Empire of Shadows

In the morning, the chief of the Indeno State Police Department gave Police Captain Matthew another call.

After a night’s sleep, he was still a little uneasy. Since Lance was determined not to reconcile with them, they had to not only be prepared to defend but also to counterattack.

“Remember, don’t go anywhere during this time. Just stay in the branch office.”

“As long as they dare to attack the police station, counterattack immediately!”

“Tell the officers not to lock their weapons in the weapon cabinets, or put them in places where they can’t be easily reached. Let them be ready to counterattack at any time.”

According to the regulations of the police department here, weapons like rifles and submachine guns had to be properly stored when not in use.

They had a logistics department that specialized in managing these firearms. When needed, the officers could only receive these weapons after getting the captain’s approval.

Usually, they were all locked in a metal weapon cabinet, and only a few people had access.

He gave a few more instructions and then said, “This won’t last for too long. I’m in the main hall. Isn’t Lance trying to smuggle wine into Indeno State?”

“I’m currently in talks with some of our local gangs, asking them to unite against Lance. Not to say what to do to him, kill him or something, but to drive him and his men, along with his goods, out of Indeno State.”“As long as he still wants to enter the market here, he must talk to us!”

“Force them to negotiate with us, and then your problem will no longer be a problem.”

This was also a feasible method that the chief of the state police had come up with at night. The police, plus the gangs, would put double pressure on the Lance Family.

Either he would completely give up the market in Indeno State and then leave in disgrace, or he would have to compromise on these issues in order to enter the market here.

He believed that Lance would eventually compromise. The reason was very simple—

No one would go against money.

Judging from the transportation situation of Lance’s wine, which was worth millions, his business should be very large, and his ambitions here would also be very large.

If he didn’t want to give up his plan, he could only do this.

After hearing this, Police Captain Matthew said with sincere gratitude, “I don’t know how to express my thanks…”

The chief interrupted him. “Just fucking cause me less trouble that we can’t clean up, and I’ll thank God!”

“Alright, that’s it. I still have to talk to those gang leaders.”

“Contact me again if anything comes up.”

The two of them hung up their respective phones. The chief did indeed begin to contact those gangs, to talk to them about the possible consequences of the Lance Family’s strong “invasion,” and also to talk to them about how, if they could drive the Lance Family out, he would come forward to coordinate with the police chiefs of various places and appropriately relax the management system for firefights.

To put it in simpler terms, it meant that they could have a firefight at any time, and the police would only appear after the firefight was over.

At the same time, the police would only arrest the people of the Lance Family, and not their people.

And if they did so, he would consider having the police chiefs of various places, under appropriate circumstances, provide some criminal convenience to the gangs that contributed.

For example, they were supposed to be arrested, but this time they would not be, or they would be tipped off in advance.

As the chief of the state police, he still had this ability.

After Police Captain Matthew hung up the phone, he stood up and walked back and forth a few times. After smoking two cigarettes, he decided to completely obey the chief’s arrangements.

After this matter was over, he would give the chief a sum of money to thank him for his help. This was the simplest and most effective method he could think of and could do.

He returned to his desk and dialed his home phone. “Honey?”

“Yes… I’ve run into some trouble recently. You’d better tell the children not to run around.”

“For the two younger ones, ask for a leave of absence for them. Have them stay at home with you and not go anywhere.”

“For the older one, have him not come back from school. Remember, I’m not joking with you!”

“You can go to the garage… yes, the second drawer of the repair cabinet. The key is in the blue bucket on the tool table in the greenhouse.”

“There are weapons and ammunition in the drawer in the garage. You put it in a place where you can easily get it. I will also send a few police officers back to help you.”

“…Don’t worry, everything will be fine. The chief also knows about this. In half a month, a month at most, we can see each other again.”

After he had said these words, he hung up the phone directly. At this moment, his heart was filled with incomparable regret.

One moment of greed had let things develop to this uncontrollable point.

But if it happened again, it was very likely that he would still make the same choice.

The reason was very simple: there was too much!

Now he had done everything he could. Next, it was to wait quietly!

In Red Rock City, in a luxurious villa district, a lady who looked like a noblewoman put down the phone with a worried look. She stood up, a little restless, but soon sat back down.

After considering for a moment, she dialed her younger brother’s number.

Because she had married Matthew, her family had also obtained a convenience that did not belong to their class.

Sometimes, if you don’t go deep into all aspects of this society, you can’t feel the malice that this world is full of towards ordinary people.

Also considered a “low-level worker,” a police officer, and a worker on an assembly line, in terms of the social salary system, the difference might only be a few dollars.

But their quality of life, the actual income they could get, was many times different!

A supervisor on an assembly line might be able to afford a villa in his lifetime, but a police captain of a state police highway section branch could easily buy two villas, and also had a huge amount of savings and wealth.

So much so that even his wife’s family could, because of him, get a significantly better opportunity.

It can only be said that the people were still too kind. As long as they had a little to eat and would not starve to death, they would not make a fuss.

Matthew’s wife quickly got through the call. “Can you come over now?”

Her younger brother had opened a strip club in Red Rock City. Because of Police Captain Matthew’s care, the police basically did not come to check this small club.

In the past, they had also sold liquor, but with the implementation of Prohibition, they had stopped for a period of time.

Knowing that recently, the grape brick had become popular, and there were legal loopholes, they had started to sell sparkling fruit juice again, the kind they had produced themselves, some “spoiled” fruit juice, the kind that had been soaked from a grape brick.

Although it was a little cloudy, and the taste was sometimes not very good, the price was cheap, and the business of the club was not bad.

If the Bureau of Hazardous Materials wanted to come and check, someone would secretly notify him in advance. For the sake of the fact that everyone was a law enforcer, their management of this club was not too strict.

This also made this young man a figure in his own social circle.

“Sister?”

“What happened?” The young man was sitting in his office, half-lying on his chair. A stripper was serving him.

Because the business here was good, there was no shortage of strippers. On the contrary, they had to be scheduled to have a chance to go on stage.

For these girls, if they wanted to make money, besides the patrons, the most crucial thing was on the stage.

The truly rich people would not really be fond of these “dirty girls,” so the income that ordinary customers brought them accounted for a large part of their overall income.

“Can you come over? I’m a little worried. Your brother-in-law might have run into some trouble. He told me some very strange things…”

When the young man heard this, he immediately pushed away the girl in front of him. While zipping up his pants, he stood up. “I’ll be right over. You don’t go anywhere either. Just wait for me at home!”

He put down the phone, glanced at the girl with a look of desire on her face, and nodded slightly. “Tonight I will have them arrange two shows for you.”

Ignoring the surprised smile on the girl’s face, he opened the drawer, took out a handgun and put it in his pocket, and then called two thugs to go with him to the villa district.

Soon he saw his older sister in the villa. Every time he came here, he would have a deep sense of envy. He also longed to one day be able to live in such a large mansion!

“What happened?” He walked to his older sister’s side and held her hand.

She recounted what Police Captain Matthew had told her. The young man with some “social experience” quickly realized that this might be related to a gang.

He pondered for a moment. “I’ll go and pick up the two children now.”

Matthew’s wife held his hand. “What about the oldest?”

The young man shook his head. “Gangs don’t dare to mess around in a university. They will cause a public outrage!”

The gold content of a university in this period, and its social influence, were still quite good, far more difficult to get into than in the future, when you could go to college just by being able to sing and dance, cook, or use an oven.

To be difficult to get into meant that the degree of social attention was higher, and gangs almost never messed around in such a place.

Matthew’s wife quickly agreed. These were the same as what Matthew had said.

The two children did not know why they suddenly did not have to go to class. They were also very happy about the arrival of this “uncle.” This uncle often brought them a lot of delicious and fun things, and would also secretly give them a lot of pocket money.

In this home, the first person they were close to was their mother, and then this uncle. The third was only Police Captain Matthew.

After all, Police Captain Matthew was not at home for a considerable period of time every month. And as a father, he had to maintain his family authority. He would not easily joke and play with his children.

On the contrary, this uncle was like a good friend to them, so they were very happy to go home with their uncle.

Matthew’s three children, the oldest was already in college, and was now in the first semester of his sophomore year.

The first child was born a few years after he had gotten married and his work had stabilized.

At that time, he was just a deputy police captain, not high, not low, and didn’t earn much money. And he was busy with work all day.

The police captain at that time always pushed a lot of work to him.

He was being controlled from above, and the people below did not listen to him much. The lack of success in his work had made him have no intention of having more children.

After about seven or eight more years, he was promoted to police captain, and only then did he have the subsequent children.

The oldest was a boy, the second was a girl, only fourteen, and the third was a boy, only eleven.

The two children came back laughing and greeted Matthew’s wife, and then went to play in the garden.

Their uncle returned to Matthew’s wife’s side and comforted her.

“Nothing will happen. I know that person, the chief of the state police. He is a very capable person and has a good relationship with the lieutenant governor.”

“Sister, here, there is no problem that a big shot like them can’t solve. Believe me!”

“I will live here these few days. When Matthew comes back, everything will be the same as before. There will be no change…”

With her younger brother’s comfort, and the children also at home, Matthew’s wife finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the evening, her younger brother had transferred a few more thugs over. If it weren’t for the need to maintain the security of the strip club, he would have called everyone over.

But even so, there were also six thugs here.

Two of them were also equipped with handguns.

In the evening, the villa was brightly lit. The bright light seemed to have dispelled a lot of the fear in people’s hearts. The family sat on the sofa watching the program on the television, temporarily forgetting their troubles.

And at this time, on the interstate highway, two convoys were rapidly approaching Red Rock City.

One convoy was led by Elvin, the people of the Lance Family.

And the other was the six police officers sent by Matthew.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling to send more, but that the highway patrol section branch had a total of only forty or fifty police officers. To send too many would make it impossible to take care of the work, and he also needed to keep some trusted men on his side.

These six people could also be considered his staunch supporters, the people who stood on his side.

The two groups, along two completely different highways, were rapidly approaching Red Rock City.

A little later, Mello made another phone call.

“What’s happening at home?” Lance was a little puzzled when he picked up the phone. Mello was a very steady person. If there was no matter that he had to be contacted for, he would definitely not have called.

This would affect his mood when he was doing things outside.

This was like a person who was participating in a gambling game outside. If his family called him for no reason, it would definitely make him feel annoyed, unable to concentrate on the game, and his mind would not be sharp, thus losing the game.

Although Lance was not playing cards, the things he was doing now had a greater risk than playing cards!

Losing at cards is just losing money. If he loses outside, at best he is injured, at worst he is shot.

Mello laughed twice. “No, everything is normal at home. You know, nothing will happen here.”

“Cole just gave me a call. He was asking if there was a problem with their goods, and also asking if there were any of our men in New Birmingham. He said someone had seen our men.”

When Lance heard this, he had already frowned. “What else did he say?”

“If he only said these, you probably wouldn’t have called me.”

Mello still said unhurriedly, “He also asked who was on this side, if it was Ennio, and also asked me for a phone number to contact you.”

“I didn’t tell him. I told him to call me again tomorrow.”

Lance closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “It doesn’t sound like a good news, although I don’t want to think so.”

Mello agreed with his view. “To ask for a phone number and contact information at this time is a bit too coincidental.”

“Do you need me to arrange for some more men to go over?”

Lance considered for a moment. “No, no need. It would be too obvious if more people came. I have already had Elvin take most of the people away. They don’t know I’m here, and they don’t know how many people there are. I will find the right time to leave here.”

“You think they might have… partnered with those people?” Mello’s tone was a little uncertain. In fact, he already had an answer in his heart, but he was just a little unwilling to admit it himself.

All along, the leader of the Empire immigrant gangs had cooperated with them quite well. Lance was also willing to support the development of the Empire immigrant gangs in various places.

After all, everyone was a fellow countryman. In this foreign country, if you don’t stick together, you can only be bullied. To seek common ground while reserving differences is not so simple a sentence. On the contrary, it is simpler for fellow countrymen to stick together.

He had considered that some people would be on good terms with them on the surface but not in their hearts. He had also been prepared, but he had not expected that this day would still come so quickly.

So much so that he had no conflict with the local Empire gangs, and on the contrary, was willing to support them, and it was still not enough. This made Lance very disappointed!

Speaking of this Cole, he was the leader of the New Birmingham Empire immigrant gang, an Empire immigrant in his forties, who had been here for more than ten years.

From the information that Ennio and Bolton had sent back, and the photos he had seen, this was a somewhat fat guy who was always smiling.

He looked a little… slick.

But from his behavior this time, he didn’t seem so slick.

The winner had just been decided, and he had already taken a side?

“Tomorrow when he calls you again, you just say that our men have already left. You don’t have to say anything else.”

“If he asks about me, you just say I’ve gone to Golden State.”

After hanging up the phone, Lance shook his head slightly. He didn’t know how much benefit the chief of the state police, or Matthew, had given this Cole to have him sell out these people.

But he knew that this Cole was a dead man.

Lance had everyone not go out, and to change into plain clothes if they did.

The next morning, the people who had gone out to check on the situation had already come back. The news they had brought back was the same as Lance had guessed.

Now there were many gang members on the streets. They seemed to be looking for someone.

The car that Lance and his group were driving had a local license plate, so it had not attracted the attention of these people. Some of the cars with out-of-state license plates, especially those with Likalai State license plates, would be the focus of their attention.

This was no longer a place to stay.

Lance had not thought of taking any risks. To take risks was something that a fool would do. He had already passed the initial stage where he had to fight for his life.

At once, he led his men and directly drove out of the city circle, from New Birmingham all the way to the east.

Lance had been smiling all the way. Someone had asked him why he was smiling, and what he was laughing at.

He said that this was the first time in recent years that he had led his brothers in a sorry “escape”…

(End of a Chapter)