Shadow Empire

Chapter 1108 Kidnapping and Choice
"Mom, when can we go back?"

In a small town in the next state, the bearded man's wife was holding their child's hand as they shopped for necessities for the coming week at a supermarket.

Ever since the bearded chief decided to side with Lance, he has arranged for his family to be placed in this place.

This is where his wife's younger brother works. His wife's younger brother is the local police chief, a man of some authority.

Small cities have their disadvantages, but their advantages are also obvious. The city is small, and all outsiders are easily discovered.

With his own people in the police station, the bearded chief thought the arrangement was very reliable, and he didn't even tell Lance about it.

Lance had previously suggested to him that he send his family to Licarle State or New Gold City, and that Lance would arrange for them to be protected, but the bearded chief refused.

His refusal was expected by Lance. After all, as a new partner who didn't really know or trust each other very well, if he were in the same situation, he would also find it difficult to send his family to the other's territory.

The bearded chief might even suspect that Lance might use his family to remotely control him, making him do things he doesn't really want to do.

So in the end, he chose his own idea, a decision he considered very safe.

The mother and son had been staying in the villa for over a week, and the bearded bureau chief had repeatedly asked them not to show their faces.

Many gangs in the central United States are affiliated with the Perez family. These gangs may not play a significant role in gang wars, but they will obey when it comes to finding people without much effort or cost.

Once discovered, they will likely be in trouble.

At first, the bearded man's wife did listen to him and stayed in the villa, quietly waiting for news.

But... their child was still young, and the novelty of the villa quickly wore off. He started clamoring to go out for a walk, even if it was just for a little while.

The bearded bureau chief's wife wasn't a very tough person, and it was her child who was pleading with her, so in the end, she agreed, making the child promise again and again that it would only be for a short while.

Walking through the supermarket, the bearded bureau chief's child didn't find it particularly interesting; the meager selection of goods and lack of toys made him feel bored.

After browsing for a while, he got a little bored, so he asked the question that concerned him the most.

When can they leave here and return to the old city?

Although it's called the "Old City," it's far more developed in every aspect than this place.

He liked life there; it was pleasant, relaxing, and had amusement parks, unlike here, where there isn't even a fun amusement park.

The bearded bureau chief's wife squeezed the little boy's hand, "We'll be able to go back soon."

The little boy lowered his head in disappointment. "I want to go see a movie."

His mother was taken aback. "We agreed before we came out that we only had half an hour."

The little boy whined and protested, "No, I want to go see a movie! It's so boring here, there's not even a TV!"

Television is still a luxury item that is difficult for ordinary people to access. Although its price has dropped rapidly from 2,000 yuan to 300 yuan, it is still a luxury item for ordinary working families.

It is said that several domestic TV manufacturers are preparing for further price reductions. Rumor has it that the president of one of these companies has internally demanded that the price of TVs be reduced to 100 yuan within two years!

If its price really drops to one hundred yuan, then it will be qualified to enter more households.

However, they haven't achieved this yet, so the upstream and downstream industries surrounding television haven't yet covered some smaller cities, such as television stations, television signal towers, and cable television networks.

There's no signal here, no wired network, and even if there were a TV, it wouldn't play.

This was terrible for the little boy who had gotten used to life in the big city. He was fed up with the boring life here and now desperately wanted to go back to the big city.

Kids will cause trouble when they want something but can't get it.

He didn't actually want to watch any movies; he just wanted to express his attitude in this way. As long as he wasn't allowed to go back, he would cause trouble.

The little boy's mother looked at him and finally nodded helplessly in agreement to his request to watch the movie. The two policemen behind them looked at each other and then shook their heads helplessly.

They agreed on half an hour, but now they want to extend it. However, they don't think there's any danger in doing so, even though it deviates slightly from the original plan.

They were arranged by the bearded chief's wife's brother to protect them; two policemen were more than enough to handle any situation in this small city.

Soon they arrived at one of the few movie theaters in the city, where a large crowd had already gathered. In this small city with limited entertainment options, movies were definitely the most popular and one of the few forms of leisure to choose from, making movie watching very popular.

Soon a new disagreement arose: the little boy wanted to see an art film after only seeing the promotional poster, because he felt that the poster for that art film better suited his aesthetic taste.

However, the bearded bureau chief's wife was trying to persuade him to choose a comedy, saying that children wouldn't understand art films, but comedies would.

The depth of art films is beyond the comprehension of even adults, let alone children!

After another argument, the bearded police chief's wife finally gave in to the child. However, neither she, the little boy, nor the two policemen beside them noticed that while the little boy was throwing a tantrum, the eyes of several young people outside the movie theater fell on them.

At first, they thought it was just a normal argument between a mother and son about what movie to watch. Such things often happen between parents and children.

Parents want to completely control their children, even arranging what movies they watch, and rebellious children often resist and struggle with all their might.

But soon their gazes became somewhat strange.

When Bob decides to kill the bearded chief, and he himself hides in the police station and refuses to come out, using his family to force him to compromise is the simplest and most effective method.

Gangs are not those who claim to be partners of justice; they only care about the results, not the process. If something works, they will do it.

As for morality and such, that's not within their scope of consideration.

They notified all the small and medium-sized gangs in the central United States who were affiliated with them, telling them to keep an eye on the bearded bureau chief's wife and children.

There are photos, photos from the school's student roster, and descriptions of the mother and son.

During this period, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of gang members saw the boy's photo. Finding someone is certainly not something the gang leader would do himself; it would be done by his gang members.

No one has found the mother and child in the past two days, but they have indeed been searching for them.

People thought that the bearded bureau chief must have hidden his family very well and wouldn't reveal anything, which was just a choice to do his best and leave the rest to fate.

But it seems that things took a turn for the better here.

The young men quickly dispersed; some stayed to watch the movie theater, while others reported the incident to their respective gangs.

Before long, their gang leader and officers arrived, bringing with them a photo of the little boy.

"Right in this movie theater?" A man who looked a little thin, even a bit "weak," wearing sunglasses, pulled down his glasses and looked carefully at the name of the movie theater.

The young men under his command nodded repeatedly, "Yes, I watched them go in."

The gang leader nodded and ordered his men to block the back entrance of the movie theater, while the others waited there until the movie ended.

Actually, there was no need to wait until the end of the screening, because art films are very boring. The little boy could only watch for about ten minutes before he couldn't stand it anymore and started clamoring to leave and go home to sleep.

Throughout the ordeal, the bearded police chief's wife repeatedly apologized to the two officers protecting them, and for the children's rudeness.

The apology was very effective; the two officers, who had initially been somewhat impatient, showed maturity and magnanimity.

When the four men walked out of the movie theater, the two police officers clearly sensed that something was amiss.

The moment they stepped out, some people who had been parked by the roadside, smoking against the railing, or sitting on the steps suddenly stood up, their eyes all fixed on them. These people were gang members; the city was small, so small that the police actually knew quite a bit about these gang members.

The two officers exchanged a glance, then immediately grabbed the woman and child and ran toward the police car. Their actions alerted the gang members who were waiting for them.

The gang leader was determined to curry favor with the Perez family, so he had given his men a death order to capture the mother and child!

The gunfight was actually over the moment it broke out.

When the two officers saw the gang members draw their weapons, they raised their hands and threw their pistols on the ground.

As the gang members approached, one of the officers, his face ashen, said, "You're not planning to stay here any longer. Do you know who they are?"

The gang leader nonchalantly held the woman and child's hands, glanced at him sideways, said nothing, got into his car, and quickly drove away.

Once they've curried favor with the Perez family, who the hell would still be hanging around in a small town like this?
Their future is in big cities, among the stars and the sea!

By the time the bearded bureau chief's wife's younger brother found out about this, more than ten minutes had passed, and the bureau chief's wife and child had already disappeared.

This small city has several roads leading out of the city, and he had no idea whether the other person was still in the city, had already left the city, what road they took, or whether they took a train. He knew nothing.

All he could do was tell the bearded bureau chief about it as soon as possible.

"So...it's confirmed that they've been kidnapped?"

The bearded bureau chief's voice was low on the phone, and you could tell he was feeling very down.

His wife's brother gave an embarrassed "hmm," and said, "I've already sent people to look, but they haven't found anything. You know, I'm just a sheriff, not the chief."

He can only mobilize the people under his own command. It's not impossible for him to mobilize people from other departments or other police chiefs; a few or a dozen is no problem, but any more would require going through procedures.

After all, the police department is a federal law enforcement agency, not a private company that can do whatever it wants. Besides, he's not the head; he's just a nobody.

Although he was heartbroken, what's lost is lost.

After a brief silence, the bearded bureau chief seemed to have accepted the fact. "I understand. I'll try to find a way to rescue them."

His wife's brother expressed his apologies for his mistake at work, and then added, "If you need anything from me, give me a call!"

The call ended quickly, and the bearded bureau chief sat there in a daze for a while before making a call to Lance.

Lance has now arrived in New Gold City, which isn't too far from here.

"This is Lance..."

"It's me, Hel from the old city. I've run into a little trouble."

"What's the trouble?" Lance asked.

The bearded bureau chief lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said, "My family members may have been arrested by the Perez family."

They had discussed this issue before. Lance paused for a few seconds, then asked, "What happened?"

He recounted what he knew, leaving Lance speechless. "I told you before that the best solution was to send them to me, but you refused."

“I will have someone investigate this matter, but I must tell you the truth: the chances of finding them are very, very low.”

“If this happens on my turf, I can guarantee they will stay on my turf and will not be moved.”

“But this is not my territory. I am not familiar with the situation of the gang branches here, and I have no connection with them. I can only arrange for someone to investigate and ask the state police to help coordinate.”

The state police department is under the jurisdiction of the state government. Lance could send a message to them to pay attention to the kidnapping incident that is happening on the interstate highway.

But in reality, it didn't have much effect.

It's impossible for the police to stop every passing car, search them, and question every child about whether they've been kidnapped.

They could only rely on their own experience and preferences to randomly inspect some of the passing vehicles; for example, some people thought that a van should have been used in this kidnapping incident.

Then they would abandon the search of other vehicles and focus mainly on vans.

The success rate of such interceptions, which are driven by strong subjective intentions, is probably less than one percent, so it's a matter of doing one's best and leaving the rest to fate.

However, this saying does have some effect in comforting people; it's better than doing nothing at all.

"Thank you, thank you so much for your help!" The bearded bureau chief looked tired, and his voice sounded weak and listless.

Lance smiled and said, "You're welcome," then asked, "Hel, when I consider things, I like to start from reality and I like to take precautions for all possibilities."

"I mean, if we hadn't stopped the car with your wife and kids, and they ended up in Bob's hands, what would you have done next?"

“They will definitely force you to do things you don’t want to do right now, and they might even… You know, we’ve had a very pleasant working relationship during this time.”

“The more we cooperate, the more he hates you. I’m worried he’ll try to lure you out and then kill you.”

"Because of the hostile relationship and hatred between you, it's very difficult to resolve simply. Do you understand what I mean?"

Lance's words forced the bearded chief to think about these things. In order to help Lance, the police had also killed some members of the Perez family gang during the arrest.

The officers who fired the shots still had many options left, since they were merely carrying out orders. The real target of their hatred was the bearded chief who gave the order, so he actually had no way out.

At this moment, the bearded bureau chief's mind was in a state of great confusion. He knew what Lance meant by those words, but he found it hard to accept the outcome.

He did not answer Lance's question and remained silent.

Lance continued, "I'm not asking you to make any particular decision. I'm just telling you what you'll be facing. How you choose to act on that is your prerogative, and I won't interfere."

"Actually, for me, it's just a matter of changing partners."

"If the newly appointed director can cooperate with us as closely as we do, that would be best. If he is unwilling to cooperate with me, I can only do the same things as Bob."

"I hope our cooperation can continue. After all, we already have a foundation of mutual trust. Please think it over carefully."

"Give me a call if you need anything from me."

After saying "okay," the bearded bureau chief hung up the phone and began to think.

He loved his wife and children, but he also knew what he was about to face. So he sat there, silently smoking one cigarette after another.

That evening, Bob called him.

“Your wife and son are in my hands, I think we can talk.”

“Look, we’ve known each other for much longer than you and Lance have. Even if we’re going to cooperate, it should be you and me, not you and him.”

“Hel, I know what kind of person you are. We shouldn’t have done this. Now God has given us a chance to correct our mistakes. We should sit down and talk.”

"To show my sincerity, you can take your family with you, regardless of whether we can reach an agreement!"

(End of this chapter)