Empire of Shadows

From Tom’s perspective, if Lance and this Mel Crown had no conflict, Lance wouldn’t be calling to ask who he was—

Given Lance’s gregarious personality, if there was no conflict, Lance would likely have already found a way to meet him, rather than calling Tom.

This also reflected another fact: Lance generally trusted Tom.

If Lance asked others, they might tell Mel Crown about the inquiry. But Lance trusted Tom wouldn’t do that. This could only mean Lance had some issue with the prosecutor.

Lance did not directly answer the question. ”What’s his relationship with the Senator’s faction?”

This question, even if Tom was only guessing before, essentially confirmed it: Lance definitely had a problem with this person.

Tom thought carefully. ”No direct connections. He belongs to the Jim McAuley faction.”

Jim McAuley was another relatively large power base within the Socialist Party, and the current President belonged to this political group.

Before the issues emerged in the mid-term elections, their power and status in Congress were comparable to Senator Cleveland’s faction now, although their size wasn’t quite as large.

But they were still a highly influential group.When they first won the general election, the Gold State Attorney General was one of their people. Naturally, the prosecutors in the city attorney’s office were also mostly aligned with them.

While Senator Cleveland’s faction also had people among the prosecutors, it was clear that Mel Crown was not one of them.

Tom briefly explained a few things about Jim McAuley to Lance. The concise explanation aligned with Lance’s general assumptions about the chain of events.

After all, the current FBI Director, Roland, was promoted by the President, so their alignment was perfectly logical.

However, there were also some illogical aspects. For example, the President’s term was nearly over. His ability to land safely was already due to tacit consent gained by his non-interference during the war.

He shouldn’t be attempting to dismantle Senator Cleveland’s power base by targeting Lance. There had to be more to the situation than Lance currently understood.

Politics was a simple matter in some ways, but incredibly complex in others.

”In short, this fellow is not on our side!” Tom delivered the final conclusion.

”Mmm, I understand.”

Lance’s reply was very brief, prompting Tom to press him. ”What are you planning to do, and how?”

He suspected the conflict between Lance and Mel Crown was significant; otherwise, Lance wouldn’t be so concerned about their alignment.

If it were a minor dispute, Lance wouldn’t need to consider these factors. Only plans with severe consequences required careful thought to avoid collateral damage to his own side.

Lance again didn’t answer directly. He hadn’t truly finalized his decisions yet.

He and Tom moved on from that topic, discussing recent events, such as the numerous efforts to push him into a fight with the Perez family, and the attempts to drag him down through entrapment.

After a short conversation, he hung up. There was no need to grandiosely tell Tom to pass this information to the Senator; it was enough that the Senator knew people were moving against Lance.

After hanging up, Tom contemplated Lance’s attitude during the call, then picked up a file from his desk and walked toward Senator Cleveland’s office.

He happened to have some free time.

Well, not entirely free. The document he was processing wasn’t critically important, allowing him to take a brief break.

If the document had been important, he would have closed his door, prevented interruptions, and focused entirely until the work was completed before opening the door again.

The fact that Tom could just walk in now suggested the document wasn’t urgent.

”Problem?” Senator Cleveland continued to look down at the document in his hands, occasionally writing and drawing with his pen.

The sound of the pen nib sliding across the paper was like a finger scraping canvas. Some people couldn’t stand the sound, while others found it pleasant.

”I have a document here you need to review. If there are no issues, I’ll instruct the staff below to execute it.”

Tom handed over the document while mentioning the phone call. ”Lance called me just now. He mentioned a person.”

Senator Cleveland looked up, peering at Tom through the space between his eyes and the top of his glasses, like a rolling of the eyes. ”Who?”

He knew this had caught the Senator’s attention. ”Mel, Mel Crown, a prosecutor in the New Golden City, one of the State Attorney General’s people.”

Senator Cleveland paused to think, then a clear image of the man surfaced in his mind. ”I’ve seen him several times. What’s his issue with Lance?”

Tom shook his head. ”Lance wasn’t specific, but it seems he may be pushing an investigation into Lance’s criminal activities.”

”They set up a trap to try and catch Lance, but he managed to evade it.”

”He found out Mel Crown orchestrated the trap, so he called me to verify if the man was one of ours.”

The Senator sat up straight. He removed his glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment, then covered his entire face with his hands, rubbing vigorously.

He had a lot of work to handle now.

The armistice agreement was in effect. There was the issue of troop withdrawal, resolving lingering issues on the battlefield, and a host of problems to deal with concerning Slad.

Additionally, Federal capitalists were pressuring the government to secure more foreign contracts and demand that more countries open their markets to them.

In short, he was extremely busy, and now there was another vexing issue.

”What does he plan to do?” Senator Cleveland released his face. His cheeks were pale from the intense rubbing, but blood quickly rushed back, restoring their color.

Tom shook his head. ”I don’t know. I asked, but he wouldn’t say.”

The Senator put his glasses back on. ”The position of prosecutor is somewhat sensitive. If something too bizarre happens to him, it will certainly alarm people within the Justice Department.”

”You can warn Lance that he can do what he wants, but he must prepare for two things.”

”First, everything must be plausible and reasonable. No blatant actions like hiring a gunman to go in and kill him. That would cause a storm of protest in the judiciary!”

”If even basic propriety cannot be maintained, a Supreme Court Justice will certainly get involved. That’s something none of us want.”

”Second, regardless of whether it’s revenge or retaliation, violence and murder are not the only methods.”

”But I trust he can handle it. That fellow has never disappointed!”

The status of a Supreme Court Justice in the Federation was highly unique. As ”living interpreters of the law,” they held the highest judicial review authority.

They could affirm or overturn a verdict and take over the case to preside over the trial themselves.

The nomination and election of a Supreme Court Justice were deliberate processes, requiring Presidential nomination and approval by more than half of the Senate.

These individuals were typically non-partisan and highly difficult to handle.

”Liberty” was the label they adopted. They needed to maintain their image within the judicial field.

If someone challenged the judiciary, they were challenging the Justices themselves. Senator Cleveland didn’t want this to happen. While they could persuade a Justice to side with them, it meant extra expenditure.

Tom conveyed Lance’s request. As for whether Senator Cleveland connected these events to the possibility of being targeted himself, only he knew.

Later that morning, Prosecutor Crown called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Hazardous Materials to ask if they had recently busted any major illegal liquor sales operations.

However, the feedback he received was unsatisfactory.

The Bureau had only caught minor, small-scale liquor transactions and private sales. These arrests were clearly only ”adventurers,” as the true major dealers were unlikely to be caught.

The scale of these arrests was too small, far from what Prosecutor Crown needed. He couldn’t directly inquire using specific names, so he hastily hung up.

His contact with the small gang originated from a previous case where he personally handled a non-fatal assault. A few young men were injured, two severely, and several lightly.

The situation of the Federal judiciary was somewhat unusual now. To be precise, there was an internal debate in the Justice Department.

Was the process more important, or the result?

Simply put, what was the objective of investigating a crime?

Was it the inherent process of the investigation—the step-by-step search for evidence and the formation of the chain of evidence—or the final result of sending the criminal to the judgment seat?

Undoubtedly, the objective was to send the criminal to the judgment seat. Therefore, if, during this process, the criminal was willing to cooperate with the prosecution and law enforcement, admit their guilt, and show remorse, should they be granted a plea bargain that reduced their potential sentence?

Coupled with systemic issues in Federal law enforcement, some prosecutors began using this ”transaction” method to speed up their case resolution.

They would bargain with the criminal, who would quickly plead guilty and accept punishment in exchange for a lighter sentence. This was a win-win situation.

The prosecution reduced unnecessary workload and expense, as investigations required significant funding.

As for the criminals, their sentences were shorter, allowing them to leave prison sooner.

From a social perspective, the criminal’s active remorse and confession were seen as a sign of social and judicial progress.

However, in these transactions, the victims’ feelings were often overlooked. But then again, victims often had little say anyway.

Prosecutor Crown made such a deal with the gang. A few people stepped up to take the fall, pleaded guilty, offered compensation, and gained the victims’ forgiveness.

The case, which might have taken three to five months to investigate, was concluded in less than two weeks. Prosecutor Crown received praise from his superiors, the criminals received punishment, the victims received some compensation, and social stability improved.

It was, arguably, a four-way win!

During this process, he established a relationship with the gang leader.

In reality, if the case were fully investigated, the entire gang should have been implicated and charged, but to quickly close the case and look ”competent and efficient” to his superiors, he didn’t prosecute the entire gang.

This made the gang leader realize something. He began contacting Prosecutor Crown frequently, even attempting to bribe him, hoping Crown would become the gang’s protector.

A prosecutor certainly possessed that kind of power, and this particular gang was small-time; they wouldn’t commit any huge crimes.

He had always avoided agreeing but hadn’t explicitly refused until the people behind him mentioned ”de-gangsterization” and ”entrapment” in a casual conversation, explicitly naming the Lance family. That’s when he got the idea.

If he could implicate the Lance family in a major Prohibition case, with a massive case value, and have Congress personally handle it—

Would Senator Cleveland and his faction still be able to bail them out?

He used the small gang, making them approach Lance for a business deal, setting a trap, and waiting for the Lance family to take the bait.

The initial script was exactly as he expected: the Lance family was keen on pushing their products into the New Golden City and Gold State.

After all, liquor profits were Lance family’s core income stream. Multi-fold profits were enough to drive anyone crazy!

The more they sold, the more they earned.

The only question was whether something had gone wrong in the process. A perfect script seemed to have gone awry.

He put down the phone and called the gang leader again, but no one answered.

This made him feel a growing unease. As a prosecutor familiar with the underworld, he knew how dangerous big gangs could be when provoked.

Sitting in his office, Prosecutor Crown grew restless. He thought hard and decided to take a more proactive approach.

He pulled out the case file for the small gang’s previous assault case from his cabinet.

Although Federal law stipulates that a case cannot be re-tried once it is closed, he could cite ”incomplete documentation” as a reason to ask the gang leader to provide supplementary information for filing.

Before leaving his office, he armed himself with his handgun.

He usually disliked carrying a handgun for work. It felt heavy on his body and uncomfortable on his shoulder.

Furthermore, he didn’t believe someone in his position—a prosecutor—needed to personally engage in frontline enforcement.

That was the job of lower-level officers. A prosecutor like him should be giving orders from his office and delivering the final judgment in the courtroom.

”Is Prosecutor Crown going out?”

Just as he stepped out the door, a young woman carrying a tray walked past him. ”I haven’t brought your coffee yet!”

Prosecutor Crown looked at the coffee on her tray and forced a smile. ”Yes, the files for a case are incomplete. I need to go back and re-record some information.”

The young woman was an administrative assistant at the prosecutor’s office. She had a relative working there, which made her a sort of ”life secretary.”

Her main job was to collect mail and deliver coffee or food for everyone, earning a monthly salary of just over a hundred dollars. The work wasn’t strenuous.

The young woman looked confused. ”Should I... prepare coffee for you?”

Prosecutor Crown shook his head. ”No need. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. I’ll contact you if I need anything.”

”Very well, goodbye then, Prosecutor Crown.”

”Goodbye...”

He ended the brief conversation and left, driving toward the small gang’s base.

It took him nearly forty minutes to reach the gang’s base. Morning rush hour traffic was prolonged.

After parking his car, he checked his weapon, released the safety, and left the car, carrying the file folder.

The area was eerily quiet—too quiet to be the noisy gang headquarters he remembered.

There were no young men standing guard on the roadside, nor any small groups of gang members scrutinizing passersby. Everything was silent!

He stood outside the ”activity room” and knocked. Silence.

He knocked again. Still no answer. He then solemnly twisted the doorknob.

The door was unlocked.

He casually placed the file folder on a nearby shelf, drew his handgun, and slowly walked inside.

The activity room was originally a recreation hall for workers at a nearby factory.

As the New Golden City developed and changed, these factories closed down. The hall was abandoned, then occupied by a group of local young men, who formed this gang.

The place was so quiet now that it felt completely uninhabited. It hadn’t been this way the last time he visited!

Sometimes, silence itself can instill fear!