Brazil: Criminal Empire - Chapter 119: A $22 Million Deal (Patreon)

“So, Mr. Cunha, have you made your decision?”

Rock spoke cheerfully into the newly connected call, sounding almost as if he were making polite small talk.

Cunha remained silent for several seconds before finally forcing out an answer.

“I’ll take the territory and my men together.”

“Mr. Cunha, trust me. You’ve made the wisest choice. Have the $20 million delivered by car to the entrance of the Speaker supermarket on Babylonian Street.”

The supermarket was located in an affluent neighborhood just across the road from the Stone River favela.

Rock felt like he had just taken an enormous bite out of a very profitable deal.

“I have one condition...”

Once Cunha had made his decision, he actually felt much more at ease.

He told Rock that the transaction had to remain completely secret. No word of it could spread through Rio de Janeiro’s underworld.

He also demanded that Rock cooperate with him in putting on a show.

Rock agreed, but charged him another $2 million for the performance.

Cunha accepted without hesitation.

He was already spending $20 million, so another $2 million hardly seemed worth arguing over.

By the time the deal was finalized, Rock stood to receive a staggering $22 million.

And the money would be paid in full before anything changed hands.

In other words, Cunha would first hand over the entire amount, and only afterward would Rock withdraw from the Stone River favela.

As for the extra $2 million, Cunha was paying Rock to cooperate in staging an armed recapture of the favela.

Since Rock was taking $2 million for the performance, he had no intention of putting on a halfhearted show.

He was definitely going to withdraw from the Stone River favela anyway.

Rock simply did not have enough manpower to manage and control such a large territory.

Rather than leave it sitting there uselessly, it made far more sense to sell control back to Crazy Train and walk away with a huge profit.

Still, even if the battle was supposed to be staged, real guns would be involved.

There was no guarantee Cunha’s men would not turn the act into a genuine attack.

They could use the agreed-upon performance as cover for a real ambush, killing or wounding some of Rock’s men and using the bloodshed to announce Crazy Train’s return.

After all, Rock and Crazy Train were not merely business partners.

Rock’s forces had practically wiped out the official Crazy Train members under Correa, Jairo, and the others.

Their bodies had even been soaked in gasoline and burned to ashes.

Hatred like that could not simply be erased because the two sides had made a deal.

So Rock needed to prepare for both possibilities.

He called Ciro and had him arrange for a bus to pick up Rodrigues and the others near the Stone River favela and evacuate them first.

Rock was concerned that Crazy Train might retaliate against their families afterward.

Most of the young men who had come to join him were orphans, but even orphans could have brothers and sisters.

Some of them also still had family members living in the favela.

There were twenty-seven new recruits in total.

Once their relatives were included, the evacuation group grew to fifty-three people.

A fifty-six-seat bus was packed almost completely full.

They would take a roundabout route and be sent to the Slope favela first.

For now, Rock had no intention of allowing them into the Great Rock Wall Favela.

He was developing the Great Rock Wall Favela as Battle Angels’ main base.

Its internal roads, layout, and defensive facilities were all being redesigned under the direction of military specialists such as Cassiano and Rivaldo.

The preparations were not limited to ground defenses.

They had even planned for air defense.

The only thing they lacked was the actual anti-aircraft weaponry.

Within Battle Angels, the Great Rock Wall Favela now had another name.

The Fortress.

A stronghold built to withstand war.

As for organizing the territory internally, Rock had plenty of existing models he could adapt.

He divided the Great Rock Wall Favela into a grid system.

Every ten buildings formed one block, and every ten blocks formed one district.

Block leaders and district leaders functioned as local administrators appointed by Battle Angels and received stipends from the gang.

Through them, Battle Angels could maintain a clear picture of virtually everything happening inside its territory.

Outsiders whose backgrounds could not be verified would not simply be allowed into the Great Rock Wall Favela.

Once Rodrigues and the others reached the Slope favela, they would begin basic training and patrol duties.

After Rock finished dealing with the situation around the Stone River favela, those who passed the remaining tests would gradually be rotated back to the Great Rock Wall Favela for more comprehensive training.

After sending off his newly recruited men, Rock turned his attention to another substantial haul.

Three modified bulletproof Ford SUVs.

They had been found at one of Correa’s old strongholds.

It was a location Correa had operated before taking control of the Nightingale Bar.

Besides more than a million dollars and several hundred thousand reais in cash, Correa had also stored a cache of weapons and ammunition there, along with the three vehicles.

Most of the firearms were AR-platform rifles.

There was also an RPG-7 launcher system with twelve rockets.

These were weapons that had been brought back to the stronghold after the retreat from the fighting on 21st Street in the Slope favela.

But Rock was happiest about the bulletproof SUVs.

They were exactly what he needed.

Unless one of them took a direct RPG hit, ordinary firearms would have a hard time doing anything to the vehicles.

Tomorrow, Rock and his men would use them to withdraw from the Stone River favela.

With armored steel plating and bullet-resistant glass protecting them, the trip out would be considerably safer.

Interestingly enough, Cunha still had no idea what organization Rock belonged to.

There were several reasons for that, but the biggest was simple.

Correa and Jairo’s men had been almost completely wiped out.

The subordinates who had been stationed elsewhere knew nothing about the earlier attack on 21st Street in the Slope favela.

Even if Cunha wanted answers, there was almost no one left who knew enough to give them.

During their phone call, Cunha had tried probing Rock about his identity.

Rock had brushed the question aside with a casual remark.

So in Cunha’s mind, Rock and his organization were still shrouded in mystery.

Rock had no intention of clearing that up.

He would keep Cunha guessing for as long as possible.

In any case, once the Stone River favela operation was over, the conflict with Crazy Train could be considered temporarily settled.

That was assuming they managed to withdraw without Crazy Train getting on their tail and tracking them back to their base.

By now, night had fallen.

Only a single road separated two completely different worlds.

One side was brilliantly lit, while the other was dotted with scattered lights.

Rock and Rivaldo changed into civilian clothes and went to collect the cash Cunha had delivered.

At Rock’s request, the entire payment was in U.S. currency, mixed between $20 and $100 bills.

Twenty-two million dollars in cash weighed more than 300 kilograms.

Cunha had packed it into four large suitcases.

According to their agreement, there would be no deposit followed by a second payment after the withdrawal.

Neither side wanted any unnecessary contact afterward.

So the entire amount would be paid at once.

The money was now sitting in the cargo area of an SUV.

As Rock and Cunha had agreed, the vehicle was parked beside the entrance to the Speaker supermarket.

The area was busy, with plenty of pedestrians coming and going.

Cunha had stationed quite a few men around the SUV.

After all, no ordinary person could simply walk away carrying more than 300 kilograms of cash.

Whoever came to collect it would need a vehicle.

And Cunha intended to use that opportunity to follow them back to their base.

Once he knew where they were hiding, he could eventually take back the money, along with interest.