The mayor was in a good mood now. He was flipping through the newspaper in his hands, but his attention was clearly not on it.
From time to time, he would raise his head to look at the clock, as if something related to time was firmly holding his attention.
Seeing that the time was already 3:20, the mayor folded the newspaper in his hands and placed it on the table beside him. “Speaking of which, that… what’s-his-name… should have already arrived at the police station, right?”
The secretary added from the side, “Bruce, sir.”
“Yes, yes, Bruce. He should have received his letter of appointment by now.”
Thinking of this, the smile on the mayor’s face became more pronounced. He gave his secretary an assignment. “What do you guess they will do?”
The secretary thought for a moment and said, “They will call you.”
The phone on the desk suddenly rang. The two looked at each other and shared a knowing smile.
The secretary walked to the desk and picked up the receiver. “This is the mayor’s office.”
On the other end of the line was Charlie. His tone was a bit agitated. “In the files for the police chief candidates I submitted to the mayor, there doesn’t seem to be a file for Bruce?”
The secretary’s tone became stern. “Are you questioning His Honor the Mayor’s decision?”
Under the mayoral system of governance, Charlie, with his status as a municipal councilman—which in the eyes of many was not even a real politician’s status—was simply unable to stand against the mayor.
The breathing on the other end of the line became a little more rapid. The mayor tilted his head and looked at the sunlight outside the window, which at this moment was as beautiful as his mood.
“No… I don’t mean that. It’s just that this person, Bruce… he, uh, the situation in the city is quite complicated right now.”
“We have a lot of cases to deal with, and at the same time, we are facing some special challenges. He has no experience with these things, and I am very worried that he will not be able to do his job.”
“And disappoint His Honor the Mayor and the citizens. After all, what we need is social stability, isn’t it?”
A good way of putting it. Charlie still had some ability, but the problem he was facing now was not one that could be solved by political means.
When a person doesn’t care about what they gain or lose and just wants to punch you, and you can’t defend or counterattack, you can only endure his fist kissing your cheek!
Besides that, you can do nothing!
He tried his best to explain, but these explanations were clearly meaningless.
The secretary glanced at the mayor. “The candidate files you submitted were only for reference, not that we must choose one from the few you provided.”
“Mr. Charlie, you are just a municipal councilman. The selection of government officials has nothing to do with you. No matter who City Hall chooses, it has not the slightest thing to do with you.”
“This is not your job. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Of course, Charlie understood, but it was precisely because he understood that he was so angry.
It was like he was telling Charlie that he had fucking overstepped his bounds!
But the police station was his territory, yet on this matter, he had no solution at all.
The only thing he could do now was to try to say some harsh words, threatening words, to make the mayor change his mind.
“This person, Bruce, doesn’t have much talent. He can’t play his role as an outstanding chief in that position. I believe he will not make the city’s public order better, only worse.”
“Right now, the most…”
Click!
The phone was hung up. Charlie stared at the receiver in his hand for a moment. His hand, gripping the receiver, suddenly tightened, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, as if he had to crush the receiver to relieve the hatred in his heart.
But gradually, his hand slowly loosened, and he slowly placed it back on the phone’s base.
This was another phone. He had just broken one, and although the club didn’t ask him to pay for it, he still signed a check for 200.
He rubbed his cheeks and then returned to the other room.
The gentlemen were chatting and laughing, talking about some interesting things. When they saw Charlie walk in, they motioned for him to come and sit.
“How did it go?”
“Is it good news?”
Charlie looked at the people here, not knowing what expression to use to face them. After a while, he finally squeezed out a smile. “It’s not good news.”
“The mayor rejected the candidate list I submitted and instead used Lance’s man, that guy named Bruce.”
The smiles on the faces of the Bay Area gentlemen gradually froze. The reason they valued the police department so much was that in the current law enforcement structure of the Federation, the police department was the most grassroots law enforcement unit.
They covered almost all types of problems.
Perhaps in terms of power, the police were not as powerful as the current Bureau of Hazardous Materials, but the Bureau’s law enforcement scope was very narrow.
They only had law enforcement power when dealing with illegal tobacco, alcohol, and hazardous materials.
Unlike the police, no matter what type of case or problem, as long as someone dialed the phone, they could interfere.
Every year, the Bay Area needed to deal with some troublesome things—bodies, contraband, dangerous goods, and the like. If the person in the position of police chief was not their own man, then the “rhythm of life” in the Bay Area would become very chaotic!
The gentlemen of the Bay Area had long been accustomed to the current rhythm of life. If they were suddenly asked to change, they probably wouldn’t be able to adapt.
“Is there any way to remedy this?” Mr. Hoff asked.
He was also one of the main beneficiaries of the police chief. He would torture those call girls with various instruments.
If his mood was relatively stable and he encountered something good nearby, then it would only be an ordinary fetishist’s carnival.
He would torture those call girls, and he might also injure them, but it would definitely not be fatal.
But if he had recently encountered something very bad that made his mood and temper very bad, then he might injure those call girls, or even kill them.
The little games of fetishism were always full of danger and fear. It was quite normal to accidentally make a mistake.
So at this time, with the police chief on his side, it would be very convenient to handle the body and subsequent matters.
Register the girl as a “missing person,” then dispose of the body cleanly, put it in a gasoline barrel, and throw it into Angel Lake, erasing the traces of her existence. Then all problems would be gone.
The Federation currently registered at least about 120,000 missing person cases each year, and the clearance rate for these cases was not higher than one percent.
This means that 120,000 missing persons went through the relevant procedures for missing persons through the police system, but in the end, less than a thousand might be found.
The other missing persons would eventually disappear completely, and people would never see them again.
And their families, after repeated disappointments, would eventually completely forget this former family member.
After all, life has to go on. Whether you can keep up with the pace of life or not, it will not stop for you. It will only keep moving forward, dragging you along.
When it drags you along and you can’t keep up, you will be abandoned by it.
Between the future of the family and the complete disappearance of one member, most people chose the family, not the missing one.
If the police chief was not their own man, and this guy pursued this body and case without letting go, it was very likely that he would eventually trace it back to them.
There is no perfect crime in this world. As long as there is a crime, there will definitely be insiders and evidence.
Mr. Hoff’s mood was very bad now. This was very bad news.
Charlie opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
Another gentleman could understand him. “The only way to change the result is to have the mayor revoke his decision, but we can’t persuade him.”
They had just beaten the man down. Before Councilman Williams became Mayor Williams, he was also a part of the Bay Area, so this statement was valid.
Mr. Hoff frowned. “What if we offer him something in exchange?”
Someone replied, “Perhaps there’s a possibility. We can try…”
A few people talked intermittently about some possibilities that might make the mayor change his mind, but the specifics would require them to talk to him themselves.
At this moment, Duke had also arrived at the police station. He had now been appointed as the deputy chief by Chief Bruce, assisting him in managing and controlling the entire police department.
In Hunter’s chief’s office, quite a few people had already gathered.
The faces of these people were filled with excitement and ecstasy. More than half of them were from the Empire District precinct and were old subordinates of Chief Bruce.
Now that he had been promoted to the chief of the city police department, these loyal subordinates would naturally be promoted along with him.
Another part, led by Nate, were local officers from the city headquarters. They had maintained a decent relationship with Bruce. Now that they saw Bruce had really become the chief, they had all swayed over.
Whether in politics or in the police department, there was no shortage of such fence-sitters. They would lean whichever way the wind blew stronger.
But for the current Chief Bruce, he still needed these people very much.
He was looking at the list of the police department’s management in his hand, then handed the list to Nate. “Brother, circle out Charlie’s die-hards.”
The surrounding gazes were all focused on him, which made his heart pound. While slowly circling the names of the police officers with a pen, he asked in as calm a voice as possible, “What are you planning to do with these people?”
Actually, it wasn’t what he planned to do with these people, but what Lance planned to do with them.
Lance already had a plan. Chief Bruce knew some of it. Before he was sure whether Nate and the people around him had really come over, he wouldn’t tell the truth.
“I plan to observe them first for now. If they are obedient and willing to work seriously, I can give them a chance!”
He looked at the others. “We all graduated from the police academy. We are all alumni. God can’t break our relationship, can he?”
The faces of those fence-sitters showed some smiles, and they all praised his “wisdom.”
Only he and Duke knew that a real “purge” was coming.
The important position of police chief had not fallen into Charlie’s hands, which set off an invisible storm throughout Golden Port.
The Kodak Family, which had originally planned to attack Lance’s strongholds, directly suspended their attack plan and began to gather their forces.
They didn’t know how Lance was going to deal with them. Previously, they had teamed up with the police to screw Lance over big time. If Lance did the same thing in return, they wouldn’t be able to take it either.
Several of the Kodak Family’s high-end bars directly announced their temporary closure, citing the need for redecoration, just to avoid encountering the same situation.
Just as they were all guessing what Lance’s next move would be, Lance had already taken a car to the state capital.
The capital of Likalai State is Manteno. This is the seat of the state government, and also the political core of Likalai State, as well as its former economic core.
The entire Manteno has seventeen administrative districts and a population of nearly two million. It is the largest city in Likalai State.
However, it’s possible that from this year to next year, the title of the largest city will be taken by Golden Port.
More and more refugees and illegal immigrants were entering Golden Port through various channels. From the current talks between the federal government and some international organizations, it was very likely that the federal government would let these people stay until the end of the war.
It sounded like there was no problem, but who knew when the war would end, and who could be sure that after the war ended, these people would be willing to leave the Federation?
This was a big unknown. But regardless, the sharp increase in the population of Golden Port was a fact.
Some residents of Manteno even had opinions on this. They felt that the title of the largest city being taken away was their shame, and some even suggested that Manteno should be the main receiver of refugees…
Well, let’s hope their petition can be realized.
The convoy entered a hotel in the center of Manteno. After a short rest, Lance took a car to a villa in the suburbs.
The area where the villa was located paid great attention to privacy. You could hardly see each other between the villas, let alone spy on each other’s lives.
After the car stopped, Lance took Mador into the villa and met the person he wanted to see on this trip—the Attorney General of Likalai State, Terry Elliott.
Terry Elliott is 49 this year, still in his “prime.” He has platinum blond hair, and even his eyebrows are light gold. Very much a man of the Federation!
As soon as he entered the door, he warmly shook hands with Lance. The State Attorney General is a very, very important position, but compared to the “rising stars” in Congress, it is still a lot worse.
Everyone has the desire to move up. Terry is also such a person. He hopes he can go a step further, so he needs more help, help from Congress.
“Mr. Lance, please come in!”
Before Lance arrived, he had already figured out Lance’s identity, in great detail, including that Lance was an Empire illegal immigrant, but he had turned himself into a man of the Federation by exploiting loopholes in the federal law. All of this had been figured out by him.
Officer Brayden, when facing a superior at the level of the State Prosecutor’s Office, did not keep this secret to himself, but generously revealed it.
It was precisely because he knew about this series of Lance’s methods that the Attorney General did not underestimate this young man at all.
Not to mention he also had connections in Congress!
Sometimes he really wanted to know, how did someone from the very bottom of society touch the very top?
Of course, he wouldn’t ask. He would only slowly uncover these secrets in their future interactions.
After Lance shook his hand, he entered the room.
This was the place where the Attorney General usually held secret social gatherings. The entire villa was only him, not even a butler.
He didn’t know what Lance had come to see him for, but he was very careful. Sitting in his position, he knew very well that maybe just one or two moments of carelessness could get him into big trouble.
“I hear that you are also a baseball fan, Mr. Attorney General?” After the two entered the living room, some small talk was needed before the formal topic began.
The Attorney General also nodded in acknowledgment. “I am a loyal fan of the Silver Mountain Team. I have their autographed bats and caps used by the batters in every championship they’ve won, as well as the championship ball!”
In the Federation, if you don’t know what a person’s hobby is, especially a man, then talking to him about baseball is the right thing to do.
If he doesn’t like baseball, then talk to him about football, talk about weapons, talk about hunting, talk about fishing…
There’s always one he likes!
Lance smiled and motioned for Mador to bring over the long box in his hand. At the same time, he said, “This is my first visit. I didn’t know what gift to bring, so I brought a baseball bat. I hope you’ll like it!”
A baseball bat?
Hearing this gift, the Attorney General couldn’t say he was disappointed, because some baseball bats, especially autographed bats used by Hall of Fame players, were not cheap.
But he wasn’t too expectant either, because even an autographed bat from a championship game of a Hall of Fame player would cost at most a few thousand to ten thousand.
He was actually quite satisfied with the gift Lance had chosen. As long as Lance didn’t give him a 9.99 metal bat from a store, he could basically accept it.
After all, this was their first formal contact.
When Mador placed the box for the bat on the coffee table, the Attorney General was a little surprised, because he could feel from the slight wobble of the coffee table that the box was very heavy.
He looked at Lance with some confusion. Lance turned the box around and motioned for him to open it.
The Attorney General looked at Lance for a while, then took a deep breath and opened it. Then his mouth slowly opened, and his face went from calm to shocked, then to a smile. Finally, he said, “This thing…”
He reached out and touched the pure gold bat in the box. He tried it. He really couldn’t lift it with one hand. How fucking heavy was this?
He didn’t know, but he knew that this gift was very thoughtful.
“It’s just an ordinary bat. I hope you like it.”
The Attorney General licked his lips. Although he was shaking his head slightly, the expression on his face did not express the meaning of “shaking his head.” “To be honest, I like it very much!”
A prosecutor with at least two luxury villas is definitely not clean.
Giving money, he might not like it. But giving a pure gold baseball bat, he definitely wouldn’t hate it!
The Attorney General closed the box again. “Could I trouble this friend to take it to the room inside?”
Lance gave Mador a look. The latter took the box into a room inside and then came out again.
In this interval, the Attorney General said with a smile, “I am also very familiar with the senator. You are his friend, which means you are my friend.”
“Don’t call me Attorney General. Call me Terry!”
Making friends is just that simple!
(End of a Chapter)