Brazil: Criminal Empire - Chapter 177: Angel Defense (Patreon)

“Commander Ferreira, I’m doing very well, and the brothers are doing well too. This is my current boss, Mr. Locke.”

Rivaldo stepped forward, shook hands with the burly man leading the group, embraced him, and introduced Rock.

Rock’s current public identity was the owner of Angel Defense in Rio de Janeiro.

In fact, Rock had already used the company’s name when he sponsored BOPE. The difference was that now the company had become a real operation.

After the battle at the Turquoise Bar, Rock had returned and immediately told Attorney Jonas to handle the arrangements.

Thanks to Rock’s generosity, the relevant departments in Rio de Janeiro, all fluent in the language of money, processed everything at astonishing speed.

Within two days, all the paperwork Rock needed was complete.

Rock’s legitimate public identity had gained another layer of protection.

Rivaldo and the others were now officially employees of Angel Defense as well.

From that point on, every member of the three special operations squads had a plausible legal identity.

Ciro, meanwhile, had transformed into Angel Defense’s CFO.

The promotion moved Ciro, who had spent years in the underworld, to tears.

Living in the shadows had its appeal, but it had always felt as though something was missing.

Rock had now filled that gap. Ciro could walk openly in the daylight and be respectfully addressed as Director Ciro.

With the Battle Angels gang now wrapped in a legal shell, its members had much more freedom to operate outside the favelas.

That meant Rock bringing members of all three special operations squads here today could be presented as a perfectly legitimate official exchange between a defense company and BOPE.

As the relationship between Angel Defense and BOPE deepened, there might even come a time when an event needed security and BOPE could not spare the manpower, leaving the job to Angel Defense instead.

This kind of cooperation between public institutions and private companies was common not only in Brazil, but throughout the world.

“Welcome, Mr. Locke. The guys have been looking forward to this.” Ferreira had the powerful build of a Nordic man. At a little over 1.9 meters tall, he stood half a head above Rock.

The two men embraced firmly.

“Thank you, Commander Ferreira. My brothers are happy to visit their old stomping grounds again.”

While Rock and Ferreira hugged, most of the special operations members Rock had brought stepped forward to embrace the BOPE men as well.

When the special operations members had still been on active duty, many of them had served as instructors or fellow recruits alongside the BOPE officers standing across from them.

So even after meeting again in different roles, the deep sense of brotherhood between them remained.

Because their positions had changed, everyone also spoke much more casually than before.

“Instructor, I think today I finally get a chance to kick your ass.”

One of the elite BOPE members, convinced that his combat ability had improved through recent operations, looked at his former instructor with a mischievous grin.

“Brother, I really like that smile. I hope you can still wear it later.”

The special operations member looked back at the soldier he had once trained and answered with a meaningful smile of his own.

Cassiano, Kaká, and the other former Brazilian Parachute Brigade special forces soldiers, along with the former GATE member, stood off to the side and watched.

“I really want to have a close-quarters fight with them. The boss taught me a scissor kick yesterday, and right now I feel unstoppable.”

“Don’t underestimate these guys. Haven’t you suffered enough under Rivaldo? Most of them were trained by him.”

“...”

Cassiano and the others formed their own little circle and chatted animatedly.

Eventually, their teammates pulled them over and introduced them to the BOPE members on the other side.

Everyone gradually became familiar with one another.

The atmosphere between the two groups was lively and friendly.

Ferreira had brought twenty BOPE members to the meeting. He never passed up an opportunity to exchange experience with outsiders and improve his unit’s combat effectiveness.

Besides, this was also a visit from one of BOPE’s major financial backers.

Apart from funding from Rio de Janeiro State and whatever they seized during operations against drug gangs, BOPE did not have many other sources of money.

Ferreira simply wanted his men to have better treatment, then better treatment again whenever possible.

BOPE officers risked their lives every time they went to work, and Ferreira always wanted to do a little more for them.

Of course, improving their treatment could not come at the expense of combat effectiveness.

Rock’s defense company had members from several special forces units, making it a perfect partner for BOPE to train against so both sides could improve.

Once everyone had finished catching up, Rock and his men began unloading the firearms they had brought.

They had not brought weapons like the P90 this time. Instead, they had brought a pile of M4s.

They only had enough P90 ammunition for a few major engagements, and more importantly, P90 rounds had appeared frequently during the massacre at the boundary between Leblon and the favela.

BOPE had been the first unit to arrive at the scene after that bloody firefight.

Some BOPE members already knew what Rivaldo and the others were actually doing.

But as long as certain things were never brought into the open, it was better for everyone to treat them as though they did not exist.

For the same reason, Kaká had not brought either his SVD or M24.

Rock had another reason for coming here. He wanted to help Kaká choose a sniper rifle, because the SVD’s effective range of 800 meters severely limited Kaká’s Talent.

Rock had brought an M40A1 along so Kaká could try it first.

As the hosts, BOPE naturally brought out everything in its arsenal.

BOPE used Brazilian-made weapons such as the IMBEL M964A1 paratrooper LAR rifle, the Brazilian version of the FAL, the IMBEL MD2 5.56 mm assault rifle, and the Taurus PT92 automatic pistol.

The unit also fielded well-known foreign weapons, including the Colt M16A2 assault rifle, M4A1 carbine, Colt Model 733 short carbine, Armalite AR-10 SUPER SASS semi-automatic sniper rifle, H&K MP5-series submachine guns, the PSG-1 police sniper rifle, and Benelli M3 “Super 90” tactical shotguns.

Rock planned to try the weapons here first, then use today’s experience as a reference when he went to Paraguay to buy guns in a few days.

So the first stop in the exchange was the shooting range.

As elites from special forces backgrounds, neither side would be satisfied with simply firing at stationary targets.

They used all kinds of targets, including swinging targets, moving targets, and clay pigeons.

Both BOPE and the special operations squads brought out their real skill to show the other side what they could do.

From another perspective, they were practically on the same side anyway, so there was no need to hide too much from one another.