Chapter 596

Chapter 596: The Threat of a Document

When Colonel David de Hitt of the U.S. Air Force’s 1st Flight Wing challenged Lin Mo, Lockheed faced another major issue before the Air Force could question them.

A troublesome predicament, or rather, being caught in a compromising situation used against them.

“Mr. Lockheed, how do you think Boeing would react if we submitted this information to them?”

Major Mo, the military attaché at the Chinese embassy in America, waved a document in Florodo Lockheed’s office at Lockheed headquarters.

This document had been delivered to Old Lockheed three days ago, and from the shocked and angry expression on his face, it was clear that its contents had stunned him.

“You’re blackmailing us, pure and simple.”

Old Lockheed’s face turned ashen with rage; these damn Chinese had the audacity to extort Lockheed Martin.

It was utterly intolerable, yet he had no way to fight back.

Old Lockheed’s complexion suddenly darkened to a purplish hue as he pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, tossed two into his mouth, and swallowed them with water, taking a long while to regain his composure.

Major Mo, on the other hand, calmly observed Old Lockheed, finding the aged man still seemingly carefree.

If one truly thought of him as a kind old grandfather with a gentle demeanor, they would be terribly mistaken. The rise of any consortium often comes with bloodshed and darkness as stepping stones.

The DuPont Corporation, one of America’s top ten consortia, had once annihilated a self-reliant engineer along with his factory in a powder explosion, and Lockheed had also committed many dubious deeds in its growth.

“So, Mr. Florodo Lockheed, have you made up your mind?”

Once Old Lockheed had composed himself somewhat, Major Mo continued to exert pressure with a smile.

If Lin Mo had not devised this clever plan before leaving, China’s intelligence department would not have had such a brilliant idea to extort America’s largest arms supplier. The opportunity was rare; better to risk a misstep than to let it slip away.

“Do you truly have to do this? Don’t you know the consequences?”

Old Lockheed resembled an aged lion, struggling to hide his weariness.

“The consequences are not something you need to worry about, Mr. Lockheed. That’s our own issue,” Major Mo ignored Old Lockheed’s threats.

The document in his hands grasped the crucial point for Lockheed.

For Lockheed Martin, this essential point was created by Boeing, which ironically the Chinese had guessed correctly. A negative multiplied can mean a positive; if Boeing were to pursue the matter, Lockheed would undoubtedly find itself in a tricky situation, unable to control its expanding troubles.

Fearing the worst, Lockheed was left speechless. Boeing was acting like a rabid dog, ready to snap at anyone it could catch.

Four experimental sixth-generation fighter jets from Boeing had gone missing, with Lockheed’s shadow lurking behind them, or rather, Lockheed being directly involved.

What they hadn’t anticipated was that their objective of causing Boeing a little trouble—like inducing minor malfunctions in certain system modules—would escalate to having four experimental jets go missing.

A software engineer at Boeing made an unintentional mistake, and a small virus from Lockheed caused a curious change, resulting in the already capricious “Adam” intelligent core system losing control altogether.

It was unfortunate that the jets went missing, but as long as they didn’t fall into Lockheed’s hands, that document would pose a serious problem for Boeing since they would think differently.

In trying to steal the chicken, they ended up losing rice; that was a true depiction of Lockheed’s situation.

God’s creations are not so easily controlled. Trying to pinpoint an issue from countless lines of code through manual comparison, regardless of which side, is nearly an impossible task.

Neither Boeing nor Lockheed could comprehend the true source code of the mutated “Adam.”

“Heh, ultimately, this debt is owed by you at Lockheed. Even without this document, if we were to expose those previous matters, I’m sure you would find it equally hard to handle.”

Major Mo appeared confident, having completely read the room.

Lin Mo took the blame for others in America, and the intelligence department thus owed him a big favor, which was not easy to repay. As a result, the American branch directly took a leaf out of Lei Feng’s book, working for free to help Lin Mo collect debts. They wanted to uncover the grudge between Lin Mo and Lockheed, which was quite easy—so much so that the domestic side even built a special file for it.

The intelligence department had its own unique ways to return this favor, and Lin Mo would never have guessed they would do him this service; in fact, he was completely unaware of it now.

It was truly unexpected.

They connected several unrelated matters, as intelligence work is all about reasoning and analysis. They just needed to adapt their approach, muddle through a bit, and they forged an analysis report to frame Lockheed, filled with extensive and highly credible evidence.

These were all crafted by professional intelligence analysts, making it nearly impossible to discern truth from fiction.

“Okay, okay, let me think for a few days.”

Old Lockheed finally made a difficult decision after three hours of conversation.

He could not imagine what would happen if this document fell into Boeing’s hands; they would likely face an unbearable retaliation.

In terms of true power, Boeing was no weaker than Lockheed—on the contrary, it was even stronger. In 2007 alone, Boeing’s revenue was 1.55 times that of Lockheed.

Lockheed Martin was under the California Consortium, ranked ninth among the top ten consortia in America, while Boeing’s controlling major was Citigroup, the third-largest consortium in the United States.

If things escalated, the Lockheed family would truly encounter significant trouble, potentially facing forced disbandment, which would be a disaster.

Old Lockheed had to consider this carefully.

Had Lin Mo been the one to make the same demand, Old Lockheed might have brushed it off.

An ace pilot was just a minor figure with no real influence or threat compared to a giant like Lockheed.

However, with China’s intelligence department so brazenly approaching them, Lockheed could not ignore Lin Mo; the opposing side was a state agency, a true heavyweight.

He never expected a national intelligence department would go out of its way to squeeze a relatively insignificant pilot. It was simply unbelievable, even completely unreasonable.

No justification, no rationale, unnecessary, perplexing—it made no sense…

Old Lockheed never anticipated that this was, in fact, the intelligence department’s smooth approach to return a major favor for someone else.

“Twenty-four hours, we must receive a response within twenty-four hours, or a copy of this document will appear on the president’s desk in the White House, in the hands of every Congressional member, and the upper echelons of the Pentagon and Boeing—everyone will have a copy.”

Major Mo felt completely secure, knowing Lockheed would fold as expected.

The Chinese intelligence department was even unafraid of the CIA finding out, while Lockheed had to conceal it from them, as this document could not fall into the CIA’s hands either, or the situation would worsen.

With the theft of “Fenrir” alloy, the F-22 Raptors bombing U.S. proxy forces in the Middle East, and special forces causing chaos in Paris, inviting fierce retaliation from the French Foreign Legion, Lockheed was already in hot water as they saw this document that was adding fuel to the fire fall into the hands of the Chinese.

The executives at Lockheed felt like they were sitting on pins and needles, being roasted over an open fire.

Because of this, the Chinese intelligence department really had Lockheed in a corner.

The AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar and the Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (EODAS), along with the additional demands China’s intelligence department made for Lin Mo, included Lockheed’s own Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS). If the pressure was applied, Lockheed would be in real pain.

Of course, it would be two sets: one to hand over to the state for technological reverse engineering, and one to give to Lin Mo as a favor in return.

After all, there had been precedents; only one entity in the country could privately own complete engines for the F-22.

“Alright!”

Old Lockheed looked weakly at the identical copy of the document on his desk and in Major Mo’s hands as he saw them off. After they left, he sighed deeply, contemplating for a long time before finally picking up the phone and dialing a number.

“Laboratory 41, Carter, it’s Florodo. Yes, listen, help me out, keep it confidential, only your mind should record this call—don’t make any records, or we’re both in trouble. Here’s the deal: intercept two sets of the AESA (AN/APG-81), EODAS, and EOTS under the guise of scrapped equipment, using some damaged parts to disguise it as explosive or other accidents. Don’t ask too many questions, pack it all up so no one notices, disguise it as other products. I’ll tell you where to send it in a moment.”

Having to lower himself before China’s intelligence department, Lockheed could only agree. Intercepting this special equipment was not a simple task; it required careful maneuvering to avoid detection by the military.

Although he did not know whether the Chinese would destroy the document, their credibility was relatively reliable. Old Lockheed could only gamble on it; there was no way out for him, nor for Lockheed. This document absolutely could not be seen by anyone at Boeing or the Pentagon.

Once this was finished, it was time to step back. Old Lockheed hung up the phone and slumped down in his big chair, staring blankly at the ceiling, utterly exhausted.