Shadow Empire

Chapter 809: Retreat First
In the morning, the Indeno State Police Chief called Chief Matthew again.

After sleeping for a night, he was still a little worried. Since Lance was determined not to reconcile with them, they had to be prepared not only for defense but also for counterattack.

"Remember, don't go anywhere during this period, just stay in the precinct."

"If they dare to attack the police station, we will fight back immediately!"

"Let police officers not lock their weapons in weapon cabinets or keep them out of easy reach, and let them be ready to fight back at any time and anywhere."

According to the regulations of the local police station, items such as rifles and submachine guns must be properly stored when not in use.

They have a logistics department dedicated to managing these firearms. When necessary, police officers can only receive these weapons with the approval of the sheriff.

Normally they are locked in a metal weapons cabinet and only a few people can access them.

After instructing him on some more matters, he said, "This matter won't last long. I'm in the lobby. Isn't Lance going to smuggle the liquor into Indenor State?"

"I'm meeting with some of our local gangs and asking them to unite to fight Lance. I'm not talking about doing anything to him, killing him or anything like that, but I want to drive him and his people, as well as his goods, out of Inden State."

"As long as he wants to enter the market here, he must talk to us!"

"Force them to negotiate with us, and then your problem will no longer be a problem."

This was also a feasible solution that the director of the state police department came up with that night. The police, together with the gangsters, put double pressure on the Lance family.

Either he completely gave up the Inden State market and left in disgrace, or he compromised on these issues in order to enter the market here.

He believed that Lance would eventually compromise, for a very simple reason -

No one can resist money.

Judging from the fact that Lance easily transports millions of bottles of wine, his business should be very big, and his ideas here must be big as well.

This was the only thing he had to do if he didn't want to give up his plan.

After hearing the heartfelt gratitude, Sheriff Matthew said, "I don't know how to express my gratitude..."

The chief interrupted him, "I'll thank God if you don't give me more trouble than we can handle!"

"Okay, that's it. I still need to interview those gang leaders."

"Contact me if there's anything else."

The two men hung up the phone, and the chief did start contacting the gangs to talk to them about the possible consequences of the Lance family's aggressive "invasion", and told them that if they could drive the Lance family out, he would come forward to coordinate with the chiefs of police stations in various places to appropriately relax the management system for gunfights.

To put it simply, they can start a gunfight at any time, and the police will only appear after the gunfight is over.

At the same time, the police will only arrest people from the Lance family, not their own people.

And if they did, he would consider asking local police chiefs to provide some criminal convenience to powerful gangs under appropriate circumstances.

For example, they should have been arrested, but they were not arrested this time, or they were tipped off in advance.

As the state police chief, he still has the ability.

After Sheriff Matthew hung up the phone, he stood up and walked back and forth several times. After smoking two cigarettes, he decided to completely obey the chief's arrangements.

After this matter is over, he will give the director some money to thank him for his help. This is the simplest and most effective way he can think of and do.

He returned to his desk and dialed home, "Honey?"

"Yes...I've been in some trouble recently. You'd better talk to the kids and tell them not to run around."

"Ask for leave for the two younger ones and ask them to stay home with you and not go anywhere."

"The older one told him not to come back from school. Remember, I'm not kidding you!"

"You can go to the garage... yes, the second drawer of the repair cabinet. The key is in the blue bucket on the tool table in the greenhouse."

"There are weapons and bullets in the drawer of the garage. Put it where you can easily get to it. I will send a few officers back to help you."

"…Don't worry, everything will be fine. The director also knows about this. At most, in half a month or a month, we will be able to meet again."

After he said these words, he hung up the phone. At this moment, his heart was filled with immense regret.

A moment of greed caused things to develop to this uncontrollable point.

But if he had the chance to do it again, he would most likely make the same choice.

The reason is simple, there are too many!
Now he has done everything he can, and what follows is just waiting quietly!
In a luxurious villa area in Hongshi City, a lady who looked like a noble lady put down the phone with a worried look on her face. She stood up uncomfortably but soon sat back down.

After thinking for a while, she called her brother.

By marrying Matthew, her family also gained conveniences that were not appropriate for their class.

Sometimes, unless you go deep into the layers of this society, you will not be able to feel the malice that this world holds towards ordinary people.

Both are considered "low-level workers", a policeman and a worker on an assembly line may only differ by a few dollars in terms of the social salary system.

But their quality of life and actual income are many times worse!
A supervisor on an assembly line may be able to afford a villa after working for a lifetime, but a sheriff of a state police highway police section division can easily buy two villas and has a huge amount of savings and wealth.

Even his wife's family gets significantly better opportunities because of him.

All I can say is that the people are too kind. As long as they have something to eat and are not starving to death, they will not make trouble.

Matthew's wife quickly got through the call, "Can you come over now?"

Her brother opened a strip club in Red Rock City. Because of the care of Sheriff Matthew, the police basically did not come to check this small club.

They used to sell alcohol, but with the start of Prohibition, they took a break.

Until recently, grape bricks have become popular and there are legal loopholes.

They started selling sparkling juice again, which they made themselves, some "spoiled" juice, the kind made by soaking grape bricks.

Although it is a bit turbid and sometimes tastes not very good, it is cheap and the club's business is pretty good.

If the Hazardous Materials Administration wants to come and check, someone will secretly notify him first. Since they are all law enforcers, their management of this club is not too strict.

This also makes this young man a big shot in his own social circle.

"elder sister?"

"What happened?", the young man was sitting in the office, half lying on a chair, and a striptease dancer was serving him.

Because business is good here, there is no shortage of strippers. Instead, they have to schedule shifts before they have a chance to perform on stage.

For these girls, if they want to make money, apart from the patrons, the most important thing is to be on the stage.

Really rich people don’t really like these “dirty girls”, so the income brought to them by ordinary customers accounts for a large part of their overall income.

"Can you come over? I'm a little worried. Your brother-in-law might be in some trouble. He said some very strange things to me..."

Upon hearing this, the young man immediately pushed the girl away. He zipped up his pants and stood up. "I'll be right there. Don't go there. Just wait for me at home!"

He put down the phone, glanced at the girl with a face full of longing, and nodded slightly, "I'll ask them to arrange two shows for you tonight."

Ignoring the surprised smile on the girl's face, he opened the drawer, took out a pistol and put it in his pocket, then called two thugs to follow him to the villa area.

Soon he met his sister in the villa. Every time he came here, he would feel a deep envy. He also longed to live in such a big mansion one day!

"What happened?", he walked over to his sister and held her hand.

She told him everything Sheriff Matthew had said, and the young man, who had some "social experience", quickly realized that this might have something to do with the gang.

He hesitated for a moment and said, "I will go and get the two children back now."

Matthew’s wife took his hand and asked, “Where’s the boss?”

The young man shook his head. “Gangsters don’t dare to mess around in universities. They will arouse public anger!” The quality and social influence of universities at this time were still very good. It was much more difficult to get into university than in the future just by knowing how to sing, dance, cook or use an oven.

Being difficult to enter means that there is a higher level of social attention, and gangs almost never mess around in such places.

Matthew's wife quickly agreed, saying that this was exactly what Matthew had said.

The two children didn’t understand why they suddenly didn’t have to go to class. They were very happy about the arrival of this “uncle”. This uncle often brought them a lot of delicious food and fun things, and secretly gave them a lot of pocket money.

In this family, the first person they kissed was their mother, then their uncle, and then Sheriff Matthew.

After all, Sheriff Matthew is not at home for quite some time every month, and as a father he has to maintain his authority in the family, so he won't joke and play with the children easily.

On the contrary, this uncle was like a good friend to them, so they happily returned home with him.

Matthew's three children, the oldest is already in college and is now in the first semester of his sophomore year.

He had his first child a few years after he got married and his work became stable.

At that time he was just a deputy sheriff, a salary that was neither high nor low. He didn't make much money and was busy with work all day.

The sheriff at that time always pushed a lot of work onto him.

He had someone in charge of him, and the people below him didn't really listen to him. The setbacks at work made him have no desire to have more children.

About seven or eight years later, he was promoted to sheriff and then he had his next child.

The eldest is a boy, the second is a girl who is only fourteen years old, and the third is a boy who is only eleven years old.

The two children came back laughing, greeted Matthew's wife, and then went to play in the garden.

Their uncle returned to Matthew's wife and calmed her down.

"Nothing will happen. I know the state police chief. He is a very capable person and has a good relationship with the deputy governor."

"Sister, here, there is no problem that big shots like them can't solve, believe me!"

"I will stay here for the next few days until Matthew comes back. Everything will be the same as before, and nothing will change..."

With the comfort of her brother and the children at home, Matthew's wife finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At night, her brother called a few more thugs over. If he didn't have to maintain security at the strip club, he would have called everyone over.

But even so, there are six thugs here.

Two of them were also equipped with pistols.

At night, the villa was brightly lit. The bright light seemed to dispel many of the fears in people's hearts. The family sat on the sofa watching the programs on TV, temporarily forgetting their worries.

At this time, on the interstate highway, two convoys were driving quickly towards Red Rock City.

One convoy was led by Alvin, a member of the Lance family.

There was another group of six policemen sent by Matthew.

It's not that he was unwilling to send more people, but there were only forty or fifty policemen in the highway police section bureau. If he sent too many, they would not be able to handle the work, and he also needed to keep some confidants on his side.

These six people can be considered his die-hard supporters, the ones who stand on his side.

The two groups were rapidly approaching Red Stone City along two completely different roads.

Later in the evening, Melo called again.

"What happened at home?" Lance was a little confused when he answered the phone. Melo was a very steady person. If there was no need to contact him, he would definitely not call.

This will affect his mood when he is doing things outside.

This is like a person who is outside gambling. If his family calls him when nothing happens, it will definitely make him feel irritated, unable to concentrate on the game, and lose the game.

Although Lance is not playing cards, what he is doing now is more risky than playing cards!
If he loses playing cards, he only loses money. But if he loses outside, he may be injured at best, or even shot at worst.

Mello laughed twice, "No, everything is normal at home, you know, nothing will go wrong here."

"Cole called me just now. He was asking if there was any problem with their goods and whether there were any of our people in New Bermingham. He said someone saw one of our people."

Lance frowned when he heard this, "What else did he say?"

"If that was all he said, you probably wouldn't have called me."

Melo continued slowly, "He also asked who was here, whether it was Enio, and asked for a phone number where he could contact you."

"I didn't tell him to call me tomorrow."

Lance closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "That doesn't sound like good news, although I don't want to think about it that way."

Melo agreed with him, "It's too coincidental to ask for phone numbers and contact information at this time."

"Do you need me to arrange some more people to go there?"

Lance thought for a while and said, "No, there is no need. If more people come, it will be too obvious. I have asked Erwin to take most people away. They don't know I am here, nor how many people there are. I will find the right time to leave here."

"Do you think that they might... have teamed up with those people?" Melo's tone was a little uncertain. In fact, he already had an answer in his mind, but he was not willing to admit it.

The leaders of the Imperial gang have always cooperated well with them, and Lance is also willing to support the development of the Imperial gang in various places.

After all, we are all from the same hometown. If we don’t stick together in this foreign country, we will only be bullied. Seeking common ground while reserving differences is not such a simple thing. On the contrary, it is easier for fellow villagers to stick together.

He took into account that there would be some people who were not on good terms with them, and he was prepared, but he did not expect that this day would come so soon.

He even had no conflicts with the local Imperial Mafia and was willing to support them, but this did not work, which made Lance very disappointed!

Speaking of Cole, he is the leader of the Imperial gang in New Bermingham City. He is an Imperial man in his forties and has been here for more than ten years.

From the information sent back by Ennio and Bolton, as well as the photos he saw, this was a guy who was a little fat and always had a smile on his face.

It looks a little... sleek.

But judging from his behavior this time, he doesn't seem to be so smooth.

The battle has just begun and you've already taken sides?

"If he calls you again tomorrow, just tell him that our people have left. Don't say anything else."

"If he asks me, just tell him I went to Golden State."

After hanging up the phone, Lance shook his head slightly. He didn't know how much benefits the chief of the state police or Matthew had given to Cole to make him betray them.

But he knew that Cole was dead.

Lance asked everyone not to go out and to change into plain clothes if they went out.

The next morning, the people who went out to check the situation had returned, and the news they brought back was the same as Lance had guessed.

There are a lot of gang members on the streets now, and they seem to be looking for someone.

The car driven by Lance and his friends had a local license plate, so it did not attract the attention of these people. Some cars with out-of-town license plates, especially those with Likalai license plates, would be the focus of their attention.

I can't stay here any longer.

Lance didn't think about taking risks. Taking risks was something only fools did. He had already passed the initial stage where he had to fight for his life.

He immediately drove his men out of the city and headed east from New Birmingham.

Lance was laughing all the way, and someone asked him why he was laughing and what he was laughing at.

He said that this was the first time in recent years that he and his brothers had to "escape" in a panic...

(End of this chapter)