Shadow Empire

Chapter 806 Sweating and Talking is the Best
There were two pools of blood on the ground. The sheriff held his waist and looked at the blood. The scene of his men being attacked and captured appeared in his mind.

The state police department also has criminal investigation work, including road section bureaus, and there are also specialized criminal police.

They quickly deduced some possible scenarios on the scene.

"There was a guy, I don't know if it was David or his partner, who must have been standing here peeing, and there was blood splattered on the wall."

"They attacked him here."

"Their car door wasn't unlocked, so I'm more inclined to think it was David standing here, but the blood splatters don't seem to be the case."

"After they knocked this guy down, another guy came over to check on the situation and they knocked him down too."

"Next..."

The two criminal police officers found some fresh scratches on the ground. "They might have been dragged into a car on the side of the road. There were some scratches on the ground left by some hard material. It might be their buttons or something else."

"In short, we tend to think they may have been kidnapped or killed."

After listening to them, the sheriff pursed his lips and for a moment didn't know what to say or do.

There is no doubt that the kidnapping of the two men was not without reason. Those people must have come to take revenge.

He also felt a little fear at this time, and greed made him lose his composure for a moment, so that he made a big mistake.

In fact, he regretted it the moment he led his men to take action.

The force that can transport so much wine at one time is definitely not a small force. If the other party retaliates, he may not be able to withstand it.

But there was too much wine, so much that he acted impulsively without considering the consequences.

Now, it's time to pay the price for your impulse!
At this time, a vehicle from the "New Bermuda Police Department" stopped on the side of the road, and two policemen got out of the car and walked towards this side.

The sheriff turned and looked at them, and whispered, "They may be the police officers sent here to assist us."

Then he smiled and walked up to them and shook hands.

"Any new discoveries?" asked the local detective after looking at their work.

The sheriff shook his head. "We only know that they were kidnapped. Do you have any clues?"

The local detective looked at the people around the sheriff and said, "We found a witness..."

The surrounding police officers all turned their heads to look over here, and the sheriff couldn't help but ask, "Where is he?"

The local detective frowned slightly. He found the sheriff's attitude too... strong!

But this intensity was not the kind of intensity that came from a police officer who truly cared about him. He didn't know how to describe it.

The sheriff wants to know what's going on, but not because his officers are missing, that's how the local detective feels.

In fact, his feeling was not wrong at all, because there was a very tricky thing behind this incident - they swallowed up the gangsters' wine by killing the train drivers and escorts.

Instead of destroying the alcohol that Congress had clearly identified as contraband on the spot or handing it over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Hazardous Substances, they simply pocketed it.

Their purpose was to embezzle the goods, so they intercepted the vehicles, which led to the fight and the death of some police officers.

No one knew about these things except themselves. If those gangsters from other places exposed this matter, he didn't know whether the ordinary participants in the police station would be fired or go to jail.

But he will definitely be in big trouble!
So he is very nervous and very anxious now. Once this matter is exposed, it will not just be this matter that is exposed.

The things they did in the no-man's land before might also be exposed——

There are often hundreds of kilometers, or even two or three hundred kilometers of uninhabited areas on the federal interstate highways. It is a deserted place with no people within hundreds of kilometers, and only occasional passing vehicles.

If you kill someone in a place like this and dump the body in the suburbs, no one knows what will happen.

They have done a lot of things. Otherwise, how could a group of hard-working highway policemen live in villas and buy luxury cars?

They often blame these crimes on serial killers or gangs that commit crimes on the highway, even though they themselves don't know if they did it.

If they can be caught alive, they will most likely confess. Even if they don't confess, they can continue to push the blame onto other criminals, and one of them will eventually be shot dead during the capture, and then all the cases will be closed.

He wasn't the only one doing this over the years.

But this time, it's dangerous.

If the matter were to be exposed, he would not be able to guarantee that every police officer would stand firmly on his side. He would then surely lose everything and might even be sent to the electric chair!

And this might be the "best" ending. If he is not sent to the electric chair, it means he will suffer in prison!

It is absolutely terrible for a police officer, especially a sheriff, to be put in jail!

That's not prison, that's hell!

When he thought of this, when he thought that he might lose everything he had, sweat visibly broke out on his forehead.

It is already early November. Although this is the southernmost part of the Federation, the temperature has dropped to only a dozen degrees.

Want to sweat?

Unless after intense exercise, they just stand there.

The local detective glanced at his colleague, and the two exchanged glances for a while. They both felt that there might be something wrong with the police chief, but they did not make any more noise.

"He's in the local precinct now."

The sheriff breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Take me there."

Soon the group arrived at the local police station and met the witness in the police station, who was being questioned.

The sheriff wanted to go in, but was stopped. A police officer stopped him and said, "My colleagues are working. You can't go in now. It may affect the results."

He stared at the police officer who stopped him for a while, and neither of them gave in.

This was the city police station, not his section police station, so he could only snort and continue waiting for the result outside the room.

About ten minutes later, the witness came out of the interrogation room. The sheriff glanced at one of his men, who nodded slightly and turned away early.

The sheriff entered the interrogation room. The police officer in charge of the interrogation took the transcript and, at the signal of the chief of the local police station, handed it to the sheriff.

The sheriff just took a look and his expression changed. He then said, "Thank you for the clues," and turned and left.

Confirmed, it’s the Lance family.

The witness's testimony mentioned that the men were dressed almost the same, and two of the guys who appeared under the light had red armbands on their left upper arms.

This is characteristic of the Lance family, they have come here and captured their people!

A feeling of palpitations made him stop walking quickly, and he held his heart with his hands for a while with a painful look on his face.

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head and pursed his lips tightly. At the moment of palpitations, he felt that his heart was beating uncontrollably as if it was in chaos for a moment, and he felt like he was going to die.

Fortunately, these feelings came and went quickly. He took a deep breath and continued walking outside.

Now his mind was blank.

He couldn't guarantee that his two men would be as loyal as the damn warriors and say nothing.

He had gotten to know the Lance family during this period and knew that this group of people were all crazy. Some time ago, the Perez family farm was burned down and a direct descendant was roasted to death. It was their doing!
At this moment, he really regretted it.

It’s not that he felt that what he did was wrong, but it was obvious that a force he could not resist had intervened in this matter, and he was doomed!
Even if the people of the Lance family didn't find out that it was him, but them, he still wouldn't regret it.

After returning to the road section police station, his emotions calmed down a little. Now, only here could he feel safe.

He thought about it for a long time and called the state police chief's office.

The call was quickly connected, and the voice inside was gentle but powerful, "This is the office of the director of the State Police."

"it's me."

"Matthew?"

The director's slightly surprised voice came from the receiver, "What's wrong?"

"Call me properly." The sheriff was silent for a while, "I'm in a little trouble."

A sneer came from the receiver. "You're always in trouble, from when you were in school, to when you were working, to now."

"Well, since I still have some time, tell me what trouble you are in."

The sheriff rubbed his cheeks vigorously. After a while, he said in a deep voice, "This matter started more than a month ago..."

"Wait, wait, Matthew, it's good that I have time, but I don't have time to listen to your story and get to the point." The chief interrupted him. Being the chief of the state police force is a very busy job.

The state police department has many departments under it, such as highway police, highway patrol, criminal police...many.

These branches always have things to report to him, and there are also some capitalists in society who often keep in touch with him, so he is also a very busy man.

He could learn about the troubles that Sheriff Matthew had encountered, but he didn't want to hear a story, he wanted something direct.

"More than a month ago, during our routine inspection, we found several trucks transporting large quantities of alcohol and whiskey, and we intercepted the shipment."

"Wait a moment!"

The chief interrupted him again, "I remember that several police officers on your side died last month. Don't you dare tell me that this has anything to do with your interception of the truck!"

The Sheriff said nothing, but it was enough for the Chief to realize that he had guessed correctly.

He yelled directly on the phone, "Send Q, Matthew, send Q!"

"I don't care if you make some small things, but this is obviously the gang's wine. You swallowed it without even thinking about it clearly?"

The chief was well aware of the little tricks these bastards were up to, such as blackmailing passing truck drivers and sometimes even playing the role of highway robbers, killing people and robbing goods on the road.

He knew it, but he couldn't do anything about it.

The salary of highway police is not high, only more than 40 yuan, but they are different from urban police in the city.

City police have been working in the city all the time, so even if they encounter gangsters or criminals, nothing will necessarily happen.

But working on the interstate highway is much more dangerous!

People often see that when a police car stops on the interstate highway, two police officers will often take out their guns and turn off the safety before they dare to approach the car they have stopped.

Especially on some sections of road where accidents often happen, two or three police cars are on duty all the time because it is too dangerous.

If you are lucky, when the door of the stopped vehicle is opened, a smiling federal citizen will be revealed, who will politely ask "why did you stop their car?"

If you are unlucky, you will get shot if you walk over.

They earn wages that are almost at the bottom of society, but do the most tiring and dangerous work, and often have to stay in the wilderness for several days or half a month. If they are not allowed to make some money on their own, no one would do this job anymore!

The director knows the situation, but he cannot interfere. Otherwise, all his men will run away and he will be fired as director.

He was mentally prepared for what these people did, and at the same time he gave them some warnings, which was to try not to get involved in gang stuff.

You have blackmailed the capitalists, and compared to the huge loss of time and other losses, it is obviously the fastest and best solution to give you a small sum of money directly.

Capitalists don't care about face or anything like that, they can also calculate these losses into the costs.

Even if we take away one or two truckloads of their goods, it’s no big deal.

But it's different for gangs. If you touch their things, you're like a slap in the face to them. Not only do they lose their goods, but they also get slapped in the face. They won't let it go.

Even if they can't get the goods back, they want to vent their anger and let people know what the consequences will be if they take action against them!
That’s why the director has always emphasized, don’t fucking mess with the gangs!
But this time, it was obviously the result of this idiot's stupidity!
The sheriff was scolded so much that he couldn't even raise his head. He could only smile bitterly and said, "I was blinded by greed. I couldn't help but take action because of the two million dollars of goods."

"Besides, the cars all came from Likalai State. They were all gangs from other places. I don't think they can know who got them."

"I dealt with the people and the cars were scrapped and turned into iron blocks. They have no idea who took their things!"

"They will just think it's a case of gangsters robbing gangsters, or their own men are greedy for the wealth and ran away without being able to find me."

He was still explaining, but the director's words made his explanation meaningless. "You speak so nicely, how did they find you?"

He stopped talking.

He still had no idea how these people found him. The only possibility was that they were selling the wine on a large scale in surrounding cities and got caught.

The director sighed and asked, "Whose goods are they? How much did you sell them for? How much is left? Let me see if we can negotiate a settlement."

"Lance Family."

"I have over half a million here, and half of that is wine."

The director couldn't help laughing again, "You're such a bastard, Matthew!"

He hung up the phone with a bang. The good mood of the whole day, week, or even the whole year was ruined at this moment.

He didn't know much about the gang situation in Likalai State, but he had heard that there was a very powerful Lance family.

He thought about it for a while and called a local gang leader who had a good relationship with him.

This is actually quite interesting.

The police, state police, and law enforcement officers all know who the gang leaders are and who the gang members are, but they never take the initiative to catch them.

This is the most interesting feature of this era, the gangs and the federal government can coexist peacefully as long as they don't do anything taboo.

The call was quickly connected, and the director introduced himself. As the party with a clear advantage in the cat-and-mouse game, the gang leader on the receiver seemed very enthusiastic and polite.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I'd be happy to do something for you, Mr. Chief."

The director was in a bad mood, and his tone was a little impatient, "I don't want to talk nonsense with you. Do you know the Lance family?"

"Of course, who doesn't know the Lance family now?"

It can be heard that the gang leader's tone is full of sighs and some envy and jealousy, which makes the director curious, "Why, are they very powerful?"

In his impression, this gang leader was also a very capable guy with great influence and strength.

Even so, the tone he used when talking about the Lance family made the director feel something was wrong.

"Of course, the entire Likalai State is their territory. Lance is only 24 years old, but he has already become the uncrowned king of Likalai State!"

"It is said that the mayor and the governor have a good relationship with him, and he also has connections with Congress. His own distillery has even obtained a license, allowing it to legally produce whiskey."

"Can you believe this?"

"Let the mafia legally produce whiskey. God knows how much money they will make from it, idiot!"

“Although their conflict with the Perez family ended in reconciliation on the surface, we all know that they actually won.”

"Those are the five fucking families of the Federation!"

"Those who have reached the top of this industry have all lost to the Lance family. Do you think they are powerful?"

The director no longer had the energy to laugh, but of course he was still angry.

"Do you want their contact information?" the director asked.

"No, but I can ask for you. Is it urgent?"

"It's urgent!"

A few minutes later, the phone in front of the director rang. It was that guy again.

"I asked for the phone number. Please write it down." Then he reported a string of numbers. After making sure that the director had written it down, he added before hanging up, "Although I don't know what happened, it's best to talk about things that can be discussed. Don't take action if you can avoid it."

"I heard they even brought out armored vehicles during the gunfight. You know what I mean!"

The director laughed twice more, feeling very tired. "I see. Thank you for your reminder!"

After he hung up the phone, he looked at the ordinary phone number on the paper in front of him, was silent for a while, then sighed and dialed...

(End of this chapter)