Umbrella Chapter 6 - The High Table (Patreon)

In the end, Alexander left the meeting with a satisfied smile because he managed to secure a contract worth 2,500,000 billion dollars for 250,000 M-179e Achilles Gauss Rifle, with each one costing exactly 10,000 dollars.

That may not seem like a lot because they were technologically far more advanced than anything, but Alexander knew that production costs were approximately a few hundred dollars, and with this, he also secured the goodwill of the American Military, which became his biggest customer. 

As they ordered 250,000 of M-179e Achilles Gauss Rifle, the time of delivery was in three months, so he needed to speed up the production by a great degree.

"Sir, the High Table has sent a message that they are willing to meet and discuss the proposal."

This was one huge advantage of having connections that stemmed from his name and the connections that were left by his late father. If not for that, he would need to take the more conventional methods of conducting business, which was something that he didn't really have time for. 

Considering the fact that the anomaly would appear in the Racoon City in four years, he really didn't have time for that, and he needed to build his power as soon as possible.

"Goro... how exactly does the High Table work?"

The reason why he asked something in these lines was to find out how much similar the movies of John Wick were similar to the reality where he was living in.

"They say that the High Table is a council of twelve crime lords that govern the underworld's most powerful criminal organizations. It is considered the ultimate authority of the underworld and is feared and respected by all. The statement is only partially true, because only a selected few. Basically, each criminal organization or type of criminal organization has one seat at the High Table, something like a neutral force. For example, if you take South American Cartels, behind the Cartels, there is one organization, neutral, which doesn't engage directly in any criminal activity and is unanimously supported by all Cartels. The head of the organization gets the seat at the High Table. This works for all... be it Cosa Nostra, Triads, Yakuza, Bratva, you name it. For South American Cartels, it is Cartel Syndicate; for Cosa Nostra, it is Falcone Family, and so on... all other criminal organizations are paying tribute to their 'leader' and subsequently to the Table."

Alexander pondered a moment about what he heard, as it was slightly different from the movies, but in a certain sense, it had more logic behind such division. By the original description of the High Table it seemed more like confederation of criminal organization or some kind of alliance sui generis.

But that wasn't true... as Goro Takemura described it, he now understood how the High Table could become enormous organization as it was today. It wasn't depending on anyone anymore and if needed it could dispose of even more powerful criminal organization with ease if needed.

"Aside from that, there is a position of Elder of the High Table, which is shrouded in mystery. I only heard about it from rumors and legends, but they say that the Elder stands above the High Table."

Alex nodded hearing that, though he was more interested in the real power of the High Table in this world.

"And the scope of the power of the High Table?"

In the movies, the High Table was the ultimate form of power.

"The organizations represented by members of the High Table have many police forces, politicians, and bureaucrats around the world in their pockets, allowing them to conduct business with virtual impunity. I can say that getting a high position within the High Table would allow you to have far more political power than anyone could imagine. Right now, as Soladis Nobilis of the High Table, you have rather high standing within the hierarchy, but I think that we should strive for a higher position."

If the High Table was as powerful as it was in the John Wick movies, then it would be productive to strive for a high position within the ranks of the High Table.

***

New York City, Continental Hotel, several hours later.

When Alexander returned to the Continental Hotel, he immediately went to work, and immediately started working on liquidating some of his assets that could be, so he could speed up the production of the weapons.

Everything was right now resting on the Militech, the newest subsidiary of the Umbrella Corporation that was established a few weeks ago or so. Alex knew that he needed to speed up the production of the weapons, which was why he decided to invest most of his liquidated assets into it.

Once he managed to deliver the weapons to the US Military, just for the first batch, he would get two and a half billion dollars, which could then be used for other kinds of projects. Not to mention, the Ashford Family right now had a lot of useless properties or things that could be sold and used to build the corporate empire.

The only thing that was out of the question were stocks of several companies that his family has invested in for a long time, especially Lockheed Martin, Google, and several technological companies.

His father invested most of his money and even sold many of their properties and arts to invest in these technological giants or future giants with the vision of the future. That was indeed a smart choice because the revenue they generated for the Ashford Family was in many, many tens of millions of dollars each year.

He would never sell these stocks because he knew that companies like Google or Facebook would become tens of times more valuable in the future. It pained Alexander's heart because the overall investment had reached a staggering 400 million dollars that he could take at the moment.

At the same time, within the next few months, they would be able to invest another billion and a half if needed. Depending on the other factors, hopefully, the injection of the 400 million dollars into the Militech and Umbrella would be enough to kick off the industrial machine to start and start spitting out products. 

He has already sent several blueprints for future weapon projects, handguns, shotguns, and sniper rifles, working on the same principle as the M-179e Achilles Gauss Rifle, together creating the M-179e Achilles Series of Gauss Firearms. 

Not only that, but he was also working on starting the production of the drugs... with the talents that he got from the Gacha, it was as simple as breathing, taking some ordinary medicine, and advancing it a bit further. 

Genius Level Intellect (Mythical) coupled with Master Genetics (Legendary) and Master Virologist (Legendary) was a fearsome combination. 

At the same time... 

It was also giving Alexander fright.

If this was the power that the Gacha was giving him, then he was seriously fearing the future and what the world had prepared for him... 

As they were saying.

There was no free lunch in world.