Lance was discussing some matters that needed attention with everyone when the phone suddenly rang.
The attention of everyone in the room immediately focused on the phone.
They could feel that the recent atmosphere was very serious, and they could also vaguely guess that a bad phone call would unveil the curtain of the upcoming “great era.”
Was this the call?
Many people’s hearts began to beat faster. The phone just kept ringing in the room.
After it had rung several times, Lance picked up the phone. “This is Lance.”
He was already prepared to receive not-so-good news, but definitely not bad news. He had already made some preparations.
He had so many businesses under his name. It was not a very good choice to deal with him by attacking his businesses, so in a sense, he actually had no “fatal weakness.”
This was a good thing.
He thought that a certain bar or a certain person would say that they were now being attacked or investigated, but he didn’t expect that the person who called was actually Ponda.
“I want to see you,” he said.
During this period of serious consideration, he finally decided to completely side with Lance.
He had also heard about what was happening outside, and had even heard some extra rumors. The Bay Area’s dissatisfaction with Lance was because of Lisa.
Of course, the rumors were not spread directly like this, but he guessed that this had a certain relationship with Lisa.
He felt that he should do something.
Lance agreed to him and then hung up the phone. “Ponda wants to meet with me. I don’t know what he wants to do. You guys go on with your work first.”
Someone reminded, “Be careful!”
Lance nodded and had someone make preparations. Soon, several cars left from the back alley.
More than ten minutes later, the convoy entered the docks.
The docks were now Lance’s territory. Almost 70% of the workers here worked for Lance, so it was very safe and reliable here.
These workers actually knew very well that if someone else came, they might not be as stable and comfortable as they were now.
Besides a small fee, Lance never charged them extra. He would also give them free work clothes, gloves, and labor protection items.
What they gave to Lance was actually much more than what Lance took away.
Meeting at the docks was also for safety.
In a remote corner with few people, Lance waited for Ponda.
Ponda got out of the car. He looked a little haggard.
During this period, Lisa’s mood had been very bad, and Ponda’s mood had also been very bad.
On the one hand… he instinctively couldn’t accept the thought that Lisa had slept with many people, but he and Lisa had met after all that was over!
The most crucial point was that being a call girl was not Lisa’s original intention; she had been coerced!
After meeting and marrying him, she had always been loyal to him, and was even pregnant, and would be giving birth in a few months.
His mood was very contradictory now. On the one hand, he felt… not so comfortable about Lisa’s past experiences.
After all, the secret garden that should have belonged only to him had traces left by more than just him. At this thought, he felt very uncomfortable.
He was a little afraid to go to the Bay Area now, because he had a psychological shadow that he didn’t know how to tell others about!
He always felt that the well-dressed men he met on the street might have once patronized Lisa, might have been inside Lisa’s secret garden!
This made him very pained!
But he was unwilling to lose Lisa, even if she had been a high-class call girl, even if he might meet many of Lisa’s former clients in Golden Port.
It wasn’t her fault, nor was it his fault. It was the fault of those who had forced Lisa, and the fault of those in the Bay Area!
He had been in a lot of pain during this time, and had also been thinking. In the end, he had made a decision. He wanted to maintain this marriage, to make it work.
At the same time, he also wanted more power!
When he had higher power, no one would laugh at anyone because of these things, nor would anyone bring up these things again to hurt him or Lisa.
Power was the biggest solution to his current predicament, bar none.
“I’m sorry!” The first thing Ponda said made Lance feel a trace of surprise.
“Sorry?” he repeated, and then handed a cigarette to Ponda.
Ponda took it and took out a lighter, lit Lance’s, and then his own.
“That matter with Lisa… you got implicated because of it.”
He looked at Lance with a sincere expression. “I heard that the Bay Area’s dissatisfaction with you is because of that old dog Hoff. He has a wide network of connections. Our matter has implicated you.”
Lance waved his hand. “No one would stand by and watch her fall into such a situation. I don’t regret it, and you don’t have to apologize to me for it.”
Ponda pursed his lips. “Has anyone ever told you that sometimes you are more of a gentleman than those gentlemen?”
He took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled slowly. The cold sea breeze instantly blew away the smoke. For a moment, it was hard to tell if it was cigarette smoke or the warm air he had exhaled.
“I’ve thought a lot, Lance.”
“The best way not to be hurt is to hold the weapon in your own hands, not in the hands of others, and then ask for help when I am hurt.”
“Of course I’m not talking about this matter. I still have to thank you and apologize to you for this matter. I’m just saying… for the rest of my life.”
“I want to be a senior special agent, I want to be the director. I need help, and I can also help you!”
A very profound realization. Only after being severely hurt can a person have such a profound realization.
The way life teaches people has always been so cruel, just like running. If you don’t fall hard a few times, you will never learn how to run correctly!
“How can I help you?”
Ponda touched his slightly thin cheeks. The stubble was very prickly.
His immediate superior had been causing him trouble. He actually knew why—because his immediate superior had taken the promotion opportunity that was originally his, so they were naturally at odds with each other.
Even if Ponda did nothing and thought nothing, his superior would suspect that this guy might be up to no good.
So Ponda had directly set his sights on this guy.
“I want to replace him. Help me!”
Lance did not answer immediately. He smoked several puffs of his cigarette. After he had finished his cigarette, he finally nodded and said, “I will.”
The two embraced. Ponda quickly drove away. The work of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials has always been very dangerous. Some accidents happening at work, isn’t that normal?
Although senior special agents mostly would not personally go to the front line, once they encountered a big case, they would not let it go.
The merits that could be obtained from sitting in the office and from commanding on the front line were completely different!
You have to know, every big case requires a complete report from multiple people, and it will also be reviewed by the superiors. If the report states that the senior special agent did not go to the front line, then he can basically only get a little bit of soup from this credit.
Want to eat meat?
Not a chance!
After returning to the car, Lance was thinking about helping Ponda with this matter. Strictly speaking, now was actually not a good time, because the external pressure was very great.
But it was also a good time, because Ponda’s joining could stir up more water for him!
The Kodak family’s casino could not do without liquor. There must be people from the Kodak family in the Bureau of Hazardous Materials.
As long as they went to investigate the Kodak family’s casino, those liquors would be put away.
When they left, the liquor would be taken out again. Of course, this referred to the private rooms, the private gambling tables.
Having the Bureau of Hazardous Materials keep an eye on the Kodak family’s investigation could play an important role and divert the Kodak family’s attention.
Then all Lance had to deal with would be Charlie, Hunter, and the people from the Bay Area.
In an apartment in the Starlight District, Eugene came out of the bedroom. During this period, he had been hiding here. Lance’s men were still searching for his tracks outside.
Stone had talked to him about this matter, telling him that he would be safe soon, but before that, he had to hide for a while longer.
They had chosen an apartment in the Starlight District. It was also Stone’s, or rather, Fleming’s decision.
The Kodak family had a strong control over the Starlight District. At the same time, they didn’t think Lance would think that at a time like this, Eugene and his family had not only not left Golden Port, but were hiding in the most prosperous place.
It wasn’t that Stone hadn’t thought of sending Eugene and his family out, for example, to other cities or other states, but he quickly dismissed this idea.
Because his, or rather, Eugene and his family’s whereabouts, also represented the face of the Kodak family.
If people knew that they had been forced by the Lance Family to send their own people away, what would they think of them?
At the same time, Stone believed that it wouldn’t be long before the Lance Family was destroyed. Everything would soon be over, and this city would return to its former state.
Hiding in this apartment, Eugene’s whole person was in a daze. In this period, there were no rich family entertainment activities. Besides sleeping, he was sleeping.
Sometimes he couldn’t even tell the difference between day and night. Besides reading books, newspapers, and magazines, he was sleeping.
When he woke up, he would continue to read books, newspapers, and magazines. When he was drowsy from reading, he would fall asleep.
If he didn’t look at the light outside the window, he could no longer distinguish between day and night.
“Where’s my son?” He picked up the cigarettes on the table, took one out and lit it, and then sat down at the dining table.
There was some food on the table. In fact, he couldn’t feel hunger or fullness. He just instinctively picked up a fork from the plate and put some food into his mouth.
Every few days, people from the gang would send these over. They were all very good ingredients, and sometimes they were already cooked.
He was not lacking in this aspect.
He had eaten several mouthfuls in a row. He suddenly found that his wife was standing in the corner of the kitchen, looking a little uneasy, and had not answered his simple question.
He immediately frowned. As Stone’s trusted subordinate, he was definitely not a fool. He had already realized that something was wrong.
He immediately rushed into another room, his son’s room, and did not see his son.
Then he checked the bathroom, and the young man’s figure was not there either.
An angry look had already appeared on his face. “Where did he go?”
His wife answered tremblingly, “He… he said he was bored and wanted to go out for a walk. He didn’t tell me where he was going.”
“Fuck!”
“Don’t you fucking know what time it is?”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
His wife lowered her head and said softly, “He wouldn’t let me…”
He wouldn’t let her.
Eugene himself was in a daze, not to mention his son.
How could a young man stay in this environment all the time? He had wanted to go out for a long time. It was just that he might have been a little worried before, but the safety of this period had made him start to ignore the danger and become more irritable.
He could no longer stand being in this apartment all day, unable to go anywhere. He wanted to go out.
His father worked for the famous Stone, which meant he was not short of money, nor social status. He wanted to return to that life of debauchery, to drink with girls, to sleep with them.
He didn’t want to be in this room with only newspapers, magazines, and books, facing his father and mother every day.
Even if it was just to go out and play for a little while, he would feel as if he had come back to life.
This was the Starlight District. He was too familiar with it. He had lived here since he was a child. He would not be in any danger.
Eugene’s cold eyes looked at his wife. His temples were throbbing. He had a headache now, and also anger.
He picked up the phone and had his subordinates go and find his son as soon as possible. This was the only thing he could do now.
At this moment, he was still holding on to a glimmer of hope. It was just… going out for a bit. Nothing unexpected should happen.
At this very moment, in a bar in the Starlight District, he was drinking with a few friends.
The scent from the girls around him mixed with the smell of alcohol, making him intoxicated, and even forgetting the danger.
“Where have you been during this time?”
“We couldn’t find you at all.”
On the table in front of the few people were several kinds of liquor: beer, brandy, and whiskey.
There were also some snacks, fruits, and some candies.
This was not the Kodak family’s bar. The bar was now a gray-area business, currently all under Stone’s management.
Eugene was Stone’s trusted subordinate and would often appear in various similar industries. And as Eugene’s son, he also often appeared in these places with other gang members or their children.
After all, he was more or less a “young master.” These gang members were all very familiar with him.
If he had appeared in the Kodak family’s bar, it wouldn’t have taken five minutes for his old man to know that he had secretly run out.
He had had enough of hiding in that small apartment. This was not what he wanted. He wanted alcohol, he wanted to drink with his friends, and to vent his emotions.
So he had secretly run out, after his father had fallen asleep. He would secretly go back after he had had his fun. No one would find out about this.
He and his friends chose a safe bar. The few people sat down, and he took a big gulp of liquor.
The moment the alcohol entered his body, his whole person seemed to relax.
He put his arm around the girl next to him, his hands wandering all over her body.
The soft and tender touch made his whole person almost burn up.
“Something came up at home, but it’s no problem. Everything will soon be back to the way it was before.”
The girl held a wine glass and fed him a mouthful of wine. After he had finished drinking, he took a deep breath on the girl, a look of intoxication and a smile on his face.
These friends did not know what had happened to him. The conflict between Eugene and the Lance Family was only known by a very small number of people. They did not continue to ask.
Young people, when they are together, it’s naturally alcohol, tobacco, and sex. He had been suppressed too hard during this period and was already a little impatient.
He unzipped his zipper and signaled for the girl to sit on him.
At first, the girl refused, but under the support of one banknote after another, she could no longer care so much.
She was like a knight, riding Eugene’s son. Everyone had drunk a lot of liquor, so the atmosphere naturally became very lively.
Actually, the operator of the bar didn’t really like this kind of thing happening in public. The bartender had a security guard go and remind them to be a little more restrained.
As a result, the security guard came back soon after he went, with a surprised expression on his face. “It seems to be the person the Lance Family is looking for.”
“Go and watch them.” The bartender had someone replace him at his job. He came to the manager’s office in the back.
“I saw Eugene’s son.”
The manager didn’t react at first. “Who is Eugene?”
“The son of the guy the Lance Family is looking for.”
The manager reacted at this point. Alberto and Francisco had told them about this matter and had also sent them a photo.
Lance had not asked Alberto for any help, but on the matter of finding people, Alberto had still taken the initiative to help.
He was not afraid of the Kodak family, let alone offending them.
Although he couldn’t spare the manpower to search for these people all over the streets now, it was no problem to have the bars and strip clubs under his command pay attention.
Unexpectedly, there was actually a harvest.
The manager quickly picked up the phone and dialed Alberto’s number.
Now most of the family’s affairs were handled by Alberto and Francisco. The call was quickly connected. “Boss, the person you asked us to keep an eye out for is in our bar.”
Five minutes later, Lance knew about this matter.
Twenty minutes later, several cars were parked outside the bar.
About half an hour later, a few young men, drunk, came out of the bar.
If it weren’t for the fact that they were still in the “hiding” period, Eugene’s son would have planned to spend the night here.
But today he was finally satisfied. He had used up all the savings he had stored up for many days in one go. In addition, with the intake of alcohol, his whole person was comfortable.
As the few of them were walking out, they were arranging the time for their next meeting. Just as they reached the side of the road and were about to get in a car and leave, a panel van stopped in front of them.
Before they could react, a few more people came from behind them. They grabbed the young man, who could barely stand, and threw him directly into the car, and then got in the car together.
The car quickly accelerated and disappeared into the night. The whole process took about ten seconds. By the time these people reacted, the car had already disappeared.
(End of chapter)