Empire of Shadows

Alan tried his best not to let any abnormality show on his face. Just now, inside, Elvin had told him that there was still a mole in the fam

Alan tried his best not to let any abnormality show on his face.

Just now, inside, Elvin had told him that there was still a mole in the family, possibly right beside him.

During this period, about fifteen people had been to the temporary warehouse. Now that the temporary warehouse had been discovered, it was highly likely that the problem lay with these fifteen people.

Dracy was part of the second batch of their own people. They had all done life-threatening things together. Plus, Lance was very good to them, never shortchanging them in money or status, so they were basically unlikely to voluntarily defect to Lukar.

Captains like Alan had their identities thoroughly checked. They wouldn’t mess around either.

That left only eleven people who were ultimately suspicious.

This frustrating number meant that among Alan’s men, there was a three-in-eleven chance of a mole.

All three were his best friends. Whether it was Beno or the others, he really didn’t want the problem to be here with him.

But now, he had to be on high alert and start paying attention to these people.As the group was walking out, two guys wearing baseball caps happened to walk in from outside.

Beno’s eyes lingered on their faces for a moment, then he showed a slight smile.

The two also smiled back at them. After all, they were a particularly hot team recently. Beno noticed some splattered bloodstains on one of their baseball caps and wondered what they had been doing outside.

Everyone knew each other. They exchanged greetings and went their separate ways.

Standing at the door, Beno turned to watch the two push open Lance’s office door, and Elvin closing the door behind them.

He turned his head and continued to walk out with Alan.

In the office, the two young men handed the manila envelope in their hands to Lance and briefly recounted the entire process of how they had dealt with Lukar.

After listening carefully, Lance praised them with considerable admiration. “An excellent decision, much more outstanding than I imagined.”

“You didn’t use firearms, but used common baseball bats. For the higher-ups, although the nature of the case is vile, the method of the crime is actually two levels lower in intensity, which can also make the coincidence seem more real.”

“Go to Mello’s and collect your bonus. Take a couple of days off.”

After putting down the things, the two young men left with their arms around each other’s shoulders, smiling. Getting rid of Lukar would earn them a bonus of at least two thousand dollars.

With this money, they could live it up for a long time. In the room, Lance opened the manila envelope and poured all the contents onto the desk.

“Wallet,” he opened the wallet and glanced inside. There was about thirty-something in cash and some loose change.

He emptied out the money and checked. There was also a photo in the wallet, which looked old. It didn’t look much like Lukar; it was probably one of his parents or someone similar.

Inside were his driver’s license, vehicle registration, and his police badge.

Lance actually quite liked this badge. The Federation government had clearly put some thought into making the law enforcement department’s badges.

On top was an eagle representing the Federation, below was a triangular shield with the full name of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials.

In the middle were two dolphins surrounding a pair of crossed swords representing law enforcement power. Above the swords was a scale representing law and fairness.

Finally, there was the agent’s rank and agent number.

The difficulty of forging such a badge was actually not low, so it itself was a kind of anti-counterfeiting mark.

However, this also led to the current situation of people impersonating them, and there was definitely more than one person doing it.

Besides this, there were also several keys, a pistol, a spare magazine, and a notebook.

He picked it up, glanced at it, and put it back. It was of no value; it was all written in ciphertext.

The combination of a large number of letters and numbers made one’s head spin just by looking at it. Without any reference, even a master cryptographer couldn’t crack it, let alone the fact that there was no master cryptographer here.

With everything laid out, Lance pressed his ten fingers together like a steeple. “What we want isn’t here. It might be in his office or at home.”

He sorted through the keys, classifying them, and put two of them aside. “These look like his house keys, for the main door and the garage.”

Then the other few, “These look smaller, very much like keys for a file cabinet or a drawer. They should be for his office.”

There was also another key that looked a little different, not like an ordinary key, a bit of a “misfit.”

“I can’t tell what this one is. I’ll have someone ask about it later.”

Lance picked up the phone and dialed Ponda’s number. “Come to the old place later. I have something for you to do.”

“Got it…” Ponda immediately hung up. Although he was starting to accept this kind of life, he still felt a little uneasy when Lance’s call came to his desk.

Lance strung the keys together separately, then threw the other trash into the trash heap.

Half an hour later, Ponda got off work from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials. He drove his car not directly home, but to a roadside restaurant he often frequented.

He chose a table further inside. After the food was served and he had eaten for a while, he got up and walked towards the toilet.

He didn’t go to the toilet, but went straight out the back door into the back alley.

Lance’s car was here.

The owner of this restaurant was an Empire immigrant, so the boss was very cooperative.

Ponda pulled open the car door and got in. “Mr. Lance, you should try not to call me directly. What if I don’t answer, and someone who knows you does? I could be exposed.”

Lance nodded after listening. “You’re right. Next time I call you, you say ‘banana’ first.”

“If you say that word, I’ll know it’s you, and only then will I speak. Otherwise, I won’t speak.”

“Okay… fine,” Ponda had no choice in the matter. “Is there something you need me to do, calling me out today?”

“If you’re asking about Lukar, I don’t know much. He might still have a mole, but I don’t know who it is. I haven’t heard him talk about it.”

He had also heard that another of Lance’s warehouses had been raided.

He thought Lance had called him to ask about this matter. He didn’t really want to get involved. His life with Lisa was very happy now, and he didn’t want to be disturbed.

Lance took out a string of keys and handed them over.

He looked at Lance, not quite understanding. Lance explained, “These are the keys to Lukar’s office, and his cabinets. Find a way to go over there and see if there’s anything of value.”

“This mole definitely couldn’t have left no record at all. He must have recorded it somewhere, maybe on a piece of paper, or in a file.”

“See if you can find it, and bring it out.”

Ponda looked at the keys in his hand in disbelief. “You stole them from him?”

“You guys are really crazy. He’ll go mad when he finds out his keys are missing.”

Lance didn’t speak, just looked at him in the car.

It was dark here, but his eyes were bright, reflecting the cold glint of the night.

Stared at by Lance’s eyes, Ponda gradually held his breath, his expression also becoming somewhat terrified.

“Don’t tell me…”

Lance cut him off. “You’ll find out. Right now your job is to bring out some suspicious things, or things I’m interested in.”

Senior agents all have their own independent offices, and not in the main hall. This means that as long as he sneaks in, no one will find out.

Although there was some risk, Ponda had a reason he couldn’t refuse.

He was silent, as if using silence to resist Lance’s request.

Lance put an arm around his shoulder and patted it. “We are friends. I won’t harm you, right?”

“Look, you’ve already earned merit several times. If I give you some more intelligence, is it possible for you to move up a little further?”

“Ponda, you’re not alone anymore. Think about you, think about Lisa. I hear she’s pregnant?”

At the mention of his wife, Ponda’s expression changed, becoming somewhat troubled, and even a little hateful. In the end, he let out a heavy sigh. “If they find me…”

“I will help you clear your name. If you really lose this job because of me, I will find you another respectable job.”

“Ponda, we are friends. A friend would not stand by and watch a friend’s life be unsatisfactory.”

Two minutes later, Ponda returned to the restaurant with a heavy heart. He quickly finished the rest of his food, then pushed the door and left.

He drove back to the Bureau of Hazardous Materials. The guard was not surprised by his return. There were also people on duty and working here at night.

And most of the bars only started business after dark, so there were also many people working here at night. The guard just glanced at him and then looked away, turning up the radio again. It was playing a vulgar story, which made his blood boil.

Lukar’s office was on the fourth floor. The offices of the others were mostly on the second and third floors. Ponda’s own desk was in the main hall on the third floor, with many other people.

He went directly up to the fourth floor via the stairs. The corridor was quiet.

Many of the ordinary administrative offices had already closed their doors. These offices did not require a night shift.

He found Lukar’s office and easily opened the door with the key in his hand.

The moment he entered, his anxious heart calmed down.

At the same time, he also became a little curious. What strange things were there in this senior agent’s office?

Prying into others’ privacy is an ineradicable evil in human nature. He sat in Lukar’s chair, leaned back, and Lance’s promise inadvertently appeared in his mind.

He also had a chance to become a senior agent, to have his own office. The people in the main hall would follow his orders and command.

Meanwhile, Lance’s convoy arrived at the community where Lukar lived. With a luxury sedan leading the way, and Lance showing his credentials, the guard quickly let them pass.

He adjusted his attire and looked at Elvin. “Do I look like an agent now?”

Elvin held back his laughter. “Very much so.”

In such hot weather, only these “people of status” would wear a full suit.

He walked to the outside of Lukar’s house and rang the doorbell.

“Coming!”

A cheerful voice came from inside. The door soon opened. The hostess’s smile immediately became a little wary. “I don’t know you. Who are you looking for?”

Lance showed Lukar’s badge and quickly put it away. He was wearing a soft felt hat.

The light from the dim yellow bulb above the main door was blocked by the hat. The light coming from inside the door could only illuminate his chin.

“I’m Lukar’s colleague. He asked me to come over and get a few things for him, in his study.”

The hostess was relieved to hear this. “He said he had no operations tonight.”

Although she couldn’t see Lance’s face, she could see the smile on the lower part of his face. “You know, emergency missions, always like this.”

The hostess suddenly realized it was not good to talk at the door. She quickly let Lance in. “How should I address you?”

“John, just call me John.”

She stood by the door. “Give me your hat and coat, I’ll hang them up for you.”

Lance shook his head. “No, I’ll be leaving soon, so I won’t do that.”

The hostess was very enthusiastic and polite. “Let me get you some water. Coffee or juice?”

“Really, no need. Thank you very much for your hospitality, but I have to leave soon…” he paused, “Could you lead me to the study?”

The hostess quickly nodded. “Of course, please come with me.”

As she walked, she asked, “I don’t want to pry into his business, I just want to know… when will you guys be finished?”

“Is there something urgent?”

The hostess’s face turned slightly red, but she didn’t say. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust this John.

For him to be trusted by Lukar and to be entrusted to come to the house to get things, he must be a very good friend.

It’s just that she hoped that the first person to know this news besides herself would be her husband, so she smiled.

Lance had already guessed something, but he didn’t say it out loud. “I will pass it on to him.”

The two came to a door. She pushed it open. “This is the study. If you need anything, just call me. I’ll be in the living room.”

“He doesn’t really like me entering his study, so I probably can’t be of much help.”

“It’s okay, I can do it myself.”

Lance entered the room. The moment he closed the door and turned around, he was suddenly taken aback, and then couldn’t help but laugh.

In Lukar’s study, there was a huge blackboard. Lance’s photo was pinned in the very middle, surrounded by photos and introductions of many other people, all connected by different colored strings.

The desk was also cluttered with some documents, most of which were reports about the Lance Family.

On the wall hung a map of Golden Port with many circles drawn on it, especially over the Empire District, where there were many markers. Among them, several of Lance’s warehouses had been circled.

He had been analyzing.

Lance casually picked up a document. It listed the locations of Lance’s bars that had been raided. Then, based on the confessions of some customers, he had obtained the interval time of the deliveries.

Then he used these interval times to deduce where the warehouses might be.

From the map, it looked like he had circled the right places, but in reality, the city was very large. A small circle here was a large area on the map.

Although the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had its own judicial office, it couldn’t give him unlimited approval for search warrants.

So even if he had a guess, in the end, it could only be a guess.

He noticed that these raided bars had different characteristics.

Some of the raided bars just had newspaper clippings pinned on them, but for the places where several bars had been raided, the pins were holding handwritten notes.

Seeing this, Lance had a guess. Perhaps the previous raids on the bars were not his own operation.

Only the subsequent raids on these few bars were from intelligence he had personally contacted the mole for and obtained.

He took these notes from the blackboard and put them in a manila envelope.

Then he turned around, searched roughly, and found no safe or similar things. He returned to the chair behind the desk.

The things in the drawer were a mess, of no great value. He quickly glanced through them and chose a few neatly written and messily written documents to put in the file bag.

These would be compared with those notes to confirm whether the notes were written by Lukar himself or by the mole.

After doing all this, and after a final sweep to make sure there were no problems, he opened the door again.

The hostess was walking towards him with coffee and was a little surprised to see him come out from inside. “I thought it would take a while. Would you like to try the coffee I made?”

It was hard to refuse such hospitality. Lance smiled and picked up the coffee, taking a sip. “Very delicious. That guy Lukar is really enviable.”

The hostess smiled happily. “You’re too kind.”

Lance took a couple more sips and put the coffee cup back. “Thank you for your hospitality, but I really have to go.”

She put down the plate and took the initiative to lead Lance outside. “I’ll get the door for you.”

Lance stood at the door, holding his hat in one hand. “Goodbye, ma’am.”

“Goodbye, Mr. John.”

She watched John get into the car before looking away.

It was strange, but she actually didn’t have a very deep impression of this Mr. John. She only knew that he was very polite and easy to talk to, but his appearance was blurry.

From the time he came in to the time he left, he had never taken off his hat.

What a strange person. Sitting in the car, Lance took off his hat and smoothed his hair. “To the Empire District sub-bureau.”

The driver quickly changed the route. The car quickly re-entered the flow of traffic and disappeared.

Twenty-something minutes later, Lance appeared in Sub-bureau Chief Bruce’s office. Interestingly, he was sitting in Sub-bureau Chief Bruce’s seat, while Sub-bureau Chief Bruce sat in the seat that should have been for a visitor.

“Are there any handwriting experts here?”

“The kind that can identify if the handwriting was written by the same person.”

Since more than thirty years ago, the Federation had already used handwriting trace evidence as valid court evidence. However, at that time, the development of this evidence identification was very slow, and there were not many people who could do the identification.

In fact, there are still not many now. The entire state of Likalai only has four handwriting identification experts, but luckily, Golden Port has one, who is a consultant for the city police department…

(End of chapter)

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