Empire of Shadows

Federal people always like to separate public affairs from private matters.

When working, they don't like to be disturbed by private matters.

Just like outside of work hours, they also refuse to be disturbed by public affairs, although many times they cannot refuse.

At this time, it was obviously already night, but the telephone lines were not idle at all, but became extraordinarily busy.

Countless "behind-the-scenes gentlemen" communicated or issued instructions across the telephone lines.

And most of these calls pointed to Red High Heels, and things related to Red High Heels.

It seems that at certain times, people don't mind doing some work-related things in their personal time.

In the police station, Booker sat uneasily in the interrogation room. He had heard of the guy sitting in front of him, but hadn't had much contact with him.

He was just the former manager and current deputy manager of Red High Heels. He wasn't the kind of character who came forward. It wasn't him who did it before, and it isn't him who does it now.

But he had heard the name of this police officer, Hunter.

A very ordinary name, but behind this ordinary name were some rumors about him.

Rumor had it that Hunter was a capable assistant to the Bay Area Hounds. Although he was only a criminal investigation team police officer, his actual status in the Goldenport City police system was not much lower than that of some branch bureau chiefs.

He and Charlie had helped the masters in the Bay Area do a lot of dirty work, and had won the trust of the masters.

There were many rumors about him, and the more rumors there were, the more afraid Booker became.

Because he knew that only for cases that the masters valued enough would they send someone they trusted and who had enough reputation.

Like those marginal people, the command room interrogating them would just be the most basic-level police officers.

"You seem to be very hot."

Hunter took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over, "Wipe the sweat off your face."

"Thank you!"

Booker took the handkerchief and wiped the sweat beads the size of soybeans on his face in a mess. Soon the outermost two layers of the handkerchief were soaked with sweat.

"I'm very sorry, I'll buy a new one to return to you!"

Booker grabbed the handkerchief in his hand and apologized for getting it wet.

Hunter always smiled. He shook his head, seemingly not caring, "It's just a handkerchief."

He then took out a pack of cigarettes, handed one to Booker, and then sat not far from him, "Booker, you know, now the big shots are fighting, and small characters like us are being implicated."

"I always feel that whether we can go further is not important. What is important is that we are still alive!"

Booker smoked his cigarette, his hands trembling a little. He could only hold his hands together to stabilize his arms and palms.

There was no need to flick the ash. The shaking would cause the ash to slide down. He nodded, "Yes, life is the most important thing."

Hunter nodded noncommittally, "Look, I'm very happy that we can reach a consensus on this issue, then... Booker, I have some questions I want to ask you."

"You tell me what you know, I'll deal with the people behind me, and you protect yourself."

"Don't suffer or even die to keep other people's secrets. It's not worth it, is it?"

Booker nodded, "Yes, it's not worth it."

Hunter nodded with satisfaction, "When you were sending girls to the Bay Area, did you leave any evidence?"

"For example... records of the time, location, list of girls, names of clients, and whether you kept the checks or cash they gave you for each shipment to the Bay Area?"

Some customers also paid in cash, because cash is relatively difficult to become evidence.

They cannot convince the judge that a ten-dollar bill was given to him by these rich people. It is difficult to have substantial evidence in this regard, and the court is unlikely to adopt it.

Of course, if they are careful, they may be able to retain some fingerprints on the banknotes, which can become evidence.

However, with current technology, extracting complete fingerprints on banknotes is not an easy task, but it is not completely without a chance.

As for checks, they are relatively troublesome. There will be signatures, notes, and even fingerprints on them.

These will become important evidence, proving that those masters in the Bay Area are not just soliciting prostitutes!

Booker nodded, "I don't know about the money and checks, but I heard Sam say that he has a notebook to record the daily work situation..."

Hunter's eyes lit up, "Where is the notebook now?"

Booker quickly said, "I don't know, only Sam knows."

Hunter looked at him and sat on the table next to him, "Booker, I know you are an honest person. I heard that you and Sam have been together all the time. You must know where that notebook is."

Booker really didn't know, but he knew a general range, that is, the notebook was still in Red High Heels.

He just didn't know where it was. Sam never let him touch these things, but he knew it must be a very secret place.

Based on his understanding of Red High Heels, he actually had a few guesses.

Seeing Booker's somewhat moved expression, Hunter increased the stakes, "If you help me find the notebook, I guarantee you will safely return to the state prison and stay there for a few years before coming out."

However, in the end, Booker still didn't say anything.

He didn't tell Hunter about this, not because he was loyal to Sam, but because he wanted to see if these people could offer higher stakes.

Hunter looked disappointed when he couldn't get anything out of him, "You can think about it carefully."

Booker took a cigarette, already having recovered from his unease and fear, he shook his head, "I have to think about it carefully."

This was obviously a pretext. As Hunter was about to try to persuade him, someone knocked on the door outside.

He glanced back, then looked at Booker again, "You definitely know something, but don't forget, Sam also knows these things. Don't let your valuable information become useless."

"I may have to go out for two minutes. After two minutes, I hope you can become smarter."

After Hunter finished speaking, he gave Booker another cigarette and then walked towards the door.

Booker looked at Hunter's departing back. He actually had his own ideas.

He felt that Sam was unlikely to reveal this matter, because this matter was done privately by Sam himself. The mayor didn't know, and those rich people in the Bay Area didn't know. This was something Sam used to save his life.

As long as Sam didn't say it, he could take the initiative. He hoped to get more benefits from here.

It's not that he wanted to exonerate himself. He just wanted a shorter sentence and to keep the funds in his account.

He didn't know what Hunter was doing outside the door at this time.

"Sam wants a deal, and the state government has also called to inquire about the situation here. Sidney is putting pressure on us."

"The meaning of the Bay Area is..."

The speaking police chief made a gesture of extermination.

Hunter frowned, "So urgent?"

The police chief nodded, "The Liberal Party seems to be starting to pay attention to this matter. The Bay Area doesn't want more inside information to be dug out, so..."

He glanced at the room behind Hunter, "You have to get him settled as soon as possible."

Hunter nodded, "I know what to do."

After the police chief finished speaking, he left, and Hunter asked the police officer for Booker's confiscated tie, and then put it in his pocket.

He returned to the room, looked at Booker, who still didn't want to talk, and showed a helpless expression.

"Since you don't want to talk, then go back first. There will be a day when you want to talk."

As he spoke, he walked to the table, as if preparing to take him away. Just as he was taking something out, the handcuff key fell to the ground.

"My back hasn't been very good recently. Help me pick it up,"

He said.

Booker wasn't suspicious. One of his hands was cuffed to the chair, but the other hand could move, which was done specifically to make it easier for him to read documents or sign things.

He bent down, and his hand was about to touch the keys. Suddenly, it was as if something flashed before his eyes, and then he felt his neck being tightly strangled.

His whole person almost subconsciously kicked his legs and wanted to stand up, but Hunter's entire weight was already pressing on his back, firmly controlling his movements.

He kept hitting Hunter on his body, hitting his body, wanting to say something, but whatever was tightly strangling his neck prevented him from uttering even a syllable!

The more he struggled, the more panicked he became, and the more violently his body consumed oxygen.

After only forty or fifty seconds, after two violent struggles, Hunter felt all of Booker's resistance collapse in an instant.

He still continued to strangle hard for a while before loosening the tie.

"You're such an idiot!"

He grabbed his collar with both hands to make his messed-up clothes look neater, and then he dragged Booker's body to the window and thoughtfully helped him tie a knot on the window with his tie, and then hung him up.

He rolled up his sleeves, picked up the mop and mopped up the urine stains left on the ground, and finally observed the entire room before nodding in satisfaction, putting down his sleeves again, putting on his clothes, and walking out of the room with his head held high and his chest out.

It is normal for criminals to commit suicide out of fear of being brought to justice after being arrested, isn't it?

Perhaps the only thing that can be criticized is that they did not confiscate the suspect's tie, but who would have thought that someone would hang himself with a tie?

After leaving here, Hunter went to the place where those girls were held. There were only seventeen or eighteen girls in total. He hadn't counted them carefully.

About half of these girls were locals from the Federation, deceived, kidnapped, and trafficked to Red High Heels.

After enduring both physical and mental torment and abuse, they finally chose to submit and provide services to Sam.

Now, what Hunter and the others need to do is to select the girls who have served a very few local big shots from among these girls.

In fact, interrogating these girls is much simpler than dealing with others. They think they have been rescued, and they will say everything without reservation, no matter what the police officers ask.

Some girls even broke down emotionally several times, which also made them almost completely reveal everything they had encountered in Red High Heels.

One by one, written records were sent to Hunter. He carefully looked at each file and then selected five girls from them.

Looking at these young faces, Hunter's heart was not as calm as his appearance suggested.

Sometimes, doing dirty work too much can make a person numb. He had heard people say this, but he always felt that he was still a little bit away from being numb.

He hoped he would become numb so that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable, especially when doing this kind of thing.

He looked at these five files. They were all pitiful girls who originally had their own happy lives, but because they were targeted by some psychologically twisted big shots.

So they were kidnapped and sent here, and after being tamed, they became the toys of the big shots.

Now, the big shots are afraid that these toys will become the fuse that will lead to their disgrace, so they want to destroy these toys.

The toys are innocent, there is no doubt about that, but their fate is also doomed.

From the beginning, development, and process of the whole thing, to now, all the participants know that they are innocent, but this cannot change their ending.

Just as he was sitting at the table with his head down, pushing his hands back along his hairline, revealing a trace of fatigue, someone pressed his shoulder.

"Are you tired?"

It was Chief Charlie's voice.

Hunter quickly stood up, squeezed out a smile, "No... a little."

Chief Charlie saw the five files that had just been blocked by his body, casually flipped through them, "Life is always like this, we have to do a lot of things we don't want to do."

"When we were young, our parents asked us to do homework. We didn't want to do it, even if we knew that doing homework was taking responsibility for our own lives."

"When we were teenagers, our parents and teachers asked us to do some things we didn't like to do. We still didn't want to do them, even if we knew they were right."

"Just like now, we clearly know that we should do this, but perhaps other reasons will make us hesitate or even question the next step."

"At this time, you have to ask yourself, is it necessary to do this, is it good for you!"

Seeing Hunter fall into thought, Chief Charlie said with a chuckle, "I probably won't be able to retire in this position."

"This time our mayor doesn't intend to let this old man retire gracefully, so... Hunter, I will nominate you to take over my job, but I'm not sure if they can agree."

He squeezed Hunter's shoulder, "No one can make choices for you. Choose what you want. In any case, I support you."

Hunter glanced at the five files on the table. He grabbed them in his hand, "I know what to do."

Soon these five girls were singled out. Hunter stood in front of them with a smile, "Your problem has been solved. Sam is also very cooperative. You can go home!"

The girls, who had been inhumanely abused for several months, were overjoyed and wept. They hugged each other, encouraged each other, and congratulated each other on regaining their freedom and embracing life.

Hunter didn't disturb them. After they vented their emotions, he continued, "But now there are still some procedures you need to complete. Get in this car, and our police officers will take you through the final process. Then you can embrace freedom and go home."

The girls got into a police car almost without hesitation. It was obviously a car used to escort prisoners. Hunter locked the rear compartment door from the outside and then entered the driver's seat.

At this time, it was night, and the surroundings were dark. Even the car lights couldn't illuminate too far...

The car quickly disappeared into the night. Chief Charlie retracted his gaze from a distance and returned to the unfinished work in the police station.

Sam wanted to find someone with enough weight to trade with him. He mentioned a person.

Councilman Wade.

Councilman Wade represents the local stubborn forces, has very typical representativeness, and his status and reputation are also convincing.

Councilman Williams is also a good choice, but Councilman Williams is too old. He needs to think about too many things, and he may not be able to truly take care of Sam.

So Sam hopes to talk to the younger Councilman Wade to get the other party's promise and protection.

And Councilman Wade is also very interested in the deal proposed by Sam. Everyone hopes to have more handles on friends or political enemies, and he is on his way.

Everyone is paying attention to this transaction, and everyone has a feeling that this matter will not end so simply.

Forty minutes later, Chief Charlie saw the police car returning, but it was not the one Hunter drove out, but the police car that came to pick him up later.

They returned to the police station. The moment Chief Charlie saw Hunter, he showed a smile of great appreciation for him.

He even took the initiative to walk over, and without regard for Hunter's current dirtiness, he gave him a hug directly.

"Everything will be alright!"

He didn't ask Hunter how he dealt with the girls who had mastered secrets they shouldn't have, nor did he ask him what psychological changes he had, just gave him a hug.

For a moment, Hunter had an illusion that he was the victim, even though he was the perpetrator.

But he gladly accepted all of this, which made him feel better.

Perhaps this is the price of growth.

The police released some more girls one after another. After all, it would be difficult to do if only five people were missing after dealing with five people at once.

They let these girls go so they could explain that they didn't know what happened to them after they left.

As for other people, such as Sam, they are still in custody.

Chief Charlie, the mayor, including the wealthy people in the Bay Area, are all interested in his notebook, but also feel fear!

Sam himself also knows very well that no matter who he gives the notebook to, he will offend the other party.

For him, this seems to have become a dead end!