Chapter 554 - 498 Temporary Change of Trading Location

Before long, Collins emerged from the basement and walked straight to the sink with a smile, grabbing a bar of soap to start washing his hands.

Song Heping glanced at the basement entrance and asked, "You left him down there alone?"

Collins replied, "Don't worry, I gave him a dose of anesthesia. He's really passed out now."

Song Heping took out his cellphone and walked into the next room to make a call to Kelly.

Jiang Feng asked, "How come he confessed so quickly?"

With an air of nonchalance, Collins said, "Of course, he did. After all, that is a man's greatest pain. Though he's a 'glass brother,' it doesn't mean he no longer needs the tools of the trade. Men can endure anything, but what they can't bear is to be deprived of their tools."

Jiang Feng once again raised his thumb, "Ruthless!"

After finishing his call, Song Heping came back and said to Collins, "Go down and see our friend off. Be good to him, don't let him suffer too much."

Collins laughed, "Sure, one shot will do. Don't worry, I guarantee he won't feel a thing."

After saying that, he went back down to the basement.

At this moment, Song Heping's phone vibrated once.

He opened the message and after a while said, "We should get going, to the United States. Brody has sent me the delivery address, insisting we enter U.S. territory today."

Hunter asked, "Boss, do you think Brody knows that something has happened to his brother?"

After pondering for a moment, Song Heping said, "No, this operation is personally conducted by Brody. If I'm not wrong, he's currently at the border. He's likely to cross through the tunnel and arrive on U.S. soil tonight. Opalini is in charge of the water route. It's unlikely the two will communicate again before the operation is over, especially given the CIA's surveillance capabilities."

"But the people in the bar..."

Hunter seemed somewhat worried.

"If Opalini doesn't show up for a day, won't they start to suspect something?"

Song Heping's gaze shifted towards White Bear, casting a meaningful look at him before saying to Hunter, "I guess his men still think their boss has found a nice piece of tail and is too exhilarated to get out of bed."

Everyone's eyes shifted towards White Bear and they burst into uproarious laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

Amid the laughter, White Bear's face turned from pale to flush with rage as he roared, "No one is to mention last night's event ever again! Or else I'll turn hostile!"

After Collins reappeared before the others, Song Heping had White Bear and Jiang Feng go to the basement to drag the body out and bury it in a grave that had been dug earlier in the yard.

Once everything was dealt with, the group started their journey to Arizona, United States, awaiting the scheduled deal that evening.

In the blink of an eye, that night arrived, and a convoy appeared in the desert near Yuma Town, Arizona, under the cover of darkness.

Sitting in the third vehicle, Brody had no idea that his 'glass brother' had already gone to visit King Yama in the netherworld.

Now, he had to arrive at a certain coordinate on the border by ten o'clock that night at the latest. That spot was one of the exits of the Mexican smuggling network's tunnels. By 10:20 p.m., his people responsible for transporting drugs at the Mexican border were set to deliver these drugs through the tunnel and into his hands.

This coordinate was completely different from the one he had sent to Song Heping earlier. There were a total of three delivery points this time, with one shipment carrying three tons of drugs delivered by a smuggling submarine near a dock in Long Beach.

The other two deliveries were through land tunnels, one near Nogales Port, and the other right here, with this spot having the largest amount—four tons.

At this time, according to the original plan, Song Heping and his men should be waiting in the desert near Tusen City for the handover.

They had no clue that the real transaction location was not in Tusen, but in Yuma, over a hundred kilometers apart.

Checking his watch, Brody felt it was about time.

He took out his phone and called Song Heping.

"Mr. Song, have your people reached the delivery point?"

"Yes, they have. All three points are covered by my men, just waiting for the goods."

"There's an unfortunate change I need to inform you about. The delivery location has changed. I will send you the new coordinates for the three points. Set your GPS and have your men come to pick up the goods."

"What?!"

Song Heping's tone on the other end of the phone sounded very displeased.

"I've gone to great lengths to deploy three groups of men and now you tell me the delivery location has changed?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Song. I hope you can understand the difficulties we face in this line of work, especially with the DEA clamping down hard recently. They have been raiding the border area for several days, and a lot of other operations have gone south. I assume you wouldn't want your shipment to run into trouble either, right?"

After a moment of silence, Song Heping reluctantly said, "Alright then, send me the new address quickly. Don't waste my time here, being this noticeable makes us an easy target!"

"You can rest assured, we're professional," Brody said. "See you in a bit."

"We are in Tusen now; it will take some time to get there, definitely can't make it at the originally scheduled time!"

"Okay, I can wait for you there for half an hour, but don't be late."

Having said that, he hung up the phone and then sent a text that had already been saved in his phone, noting the real transaction location.

After all this, he pressed the screen lock button, a smile creeping across his lips.

Changing the transaction location at the last minute, even if word leaked out again, it would probably be too late for the Americans to redeploy.

However, what he did not know was that Song Heping also smiled after hanging up.

He picked up the phone and called Kelly.

"Brody just contacted me. The new coordinates match the ones I sent you, it seems that this is the real transaction location. The rest is up to you guys."

"Don't worry, leave it to us," Kelly said. "I must admit, you're talented, Mr. Song."

"What? Are you trying to recruit me?" Song Heping asked with a teasing tone.

"If you're willing to join, you'd be very welcome," Kelly replied.

Song Heping chuckled. "I think you'd better focus on getting this sorted out first. Not even half of the plan is done. Balrot hasn't shown up yet; this is just one of his capable henchmen."

"Mhm, we'll have to rely on you for what comes next. Call me if you need assistance."

Ten o'clock.

In the Arizona desert, above the coordinates of the new transaction location.

The entrance to the tunnel had already been resealed, camouflaged with grass, sand, and wooden planks. From the outside, no traces were visible, and unless someone searched carefully, no one would discover a tunnel exit among the pile of stones, behind the brush, and next to the cacti.

Tunnels like this have always been a loophole for law enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border. Due to the border's length, the officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot systematically and completely monitor every section. Drug traffickers, smugglers, and illegal immigrants from Mexico always manage to sneak across the US-Mexico border, with Arizona being the hotspot for drug smuggling, most of which is carried out through these underground tunnels.

These tunnels range from a few hundred meters to several kilometers in length, with very concealed entrances and exits; some even have entrances or exits directly under houses. Some larger-scaled tunnels even have rail systems inside, where equipment similar to mine carts is used to transport smuggled goods, greatly increasing efficiency.

"Let's leave this place," Brody said.

Seeing the last package of coca being loaded onto the truck, he instructed his men to get into the vehicles and leave.

The hidden exit of the tunnel was not the transaction location, of course, that was set to be more than ten kilometers away on a dry riverbed.

After getting back into the vehicles, four SUVs, supporting a box truck, sped towards the target location.

Brody took out his phone, wanting to inquire again about Song Heping's location.

But just as he pulled out his phone and before he could dial the number, a thunderous noise came from the sky, followed by a brilliant column of light shining down from the darkness onto the ground.

"It's a helicopter!"

A chill ran down Brody's spine.

"Drive into the ditch up ahead, take cover!"

But it was already too late.

A gunshot rang out.

A small hole appeared in the hood of the lead vehicle.

The sniper on the helicopter had spotted them and fired a shot at the engine of the first car.

The armor-piercing warhead penetrated the engine, damaged the fuel line, and black oil sprayed out, smearing the entire windshield, obstructing the view.

The driver turned on the wipers desperately trying to clear the oil off the glass to regain visibility.

Soon, the second shot sounded.

Another gunshot.

This time, it was the radiator that burst.

Scalding water sprayed out, and steam enveloped the front of the car.

The sniper was quite clever; shooting the tires might not stop the vehicle, but hitting the engine and radiator would quickly cripple the car's mobility.

"Get out! Take them down!"

For people like Brody, who were on the run for their lives, surrendering was not a word in their dictionary.