Empire of Shadows

“Mr. Lance…”

The chief opened his mouth. He had originally wanted to persuade Lance to move in the same direction as them, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he had changed his words.

“I am very sincere in wanting to solve this matter. We can both take a step back, what do you say?”

Lance did not speak, but just remained silent. He had already shown his attitude.

Although he had agreed, the young men in the family would not say anything, but this was definitely not the reason why he had agreed!

It wasn’t that it was fast, but that his business had already entered Indeno State. If the people here found out that they had made a move on him, on his men, and on his goods, and the price was just to compensate him with money, and the person who had made the move was punished symbolically, what would happen?

The large and small gangs, the police departments of various cities, they would all be thinking, why can’t they give it a try?

Anyway, there was no loss if they failed, but what if they succeeded?

The volume of Lance’s shipments would be very, very large. Unless he also built a whiskey production factory in this state, otherwise he could only continuously transport it from Likalai State through the interstate highway, or by train.

This gave these people who were willing to try too many opportunities to try!So on this matter, Lance could not give in a single step. He had to make everyone understand this point.

If you dare to touch my things, dare to touch my men, you have to be prepared to be killed by me, and then wait to pay the price!

The chief did not hear any sound from Lance’s side. He sighed lightly. “Mr. Lance, there is actually no need to let things become like this!”

This time, Lance answered.

“Did I let the situation develop to this point?”

To be “denied” by Lance again finally made the chief a little angry. He had wanted to communicate with Lance nicely, but it had always been like this.

It was just that some of the lowest-level members of a gang had died!

These rotten people, even without these things, might have all been finished in a black-on-black firefight. What was there to pursue responsibility for these rotten people?

The chief’s tone also became not so polite. “You are a gang, we are the police. You are transporting contraband. Our job is to check these things.”

“Mr. Lance, to be honest, the reason I am communicating with you now is based on the fact that between us, you and I, there is no actual conflict.”

“If you think you can threaten me, or threaten my men, then you must be mistaken.”

“This is not Likalai State. This is…”

Lance hung up the phone directly. He didn’t want to listen to this guy ramble on.

Elvin was sitting next to him, leaning against the back of the sofa. He held the back of his head with both hands. “Did the talks fall through?”

Although it was a question, and the pronunciation was also a question, everyone knew that what he wanted to express was an affirmative sentence.

Lance nodded. “The talks fell through. The matter of them wanting to return the goods to us is over.”

“We’ve lost so many people. Can he just say it’s over?”

Elvin put down his hands and supported himself with the sofa to move forward. “What are you planning to do?”

Lance took out an ivory cigarette case, took one out. Elvin lit it for him with a match. He took a drag. “This matter is not easy to handle, but it’s not impossible.”

“That what’s-his-name…” he looked at Elvin, “…the guy you caught.”

“Officer David.”

“Yes, Officer David!” Lance pointed at the ceiling with his head. “Have him tell us about Police Captain Matthew’s family problems. We can use it.”

“As for Police Captain Matthew and the others?”

Lance pursed his lips. “Although it’s not very good for us to just rush in and kill them, but if some of my plans really don’t work, then we can only create an accident.”

A person may encounter many accidents in their life, on themselves, on others.

A flower pot falling from the street is an accident. A seemingly sturdy sewer cover suddenly cracking is an accident. The elevator you are riding in suddenly falling is an accident.

Including walking on the street, or driving a car, and being hit by a large truck is also an accident.

Lance had them all go back to rest. He himself read the newspaper for a while, and soon he also rested.

In the capital of Indeno State, in the office of the chief of the state police, the chief looked at the silent phone receiver in his hand and slammed it hard on the phone base with some annoyance.

He hadn’t been so angry for many years, mainly because no one could make him angry.

He knew that Matthew was waiting for his call, so the phone only rang once before it was picked up.

“This is Matthew.”

“I have already spoken with Lance.”

Police Captain Matthew took a deep breath and asked with great expectation, “What did he say?”

“Lance made two requests.”

“First, two million, for the goods.”

When Police Captain Matthew heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief. “No problem.”

His very decisive “no problem” made the chief a little suspicious. How much money had this bastard made over there?

Including Lance’s things, he would still have to add a few hundred thousand. Was it that easy?

Just as he was thinking about this question, Police Captain Matthew asked again, “What about the second condition?”

The chief came back to his senses and waited for a few seconds. “He wants you dead…”

Police Captain Matthew did not reply for a long time. He was also at a loss as to what to do with this second condition.

The expression on his face changed back and forth. In the end, he gritted his teeth and said, “That’s impossible!”

The chief also thought so. “So I refused him. He will definitely find a way to find trouble with you. Be careful these days. Don’t act alone. It’s best to stay in the office.”

“If he really dares to launch a large-scale attack on you and the police officers, even if he has a senator protecting him, he will not have a good end.”

“I’ll continue to think of a way, to see if there’s any turn for the better…”

The next morning, Mayor Wade was still working when the phone on his desk rang. It was the external phone.

He watched the phone ring a few times before he picked it up. “This is the mayor’s office.”

“Mayor Wade?”

“Mr. Lance?”

“It’s me.”

Mayor Wade put down his pen. “Is it time for me to be of use?”

“No, no, no, a small accident has occurred…”

He recounted the matter. Mayor Wade frowned. “Lance, to be honest, I can’t really get involved in this.”

“The choice of the chief of the state police was handpicked by the lieutenant governor, and the lieutenant governor is a strong candidate for the next governor. In other words, he and I are in a competitive relationship.”

“The state police have the ability to interfere in cases in various places. This is a very powerful department, and the chief is his trusted subordinate. He will not replace his trusted subordinate, but on the contrary, will be very supportive of him to a certain extent.”

“If I were to bring this up with him, not only would I not be able to get the result you want, but on the contrary, it might cause the situation to develop in the opposite direction.”

“So… I’m very sorry, I may not be able to help you with this.”

He was not lying about this. To ask a competitor to help you with this kind of thing, to have him punch himself, even if Mayor Wade’s brain was not very good, he knew that this was unlikely to be realized.

Lance let out a light breath. “Then let’s change our line of thought. You just said that the lieutenant governor is your election opponent?”

Mayor Wade was stunned for a moment, and then he immediately reacted. “You want to drag him down by attacking the chief of the state police?”

He immediately got into the state. “This idea is very good. If the chief of the state police is confirmed to have committed a crime, it will definitely be a heavy blow to him.”

“At that time, we can launch some political propaganda, and people will know that the chief of the state police promoted by the lieutenant governor is a criminal!”

A satisfied expression appeared on Mayor Wade’s face. This could give his competitor a heavy blow!

Originally, he had been troubled by what was to come. On the one hand, he hoped that the war could last a little longer, so that he would have more time to prepare for the gubernatorial election.

But he did not hope that the war would last for too long, because while he was preparing, the lieutenant governor, who had an advantage over him, was also preparing, and was also constantly accumulating his advantage.

Now it was good. Although this one punch could not knock down the lieutenant governor, the reduction in the gap in strength between the two sides caused by this one punch was a lot.

He had helped Lance and had also achieved his own goal. This was very worthwhile.

He thought for a moment and, after thinking that there was no problem, he asked, “What are you planning to do?”

Lance did not tell him what he was going to do. Before he did this, he would not tell anyone. He and Mayor Wade had not cooperated before, and were not yet friends, so he would not say it even more so.

“Wait for my news!” he said and then hung up.

Elvin, with some dark circles under his eyes, came over. He handed Lance a piece of paper. On the paper were recorded the names of some people, and the places where they lived, including Police Captain Matthew’s.

Police Captain Matthew lived in Red Rock City, the capital of Indeno State. He had at least two villas that people knew of there. He had a wife and three children.

As for his parents, brothers, and sisters, there were also quite a few.

Lance drew a circle on the list of the police officers who also lived in Red Rock City, and then handed it to Elvin. “Arrest them all, and then go straight back to Likalai State, back to Golden Port City.”

Elvin thought he had misheard. “Go back?”

“Take them home?”

Lance nodded. “Yes, take them home.”

“This is not our territory. We will be relatively passive. When we get to Golden Port City, to our territory, this matter will be very easy to solve.”

Although Elvin didn’t know what Lance was planning, he nodded. “Don’t worry.”

Lance had him take most of the people away. He was temporarily staying in New Birmingham.

As for Elvin, he and his men were heading to Red Rock City…

(End of a Chapter)