Chapter 460

“Pop…”

The guy in the passenger seat sucked his fingers, then took out a handkerchief to wipe them clean. “It’s been a bit troublesome observing these past few days.”

The driver was also cleaning up his leftovers. He put the remaining food scraps back into the paper bag and then casually threw it out on the roadside.

The cleanliness of the Federation’s ground was as much of a joke as the freedom it touted.

Trash was everywhere on the ground, but it was worth mentioning that you couldn’t really see cigarette butts here.

Because the cigarette butts were all picked up by some poor people and remade into rolled cigarettes to be sold to other poor people.

And there weren’t many valuable pieces of trash either. With so many refugees pouring in, the amount of valuable trash in the entire city was pitifully small, and the trash you could see on the streets was all worthless, unable to be exchanged for money.

The driver wiped his hands clean, swished the remaining dregs in his mouth, and swallowed. “His protection is very tight. We can only get him out through other means.”

For the past few days, they had been observing around Lance’s company and the places he might go. Lance’s security was very high, and there were no major loopholes.

Even if he went to the same place, he would constantly change his route, which made it impossible for people to ambush him on the way.

“Perhaps giving him a reason he ‘has to come’ is a good idea. Only then is there a slight possibility.”

“The Boss took this mission without a clear investigation. It was really unwise.”

The driver was a little worried. “The Lance Family is very powerful. I’m worried that if we fail, they might retaliate against us.”

The person in the passenger seat seemed very relaxed. “Don’t think too much. If he wants to retaliate against us, unless he can expand to Golden State.”

“And regardless of success or failure, we’ll leave as soon as we’re done, not giving him a chance to keep us here. Besides those people betraying us, I can’t think of any reason we would be exposed.”

The driver didn’t continue to talk about this topic that didn’t sound so auspicious. He pondered for a moment, “So do you have any ideas now?”

The person in the passenger seat nodded. “Give him a little surprise from a peer in Golden State.”

A little later, William gave Lance a call. “A few people came over to my side, said you arranged for them to protect me?”

“What’s going on?”

Lance had arranged security for all the important people, including William.

“We’ve run into a little challenge. They might use some irregular means. To prevent these things that would make me uncomfortable from happening, I’ve arranged bodyguards for each of you.”

“Protect Emily and Patricia.”

William was silent for a moment. “Sounds dangerous.”

“Actually, I have a guess, and I’ll know the answer soon. Then these problems will be gone.”

Lance didn’t think it was the Kodak family who had made the move. They had already been actively whitewashing themselves.

Although Gory was still in charge of some gang-related work, like smashing things and murder, he rarely did it so obviously anymore.

Now the Kodak family mostly used the power they had accumulated in the past, using legal means to deal with challengers.

Instead of actually fighting and killing, hiring a bunch of gunmen, and parading through the streets.

Besides, the core members of the Kodak family were all in Golden Port. If they acted recklessly, the trouble and danger they would face would be much greater than what Lance would face.

So from the perspective of “who benefits the most” now, the biggest possibility was the Liji Group.

The Liji Group was not a “civilized” company. During the Harvest Festival, Lance had also chatted with Hubert (Patricia’s second grand-uncle) about these things.

In the early years, the Liji Group had come to the Lawrence family, proposing to contract all of their agricultural product sales for the year.

When they came, it wasn’t like a business negotiation at all, more like a “firefight.”

Seven or eight cars, a total of twenty or thirty people, came. At a glance, they were the kind that were not to be trifled with.

But fortunately, the men of the Lawrence family were not timid and were not afraid of trouble. In addition, some of the cowboys who had grown up on the farm came out with guns, and in the end, they “failed to reach an agreement.”

Later, they encountered some troubles, such as animals being shot and killed, rice fields being set on fire, and the like. The two sides also had some actual friction.

Both sides had deaths and injuries. Only after confirming that the Lawrence farm would not compromise did they leave.

This was also why the Lawrence farm, despite having a large farm and so many agricultural products maturing every year, had no contact with any channel distributors and insisted on selling them themselves.

And it was said that they had done this more than once. In some more desolate places, there were even horrifying rumors that the Liji Group had killed farmers and then directly entrusted the farmers’ property to those farmers who were willing to cooperate with them.

In short, they were not good people, and using means outside the rules was also within Lance’s expectations.

William looked at the bodyguards in and out of the room. Although he was a little unaccustomed, it had to be said that the sense of security was maxed out.

“Let’s leave it at that for now. Pay attention to Emily and Pat…”

After the call was hung up, Patricia gave Lance a call. “A few people came over, said you arranged it. Are you in some kind of trouble?”

Lance repeated the explanation he had given to William. Patricia could also understand. After all, she had grown up on a farm in her childhood.

She had heard her grandfathers talk about the various evil deeds of the Federation’s agricultural channel interest groups since she was a child. She believed that these people could do such things.

“I will be careful. You be careful too!” she urged twice. “I plan to take leave. I’ve already told my supervisor. I’ll come back to work after this is over.”

The girl’s awareness was very high. There was no such thought as “I know I’m in danger, but my work is obviously more important than the danger.”

Lance was very gratified by this. He was originally going to take the initiative to persuade Patricia to rest for a few days.

The court was about to have a result. Once the prosecutor sued those few workers, the appellate court would reject the case and uphold the original verdict. Then, after Lance got the result, he could directly apply for compulsory enforcement.

At most, it would not exceed a week. If it weren’t for making everything comply with the procedure, in fact, this kind of case with conclusive evidence and a full confession could even go to a fast track court.

After the two chatted for a few sentences, Patricia hung up the phone. She had to go back as soon as possible, and by the way, she could also take care of Emily.

She was worried that Emily would be scared, but in fact, Emily wouldn’t be scared at all, because she had already taken out the pistol she had bought when she was young and was studying how to load the bullets.

A few minutes later, the police received a “tip-off call,” pinpointing the location of the last three fugitive criminals in the Liji Group’s wheat sprouting case, and successfully arrested them.

These people were very cooperative in completing their statements and confessing the crime process.

Among them, the main culprit claimed that they were insulted by the staff of the Liji Group during their work, which led to a psychology of revenge.

But they didn’t dare to directly harm those staff members, so they thought of using their identity as dockworkers to wet the wheat, causing them to sprout, causing losses to the Liji Group, to vent their anger.

The case itself was not complicated. There was a motive, a process, and an end. And all the procedures and processes complied with the judicial requirements of the Federation.

This case could even be used as a textbook example, with not a single problem or fault to be found. But the more a case was like this, the bigger the problem actually was.

In the police station of the Port District sub-bureau, a police officer answered a phone call and then left the police station.

He came to a coffee shop diagonally opposite the police sub-bureau and sat down, ordered a cup of coffee, and a pancake. Soon someone sat down opposite him.

This police officer sized up the person in front of him. He was also wearing a police uniform, but the temperament on his body made him look not much like an ordinary police officer.

“Your police uniform is too clean,” he said.

The guy in front of him was the legal consultant by the specialist’s side. He needed to have a private chat with a suspect to drag the case on.

If the prosecutor really intervened and entered the prosecution stage, then they would soon have to face a huge claim for breach of contract damages, which was not what the headquarters wanted to see.

So only by having a witness turn their testimony and make a confession that was unfavorable to the other suspects was it possible to drag it on.

The legal consultant ordered a cheap cup of coffee, then used a corner of his business card to dip some coffee and flick it onto his body. He also ordered a portion of butter, and then smeared the butter on his cuffs and collar.

This way his clothes looked like they had been worn for a long time, and his temperament was not as clean as before.

The police officer nodded. “That looks much better.” He picked up his coffee and took a sip. “You have at most five minutes.”

He shook his head as he spoke. “I actually didn’t want to help you, but I owed him a favor.”

“Don’t do anything beyond what you promised. I don’t want to get into trouble.”

Hunter had just called him and told him to find a way to arrange for a person to have a private chat with one of the suspects. Five minutes would be enough. He had originally refused, because the main culprit was under strict guard, but Hunter said that they wanted to see a less important accomplice. He agreed.

Although those accomplices were held in solitary confinement, in fact, no one was specifically watching them. They were all in independent detention cells.

As long as the door was closed, no one would know what was happening inside.

The legal consultant nodded. He also messed up his hair a little. “I won’t do anything else.”

As he spoke, he took an envelope out of his pocket and pushed it across the table.

From its thickness, there was at least $2,000 here, if they were using $20 bills.

“We didn’t talk about this before,” his gaze was fixed on the envelope.

The legal consultant said with a smile, “This is your remuneration. I don’t care what relationship you have with Hunter. You helped me, and he also helped me.”

“He helped me, and I have already given him his remuneration.”

“You also helped me. This is your remuneration.”

“$2,000.”

He even specifically said how much money was here.

When the guess became a reality, the police officer couldn’t help but gasp.

According to his current salary standard, this was almost two years’ income without eating or drinking.

He did not hesitate in the slightest, picked it up, and put it in his inner pocket. “Thank you.”

As he spoke, he stood up. “Let’s go. The sooner we get this done, the better. Otherwise, I always feel uneasy.”

The legal consultant followed behind him. The two of them entered the Port District sub-bureau one after the other.

Golden Port has a total of eleven sub-bureaus and one city police department, which is the general bureau.

Although the police system is a relatively closed system, the police officers between the sub-bureaus are not all familiar with each other.

There will always be some new faces. As long as the police badge on this police officer’s chest looks okay, then no one will stop him.

Especially since people at this time did not doubt his authenticity at all, because they did not think that anyone would be bold enough to impersonate a police officer, and fucking come to the police station for a walk.

The place where the criminal suspects were detained was behind the sub-bureau building. The police officer seemed to be on business, but in fact, he was leading the legal consultant to the detention cell of the suspect he had chosen.

The police officer took the initiative to walk to the side of the police officer in charge of guarding these people and found an excuse to leave with him.

As he was leaving, he glanced at the legal consultant and left without looking back.

The legal consultant picked up a string of keys from the table, found the one among them, pushed open the door of the detention cell, and then walked in.

The worker sitting on the bench looked up at the police officer who had come in, a little bewildered.

The legal consultant, however, in a very fast, but completely clear and understandable speech, stated the worker’s family situation.

Looking at the other party’s still confused face, he asked, “How much did they promise to give you to take the blame?”

The worker became a little vigilant. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No, you know, because they gave you a sum of money to take the blame. I believe it must be a not-so-small number, otherwise you would not have agreed.”

“I hear you will have to stay inside for at least five or six years, so do you think the money they gave you is enough to buy your precious time?”

The worker looked around. The legal consultant stopped his possible actions. “Don’t be in a hurry to shout. Let’s just have a simple chat.”

“After all, besides yourself, you still have a family, right?”

This sentence did not sound fierce at all, but it was precisely the most unsettling threat.

Because the worker was here and couldn’t get out for a short time, his concern for his family would be multiplied.

His expression also became serious. “If you dare to harm my family, I promise, I will find you and tear you to pieces.”

The legal consultant shook his head. “No, I have not harmed them. The one who has harmed them is you.”

Looking at the worker’s wide eyes as if he didn’t understand what he was saying, a smile appeared on the legal consultant’s face. “The most important growth period of your child, you have lost your companionship.”

“His classmates will also laugh at his father for being a criminal, and thus alienate him, or even bully him.”

“Your wife has lost your protection. She has no one to rely on. Even if they promise to give you a sum of money, but this money cannot replace you to accompany her.”

“She will be disappointed, she will be in pain, she will be lonely. Do you think such a woman, at her loneliest and most painful time, will need to find someone to accompany her?”

“Your parents, because of your imprisonment, cannot get your help, whether in life or in other matters.”

“They may also suffer huge psychological trauma because of your imprisonment, become silent, become unwilling to talk, unwilling to communicate.”

“Have you considered it?”

“When you are in prison and your family runs into trouble, who can help you?”

“Your wife, your child, they have lost your companionship. After a few years, can they still have the same feelings for you as they do now?”

“You have to learn to think. And it’s not just this way that you can make money.”

The legal consultant glanced at the watch on his wrist. “If you can tell the truth in court, then I will give you $20,000, a new job for you and your wife, and let you get away from Likalai State.”

“You don’t have to worry about the gangs causing you trouble, because they won’t be able to find you, and if they want to cause trouble, it will be our trouble.”

“Take the $20,000 and start a new life.”

“Or take what they promised you, I don’t know the specific amount, and spend the best years of your life in prison.”

“Let your child lose the pride of his father, let your wife lose the warmth of her husband, let your parents lose the support of their child.”

“When they need you most, where are you?”

“I believe you should have a choice.”

He paused as he spoke. “You can think about it seriously.”

“As long as you tell the truth in court, I can guarantee your safety, and I can guarantee that you can get this money.”

He looked at his watch again as he spoke. “I’ll be leaving first, but I believe we’ll meet again.”

He left the room directly as he spoke, re-locked the door, and then placed the key on the table.

When he had finished doing all this, the door of the detention cell just happened to open. The police officer and the guard came in from outside.

The guard’s somewhat puzzled gaze lingered on the legal consultant’s face for a moment, and the two brushed past each other.

“I haven’t seen this person before. Is he a new colleague?”

“He looks a little cocky.”

The police officer showed a slight smile. “I don’t know. you know a lot of people have been coming here recently.”

The guard nodded and sat back down behind the table. “Thanks for the cigarettes and donuts. My treat next time.”

The police officer smiled and patted his shoulder. “Anytime.”

He turned and left as he spoke.

He let out a heavy sigh of relief and pushed the door open to leave.

Outside the door, the legal consultant had already arrived at a phone booth and was dialing a number.

“I’ve already met him. There’s a high probability that he’s been shaken… yes, okay, I’ll keep an eye on it personally.”

He soon hung up the phone. Now what he needed to do was to make a child need a father, a wife need a husband, and a pair of old parents need their son.

(End of chapter)