Empire of Shadows

After the convoy entered the dock district, it drove straight to Warehouse 74. Lukar suppressed the excitement in his heart, gritting his teeth tightly.

Right now, he desperately wanted to see Lance in pain, annoyed, remorseful, and displaying all sorts of other negative emotions.

He didn’t like Lance, right from the very beginning. He felt that Lance had played him for a fool.

A criminal had played a law enforcement officer. Although others didn’t know about it, it filled him with a sense of shame and anger whenever he faced Lance.

He would feel that he was being looked down upon, toyed with by the other party, yet he was powerless to do anything about it.

He couldn’t get over this hurdle himself.

If he couldn’t hit Lance hard, he would feel that he was forever a clown in front of him.

He had to prove that he wasn’t a clown. He was a lawman, a lawman that Lance feared.

Now, he was about to get his revenge.

The convoy quickly surrounded Warehouse 74. They had professional tools to open the lock. When the lights in the warehouse were turned on, everyone broke into a smile.A mountain of boxes!

Lukar strode up to one of the boxes and opened it with a crowbar—

In this era, liquor was transported in wooden boxes. At the same time, the glass manufacturing process of the period still had some minor issues; the glass was more brittle and prone to breaking upon impact.

Therefore, a simple wooden base, a grate made of wooden strips similar to a “#” grid, was placed inside the box during packing.

Straw was then added between the bottles to prevent them from colliding directly.

Finally, they would nail the wooden box shut with a wooden lid. This was also to prevent people from stealing liquor along the way. If a box was found opened, it meant someone had opened it en route.

The moment the box was pried open, six neatly arranged bottles were revealed, nestled in the straw.

Lukar let out two “haha” laughs. He picked up one of the bottles. It was beautifully packaged, with a wax seal on the mouth.

On the neck of the bottle was a raised structure with a gold-stamped lion’s head.

“Golden Lion Brand!” he turned and showed the bottle in his hand to his colleagues. “A brand that has started appearing recently. I hear it’s from a local distillery.”

He put the bottle back.

The Napo Distillery was currently looking for the producers of this liquor. They believed Golden Lion liquor had stolen their trademark. Although “Golden Lion” and “Gold Label” had little in common, anyone who saw them would think they were very similar, even mistaking them as coming from the same producer.

Watching others earn the money they should have been earning, the shareholders of Napo Whiskey were already green with envy.

On one hand, they were gathering information to sue this liquor merchant, hoping to pocket the other party’s earnings through litigation.

On the other hand, it was said that they were also actively looking for a place where they could safely produce liquor. They were also planning to secretly produce illegal alcoholic beverages.

With such a huge profit at stake, the capitalists could no longer sit still.

Lukar tossed the bottle back into the box. “Count them.”

He stood in the warehouse with his hands on his hips, looking at the mountain of boxes, his calm exterior hiding his thoughts.

But what else could he be thinking?

He was thinking about how to break this news to Lance. He couldn’t wait a single moment longer.

Just then, many workers started walking over. Rushing to the docks in the middle of the night to raid a warehouse, and seeing that it was the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, they were all more or less curious.

In addition, many of these workers had been drinking, and under the influence of alcohol, their self-control was inevitably a bit shaky.

“Hey, get back! No spectators allowed here!”

When some workers tried to get closer, an agent from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials warned them, “We are enforcing the law here!”

The few men at the front raised their hands. “Relax, we just came to see what’s happening. Are you the Bureau of Hazardous Materials?”

Seeing that the other party indeed made no move to get closer, the agent relaxed a bit. “Someone reported a large amount of smuggled liquor is being stored here. If you don’t want trouble, you’d better not come any closer.”

His words quickly spread among the spectating workers. Everyone now knew that they had discovered a liquor warehouse here.

Some even cursed that they had struck it lucky. No one had expected there to be a liquor warehouse here. If they had known, they might have been able to go in and grab a few bottles.

For dockworkers, occasionally stealing something from the docks was as normal as taking a dump at the office every morning and afternoon. It was considered a kind of hidden perk.

Unless the goods were guarded by special personnel. For instance, some warehouses didn’t use dockworkers or security but hired their own employees to guard the warehouse, precisely to prevent curious people from running in and taking things away.

However, most warehouses didn’t hire separate workers. Capitalists weren’t fools. As long as the value of the things they lost was cheaper than the cost of hiring two workers, they would accept this unwritten rule.

Only when the financial value of their losses, or the value of their goods, was high would they hire employees to guard them, rather than betting that the dockworkers wouldn’t enter their warehouses.

At first, the workers had no particular reaction, just watching the excitement. But soon, someone started saying that this warehouse was actually the club’s warehouse, and the stock inside was meant for the workers to drink. At this, some people couldn’t hold back.

The crowd, which had been quietly watching, became somewhat clamorous.

Regardless of whether Lance could make money elsewhere, at least in the dockworkers’ club, he wasn’t making a profit.

They couldn’t help Lance stop these people from raiding the warehouse, but they could try to intimidate them with their numbers.

The crowd of onlooking workers suddenly grew larger. Some people who were still drinking in the club also ran out. A large crowd gathered outside the warehouse.

Lukar, who was inside supervising the count, suddenly frowned. The noise outside was getting louder. Just as he was about to ask what was happening, an agent ran in.

“Sir, a lot of workers have come. I’m worried the situation will get out of control.”

Lukar frowned and walked out. He had heard that dockworkers often drank secretly, but he had never really cared.

When he stepped outside, looking at the countless heads under the lights, he couldn’t help but frown.

“I’m in charge here. If you have any problems, send out a representative!”

“You can’t solve the problem like this!”

Three representatives who seemed to have a lot of prestige were pushed forward, Johnny among them.

Johnny had performed beautifully today. The men’s admiration for him was sky-high.

As long as Johnny didn’t become their stepfather, they would most likely accept whatever he did.

This was Johnny’s moment to shine. Although he knew it was all a script, the moment people pushed him to the front, willing to let him represent everyone, a thought he had never had before suddenly sprouted in his mind.

This is actually pretty good!

He stood at the forefront, flanked by the big-bearded man and a somewhat frail-looking middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man used to be a school teacher, but he was fired for fighting with a student’s parent and had no choice but to come work at the docks.

Although he wasn’t the most outstanding worker, everyone still respected him because he was educated. Sometimes when they ran into trouble, they could consult him.

The three of them represented the crowd. But as soon as they approached Lukar, he smelled the alcohol on them.

He didn’t speak immediately, as it might put them on guard. He first asked something else, “Why are you all blocking this place?”

The teacher answered the question first. “Do you have a search warrant?”

Lukar’s gaze rested on the frail teacher for a moment, then he turned and told his assistant to get the legal documents from the car.

Not everyone knew that the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had its own judicial office. Many people thought that for law enforcement, they still needed to apply for judicial support like the police before they could act.

But that wasn’t the case. They just needed to report the situation to the judicial office, and the person sitting behind the desk would pick up a document, sign it, stamp it, and the legal document would be issued.

The simplification was to make the Bureau of Hazardous Materials more efficient in serving the Prohibition order. Congress wasn’t entirely full of fools. They knew very well that local forces would band together to resist Congress’s orders, especially unreasonable ones like this.

So they went all the way and directly equipped the Bureau with a judicial office they shouldn’t have had.

Forget search warrants; they could even get arrest warrants.

But for an actual conviction, it still had to go through the local judicial system. Still, this alone was outrageous enough.

This was a direct violation of judicial procedure, completely destroying judicial fairness. But the gentlemen in Congress liked it, so what could be done?

Soon, the search warrant was brought over. The Teacher read it carefully and returned it to Lukar, his face looking a bit grim.

Lukar put it away, then looked at the men with his hands on his hips. “So, are there any other problems now?”

The teacher reacted quickly. “This is dock property. You have invaded this place. Although you have legal documents, have you notified its owner?”

A smile appeared on Lukar’s face. “Do you want to listen to what you just said again?”

“If you can help me contact the owner of this liquor, do it for me right now. If he can come over, I can make the decision to give you a few boxes!”

The big-bearded man stepped forward. “No matter what, you’re not taking these things away tonight.”

He tried his best to maintain his ability to think. “None of us have seen a real search warrant. How do we know that one is real?”

“Whatever you’re going to do, wait until dawn to talk about it!”

The surrounding workers were also closing in. Lukar’s gaze remained firm.

He didn’t like to clash head-on with these workers, because the end result would definitely not be in his favor.

But now he had to maintain his position. He glanced quickly at the three men, confirmed they had all been drinking, and that the one in the middle who looked the dumbest had probably drunk the most. He asked casually, “How much have you all had to drink?”

“Go and get a few sober people to come talk to me!”

The teacher’s face was very red, it was hard to tell if it was from drinking or something else. He seemed to be thinking about something and didn’t react.

Johnny’s reaction at this moment was very quick. He couldn’t help but retort, “Not many glasses. This doesn’t stop us from talking business.”

Lukar’s reaction was obviously much faster than these drunken men. “How many is ‘not many’? Two glasses?”

Johnny almost blurted it out, “Five glasses, bullshit!”

Lukar already had a smile on his face. “Where did you drink?”

The teacher’s mind was still on other things. Hearing this, he was stunned. Just as he turned to look at Johnny, intending to signal him not to speak, Johnny had already said it, “The club!”

Lukar took two steps back. He looked at Johnny and pointed at him. “I’ll have the Mayor give you a ‘Good Citizen Award’!”

He turned to the others. “Request backup, then take some men to check out the club.”

The teacher was annoyed. “He was joking, sir!”

Lukar looked at him and retorted, “Do you think I’m as stupid as he is?”

Actually, they all knew there was a large-scale bar near the port district and the docks. The information fed back from the Wolf Gang was that very few people bought liquor on the docks.

The dockworkers had always been major consumers of alcohol. It was obviously impossible for them to be spontaneously abiding by Prohibition now.

They had previously suspected there should be a large bar near the docks, but before they had time to investigate, Dale had them target the bars in the Starlight District and the Bay Area.

Taking down a bar mainly frequented by workers wouldn’t have a huge social impact. Instead, it would make them seem a bit unsympathetic.

But taking down a bar where a group of rich people went for amusement could not only lead to the seizure of a large amount of liquor but also intimidate those rich folks in the Bay Area.

Let them know that in this city, they might not be able to call all the shots.

But now it had been delivered to their doorstep, and it was related to Lance. Lukar felt he could give it a go.

Soon, a large number of reinforcements arrived. A large number of workers were ordered to leave the bar, and the bartenders and others were handcuffed.

At this point, although there was conflict, it hadn’t escalated to a physical confrontation.

The people on the docks were grateful to Lance, and they were willing to do what they could for him, but that didn’t include directly confronting a law enforcement agency.

It was like having a big brother who treated you well; he would let you consume things in his shop at cost.

But now this big brother had broken the law. You wouldn’t stand up for him just because you got a little benefit from him usually.

What you were more likely to do was put in a few good words for him, and that’s it.

As required by the script, Johnny suddenly shoved an agent. “You can’t take them away!”

The agent immediately began to warn him, but it was obvious Johnny wouldn’t listen. This was his performance; he had to play his role to the end.

Some “actors” standing in the crowd began to cooperate with him. Johnny shoved the agents, trying to rescue the arrested club staff, but the result was that he was also pressed to the ground.

His face was pressed against the ground, and he gasped for breath, roaring in anger like a wounded beast.

As today’s hero, and with the cooperation of some actors, more people tried to rescue Johnny, which caused the tense situation to show signs of escalating.

Some workers who originally hadn’t planned to do anything also became restless. People are, after all, herd animals. When herd mentality begins to take effect, they often do things that even they themselves cannot understand.

Seeing the situation starting to get out of control, Lukar’s eyes were as firm as ever. He walked to an open space, drew his pistol, and fired several shots into the air.

The gunshots instantly sobered people up. The conflict that was about to escalate calmed down again.

“Arrest these people!” Lukar pointed at some of them. “The charges are public intoxication, assaulting a police officer, and obstruction of justice…”

The workers watched as the machine guns on the armored vehicles turned their muzzles towards them. Although everyone was furious, they didn’t dare to make any rash moves.

It seemed the only thing they could do now was to curse these law enforcement officers and their families.

Lukar had never paid any mind to these curses. The only thing he wanted to know now was what Lance was thinking.

Lance wouldn’t be thinking anything. On the contrary, he would thank him for his cooperation. In reality, most of the boxes piled up like a mountain in the warehouse were empty bottles.

Although they were empty bottles, they could still serve as criminal evidence of “business,” proving that they had at least sold that much liquor here.

This was a felony.

As for the small disturbance from the workers on the docks?

In truth, no one really cared.

But Lance knew that the workers’ anger was constantly accumulating.

At a little after eight in the morning, Vaughn returned from his “business trip” out of town. The moment he entered his office, the phone rang.

After a brief phone call, he rushed to the dock management company’s office building and went straight into the manager’s office.

“You have to help us suppress this matter!” The manager leaned back in his chair. The board had given him one last chance, in consideration of his decent performance over the years.

He pressed his fingertips together, his heart filled with anxiety.

Vaughn’s expression was very serious. “This is your fault. The workers’ emotions are very unstable right now. I can’t guarantee that I can persuade them.”

“And you need to come up with some compensation measures, like giving them a pay raise or something.”

The manager had a bit of a headache. “We have to negotiate based on the premise of not raising wages first. I can’t just give them a raise every time they cause trouble. If they make trouble every day, do I have to give them a raise every day?”

“A pay raise is only a last resort. Do you understand what I mean?”

“First, let’s proceed without a raise. I can represent the company to give Johnny some compensation, a few thousand dollars, and then adjust his position to a management role, fifty-something dollars a month.”

“This is already very good, Vaughn.”

He lowered his voice slightly. “If you can handle this, we will donate an extra five thousand next year, and the company will also thank you separately.”

Vaughn didn’t agree immediately. The manager became a little impatient. “Alright, Vaughn, this isn’t the first day we’ve worked together. Tell me what you want, don’t make me guess!”

After waiting for a while, Vaughn finally spoke, “You have to give them at least a small pay raise. One dollar, or a dollar and a half.”

“Just as they said, they haven’t had a raise in two years. As long as their wages are raised, everything will be solved!”

(End of chapter)

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