Empire of Shadows

The trilling of the telephone pulled Lance’s attention away from the newspaper in front of him and to the phone.

He walked over to the phone and picked it up. Melo’s voice came from inside, “Something very unexpected has happened, and I think I need to tell you.”

Lance ”hmm-ed” in acknowledgment. The sound of the television in the room quickly quieted down. Barbara, standing next to the TV, had turned its volume down to the minimum.

“It’s like this: just now, one of our couriers, while on his evening delivery route, killed his boss, then drove off with a sum of money and fled...”

Melo used concise language to finish explaining what happened, and finally mentioned his own arrangements and thoughts.

“There must be some circumstances in this that we aren’t clear about. I don’t know what they are. I’ve already sent people to chase him, and also sent people to investigate his residence to see if there are any clues.”

After Lance finished listening to his arrangements, he gave them some affirmation. “Your arrangements are very good, but I have a few things to add.”

“This matter is very strange; there are multiple strange things about it.”

“First, since he already made his move, why didn’t he also kill that... Little Ka ?”

“Why did he let him live to call you and tell you that someone betrayed the family, fled with the family’s money, and even killed a family member?”“This is a very obvious, unreasonable point. If I were this person, I would kill everyone who knew, and then drive off and flee.”

“At what time in the evening does the casino settle the day’s earnings?”

Melo said, “Nine-thirty.”

“Correct. Before nine-thirty, even if this sum of money didn’t arrive, they would just think there might have been a delay on the road. They wouldn’t even realize that a sum of money was missing.”

“From now until nine-thirty, he has at least two more hours to run. These two hours are enough for him to do many things.”

“But he just had to leave someone alive who could immediately call and notify us.”

“Second, our family’s benefits can be said to be the best among all gangs. If he really needed money, I believe that if he spoke to you, or to his superiors, it could have been resolved very well.”

“By the way, does this person gamble?”

Melo immediately found Little Ka and brought him over, posing Lance’s question to him. He immediately spoke into the receiver, “Based on my interactions with him over the past two months, he doesn’t gamble, nor does he hit on women. He just drinks a little alcohol occasionally. He is very self-disciplined, self-disciplined like a psycho!”

“Does he have any family?”

“No, I asked. He said he was an orphan, so I didn’t press further at the time. But from my contact with him, he really shouldn’t have any family.”

“He doesn’t have any incoming or outgoing mail, and he rarely makes calls out or anything. His apartment doesn’t even have a telephone!”

Lance ”hmm-ed.” “Looking at it now, things have become simpler. This must have been planned. He wants to attract our attention.”

“To be honest, that fellow Roland has been very quiet recently. He’s not like before, always chasing and biting at me. I’ve been wondering if he has shifted his attention to other areas.”

“It seems now that this is a planned attack, and the purpose might be to open a breakthrough point from the Golden Port City side.”

Lance paused after saying this. “You just sent people to chase after him in the direction he fled?”

Melo seemed to have realized something, and his speaking speed became a bit faster. “Yes, I’ve already sent people to chase. Should I call them back?”

Lance immediately gave him a negative answer. “No, no need. If Roland is the one pulling strings behind this, then it’s a perfect opportunity for us to use this chance to hit him hard.”

“If he’s not the one behind this, then it’s a perfect chance for us to see who, in Golden Port City , on our territory, is having bad intentions toward us.”

“Mobilize all the captains over in Golden Port City right now. Have them bring some heavy weapons and follow along to see.”

“If necessary... kill them all.”

“If it’s not necessary, find out who it is, detain the person, and wait until I get back to make further plans.”

After saying this, Lance put down the phone. What followed was for Melo to arrange.

At this moment, Barbara had already walked to Lance’s side, snuggling against his shoulder. “Did you run into trouble?”

Lance ”hmm-ed,” putting his arm around her waist. “Ran into a little trouble. An... old friend of mine, he probably thinks he’s found some loopholes and is trying to use them to launch an attack on me.”

“But it’s a pity, his plan most likely won’t work.”

“You sit for a while, I’m going to make a few calls.”

Lance had Barbara go back to the sofa and sit down, while he himself went directly back to the study.

He first called Senior Agent Supervisor Ford . This senior agent supervisor was clearly unaware of what was happening in Golden Port City and couldn’t provide any valuable information.

Then Lance called Derrick. As the director of the Golden Port branch, this guy Derrick definitely knew something.

At the very least, that mole must have some connection to him. Without the cooperation of this local bigwig, an outside agent couldn’t possibly integrate into the Lance Family .

The call was picked up quickly, after only one ring. Lance didn’t speak, and Derrick on the other end didn’t speak either. Both men remained silent.

And this silence was precisely what allowed Lance to conclude that this matter was related to Derrick, to Director Roland , and to the FBI.

After about ten seconds or so, Derrick’s voice finally came through the receiver. “This is Derrick, who is this?”

“It’s me, Lance. Lance White.”

Another silence. Perhaps Derrick himself never imagined that Lance would actually call him directly at this time.

For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond to Lance’s call and just froze there for almost another ten-plus seconds. “Is there... uh, I mean, are there any important instructions for calling so late?”

His laughter was a bit dry. He tried to use a joking manner to ease the atmosphere, but the effect wasn’t very good.

“Was it your people who did this?”

Lance didn’t beat around the bush with him and directly stated the question on his mind. “Was it someone you arranged, who killed my man, and have they already set a trap, waiting for my people to walk right into it?”

Hearing Lance say this, Derrick broke out in a cold sweat all over. In the time it took to say those two sentences, perhaps just a few seconds combined, his forehead was already covered in sweat!

The weather had already cooled down a bit, it was no longer so hot. At night, there was even a kind of autumnal, grim chill hidden in the wind.

When it blew on a person, it brought a bone-piercing cold!

But right now, he was sweating profusely.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about...”

“You do know!” Lance interrupted him before he could even finish his sentence. “The person you arranged, the matter you arranged.”

“Derrick, do you know?”

“I always thought you were a smart person, someone who could see the future, because you didn’t mess around recklessly in Golden Port City . This saved me, you, your department, and even the entire FBI a lot of trouble.”

“But looking at it now, you are not as smart as I imagined!”

“My man is dead. Although I don’t know that guy’s name, or what he looked like, or what he did, or if he had friends, family, or anything.”

“But I know that he’s dead. My man died. On my territory. Do you know how bad that is?”

Lance’s tone didn’t sound that agitated, his speech was just slightly fast. But this voice, which was neither like crashing waves nor a tsunami, put immense pressure on Derrick.

His breathing also became heavy. He knew very well what this meant. It meant they had detonated a powder keg on top of a volcano.

“I... I’ve always been against doing this, but you know, that’s Director Roland . I already fought against his request, but in the end, I still had to agree.”

“He is my superior. I can’t change these things. He can have someone replace me in my job anytime, anywhere!”

After Lance heard him say these words, his tone softened a little. Although it sounded as if there was no difference from before, but it could be felt.

“Tell me your plan, start to finish...”

Soon, after some thought, Derrick told Lance Director Roland’s plan from start to finish.

It wasn’t that he was betraying Director Roland ; it was that he needed to consider more things.

Lance’s man was dead. This wasn’t just a problem of a minor character dying; this was a problem of provoking the Lance Family’s prestige at the very core of the Lance Family’s territory!

They not only had to counterattack, but they had to counterattack cruelly and ruthlessly. Only in this way could they intimidate everyone, as well as those people who were stirring restlessly.

This was the same as how the conflict between the Perez Family and Lance originated from a small matter. They couldn’t allow someone to provoke them and then continue to live freely. This would cause them to receive more doubts and challenges.

Even for a powerful family, when people lose their sense of awe for you, many things will become different.

This is also why gangs are ”violent organizations.” The way they maintain their authority, maintain their status, is not through methods of benevolence, but by using violence, and they must use violence!

If Derrick didn’t explain this matter clearly, then soon all the agents in the entire Golden Port City , and even the entire Likalai state FBI, would be implicated.

Perhaps while they were investigating a very ordinary case, they would suddenly all be killed by a crazed suspect, and then the suspect would commit suicide with a gun.

Or for another example, perhaps their agent would be driving their car, having just left the bureau, only to be sent to God’s embrace by a large truck smashing into them head-on.

Once Lance decided to be ruthless, the entire Likalai state FBI couldn’t withstand his fury!

Derrick wasn’t thinking for himself; he was thinking for those young people who still held dreams. They shouldn’t die at this age; they should have a more distant future!

But he had no way to say these things to Director Roland . This was the most core problem and conflict between them.

Director Roland only wanted to grab leverage on Lance and then send him to the defendant’s stand. But Derrick wanted stable development. One was extremely aggressive, one was extremely conservative. The conflict of different ideas ultimately caused this scene.

As a friend personally promoted by Director Roland , he chose to proactively sell out Director Roland .

“Very good. You did a very correct thing. After I get back, we can meet.”

“Now, have your people fucking stay where they are supposed to be, instead of going to join the excitement. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee they’ll see tomorrow’s sun.”

Lance slammed down the phone with a ”Pa.” Afterward, he dialed the phone number Melo had left for him and explained the matter.

Furthermore, Lance also instructed him on some subsequent arrangements.

At the same time, the young man, completely unaware that his ”cards were already face up,” drove the vehicle straight along the interstate highway to a motel. He parked the car right under a streetlight in the motel parking lot.

It was as if he was afraid others wouldn’t see the car and its license plate, intentionally letting the streetlight’s glow fall completely upon it.

Subsequently, he arrived at the designated room. This was the location they had communicated beforehand.

The moment he pushed the door open, a gun was pressed against his back.

He slowly raised his hands, and then the lights in the room turned on.

A few people in plain clothes looked at him. Among them was one person he recognized, an FBI agent from the New Golden City side, from the same cohort as him.

“He’s one of us.” With this one sentence from his colleague, the guy behind the young man lowered his weapon.

“Do they know you came here?” a middle-aged man asked.

His colleague introduced him, “This is the supervisor of the FBI’s Operations Division 3, and he’s also in charge of this operation’s plan. You can answer his questions.”

The young man first shook hands friendly with the supervisor, then nodded and said, “I can guarantee they are already chasing me. I deliberately passed by a place where they have informants, and then parked the car under the streetlight.”

“They will definitely chase me all the way here. As long as they see this car, they will definitely know I’m here.”

“The receptionist at the front desk knows my room number, so they will be able to catch up in an hour at most!”

The supervisor nodded, very satisfied. “In a bit, we will disperse into the surrounding rooms. We’ve made some modifications to this room; two cameras are operating.”

“After they come in, don’t resist at first, but you must provoke them, make them say some things that can be used to incriminate them.”

“Then we will surround them, arrest them, and your work will be finished at that point.”

“Once we take them back to New Golden City , we have plenty of ways to dig out what we want from their mouths.”

“If the Lance Family is destroyed because of this someday, you will be the great hero!”

After the young man finished listening, he felt the blood in his body boiling. He pressed his lips together. “I’m not doing this for glory, or anything else. I just want to avenge my family!”

“No matter what it’s for, you have made an outstanding contribution to the fight against criminal activities!”

“If you don’t have any other questions, we’re going to leave here, to avoid them arriving early and discovering any clues.”

The young man naturally wouldn’t object. Subsequently, the supervisor went over a few more details, and the group of people left the room.

Lying on the spring mattress, the young man stared at the ceiling. Many images surfaced in his mind.

There was the news he received in college that both his parents had died horribly. There were also the events of him joining the FBI, seeking revenge, upon the recommendation of his father’s colleague, who was the police chief of New Golden City .

There were the difficult days during his training. After all, for a student to suddenly participate in militarized training, it was definitely a bit hard to endure.

But the most numerous memories were of his life experiences during this recent period: the days of being an undercover mole in the gang.

He didn’t know why, but at this moment, a feeling of guilt actually welled up from deep in his heart. He had killed that ”boss” who had been good to him.

This feeling of guilt was like a wildfire that had been ignited; it was impossible to extinguish. The more he wanted to put it out, the more fiercely it burned.

He found many reasons for his actions. For example, this guy was a gang member, he participated in crime, he was a person who destroyed social stability, and he might even have been one of the people who murdered his parents.

Or for another example, this guy would probably do more bad things in the future. He was a gang member, after all. Once he was needed to do certain things, he would unhesitatingly pick up a weapon and deal with those innocent people.

Just like how they had once dealt with his parents.

He found many reasons, but it was still very difficult to convince himself.

He went from lying on his back to finally curling up, as if only this could make him feel a little more comfortable.

Thirty-four minutes passed. Just as he was getting a little drowsy, the sound of a car engine from outside the window suddenly made him jolt, and his whole body became alert.

He walked to the window and looked through the curtains at the parking lot outside.

Four cars parked on the roadside. Someone got out of a car. That person came into the parking lot, stood behind his car for a moment, and even peered inside the car for a bit. Then, all four cars entered the motel.

They were here!

At this moment, the young man, who had always felt he wouldn’t feel fear, actually felt a tiny trace of fear.

His breathing and his heartbeat all began to accelerate, thump-thump, thump-thump.

He had heard many things about in-family executions and honor killings. The methods for dealing with traitors seemed to be a process that every family member had to experience when joining the family.

It was just like when joining a federal government law enforcement agency, one needed to declare that for the sake of order and social stability, they would work hard to combat evil.

When joining a gang, one also had to ”swear an oath,” an alternative kind of oath.

He watched these people until they disappeared inside the motel. He returned to the bedside, took his handgun out from under the pillow, checked it again, and then sat quietly.

In the darkness, everything in the room seemed a bit indistinct. There was only a pair of bright eyes, shining with spirit in the dark...