Empire of Shadows

“Lance. My name is Lance.”

Mr. Thurray’s eyebrows furrowed together. Countless memories were dug out from the depths of his mind, stirred, just to find this name.

After a while, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Lance. I haven’t heard of your name.”

He moved forward a little, raised his right hand, and made a gesture of refusal. “But, whether your name is Lance or something else, it doesn’t matter.”

“This is not a place for you to find trouble.”

Mr. Thurray’s raised palm came back down, and he tapped his fingers on the table. “Listen, I don’t want to cause trouble, but I’m not afraid of it either.”

“Jordan of the Black Flag Brotherhood is my friend, a good friend, the kind of good friend who can do things for me.”

He looked at Lance, unblinking, hoping to see emotions like surprise, fear, or retreat in Lance’s eyes.

He said this every time he encountered trouble, and almost every time he succeeded and saw what he wanted to see.

He and Jordan of the Black Flag Brotherhood were indeed good friends. They used to be neighbors.Jordan had become a tough guy who was not to be trifled with since middle school. Even the school teachers couldn’t do anything about him.

Mr. Thurray, relying on this Jordan, had a pretty good and stable adolescence. After high school, Jordan was arrested and imprisoned for a case of intentional injury.

In prison, he got to know the people of the Black Flag Brotherhood and successfully joined this organization.

Mr. Thurray had already started working with his father at that time, and they would often encounter harassment from some gangs.

With his father’s support, he took the initiative to visit Jordan, but did not immediately mention the idea of hoping he could do something.

Mr. Thurray was the only person who had visited Jordan after he was imprisoned, and not just once, but also bringing some things. So he believed that this was a firm friendship.

One time when he was visiting Jordan, his face was bruised. Jordan asked about it, and only then did he talk about the family’s movie theater being harassed by some small-time thugs.

He had thought that he would have to wait for Jordan to get out to see any progress, but he had not expected that on the same night, the thugs who had extorted them had their legs broken and were thrown on the road outside their house.

Looking at the thugs rolling on the ground with their twisted legs, Mr. Thurray for the first time felt the wonderful taste of “power.”

He and Jordan had always maintained a relationship and would often go to see him. Now Jordan was one of the top cadres of the Black Flag Brotherhood, and it could be said that he held great power.

He remembered Mr. Thurray and his friendship, so he had always taken care of Mr. Thurray.

This was also the reason why he was not afraid of gangs.

The Black Flag Brotherhood was not just a simple gang of a certain city or state. They covered several surrounding states and had a scale of several thousand people in total, operating various criminal activities.

In Golden State, their strength was not the strongest, but they were also very famous.

Every time he said these names, the troublemakers would become uneasy, at a loss, and then apologize to him, and said that they would not harass him again.

But this time, the person opposite him had no reaction.

“You don’t know the Black Flag Brotherhood?”

“Come on!”

“Friend, you’re in a gang. How can you not know the Black Flag Brotherhood?”

His tone became a little anxious, and he also glanced at the phone. “Maybe if I give Jordan a call, you’ll recognize him.”

His hand reached for the phone. At the very moment his hand touched the receiver, Hiram grabbed his wrist.

“Fuck, you’re hurting me!”

“Jenny, call the police!”

He stood up and struggled, trying to pull his wrist back from the hands of the somewhat foolish-looking person. “Let go of me, you son of a bitch, let go of me!”

Hiram used both hands, grabbed him by the hair, and forcefully pressed down. Mr. Thurray’s head was pressed tightly against the tabletop.

The pressure and pain from his scalp made him pant heavily. Just as he was about to continue to break free, with a “thud,” a dagger was stuck in a place less than ten centimeters from his nose.

All his struggles stopped.

He rolled his eyes and looked at Lance. “I don’t understand. Have I offended you in any way?”

“Tell me, and I will apologize for those mistakes and am willing to pay the price!”

He panted heavily. He still hadn’t figured it out.

He didn’t even know this person. How could he have offended these people?

And, he already had a premonition that these people were not locals.

Lance sat there, watching this Mr. Thurray without moving. “You owe me the box office of fourteen movie theaters, Mr. Thurray.”

Mr. Thurray understood in an instant. This was fucking someone from Wanli Pictures!

If they were a gang, perhaps he would feel worried, afraid of causing bigger trouble, and thus give in.

But when Lance said they were from Wanli Pictures, the emotions in his heart had some changes.

People in business know best what people in business are afraid of.

“I… I’m very sorry,” his tone began to soften. “I’m willing to give you the money you’re owed.”

Lance nodded slightly. Hiram withdrew his dagger and then let go of his hair.

He sat back down in his chair. The secretary hadn’t appeared yet. She must have been controlled too.

To make a phone call, it was probably unlikely they would let him. So the only thing he could do now was to compromise first.

He tidied up his appearance, as if he cared so much about his appearance.

“I need to calculate. I need the secretary to help me bring the recent ledgers over,” he said tentatively.

“I promise, I will pay you every penny!”

Lance shook his head. “No, it’s not that troublesome. From May to now, it’s a total of sixty days. Ten thousand a day.”

Mr. Thurray looked at Lance with wide eyes. “Are you crazy?”

“Your movie didn’t even sell for 600,000 in total, and you’re asking me for 600,000?”

The movie The Mystery of Angel Lake did indeed sell well. The first month was a huge profit. Every day, he could get about six or seven thousand in total box office from this movie (fourteen movie theaters).

In a month, it was less than 200,000. After two months, the total box office might be only 270,000 to 280,000. And he was doubling it with a single sentence?

Lance did not respond to his fierce reaction, but just looked at him. “This is not one of your answers, Mr. Thurray.”

“You can only answer yes or no.”

Thurray looked at Lance like a wounded wild beast. His gaze moved from Lance to the others. No one would fear him. They all looked back at him.

In the end, his gaze returned to Lance. “I don’t have that much money.”

In fact, he did.

But he didn’t want to give it.

This was 600,000, not 60,000, not 6,000. If it were really 60,000, he would have given it now.

But that was 600,000, almost his net profit for two to three quarters.

If he gave this money, he would have worked for a year for nothing, and he might not be able to earn so much in the next few years!

People’s curiosity about sound films was fading. It was no longer seen that every show was sold out. Now there were also speculations of war. Maybe their market would soon face a cold winter!

He didn’t want to give it, not even a penny now.

Lance glanced at Hiram. Hiram bumped the subordinate next to him with his shoulder, and the two walked to Mr. Thurray’s side.

Hiram grabbed his wrist. He struggled and looked at the two with a terrified look. “What do you want to do?”

“Let go of me…”

Hiram swung his fist and punched him, knocking him silly!

Since he became good friends with Jordan in high school, he had not been hit!

Now this punch had left his whole person dazed for a short time. His hand was grabbed by Hiram and pressed on the edge of the table, leaving his little finger hanging in the air.

He pressed down on that wrist with all his strength, then drew his sharp dagger and cut down hard on his little finger!

In an instant, a sharp scream rang out in the office. Lance rolled his eyes. It was so fucking loud!

Mr. Thurray looked a little chubby. His voice was full of energy, as if the glass window was rattling at this moment.

He knelt on the ground, holding his hand, and kept cursing. All the swear words he had ever heard in his life were all cursed out.

Soon, he was helped back to his chair. Just as Hiram grabbed his wrist, he trembled and said, “I’ll give it…”

Lance nodded slightly. “A transfer check.”

At this moment, Mr. Thurray’s face was extremely ugly. He gritted his teeth, his head throbbing with pain.

After glaring at Lance for a while, he pointed at the bookshelf next to him. “I need to get my checkbook.”

Lance nodded. He slowly stood up, walked to the side of the safe, took out the transfer checks from it, and then returned to the side of the table.

With trembling hands, he endured the intense emotions of fear, pain, anger, regret, all mixed together, filled out the check, and then tore it off!

“Fuck, take it, take it!”

“I need to go to the hospital!”

But just as he stood up, he was pushed back. Lance took the check, glanced at it, and handed it to the person next to him, along with a card in his hand. “Go and transfer it to this account.”

He looked at Mr. Thurray. “You can leave after the money is transferred.”

“Fuck, fuck!”

He bent down and picked up his severed finger, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and put it in his pocket.

In fact, the current medical technology did not support reattachment of severed limbs. He was doing this purely for some psychological comfort.

The reason Lance let him sit here was very simple. A transfer check could be stopped with just one phone call. Only when he confirmed that the process had started could he let this Mr. Thurray leave.

About ten minutes later, the young man ran back, panting slightly. “Boss, the money has been transferred.”

Lance immediately put down his leg and stood up. He stood in front of the table, tucking in the front of his clothes with one hand and extending the other. “See you again, Mr. Thurray.”

Mr. Thurray looked at Lance’s outstretched hand and could only bite the bullet and shake it. Looking at the mocking smile on Lance’s face, a hole of hatred had already been burned in his heart!

After Lance and his men left, Mr. Thurray rushed out of the office.

Compared to calling an ambulance and waiting for twenty or thirty minutes for it to arrive, it was faster for him to drive to the hospital himself.

About ten minutes later, he entered the emergency room. The doctor just glanced at him and began to clean and suture the wound for him.

He looked at the doctor and asked, “Can it still… be reattached?”

Losing a finger was a very bad thing for this “conservative” society!

He would lose many opportunities because of this. Those big shots, dignitaries, and celebrities would not like people who were missing a finger, no matter what they did.

The doctor shook his head. “Sorry, we don’t have this technology. Maybe other hospitals do. Do you want to go and see other hospitals?”

The suture needle in his hand stopped. “If you want to leave, you also need to pay 75.”

He glared at the doctor. The doctor was calm and composed. He had seen many people like this.

There were also people who said that if he hurt them, they would kill him, but in the end, they did nothing, because this was a hospital.

Looking at the unresponsive doctor, Mr. Thurray could only sigh. “Come on.”

About ten minutes later, he returned to the office. The little secretary was standing there in a panic, not knowing what to do. Just as he was about to enter the office, she finally explained, “They didn’t let me call the police!”

Mr. Thurray glanced at her and closed the office door.

Then he sat in his chair in a daze for a while, and then called Jordan.

“It’s me, Thurray.”

“Hey, my dear brother, is there anything your brother Jordan can do for you?” his voice was filled with a sense of lightness.

As a high-level member of the Death Angels, the fact that he could live to this day was already a great achievement.

He only needed to wait a few more years, and then retire from the gang, and he could enjoy the rest of his time.

But there was a high probability that he would not retire. It wasn’t that he loved the power in his hands so much, but that he didn’t like that kind of peaceful life.

Gunsmoke, strong liquor, riding a motorcycle on the interstate highway to rob trucks…

That was what a man, a knight, longed for most!

“I’m injured, brother. I need you!”

Jordan’s voice immediately became serious. The higher his position, the more he also cared about those relationships that were not mixed with other interests.

There was only one friend from his high school days who had made it to today, Thurray. And even for such a long time, he was the only one.

He didn’t want to lose this friend, this brother, so he had to do something.

“What’s wrong? What do you need me to do?”

Mr. Thurray’s eyes were a little red. “There’s a company called… Wanli Pictures. They snatched 600,000 from my hands and… cut off my little finger.”

“Holy shit!”

“Stay there. I’ll be right over!”

Jordan immediately hung up the phone. Mr. Thurray knew that this would be the result and didn’t care at all.

After waiting for about ten minutes, the sound of motorcycles and the sound of a car braking came from the door.

A very free-looking guy rushed upstairs and pushed open the office door with a single push. He looked around cautiously, and finally his gaze fell on Mr. Thurray.

He strode over, looked at the wound on his face, and the still-bleeding bandage on his hand, and slammed his fist on the table.

“Fuck, where are they!”

Mr. Thurray shook his head. “I don’t know where they went, but I know they are from Wanli Pictures.”

“Their head office is in Golden Port City!”

Jordan walked back and forth a few steps. He did not immediately answer Mr. Thurray whether he would go that far to avenge him.

This kind of thinking, weighing, lasted for twenty or thirty seconds. In the end, he walked around the desk to Mr. Thurray’s side. He grabbed the back of Mr. Thurray’s neck, and pressed his forehead against his. “I’ll go for you. We are brothers!”

Mr. Thurray nodded emotionally. “Brothers!”

This trip was very dangerous. Jordan knew this, but this was the challenge that a man should face!

He believed that he could bring justice back for his brother!

The motorcycle and the car quickly disappeared from downstairs of the company. A young man threw away his cigarette and got into the car.

A short while later, he came to Lance’s room. “He first went to the hospital, and then returned to his office. Later, several motorcycles and two cars came. It looks like it’s the Jordan he mentioned.”

Lance nodded slightly. Lawn was a little confused. “Why don’t we just kill him directly?”

Lance said with a smile, “I want his fourteen movie theaters, but there has to be a reason.”

“If they want revenge, it’s tantamount to handing the reason to me. Then if I ask him for the movie theaters, others won’t be able to say anything.”

“If I asked him to transfer the movie theaters to me without this, we wouldn’t be able to stand on the side of reason.”

“Gentlemen, this society may seem to have no rules, but the rules are hidden around us.”

They would not understand Lance’s thoughts. The closer you are to the top, the more you have to abide by the rules. No one likes unpredictable people or things. They like people or things that have a track to follow.

Lance is a person who understands the rules and acts according to the rules. Then people’s hostility towards him will not be so great.

“Give Elvin a call and have him pay a little attention.”

“If they go over, then give these gentlemen who have come from afar a good reception!”

Lance didn’t take these small matters to heart at all. The next morning was spent in boredom. In the afternoon, Tom came to pick him up in his car.

“Actually, you don’t need to bring so many people,” Tom looked at the two cars behind him through the rearview mirror. “This car will not have any problems in the whole of Golden State. No one would be stupid enough to attack this car, so you don’t have to worry about your own safety at all.”

These cars, including the senator’s own car, were firmly remembered in the heads of those gangs and law enforcement departments. These were bombs. If you touched them, they would explode, blowing everyone to pieces.

Lance smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Wasn’t the level of open-mindedness high enough?

Weren’t they still open-minded?

The reason why an accident is an accident is that you can never predict when and in what form it will happen to you!

(End of a Chapter)