Shadow Empire

Chapter 525: Tick-Tick and the Destroyed Bridge

The ticking second hand keeps running in circles. No matter how many circles it runs or how long it runs, it can never escape this barrier.

Day after day, year after year.

Whenever you look up at it, it is moving. If you want to say who is the most hardworking person in this office, it must be those large and small second hands.

Although Nate knew this and knew that the second hand would not disappear just because he didn't look at it, he still couldn't help but look up again.

It had been less than five minutes since he looked up.

What he was actually looking at was not the second hand, but the time.

It's already eleven o'clock.

His gaze returned to the gate of the police station outside the window. He had been standing here for some time.

That's the benefit of getting a promotion.

Those low-level police officers still have to work, but he can allocate his time at will.

He lit a cigarette and took a puff. There were already quite a few cigarette butts at his feet. He instinctively didn't want to smoke, but every once in a while, he couldn't help but take out a cigarette.

He finished the cigarette without noticing, and the physical disgust and aversion made him realize that he should not smoke anymore.

He crushed the cigarette butt with his toes to make sure it was out, then looked up at the clock.

The second hand was still ticking and only a few minutes had passed. He turned his head and looked at the door of the police station again as if he was trapped in a cycle. His hand subconsciously reached for the cigarette box in his pocket.

But this time, he really didn't inhale again, because there was no more.

Just when he was about to change places, three cars drove in from outside. He was stunned at first, thinking they were Hunter's cars, but then he found out that they were not Hunter's cars.

Who is that?
This question did not last long. After several bodyguards who looked very elite got out of the car, Charlie got out of the car.

He walked into the lobby on the first floor with a serious expression, and Nate vaguely felt that something had happened.

He took a deep breath and carefully recalled whether there were any loopholes on his side. After confirming that there were no loopholes, he returned to the office.

About ten minutes later, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." He sat behind his desk and pretended to be working, but in fact he was thinking about random things in his mind.

The person outside the door poked his head in, "Nate, Charlie wants you to come over for a moment."

Nate nodded, put down the documents in his hand, sorted them out, and placed them on the table. He patted his clothes and followed the man towards Hunter's office.

Charlie has been the chief of the Golden Harbor City Police Department for nearly thirty years. Strictly speaking, all the police officers here are his old subordinates, including Nate.

They are all old colleagues.

Arriving outside Hunter's office, the person who brought him knocked on the door, "Nate is here, Congressman Charlie."

"Please come in."

Charlie's voice came out, the door was pushed open, and Nate entered the office.

"Chief." Nate addressed Charlie by his old name. Charlie was stunned for a moment, then smiled and motioned for him to sit down.

"The current director is Hunter, not me." He paused, "We have been very busy during this period. How is the work going?"

Nate nodded repeatedly, "It's OK, not much different from the past."

The small talk ended there. "Do you know where Hunter went?"

Nate shook his head. "I don't know."

Charlie kept staring into his eyes, because Hunter had mentioned this matter in their previous conversation - Hunter suspected that Nate was Lance's man, and also used this method to tell Charlie why he had to go there in person.

The police station is full of Lance's people, and he doesn't trust others that much.

No one knows how deeply Lance has infiltrated the police force, but whether it is Blue or Duke, they both joined the police force after graduating from the police academy.

These guys who came in through the process are now almost all middle-level members of the police force. They have "alumni" and "classmate" relationships with each other. In the federation, the relationship between alumni and classmates is stronger than that between cousins!

You beg your brother to try and see if he can let you work in the company he works for, and he will tell you to stop having such wild ideas.

But if you ask your classmates, your alumni, they will tell you that they will give it a try.

The interpersonal relationships in the Federation are complex, but they are also simple.

With two "nails", maybe Lance will be able to penetrate deeper, who knows?
Hunter said Nate was Lance's man, so he could only believe it for the time being.

He didn't see any of the emotional changes in Nate's eyes when he was lying, so either he was telling the truth or he was a very good actor.

But no matter which one it was, Charlie was too lazy to distinguish it.

It has been nearly four hours and Hunter has not sent any message back. He said he would call me as soon as possible, but so many hours have passed.

Even if he went to Venus City or other surrounding cities, he should have arrived early. Charlie had to think about the worst, whether he was in trouble or something else.

Now that it seemed that he could not get any useful clues from Nate, he raised his request, "I want to see the suspect you are interrogating."

Nate hesitated, "Hunter said no one can see him until he comes back."

Charlie tapped the table with his hands twice, "Am I included in this?"

The tone was a little harsh. Charlie himself couldn't contact Hunter, and Hunter didn't call him as promised, which made him feel a little uneasy.

If Hunter was really killed by Lance, it would be a huge trouble for the current situation.

Nate brought Charlie into the room. When the young man saw a strange old man appear here, he vaguely knew what had happened.

Hunter should be dead.

He tilted his head slightly and looked at the old man lazily without saying a word.

Charlie glanced at Nate and motioned for him to leave.

In addition to Charlie, there were his two bodyguards and confidants in the room.

Charlie is also considered an old policeman. Although he has been doing administrative management for the past twenty years, he did work seriously during the period before that.

If he didn't have outstanding abilities, he wouldn't have been noticed by the big guys in the Bay Area.

There are too many people in this city who are willing to curry favor with the Bay Area masters. They won’t accept everyone. Only those who are capable and smart enough can catch their eyes, such as Charlie.

"I don't know what Lance promised you. Maybe he told you that you would have a single room in there and someone would take care of you. Going to jail would be like staying in a hotel."

"But what I want to tell you is that I have many ways to make you disappear in there."

"Now, use your brain and think about it, then tell me where Hunter went!"

"You have time for a cigarette!"

Charlie took out a cigarette and put it in the young man's mouth, then took out a lighter.

With a crackling sound, the flint was chipped away by the jerking rotation of the fire wheel and turned into sparks in the air.

Some sparks fell on the fuse that was soaked with kerosene, and the flame started in an instant.

Ennio closed his lighter and went to the telephone booth outside the motel.

They were on their way back and were not expected to arrive in Jingang City until tonight. They were in a hurry to get out of the capital after midnight yesterday and did not stop for long, but went straight to the interstate highway.

There was wilderness on both sides of the interstate, and there were no telephone booths or anything like that.

It was almost noon when they found a motel on the side of the road. It not only provided hotel services, with blowjobs for five dollars and full services for ten dollars, but also food, water and a telephone booth.

The cost of having fun in a motel is higher because it is more remote and things are more expensive.

If you don't care whether the ventriloquist is a man or a woman, then you may be able to get a free trick, but if you do care, then you will have to pay more than in the city.

While everyone else was eating, Ennio took the time to make a phone call and explain the situation.

The phone rang several times before it was picked up, and Lance's voice came from the other end, "What's going on?"

"It's me, Ennio, I found them."

Enio took a puff of his cigarette and turned to look at the roadside. There was a car on the roadside. The mother and son were tied up and locked in the car. There was someone in the car watching them. He didn't take them to the motel because he didn't want them to shout for help and cause unnecessary trouble.

Interstate highway police are a real pain in the ass. Once they've got you, it's hard to shake them off.

Ennio didn't want to get into trouble, so he would rather get into a little trouble himself than get into big trouble.

"They are with us now. We are probably in... this place. We will be able to return to the city around ten o'clock tonight."

Lance praised him and their efforts, "Did the journey go smoothly?"

"Fortunately, we moved quickly and didn't make any big noise. So far, no police cars have chased us, so we should be safe."

"We keep changing drivers, which can save some time and maybe get to Jingang City earlier."

Hearing this, Lance said, "There's no need to rush. Hunter has gone to see God. They are of no use. Just get rid of them."

"Please be careful and I'll treat you to barbecue when you come back."

Ennio was a little surprised, "He has gone to see God?"

"When did this happen?"

Lance glanced at his watch, "Two hours ago."

Ennio didn't complain. Instead, he was surprised that Hunter was dealt with so smoothly. "Did he fall for it?"

"Yes, I was fooled and then blown into pieces. I hope God can recognize who he is when he sees him!"

"Ha ha……"

After a few more words, Ennio hung up the phone and walked out of the phone booth with his cigarette holder in his mouth.

The weather has become much warmer, and the strong sun feels warm on people, but it is a little dazzling.

The weather along this stretch was sunny and the light reflected from the wilderness forced one to squint. He returned to the restaurant and sat at his seat.

Lunch consists of hamburgers, potato chips and steak. They all come from poor backgrounds and are not particular about anything. Filling their stomachs is the most important thing.

Several people finished their food quickly. Another person asked for three portions to take away, but Ennio stopped him and said, "One portion is enough."

The others looked at him and said nothing more.

The food is expensive, almost twice as expensive as in the city, but don't complain, this is a motel restaurant, you can get what you pay for.

Of course, it may also be related to the fact that they are driving a car. If they are driving a large truck, the price will be much cheaper.

After paying the money, Enio bit his toothpick and led people back to the car. The car started again and stopped again after driving about four or five kilometers.

Ennio opened the car door and walked to the side of the road. He took out a cigarette and lit it.

He stood beside the front of the car for a while before he looked back at the mother and son in the car and reached out to press down the hat on his head.

The sudden sound of gunfire caused two deer resting under the shade of a tree to suddenly stand up and run away. Some small animals also hid themselves in places where they could not be easily found. They did not poke their heads out again until a while later.

They actually don't know what that sound is, but they have an instinctive fear of this sound, hidden deep in their bones.

Fear is an instinct, but there was no fear in the young man's eyes. He tilted his head and spat a mouthful of bloody saliva, looking at Charlie with a fierce expression on his face, and the muscles on his cheekbones twitched.

Charlie disliked this defiant look very much. He tilted his head slightly, and the bodyguard, who had rolled up his sleeves, took a stance and punched the young man hard in the abdomen.

His body, which was restrained in the chair, suddenly shrank rapidly, and he curled up like a shrimp that had been scalded red by boiling water, and groaned in pain from his mouth.

"You're just a nobody."

"Tell me, where is Hunter?"

The young man continued to look at him unkindly. He walked up to the young man, took out a pen, twisted his nose hair, and then stabbed it into his thigh.

It wasn't enough to just stab it, he also inserted his fingers into the wound and dug hard, "Where is he?"

Listening to the screams in the room, Nate felt uncomfortable. It was not because he sympathized with the young man, but because he could not do that.

He was just worried that he would encounter such torture one day.

If he encountered such torture, would he be able to endure it like the young man inside?
he does not know.

He picked up the phone and dialed Lance's number. "Charlie is here and is interrogating those young people. His methods are a bit brutal."

After saying this, he hung up the phone without waiting for the other party's response, his heart pounding.

In fact, he was a little worried. What if the young man couldn't handle it anymore and gave himself up?

Although he has betrayed himself once.

A few minutes later, someone knocked on the director's office door, and the screams from inside suddenly became a little quieter because of the knock.

"what's up?"

A bodyguard walked out from inside, with a lot of blood splattered on his light blue shirt, which made the policeman at the door twitch his eyes.

Many people actually don’t know how vicious Charlie is and they all think he is a good director.

He always smiles and is easy to talk to. Even if he encounters a police officer who makes a mistake, he will pretend not to see it and remind them not to make the same mistake again next time.

Only a few people know that hounds have sharp teeth and bite force, and they not only wag their tails, but also bite their prey!

"There was... a call to the police saying that they had found a possible exchange of fire and our police officers were there..."

Charlie took a tissue and wiped the blood off the pen, screwed the cap back on and put it in his pocket. "Go check and see what's over there."

He glanced at the young man with a weak breath again, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He now believes, like Hunter, that there must be someone belonging to Lance in the police station.

Not long after he started torturing the suspect, the clues came to him.

Sooner or later, he will find out these traitors and deal with them cleanly!

The police car drove out of the parking lot quickly. Charlie had a bad feeling, but he still retained a one in ten thousand hope.

And these hopes were dashed after thirty minutes.

More police cars arrived at the abandoned old station, along with two medical examiners -

The reason there were two forensic doctors was because the police officers who arrived at the scene requested it. There were body parts everywhere, and not only did they have to search for them, but they also had to piece them together. This was not a job that could be done by one person.

Charlie also came to the scene, but he sat in the car and did not get out.

The car he was riding in was bulletproof, given to him by a master in the Bay Area just to protect his safety.

As a Bay Area hound, it is also valuable to the masters.

The bodies of several policemen had been placed in body bags and neatly laid out.

And Hunter?
Several policemen and forensic doctors were carrying bags and checking the surrounding grass with pliers, occasionally picking up a piece and stuffing it in.

Although Charlie was mentally prepared when he saw this scene, he still couldn't help but punched the back of the passenger seat.

"Fake!"

He cursed, and he had warned Hunter not to leave the police station.

That young man Lance is much braver than the local gangsters, and he will definitely assassinate Hunter.

But Hunter... Charlie actually felt a little bit guilty because Hunter was under too much pressure, so when he found an opportunity to solve the current dilemma, he would strike without hesitation!

Charlie was also reflecting that he had not been able to help Hunter relieve the pressure, which led to these things happening.

He also has some responsibilities.

But what next?
Hunter is dead and he is not the chief now. Although the police station is full of his old subordinates, will these old subordinates really listen to him?

Thinking of Nate's appearance, would there be more people who actually joined Lance?
Without Hunter as a bridge, can he still command the police station?

He doesn't know, and he is not qualified to direct the work of the police station now, he is not the chief of police.

The top priority now is to introduce a new chief to replace Hunter as soon as possible and continue to firmly grasp the personnel power of the police station!
Suddenly, choosing a candidate became a problem. Others might not be as useful as Hunter, and he couldn't even find a suitable candidate in a short period of time!
(End of this chapter)