HBWnovel Chapter 421 - 421: Blackmail
Chapter 421 - 421: Blackmail
The paper inside the envelope was thick and expensive, the kind of stationery that suggested whoever had written this message had access to quality materials and wanted to project an image of sophistication and seriousness. The handwriting was somewhat neat thought it looked like he was shaking and he tried to hide. It was also impersonal, probably deliberately designed to avoid being distinctive enough to identify.I unfolded the letter and began reading.
I know about the trade between you and Gabriel.
The opening line hit like a physical blow. My Instinct had been correct about the eavesdropper hearing our sensitive conversation. The worst-case scenario I had been worrying about all day was confirmed in stark black ink.
If you don't want to be exposed, you will do the following:
1. Accept Gabriel's proposal to provide consultation on evasion tactics in exchange for the informant's contact information.
2. Once you receive the informant's details, you will deliver that information to the address provided at the bottom of this letter.
Failure to comply with either condition will result in your conversation being shared with President Santos, the Brazilian government, and relevant international media outlets. Your credibility as an international consultant will be destroyed, your diplomatic mission will collapse, and your coalition against the World President will lose one of its most valuable assets.
You have until project completion to fulfill these terms.
The signature was simply a symbol I didn't recognize, something that could have been a gang mark, a personal sigil, or just a meaningless flourish designed to look important.
I read the letter three times, analyzing every word while my various skills worked to process the implications of what I was being forced to do.
works that could potentially identify the most dangerous threat to democratic governance in the current international system.
The costs were significant, the ethical compromises were uncomfortable, and the potential for things to go catastrophically wrong was higher than I wanted to acknowledge.
But I would get what I needed to advance my primary mission objective. I would find the World President, expose their identity, and eliminate their ability to operate with anonymous impunity while building authoritarian coalitions.
That goal was worth almost any price, including being blackmailed into helping criminals and compromising intelligence sources to unknown third parties.
At least, that's what I told myself as I sat alone in my room, holding a letter that had just eliminated any remaining agency I had over my own ethical choices.
Tomorrow I would accept Gabriel's proposal. Tomorrow I would commit to a course of action that would change everything about my mission in Brazil and potentially my entire approach to international diplomacy.
But tonight, I would try to sleep, knowing that the decision had been made for me by someone who understood exactly how to exploit my priorities and my vulnerabilities.