Not only did Benjamin leverage the fury of the White House and his own near-assassination to swiftly force the Speaker of the House and the Vice President—who were not aligned with him—to stand with him in targeting the LockSat organization embedded within the U.S., but he also acted decisively. Within less than half an hour of the attack, he dispatched federal agents to arrest and control members of the organization who had infiltrated both the political and military spheres. In just a few days, the organization's U.S. operations (at least all the exposed members with names and identities) were nearly wiped out. Additionally, Benjamin managed to force two Republican senators to resign, handing their seats to the Democrats. This didn't even include the five House representatives who also stepped down.
This move had the Democratic Party internally celebrating it as "the most glorious victory over the Republicans in the past decade!"
As for the mastermind behind the attack, Aamir Barkawi, although intelligence had located him hiding in a mountain range in Argentina before the incident, by the time Benjamin was ready to send Delta Force or Navy SEALs to South America to deal with him, the cunning man had already vanished without a trace.
Perhaps only Castle in the entire world now knew Aamir Barkawi's exact location.
But Castle had no intention of betraying this man, whose operational capabilities were exceptional and whose planning and execution of armed attacks were nothing short of brilliant. The reason was simple: Aamir was soon to orchestrate a grand spectacle called "London Has Fallen." In this event, Aamir would first use poison to make the British Prime Minister appear to have died of a heart attack. Then, while world leaders gathered in London for the Prime Minister's funeral, he would launch a sudden attack, killing several heads of state, including the German Chancellor, the French President, and the Japanese Prime Minister. If Castle revealed Aamir's location now, allowing Benjamin to send special forces to eliminate him, who would help Castle take out the leaders of countries he disliked, such as the Japanese Prime Minister?
Although Castle couldn't quite understand why Aamir would later turn on his ally, the Japanese Prime Minister, during the London attack, ruthlessly blowing up a bridge and causing the Prime Minister's car to plunge into a river, it didn't stop Castle from enjoying the show, right?
Moreover, based on Castle's understanding of the Japanese, the most likely reason for Aamir's falling out with them was the failure of the recent attack on the White House, which led to a complete breakdown in their alliance.
While the Japanese government was currently overwhelmed by the aftermath of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear plant leak, which had recently come to light, they had no time to consider their significant role in the attack on Benjamin. The U.S., however, seemed completely unaware of this involvement, which was rather bizarre.
The Japanese government had now shifted all its focus to the nuclear plant crisis. As for how the American "devils" would punish them, the Japanese government had essentially adopted a "lie down and take it" attitude.
The current Japanese cabinet had no time to worry about how their American overlords, who had troops stationed in their country, would deal with them. After all, the most pressing issue was the domestic mess they were facing. If the U.S. government wanted to hold them accountable? Fine, they could use this as an excuse to resign en masse and escape the torment of their current positions.
Benjamin wasn't a fool. Knowing that the Japanese government was hoping he would come after them, he consulted with Castle and Mozzie and decided to temporarily set aside his pursuit of these scheming "dwarves." After all, confronting the Japanese government now might actually be doing them a favor, right?
Once the current Japanese cabinet had dealt with the earthquake and nuclear leak, there would be plenty of time to deal with these "dwarves."
To this end, Benjamin even ordered that the investigation focus primarily on the captured LockSat members within the U.S. and the still-at-large Aamir Barkawi. The origins of the AC-130 gunship, modified from a C-130 transport plane provided by Japan to Aamir for the attack, were temporarily set aside.
However, according to information Castle had obtained, the Japanese intelligence agency wasn't foolish enough to directly hand over a C-130 purchased from the U.S. to Aamir's men. This particular C-130 had apparently been sold by the U.S. military to a small European country when they withdrew from Europe. The Japanese government had then acquired it through several intermediaries, using the excuse of needing to upgrade the plane in the U.S. to fly it from Europe to a small airport near Virginia. It was there that the plane was secretly modified. So even if Benjamin hadn't ordered his team to stop investigating the plane's origins, it would have been difficult to trace it back to the Japanese, who always appeared so respectful in front of their American "father."
However, Castle did offer Benjamin a small piece of advice: take advantage of Japan's guilt over their involvement in the attack to shift the entire annual cost of the U.S. military presence in Japan onto the Japanese. Given their current state, they wouldn't dare oppose this.
According to the previous U.S.-Japan agreement, Japan was responsible for 75% of the annual costs of the U.S. military presence in Japan, amounting to approximately $4.5 billion out of the total $6.6 billion. The U.S. covered the remaining 25%.
This was the perfect opportunity to shift the remaining 25% onto Japan. Not only would this earn Benjamin significant goodwill from the Congressional Budget Committee and the military, but it would also be a highly profitable move.
If Benjamin didn't want to completely sever ties with Japan, this was an excellent way to pressure them while they were in a vulnerable state. By shifting the financial burden onto Japan, Benjamin would gain the military's support and solidify his position as President.
What Benjamin didn't know was that Castle's real motive for suggesting this was to buy time for Aamir Barkawi to regroup and plan his next major attack in London. Castle wanted to see Aamir take out not only the British Prime Minister but also the leaders of Germany and Japan—countries Castle had no fondness for, both in his previous life and this one.
As someone whose core values were shaped by his previous life in China, Castle had no love for the British or the Germans. Although this world's China was even more developed than in his previous life, it didn't change his disdain for these countries and their leaders.
To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that the current U.S. President was someone Castle had spent a fortune and effort to support, he wouldn't have much affection for this country either. Despite now being part of the upper echelons and a beneficiary of the system, Castle was well aware of the true nature of this nation.
That's why he advised Benjamin to temporarily let the Japanese government off the hook while they dealt with the earthquake and nuclear crisis. This would allow Benjamin to focus on completely dismantling the LockSat organization within the U.S. while also giving Aamir the breathing room he needed to plan his next attack in London.
It was only now that Castle began to understand why Aamir had been able to pull off such a massive operation in London in his previous life. It seemed that after his failure in "Olympus Has Fallen," Aamir had learned his lesson and shifted his focus to London, where U.S. defenses were relatively weaker.
After all, out of respect, Benjamin wouldn't bring a large security detail to the British Prime Minister's funeral in London, and U.S. military bases in Europe were quite far from the city...
[A special discount will be available from December 30th until Three Kings' Day.]
[Use 37B44 to get 33% off all levels until January 6th]
[Unlock +20 Advanced Chapters on Patre on. com /Mutter]
[For every 50 Power Stones, 1 Bonus Chapter will be released]
[Thank you for reading!]