When Barney heard William's questioning tone, he felt a bit dejected. They really hadn't expected Carlos to be so slippery, almost like an eel.
Barney sighed and explained, "We were chasing Carlos in Madagascar and ended up at a construction site. He slipped and fell from the top of a crane, dying instantly. I'm sorry, boss."
Six seasoned mercenaries couldn't catch one man. William asked sternly, "What happened?"
Barney replied, "Boss, we didn't expect Carlos to be so vigilant. We found him in an underground fighting pit. He received a text message and immediately started shooting at Gunnar before escaping to a construction site. We had him surrounded, but he was incredibly agile, running up a crane. Christmas and Yin Yang chased him, but Carlos slipped and fell from the crane."
"I'm sorry, boss. The mission required capturing him alive, and we didn't foresee him falling to his death. However, we did retrieve his backpack, which contained a timed bomb and a phone. We found a location on the phone, pointing to Miami Airport."
Hearing Miami Airport, William immediately understood. Carlos had intended to bomb the Tianxing 570 plane. Now that Carlos was dead, how could they find his backer? "Barney, I said I needed him alive. Now that Carlos is dead, the trail has gone cold. How are we supposed to find the mastermind?"
Barney felt slightly better hearing about the trail and smiled, "Boss, we got lucky. Gunnar knew Carlos was working for a mercenary broker named Alex Dimitrios. This guy is dangerous, taking on any dirty job for money. I think you should alert Miami Airport and Tianxing."
"I know. That's why we hired you to capture Carlos. Barney, your new task is to find Alex Dimitrios."
Barney immediately responded, "Boss, I had Tol check. Alex Dimitrios is currently in the Bahamas."
"Good job, Barney. Go to the Bahamas, keep an eye on Alex Dimitrios, see who he contacts, and find out who hired him. Also, send me a photo of Alex Dimitrios. I might be able to dig up something on him."
"Will do, boss. I'll send it now and we'll head to the Bahamas soon. Goodbye, boss," Barney said.
"I'll call you with any updates. Don't mess up again," William reminded.
Hanging up, William pulled out his encrypted laptop from Garrick and logged into the MI6 database.
Unbeknownst to William, M's assistant, Bill Turner, was alerted as soon as William used his W division credentials to log into the database.
Bill Turner quickly called M, "Ma'am, W has made a move. We just detected William Devonshire searching for someone named Alex Dimitrios in our database."
M, who had just gone to bed, was irritated at being woken up but quickly got up and opened her computer. The screen displayed Alex Dimitrios' photo.
M muttered to herself, "Why is William looking for this scoundrel, this butcher?"
As William continued to search and pulled up the file of a middle-aged white man with an unusual left eye, M was shocked. "Le Chiffre!" she exclaimed. "Bill Turner, where is William Devonshire now?"
"At his home on Oxford Street," Bill Turner replied.
"Keep an eye on him. I want to know his every move. Following William Devonshire might lead us to Le Chiffre."
"Yes, ma'am. I'll assign someone to monitor him immediately."
Unaware that M had been monitoring his MI6 access since he met with Security Committee Chairman Garrick, William continued studying the file of Le Chiffre. This international banker laundered money for terrorists and warlords for profit, and he was a ruthless character with a large network.
Le Chiffre's plan to bomb the Tianxing 570 plane was to profit from shorting Tianxing's stock. Destroying the company's expensive project would cause their stock to plummet, allowing Le Chiffre to make a fortune.
But this conflicted with William's plans. He was waiting for the market crash in March and didn't want a premature crash triggered by Tianxing's stock. His game sale money had just arrived, and he wasn't ready yet. If the crash happened earlier, who knew if it would unfold the same way as in his previous life?
Le Chiffre better not get in the way of my profits, or I'll take him out, William thought.
With billions at stake, William didn't want any mistakes. He decided to personally keep an eye on Alex Dimitrios. Once they located the person planning to bomb the plane, he would take action.
Market crashes like this were rare opportunities, occurring perhaps once every ten years. After this one, who knew if the next financial crisis would occur on schedule?
Although William believed another crisis would happen, he wasn't sure if it would be at the same time.
William grabbed his passport, wallet, and credit cards, and left the house. He drove to the secret equipment depot Garrick had prepared for him.
At the depot, William headed to the armory and selected an AWP sniper rifle. Since his storage space was only a meter, he had to disassemble the AWP, along with 200 rounds of sniper ammunition and a silencer, to fit it in.
He also took an M4A1. The HK416 wasn't available yet in 2000, but William planned to make one when he had time, influenced by his preference from playing games in his previous life.
After assembling the M4A1 with all the accessories, he grabbed ten loaded magazines, a tranquilizer gun, and tranquilizer darts.
He also took two Glock 17s, twenty magazines, eavesdropping devices, trackers, night vision goggles, gas masks, flashlights, grenades, smoke bombs, stun grenades, and tranquilizer smoke bombs—twenty each. With this gear, he felt he could take on an entire platoon.
Finally, he took £100,000 and $100,000 in cash and left the depot empty-handed. He called his personal banker at the Bank of England and arranged a small private jet to fly directly to the Bahamas.
Within ten minutes of William leaving, M's men arrived at his Oxford Street home to monitor him. Luckily for William, he moved quickly and avoided their surveillance.
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