger brother of a high-ranking member of the Razor Gang. He’s ground crew at RAF Blaze Norton. He investigated for more than half a month before identifying the aircraft, and then took advantage of a maintenance opportunity to put the equipment on it and connect the wires as you requested.” Vito didn’t stand on ceremony. He sat down and drank the black tea in his cup in one gulp before lowering his voice to answer.

"Well done! You've worked hard these past few days. Here's a two-day break for you to relax!" Hearing Vito's reply, Josie smiled slightly, took out her wallet, pulled out a thousand-pound note, and handed it over.

Before World War II, Britain was the world's most developed economy, with a huge volume of international trade every year. So even though the pound had strong purchasing power, it was not enough to issue only denominations of one hundred and fifty pounds. Therefore, the largest denomination of the pound during this period was one thousand pounds. In fact, a pound note with a denomination of one million pounds was also issued after World War II, but it was specially printed to coincide with the Marshall Plan, and only nine were made. The one million pound note in Mark Twain's novel The Million Pound Note is this one.

However, these old-fashioned white pounds will be discontinued next year because Germany printed a staggering 14 billion pounds in counterfeit currency during the final years of World War II, causing extreme chaos in the pound market.

By then, the largest denomination of the newly issued British pound banknotes, issued from 45 until the late 60s, was only five pounds. This was because the original colonial system had collapsed, and with the rise of the US dollar, the demand for large denomination banknotes was very low while ensuring the purchasing power of the pound.

However, since Josh is doing business in the UK, there aren't that many US dollars in the UK market, and with factors such as foreign exchange controls, it's impossible for him to completely avoid accepting pounds.

So when faced with those British elites waving large sums of pounds and begging Josie to sell them goods, Josie could only reluctantly agree.

However, this is subject to certain conditions.

First of all, Josie does not accept 5, 10, and 20 pound notes because these three denominations have the largest market supply, and counterfeit notes printed in Germany are also made in these denominations.

The remaining denominations are accepted, but a 30% markup is required.

Josie would try to spend the pounds she received as quickly as possible—for example, by buying British properties and for daily expenses, all of which were in pounds.

However, when buying those properties, there is no 30% price increase; instead, the price is reduced by at least 30%.

Given the current market conditions in the UK, many fixed assets are not selling for much and there are few buyers, which gives Josie the opportunity to buy at rock-bottom prices.

So, after this back and forth, Josie earned at least another 60% profit.

Indeed, making money from war is quite lucrative, and it's no wonder that lower-level officials are willing to risk violating national bans to do it.

Well, Josie assured that she was not alluding to anyone, but simply describing the current situation in Britain.

Because Josie has a lot of pounds in hand, he is very generous in rewarding his subordinates, usually starting with a hundred pounds, while for someone like Vito who has been busy for more than a week, a thousand pounds is not much.

"Thank you, boss!" Vito said happily as he took the money.

While Josh and many other American businessmen in similar situations looked down on the pound, Vito didn't, because a thousand pounds was enough for him to call dozens of British women every day—and high-class ones at that—and party for several days in a row.

Of course, Vito wouldn't actually do that, otherwise even an iron man couldn't handle dozens of girls a day.

"By the way, boss, I met some old friends from the 82nd Division when I came back. They told me that both the 82nd and 101st Divisions went back to England for rest and reorganization." Vito, after putting away the money, revealed another piece of information he knew... He used to serve in the 82nd Division, so it was normal for him to know people there.

“Oh? Is that so?” Josie stroked her chin upon hearing this, then said, “That’s perfect. When you leave, go find Lyndon. He should have some fruit, beef, and ale. Have him take inventory and send them to General Ridgway and General Taylor. Also, have him invite the two generals and other senior officers to a banquet at the Ritz Hotel tomorrow night to celebrate their triumphant return… Oh, and send a separate invitation to Lieutenant Winters of E Company.”

As the war drew nearer to a close, the Allies had now completely taken control of the Atlantic shipping lanes, and more and more supplies were being transported into Britain. In addition, with Josie's previous large-scale bulk cargo shipments, the supply of regular goods in Britain had been greatly eased. Although Josie's goods were still making him money—after all, the cost was very low—it was no longer possible to make as much profit as when he first arrived in Britain.

Only fresh fruits, beef, and other high-end goods still have a relatively good market.

However, Josie had already made enough money. Apart from tobacco, the other businesses were gradually coming to an end. Once the Allies recaptured Paris, these supplies could be sold for a better price on the European continent... After all, the cost of land transport was much higher than that of sea transport.

As for the remaining supplies in the external warehouse, Josie was too lazy to recycle them, so she simply gave them to the military as a favor.

Especially Ridgway and Taylor, both of whom were promising figures.

Making more friends at this time is definitely the right thing to do.

Quite coincidentally, the very next day, while Josie was hosting a banquet for the senior officers of the two divisions, a bombing squadron of the U.S. Navy received a bombing mission. Less than an hour after takeoff, one of the bombers exploded in mid-air, turning into a firework. The debris was scattered in the English Channel, leaving not a trace.

Such accidents were not uncommon during World War II, so no one suspected anything fishy about them.

However, on the list of casualties of the Hainan Airlines, there was one more major named Joseph Kennedy.

"Thank you, boss!" Lyndon Schneider said to Josie a few days later.

"Thank me? Thank me for what? I should be thanking you. You've made so much profit for me over the past two months, that's excellent. Here's your bonus!" Josie smiled slightly and pushed a suitcase to the other person.

However, Lyndon Schneider did not happily accept the box as Josie had imagined; instead, he looked hesitant.

"What happened?" Upon seeing this, Josie couldn't help but suppress her smile. Lyndon couldn't possibly not know that the box contained a huge sum of money; given his personality, he shouldn't be behaving like this.

So something must have happened.

"Boss, someone from our hometown has come to see you!" Linden hesitated for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and saying it.

Hometown? Josie was a little confused when she heard that.

But then it dawned on me.