Empire of Shadows

Lance’s request was not excessive, just asking the mayor to dismiss the police chief and some police officers, a few law enforcement personnel.

However, both Lance and Wade knew very well that this matter was not as simple as it seemed.

If the mayor was the “master” of a city, then the police chief was this master’s most trusted and reliable hound.

It could help him guard his home, protect his interests, and also help him tear at his enemies and hunt his prey.

The person who could serve as police chief was basically the mayor’s core confidant.

The situation in Golden Port before was actually the same. The mayor was just a figurehead. The real master at that time was the Bay Area, so in essence, this was not a paradox.

To have a master personally kill his most reliable hound was actually a bit difficult.

So after Lance had made this request, Mayor Wade did not immediately agree. He still needed to think, to think about how to handle this matter.

He was very cautious and never believed that he was a lucky person. Instead of gambling on “if,” it was better to assume the worst outcome from the beginning.

He was not familiar with the mayor of New Birmingham. This matter might still need to go through some other channels, for example, some other intermediaries. He was considering the price he would have to pay, and the benefits, if he were to do this.After considering for a while, he believed that the gains would definitely be more than the losses, so he agreed.

“Leave this matter to me. When you give me a call, I will handle it.”

For a first contact, both sides had to show some sincerity. Mayor Wade did not ask what Lance could give him in return, which was a kind of statement.

“Alright, we can meet then.”

Soon the two of them ended the call. After all, they were not very familiar, and they had not had any contact before, so there was not much to talk about.

Small talk can only exist between friends who have at least a decent relationship, not between strangers.

At this time, the two police officers who were being tailed had already left the urban area of New Birmingham. Today was the day they were to deliver the money they had made from selling liquor this week.

The two of them did not know that they were being followed, nor would they have thought that someone would be following them here.

The state police might not have a very big impression in the minds of the “city people.” The few impressions they might have were of them hiding their cars behind some bushes, and when your car passed by at a relatively high speed, they would sound their sirens and chase after you, telling you that you were fucking speeding.

People don’t like the highway patrol. The interstate highways of the Federation, because their routes are very long and the scenery around them does not change much, will cause people to press the gas pedal deeper and deeper when they are driving!

This also meant that their driving speed was getting faster and faster. Not many people could, after driving on the interstate highway for an hour, still maintain a low speed. Almost everyone would be speeding!

As long as they were discovered by them, a punishment was inevitable, so no one liked them.

But no one dared to casually deal with them either. After all, they were also the police of the Federation, with law enforcement power. If they really encountered someone who was bold, they would also dare to draw their guns first.

After leaving the city limits, the number of vehicles on the road gradually decreased. The guy who was driving would from time to time observe the rearview mirror.

After looking a few times, he found that something was not quite right.

“There’s a car that’s been following us. Don’t you think something is not right?” The driver was the strong guy. He was a little worried.

He had a delicate heart that did not match his physique and appearance, especially since they had made a bit of a big mess this time. He was a little scared.

That day, they had been patrolling the interstate highway as usual and had found several trucks driving from the direction of Likalai State towards Indeno State.

The names of a certain shipping company in Likalai State were printed on the outside of these truck carriages. These trucks often appeared on the state highways, which was not strange.

Sometimes they would spot-check these vehicles, the main purpose of which was to find some trouble with these large truck drivers and extort some money from their hands.

Don’t think that doing this is excessive. In this period, this is what almost most of the interstate highway police would do—

They were not completely unreasonable extortion. They would find the non-compliant parts of these trucks, for example, their headlights were not bright enough, for example, their tires looked like they had a safety hazard, for example, their carriages looked like they had too much cargo.

So much so that they would even ask the drivers who were wearing headscarves to pull over, on the grounds that the headscarf might obstruct their vision and cause a car accident.

In short, they could always find the non-compliant parts of these large trucks, and then ask them to go and fix the problem, for example, to return the way they came to find a repair station, and then to go from here after it was fixed.

It was very difficult to find a repair station on both sides of the interstate highway. Even if there were, they had been visited by serial killers, and repairing a car here was not cheap. Some might even be in cahoots with these highway police.

There were also some who would be asked to be detained for a period of time. In short, they would make things difficult for these truck drivers.

Because shipping has a time requirement, and the capitalists will not give them too much time to slowly transport. The time requirements are often relatively strict.

A single trip, a thousand kilometers, might only have a leeway of five, ten hours.

If the time was exceeded, they would face the risk of not getting their wages or even being claimed against. So many large truck drivers, when they encountered this situation, would be very tactful and cooperate with these police, give them a little money, which could be considered as spending money to avoid a disaster.

This was also the way for the interstate highway police to make extra money.

Otherwise, do you think these people, who are exposed to the wind and rain in the wilderness all day, really just love this job?

No, what they love is a pocket full of money.

The last time they had checked those large trucks, the truck drivers had been too cooperative, without a single complaint.

They had dealt with many of these large truck drivers. They would often, while complaining and cursing, be extorted a sum of money.

But this time, these large truck drivers were too cooperative, excessively so!

The two police officers, while inspecting the vehicles, had smelled some wine. They knew that these trucks were all transporting wine.

Wine, this thing, to be transported so openly now was in itself illegal.

If the people from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials knew, they would directly destroy this wine on the spot, and would arrest these drivers and throw them into prison.

In other words, even if they impounded this wine, these drivers would be helpless.

The wine from five trucks, how much fucking money would that be worth?

The police on duty at that time, after letting them pass, had immediately reported this news to the section branch, and then the police captain of the branch had decided to take these goods.

In his words, these drivers were all criminals, and that wine was all stolen goods. They were the police, so they had no burden at all!

Then these people had set up a roadblock on the highway, and then, by surprise, had killed the drivers and about twenty or so gunmen who were hiding in the carriage and were responsible for escorting this wine. Their bodies were thrown in a hidden place in the wild, and that wine was taken by them.

Besides these people from the section branch, no one else knew what they had done.

Of course, in this battle, they had also lost several of them. The police captain had filed a report with the state police department, saying that there had been a firefight here, and a few police officers had died in an accident.

This kind of thing also happened from time to time on the highway police side. Then the state police department had sent people over to investigate.

When they had seen the police cars riddled with bullet holes, and the remains of several police officers, they had confirmed the police captain’s statement.

Because there were no “eyewitnesses” at that time, this case had become a cold case, and a reward of one hundred dollars was offered for information related to the case.

In fact, what information was there?

Besides them, the other insiders had basically all been dealt with, so this matter had been left unresolved.

It wasn’t that the state police department didn’t care about the life and death of their own people, but that they also couldn’t figure out who had done it, and where these people were now.

The section branch’s side had always said that they were conducting an investigation. The state police department, which was located in the capital, could not possibly transfer a special team to solve this case.

Both sides of the interstate highway in every state were covered with wronged souls and skeletons. The more important police forces of the state police department were basically all used to solve cases of serial killers and perverted serial killers.

In short, this matter was reasonably and plausibly concealed.

After a period of time, the police captain seemed to have also been unable to hold back and had begun to sell these liquors on a small scale to the outside.

He had torn off the labels, changed the bottle caps, and had even found some chemical agents to get rid of the small piece of hot-stamped logo on the wine bottle!

Wine with a market value of two or three million, he could sell it for 1.7 or 1.8 million without any problem.

This was 1.7 or 1.8 million!

Not 170 or 180!

Everyone in the entire branch who had participated in this matter was exceptionally excited. If this batch of wine were all sold, even if the police captain took half for himself, the rest of the people could also eat their fill!

It was just that some people were excited and happy, while some would be more worried. After all, goods worth two or three million had been lost here. The owner of this batch of goods would definitely find a way to investigate this matter and would retaliate fiercely!

In these years, with the rampant gangs, once you get involved with them, it will definitely be a huge trouble.

The police captain, however, had told them that as long as they didn’t talk nonsense themselves, the people behind this wine would never have thought that it was them, these interstate police, who had swallowed the goods!

That’s what the painter said, but the people who should be worried would still be worried.

After being reminded by the police officer in the driver’s seat, the police officer in the passenger seat looked back and saw a car about thirty or forty meters behind them.

The two cars seemed to be driving at the same speed, always following behind them, neither falling behind nor catching up.

The police officer in the passenger seat’s action of turning his head was seen by Alan, who was watching.

“They might have discovered us,” he said a sentence. The person in the passenger seat and the driver’s seat behind him took out their handguns.

Alan glanced at them. “Shit, put them back!”

“Elvin didn’t ask us to do anything. We can’t have a firefight with them now. It might disrupt his or the Boss’s plan.”

His friend in the passenger seat asked, “Then what should we do?”

Alan looked at the car in front and thought for a moment. “Anyway, we know where they live. At the next intersection, we’ll go in a different direction and go straight back.”

The others naturally had no objection. The car returned to silence.

The police officer in the front passenger seat had been watching for a while. He was not sure if the car behind was following them. He felt that his partner was too sensitive.

But he couldn’t just say it out loud. He thought for a moment. “You pull over later. If their car slows down, or also stops, then it means they have a problem.”

“If they continue to drive forward without slowing down, then it means they have no problem.”

Although this method was not so reliable, it could at least solve the problem of being followed, if the other party was really following them.

After driving for a few more minutes, the police officer who was driving chose a gravel road and pulled the car over.

The two were now a little nervous. They knew very well the style of these gangs. If they let them know that these goods were in their state police’s hands, they would definitely attack the section branch!

These people were all ferocious desperadoes. There were only two of them now. They didn’t feel any sense of security from the skin on their bodies at all, but on the contrary, they felt some danger.

The tall police officer in the driver’s seat had his palms covered in sweat. He wiped them on his body, and then he opened the leather buckle of his holster and placed his hand on the grip of his gun.

At any time, he could draw his gun and shoot!

As long as this car also slowed down, or stopped, they would open fire.

No matter if the other party was the mastermind behind that wine, or a new perverted killer, for their own safety, they would definitely not wait until the other party had all taken out their guns and were ready to fire before they considered fighting back.

They would definitely strike first!

Being a police officer is indeed a very dangerous job. You never know if the next person you are going to check will, as you say, take out something that can prove their identity, or pull out a handgun and give you a magazine!

Alan, who was driving, also saw that they had suddenly pulled over. He knew that the other party had already discovered them, so at this time it was best not to stop.

Elvin had not yet given him a new instruction. He could not alert these people now.

He continued to maintain a stable average speed and soon passed the car in front.

The police officer in the passenger seat, seeing that the car had passed them without slowing down, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at his partner. “You see, they’re just going the same way.”

The Federation now had a large land area, and the people living here were highly concentrated, so outside the cities was an endless wilderness.

Many of the interstate highways, you would have to drive for hundreds of kilometers before you could see a fork. So what the police officer in the passenger seat had said was not without reason.

Although the tall guy who was driving still felt that something was wrong, he had temporarily accepted this result.

The car waited on the spot for about seven or eight minutes before it started again.

Neither of them spoke on the way. This small interlude had still brought them some heavy pressure.

When they arrived at the section branch, and saw their colleagues, their mood finally improved a little.

One of the two of them carried a backpack and entered the three-story building on the side of the road. This was the office building of the section branch, and soon he came to the outside of the branch police captain’s office.

They knocked on the door, and after getting the police captain’s permission, they entered the office.

“Sit.”

The police captain was in his fifties, with golden-brown hair, and was wearing a curled-brim cowboy hat. He looked more like a free and unrestrained knight than the police captain of this section.

He was a very typical federal person, with two mustaches. It could be seen that they were very well-groomed, and the farthest end of the mustache was still curled.

On the wall were hung some animal specimens, the largest of which was an elk and its antlers.

On the wall were also hung two old-fashioned rifles. Within the reach of the police captain’s hand, was his holster and his large-caliber revolver.

The police captain was a very “old-school” guy. Compared to those semi-automatic handguns, he preferred these revolvers.

The chrome-plated exterior was covered with exquisite carvings, and with the ivory grip, it was not just a weapon, but also a work of art!

His attire did not look so exquisite, but only those who knew him knew that he had at least two villas on the capital’s side.

This was a very low-key guy who knew how to make himself look like others.

“How was this week?” he placed his clasped hands on the table and looked at the two who had sat down with a smile on his face.

The slightly shorter police officer took off his backpack and handed it over. The police captain directly poured out the contents.

They were all stacks of counted banknotes, mainly in ten- and five-dollar denominations. There were also twenty-dollar ones, but relatively few.

These bills fell on his desk with a clatter, like rain. It could be seen that at this very moment, he was happy, he was blissful!

After the last stack of money was poured out, he began to quickly sort it.

Some people say that the people of the Federation are not good at math. That must be a rumor!

The police captain told people with his own actions that the people of the Federation can also be very good at math. A four- or five-digit addition would not stumble him at all!

The police captain simply counted it. “There’s a little over 31,000 here.”

He took out the odd amount and threw it back. “Let’s say 31,000.”

As he spoke, he shoveled the remaining money on the desk back into the open backpack and said, “Were you guys slacking off this week?”

“Only sold 30,000 worth of wine this week?”

In fact, 30,000 was not a small amount. After all, they had people sell it secretly.

It was completely different from the open sales in a bar. In addition, they were very careful, very cautious, and didn’t even want old customers, so the sales volume was not very high.

The two of them chuckled and just said “hmm hmm,” but did not answer directly.

After the police captain had put all the money in his backpack, he zipped it up and casually threw it into a corner.

There were already seven or eight similar backpacks in the corner, all of them bulging.

The shorter police officer quickly explained, “We don’t dare to do fixed business with some people. We’re afraid of being discovered, so our sales are basically from developing new customers.”

“If we also did the business of those old customers, we would have at least seventy or eighty thousand less in sales!”

(End of a Chapter)