Empire of Shadows

Being able to get more information, then naturally, Mayor Williams also knew what was happening at this moment.

He looked a little dejected now and had already smoked three cigarettes in a row.

His private doctor had warned him that he could continue to smoke, but he absolutely could not smoke them back-to-back, and the number of cigarettes he smoked each day could not exceed seven.

Seven was a lucky number that people generally acknowledged. This number would bring people good luck, and similarly, smoking at most seven was also the same.

In fact, doctors know more clearly than ordinary people the harm that tobacco causes to the human body, but the public relations ability of the tobacco groups is too strong, and the presidents of some well-known tobacco companies will also smoke their own products in public.

The concept of “even the president is smoking, what are you, a poor person, afraid of” quickly became deeply rooted in people’s hearts, because everyone firmly believed in one point.

That is, the rich are more afraid of death than the poor.

No one would admit that there was a relationship between smoking and lung disease, in order to ensure the sales of tobacco.

In fact, even if they announced this result, those who smoked would still smoke. It’s just that they would face these problems in expanding into new customer groups, such as teenagers and women.

After the pleasure brought by the continuous intake of nicotine from tobacco, annoyance would breed.His body was telling him, that’s enough, stop!

He had only taken the first two puffs of this cigarette, and since then, he hadn’t touched it again.

He tilted his head and looked at Lance and his subordinates on the other side of the table discussing the “battle plan.” He had heard a rough idea.

They would find a way to first attract their attention, create some noise, and then have someone open that door.

If Arthur was not in the middle of the living room or somewhere similar, then the possibility of him surviving would be very high.

“But if he is in a place where it is easier to get to those people, the living room, or the bedroom where they are watching the fun, there is a high probability that he will become a hostage.”

Lance stated the result of this action plan very frankly. “Once Arthur is hijacked in a small environment and used as a shield, it will be very difficult for me to guarantee that in order not to hurt him, my men will not be passively shot at.”

He looked at Mayor Williams, his eyes a little sharp. “My suggestion is actually still the same. Force them out, and in the process of them moving, kill them, and then rescue Arthur.”

“At least the probability of Arthur surviving like this will be greater.”

Mayor Williams was in a daze for a while, and then he came back to his senses. This was indeed a bad situation. He shook his head. “We can still see now. When it’s really night, can you ensure that they can all be seen?”

This was indeed a problem. If the other party wanted to move, then it would definitely be in the middle of the night.

After the lights in the vicinity were all extinguished in the middle of the night, let alone whether the person who came out was Arthur, they would have a hard time telling if the thing that came out was even a person!

This was not the era with night vision goggles and thermal imaging as auxiliary tools. Even Mador’s group of soldiers, in such an environment with no light, would also have a hard time telling who was Arthur and who was not.

They were all dark shadows, and it was simply impossible to distinguish between the target and a non-target.

So from a certain perspective, to go in and kill now, on the contrary, had a greater chance of success than the other choice.

Unless they could come out at dawn, for example, now.

But this was obviously impossible. Even a fool would know to wait until it was completely dark before leaving.

“And, I don’t have that much time to deal with these things!”

He was talking about the riot in the old industrial district. He had only heard some general content and was not clear about the specific situation, but he understood that this was definitely a challenge in his political career!

He needed to concentrate on dealing with this challenge, whether it was to rescue Arthur and let him completely put his mind at ease, or Arthur accidentally had an accident and let him completely give up hope. In short, he could not be distracted by other things.

He needed a result, as soon as possible!

Lance saw the determination in his eyes and knew that there was no need to persuade him anymore. He nodded and glanced at Hiram and Elvin. “Do as we planned. Let Mador’s men go first. We don’t need any survivors.”

The two of them glanced at Mayor Williams again. Seeing him throw away the cigarette that had burned down to the butt and take out another one, the two of them left.

He was using this method to take a stand. He would wait for news here, instead of interfering with anything.

The two of them left here. They probably needed ten minutes to prepare. The sky was already starting to get dark, but there were lights in the room, so it was not a big problem.

“How are you going to handle the matter over there?”

Lance’s men had brought some not-so-detailed news. Mayor Williams had the cigarette in his mouth, but he did not immediately answer Lance’s question. He took out a silver lighter and lit the cigarette in his mouth, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled.

His body was protesting against him. Even the experience of smoking was getting worse, but the intake of nicotine made him greedy.

At this moment, in dealing with the matter of smoking, his desire and instinct were in conflict.

But none of this could be changed. What determined his behavior was his reason.

He put away the lighter and sighed. “It’s a bit difficult. I don’t know the specific situation, and I don’t know how many people have died.”

“I hope James is not too timid. What is needed at this time is courage and spirit. He should have these virtues.”

He paused for a moment. “I might still need your help with this matter later.”

Lance did not refuse. Now the interests of the two sides were the same. “No problem. This matter may not be a bad thing for you.”

Mayor Williams looked at him. Lance said unhurriedly, “The people of the Federation are more dissatisfied with them than with the immigrant group. Many places have had demonstrations and protests against the entry of refugees.”

“You can use these things. As the mayor, you can appeal to get these refugees out of our homes and not let them defile the environment here.”

“This may put some extremist hats on you, but it will also bring you a certain degree of group prestige.”

Mayor Williams had not considered this line of thought before. On the one hand, he was old, and sometimes his mind moved a little slower on things he had not experienced before.

On the other hand, his main thought was still on how to “resolve” the possible impact of this matter on him.

The essence of politics is transaction and compromise.

There was definitely no basis for a transaction and compromise with Charles’s side, so he could only think of seeking opportunities for a transaction and compromise in other directions.

But these words from Lance gave him some new inspiration. Since they wanted to make a big move, why didn’t he make an even bigger one?

He looked at Lance with glowing eyes. At this moment, he had an impulse to have a daughter, and then let that daughter have a child with Lance’s blood.

Such an excellent bloodline should be integrated into the genes of the Williams family!

He temporarily put this matter in his heart. After the matter at hand was dealt with, he would definitely have to see if there were any suitable women in the family.

He even, for a moment, thought of his wife, but it was a pity that although his wife also had the surname “Williams,” she did not have the bloodline of their family. It was a pity.

Skipping this matter, he began to think about the feasibility of Lance’s proposal. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was something to it.

Compared to the Liberal Party’s “indifferent development,” the Socialist Party was obviously more purposeful and relatively more conservative on the issues of race and immigration.

Anyway, he did not plan to leave Golden Port City in this life, and he also had no chance to leave.

By the time his term ended, he would already be in his seventies. What could he do in his seventies?

Could he go and be president?

If he could hold on until then.

So for him, “extreme conservatism” might make his political path narrower. Now everyone was talking about being on good terms with both sides, but for him, this was not a problem.

After serving two terms as mayor, he could retire.

So to take this opportunity to label himself, and to get through this crisis, what his own stance was, was not important to him at all.

On the contrary, doing so might bring some better changes!

“You’ve given me a very good line of thought, but there might be some trouble in this. I have to be more extreme.”

He did not say how to be more extreme, but Lance understood what he meant.

If you ask a farmer what extreme conservatism towards people of high-contrast skin color is, he will definitely tell you that it is to stick a shotgun into that idiot’s asshole and then pull the trigger!

Lance considered for a moment. “It’s better for Bruce and Duke to do this than for me.”

“A gang is a gang. It should be pure, and it shouldn’t have such a clear stance and camp.”

“But I can secretly give you some help, on account of our friendship.”

When Mayor Williams heard this, a smile also appeared on his face. This crisis seemed to be a crisis, but it was actually also an opportunity.

Then, the thing that worried him was whether that damn fool Arthur could see tomorrow’s sun.

At this moment, a car suddenly lost control and crashed into another car, and stopped on the sidewalk.

Richie in the room was first attracted by the sound of the car hitting the wall. He walked to a room and saw two people arguing about ten meters away through the window.

He immediately frowned.

The two people were pointing at each other and cursing. It’s unknown if some kind-hearted bastard had called the police. A siren was already wailing in the distance.

Now, in their situation, the thing they were most afraid of was a police officer coming over to check on the situation.

What if they thought they were suspicious and wanted to come in and have a look? It might be troublesome.

He did not turn off the lights and just stood behind the window, staring. The others were also watching the excitement. What they didn’t notice was that at this time, a few young men had already come to the outside of their house from the back of the alley.

The locksmith took out the fast lock-picking tool that Lance had drawn for him and that he had personally made, and inserted it into the keyhole.

Now, almost all of them here were pin tumbler locks. There were also some very old buildings that used that kind of block lock, but the number was not large.

This house used all pin tumbler locks. For a locksmith, this was no different from having no lock.

He first listened outside the door for a while, confirmed that there was no one behind the door, and then used his hand to press down on the spring and push it back and forth a few times with force. The whole process took less than two seconds, and then with a forceful twist, the door opened.

He withdrew the lock-picking tool and then left. He was not a combatant. His job was to, in the shortest possible time, open the lock that Lance had asked him to open.

The work was easy, the income was high, he had a detached house to live in, and most of the time he was studying those newly released locks. He loved this job now.

Outside the door, Mador’s men looked at each other. They had thought that it would take a while to open this lock, but in fact, it had only taken two seconds.

This made them feel a little chill down their spines.

If in the middle of a deep sleep, this kind of person silently picked the lock of their door…

The thought of it made them feel a shiver. Fortunately, this guy was on their side. Otherwise, they would have had to get rid of him sooner or later!

Mador was personally in charge of this operation. He once again confirmed the policy of this operation with his eyes, and then turned the doorknob.

There was no one behind the room. They walked inside with light steps. Just as they entered the living room, the guy who was eating in the living room looked at these armed guys with a dazed expression.

It was as if… he completely didn’t understand what was happening now.

The time the two sides looked at each other lasted less than a second. Mador directly opened fire.

The gunshot alerted Richie in the room. He drew his handgun and fired at the wooden door.

In fact, he couldn’t hit the people outside at all. He couldn’t see, so naturally he couldn’t shoot accurately. But it also made the people in the living room hide.

The sudden burst of gunshots made the people watching the excitement on the street scream and flee. In the Triangle District, they had an almost instinctive allergic reaction to gunshots!

Mayor Williams, in the cafe not far away, also trembled. The cigarette ash fell on the table. There was also a coffee pot, a coffee cup, and some pastries here.

He looked very shocked, and even said “I’m sorry” and had the waiter change all these things.

But it still couldn’t let people see through his nervousness and unease at this time.

He kept flicking his cigarette ash, flicking it once, and then flicking it again, taking a puff of his cigarette, and then flicking it again, using this method to cover up and relieve his inner tension.

Lance did not disturb him, but remained quiet. Now they both needed to be calm.

Once the firefight began, many things would get out of control. Mador, panting slightly, shouted, “Arthur, where are you?”

Arthur in the basement suddenly raised his head and looked towards the stairs, tears instantly streaming down his face.

He had never been so excited!

“I’m here, I’m here!”

Richie’s decision to hide Arthur in the basement, because no one would hide someone in a place that could be seen as soon as you opened the door, now made his heart fill with regret.

“Let’s go, it’s too late if we don’t go now…” Since it had already reached this point and could not be undone, then he would not be indecisive and would leave immediately.

He had a subordinate open the window. This was the first floor. You wouldn’t die from jumping out of the window. But just as his subordinate was about to climb out of the window, gunshots also rang out from outside.

His subordinate fell outside the window with a thud. For a moment, the room fell into silence.

They were surrounded.

Mador’s men quickly found the entrance to the basement. He used his military boots to step on the floor back and forth. Soon, under the carpet, he found the entrance to the basement.

He pulled open the basement door and heard Arthur’s voice from inside, thanking God.

“Is there anyone else inside?” Mador did not go down immediately, but first asked, and at the same time took out a small mirror and shone it down.

Arthur quickly replied, “No one. I swear, they were all attracted by the sound of the crash just now…”

Mador had his men keep firing while he led them down to the basement. In the cage in the corner, they found Arthur.

He was in a very sorry state now, because for the past two days, he had been living with his own feces!

Richie and his men had not given him a chance to come out to defecate. He could only do it in the cage, and what was worse was that the cage itself was not very large.

When he fell asleep at night, he had accidentally pressed on it, so that he now smelled of shit all over!

He kept thanking, thanking this, thanking that.

Richie in the room, perhaps knowing that there was no longer any possibility of escaping, his expression suddenly became resolute!

“It’s time to return to the embrace of God, my lambs!”

The subordinates who still had some fear on their faces suddenly became calm after hearing what he said. Although their eyes were still a little flustered, they were no longer as panicked as before.

“The devil is outside the door. Defeating them is the time to spread the gospel and glory of God!”

Those people mustered up their courage and rushed out without fear of life and death, and then they were riddled with bullets. When it was his turn, he threw out his handgun, shouted “I surrender,” and then also stretched out his hands.

Two minutes later, Mayor Williams looked at Arthur, who was running over under the cover of Mador and the others, and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

But then a “good-for-nothing” was cursed out!

As he spoke, he stood up and took off his belt, with a murderous look on his face.

“Do I need to step aside?” Lance asked.

Mayor Williams shook his head. “No need. I’ll be done soon.”

Arthur, who had spent two days in fear and unease, saw his father again. Before he had time to hug his old father, the belt in Mayor Williams’s hand had already whipped his head!

With a smack, it was extremely loud!

With Arthur’s painful screams, Mayor Williams used the belt in his hand to vent his negative emotions from the past two days!

After a long while, he finally stopped, panting heavily. “Go and change out of those shit-stained clothes. You make me sick, you know?”

He fastened his belt, straightened his clothes, and then came to Lance’s side and made a gesture of needing a hug.

Lance took the opportunity to stand up and hugged him. The old man patted his back. “Thanks to you, Lance.”

“As long as the Williams family is in Golden Port City for a day, we will always be close comrades-in-arms!”

(End of a Chapter)