America 1982

In the Bay Area of ​​Warwick, Rhode Island, at a deep beach surrounded by simple wires, a wooden sign stood at the door: Hawke Shipbreaking Yard.

In addition to these words, there are also graffiti clearly written by a child.

At this moment, in the ship-breaking yard, Colin Hawke was shirtless and sweating, using a cutting machine to cut a steel plate. Not far away, his capable men and laid-off workers were disassembling other parts.

It wasn't until the steel plate was split into two that Colin dropped the tools, shook his long, messy and wet hair, and stood up to check the work efficiency of his old men: "Mauren! Pick up those screws! OK? Ten screws are enough. That’s enough for a beer! The screws you ignore every time are enough for us to drink in a small bar for a month!”

"Hull! Separate the radio and light bulbs separately! Don't put them together with other parts! The scrap dealers won't pay us more! Repair the light bulbs and radios, and then find a way to sell them to the gangsters in the second-hand market. Damn it! Make more money!"

Seeing his subordinates all raising their middle fingers to show respect, Colin nodded with satisfaction: "You all have to learn from Wilson! As long as I am alive, Wilson will always be Hawke's boss." The best employee in the shipyard, look at Wilson, it’s obviously a fishing boat, but he can always thoughtfully dismantle the parts of a boat and a half! This is why he always earns the most salary every week! What boss doesn’t like Wilson!”

"If you like him, it means that the entire scrap car parking lot in Warwick hates Wilson. The scrap ship bought by Hawker Shipyard can actually dismantle the scrap car parts." Ashley's father He Er smiled and said: "The most exaggerated time was when I was on a fishing boat and took out three fucking car gearboxes and five car horns."

Father Colin took out a cigarette and lit it in his mouth: "Old man, this is called additional value. Who stipulates that car parts cannot be installed on the ship."

“Didi, didi, didi, didi, didi, didi,” the pager on Colin’s waist rang. He lowered his head, glanced down, and proudly shouted to everyone: “My dear son Tommy, came from far away in California again. He sent me a message of concern."

He walked to an office that had been renovated from a scrapped RV, directly pulled the phone cord and carried the landline phone to the beach, dialed the number back in front of everyone, and deliberately irritated these guys: "Envy me, my son wants to talk to me Report on his recent scientific research results at the university, listen carefully, this is the closest you have come to knowledge!"

"My dear son~~Are you okay? We really want to...what?" After Colin connected, his voice was originally proud, but it soon turned into confusion:

"You mean someone is going to cause trouble for me? Not trouble? Investigation? Investigation to me is just fucking trouble for me! No difference!"

"What the hell did you do, son? Did you study in California or work as a dealer in California?"

When several other workers heard Colin's words, they immediately stopped working and gathered around. Wilson was holding a beer in his hand: "I told you that Tommy couldn't go to college. In fact, he is doing a good job in the drug business in California. , I have a relative in New York who owns a convenience store, and I asked him to send the goods over, and we..."

"Shut up!" Colin suddenly covered the receiver and roared ferociously at Wilson. Then he glanced fiercely at these old guys and continued to say to the receiver: "You mean, the other party's lawyer will let people Trouble with me, Tony, Ashley or even Bethea?”

Seeing Colin's expression and hearing Colin's words, several old guys turned around and picked up various large tools. Ashley's father Hull even came out of the office holding a shotgun. .

Soon, Colin hung up the phone, spit out the cigarette in his mouth, and looked at a few people: "First of all, my son is still a college student, not a fucking drug dealer, but now he has the same problem as a drug dealer. , that is, being sued in court. In order to investigate and collect evidence or other bullshit procedures, the other party's lawyer will probably have people come to Warwick City to learn all the news about him and the Hawke family. So, first, the cigarette smuggling is not You'd better forget about the trivial things worth mentioning. Secondly, I'm going to see Tommy's high school principal now, and thirdly, you guys are waiting here for the lawyer Tommy helped us find."

"Why the hell are you going to see the principal?" Green asked in confusion.

"I have to ask him to write some lines that praise Tommy, and then have you and the guys on the block memorize them all, you know? How the world worshiped Jesus back then, you'd better worship my son the same way." Colin said:

"Maureen, go call Herbers and ask him to contact his son Dennis to get the lines right! The same goes for Mr. Marvell!"

When Colin was helping a few old guys assign tasks, a luxury car parked outside the shipbreaking yard, and several people looked at the luxury car.

"You said the investigating lawyer came so quickly?"

"Andy Nelson, who is Mr. Colin? Tommy should have told you that you have to listen to me during this period. So, can that gentleman put down the gun?" He once helped Tommy's Aunt Melonie. Lawyer Andy, whose ex-boyfriend was sent to jail, stepped out of the car and saw a group of strong men with fierce faces carrying various tools that were definitely not ordinary tools and a shotgun. They stared at him eagerly and said straight to the point. .

Wilson looked at the car behind Andy: "Who the hell are you going to get rid of this idiot? Just give me five minutes and I can remove the five tires from that car and install them on our boat. They are in really beautiful condition."

"This guy is with us, Wilson, calm down." Colin's father patted Wilson's shoulder: "Wait for the other party's people to show up, don't talk about the damn tires, you can put all the parts of the other party's car into Our scrap ships are then sold to scrap collectors. In such a difficult time, it warms my heart to hear employees like you thinking about the profits of the factory. I’ll buy you a beer tonight.”

"So should we listen to you, or should we listen to this guy who looks rich and deserves a beating?" Mo Lin scratched his bald head and asked in confusion.

Colin sighed: "My son hopes that we listen to some opinions from this professional, but I am Tommy's father, and as a father, I must have some..."

"Very well, shut up, Colin, we know the answer." Hull interrupted Colin, turned around with the shotgun in his hand, and said to several others: "Tommy said, don't listen to his father. It's about taking orders from this man named Andy Nelson."

…

late at night.

Susan Curtis was awakened again by the sudden strong light shining into the bedroom. She sat up from the bed, blocked the strong light coming from the window with her hands, and glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was just one o'clock in the morning.

Even though the curtains were drawn on the windows, they could not block the strong light from that special flashlight.

"Damn bastard! F*ck!" Susan walked to the window and opened the curtains, looking out. Sure enough, two figures were standing across the street holding bright flashlights.

There have been some new changes in her and Mark's lives in the past two days, although Tommy has said before that once the case enters the second stage, large companies will often use any means to investigate and obtain evidence and even force certain people they think may be critical enough to cooperate. , but compared to listening to Tommy talk about it and experiencing it in person, he obviously lacked intuition.

Ever since the detective started the so-called investigation and evidence collection, she and Mark had begun this extremely uncomfortable life. First, they were followed around the clock, and then the garbage dumped out of Actor's company and their own residence would be carefully rummaged through by them. In the middle of the night, he exposed himself to strong light to affect his sleep, and suddenly called himself, asking him to cooperate with them and serve as their witness against the Actor Company in exchange for peace of mind.

"You're just going to stand across the fucking street? Do you want to come in and play with me?" Susan opened the window and cursed at the two figures across the street wearing windbreakers and peaked caps whose faces were completely unclear: "You two are the worst group of men I've ever seen. You know where the door is, but you just wait outside the door with that thing in your hand!"

This level of harassment is nothing to Susan Curtis. Life today is much better than it was in the slums of San Jose. In the slums of San Jose before, not to mention bright lights, if three consecutive days a week Hell, if you can't hear gunshots ringing next door or on the street in the middle of the night, what you should be worried about is not the improvement of public security, but the problem of your own hearing.

After closing the window and drawing the curtains again, Susan picked up the water glass on the bedside table, walked out of the bedroom in her pajamas, knocked twice on the door of the other bedroom where Mark Warren lived, and took a sip of water. He opened his mouth and asked, "Are you okay, Mark?"

Mark's voice sounded, not from the bedroom, but from the sofa in the living room of this apartment: "I'm here, Susan."

"You haven't slept yet?" Susan turned her head and saw Mark sitting on the sofa. She simply turned on the light in the living room, and then saw Mark dressed in pajamas and sitting on the sofa with an ugly face.

Mark looked at the coffee table in front of him. There was a pizza box on the coffee table: "Before I changed into my pajamas and got ready to go to bed, someone knocked on the door and delivered it."

"What is this?" Susan walked over and opened the pizza box. There was no pizza inside, but there was a box of video tapes and a note. The note said: "Stand up and cooperate with the court."

If you look carefully, there is also an address written on it. It is obvious that it is the address of Mark's family.

The other party investigated Mark's details thoroughly.

Mark looked at the video tape in the pizza box with a blank expression: "I told my family before that I studied at a community college and now I am a data engineer for a software company. I enjoy company benefits, health insurance, and pension. They are very happy. Be proud of me.”

"So, you want to testify for Lotus Company? And bite back the Actor Company that changed your destiny?" Susan sat next to Mark on the sofa and turned to look at him and asked.

Mark covered his head and said in a low voice: "I don't want my family to know my stupid past. Maybe I can try to meet them? But I will never reveal the Actor Company..."

Before Mark could finish speaking, Susan poured the glass of water on Mark's head.

Mark was stimulated by the cold water. He raised his head suddenly, wiped the water stains with his hands hurriedly, and looked at Susan angrily: "What the hell are you doing?"

"I think you need to calm down, Mark." Susan stared at him straightly:

"Your family knows your past, and you have our companions around you to encourage you and comfort you, but if you cooperate with them, our companions are your enemies. Not only will your family know your past, but I guarantee you You have nothing, do you believe that those people outside will give you a warm hug after getting the news they want?"

First update~~