Shadow Empire

Chapter 655 Lock and Response

There were seven or eight young people standing in the room, all of them were the same age as Arthur. Lance's eyes swept across their faces one by one, then turned to look at Mayor Williams, "You and your family may need to stay away for a while."

“Sometimes people lose their memories of a certain period of time, and we need to help them recall it, which can be a little bit…”

He turned his wrist, with a look of regret on his face, suggesting that those people might not be willing to cooperate. When the word "pain" came out of his mouth, some people were happy and some were afraid.

Mayor Williams shook his head. He sat there, pointed to his chin, and lit a cigarette. “No, I want to know why it was him.”

Lance did not object to Mayor Williams' decision, and then he looked at James.

James also shook his head. “Although I sometimes think Arthur is a little immature and a little stupid, he is my brother and my family after all. I have to know the truth!”

Regardless of whether these words were his true thoughts or just his performance, they were indeed very meaningful.

Mayor Williams looked at him with a very gentle expression, and even his wife's expression when she looked at James became somewhat moved.

Lance finally looked at Arthur's mother, one of the few beautiful women Lance had ever seen -

If she wasn't beautiful enough, even though she was young at the time, it would have been difficult for Mayor Williams to become obsessed with her and even marry her when she was still a minor.

Federal law does not require adults to be of full age to marry and have children.

Sometimes it is not a shocking thing to see student mothers who already have children in college or even high school.

A beautiful woman with the sadness revealed on her face at this moment, she has even more privileges.

"That's my son!", he said through gritted teeth, and Lance nodded.

The room was large, and he sat on the sofa, taking off his gloves and coat. "I need a few rooms, and some tarps."

He looked at the housekeeper, "I'm afraid I'll dirty the carpet here."

James was about to say "Don't worry about getting the carpet dirty", but Mayor Williams stopped him, "Don't talk."

He looked at Lance, "You can use all the rooms, I just want to know the result."

He could see that the "interrogation" had actually begun from this moment.

This is just the first step in the interrogation, to exert psychological pressure.

The housekeeper quickly asked someone to get large pieces of rainproof cloth, as the manor also needed them.

Sometimes some walls or roofs may be damaged and require temporary rain protection.

Or maybe their swimming pool or something needs to be protected from rain and fallen leaves, and also needs a tarp.

By the time Lance had them spread out the tarpaulin, the young men's legs were already shaking.

"My people will ask you some simple questions, questions that you must know the answers to."

Lance stared into their eyes, observing their expressions, "Think carefully before answering, calm yourself down, if you are not that person, there is no need to be afraid."

"Nonsense, nonsense, you must accept the punishment!"

"I know it's impossible for everyone to be involved, but some of you must have been involved."

"Helping us find him is not only helping us, but also helping yourself and your family!"

After saying these words, Lance took out a box of cigarettes, lit one himself, and then put the matches and cigarettes on the table.

Lance looked at Erwin, "Take them in for questioning separately, you make the arrangements."

After the others were taken away separately, Lance looked at Mayor Williams and said, "I have sent people out to look for Arthur. They must have left some traces in the city. As long as there are traces, we will definitely find him."

Mayor Williams' emotions have stabilized a lot. The appearance of Lance has begun to push things forward instead of standing still, and he has an outlet for his emotions.

"They must have done it."

The "they" he mentioned, of course, refers to those people in the Bay Area. Then he became angry, "These sons of bitches broke the rules!"

He looked at Lance with an extremely determined look in his eyes, "I want them dead!"

Lance nodded, "No problem."

"I don't think we need to worry that much. Nothing will happen to Arthur until they achieve their goal."

"So now, we just need to find him and bring him back."

Mayor Williams nodded, lit a cigarette, and waited quietly for news.

About ten minutes later, Erwin brought over several confessions. During this time, Director Blue and Deputy Director Duke also arrived, as well as their respective confidants.

The mayor's youngest son had been kidnapped. When the two of them learned about it, they broke out in cold sweats.

Fortunately, Lance was already here, which made them feel somewhat relieved.

At this moment they were standing in the corner. In the eyes of ordinary people they were absolutely big shots, but in this room, they were no different from the people outside.

Lance took a look at the documents in his hand, compared them for a while, handed them all to Mayor Williams, and then asked Erwin to bring one of them out.

He was a tall and thin man who was Arthur's college classmate. He originally came from a middle-class family.

But since he had been following Arthur as his lackey for so many years, he had achieved an amazing class advancement and had become a small capitalist.

His parents and uncle all started companies to provide supporting services for the industries controlled by Arthur.

Even though it seems like just a side job, it can bring at least 200,000 or 300,000 yuan in income to him and his family every year!

And as the industries he and Arthur own cooperate better and better, and his relationship with Arthur gets better and better, their income will also increase.

From the background check, it seems that he has no reason to hurt Arthur, but nothing can be taken at face value.

"They all said it was you, and suggested we get together in the evening."

The hair of the young man standing in the room was wet with sweat. Although there was heating in the room, it was winter after all.

He wiped the sweat off his face and said softly, "I said..."

Mayor Williams clenched his fists tightly, and was a little emotional, but Lance seemed very calm. "Who told you to do this?"

The young man immediately said, "Yes..." He mentioned the name of another person among them, a short guy, "He called me at noon and said that we haven't gathered for a while and that we should get together."

"We talked about a lot of things from the past, like how we would be with Arthur all day."

"I thought...if I proposed it, it would make Arthur more favorable, so I suggested that we get together in the evening."

"Is he here too?"

"Yes, too."

Lance asked Alvin to bring the person out. When the two men stood there, Lance had actually already realized that there was something wrong with the person behind.

When facing fear, people will show some underlying things, simple fear, or uneasiness, panic, and guilt because of something they did that caused the fear.

Some things can be hidden through training, but for this person, who has not received professional training, it is difficult for him to hide his inner thoughts.

Just by standing there, the uneasiness he displayed made it obvious that something was not right with him.

It is the police who want evidence.

Lance is not a policeman, he doesn't want evidence.

"Who asked you to ask Arthur out?" Lance asked directly.

The short man who was dragged out was still pretending to be stupid, "I don't know what you mean, Mr. Lance, it wasn't me who called Arthur to come out..."

Lance glanced at Devin, who pulled out a dagger from his waist and cut off a piece of the dwarf's finger when the dwarf wanted to struggle but didn't dare to.

The intense pain and fear broke through his defenses without any hindrance, and he immediately confessed a name. Mayor Williams' expression suddenly became much uglier. "It's our mutual friend." The "mutual friend" here definitely does not refer to Arthur and that person, but to him and those people in the Bay Area.

This "friend" also lives in the Bay Area, and their relationship can even be said to be okay, not bad.

Mayor Williams then glanced at the dwarf, and the hatred in his eyes was revealed without any concealment.

He turned to look at Lance, who received his "signal" and nodded slightly. He turned to look at the dwarf, "Do you know who kidnapped Arthur?"

"Is he a gang member, or someone's bodyguard, or their friend or something?"

The dwarf stammered and shook his head, saying he didn't know. "He just said he wanted to talk to Arthur privately, without disturbing others. I thought he would be back soon!"

According to his confession, he accepted the invitation because the other party had leverage over him and also promised to give him and his family a large order.

Under the double threat and inducement, and because he did not think the other party would hurt Arthur, he made this happen.

After failing to get any new information out of them through other means, Lance asked Alvin to take these people away.

The wounds and the parts of limbs that fell on the ground made the three "big shots" in the room look unhappy. Arthur's mother's face turned terribly pale, but she also felt a sense of relief!
James' face was also a little pale, but better than Arthur's mother. On the contrary, Mayor Williams' expression was the most stable.

He must have witnessed many big scenes in his life. Even if he has not seen them with his own eyes, he is at least mentally prepared.

James lit a cigarette to calm down the shock brought by the intense and impactful scene just now. He asked, "How much of what he said is true?"

Before Lance could answer, Mayor Williams answered for him, "It's very likely true. He was scared to death."

Although he is just a lackey of Arthur, he is still a member of the upper-middle class and lives a life of luxury without worries about food and clothing.

This kind of person has never seen such a scene before. The sharp knife cuts off part of his tissue. The pain and fear stimulate him and make him hope that everything will end as soon as possible.

And telling the truth is undoubtedly the only way to achieve this.

At the same time, he also had to consider the possible consequences if his lies were discovered, so Mayor Williams believed that what he said was basically true.

James nodded, "So what do we do next?"

Lance didn't make a decision on his own. He looked at Mayor Williams, who was silent for a while and said, "I'll make a call."

Instead of making the call in the living room, he went to his study, and returned about seven or eight minutes later, much earlier than Lance expected.

"No one answered. They must be planning something."

Knowing his son's whereabouts and the pain of the dwarf, his mood began to calm down, and his calmness and rationality returned to him.

He no longer thinks about these things as a "father", but as a mayor and a politician.

"They want me to back down, to compromise, to threaten me with Arthur."

"I'll need your help next, Lance." He glanced at Chief Blue and Deputy Chief Duke again, "Of course I'll need your help too."

There are some things that are easy for gangsters to do, but there are also some things that are easy for the police to do.

The two young police officers did not dare to take the risk and immediately nodded and agreed, "No matter what happens, Mr. Mayor, anytime, anywhere!"

Mayor Williams nodded and rubbed his forehead. "I'm very sorry for wasting a lot of your time. I will contact you when I have news."

His wife looked at her husband in disbelief. She could tell that Mayor Williams meant that they could all go back.

Arthur still has no concrete news, how can he let these people go back? !

She looked at the angry expression on the man's face as if she was asking him "Why did you give up Arthur?", but she didn't say it. She knew that she was not as wise as her husband. She was waiting, waiting for an explanation.

The two chiefs left first, saying goodbye to everyone and going straight to the police station. They would not return home until Arthur was found.

Lance left a little later because he needed to sort out some things, and he took the dwarf with him.

Apparently, Mayor Williams had hinted to him that this man and his family would pay the price!
Then what awaits the dwarf and his family is only a heavy price!

"Why don't you let Lance go and find Arthur?" After everyone left, Arthur's mother couldn't help but speak loudly.

The butler dismissed everyone and left the room himself, standing outside the door. There were only three of them in the room.

Mayor Williams rubbed his temple, "Where can I find it?"

The woman raised her hands in bewilderment, but quickly put them down again. "No matter where you look, he must still be in the city. Let's look in all the possible places, maybe we can find him!"

Mayor Williams continued to stare at her and asked, "What are the possible places?"

"Name a few!"

The woman was silent again. “Fuck, how the hell should I know?!”

"This is your business, you have to do it, not me!"

Mayor Williams sighed, "We can't find him, he must be hidden. Don't worry, his value is more important than his life now, he is safe."

"If we go out to look for him on the streets now, it will only lead to some unknown changes. Those wavering people may turn neutral again, or even turn towards them!"

"This is a game. Whoever loses control first will lose the game and everything!"

Mayor Williams pursed his lips and said, "I love Arthur as much as you do. I promise, I will bring him back!"

In the end, a woman can only choose to trust her husband, just like more than 20 years ago, when a 16-year-old girl resolutely married Congressman Williams, who was older than her father.

"Don't make me sad, okay?"

Councilman Williams nodded and hugged her, "I swear!"

"Go and rest. James and I will talk again."

After watching his wife leave, Mayor Williams sat back on the sofa and sighed heavily, "We pushed them too far."

James nodded, "So they couldn't handle the pressure."

"This shows that our current strategy is correct!"

Mayor Williams nodded and said, "Let's put them in their current position and what should they do next?"

"Just one Arthur is not enough, and it may not force us to completely compromise. After all, everyone knows that besides him, I also have you."

As a father, this sentence is obviously very cruel, because at this moment, Mayor Williams is thinking about possible subsequent problems and thinking about countermeasures to these problems.

There is already the factor of "Arthur has been killed", and he has added this possibility into the mix, which also means that he may choose this option when he is required to make a choice!

But as a politician, this is undoubtedly qualified. We cannot avoid something that might happen just because of some emotional issues of our own.

Both father and son fell into deep thought, wondering when and where the next "attack" would take place.

After coming out of Williams Manor, Lance was also thinking in the car.

Suddenly kidnapping Arthur doesn't seem like a smart move, and it will only completely infuriate Mayor Williams.

Unless they have a complete plan, after completing these plans, Mayor Williams' fate will be worse than Sidney's, so bad that he may no longer even be the mayor!
They want to force Mayor Williams to resign!

The retreat on the road suddenly accelerated, and in less than twenty minutes, they returned to the company from the suburbs.

All the cadres are already here. Lance looked at Bolton and said, "Have your people move as soon as possible. I want to know if there is anything different in the city than before."

"For example, some uninhabited houses are suddenly occupied, and some strange cars are suddenly parked on certain streets."

"In short, you think about what characteristics these people have, and then do it."

"Don't be afraid of wasting time and resources. We will verify and investigate all suspicious targets."

"Also, I need someone to keep an eye on the wealthy people in the Bay Area so that when I need them, I can immediately know where they are or who they have met."

(End of this chapter)