Soon, the sound of braking came from outside—the owner of Armed Nation had returned, greeted Sieg, and Allen Zhang also came out to the hall upon hearing this. He hadn’t had the chance to meet with the other party last time, but this time, he saw that he was also a tall and thin middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a lawyer carrying a briefcase by his side.
"I apologize for the wait, I had some private matters to attend to. Now I have the time to help my friend handle the gun store transaction. First, I want to thank you for the favor you did for me last time, successfully escorting the shipment of military equipment to Wells Fargo Bank, which was a huge help to me. Of course, I will agree to your requests."
The owner of Armed Nation said with a smile: "Coincidentally, my friend is getting out of the business and left the weapons store for me to handle. I’ve told you the details already. If you don’t mind, let’s go take a look at that gun store first."
"An on-site inspection is certainly necessary," Sieg nodded, not declining the offer.
The group left the gun store and the owner of Armed Nation took the lead in a Cadillac, while Allen Zhang and the three others followed in a Jeep.
It didn’t take long, after driving just a few streets, they arrived at a construction area near West Street Highway and saw the firmly locked store front of Armed Nation. The exterior decoration looked very strict, with a sign containing the gun store’s logo and the letters for Thunderbolt Fire, and the windows were sealed with steel plates and bars. Next door were a car wash and a convenience store.
After getting out of the car, the owner of Armed Nation first went to the backyard to connect the power to the fuse box, used a remote key to enter the password, facial recognition unlock, voice entry, and the gun store doors were unlocked, along with the bulletproof steel plates on the windows being retracted.
"This is a theft-proof door lock system used by security companies and banks. The nature of our business is quite special, so security measures must be taken care of. Otherwise, if a registered firearm is lost without a transaction record and it appears on the market causing fatalities, we cannot avoid responsibility. Please come in and take a look!"
The owner first introduced them to the place, then led them into the gun store. The interior was not smaller than his own, with targets hanging on the wall, a swordfish decoration, and an aquarium, but the glass and wooden cabinets were now empty, giving the environment a somewhat vacant feel.
"Of course, what you’re buying is only the qualification of the gun store and the permits for escorting and trading military weapons. If you want heavy weaponry, you have to find your own channels for sourcing," said the owner with a smile. "As long as you decide to buy this store, I can also introduce you to some professional PMC companies, arms dealers, military contacts, or street-level gun runners. If you work hard, you can definitely make a lot of money from it!"
He then took them to view the ground floor sales hall, the rest area, the second-floor offices, and the backyard. The essential indoor facilities were all included, with the office even coming with a bonus computer and Skynet camera equipment. There was also an armored escort vehicle parked in the backyard.
The owner of Armed Nation turned on the computer and pulled up an official website link for bidding, giving a demonstration, "This is the military equipment bidding website we commonly use internally, which we prefer to call the Opportunity Network. Here you can find a lot of information about military zones and arms deals, from transporting security equipment like bullets and gun oil for the police force to partnering with PMCs and officials for air transport of heavy weaponry to other states and even countries."
"The qualifications of this Armed Nation can also be checked on it, holding a two-star qualification. Most gun stores in the market only have general qualifications, which only allow them to purchase and trade common small-caliber civilian firearms, such as handguns and submachine guns, excluding military equipment. Those with connections can apply for higher qualifications, which allow the trade of assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPGs, and large-caliber firepower weapons. Every state has different laws regarding firearms and different qualifications."
"A One Star gun store like Armed Nation can deal in many heavy and large-caliber military equipment, while a two-star qualification allows for the escort and transport of heavy weapons, purchase of armored escort vehicles, private car bulletproof glass modifications, entry to police stations, participation in bidding, and access to special places like military zones."
Allen Zhang glanced at the trading interface on the official website, which was quite ordinary and similar to browsing any regular Opportunity Network. It featured product photos with descriptions and prices, where buyers can contact the store for trade and sales, alongside tasks for gun store escorts.
After looking into the escort tasks, they found they involved taking on assignments from clients or collaborating with other gun stores and companies to escort shipments of military equipment with contraband to designated locations—essentially renting vehicles and personnel, deceiving authorities, with profits of at least 20,000 US Dollars per job.
People in this line of work were no strangers to such operations. For example, one of the tasks listed was [Transporting a shipment of security equipment including Tasers and Hand Grenade military equipment to Lo County Police Department], which on the surface seemed unproblematic. However, there was another note indicating the need to transport some paper documents to the [county councilor]’s private residence.
As for what exactly those documents were, that was open to interpretation.
Regardless, these were all transactions. As long as the client is willing to pay and there’s money to be made, the Armed Nation’s escort vehicle would likely turn a blind eye. On the surface, it’s the transportation of military equipment, but who knows what’s really inside the vehicle. The profit from just selling firearms certainly isn’t that high.