New Gods of North America.

Chapter 232 Harvest and "Encounter"

After half a day of chaos,
The detectives from the detective agency returned to the valley and began to clean up the scene according to criteria such as "valuable", "exchangeable for a reward" and "non-recyclable".

What they did was not that complicated. They just chose a suitable location, blasted the mountain walls at both ends, and threw some high explosives in the middle.

After the members in front went around, they followed the road to find a commanding height and then started shooting.

Not all the gang members were trapped in the ambush. Seeing that the situation was not good, some of the people at the end of the team probably ran away.
But the most valuable wanted criminals on the wanted list are basically there - two of them were brought back by Lina from there, and it is said that one is called "Second Officer" and the other is called "Third Officer".

And they are all alive.

It is said that the steam train actually slowed down for a while before reaching the railway bridge, and finally passed through with confidence under Lina's on-site instructions.

There was a wanted criminal who jumped out of the car and tried to escape at that time, but was caught.

This gang called "Gary Adventure" has a relatively advanced organizational structure, which is relatively "flat".
So after several gang leaders in the valley were killed, the remaining bandits quickly raised the white flag.

Wayne had the agents tie the prisoners' hands in the colonial plantation style, then tie ropes around their ankles and knees, leaving some distance so that they could walk but not run, and finally tie them up around their necks to form a long string.

When you are outnumbered, you must strike hard before the other side surrenders.
So there were quite a few horse losses, not all of them died. But even in modern society, if a horse has a leg injury, it will basically be abandoned. Except for a few valuable stallions that have the opportunity to see a veterinarian, the vast majority of the rest can only meet the butcher.

The bullets on both sides have basically been used up.

William Kidd was an interesting man, too. The code names he gave to the bandits were all positions on the ship. However, the bounty for the captain himself was only $200, and the bounty for other wanted criminals was even less.

It mainly depends on sales volume. The initial total is US$1100. Taking into account the 20% markup by the steam train company, it is only US$1320, not as much as the bartender had advertised before.

Roughly estimating the value of the horses, guns and miscellaneous spoils, the total revenue is estimated to be just over $2000, more or less, depending on the market price.

The rest depends on what the steam train company will say.

During this time, the leader of a bounty hunter team came over and seemed to want to call for justice.
However, the detective agency's ammunition stocks at this moment were not as much as usual, so they were all very alert. In addition, there were about the same number of prisoners and corpses as the detectives, which gave them a rather "stern" temperament.

Therefore, the other party withdrew without a few words, using the excuse that they were going to hunt down the remaining gang members who had escaped.

It was very troublesome to carry a bunch of prisoners. They couldn't move fast and were all squeezed on the horses, which hurt them.
Fortunately, the gangsters had prepared two horse-drawn carriages not far away that were intended to be used to transport stolen goods. After a little trouble, the agents changed the carriages into vehicles for transporting people and dead bodies. The density was a little high, but no one raised any objections.

It took nearly two days to reach another small town nearby.
The local sheriff has not yet taken on this "big job", and the iron cages in the police station are too small to hold them.
If Wayne hadn't gone to the church with the letter of recommendation written by Tom Hagen and the town pastor hadn't spoken for him, the sheriff would have wanted to let Wayne and his group pack up and take some more away.

The staff in charge of collecting the bodies in the town were also a little unhappy, as if they felt that the detective agency was trying to tire them to death.

After hearing that the two carriages could be given to them, their attitude became friendly again.

This town is relatively wealthy, with mineral deposits discovered and some related primary processing industries. After working in the mines or small workshops, the townspeople go to the town to consume, which is a relatively positive type of "internal circulation".

By the way, this town has a small operation that is quite in line with the times. Although there is no station here, some freight steam trains will regularly "stop" here for a period of time - it is said that several small landowners signed an agreement when selling their land to the steam train company.

The bounty can only be collected by check first, and the additional 20% must be settled with Mr. Russell after taking the certificate back.
The remaining supplies were sold relatively smoothly. The injured horses were sold along with the good ones, and some damaged guns were pieced together by the agents. After buying out the bullet stocks in the town stores, there was about $820 left.

So the total profit of this batch of fixed frames is 2140 US dollars.

依旧是按照抽三成再三七分的计算方式，正式探员的“一个人头”大概是141美金70美分这样，0.8个人头就是113美金36美分。

The detectives had not yet spent all the cash they received last time, and now they expressed the hope to receive it after returning to the detective agency's "base camp".
So Wayne and the others were happy to save themselves the trouble.

However, the benefits of the "peripheral members" are difficult to calculate.

Wayne was used to spending money, so he simply took out 149 cents of the $80 he was entitled to this time as funding, and let the four peripheral members get some cash first, about $37 per person. After he figured out how to distribute it, Wayne would decide whether to deduct it from other places.

If there is a suitable one, he will be transferred to a "trainee agent", otherwise it can only be regarded as a "guest appearance" or "part-time job". Although it is also a kind of operation for the boss to only receive a salary of 1 US dollar, he can't always let Wayne pay from his own pocket. At least Wayne has to be happy.

The peripheral members Doug picked were pretty good. They were active and knew how to express gratitude.
Especially after actually seeing how the detective agency assigns tasks.

……

"In fact, I'm thinking about whether we should set a rough standard for agents in the future. For example, a formal agent must be a Beyonder with certain abilities, or an ordinary person with certain professional expertise. Only those who can take charge of their own affairs or create benefits can be considered senior agents, or even partners?"

In the pub, Wayne, Inissa and Lina occupied a small table in the corner and chatted to pass the time.

This is not a town with frequent foreign exchanges, and it is not far from Fort Claris. The bartender's information is not very valuable, so we mainly come here for entertainment.

There weren't many bars to choose from in this small town, and most of the other agents who came out to drink were also here. A few tables nearby formed a circle, not too far nor too close, as if to prevent others from causing trouble.

The townspeople should know about the detective agency's destruction of the "Gary Adventure" gang, and one or two came to express their admiration, but overall their reaction was indifferent, not as crazy as the Chicago newspapers before.

Inissa and Lina had no opinion on the agents' classification criteria. Lina was more interested in the money distribution, while Inissa didn't seem to care much about the money, as long as it was generally acceptable.

So it becomes up to Wayne to make the decision himself and announce it directly when the time comes.

So the topic shifted from work to life, and during the conversation we also talked about Emma's education.

Lina originally had a dream of buying a manor and becoming a rich woman, but after she got to know Mr. Ben Harmon's wife recently, she felt that managing a manor and mixing with the rich woman's circle was too troublesome. It was either fashion and jewelry, or balls and banquets, and she also had to consider various interpersonal relationships.

So her dream evolved into buying a hotel and becoming its own boss, then entrusting the management to a professional manager, and arranging a suite in the hotel for her to live in long-term. There would be someone to clean the room, and she wouldn't have to socialize all day long. She could also meet all kinds of travelers when she had nothing to do.

As for Inesa's dream...

Well, if the church released her from her restraints, Wayne felt that Inessa might find a small town to settle down. If some evil extraordinary person appeared somewhere, she would probably be willing to help clean up the mess for free.

After a glass of beer, the three of them checked in at the local pub and went back to see if the little girl was doing homework or destroying the house tonight.
At this time, the butterfly doors of the tavern were pushed open, and a group of people walked in.

It's that Chris Mannix again, and the sheriff from the next town over, Mr. Daggett.

No, how come I can meet you guys everywhere?

Just confess yourselves, are you secretly following our detective agency?
After entering, Chris looked around the pub and actually walked over to Wayne and the other two. "I heard from the inn owner that you might have gone to the pub, so I came here specifically to look for you."

I also learned how to answer questions quickly.

Wayne moved to the side of Inissa and Lina, making room for Chris and Mr. Daggett.

Chris chose to keep it short this time:
"I heard that you have destroyed the Gary Adventure and killed or arrested William Kidd and several of his deputies. So your next target should be the Thin Man Gang?"

Wayne nodded, "Why? Are you planning to cooperate with us again?"

"No," Chris unexpectedly changed his statement, "Since you were able to nearly wipe out the larger Gary Adventure, I believe your team is strong enough to wipe out the Skinny Gang alone."

"so……"

"So if your next target is the 'Skinny Gang', then Mr. Daggett and I are willing to help for free."

Chris first threw out the free manifesto, and then explained:
"Several members of our team have personal grudges against the Skinny Gang, but our team is not strong enough to deal with them. Therefore, if you want to attack them, my team is willing to provide assistance without participating in the distribution of spoils. We only hope to participate in the process of destroying them.

"As for Mr. Daggett, the Slim Gang once committed a crime in their town. Due to the boundaries, Mr. Daggett cannot ask the townspeople to cross the border to help chase them, but he also hopes to avenge the innocent personally."

Both groups are willing to do it for free, so is that group so hateful?
(End of this chapter)