Empire of Shadows

The gunshots had completely ended. In the three cars that had crashed into the side of the road because their drivers had been killed, there was complete silence.

The entire street was quiet, as if nothing had happened just now, leaving only the smell of gunpowder lingering in the air.

After observing for a while, the police on the perimeter, confirming that the firefight had ended and that one side had either been killed or had fled, began to slowly advance inward.

Everyone was very nervous. Being a police officer was a very dangerous job, and its danger was mainly reflected in dealing with matters related to gangs!

Lance came out of the phone booth at this time. He lit a cigarette, tilted his head back slightly, and looked at the narrow sky between the tall buildings, slowly exhaling a breath.

This was not his turf, and it was already a bit too late to call the police chief now.

The police encirclement was getting smaller and smaller. They had already seen the people standing on the side of the road. Someone immediately shouted, “New Golden City Police, drop your weapons!”

Compared to some people’s eagerness, Lance gave the others a look, and then he slowly raised one of his hands. “I’m putting down my weapon now!”

Then he slowly bent down and placed the weapon in his other hand on the ground.

The whole process was very slow, and the muzzle of the gun was always pointing down, ensuring that it would not cause any misunderstanding.The others also did the same, and a row of weapons was placed on the ground.

Seeing this scene, the police in the encirclement breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was safe today.

To be honest, although the public security in New Golden City was also very bad, this kind of vicious, in-the-city-center shooting had almost never happened.

There were too many big shots here!

They would allow gangs to exist, and even allow gangs to have firefights, but those were all conditional.

In certain areas, no gangs were allowed. In certain places, no gangs were allowed to appear during the day. Firefights had to be in designated places, and firefights were absolutely not allowed in the city center!

This also led to the fact that the work of the police in New Golden City was actually very easy. Their opponents were mainly those petty thefts, burglaries, and muggings.

Many times they didn’t have to face those gangs who had better weapons than them, and then fight desperately with revolvers and submachine guns. People in other places all envied the police in New Golden City. It was very safe here.

More and more police officers gathered around. After a portion of them had approached Lance and his group, a few of the bolder ones had already come to Lance’s side.

Their movements were also very careful. They picked up the weapons on the ground and then handed them to the person behind them. In this way, the weapons of Lance and his group were completely disarmed.

Seeing that there was no more danger, the police came over with handcuffs.

Lance stood in the first place. One of the police officers walked behind him and reached for his wrist.

Lance tilted his head and looked at him. “If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.”

The police officer didn’t react at first, but then he realized what Lance was saying. He hesitated a little. New Golden City did indeed have many big shots living here. Maybe the one in front of him was a big shot?

He couldn’t take the risk.

Lance continued, “You see, we have already shown that we have no intention of being your enemy, and I believe that these matters will be resolved soon. There is no need to put handcuffs on me. Doing so is not smart. Don’t you think so?”

He gestured with his chin at the distance. The police officer looked back and saw that there were many reporters taking pictures in the distance.

This might be the first firefight in the city center of New Golden City in twenty or thirty years. Look at the submachine guns on the ground, look at the cars that were riddled with bullet holes, look at the mangled people inside!

The reporters were already so excited that they were about to burst out—of course, with sweat!

They excitedly wiped the sweat from their foreheads and kept pressing the shutter of their cameras.

While the police officer was thinking, another police officer came over. “Why don’t you put handcuffs on him?”

The police officer repeated what Lance had just said. He looked at Lance, and Lance also looked at him. The two looked at each other calmly.

Just at this moment, a police officer ran over. “Their car has been found. It has a Golden Port City license plate.”

“Out-of-towners?”

The police officer grinned, showing his teeth. He personally walked behind Lance, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it down.

The feeling of having your joint locked was very uncomfortable. If you had to resist, it would be easy to dislocate or even fracture it.

He was twisted and leaned forward slightly. The person behind him twisted his arm and pushed him forward. He bumped into a car on the side of the road.

Then he was handcuffed, and then the other hand. The guy behind him was very rough. He seemed to be doing it on purpose.

Being handcuffed behind the back was not comfortable. Compared to being cuffed in the front, being cuffed behind the back made one look more like a criminal.

The constantly flashing lights of the reporters made Lance sigh softly. He thought that soon, the people on the Golden Port City side would see these reports, and there might even be some waves.

He did not resist, nor did he say things like “I know so-and-so.”

This was New Golden City. Senator Cleveland was not without political enemies. He also had enemies in politics. This meant that saying or doing something rashly would turn him into a bargaining chip.

Moreover, public safety is a very sensitive area. Even senators and the president are unwilling to publicly intervene in the affairs of this area.

You can do it. For example, you can ask them to release some people directly, or you can ask them to directly arrest some people who have not committed a crime. you can ask them to do many things that violate their professional ethics.

But, you can’t ask them to do so in front of the public!

No one can joke about public safety. Even the president would not do so, unless he was extremely stupid!

There is a high probability that they will have the police arrest people and even sentence them, and then pardon them.

It may seem a bit incomprehensible to do so. If you are going to pardon them in the end, why not prevent them from being arrested in the first place?

The reason is very simple.

A pardon is the president’s own business. It can be said to be a moral issue of his.

But if you don’t let the police arrest those who may have committed a crime or are committing a crime, then it is not just a moral issue, but also a violation of the law!

What Lance had to do now was to wait for Tom to come and get him.

The group was pushed into the police car with some roughness. To be honest, this was the first time since Lance had come to this world that he had been arrested by the police very formally and unexpectedly.

This was actually a very interesting experience.

The police car was a bit crowded. There were many of them. A police officer was tapping the wire mesh with his baton and said loudly, “No communication, no small movements. You don’t want to know the consequences!”

Hiram looked at the police officer with a somewhat contemptuous expression. The police officer was angered by his gaze. He pointed at Hiram with his baton. “What the fuck are you looking at?”

Hiram grinned and showed a smile. “Nothing, officer.”

He was not that stupid. He knew that he would be beaten, but he still had to get a beating. This could not prove that he was very brave.

The police officer stared at him fiercely. “You’d better be careful!”

This was not too far from the police station in the city center. Not long after, they were taken to the police station. Lance was locked in a separate interrogation room.

The two police officers were very rude. After Lance was brought into the room by them, he was immediately twisted to face the wall and stand.

One of them kicked the back of Lance’s knees with his foot. “Spread your legs.”

He wasn’t worried that these people were going to attack him. After all, he was still wearing his pants. They should be wanting to get some benefits.

Lance remembered the faces of the two, slowly turned to face the wall, and soon he felt four hands fumbling in his pockets.

When they took out Lance’s wallet, they couldn’t help but whistle.

Inside were all twenty-dollar bills, about seven or eight hundred dollars.

The two police officers looked at each other, a look of pleasant surprise in each other’s eyes!

A firefight in the street. Even if they had a reason, this was not a simple matter.

Not to mention that they were also from out of town. If they were lucky, these people would have to be locked up for two or three years.

If they were unlucky, they might have to be locked up for even longer, because someone had died at the scene. This was a major case!

The parties involved in this kind of case were basically not coming out in a short period of time. So they were used to taking the banknotes from the parties involved in this kind of case and putting them in their own pockets, just as they were doing now.

The two of them, almost in front of Lance, took out the money from his wallet, and then roughly divided it into two parts. Each took a stack and put it in his pocket.

The gold watch and the ruby ring were also worth a few hundred dollars. They couldn’t tell the quality of these things, but regardless of whether they were good or bad, they were put into their pockets.

After taking all the money from Lance, they grabbed Lance’s arm, took him to the side of a chair, and pressed his shoulders to make him sit on the chair.

Only then did the two of them begin to get back to their normal work.

“What is your name?”

“Lance, Lance White.”

A police officer turned his head and said to the police officer next to him in a low voice, “I seem to have heard this name somewhere before.”

The police officer was stunned for a moment and then asked, “What is your job?”

“Running a company.”

The two police officers looked at each other. They didn’t really believe this.

Which capitalist would personally have a firefight with others on the street, and with such fierce firepower?

The two of them had already assumed that Lance was the leader or a chieftain of a gang. One of them slammed the table hard. “You’re lying!”

“Tell me, why did you have a firefight today?”

Lance tilted his head slightly. “We were shopping in the mall, and then we were attacked as soon as we came out. We fought back passively.”

A police officer shook his head. “You have a habit of lying, Lance.”

“You had a planned firefight. Your firepower was very fierce, all submachine guns, and almost everyone had a handgun.”

“Have you seen those three cars?”

“You shot at least a few hundred bullets into them. You had been planning it for a long time!”

“Don’t try to deceive us. Your little tricks can’t hide from us at all.”

“If you don’t want to suffer, you’d better say something we’re interested in!”

“Otherwise, I don’t mind letting you feel the enthusiasm of the New Golden City police!”

Lance looked at the two bastards who were about to make a move. He was silent for a moment. “I know your chief.”

One of the police officers couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Everyone who comes in says that!”

He even said with a laugh, “I even know the president!”

“Alright, say something we’re interested in. Who was the other party? Why did you have a firefight?”

Regarding what Lance had said that he knew the chief, the two police officers didn’t take it to heart at all.

A group of people from out of town could know the chief?

At the same time, Tom had already parked his car in the yard of the police station. After Lance had made the phone call, he had already rushed to the city from the suburbs, but the city’s traffic was very congested, and he had been delayed for some time on the road.

After he got out of the car, he ran up the steps at the entrance of the police station and almost bumped into a police officer.

He rushed to the outside of the chief’s office as fast as he could. Just as he was about to knock, the little secretary stopped him.

“The chief is meeting with a guest, sir. Please wait a moment.”

The secretary at the door reminded Tom, “You can sit there for a while. I can get you a cup of coffee or black tea?”

“It should be over soon!”

Tom’s gaze shifted to the little secretary. “Is it a big shot?”

The little secretary pursed her lips, with a hint of apology. “I’m sorry, I don’t know either.”

Although she said she “didn’t know,” from the expression she showed, she knew, but just couldn’t say.

After all, how could a secretary betray her boss? Unless she didn’t want to do this anymore!

His gaze stayed on the little secretary for about a few seconds, and then he said, “I’m from Congress. There is a very important matter that I need to see the chief about immediately.”

“Will you go and tell him, or should I just barge in now?”

The little secretary was a little hesitant. The word “Congress” was too heavy in her mind, and also too much pressure!

After considering for a moment, in the end, she still picked up the phone, and while carefully looking at Tom, she held the phone with both hands and said in a low voice, “There is a gentleman who says he is from Congress… yes, right here with me. He says he wants to see you now…”

“Okay, I see!”

The little secretary stood up and came to the side to push open another door. This was another reception room. “The chief will be here shortly!”

Tom waited for about a minute or two, and only then did the chief push open the door and come in with an expressionless face.

He was stunned for a moment when he saw Tom. They had dealt with each other before, but they were not familiar.

Senator Cleveland and the New Golden City Police Department did not have much to do with each other. They had dealt with each other on some social occasions.

“Mr. Tom?” the chief confirmed, and then walked to Tom’s side and shook his hand. Tom, as one of Senator Cleveland’s aides, in a certain sense, also represented the senator himself.

The chief was just a chief. Even though New Golden City was also considered the core of the entire Federation, he was ultimately just a chief.

A senator only needed to pay some price, and he could easily have him replaced, so he was very polite.

“Mr. Chief, I’m sorry for not saying hello in advance. When I called before, your side indicated that you were on a call.”

The chief nodded repeatedly. “Yes, I’ve been keeping a close eye on a few cases today. I’ve been reporting on my work.”

A girl had died, pregnant. The on-site investigation result was that the girl had accidentally fallen from the balcony.

The police department had arranged for a rookie who had just started to investigate this case, and as the chief himself had thought, no result had been found.

In fact, this girl was pregnant with a big shot’s child. She had wanted to use this child as a means to threaten the big shot.

Then she had accidentally fallen from the building.

In fact… every year, the chief could handle, or hear of similar things in other places.

These girls had obviously watched too many movies and TV shows. They thought that with a “bastard child,” they could make those big shots helpless.

They would never know that for those big shots, besides themselves, everyone had to make way for their political career.

Let alone a bastard illegitimate child from a single night of pleasure, even a legitimate son born in wedlock, when necessary, they would also be sacrificed without hesitation.

Besides themselves, everyone and everything else were just bargaining chips.

An intermediary had called to ask about some details of this case, and had also recorded the information and files of the case handlers. If any problems arose in the future, it would be easy to trace where the problem came from.

Of course, he would not explain to Tom.

Tom also had no intention of digging into this matter. He nodded slightly. “There’s something I need to ask you for a favor. Some of the senator’s friends were arrested by your men today.”

The chief’s scalp tingled slightly. He always ran into similar things, either a big shot wanted to silence someone, or he had accidentally arrested a big shot’s friend or something.

Who could understand that he was only in his early forties and was already starting to lose his hair due to pressure?

He gave a bitter smile. “I’ll look into it.”

Seven or eight minutes later, they appeared outside Lance’s interrogation room.

The chief’s expression was a little grave. He hesitated for a moment. He had wanted to have Tom wait in the reception room and he would bring the person over, but Tom had insisted on coming along.

He knew the situation inside the police station better than the people outside. For him, in fact, many times, the so-called “police” were just licensed gangsters.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t capable, nor that he didn’t want to change. It was just that this was a characteristic of this era. It wasn’t something anyone could change.

He had made some mental preparations, and then turned the doorknob.

There were no screams, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. I hope these bastards don’t mess around.

The moment the door opened, he saw someone choking Lance by the neck, and another guy had already taken off his coat and rolled up his sleeves, as if he were about to give Lance a couple of blows.

The police officer with his back to the door heard the door open and was a little angry. “Who let you in?”

But after he saw the look of shock on his companion’s face, he also belatedly let go of his arm, and then looked back.

Tom immediately pushed the chief aside and walked over. Seeing that Lance had not been tortured, at least he didn’t look like he was in big trouble, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Sorry, I’m late.”

Lance shook his head slightly. “You came at just the right time!”

(End of a Chapter)