Duke seemed prepared for Song Heping's question.
"Song, we are both realists. This deal won't have a written contract, won't have legal documents. All there is, is a balance of mutual assured destruction. If I betray you, you can release the recording of our meeting—yes, I know you are recording, I am recording too. If you betray me, I can have Seal Six find and eliminate you within a week. We both need to trust each other because the cost of betrayal is too high for both of us."
Song Heping had to admit, Duke wasn't made a general for nothing.
When he entered, Song Heping had already guessed that this conversation was extraordinary.
So he quietly pressed the record button on a phone in his pocket.
Duke apparently was recording as well.
This arrangement has its cruel logic.
Mutually assured destruction, a concept from the Cold War period.
Now applied to a dirty personal transaction.
