Empire of Shadows

“A pay raise?” The manager wore a ferocious smile.

This description was not wrong, because his smile was indeed ferocious. His eyebrows were pulled up as far as they could go, and his facial features were somewhat twisted by the smile. It was clear he was trying hard to express his current emotions.

Therefore, it was a ferocious smile.

Paired with his tone, one could feel his dissatisfaction with Vaughn, as if he were asking if he was joking.

“Do you know how many workers are on the docks?”

“Do you know what it means if every person gets a raise of just fifty cents?”

He could no longer sit still and stood up. “Fifty cents per person, for over ten thousand workers. Even if it’s just fifty cents, we have to pay out an extra seven or eight thousand dollars every month!”

“That’s nearly a hundred thousand dollars a year.”

“A hundred thousand dollars, Vaughn!”

“This isn’t ten thousand, or twenty thousand, where I can just nod my head. This is a hundred thousand fucking dollars, and it’s every year!”“If I agree to your demand, those people outside will thank you, and the board of directors will kill me!”

“Not to mention they’re demanding a two-dollar increase, which is thirty thousand a month, three hundred and sixty thousand a year.”

“Do you know how much you can do with three hundred and sixty thousand?”

The manager’s emotions grew agitated. “Three hundred and sixty thousand can hire seventy-two hitmen to kill me seventy-two times!”

“And there’s a damn good chance there’ll be a buy-one-get-one-free deal to have me killed a few extra times!”

“Don’t make it sound so easy, Vaughn. We’re old friends, you have to understand my difficulties!”

He stood by the table, one hand pressing on the tabletop, the other resting on Vaughn’s shoulder. “Help me handle these sons of bitches. As long as you can keep them from causing trouble, I’ll give you five thousand dollars personally!”

The board of directors had allocated him twenty thousand dollars to handle everyone. Whatever was left over would be his.

But if he couldn’t handle it, then he should be prepared to get lost.

The manager had previously gotten his position by not raising wages and inciting conflict between local and immigrant workers. He had successfully muddled the issue, making the dockworkers believe that “the reason wages aren’t rising is because the immigrant workers’ wage demands are very low.” This directed the workers’ hatred for stagnant wages toward the immigrant workers.

That’s why the reaction on the docks was so intense when the Emperor declared war on the Federation, with dockworkers beating up immigrant workers everywhere.

They hated this group of people who were dragging them down and preventing their wages from rising. And while the manager’s plan was simple, it was very effective.

The hatred was truly diverted.

The board of directors had treated him well, with promotions, raises, and even the promise of a senior partnership position. But now, it was all about to go down the drain.

Because some damn idiot had demanded a raise for everyone!

In truth, he could have just refused Johnny’s demand, but he couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t lead to unpredictable consequences.

He could only call Vaughn over and have the union intervene.

Vaughn shook his head. “This is very difficult to handle. Besides, I can’t find Johnny right now.”

The manager didn’t know where Johnny had gone. He was taken aback. “What happened to him?”

Vaughn told the truth. “He was arrested by the people from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials.”

The manager couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Good, excellent! I’d like to see how he causes trouble now!”

He laughed for a while and took a deep breath. With Johnny gone, would it be easier to negotiate?

“Go and talk to the workers. Tell them we will do our best to handle Johnny’s situation. Also, tell them we will make some improvements to the food and give them more beef. But the matter of a pay raise cannot be mentioned!”

How much was a pound of beef?

The worst ground beef was only two or three cents a pound. One pound of beef was enough to make lunches for two or three days. It looked like the daily expenditure per worker had increased, which could be considered a kind of raise.

But they didn’t eat beef every day, and he could slowly cut back on it later!

The manager might have had all sorts of shortcomings in other areas, but when it came to managing workers, he was an absolute master.

Vaughn could only shake his head and say, “I can’t guarantee anything!”

The manager walked up to him, bent over, and put an arm around his shoulders. “Brother, you have to guarantee it!”

“Whether it’s for me, or for the five thousand dollars!”

Vaughn appeared very hesitant, thinking. After a while, he finally said, “I’ll give it a try, but I can’t guarantee you any results.”

The manager breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. “No problem. I never make things difficult for anyone, right?”

Vaughn stood up. “I’ll go and get to work right now…”

With the union’s intervention, and on his side at that, the manager was relieved.

However, what he didn’t know was that five thousand dollars could no longer buy Vaughn.

The news of Johnny’s arrest began to spread even faster among the dockworkers. Some even said that it was the dock management company that had reported the club for selling them liquor, and that Johnny had been arrested for obstructing the Bureau of Hazardous Materials’ law enforcement.

It was all a conspiracy by the management company!

Although this claim had not yet spread widely, it was already beginning to affect some workers’ morale. Working with emotions, today’s efficiency would certainly be terrible.

At the same time, Vaughn gathered a few of his close worker brothers in the union and told them what the manager had said.

“He’d rather give me five thousand dollars to persuade you than agree to my idea of a pay raise. Even if it’s just fifty cents, they are unwilling to give it to you.”

“He wants me to do my best to persuade you not to cause trouble and to continue working honestly. I really don’t know how to persuade you.”

“So I’m telling you this directly, for you to think about and analyze for yourselves.”

The workers clearly felt the contempt from the manager, which made them even more furious.

One of them slammed his fist on the table. “This is what capitalists are like!”

The men were communicating through their eyes. They all saw a glimmer of an idea, a thought, in each other’s eyes.

Vaughn continued to fan the flames from the side. “He doesn’t respect any of us. You, and that includes me.”

“He thought giving me five thousand dollars would make me stand on his side. He greatly underestimated my principles and overestimated the value of five thousand dollars in my heart!”

“Whatever you decide to do, I will support you!”

These men were not particularly meticulous or clever. They couldn’t read between the lines of his words; they only knew that Vaughn was a good man.

“We’ll go back and discuss it with them. Also, there’s one more thing…”

One of them asked, “Johnny and the others… is there any way to get them out?”

Vaughn nodded. “No problem, that’s part of our job. I’ll take care of it…”

The events happening at the docks and what happened yesterday were still fermenting. However, no one, including the Mayor, thought it was wrong to use warning shots when necessary.

And the facts proved that the result of the warning shots was very effective. Lukar had timely suppressed a potential riot. The Mayor even made a special call to Director Dale to praise Lukar.

Then he put the matter out of his mind and began to prepare a speech, as well as discuss the details of his shooting with a military man.

But this matter was rapidly progressing in a direction that no one could have predicted.

The dockworkers’ union had its own team of cooperating lawyers. The lawyers received Vaughn’s request and immediately went to the Bureau of Hazardous Materials with people and money. They intended to bail out Johnny and his group.

But only a few hours had passed since the incident occurred. After arresting Johnny and the others, they hadn’t had time to question them about other possible criminal activities, so they certainly couldn’t release them.

It was this refusal to release them that caused the workers on the docks to become restless.

Although everyone was still working, it seemed that everyone was slacking off.

People gathered in groups of three or five to discuss what had happened. They talked about how other industries got a raise every six months.

They talked about where to go for a drink now that the club had been raided. They also talked about the possibility that the company was behind Johnny’s arrest.

People also talked about how the manager promised Vaughn five thousand dollars to persuade them not to bring up the pay raise. If one observed carefully, some people weren’t working at all, but were constantly moving from one place to another on the docks, contacting more workers.

With nowhere to drink after work, these workers gathered together. They began to grumble, talking about all the bad things the management company did.

Fines, wage deductions, being assigned heavy work—one by one, these things were spoken from their mouths, causing the group’s emotions to heat up continuously. Some people had already realized that something big was about to happen at the docks.

But not only were they not alarmed, they were even a little expectant.

Perhaps it was time to show these capitalists some color!

On Monday morning, Roben the lawyer appeared at the Bureau of Hazardous Materials. He carried a briefcase, looking every bit the part of a social elite.

Of course, he was indeed a social elite. He was submitting the bail application, intending to temporarily bail out all those arrested at the club, and was coordinating with the relevant staff.

He had been here many times. Ever since Lance became his employer, his dealings with the police department had decreased, while his dealings with the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had become more and more frequent.

This job was easy. Come over, fill out some forms, haggle for a bit, and earn a hundred or two in a morning. Lance was like his God, whom he worshipped.

The Bureau of Hazardous Materials did not reject his bail application. In fact, one day was enough for them to interrogate these people. But as usual, the interrogation yielded no results.

In the documents provided by the dockworkers’ union, the person who had contracted the club was a man named Dyson. Lukar used his old contacts at the police department to check this social security number and found it belonged to a homeless man.

It was obvious that Lance had once again taken protective measures, cleanly separating himself from the club.

Although everyone knew he was running the club, there was no actual evidence to prove it.

While the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had many powers that exceeded ordinary law enforcement agencies, in the end, these people still had to be sent to court.

In court, the judge wouldn’t just listen to them; they would also consider the defendant’s side of the story. Without key evidence, they couldn’t prosecute Lance at all, let alone send him to prison.

While Roben the lawyer was handling the bail, an agent came to tell Lukar that Lance’s lawyer had arrived.

Lukar walked to the window and saw the convoy parked across the street.

He had thought there was a lot of that shipment, but after bringing it back, he found that almost all of it was empty bottles, with only a few containing liquor. In total, it was only worth a few thousand dollars.

Adding in the bail money, it probably wouldn’t even cost Lance twenty thousand.

He felt like he had been played again. He didn’t know why, but every time he lost to Lance, it made him hate Lance even more.

He watched for a while and decided to go out and talk to Lance.

He knew he shouldn’t have this thought, but he just couldn’t control it. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but right now, this was what he wanted to do.

He took a cigarette, walked to Lance’s car, placed one hand on the roof, bent over, lowered his head, and put the cigarette between his lips. “Got a light?”

Lance nodded slightly. The man in the passenger seat took out a matchbook and passed it over.

After lighting his cigarette, Lukar took a drag. He looked at Lance. “Can you tell me how you brainwashed these people?”

Lance looked at him, his gaze calm.

This made Lukar’s face flush. He felt that behind Lance’s calm gaze, there must be ridicule and mockery.

“Your men, although very young, have a lot of backbone.”

“No matter what methods we used, they refused to admit that you were the operator behind the scenes.”

“There was one young man who was beaten until he lost control of his bladder and bowels, yet he still refused to admit anything related to you. Lance, I’m very curious, how did you do it?”

“Making them protect you as if they were protecting their own lives?”

As he spoke, he waved his hand. “Don’t worry, this won’t be used as evidence.”

“You are provoking me,” Lance said. “You hope to anger me, to make me do something impulsive.”

“Lukar, I don’t know where you get so much malice towards me, but I know you are doing something very dangerous.”

Lukar pursed his lips. It seemed that Lance seeing through him made him feel very uncomfortable. “I’m not targeting you. I am a lawman, and you are a criminal. It’s that simple.”

Lance glanced at the people walking out of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials. Indeed, a few young men were being supported by others.

Lukar saw it too, a smug expression appearing on his face. He was doing it for Lance to see.

“As long as you continue to commit crimes, I will keep my eyes on you, and your men!”

Lance looked at him and smiled slightly. “I hope you can always think this way. Pure people are admirable. I hope you are a pure person.”

The two looked at each other for another moment. Roben the lawyer had already walked over with the men. He glanced at Lukar, who walked away with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

He didn’t like dealing with lawyers, because you never knew when you’d be trapped by them.

“Mr. Lance, the bail has been paid. The trial will probably be in mid-August. The maximum sentence won’t exceed two years, and most should be around six months.”

The two years referred to the bartender, while the others only faced sentences ranging from six months to a year.

It seemed long, but Roben the lawyer had ways to further compress these sentences, even allowing them to avoid prison time.

During the actual execution of the sentence, the time previously spent in custody would also be counted as time served. This was to avoid excessively long detentions.

Many lawyers would use this to exploit a loophole. By the time the trial started next month, a six-month sentence could be calculated as five months.

If Roben the lawyer dragged it out a bit more and handled some key figures, then when the trial reconvened in two or three months, they might be granted parole directly, going home without ever going to prison.

The Federation’s justice system had always been a joke. It was like that in the past, and it would certainly be like that in the future.

“Thank you, you always manage to help me,” Lance expressed his gratitude to Roben the lawyer.

Roben, however, smiled and said it was all part of his job. “Mr. Lance, you don’t need to thank me. You pay me a high fee. Doing a good job is what I should do. Doing a bad job is my problem!”

“Well then… I won’t disturb you and your friends. If there’s anything else, just give me a call.”

Lance nodded, extending his hand out the car window to shake his before letting go.

Lance had the young man who was being supported get into his car.

But the young man refused, his reason being that he was not clean.

The people from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had hosed him down with cold water after he lost control of his bowels. In fact, he still had a smell about him.

Lance, however, seemed not to notice, insisting that he get in the car. “You are much more valuable than this car, my brother!”

This young man was only about twenty years old, around the same age as Lance and the others. Hearing this, his eyes began to turn red, and he no longer insisted.

The people around them looked at Lance with adoration. At this moment, Lance was their god.

Seeing his slightly emotional expression, Lance felt a twinge of guilt.

“I heard you were treated terribly inside.”

The young man bit his lip, but finally shook his head. “Nothing like that, Boss.”

Lance patted the back of the driver’s seat. The driver honked the horn and started the car.

The convoy began to move.

“This Lukar person is constantly targeting me. You are my people, so they would definitely want to get evidence against me from you.”

“Actually… when you really can’t take it, you can say something. At least that way you won’t suffer too much.”

The young man smiled foolishly, offering no other reaction. Lance sighed. “This person is annoying and disgusting, but soon, I will give you a chance for revenge.”

The young man was moved, but quickly shook his head again. “Boss, there’s no need to do anything dangerous for us.”

“They just beat us up a bit.”

Lance squeezed his hand. “You are all my brothers. They hit you, which is the same as hitting me. I will definitely get revenge for this!”

After returning to the company, Lance called Elvin and Morris over, along with some others.

“First, get rid of the mole we’ve already identified. I don’t want to see him again,” he said, referring to the one they had already confirmed. Lukar’s sudden disruption made him think that mole was Lukar’s man.

Now that he could no longer stand this bastard, there was no need to consider using this mole to pass information.

His handler was about to die soon anyway, so keeping this person was useless.

Hiram nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Then!” Lance continued, “Find out everything about Lukar for me. I want to know who is in his family, where he lives, his daily routine.”

“Since he likes to play with fire, let’s give him a big fire!”

(End of chapter)