Chapter 1087: Compromise and Transaction

Compromise and Transaction

After thinking for a while, the senior agent supervisor looked at the person who could now be called his best friend and asked a very critical question: "If I say... no, will I die?"

He stared intently into his friend's eyes, hoping to get the truth from him.

And his friend, after finishing the drink in his glass, met his gaze, looked into his eyes, and said in a very firm and certain voice, "Yes."

"And I can tell you very... cruelly, not just you, but your wife, your children, and possibly your other family members and relatives will be implicated."

"You are still harboring fantasies about this matter, brother!"

"You are not a law enforcer right now, nor are you doing something for judicial justice. You are being used as a knife to stab at a monster-like interest group that the people behind you dare not face directly. How good do you think the outcome for you, this knife, will be?"

He shook his head. "If you are lucky and you succeed, you will be discarded by them as a sacrificial pawn."

"Then the people on this side will kill you and your family to vent their anger, and at the same time warn others that anyone who dares to reach out to them must pay a heavy price."

"Wasn't there a saying that was often used before?"

"If you want a group of monkeys to stay obediently in the monkey mountain, the simplest way is to kill one of their kind right in front of them."

"And you are that sacrificial offering."

"If you don't succeed, if the interest group on this side isn't crushed in this game, if Lanse White isn't caught by you, and you don't send him to prison or the electric chair, how do you think your end will be?"

"The people behind you will fail. They might still have ways to protect themselves, give up some interests, and then completely admit defeat and leave the game table."

"But what about yours?"

"What about the fate of you pawns?"

Every word he said could be said to come from his heart. On one hand, he truly did not want his good friend to stand on the opposite side of him.

On the other hand, he indeed wanted to persuade this good friend to come over, allowing him to gain more attention from more people within the entire interest group.

This meant that he would have a greater chance of promotion later on, and when the time came, the power in his hands would become greater, and his income would also increase.

Now he has only changed to a better house, so what about in the future?

Will it be replaced by a better large villa, or even a large manor?

Will his children, in the future, be like the children of those celebrities and politicians, having a higher starting point and being able to go further than he, as a father, did? When a person stands at different heights, the things they think about are also different.

When people are poor, they only think about how to fill their stomachs and how to avoid continuing to go hungry in the future.

But when standing at his height, what does he think about? He thinks about the future development of the family, and he thinks about whether his children have any chance to move toward a higher stage.

Letting his bloodline also shine in the higher reaches of federal politics.

After the senior agent supervisor heard these words, he remained silent. After a while, he patted his forehead. "I don't know."

"I don't know how to choose."

His friend reached out and pressed on his shoulder. "Your superior, Luo Lan, and the people behind him, they are just using you as a tool."

"And I, we are brothers, I will absolutely not harm you."

"I just hope you can live better and go further. Didn't we talk about this before?"

"We can retire together, then buy a piece of land in the suburbs, build a bigger house, and then we live together..."

A little later, Lanse received a call from the senior agent supervisor, his tone clearly revealing some resentment.

However, this was not important; what Lanse wanted was his attitude. "Mr. White, I have already considered it."

"Then what is your answer?", Lanse asked.

After about ten seconds, there was some heavy breathing in the receiver. "What can I do for you?"

He really couldn't say those words about defecting to Lanse or defecting to Senator Cleveland. He felt that he was a bit unaccustomed to it, so he used another method.

After listening, Lanse could understand what was in his heart. He smiled and said, "Two things. First, I will give you a name. He should be in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. See if you can find this person."

"The second thing, how do Luo Lan and the others plan to deal with me?"

The senior agent supervisor was also a very decisive person. Since he had decided to defect to Lanse and Senator Cleveland's side, he no longer had any thoughts of not wanting to speak or only saying half of it.

He told Lanse all of Director Luo Lan's thoughts and plans directly, in great detail. As long as it was something he knew, he told Lanse.

After listening, Lanse did not feel surprised; it was about the same as what he had imagined. If there was anyone at this stage who was so bored as to want to see him and the Perez family fight to the death, it could only be the Federal Bureau of Investigation and those people in the hostile camp of Senator Cleveland.

He knew his value very well. Besides providing some political solutions, the most important thing was that he could provide a large amount of interest transfer to the Congress and to Senator Cleveland.

There are many smart people in this world; Lanse is definitely not the smartest. As long as they want, they have plenty of ways to get all kinds of talent.

As for the foresight of world development, this is also not very important. The various advantages the Federation obtained after the war, even if they took the wrong path, would still be far ahead of other countries.

In other words, their trial-and-error cost is low and their fault tolerance is high. So, the development of the world that Lanse masters is good if they have it.

If they don't have it, it's actually not a big deal.

Only this money, this unimaginably large amount of money he provides, is something they cannot give up and is irreplaceable.

After ending the call, he made a call to Tang Mu to explain the situation, and then he told Tang Mu that these people might not be targeting him, but very likely were targeting Senator Cleveland behind him and the interest group he controlled.

As for how Tang Mu would talk to Senator Cleveland, Lanse would not bother.

What he needs to do now is to be "obedient," follow some of Director Luo Lan's plans, and continue to fight to the death with the Perez family.

He can use these plans of Director Luo Lan to let them actively provide convenience for the fight.

With the defection of the senior agent supervisor, Lanse roughly understood many things, for example... that order.

At ten o'clock in the evening, two trucks entered New Jincheng from outside the city. The alcohol ordered by the locals had arrived.

Previously, Lanse told them that this batch of alcohol would be placed in a designated place, and then they would go to this place to pick it up. This way of delivery is actually very convenient and safe.

First, they will not have contact with each other. Second, the other party definitely does not know in advance where Lanse placed it, and Lanse's own people will not reveal it, so it will not be discovered by the local Prohibition Bureau.

But if the other party knew, there might be a risk of exposure. These are all considerations for safety.

As for whether there are undercover agents from the Hazardous Materials Bureau in the other party's own gang, and whether this batch of goods will be exposed, it has nothing to do with Lanse.

But the other party's people requested an on-site transaction, which made Lanse feel something was wrong. Now he knows that this might be another plan of Director Luo Lan.

Regardless of whether they intend to frame the Perez family or just want to seize this batch of alcohol and find a way to implicate Lanse to "manufacture" evidence, in short, Lanse has already made preparations.

It was not until twelve o'clock at night that these two trucks started moving again and arrived at the agreed delivery location.

Located in an alley in a street in the middle ring of New Jincheng, it is a very typical alley common in the Federation.

There are only two exits, and there will be a large open space inside. Because it is at the back of the building, it is very dark and hidden.

Such places are often used as venues for some special transactions, such as those cheap girls engaged in the flesh trade, or those underground bars; they will also choose such relatively hidden venues.

Everything here is very good, but there is one bad point, that is, once both ends of the alley are blocked, basically you can't get out.

Setting the alcohol transaction in such a place is clearly also to "catch the thief and the stolen goods."

The two trucks soon arrived at the designated place. Lanse definitely would not be in the truck; he was in a car diagonally opposite the alley exit, a car that looked very ordinary.

The dim street light could not illuminate the scene inside the car, and no one could see the people inside.

The person in charge of the transaction was a novice squad leader, but Lanse had already explained it to him. For this job, he was not worried, nor was he afraid.

Just during the process of waiting for the transaction, Lanse noticed that several cars had quietly arrived diagonally opposite him. Some people got out of the cars. These people did not look like gang members, but more like law enforcers.

In the dark, the dim street light could only weakly illuminate Lanse's chin, and in the darkness, starlight-like light reflected in his eyes covered by shadows.

Ma Duoer was also a bit angry, and also a bit emotional. "This transaction really has a problem."

Lanse said "Hmm." "I saw it."

"Are we going to take action?", Ma Duoer asked.

Lanse denied his idea. "Don't move these people first, see how they plan to deal with it later..."

At this time, a senior agent not far away had an excited expression on his face. He had received a "report" saying that there would be a large-scale bootleg alcohol transaction here tonight.

In fact, the thing of smuggling alcohol is completely polarized in the Federation now. The difficulty for the underclass people to obtain alcohol and the ability to taste alcohol are very low. Prohibition has truly played a role for them.

Not everyone can afford to drink, nor can they get alcohol. The church side mentioned that because Prohibition solved some problems that only happen after alcoholism, the social atmosphere has also improved a little.

But for the federal upper class, the upper layer, Prohibition is like a joke.

In a federal central city like New Jincheng, it is actually very easy to catch smuggled alcohol. Go to the manors and villas of those big shots in the suburbs to check, and you will be right every time.

But the problem is, who dares to check?

Who can check? If it is not someone who failed in political struggle and is actively requested by the winners to check, who dares to go to these houses? As for checking those ordinary people?

They can check, but there is nothing to check for ordinary people. The cost of the investigation might be much greater than the value of the case.

So catching some of these strange gang transactions is clearly more in line with the ideas of these people in the Hazardous Materials Bureau now.

"Wait for them to complete the transaction, and we will rush in."

"If anyone resists, you can shoot after two warnings!"

Killing a few vicious gang members, seizing a large batch of smuggled alcohol, and seizing a large batch of criminal funds, this will definitely be a merit.

In the open space in the alley, the young man on Lanse's side opened the doors of the trucks, revealing two trucks of alcohol, high-end whiskey.

Although there were glass bottles separating them, one could still smell the rich aroma of alcohol.

In the darkness, the gang member responsible for coming to exchange money for goods simply checked these goods, mainly checking the quantity, and then smiled and handed over a briefcase. "You are very trustworthy!"

The moment the battle captain on Lanse's side placed his hand on the suitcase, lights suddenly flared up all around, and a large number of prohibition agents charged in from both ends of the alley.

"Hazardous Materials Bureau! Everyone, raise your hands high where we can see them!"

These people moved very quickly; the young man slowly raised his hands, looking at the gang member opposite him—the one who had given him the money.

There was no fear or surprise on this guy's face, only calmness, and even a hint of a smile.

It was as if he had known from the very beginning that this would be the outcome.

Soon, everyone was under control. Lanse had instructed them not to resist; if they wanted to make arrests, let them.

So, no one resisted, and they all obediently allowed themselves to be handcuffed.

When the senior agent saw the two trucks full of alcohol, he couldn't help but reveal a pleasantly surprised smile; this was indeed a big catch.

He turned his head to look at the young man, a hint of mockery on his face, "I believe we will get along very pleasantly in the coming period."

The young man was someone who had seen big scenes—the kind with gunfights and flying flesh and blood—so he wasn't worried at all by this metaphorical threat.

"That depends on whether my lawyer allows me to leave with you, and whether they allow you to do this."

The senior agent couldn't help but laugh, laughing heartily, "The alcohol you're smuggling isn't even enough for a lawyer to defend you. You know, we have special privileges."

Facing these words, the young man remained calm. In a voice that wasn't loud, he asked a question that struck the senior agent's heart like a thunderbolt—

"Who told you this truck is full of alcohol?"

"These are all beverages."

Just as he was speaking, flashbulbs suddenly went off at the scene, and several people wearing the emblem of a law firm walked in.

"Who let you in?" The senior agent was both shocked and furious. He glared at his subordinates at the entrance, but they only wore helpless expressions.

The lead lawyer presented some relevant documents and their own identification, then said, "My client is here trading fruit juice with others. I heard that not only are you engaging in illegal law enforcement, but you also intend to use torture to extract a confession?"

The senior agent turned his head to glance at the unperturbed young man, strode to the side of the truck, moved out a crate of alcohol, pried it open, took out a bottle, and twisted off the cap.

When the rich scent of fruit juice wafted out from inside, his complexion became even darker than this damn sky.

He wasn't willing to give up and took a taste; it was indeed fruit juice, without a trace of alcohol content.

But he was still somewhat unwilling to accept it, "I need to have this... fruit juice tested."

The lawyer did not refuse, "Of course you can, but I need these reporters to be with us."

In truth, when things reached this point, the senior agent knew he had been dragged into someone else's struggle, and quite obviously, the supplier of this alcohol held a much greater advantage.

They even knew what the other side was going to do, which is why they had deliberately sent these fruit juices and intentionally let them catch them in the act.

The current situation made the senior agent very embarrassed; continuing to pursue it would only make him look like a clown.

Therefore, the only way out was to stop pursuing it.

He threw the fruit juice in his hand onto the ground, walked up to the young man, and poked him in the chest with his finger, "You're lucky this time."

Then, glancing at the lawyers and reporters—the group of people in this city you least want to provoke—he said "Let's go" with a dark face and left directly with his men.

He didn't want to be dragged into such an inexplicable dispute; there were few fools who could make it to senior agent in New Jincheng.

After this group left, the small gang member who had been trading with the Lanse family finally reacted. The small leader walked to the truck in disbelief, moved out another crate, and opened one of the bottles; it was still fruit juice inside.

"You guys..."

Seeing that the matter was over, the lawyer took the initiative to leave with the reporters. Being on the scene for less than ten minutes in the evening and earning a large sum of money—for them, they were very willing to work for Lanse.

The reporters were the same; their cameras didn't even have film in them. Just by coming over to press the shutter a few times, they could earn a fifty-dollar bonus. They were willing to have such business come more often.

The young man rubbed his wrists, which were aching from being chafed by the handcuffs. He turned to look at the small gang leader he had been trading with, baring his teeth, which weren't exactly white.

"You've caused trouble, big trouble, you know that?"

A few minutes later, he arrived at the diagonal opposite side of the alley entrance and stood by Lanse's car, "Everything is under control."

Lanse rolled down the car window, "Let them take you to their lair, wipe all these people out, and do it cleanly."

The young man bowed slightly and then trotted away, while Lanse's car soon disappeared into the darkness.

(End of chapter)