Shadow Empire

Chapter 258 Whose Wine?
The ringing of the telephone interrupted the conversation between the mayor and lawyer Orson. He looked at the phone for a while and picked it up. It was a call to his private number, so it must be something important.

"This is Sidney."

"It's me, Dale. I got an important piece of information. There are hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine stored in a warehouse at the dock."

The mayor helped him reword it, "Smuggled liquor."

Chief Dale understood immediately, "Yes, smuggled liquor. Do you think we should take action against this batch of liquor?"

The mayor thought for a moment, "Why not?"

"Isn't this the great opportunity we've been looking for?"

"Give them a heavy blow and let them know that this is not their Jingang City, this is the Federation's Jingang City!"

"Wait for my call. Before we give them another try, we also need to be prepared."

He then talked for a few more sentences, saying that he would try to get Congress to pay attention to this situation in advance. With the attention of Congress, the local stubborn forces would have no choice but to bow their heads.

In front of Congress, these people actually have no so-called "weight" at all!
After hanging up the phone, the mayor looked at Attorney Orson, who was communicating with him about some work and other matters.

"Almost all the industries we control are now shut down. Either there are no customers, or some of their tactics have affected our business."

"Besides that, Eric's condition is a bit bad. He is scared by Lance and hides in the villa all day and is unwilling to go out. Moreover, his dependence on painkillers has become more serious."

"I have asked my doctor friends that some of the popular mainstream painkillers are likely to cause dependence once used multiple times."

“They don’t have any research on dependence and withdrawal yet.”

"You know, the medical groups want everyone to take their drugs at high doses every day. This dependence is money to them, and they will not take the initiative to solve this problem."

The mayor rubbed his temple, "Dale found a warehouse at the dock that stores a lot of wine, hundreds of thousands of goods!"

Lawyer Orson seemed to straighten up a little. He thought for a moment and hesitated, "Hundreds of thousands of dollars of goods, such a huge loss, will they... use risky methods to solve it?"

The mayor picked up the phone again, "So I have to make a call first..."

The call was made to the desk of Mike (Socialist Party representative of Likalai State). Mike had a good impression of the mayor, mainly because the mayor gave him a lot.

Everyone hopes to have a generous friend, and the mayor fulfilled Mike's little wish, without him having to spend any money anyway.

"Hi, the weather in the capital is nice today. I hope the weather in Jingang City is as good as here."

"Then I should ask, is there anything I can do for you?"

Mike was lively, and the mayor didn't mince words with him, "We found hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of smuggled liquor at the dock, but this involves some local stubborn forces."

"Mike, you know that the situation in Jingang City is very complicated, and Dale and his men have already encountered two bomb attacks."

"I'm worried there will be a third time, or a fourth time."

"Hundreds of thousands of smuggled bottles of liquor would drive them crazy, so I'm not sure if we should catch this batch of liquor."

Although the mayor couldn't see Mike at this time, he could imagine the changes in Mike after he knew the news.

Not annoyance, but excitement!

This is exactly the kind of example Congress needs. This kind of confrontation is always escalating. If Congress cannot catch any major cases during the confrontation, it will give people the feeling that they are always fighting small battles.

They won't accept this outcome, they need a big case.

However, Mike did not express his opinion immediately. He had to listen to the mayor's ideas first. These mature politicians knew when to hide their thoughts and when to expose them.

"So what do you want?"

The mayor licked his lips. "I'm worried that they will retaliate against Dell and the Hazardous Materials Administration again. Our police chief just resigned, and they didn't do enough to deal with those thugs."

"I heard that the Likalai State militia is currently undergoing routine training. Perhaps we can have them come to Jingang City for a tour."

The changes in the international situation made the Federation nervous. It was not only Lance or a few others who could foresee the war that was heading towards a complete outbreak.

The federal government also felt the tension in the air before the storm. Recently, militia organizations in various states have begun to intensify training, and the federal military has also begun to replace equipment and actively respond to wars that may break out suddenly at any time.

If the mayor could get the militia to come and support him, he would feel much more at ease.

No matter how strong the firepower of those gangs is or how many people they have, they are just illegal armed organizations among the people.

Mike thought for a while after listening to this and said, "I can't make the decision on this matter. I have to continue to report to my superiors. You wait for my news."

After hanging up the phone, Mike thought about it and called a congressman. He actually had the phone number of the Socialist senator, but it was not a good idea to make these calls rashly.

The Federation seems to be free and casual everywhere, but in fact, behind this free and easy appearance, there is a strict hierarchy.

He believed that the gentlemen in Congress would like the news.

This was indeed the case. In less than a day, before leaving get off work in the afternoon, Mike called the mayor again.

"I have talked to some senior party members, and they highly recognize your work results. If there are indeed uncontrollable factors in Jingang City, then the state government has reason to send militia to Jingang City to suppress the riot."

"But, Sidney, we are friends, so I am telling you this. If you can avoid using the militia, it is best not to use them."

"Golden Harbor City is the Federation's window to the world. There are many foreigners there, and even some consulates. Congress doesn't want certain scandals to become international news!"

"Once you do that, it affects their opinion of you, and your A's on your transcript will become C-minuses, you know what I mean?"

The mayor took a deep breath and said, "Don't worry, I won't do anything rash."

Mike didn't care whether he was telling the truth or not. "The higher-ups want to see your results as soon as possible. If you need to use the ultimate weapon, call this number. Remember it."

After hanging up the phone, the mayor lit a cigarette and sat in a chair thinking for a long time. Of course, he understood what Mike meant.

The big shots want results and they also want to maintain their respectability, these bastards!

When he had almost finished his cigarette, he picked up the phone and dialed Dell's number.

Dale had been waiting for this call since he called the mayor in the morning, so he picked up the phone after it rang only once.

"This is Dell."

"It's me. Congress is very interested in the outcome of this battle. You can go ahead and do it. If necessary, we can mobilize the militia into the city."

"But it's best to keep the situation under control. Also, you have to be careful. I feel like they might attack you, no matter who they are."

Even if it was the mayor himself, he would go crazy if he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of liquor!

If these bottles were sold separately in a bar, their value would swell to millions. If they were sold in the Bay Area, the price would be even higher!

Everyone in the entire Hazardous Materials Administration was waiting for this news. After Dell hung up the phone, he felt full of energy. Congress had noticed this, which meant that he appeared in the sight of congressmen again.

Instead of notifying people to take action immediately, he dialed the number in the capital. After a brief communication, he finally left the office.

It’s not that he didn’t trust the mayor, but he didn’t want to be thrown out as bait.

He wants to be the fisherman, not the bait!
When he came to the hall, many people had already gathered there. He said that there might be a special mission today and everyone should not go home for the time being, so they were all gathered here.

It was already daylight saving time. Although it was six o'clock, it was not completely dark yet. He coughed, and everyone's attention was drawn to him.

"Golden Harbor City will remember this day."

"The Federation will remember this day!" "Each of you will become a hero!"

"I am now announcing the personnel deployment and action plan. Ponda, you will temporarily serve as the deputy commander of the first team, and I will be the commander myself."

"Team Two..."

As people quickly divided into teams, many curious eyes fell on Panda's face. He seemed particularly excited!

Senior agent, he is not far away!

Suddenly he felt that doing business with Lance was actually a good idea. Although everything Lance did had a purpose, at least they really cracked down on smuggled liquor and achieved brilliant results!
Following Director Dale's order, a large number of agents began to take action and all five armored vehicles were put into use.

The machine gunner in a steel helmet seemed to be going to participate not in an operation to confiscate illegal liquor, but in a war!
The moment the convoy left the Dangerous Goods Administration, the various spies "on duty" at the door hurriedly called to inform the forces behind them.

At this time, many eyes were watching this group of people. When they found that the convoy of the Hazardous Materials Administration was not heading towards their territory, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

But when they learned that the convoy was heading to the dock warehouse, they all became uneasy, even though quite a few of them had legal procedures and certificates.

This proves that the wine in the warehouse was purchased before Prohibition, proving that they were merely storing the wine and had no intention of selling it.

A large number of cars drove towards the dock, and they wanted to know what these mad dogs were trying to do!
At this time, the dock had already received Director Dell's request. Although the dock management company was reluctant to let them enter the dock, they finally chose to give way in the face of those cameras and long guns.

Following the clues provided by Ponda, the convoy came to a warehouse. They knocked on the door of the warehouse directly. As the rolling door was pushed open, a strong aroma of wine immediately wafted out.

Everyone's spirits were lifted, they had made a discovery!
Director Dale could barely conceal the smile on his face. He strode into the warehouse, turned on the lights, looked at the mountain of wine, and waved his fist vigorously.

The moment he turned around, his expression became extremely serious, "Seize these smuggled liquors immediately and take them away!"

The manager of the dock management company couldn't help but run over and said, "You are breaking the law!"

"You have no right to seal up the materials stored here..."

A senior agent directly demonstrated their legal authority, "We have the right to seize and confiscate these illegal smuggled liquors. If you continue to interfere with our law enforcement, don't blame us for taking you away too!"

The manager shut his mouth, gave a vicious look to a few people, then turned and left.

Someone looked at Chief Dell and asked through eye contact whether to bring the man back, but Chief Dell shook his head and refused.

He is very happy now, but also sad, because... there is too much wine here.

A simple preliminary estimate is that there are about 8,000 boxes, each box contains six bottles, totaling 40,000 to 50,000 bottles of whiskey, and the price of these whiskeys is around 15 to 20 dollars.

This is wine worth seven or eight hundred thousand!
In fact, when I saw these wines, I felt a little bit of fear amidst the excitement.

That's too much wine!

While he was having people load the truck, he began to think about what to do next.

About twenty minutes later, seven or eight cars rushed over quickly and a large number of people got out of the cars.

The leaders were still yelling at them to stop.

Chief Dale stepped to the front, standing between them and the warehouse.

"Do you know whose wine this is?" a guy who looked like a lawyer asked with a hint of anger on his face.

He was having a great time exchanging body fluids with two legal interns when suddenly the door was kicked open.

Although it was his boss who kicked open the door, he still had enough reasons to be angry.

He didn't dare to be angry with his boss, but he could get angry with Chief Dale.

He took out several documents from his briefcase and showed them to Chief Dale, "These are the documents proving that these drinks are legal!"

"You are stealing our legitimate property. If you don't stop, I will sue you in court..."

Before he could finish his words, a man who looked younger pushed him aside and walked over.

In fact, he realized that the Hazardous Materials Administration was determined to take advantage of the wine today.

"Do you know who I am?", he asked.

Director Dale looked at his face carefully for a while and shook his head. "I don't know who you are, and I don't care who you are. You'd better take your people and leave."

Perhaps they seemed to feel the aura of Wolfley and were oppressed by it. The machine gunners subconsciously turned their guns and aimed at him.

Feeling the tremendous pressure from the black muzzles of the guns, the young man's chest rose and fell rapidly, and he said in waves, "Good, very good."

"You're in big trouble, Dale, remember my name, Wolfley Koda!"

He reached out and nodded to Chief Dale's chest, "You're going to regret this."

Director Dell did feel a little regretful, but he would not show it. Instead, he acted nonchalant in front of his subordinates.

A disdainful smile appeared on his lips, "Justice will eventually triumph over evil, Mr. Koda."

Wolfley sneered and seemed to want to say something, but in the end he said nothing.

He did not try to provoke Dell out of spite. He could not guarantee that the machine gunners would not open fire. He glanced at the machine gunners on the armored vehicles, turned around and sat back in the vehicle in a somewhat embarrassed manner, "Let's go!"

The convoy left, but it was far from over.

This gives Director Dell a headache!

In fact, he wouldn't care if it was any other force or gang, even if the wine belonged to Senator Wade, he wouldn't care.

Because Congressman Wade does not have access to the Congressional level, he can only have a good relationship with local opinion leaders.

Mr. Hof's influence in the Likalai State Socialist Party is not as great as that of party representative Mike.

But it just so happens that this warehouse belongs to the Kodak family.

Many people have rumored that the Kodak family is also transferring benefits to Congress. Dell came from the capital, and he knew very well that once the issue involved the personal interests of the congressmen, they would lose their minds!
I hope these rumors are just rumors, otherwise it will really be a trouble!
He looked back at the warehouse again. This warehouse was not registered with anyone related to the Kodak family.

Director Dale must have done his homework, but there was no point thinking about it now. He could only urge people to load the wine into the car as soon as possible.

The sea breeze is very strong at the dock, and there are many large machines and various vehicles here. In addition to the fishy smell of the sea, there is also the endless smell of burning engine oil and gasoline in the air.

So much so that some agents did not notice that these boxes were actually emitting a similar gasoline smell, although not as strong!
Forklifts continued to deliver large amounts of wine to trucks. The full trucks would soon return, accompanied by armored vehicles. Director Dell demanded that all the wine be delivered back to their warehouse as soon as possible.

Now that it was done, he would not stop.

As trucks continued to come and go, it was not until eight o'clock that all the wine was transported away, leaving only an empty warehouse.

At this time, the sea breeze blew, and the smell of alcohol in the warehouse dissipated a lot, but inexplicably there was a smell of gasoline.

But at this moment, no one noticed this. Their attention was focused on the Hazardous Materials Administration and the wine.

They really want to know what Director Dell, the mayor, and the Kodak family will do, if the previous "confrontations" were considered to be just the right amount.

This time, it was a real fight.

Gary from the Kodak family (Fleming's uncle and the second-in-command of the family) immediately called his acquaintances in Congress and said that such a large amount of money was not given for free every year!

For a moment, some congressmen who were preparing to take a break also became busy. No one expected that catching a typical example would indirectly catch themselves!
When they catch others, they have no hesitation, but when they catch themselves, they have to consider...

(End of this chapter)