Mr. Jobav doesn’t just have a big house; his bank is also a big house, and it even has a dedicated vault, which Lance actually quite wants.
“You… cough, speaking of Jobav, what happened to him?”
Lance said casually, “He’s probably going bankrupt. He’s selling his previous things to the banks, but the banks won’t give him any inflated prices.”
“So perhaps we have a chance to get some things from him.”
Morris was a bit amazed and emotional when he heard this news. “For people who have lived here for a long time, the name Jobav is a signboard!”
“I know many people go to his bank to withdraw money, but I didn’t know they were actually on the verge of collapse!”
Only the bank’s top management and Lance knew about Mr. Jobav selling his collection. Although Morris knew many people and had reached cooperation agreements with many, he still couldn’t get this kind of high-level information.
“Someone is making a run on his bank again. What’s it for this time?”
Morris’s expression became a little strange. “Don’t you know?”
Lance spread his hands, somewhat bewildered. “Should I know something?”
Morris observed for a moment and, seeing that Lance indeed didn’t know, he explained the reason. “Because everyone heard about the issue of lowering the police’s fees, many people are withdrawing money to start a small business.”
“You know, the main reason why opening a store didn’t make money before was because the gangs were collecting money, and the police were also collecting money. Now we don’t collect money, and you plan to lower the amount of the other fee.”
“Many operators can already foresee more profits, so soon there should be a wave of business startups in the Empire District!”
Lance nodded in considerable agreement after hearing this. “It is indeed related to me. I hadn’t thought of that!”
“But these things just go to show that we are right on this issue.”
He ended this topic. “How has your recovery been recently?”
Morris shrugged. “It’s okay, but just okay. The doctor said it’s basically impossible for me to recover to my previous state, but after my fractures heal, I can still walk.”
He didn’t show any dejected expression. In fact, his condition was more serious than he said. With multiple organ damage, even if he could recover relatively well in the short term, this recovery was at the cost of overdrafting his life.
The doctor said his lifespan might not be very long, and he would be prone to illness in the future.
Faced with such a situation, Lance had no good solution either.
Perhaps seeing what Lance was thinking, Morris took the initiative to comfort him. “Don’t think too much. At least I’m still alive, right?”
Lance came back to his senses and made a suggestion. “Do you have a girl you like?”
Morris couldn’t keep up with Lance’s leap in thinking. It took him several seconds to react. “Why are you suddenly asking this?”
Lance took out a cigarette. He was about to give him one, but considering that two of his lung lobes had been removed, he ultimately didn’t pass it over. “Lisa and Ponda are getting married.”
He exhaled a puff of smoke. Morris had a look of disbelief, but he also felt that it was all within reason.
They had known each other for several months, had done everything they should and shouldn’t have done. Marriage seemed to have become a matter of course. “I didn’t expect them to actually get married.”
Lisa used to serve the rich in the Bay Area at the Red High Heel, and the tastes of those rich people were not light, otherwise they wouldn’t have come to the Red High Heel to place orders.
Strictly speaking, Lisa could be considered half one of them, so Morris didn’t feel… that it was that inappropriate. He just thought that maybe it would take longer, or that they might not even get married.
Lance also found it a bit incredible. He could only say that Lisa had her own ways of dealing with Ponda. “We can’t appear at their wedding, but I plan to give them a gift…”
Ponda had been busy preparing for the wedding these past few days.
Marrying Lisa was a decision he made after careful consideration. On the one hand, he was really madly in love with Lisa—
She was beautiful, had a great figure, and was very bold in bed, which also gave him an unprecedented thrill.
Although he sometimes wondered why Lisa knew so much, he had asked a few times, and Lisa had always used the reason “I learned it specially to please you,” which moved him greatly.
Young, beautiful, good-looking, and able to fully satisfy him sexually. Plus, her reliance on him. Ponda simply couldn’t find any reason to break up with her or not marry her.
Even the thought that if he broke up with Lisa, another man would come to enjoy everything he had once enjoyed, was unbearable to him.
After discussing it with Lisa for a while, the two decided on a wedding date. At the same time, Lisa’s family would also come from out of town to attend their wedding.
His family had also met Lisa and were very satisfied with her, not feeling that she was marrying above her station.
In addition, Lisa’s period seemed to be late recently. Everything was pointing to good news.
He was going to be a father.
People who have never been fathers can hardly understand the emotional changes before becoming a father. And for Federation people who attach great importance to family relationships, having a child means truly becoming a “man.”
That sense of responsibility, that sense of mission, would not allow him to retreat.
A new life was staring at him. Everything was moving in a better direction.
His colleagues in the office also knew that his happy event was approaching, and a cheerful atmosphere surrounded him.
At a little after three in the afternoon, while he was dealing with some work, the phone on his desk suddenly rang.
Without looking, he picked up the receiver. “This is the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, Special Agent Ponda speaking.”
“Do you fix radios over there?”
Ponda didn’t react at first. “This is the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, not a repair shop…”
He paused as he spoke, and only then did he remember that this was the agreement between him and Lance.
He quickly glanced at his colleagues who were still working. No one was paying attention to him. “You have to go to a repair shop to get it fixed.”
“What?”
“You don’t know where there is one?”
“You should call the police or the fire department… okay, okay, I know a place. It’s at…”
He gave an address, then hung up the phone. His colleagues looked over at him. “Wrong number?”
Ponda’s heart was already starting to race. He nodded. “Yes, wrong number. I don’t know if our numbers are a bit similar. He said he was dialing a repair number.”
He paused as he spoke. “But it’s good that it’s resolved.”
He also casually complained a few times that sometimes the phone would inexplicably not go through, or the lines would get crossed, and someone would suddenly join his call. Then he started to continue his work.
Ponda’s heart was pounding. After a long while, he calmed down his emotions, packed his things, and left early.
An agent of his level could arrive late and leave early, as long as he had a suitable reason.
As for what was a suitable reason, investigation, handling a case, or contacting an informant were all good reasons.
In fact, most of the time, the internal management system of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials was not that strict. They wouldn’t really check what the agents did after leaving the office.
Whether they really went to investigate a case, or just went home to sleep.
He drove around the city for two laps and then came to the place they had previously agreed on. It was a private club that ran an oral sex business.
It was not illegal for an on-duty law enforcement officer to frequent such a club, nor did it violate any laws, because all the services here were legally permitted.
At most, it would put him at risk morally, but a moral risk was just a moral issue, and besides, this place was very secret.
Soon he saw Lance. His expression changed slightly when he saw Lance again.
Lukar had already been buried. Some people in the Bureau of Hazardous Materials believed that this matter was inextricably linked to the Lance Family.
Although the conclusion provided by the police department was “random robbery and murder,” how could an agent of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials be so easily robbed and then killed?
Conspiracy theorists existed not only at the bottom of society but were also prevalent among the privileged class.
Even because they had been exposed to more incredible things, some of them believed more than the common people that everything was a conspiracy of the rulers.
Including Ponda. He also felt that this matter was related to Lance, so he was a little nervous now.
“Congratulations!” The first thing Lance said was a sentence that caught him off guard.
He was stunned for a long while before squeezing out a smile and asking, “Who?”
“Me?”
“Congratulations on what?”
Lance crossed his legs and flicked his foot. “Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.”
Ponda’s expression changed slightly. “Thank you, but don’t interfere in my life, and don’t contact my family.”
His family and the pregnant Lisa gave him the courage to look at Lance directly.
Lance looked at him calmly, his eyes like a stone, or a water surface without a single ripple.
Although there was nothing thrilling, it still gave people an indescribable pressure.
In the end, Ponda’s gaze shifted slightly, missing Lance’s gaze.
Lance’s chin was slightly raised. “Actually, even if you didn’t say it, I wouldn’t go and harass your family, on the premise that there are no misunderstandings between us.”
“Regarding the matter of your marriage, I am also very concerned. After all, we are very good partners, so I plan to give you a wedding gift.”
“For you, and for Lisa, and for your unborn child.”
Ponda’s tightly pursed lips lost their color. “You’re spying on me?”
Lance held up a finger and wagged it. “No, to be precise, I am protecting you and your family.”
“Don’t worry, Ponda. I hope you and your family are safe more than you do. Only in this way can we continue to cooperate for a long time.”
He paused. “Aren’t you interested in what I’m going to give you?”
Ponda took a deep breath. He didn’t like this feeling, but now he had to accept this result.
He squeezed out a smile. “What is it?”
Lance placed a card on the coffee table and pushed it over. “These are the locations of two bars, and a warehouse. There should be tens of thousands of dollars worth of liquor left inside.”
“I believe this performance will be enough for you to fill Lukar’s vacancy.”
The name Lukar seemed to have triggered a switch in Ponda. After a slight tremor in his eyeball, he asked softly, “Lance… I want to say, was Lukar…”
He hung his head. Although he already had a vague feeling in his heart, at this moment, he was still a little nervous.
Lance’s crossed foot moved again. “If he didn’t die, how could you be promoted?”
“Senior Special Agent Ponda?”
Hearing this, Ponda’s heart was very complicated.
First, he felt great fear, because the death of a senior special agent, and the death of those ordinary special agents or even external personnel, the impact it had on him was completely different.
It was like the wars between the nobles in ancient times. They could start wars wantonly and not be afraid of failure.
The reason was that they could buy themselves back with money after being defeated. Failure was nothing more than losing some wealth and some farmers.
They could be willful again and again, as long as they still had money.
But when a noble was refused ransom and was killed, the nobles’ attitude towards war became cautious. They didn’t know if they would be the next one to be refused.
Before a senior special agent had an accident, no one thought they would dare to make a move on a law enforcement officer of this level, until this moment.
Even Ponda at this moment wished he could verify that Lukar had died from a robbery and murder by a homeless man on a whim, and not been killed by Lance.
Because this way, it would mean that if he became a senior special agent, he would be safe.
But now, he knew that even if he became a senior special agent, he might not be safe.
Lance and his people were crazy, lawless. It was said that they had even killed the police chief.
Without thinking of this, Ponda felt that Golden Port must be a place forgotten by God, otherwise how could there be so many evil forces growing uncontrollably here?
The more criminal acts he came into contact with in his work, the more he felt a sense of powerlessness.
“What?”
“You don’t like my gift?”
Ponda immediately came back to his senses. “No, no, I like it very much… the gift you gave me.”
Lance nodded. “You will most likely become a senior special agent. I don’t need you to protect us. You do what you should do. Just let us know when there is sensitive news.”
As he spoke, he took out a briefcase from the side of the sofa and placed it in front of Ponda. “Open it.”
Ponda glanced at Lance and finally opened the briefcase. It was full of money.
“There’s fifty thousand here. I can’t be there to attend your wedding in person. This is another token of my regard.”
Looking at so much money, even Ponda’s heart wavered a little.
He owed Lance a sum of money, exactly fifty thousand. This could not but make him think more.
“You’re married, you have a child. There will be many places where you need to use money.”
“The child’s education, Lisa’s recovery, your parents will definitely come over to stay for a while. You can’t let them stay in a small hotel all the time.”
“You can go and buy a new house, a bigger one, so that the whole family can live there, or whatever you want.”
“Ponda, I know you still have some resistance towards me, but I hope you can understand that we are the best of friends.”
“Senior Special Agent is not your final destination. Even the director of the Golden Port Bureau of Hazardous Materials shouldn’t be your final destination. You should go further.”
He put down his crossed leg as he spoke, then stood up. “Alright, I have to go. You can enjoy yourself for a while before leaving. I’ve already paid.”
“Leave in about twenty minutes, so that no one will trouble you with these things.”
Ponda stood up and watched Lance leave, letting out a heavy sigh.
Just at this moment, there was a knock on the door. Then they sent in a girl with her eyes covered, fixed on a strange rack.
She had no clothes on, except for those white athletic socks.
Lisa had been pregnant for a while. He was a little scared and hadn’t had sex during this time.
At this moment, seeing this young girl, seeing her snow-white skin, seeing her covered eyes, a wave of emotion that Ponda himself did not want to admit, but which did indeed exist, began to surge in his body.
He reached out and touched the girl lightly. The girl reacted very obviously, as if she had been electrocuted.
The place he touched visibly broke out in goosebumps.
He swallowed, his breathing becoming heavy. He walked to the side of the rack, placed his hand on her, and caressed her gently, inch by inch, as if he were caressing a work of art.
At night, when he returned home, he hugged Lisa tightly. Guilt and remorse surged within him. He felt that he was not a fucking human being.
“What’s wrong?” Lisa felt some changes in his emotions.
At this moment, Ponda could only hide these surging emotions, but the fragments of what had happened in the afternoon flashed through his mind from time to time.
“Nothing, just haven’t seen you for a while and missed you very much.”
Lisa couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re acting like a child now.”
She pulled Ponda to the sofa in the living room as she spoke. There were basic art books on the coffee table, with some wedding dresses and suits inside. “You come and give some suggestions too…”
This night was undoubtedly difficult to fall asleep.
Lukar’s death, the locations of those bars, the fifty thousand in cash now on the ceiling of the storage room, and that young and hot body, as well as Lisa by his side and the child in her belly…
All of this was intertwined, like a demonic piece of music, making him feel terrified, yet he was reluctant to give it up.
(End of chapter)